Year: 1861

y


From the first to the last then, the NOR
al law is set at defiance.


Bribery and corruption are rife in the
land. Is it not proverb, that if you
would have bill passed at Harrisburg,
you must 60 with pockets well filed with
money. What are we to think of this
If poor man goes before your courts for
justice, no matter how just or right his
cause may be,does he stand an equal chance
of receiving justice as does rich man .
Are not these things in this State! God
then saws to us, "Am nd thy ways.'-
Then we have that prince of sins--drunk
enness sustained by law and countenan
ced by practice. This sin, this vice, that
has broken in upon all that is peaceful
manly, and magnanimous. See when it
lays its grasp on young man-that young
man may have abilities which would ena.
BE him to stand in the Senate Chamber.
and by his eloquence enchain The listening
ear OF multitudes. Yet he is converted
into dwelling idiot, gropes his way to
an early grave and lies down in hell
Where is the State, or the town where this
sin is not seen in its onward march?


The marriage contract. We find it set at
open defiance. We find divorces granted
in the face Of the direct teachings of Jesus
Christ. A celebrated legal gentleman
told me he believed the price Of divorce
was twenty dollars. To what a condition
have we come, whittier have we drfted


Jesus says-"Whosoever shall put away
his wife, except it be for fornication, and
shall marry another committeth adultry." "
Yet is not this treated as a thing of naught?
The Bible teens with instruction to hus.
band and wife, to master and servant
You will find beyond doubt, in all these
relations much that is wrong, and the
wrong must be repeuted Of Is not advan-
taGe taken in the business transactions of
life ? Are hot the widow and the father
less oppressed Must we not repent of
al these? Our repentance must be
thorough and sincere We must not repent
Of one only, but Of all-all the sins of the
nation, in all the relations of life But
what are we to understand dehantly by the
sins Of the nation? Only those sins which
are common to all the States and commu.
mites of a nation, can be called national
sins. There is an institution of our land
which is regarded as the great source ofthe
evils of our country. From this, howev-
er, | take the liberty of dissenting. l do
not so read the Bible. That there are
evils connected with involuntary scrvitude
IN this country, cannot be denied. Bat
can you find any social relation III which
evil is not found Is the marriage relation for
instance exempt from it? Well, to-day we
are in trouble, and il is said our trouble
grows out Of the national sin of slavery -
responsible for that in which he has nc
part. But is it not remarkable that in re-
gard to this sin, in which four millions o
human beings are held in bondage in oui
country, and which is declared from til,
pulpit, the press, and the rostrum, to be
sin, a damning sin, one which will cxclud,
minister from the pulpit and a man from
the Lord table! Yet they will tell you the,
do not want to interfere with it where iti =
we only want to oppose its further exten
sion. Now, if it be sin, it should be re
pented of and done away with at once
we should not wall it up, nor fence it in
God does not say to Israel, repent in par
"but thoroughly repcut and wholly cleans
your ways" This is what we must do in
dividually and collectively, North am
South,


Let us take the sin of Drunkenness
Would it do to confne it to the North
Would it do to have Sabbath breaking uu
known in the North, but universal in tn
South, Shall We say that cove'ousnes
should not come this side of the Mississip
pi. God says repentance must be throug


work.


All sectional feeling must be buried be
yond the reach Of the plummets depth
The kindest feeling of a political, religion
and social character must be carried out
every constitu tional privilege granted t
every man, and our mutual privileges re
spocted in letter and spirit. We are a si


terhood of States, band of brothers, an


it is to be feared too often lIse sight of dl


ties, and anx Gus only for our rights.


We -peak Of liberty of speech and pres


they are well enough but they have the
limits. Should We carry our rights b.
yond their limits, when, by so doing, v
are throwing burning torch, which vi
spread ruin on our brothers domains?
We must try to be consistent and atter