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SERMON IN PETERBORO 
 
 MAY 31 1865. 
 
 TBB NATION STILL UNSAVED. 
 
 IT. -li^.' 
 
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 ONLY REPENTANCE CAN SAVE IT. .DJJO^ 
 
 " Think ye thai, they uxre sinners aJbow all men ? I tell you, Nay : but except ye repent, ye shall all like- 
 mise perish'^ Luke xiii : 4, 5. 
 
 Jesus taught the by-standers on this occasion, that there was one thing more important for them to do 
 than to be concerning themselves with the question whether certain persons were the greatest of all sinners. 
 This one thing was to repent. 
 
 However important it may be for the North to be impressing herself with the great wickedness of those 
 who are pre-eminently responsible for this war and for the starving and murdering of tens of thousands of pris- 
 oners, her more important duty nevertheless is to repent of her own sins. 
 
 Why is repentance the paramount duty ? — the indispensable exercise ? Because, in the first place, that 
 wo may thereby be enabled to judge ourselves justly: and because, in the second place, that we may thereby 
 be enabled to judge others justly. The impenitent man, not only flatters and deceives himself, but, where 
 tempted to it, he is uncharitable and unjust in his judgments of others. He is blind, not only to the wrongs in 
 himself, but to whatever mitigates the wrongs of which others are guilty. Oftentimes he is in haste to punish 
 others for crimes, which are far smaller than his own. David, though in his impenitence stone-blind to his crime 
 of murder and to the scarcely less crime it was to cover, was nevertheless eager for the killing of a man who had 
 killed but a lamb. 
 
 That the North has not repented is manifest m ten thousand ways. Even of her cruel and crushing, infa- 
 mous and infernal treatment of her colored brethren, in all the past, she does not repent. In this Rebellion they 
 have been the saviors of the nation. Nevertheless, the North does not even yet show herself willing to recog- 
 nize the rights of their manhood. Much reason is there to fear that she will allow the revolting States to be 
 reconstructed on the principle that the black man is still to be left in the hands of the white man -of him who 
 has ever been his enemy. Indeed, it still looks as if, in those States, disloyal men, if only they are white, will be 
 counted worthier of the ballot than loyal men who are black. Politicians and presses are arguing that each of 
 those States will have the Constitutional right to determine for herself who shall vote. For entirely do they ig- 
 nore the fact that those States have lost every Constitutional right ; and that it rests solely with their conquerors 
 to say who in them shall or shall not be allowed to vote. 
 
 But in nothing does the North prove her lack of repentance more than in her clamor for the punishment 
 of rebel leaders. For surely were she surveying herself penitently, she would have no heart to punish offences, 
 which are substantially her own also ; or which, to say the least, have sprung from doctrines and deeds of which 
 she, as well as the South, has been partaker. 
 
 How unseemly, not to say how intensely hypocritical, for the North to punish the South for holding the 
 doctrine of Secession, when those eminent advocates of it, Jefferson and Madison, have ever been as high politi- 
 cal authorities at the North as at the South I — and when too the doctrine had become so popular at the North, 
 that some of her national Conventions indorsed it ! And how unseemly, not to say how intensely hypo- 
 critical, for the North to punish the South for putting the doctrine in practice ! For what impelled the South to 
 do so but the spirit of slavery ? — that spirit for the generating and fostering of which the North is scarcely less 
 responsible than the South ? Nay, in the light of her smaller and less direct temptation, she is far more wickedly 
 responsible for that spirit. The religion, politics, commerce and social usages of the North have all been shaped 
 to the interests and biddings of slavery. And, as to the Southern type of the proslavery spirit being worse than 
 the Northern, a sufficient answer is that the Northern was bad enough to mob and murder innocent abolitionists 
 through the space of nearly thirty years. Let me add, however, that this spirit never made. North nor South, a 
 more abhorrent exhibition of itself than in hanging and burning negroes in New York, not yet two years ago. 
 That the Noith admits that the nation has ever been held by her organic law to defend slavery (,and this she 
 admits in her present attempt to amend and reverse the law at this point,) is her virtual admission that she has 
 ever been morally disqualified to punish the South for slavery. But to punish the South for the Rebellion is to 
 punish her for slavery. The North presuming to judge the South, when it is certainly not for her to deny that 
 she authorized the wickedness of the South 1 Better for her to confess with Shakespeare, that 
 
 " Thieves for their robbery hav« authority 
 When judges steal themselves." 
 
 The North presuming to judge and condemn the South ! It is adulterous Angelo condemning adulterous 
 Claudio. 
 
 No, the North, were she penitent, would instantly recoil from the proposition to punish the South. For 
 she would see, in the light of such facts as I have glanced at, her partnership with the South in the political fal- 
 lacies and moral wrongs, which have brought this great sorrow upon the land. Were she penitent, she would, 
 because seeing her own large share of the guilt of it, acknowledge the Rebellion to be the work of the North as 
 weU as of the South. Even the starving and murdering of prisoners — that crime of crimes, which the spirit of 
 slavery is alone capable of— she would, were she penitent, acknowledge a joint Northern and Southern responsi- 
 bility for, because she would see the spirit of slavery to be the product of the North as Veil as of the South. 
 
 The North, were she penitent. Would spurn every suggestion and every temptation to violate her agree- 
 ment to conduct the War according to the law of war. That agreement stands in spite of our General Order 
 No. 100, issued years after the agreement, and when our intoxicating prospect of success prompted us to take 
 
lii"li ratliLM' lluui teiia'ole gi\)U!ul. No Order of one of the [j.uties could iiiodity tliu agreement of both the par- 
 lies. It takes two to bi'cak as well, as „t\yo to. make a bargain. ^Again, yectiou 154 in that Order refers to 
 ])reeedtflite for liunishing " leaders oi^k rt/J^/'//o/iK■^-^/|lereas, in strictness, it .is not a rebellion, but a civil war with 
 whicii our country is ainicted. MorGoveif,-in the light of the- te:ichiiigs of the publicists, it is such a civil war as 
 is pre-eminently entitled to come under "the comnaon laws, of war,", and to be conducted "in every respect as a 
 public war between two ditferent nations." No more legal right liave we to punish the subdued foe in this 
 case than we would have were the Mexicans that foe. And when we consider that we are largely responsible 
 for the pro-slaverv spirit and polilical education, th.at incited our countrynieu to take up arjns against us, we are 
 iniiuilely further from ha\'inga moral right to punish thoui tlian we sliould be were they Ibreign eneu.ies. I add 
 that if the learned Dr. Lieber* did write, thjs Order, he isnevertheless rtot authorized to say that its Section V-^A, 
 is to be interpreted into a declara^tiwn, that the Government will punish for tieason its enemies in this war. The 
 Section is, at the most, but a hint to this end. And even this is unworthy of a faith-keeping and honorable (Jov- 
 ernment. Ay, and if the hint liacl the effect to prqvoke.the rebels to acts unauthorized by the law of war, then 
 liavc we to blame ourselves, as well as them, for such acts. 
 
 l;et me here say, that the law of war is not to lie construed as sanctioning any thing beyond the scope of 
 or iu obvious coiiliict with its established practices. Hence tliose individuals, >ipou wliom can be 
 tely and certainly, the authorship and responsibility of tins monstrous crime against prisoners, can 
 :reened iVom punishment by this law than can those, who had a part in the assassination of our 
 lent. 
 
 .he North ijcnitent, she would claim li-om the South no indemnity for the past — sinoe she would sec 
 lisentitled to it by her comnjunity of guilt with the South. All.she would claim would be security 
 tor the future — and this security not for herself only, but for the South also. Nor would she claim to this end 
 anything not absolutely necessary — probably nothing more, in addition to her duty to all the loyal, than the dis- 
 franchisement of the disloyal and the ijarceltihg out to the poor of the South, black and white, her large landed 
 est,utes,<: • : ' ' .; , ' '. ' ■.. ' .''•'''''' 
 
 ■ : oidf over there, was a case where both parties should consent that bygones be by-gones. it is this case of the 
 North and the South. They equally need to be forgiven by each other, aiid they equally need to seek the for- 
 giveness of God. The policy of intimidation must be abandoned. The Southern people have given abundant 
 proof that they cannot be intimidated. And if they could bo, it is not what is wanted. Love is the lack. That 
 is the power (,and even statesmen will yet learn it,) which God made men to be swayed by. The love of the 
 North for'the South would quickly beget a returning love. The North, leadhig the way in repentance, would 
 quickly be followed by the South. For it is as true that repentance leads to repentance as that '' the goodness 
 of God leadetlv' to it. This .is a matter in which man as well as God is. aipable of an ettective-lead. Only let 
 the North be as much concerned to love the South .as a certain class of politicians and a certain class of priests 
 are to have her punish the South, and all will be well. Then, with the best of all the world's forms of national 
 •Tovcrnment; with the ever-threatening and ever-disuniting doctrine of state-sovereignty buried forever; with 
 no more slavery to corrupt and barbarize ; and with the vasi tides of Northern immigration warmly welcomed 
 by the South and making her homogeneous with the North, our nation will soon become the best and the hap- 
 
 i lie question, however, that should press us, is not whether our nation shall attain this ]irc-eminence, but 
 whether it .shall so much as be saved. In other words, will it repent ? For as Jesus teaches, and as is manifest 
 in the nature of things, repentance is the condition of salvation. It.is so, no less in the case of a nation than of 
 an individual. Impenitence ruins. Penitence restores from the ruin. Impenitence carries its subject away 
 f-om himself. The prodigal son '• came to himself" wlien he came to be penitent. From the first, I have scarcely 
 doubted that the Ilebelliou would be crushed. But I must confess that, from the first, I have not seen sufficient 
 evidence that the nation would be saved. For, from tlie first, I have seen but few signs of her rei>entance. 
 Even to-day, ray hope that she will be saved is not a confident one. Two tilings inspire my strong tear that 
 she will not be. 1st. The North, although guilty with the South of this Rebellion, is nevertheless, so unpenitent 
 and 60 hypocritical, as to call for the puuishraent of the conquered South, lid. Notwithstanding it was because 
 of her spirit of caste and contempt of race that God let this awful war come upon her, nevertheless so far is 
 she from repenting at this point, as to be invoking the satanic spirit and the satamc contempt against the right of 
 the black man to vote. The North flatters herself that, iu calling for punishment, she is moved, not by ven- 
 geance, but by a sense of justice. Were justice however her aim, her absorbing concern would be to lilt up the 
 down-trodden black man into the enjoyment of all political rights. 
 
 Because, like Gov. Seward, I prophecied that this War would be a very short one, so my prophecy, 
 should I ever make it, that this nation will, for the reasons I have hinted at, be lost, might be very little heeded. 
 And yet the cause for the failure of the former prophecy would go far to justify the making of the other \V hy 
 was it that when slavery made war upon the uation, she failed to end the war, without delay ? Simply because 
 she had not (.though I was simple enough to suppose she had,) the wisdom and the courage to put slavery 
 down without delay. Her failure to end at that time both slavery and the war contributes to justify the appre- 
 hension that she will now fail to save the country. Her corruptions from slavery made her helpless then. 1 hese 
 corruptions continue ; and threaten to make her helpless \\o\\. 
 
 ' I am not, however, amongst the unluckiest of prophets. I may be laughed at for my prophecy in regard 
 to the length of the War. Bufl shall never more be laughed at (,though I was then,) tor going through the 
 country, nearly a quarter of a century asro, with the prophecy that the nation would be ruined unless the ministers 
 took to " preaching polities'— to inculcating ujion their hearers their j)olitical duties to the slave. 1 shall nevei 
 niore bo laughed at (,though I was then,) for declaring every where— in Congress, as well as out of Congress-- 
 that there would be " blood even unto the horse bridles," unless slavery were speedily put away. _ JSm\. 1 snau 
 never more be laughed at (,though I was then,) for making it my text, in the very first year of this War, tuat ^ 
 ■' whichever party gets the negro gets the victory." Indeed, if 1 shall ever set myself up as a propliet, i snau 
 have no little capital to start with. ...;.. ..^ . ..; 
 
 To be serious, however- and perhaps as egotisticaV ^S 'seri'otis— it would not be strange if an old abolition- 
 ist, who has made slavery his life-study, .should have a somewhat more th»n. common foresight oltHe workmgs 
 of'sl^very. Especially dull must he be, if he have not. ■-■, ' .j^. " , ;! • jn^ .' .." : . ci..:^;-. ' ; 
 
 ' "As.yoaaje aavare, I but seldom preach. I had to pi-each.for-the slav.e a<iuarter,ofAcentury-ago, because 
 sS;M (Oi" the riYihislcfs ■Should ciohSeiit.to'prdach for him: ■,'l MS'to preach for him pivt o^ ^9pi;P;Sp«^. i° S^^® 
 
because tliey, wliO had charge of Uie Cluirclics, woiiKl not let them be put to so uniJO[)uIar, so despiseJ, anj so 
 lulled ii use. Perhapi?, I owe !ui apology for preaching uow. My apology — the same iu the present as in the 
 toruier instance — is the necessity of the ease. Few of the ministers are preaching fur such a termination of this 
 ^Var, as the principles and spirit of Christ call for. Many of them arc leaping over Christ and the New Testa- 
 ment to ransack the barbaric Jewish Theology for te.xts most responsive and gratefid to their blood-thirstiness. 
 ISome of them sliock us by the levity with which they speak of the liaiiging of the rebels. Others by their vul- 
 gar and malignant shouting of: " Hang them ! bang them high as Haman ! !'' All over the land, this cruel and 
 Cliristless Theology is calling on the (Government to shed blood. God grant that it shall prove itself too wise 
 and too just to listen to the call. To drag out from under the law of war, and to punish for treason under 
 the Constitution, even so much as a single individual of the many millions witii whom we agreed that this 
 War should be conducted by the law of war, would be a stupendous breach of I'ailh never to be forgotten, and 
 therefore never ceasing to disgrace us. It would be a long backward step in civilization and a shameful ignor- 
 ing of the principles and spiiit of Christianity. Moreover, no one thing could do more to hinder the salvation of 
 the country. 
 
 I do not forget how often it is urged that England, who claims to be foremost of all the nations in Chris- 
 tianity and civilization, punished the leaders in the late Irish Rebellion. It is true that she did so. But, in the 
 tir.-,t place, that Rebellion did not reach the point where it would have come under the international code of war. 
 The rebels did not rise from traitors into '-enemies." In the second place, though law would have justified 
 great severity, she punished but few of the rebels, and even these with moderation. In the third place, although 
 wc honor and thank England and other nations for what is wise and humane in their example, we nevertheless hold 
 that America should be above graduating her own moralities and policies by those of even the most enlightened 
 European nations. They began their existence, and gave shape to their institutions, in ages of darkness. But 
 she was moulded in an age of light. A higher wisdom therefore than that, which they have been in circumstan- 
 ces to reach, must govern her. To a justice far higher than their conventional and detective justice must she as- 
 pire ; — yes, even to absolute justice — to the heaven-inspired, the Christ-illustrated justice. Would God, we were 
 up there uow ! Then should we, instead of disdaining the highest positions of liberality and mercy, in the most 
 authoritative writings on the law of war, make it the blessedness and glory of our country to outdo even those 
 highest positions. Then should we end tliis War in such a Christ-spirit and Christ-love toward enemies, as would 
 make it difficult for the nations, under the winning light of our example, to end their wars otherwise; — nay, as 
 would make it ditHcult for either them or us to bv^in any more wars. 
 
 I referred to tlie injustice and hypocrisy of the North in clamoring for punishment. There is nothing in 
 this connection in which she appears worse than in her endeavors by the pulpit and the press, by popular meet- 
 ings and by visiting committees, to fire the President with vengeance. How she repeats, and gloats over, his 
 admission that treason is a crime to be punished ! No one denies that treason is a crime — a great crime — and 
 that, as a general proposition, it should be punished — severely punished. But in this case there is no treason to 
 punish. I do not say that there is no moral treason in this case. Of this there is an abundance. What I say is, 
 that there is no treason in the eye of law. When the Rebellion broke out, all the Rebels were traitors; and 
 we had the legal right to punish them as such. But, however slowly and reluctantly, we nevertheless became, 
 at last, convinced that we could not carry on the contest and save our country, unless we allowed these rebels to 
 come up from traitors iu a Rebellion into enemies in a Civil War — and a Civil War too dif ""inc: in rnapect to 
 nc)ne ot its rigbts from a war with a foreign nation. 
 
 I have here given the reason why we have no treason to punish. But how enforced is this reason by tha 
 
 consideration that the North is little if any less guilty of the causes of the Rebellion than is the South ! 
 
 And then to urge President Julmson to punish the Rebels! — to urge him to punish Pro-Slavery! What 
 stupendous hypocrisy is this urging him to be guilty of! Who is he, that he should punish men for deeds they 
 were hurried into in their Pro-Slavery blindness, when he himself was, until so recently, a partaker of that 
 blindness. On one occasion and another, he advocated the most extreme Pro-Slavery measures ! — and he even 
 went so far as to vote for Breckenridge for President ! ! God be praised, that the noble man had the good sense 
 and the patriotism, which enabled him to resist the Pro-Slavery education and Pro-Slavery pressure, that his 
 neighbors could not resist ! But it is not for him to punish them. God be praised, that his eyes were opened 
 to the true character of Slavery ! Nevertheless, it is not for him to punish those, who did not get theirs open to 
 it as soon as he did. Sublimely said our beloved Lincoln—" If the people should, by whatever mode or means, 
 make it an Executive duty to re-enslave such persons (,persons freed by the Emancipation Proclamation,) another, 
 and not I, must be the instrument to perform it." As sublime would President Johnson be in saying, that, if 
 the American people Avill be guilty of the inconsistency and hypocrisy of punishing for the deeds and results of 
 Slavery, they must choose another, instead of himself, to execute their will. Will he not say it ? God will help 
 him say it. The President will be content to let the black Pro-Slavery past of both the North and the South 
 go unpunished by him. He will feel that it has already been too severely punished. Secm-ity for a bright Anti- 
 Slavery future is all that ho will claim. 
 
 IN EXCHANGE 
 

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