The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-01-08
To the Editor of the National Era !.

DEAR SIR ]. H. Gregory, under the head Of
christianity Defended" No. 3, in the Ma
tional Era of December 4th, asks "What are
the wrongs confessedly chargeable upon the
church in its action on the slavery question 2"
And then he goes on to say that "The church
is never to be Judged in the mass Neither
is it to be charged because it has not shewn
an unbroken front against slavery or waged
a relentless war against it," And he closes up
on this point by telling us that the charge
should be made TO the weakness of its true
and the unworthiness of its false professor
Now, ask, why is not the church to be judged
in the mass Is there any portion of our citi-
zens more thoroughly organized? Are we not
teI5 = - leaders e, we axoA~Sto exSzeSe an
Influence we must come into the eh----~T ~
ganizstionf And yet we are told Wien no
ova,S lain that the church does rot opt,.tai 81.
admitted e~S, {on their part,) that we I.l0ss not
judge them en- mdSse. And Mr.. Gregory goes
on and tells US, as above that the church must
not be charged because it has not presented
an unbroken front" or waged war against
slavery. What kind of a front, | ask, should
the church present against one of the most
dreadful evils ever forced upon our fellow-be-
ings, making men vendors of Gods own I'M
age? 1t is very obvious what kind of front
the church in general now presents against
slavery, viz: so far from b0ing shoulder to
shoulder the front rank is constantly being
filled with those who make war on those that
are making great sacrifices to rid our country
of the dreadful evil of human slavery The
ranks of the church are not only open for the
reception of such recruits, but the money OBJ
tanned from the sale of mothers and4babes
husbands and wives, is used in paying the re-
crtating officers. But he says the charge
should be made I" to the weakness of its true
and the unworthiness of its false professors"
Now, this is certainly making an effort to get
out of small loop-hOle. He asks U.S. first to
charge this wickedness to the weakness of its
true professors and second, to the unworthi-
ness of its false professors and, yet, both of
these classes are in church fellowship. Do not
the true and false professors make up the
whole church. as there can be no other classes
Consequently we can come to no other conclu-
sion from his reasoning, than that the masses
of the church are emphatically chargeable of
its action on this monster evil. He finally
closed by asking, " May we not still gather
from the signs of the times, as well as from the
history of the past, the hope and promise that
Christianity in its steady advance will at no
distant day bring its disciples to the full recog-
milton of the truth, and send the whip of the
stakeholder to keep company with the wand of
the obsolete and impious idolator ?" Does our
friend allude to the fugitive act mot law) III
this steady advance of Christianity! Does he
allude to the trials now going on in our country,
endeavoring to make it capital offence to act
the part of the good Samaritan? Surely the
signs of the times are propitious
AUGUSTUS SAWYER
Middlebug, Ohio.