The Grand Haven news. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1858-18??, 1863-04-15
Abolition Preachers VS.. Christ and
the Apostles.
To Rev. Drs. Beecher, Cheever and
Tying:

Tying:
GENTLEMEN-You have attempted no
answer to my letter published in the New
York Express, of December 9Th. l
did not expect you would. You could
not vindicate your present bloody and in
human attitude before the country, with
out assailing the Word of God, and fal-
styling the apostolic history of the church.
If the spirit of charity, forgiveness and
of non-resistant peace, preached by James,
was of God, then it is evident that your
savage war cries, your implacable resis-
tance of evil with evil, is of the Deva.
You can not be called the followers of
Him who said" Blessed are the peace
makers; for they shall be called the chill
dren of God. You perceive, gentlemen,
whose children you are not; and, by i'm
plication, whose children you are. The
kind of gospel you preach goes out, like
the Scythian Abaris, on poisoned arrow.
You have made negro idol, and called
upon the people to fall down before it,
Do you remember that Pope once asked
this question: What must be the
Priest, where the monkey is a god?" You
have turned the world upside down, and
shouted in delirious gleo to see your coun-
try plunged into a gulf of death. Then
you have dared to lift up your bloody
hands in prayer to Heaven. You have
raved about liberty for negroes, while ap-
plauding the destruction of white men.
Forgive me if l am reminded of what
Maccaulay says of George Fox: "With
an intellect the most unhappy of all
states: that is to say, too much disorder
ed for liberty, and not sufficiently disor-
dered for bedlam."
In my first letter l pointed out your
wide departure from The spirit of the
"gospel of peace" in bringing on this
horrid war. In this one, | wish to show
that you set yourselves up to be reform
ers of the teachings of Jesus Christ. You
declare that to be a sin which the Savior
never pronounced TO be so; and you are
willing to deluge the land with blood TO
push forward your stupendous assump-
ton. Where, gentlemen, do the christian
scriptures pronounce slaveholding sin
Point to a single text. AT the advent
Of Christ, slavery existed all over the civ
ilized world. The Roman Empire was
at the zenith of its civilization ard power.
1t had sixty millions of slaves. 1t was
not an unusual thing for one man to own
ten thousand or even twenty thousand
slaves. History informs us that Scaurus
had four thousand domestics, and as many
rural slaves. 1t was fashionable for q
man to 90 abroad surrounded by his
slaves, as General is by his army. Hor-
ace made this custom the subject of one
his Satires. From the time of Augustus
to that of Justinian, there were in Italy
twenty millions of slaves to six millions
of frcemen. These slaves were acquired
by war, by commerce, or by purchase,
and by being born in state of slavery.
Such was the extent of slavery in the Ro-
man Empire, when Jesus and bis apostles
preached the gospel over its wide domain.
Al the same time, there were in Greece
four slaves to one freeman. The city Of
Corinth, in which the Apostle Paul
founded church of believers, was the
chief slave mart for Greece, and-in con-
sequence of its communication with Brun-
dusium and other ports on the eastern
side of Italy-of Rome also, Timeus as
serts that Corinth, at one time, had four
hundred and sixty thousand slaves.
Though Christ and his apostles were
thus surrounded with Shareholders, they
never once denounced the institution as 9
sin. While they professed to teach all
goodness, and to denounce all san, they
never intimated that the institution o.
slavery was what you, gentlemen, call it
"the sum of all villanies." Both Jesus
and his apostles denounced idoldtry, Tho
State religion of imperial Rome, though
it was as much interviewer with all The
interests of the State as slavery, which
shows that they did not hold their peace
in relation 10 slavery from intimidation
Even you, gentlemen, are not deludeC
enough to pretend that the Son of Mar
was restrained by motives of policy o
fear from denouncing slaveholdiDg, if h
had believed it sin. 1t is certain, gen
tlemen, if you had been there, with you
present opinions, you would have RAISED
such storm about the ears of the impe
rial shareholders, as would have "mad
Rome howl again" What! will you sa,
that Jesus refused to denounce sin! Dit