New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-07-12

no fire of persecution could destroy impair, and
no food of calumny overwhelm. MY country Is
the world my countrymen are all mankind" was
it's grand and allembracing motto born OF the very
heart and soul of the religion of Christ IL fought
for what is most of all fundamental in that religion
for that without which it were indeed mocKefy
and sham God and Christ were in the move
ment, and the gates of he'll, though fortified ana
barrcadod by traitor hands. could not prevail
against it. The hour had struck, and the man
whom God had commissioned to preach deliverance
to the captives and the opening of the prison to
them that were bound had come. 1t was III VAIN
now that men cried peace when there was no peace
The Pulpit might prostitute itself to the defence Oh
slavery; statesmen might plead in its behalf the
sacredness of Constitutional cOmpacts ana conpio-
misses; the press might denounce as tanaticai the
plea for emancipation, and mobs might howl upon
the track of the Abotlonist All i'll vain! for II
was determined in the Divine counsel that AmeH-
can slavery should be verthrown-peaceably, II
the Nation were minded, but otherwise IN Dlood
This was the dread alternative presented to the
American people. 1t was Mr.. Gauison's hope that
the power of Christianity in the land was mighty
enough to accomplish the great work. Inc de-
lusons of the hour, he thought, wouid pass
away. the Pulpit would awake to its duty the
cbnrcbes-o mighty and invincible host-would
come up to the help of the Lord against the great
iniouity and the statesmen of the land would show
themselves men worthy of such crisis The slave
holders Themselves their first madness over would
listen TO the voice of reason and come speedily to
see that their own safety and prosperity required
that they should undo the heavy burdens and let the
| Impressed 90 free. With what earncsneSs OF con-
viction and what eloquence of speech did he plead
| the promises of God to a nation that should put
| owav IFS sin! "Ioose tho bands OF wckedness,
undo the heavy burdens let the oppressed 90 Tree,
break every yoke, hide not thyset from thine own
flesh Then shall thy light break forth as the morn
ing and thne health shall spring forth speedily
tbv righteousness shall 20 before thee. the glory of
the Lord shall be thy reward, and thy darkness
be as the MONDAY. And the Lord shall guide thee
continually and satisfy thy soul in drought, and
make fat thy bones. Thou shalt be like watered
garden and ike a spring of water, whose waters
fail not They that shall be of thee shall build the
old waste places. Thou shalt raise up the tounda-
tons Of many generations; and thou shalt be
called the repairer of the breach. the restorer of
paths TO dwell in. Thou shalt delight thyself in
the Lord, and will cause thee TO ride upon the high
places of the earth and feed thee with the heritage
of Jacob thy father for the mouth of the Lord hath
spokenit" Equally earnest and equally eloquent
was he in depicting the calamities which, in the
order of Divine Providence, would come upon the
nation il it should persist in its SIM Therefore
thus saith the Lord: Ye have not hearkened unto
me- in procaiming liberty; every one TO his brother
and every one to his nei ghbor; behold, l proclaim
liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to
the pestilence, and to the famine"
That a nation, the great body of whom believed
in the peDary inspiration of the Bible and that It's
contents were designed for instruction in righteous
ness as well as for admoniton and warning to the
whole human race TIL time shOuldbe no more, could
listen unmoved TO passages like these from the He
brew prophets so exactly descriptive of its condi-
ton and its perils would seem incredible if we did
not remember that the official and trusted exposi-
tors of the time taught 1t to set them at naugh and
filed its ears with apologies for slavery woven of
texts from the same BoOk-as Whittier SAYS:
"Torturing the pages OF the hallowed Bible
TO sanction robbery, and crime and blood
Stuart at Andovcr, Alexander at Princeton, Fisk
at Wllbraham, and others who in high places were
training new generation Of ministers, were weay-
ing ingenious arguments from the Scriptures to
proye that slayeholding compatible with the
golden rule and that the plea for immediate eman-
cipation was the widest fanaticism. The ready
plea of the apologist for slavery was, that ex-
element upon the subject would inevitably
ouench the influences of the Divine
Spirit and put an end to the REVEALS
of religion when were utc4dtCu 10 NC INC
great fundamentally for the conversion OF the
world The voices Of thousands who might other
wise have borne a testimony against slavery were
husbed to silence by this precious plea. small
remnant was indeed faithful among the faithiess
fouudD but they fell under popular rcproach, ana
i'm some instances were subject TO persecution among
false brethren Most of the churches, to quote the
significant words of Whittier, lent their strength
TO the spoiler," and, In the language Of James G..
Birnev. sound, cOol-hraded Presbyterian, became
"tbe bulwarks of American slavery"
five may accept for truth the declaration of the
Rev. Albert Barnes, that there was no power out
OF the church that would sustain slavery an hour If
il were not sustained in it," then it must be adj
mitted that the church responsible for the
failure to abolish the system by moral power, and
for all the blood spilled and the treasure lost III the
war of the rebellion! There was no pretence then
that Mr.. Garrison was an iniidel. That plea was
invented years afterward, when the churches found
II necessary TO offer some plausible for their
delinquency; and it was truer then than II
yvouId have been if offered at first. 1t in the
mower of the churches, if they had had any heart
for the work. TO make the movement their own, to
lead and guide il from its beginning to its consum-
nation. This, indeed, was what Mr.. Garrison
desired and expected. He coveted not Tor himself
the bonors of leadership but would have been con-
tent to serve the cause incOnspicuOusy If the men
in power and influence had been persuaded to take
il UP. he was forced to the front when he would
gladly have taken his place in the ranks
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