Page images
PDF
EPUB

Axley delivered, he observed, "It may be a very painful duty, but it is a very solemn one, for a minister of the gospel, to reprove vice, misconduct, and sin, whenever and wherever he sees it-that is a duty I am now about to attend to. And now, continued the speaker, pointing with his long finger in the direction indicated, that man sitting out yonder behind the door, who got up and went ont while the brother was preaching, stayed out as long as he wanted to, got his boots full of mud, came back, and stamped the mud off at the door, making all the noise he could, on purpose to disturb the attention of the congregation, and then took his seat, that man thinks I mean him. No wonder he does-it does not look as if he had been raised in the white settlements, does it, to behave that way at meeting? Now, my friend, I advise you to learn better manners before you come to church next time: but I don't mean him. And now, again pointing at his mark, that little girl sitting there, about half way in the house, I should judge her to be about sixteen years old-that is her with the artificial flowers outside of her bonnet-she has a breastpin on too-she that was giggling and laughing all the time the brother was preaching, so that the old sisters in the neighbourhood could not hear what he was saying, though they tried to. She thinks I mean her. I am sorry from the bottom of my heart for any parents that have raised a girl to her time of day, and yet have not taught her to behave when she comes to church. Little girl, you have

disgraced your parents as well as yourself. Behave better next time, won't you? But I don't mean her.

Directing his finger to another aim, he said, that man sitting there, that looks as bright and pert as if he was never asleep in his life, and never expected to be-but that, just as soon as the brother took his text, laid his head down on the back of the seat in front of him-went sound asleep-slept the whole time, and snored that man thinks I mean him. My friend, don't you know that the church ain't the place to sleep. If you need rest, why don't you stay at home, take off your clothes, and go to bed-that is the place to sleep, and not the church. The next time you have a chance to hear a sermon, I advise you to keep awake. But I don't mean him. Thus did he proceed, pointing out every man, woman, and child, who had in the slightest deviated from a befitting line of conduct, characterising the misdemeanour, and reading sharp lessons of rebuke. A judge, named White, was sitting all this time at the end of the front seat, just under the speaker, enjoying the old gentleman's disquisition to the last degree, twisting his neck around to notice if the audience relished the "downcomings" as much as he did, rubbing his hands, smiling, chuckling inwardly. Between his teeth and cheek was a monstrous quid of tobacco, which, the better he was pleased, the more he chawed and the more he spat; and, behold, the floor bare witness to the results. At length the old gentleman straightening himself up to his full height, continued with

G

great gravity, and now I reckon you want to know who I do mean? I mean that dirty, nasty, filthy tobacco-chewer sitting at the end of that front seathis finger meanwhile pointing true as the needle to the pole see what he has been about-look at these puddles on the floor-a frog would not get into them. Think of the tails of the sisters' dresses being dragged through that muck!" The above preacher reproved sin, whenever and wherever he saw it, marked the slightest deviations, and yet the people he was adressing were slaveholders, but the great sin of which they were guilty, in making merchandise of the bodies and souls of their fellow-men-the sum of all villanies, which hung like a millstone around their necks, was not discernible to his quick and penetrating eye! And why? Because in his estimation it had been transformed into a virtuous, domestic, and patriarchal institution; so that, whilst he strained at the above gnats, he could swallow a crime as large as a camel ! How strange that a book which recites the above with great gusto and delight, and lifts such a man up as a model of fidelity amongst preachers, is thus introduced to the enlightened and considerate regard of the people of this country! Such a course discovers an enormous amount of ignorance, or else a terrible connivance at sin! Some writers have won the sobriquet of being crazy men, for calling attention to the many widespread and fearful delinquencies that obtain; but then, nobody ever tried to do his duty without fear or favour, without becoming crazy. If it be a sign

that they have got a "slate off their roof," as some of their "kind friends" have declared, here is the intelligible and unmistakeable evidence of it in the clear, ringing and thrilling shout, that with such a Union, such a theology in America, and such a mistaken policy as the above, it is a wonder that any decent man retains the shadow of respect towards christian institutions! Sad mistakes have been made on this subject. Men have gone to the lives of professors, and seen so much of erroneous practice there, that it has warped their judgments and soured their spirits against christianity itself. This is however wrong. And "crazy" as we may appear to be in the eyes of bigoted partizans, we must not allow our religious belief to be split up and dashed to pieces on such a rock.

Yours for truth as well as liberty,

JOSHUA R. BALME.

82 Sun-street.

FACTS TO BE BORNE IN MIND BY ALL TRUE LOVERS OF FREEDOM IN REGARD TO THE REV. HENRY WARD BEECHER.

To the Editors of the Liverpool Mercury.

GENTLEMEN,

According to the united testimony of the reporters for the New York newspapers, Mr Beecher (January 25, 1860, in Plymouth Church) advanced the following propositions:

1. That a man might hold a slave and not do wrong. 2. That immediate emancipation is impossible. 3. That a slaveholder may be a good Christian. 4. That the influence of slavery is not always evil. 5. That some actual slaveholders are doing more for the cause of freedom than some violent reformers. 6. That anti-slavery bigotry is like that of the Papacy. The above need no comments, although some strangely amusing comments were made on the above propositions in the New York papers and journals at the time, which would be interesting to produce at the present time, more especially as Mr. Beecher desires your co-operation and practical sympathy to supply the means to put the knife to the throats of his "old friends-his Christian slaveholders."

At the time Mr. Beecher propounded the above maxims he made an elaborate defence of the American Board of Missions, that has been sustained by a fund

« PreviousContinue »