TWO YEARS' ABSENCE,
or.
A FAREWELL SERMION,
PREACHED
IN THE FIFTH CONGREGATIONAſ CHURCH, .
BY J. W. C. PENNING TO N.
Nov. 2d, 1845.
HARTFORD.
PUBLISHED BY H. T. W. ELLs,
1845.


To THE CHURCH AND Society of MY CHARGE:
Beloved Brethren:—The following farewell sermon
is dedicated particularly to you. In the month of Au-
gust last I presented to you the following request:
To the Fifth Congregational Church and !
Society of Hartford :
Dear Brethren in Christ:-Having, after prayerful
deliberation, concluded that it is my duty to retire
from public labors and to spend two years in classical
studies, I hereby request you to dismiss me for that
length of time—I on my part to resign my salary, and
you to supply the pulpit—the dismisssion to take effect
from and after the first of November next.
I am, dear brethren,
with high esteem,
Yours in Christ,
J. W. C. PENNINGTON, Pastor.
August 18, 1845.
As a church and society you have severally and
readily voted to grant my request, and accordingly
I stand dismissed from your service until the first of
November, 1847, at which time I expect, by the will
of God, in good faith, to return to your service. It has
been highly gratifying to me to find that the harmony
which has existed between us for six years prevailed
in this case. -
The question has frequently been asked me, “Where
are you going to study ?” This question has embar-

4.
rassed me, for several reasons: One is, that people
are apt to think the questions they ask are fair, wheth-
er they are really so or not; another is, that as a crea-
ture of providence, and a prudent man, I could not an-
swer it. Another is, that when yankees cannot get
answers to their questions, they usually get up a tre-
mendous guessing scrape; and lastly, in this way I am
in danger of being prejudiced.
You will bear in mind that among the reasons given
in support of my request, one was based upon the fact
that I am a fugitive from slavery—that the first few
months of my absence will be taken up in attending
to certain business with a view to relieve myself from
that increasingly unhappy situation. For this reason
no good can be gained by telling where I shall go to
study, if I knew, while it might prejudice my business.
At the same time, I am not bound to tell where I shall
go at present. I am bound to say what I go for, and
when I shall come back. You remember, brethren, I
have often told you that you did not know all you
might know about slavery. If slavery can empty your
pulpit, what wonder if it acts like a torpedo upon oth-
ers ? But some have said to me, “You need not be
afraid here.” I am not afraid. If I wanted dollars to
buy myself, I could raise a thousand within the fire
limits of Hartford in twenty-four hours. If I wanted
daggers to defend myself, I could raise ten thousand
of the truest hearted and hardest handed men in
Connecticut. But neither of these is the mode I
should choose to advance anti-slavery. Besides,
I am not at all the proper sort of a subject for the kind
of excitement consequent upon either of these modes.
I am quite certain that I should not be benefitted by
such proceedings as were had in the case of Dixon at

5
New York, or of Lattimer at Boston. I should doubt-
less ſail to gratify the expectations of many who might
act for me, and then my situation would, on some ac-
counts, be more unpleasant that it is now. But upon
my own plan I am prepared and qualified to act suc-
cessfully. If any doubt that the situation of a fugitive
is legally perilous in Connecticut, let them read “An
Act to repeal an Act therein mentioned, and for other
purposes.”
“Whereas, it has been decided by the Supreme Court
of the United States, since the passing of the Act of
1838, entitled “An Act for the fulfillment of the ob-
ligations of this State imposed by the Constitution of
the United States, in regard to persons held to ser-
vice or labor in one State escaping into another, and
to secure the right of trial by jury, in the case there-
in mentioned, that both the duty and the power of
legislation on that subject pertain exclusively to the
national government; therefore, -
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives in General Assembly convened, That the Act afore-
said, and the Act in alteration thereof, passed in 1839,
be, and the same is hereby repealed.
“Sec. 2. No judge, justice of the peace, or other
officer appointed under the authority of this State shall
be authorized, as such, to make, issue, or serve any
warrant or process for the arrest or detention of any
person claimed to be a fugitive from labor or service,
as a slave, under the laws of any other State or coun-
try, escaping into this State, or to grant a certificate of
the title of any claimant to the service of any person
so claimed to be a fugitive as aforesaid, with a view to
his detention or removal out of this State; and any
warrant, process, or certificate so issued or granted by
1*

6
any judge, justice of the peace or other officer of this
State, shall be utterly null and void, and shall consti-
tute no justification for any acts done under the same.
Provided, nevertheless, that nothing in this Act con-
tained shall be construed to impair any rights which by
the constitution of the United States may pertain to
any person to whom labor or service may be due by
the laws of any State, from any fugitive escaping into
this State or to prevent the exercise in this State of
any powers which may have been conferred by Con-
gress, on any judge or other officer of the United States
in relation thereto.”
You and the public will, I trust, grant me the merit
of sincerity in what I have said in this sermon with re-
ference to slavery. Fifteen years ago I escaped from
slavery. I entered the ministry and public labors
at a time when all the avenues of learning were closed.
The means of thorough learning are now within our
reach. I am still a young man. Our part of this na-
tion is yet in its elements, to be moulded. And the
last half of the present century will be our great moral
battle day. I go to PREPARE For THAT.
In regard to the grand pinch of the case, now in
court, viz. communion with slaveholders, ours is the only
tenable position. It is the only position that will hold
in these progressive times. The position of the Ameri-
can Board, and of the old school Presbyterian Assem-
bly, will not hold five years. They are like two devo-
tees just before the wheels of Juggernaut. They are
certainly in the way of the car of progress. We, like
sound moral philosophers, pronounce against the sys-
tem. We excommunicate it. Let the exceptions
come out, and we will take care of them—mercifully,
kindly and liberally. This is the great theory of dis-

7
cipline, moral, religious, or political. If a church is
heretical, pronounce it so and let the pure come out.
* Come out of her, my people.” If a province is re-
bellious, pronounce it so, and let the loyals come out.
If Sodom is corrupt, God pronounces First and then
hastens Lot out.
Who embraced James G. Birney, J. A. Thorne, Dr.
Brisbane, and the noble young lion, C. M. Clay' We.
Who excommunicate the system with all who willingly
and wilfully hold to it? We do not know of any
scripture that requires us to embrace men before they
have cast away their sins.
On the subject of applying church discipline to
slaveholders, I have long since adopted a sentiment of
my former pastor and venerable father in the gospel,
S. H. Cox, D. D., of Brooklyn, N. Y., in his letter to
Dr. Allen in 1836, in which he says:–
“As to the principle, as related to the moral code of
God, I hesitate not a moment to say, that other things
being equal, a slaver of any description ought to be
excluded from the communion of the church; and that,
by consequence, the members of the church, individu-
ally, ought to withdraw communion from slaveholders
and slavedealers universally. Whatever in the sys-
tem, or in our support of it, is morally wrong, is no
small criminality. It is piacular, rather than venal.
It is the moral annihilation and perdition of our fellow
creatures—each one of them a brother of the species—
an immortal—a man, in body, soul, and spirit. And is
ourt Judge eternal, who condescends to wear our com-
mon nature, in the person of Jesus Christ, on his
throne and to call every man his brother—such em-
phatically, if he loves the Saviour ! and to be repre-
sented on the earth, by the poor and the oppressed
8
And the King shall answer, and say unto them, Verily
I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one
of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto
me.”
I drank in this sentiment when I first read it, be-
cause I thought it correct, and I think so now. If my
beloved old pastor has changed from this sentiment,
there is one thing I have to say kindly and respect-
fully, and that is, that I have not changed with him.
I hold this sentiment the more fast, because I believe
that the slaveholders’ “other things” are “equal,” es-
pecially their light. The men who have sent out the
Washingtons, the Jeffersons, the Madisons, the Mon-
roes, the Jacksons, the Calhouns, the Clays, &c., are
they too much in the dark to be judged by the light !


I am gratified to be able to append the following
certificate, which will show friends and foes my eccle-
siastical standing and relations:
Br. PENNINGTON,+
The Association have directed me to furnish you
with the following certificate and testimonial, for your
use, during your proposed absence from your people
and your brethren:
Brother J. W. C. Pennington, proposing to be absent
from his pastoral charge for the term of two years, this
is to certify that he is Pastor of the Fifth Congrega-
tional Church in Hartford, Conn., and a brother be-
loved and a member, in good standing, of the Hartford
Central Association, and as such, is affectionately re-
commended to the sympathy and fellowship of the
people of God, wherever Providence shall cast his lot.
By vote of Association at Unionville,
Sept. 2, 1845.
Attest, I. N. SPRAGUE,
Scribe of Association.
The meeting of the Association, at which this certi-
ficate was voted, was held at Unionville; and the
question of disciplining slaveholders was the subject of
discussion at that meeting.
J. W. C. PENNINGTON.


S E R M0 N.
* AND Now, BRETHREN, I comm FND You To GoD, AND To THE WOR* 9”
His GRACE; which is ABLE To BUILD You UP, AND TO GIVE YOU AN IN-
HEartance AMong ALL THEM which ARE sanctiºned”-Acts xx. 32.
AFTER a residence of some two years at Ephesus,
Paul had been absent from there a number of months
on a pastoral visit through Macedonia. He was now
on his way up to Jerusalem, and having touched at
Miletus, and intending to “sail by Ephesus,” (verse 16)
he sent there and called the elders of the church to
him at Miletus.
“And when they were come to him, he said unto
them, Ye know, from the first day that I came into
Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all
seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind,
and with many tears and temptations, which befelme
by the lying in wait of the Jews: and how I kept back
nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed
you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to
house, testifying both to the Jews, and also to the
Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our
Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold, I go bound in
the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that
shall befall me there : * * * * * But none of these
things move me, neither count I my life dear unto my-
self, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the

12
ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to
testify the gospel of the grace of God. * * * Where-
fore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from
the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to de-
clare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed
therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over the
which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to
feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with
his own blood. For I know this, that after my depart-
ing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not
syaring the flock. Also of your own selves shall men
arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples
after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by
the space of three years I ceased not to warn every
one night and day with tears.” Then comes our
text: “And now, brethren, I commend you to God,
and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you
up, and to give you an inheritance among all them
which are sanctified.”
In our text we have one of those excellencies of the
Holy Scriptures that is every where evinced. I mean
their peculiar adaptation to the various circumstances
of the church—their moral and spiritual profitableness
unto all things. In discoursing hence, my theme shall
be, THE Apostolic commend ATION, ITs MEANING AND
HTS APIPLICATION.
I trust, brethren, that the spirit with which we pur-
sue this inquiry will make it a profitable one to our
souls, and pleasant to our minds. Let such be our fer-
vent desire, and our devout prayer to the Author of
the Bible and the great fountain of spiritual light.
I. My plan requires me to direct your attention to
the MEANING of this commendation.
I love to find the meaning of the word of God. As

13
a book of salvation, it has in general a plain meaning;
and for the purposes of salvation this meaning is every
thing to us. If you are sick you seek a skillful physi-
cian and good medicine. But you do not forget his
prescription—the manner in which you are to take the
medicine.
1st, “And now, brethren.”
A crisis has overtaken us in the providence of God,
which is to try our mutual faith and our mutual affec-
tions; but we are, and shall ever be, BRETHREN. This
happy Gospel term, embracing so many of the species,
male and female, as have been made “heirs of God and
joint heirs with Christ,” is significant of the catholicity
and the durability of the faith, the hope, and the
abounding goodness of God, which have constituted and
built the brotherhood upon the Rock. There is certain-
ly great utility in that feature of our holy Gospel which
binds its sincere and catholic-spirited professors togeth-
er into a brotherhood, whose ties are not broken, and
whose affections are not chilled by the distance that
may separate its members.
‘Now, BRETHREN. How very emphatic and Paul-
like And yet it is not less characteristic of Paul and
the crisis, or Paul in the crisis, than it is of that sancti.
fied and God-given affection of the heart, and heaven-
dawning affinity of soul, which bound the speaker to
those whom he addressed.
2d. I commºn D you to God.
I suppose that entrust, or deliver to, is a good
construction of the speaker here. The original is,
*****-commend, to give up to, to confide to. The
sense is strikingly appropriate to the occasion. His
charge was one of such weight and importance, that
he was constrained by his sense ofduty to entrust it to
2

14
God, as the most competent to take care of it. O, how
many duties and interests center in one relation :
What does this word signify in regard to God? That
He is the great and kind benefactor who, “like as a
father pitieth his children,” pitieth those that fear him.
What does it signify in regard to the Apostle him-
self? That in his devout communion with God, in his
daily prayers, and in the hourly out-goings of his heart,
they should be his theme. That in this commendation
his faith in the “one God and Father of all, who is
above all, and through all and, in you all,” was not
more strong than his fidelity to them.
And in all what does it signify in regard to the
brethren, here commended ? That they should look to
the “Father of lights,” from whom cometh every good
and every perfect gift, and ever giveth to all men (and
especially his own children) liberally, and upbraideth
not. O, then behold the mutual relation, mutual du-
ties, and the mutual blessing that mingle and commin-
gle, though tryingly, yet sweetly and consolingly.
If Paul wishes to commend his brethren to God, he
may. He is such a God that he will receive the trust.
Paul may have the same confidence here that he shows
in another place in regard to his own personal salva-
tion, when he says “for I know whom I have believ-
ed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I have committed unto Him against that day.”
Do Paul’s brethren wish to be commended to God?
They may be with the happiest assurance that they
shall be cared for.
3d. And to the word of his GRACE.
Thus the commendation proceeds. Aoroºz. 24tre; aurº.
The given word. The word he in mercy bestow-
ed to serve us as “a lamp unto our feet, and a light

15
unto our path.” And here he commends them to the
great RULE of Faith and Practice.
“The judge that ends the strife
Where wit and reason fail,
Our guide to everlasting life
Through all this gloomy vale.”
Here is the source of light and truth on all essential
points of duty. God has given this word that his own
children may be perfectly enlightened on every es-
sential point of duty; that by this they may square
their lives, regulate their entire intercourse with the
world, and order their conversation aright. That
also they may have a never-ſailing source of holy
consolation. To this word he commends them; to
it he urges them to resort. And as the New Testa-
ment scriptures were not committed to writing at this
time, it is obvious that he had reference to the preach-
ed word, or the Gospel, which was then given to their
charge. In commending them to this word, he was
performing the part of a faithful apostle and teacher,
for Paul himself knew well the great value and impor-
tance of the word of grace. Having himself realized its
benefits, having preached it to others with such vigi-
lance and success, he could with safety commend them
to it. Not being ashamed of this word, and having ex-
perience of its great utility, he could, without the least
hesitation, thus commend his brethren to it as a source
of comfort and consolation.
In the providence of God they had been led to place
great reliance upon Paul’s presence and counsel. And
as they were now to be deprived of that presence and
counsel, and as they would, under these circumstan-
ces, be likely to indulge in despair, he wisely guards
them against that extreme by urging them to rely upon

16
the holy word of God. Men always have some pecu-
liar source of reliance when in trying circumstances.
It is true, at least, to say that men can be very easily
led to place peculiar reliance upon some source of sup-
port when they are in trials. In trials Christians very
naturally look to the Bible—to the word of God’s
grace. In trial they feel the need of something on
which they can rest. This word is so full of promises,
counsels and instructions, that every true friend of God
seeks no better source when in trouble.
4th. You will now allow me to call your attention
more particularly to some things which this word is
able to do; or in other words, to what will be the ef-
fect of this commendation.
(1.) Which is able to build you up.
God is able to do this. He is able to do this by any
instrument of his own choice. He is able to do it by
his word of grace. This great result, then, was to be
secured to them in consequence of their being com-
mended to God and to the word of his grace. The
phrase “build you up,” is a figurative one, but no figu-
rative expression is more easily understood. It is in
general synonymous with growth in grace, and in di-
vine knowledge; becoming wiser unto salvation, holi-
er, and attaining in every respect a more finished state
of Christian morals. Whatsoever teaches the be-
liever to overcome the world, the flesh, and the Devil,
tends to build him up. Every lesson of experi-
ence he learns in spiritual things, tends to build him
up. Every step he advances in faith, hope, love, joy
and peace, tends to build him up. These show the
upward rearing of his spiritual house—his steady ten-
dency to the object and end of his Christian life. They
show the increase of his moral power, the weight of

17
his character. They show his advance from strength
to strength, the finishing of his stature of a man in
Christ Jesus. The process is happily described in his
“Pilgrim’s Song.”
“Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings,
Thy better portion trace;
Rise from transitory things,
Tow’rds heav'n, thy native place.
Sun, and moon, and stars decay—
Time shall soon this earth remove ;
Rise, my soul, and haste away
To seats prepared above.
“Rivers to the ocean run,
Nor stay in all their course:
Fires ascending seek the sun,
Both speed them to their source;
So a soul that’s born of God,
Pants to view his glorious face;
Upward tends to his abode,
To rest in his embrace.”
And to this great and glorious end is the word of
God’s grace well adapted. It begins this work by be-
getting the strong desires above described. It con-
tinues this work by continuing these desires, by feed-
ing and filling them. In this way the soul is put in
possession of a strong and increasingly vigorous and
healthy spiritual appetite.
(2) And to give you an inheritance among all them
which are sanctified.
Sanctification is here put for salvation; glorification
is often put for eternal life; “inheritance” in the Bi-
ble almost always means a complete state of salvation.
See, then, what the word of God’s grace is able to do.
It gives an inheritance among all them which are sanc-
tified, or saved by grace. In the prospect, then, what
light, comfort and consolation It reveals a Saviour to
all; gives * and precious promises, and un-

18
quenchable desires. It brings them into the same fami-
ly, and so makes them heirs of the same inheritance
in heaven. This, I believe to be the sense of the text
here. Such is the virtue of the word of God’s grace.
Such are its covenants, its promises, encouragements,
and its whole tendency, from the moment it produces
that great change, (regeneration,) in the soul of man,
to the day of its final account, when God shall judge
the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ: “Who
will render to every man according to his deeds: to
them who by patient continuance in well-doing, seek
for glory, and honor, and immortality, eternal life: but
unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the
truth, but obey unrighteousness; indignation and
wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man
that doeth evil; of the Jew first, and also of the Gen-
tile; but glory, honor, and peace, to every man that
worketh good; to the Jew first, and also to the Gen-
tile; for there is no respect of persons with God. For
as many as have sinned without law, shall also perish
without law: and as many as have sinned in the law,
shall be judged by the law.”
In this broad and catholic sentiment of the word of
God all should most cordially rejoice. All must at
once concur in the inflexible justice, the tender mercy,
the hope of immortality, and the peace, that are here
announced.
II. I am now to make an APPLICATION of THE
SUBJECT.
What particular considerations will give it an appli-
cation to our present situation, or what does the sub-
ject REQUIRE of you.
1st. Love to God.
You must love God before you can be commended

19
to him, or to the word of his saving grace. Christ says,
Prov. viii. 17, “I love them that love me.” Here love
answers to love. The same sentiment is taught 1 John
iv. 19, “We love Him because He first loved us.” To
those who do really love God, this application is easy
and very important. Paul says, 1 Cor. viii. 3, “ But
if any man love God, the same is known of him.”
Does this acquaintance exist between God and you ?
Christ says, John xiv. 23, “If any man love me he wil/
keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we
will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”
Now there will not be any difficulty in commending
such a man to God, and to the word of his grace.
There cannot be when there is already such an incli-
nation as that here expressed. Have you such love as
leads you to keep the word of the Son of God And
have you received into your bosom those august visit-
ors? If you have, I shall have no difficulty in accom-
plishing the object I have in view, commending you
to God and to the word of his grace. But, if other-
wise, I shall utterly ſail in my attempt. On this point
I will leave you to enlarge for yourselves. To get
your souls in tune for this examination, sing with the
poet:
-
1 “”Tis a point I long to know,
Oft it causes anxious thought:—
Do I love the Lord, or no º
Am I his, or am I not?
2 “If I love, why am I thus?
Why this dull, this lifeless frame
Hardly, sure, can they be worse,
Who have never heard his name.
3 “Could my heart so hard remain,
Prayºr a task and burden prove—
Ev'ry trifle give me pain–
If I knew a Saviour's love?

20
4 “When I turn mine eyes within,
All is dark, and vain, and wild;
Fill'd with unbelief and sin–
Can I deem myself a child?
5 “If I pray, or hear, or read,
Sin is mix’d with all I do;
You who love the Lord indeed,
Tell me—is it thus with you ?
6 “Yet I mourn my stubborn will,
Find my sin a grief and thrall;
Should I grieve for what I feel,
If I did not love at all !
7 “Lord, decide the doubtful case!.
Thou who art thy people's Sun:
Shine upon thy work of grace,
If it be indeed begun.
8 “Let me love thee more and more,
If I love at all, I pray; -
If I have not lov’d before,
Help me to begin to-day.”
2d. The subject requires you to cultivate an experi-
mental acquaintance with the word of God. -
There are various kinds of acquaintance with the
Bible. Some are minutely acquainted with it as a his-
tory. They have all of its historical facts at their
tongues' end. They know what it says about the
creation, and fall, the building of the ark, and the de-
luge. The various wonderful dealings of God with
the Jews and other wicked nations of the earth, &c.
Others have a great deal of what I will call chapter
and verse acquaintance with the Bible. They not only
know what the Bible says on a given subject, but they
know where it says so and so. Such have, as the say-
ing goes, (a very mistaken one,) the “Bible by heart.”
Another man has much acquaintance with the Holy
Scriptures as mere language. They are much in the
use of the expressions, the figures, parables, &c.
The world just now is full of controversial acquain-

21
tance with the word of God. Many of our pulpits have
operated upon the Christian world, like so many chairs
of “polemic theology,” teaching men the art of contro-
versy. Hence every leader or founder of a new sect is
generally a keen, waspish controversialist, skillful in the
defense of his cause by his acquaintance with the letter
of the Bible. But all this acquaintance with the word
may exist, and yet it may not be known as a word of
grace. Men may know what the Bible says about the
soul, and yet not know or understand what it says to
the soul.
The kind of acquaintance of which I speak here, is
that which knows the word of God as a word that can
never fail: Mark vii. 13. As a word by which the
man of God can live: Luke iv. 4. As the sword of
the Spirit: Eph. vi. 17. As a word that gives spiritual
life: 1. Pet. i. 23; Heb. iv. 12; vi. 5. In short, as a
word which is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness, &c.; 2 Tim.
iii. 16. -
3. PRACTICAL obedrºNCE to the word of God is
your duty. - -
All the benefits you expect to realize from the word
of God depend upon this. It is a singular fact that
men, in general, will make almost any other use of the
word of God but obey it. Many of our hottest contro-
versialists never intend to obey the word of God,
though they appeal to it as “the Judge that ends the
strife.” Many might be told as Samuel told Saul,
“behold to obey is better than sacrifices.”
Obedience to this word, to be practical, must intend
conformity to all its injunctions. This obedience must
be practical, because it is made the very test of Chris-
tian character. He that would show himself to be a
Christian must show it by his obedience to the Chris-

22
tian’s statute book. This obedience to the word of
God leads you to esteem it above your own opinions,
and above the opinions of any other men, however
pious and eminent. Let your motto be, “What saith
the Lord, that will I do.”
4th. You must learn to apply the word of God to
OVERT ACTS.
A warm and important discussion is now going on
in regard to the application of the word of God to such
overt acts as intemperance, rum-selling, encroaching
upon the sabbath, slaveholding, &c. Did the infinitely
wise God, who is the author both of the world and of
his own word, and who beholdeth the end from the
beginning, foreseeing all that should take place in the
world, make a world in which evils should take place
to which the word he has given has no practical appli-
cation Has the only wise God committed such a serious
blunder in the organization of his moral government 2
What does the governor of a State do, as he finds evils
out-growing his statute book? He calls the attention
of his law-making power to the fact, and recommends
new enactments. If he did not do so, his judgment
would be impeachable. What think you, has the
greatest and the wisest governor of the greatest prov-
ince given a statute book which passes over in silence
some of the greatest evils under which his province
groans? On this point you are solemnly bound to be
intelligent and independent.
If you stand commended to the guidance of the word
of God, you are bound to know its position in reference
to certain overt acts that crowd the land with curses.
Take the last and the greatest of the curses that I
named above. I mean slavery. Is the word of God
silent on this subject I, for one, desire to know, My

23
repentance, my faith, my hope, my love, and my per-
severance all, all, I conceal it not, I repeat it, all
turn upon this point. If I am deceived here—if the
word of God does sanction slavery, I want another
book, another repentance, another faith, and another
hopeſ I speak very reverently, and from a deep and
mournful reflection.
We are called upon to show whether “the Bible con-
demns slavery without any regard to circumstances,” or
not. I object to this form of the question. It shows one
of the subtleties of unsanctified logic. It requires all
the arguments and the rule of morals, to be constructed
for the exceptions, instead of the system. The question
fairly stated is this: “Is slaveholding consistENT
witH THE Gospel. " They wish to have us spend our
time, and confuse ourselves, by drawing comparisons
between A and B, and between C and D, slavehold-
ers of different habits, or by different circumstances.
For instance, is that poor widow who holds her slaves
by the tenure of her husband’s last will and testament
as guilty as Henry Clay' or, is Henry Clay, whose
man Charles will not leave him, as guilty as the man
who makes it his special business to buy and sell
slaves' Let the pure question come up without any
darkening counsel by words without knowledge, and
I vouch that it will soon be settled.
Much is attempted to be made of the fact that men
in other ages have been slaveholders, and that the
Bible states that fact. But the question is not affected
by what the Bible records as matter-of-fact history,
but only by what it reveals as consistent or inconsist.
ent with the moral nature of God, what is obedient or
rebellious before his throne. In reference to slavery,
is it consistent will the will of God? Does the Bibie

24
as His statute book, and His holy providence as His ex-
position of His own book, show it to be right in His
sight ! Does the light of nature shine upon slavery
approvingly These are questions I ask aside from
the speculations and the prejudices of men.
Multitudes now admit that slavery is evil. Many
others hold it to be a sin. And yet when it is propo-
sed to bring Christian discipline to bear upon the evil,
the sin, objections are raised in favor of exceptions.
What are the exceptions !
1. The slaveholder A holds his slaves for their own
benefit, because the law will not allow them to remain
in the State if set free.
2. The slaveholder B holds his slaves because he
has no other estate or business upon which to rely for
his living. Now the simple question is, can objections
to the application of Christian discipline, founded upon
either of these exceptions, be sustained upon Gospel
ground !
In reference to the slaves, who when set free would
be exposed to the law, is it not their duty to do as any
other persecuted men'ſ When the fires of persecu-
tion burn too hot in one place, flee to another. Sup-
pose the pilgrim fathers of New England, instead of
encountering the perils of the deep and of the wil-
derness, in search of religious liberty, had selected
some royal prince as their guardian, and surrendered
themselves slaves for life, in consideration of that
protection, or consented to hold their opinions at the
mercy of their oppressors? Would New England ev-
er have seen her glory? And would Old England
and all despotic Europe ever have received that whole-
some rebuke which they have so keenly felt And
are not the free States, Canada, the West Indies,

25
and Mexico, as accessible to these slaves as the wild
wilderness was to those fathers ? Are not these places
fully as accessible to freed slaves as they are to the
thousands of fugitives who annually, unaided and for-
bidden, find their way there The objection is found-
ed deep in selfishness. For why should a few scores
of such slaves be indulged and cared for, to the serious
detriment of the rights of millions?
In reference to the second case, suppose B were a
slave trader instead of a slave holder;-suppose he
were a lottery dealer, a rum-seller, &c., instead of a
slaveholder;-what, in the view of Christianity, would
be his duty If a rum-seller, he would be putting
the cup to his neighbor's mouth to make his living.
This living would cost the bodies and souls of men
and the happiness of their families. Would there be
any doubt of his duty in that case ? None. What
better is the slaveholding professor of religion ? What
reason is there for making exceptions in favor of the
slaveholder, who fears that the consequence of doing
right will be poverty, any more than in the case of
the rum-seller Is not this on the principle of loving
houses and lands more than Christ 2 And can those
professing Christian slaveholders who act upon this
principle be worthy of Christ
It is now held by many in high theological authori-
ty, that the mere relation between master and slave,
is not sinful; that it is consistent with a Christian pro-
fession; and even with unexceptionable piety towards
God and man. But the same persons who hold this
opinion, also hold that for certain things done by the
Christian slaveholder, under authority of this relation,
we may apply discipline to him.
Now to show how far this reasoning will retain its
3

26
strength and beauty, I will put the following case:
To-day we celebrated the Lord's Supper. As we sat,
suppose there had entered a stranger, who under the
catholic invitation to members of other churches, de-
sired to sit and partake with us. But it being known
to the church that the stranger is not only a slave-
holder, but had actually come to this city to rescue a
slave who fled from him, and who is a member of
this church, he is rejected. These gentlemen would
say that you did right. That slaveholder showed by
that act that he was cruel and avaricious; that he also
committed gross outrage upon the sense of this Chris-
tian community. But the same slaveholder, holding the
same relations, having the same views and feelings on
the subject of slavery, might come on some other busi-
ness, and these same gentlemen would censure you for
excluding him from your table. This case I think
shows their position, and for the life of me I can-
not see the consistency of it. They would have you
admit that the man has a free, full, pure, consist-
ent, innocent and legal right to have, hold and de-
fend a piece of property, and yet if that same property
happens to escape him, they would have you condemn
him for pursuing. Poor Shimei, he may hold his slaves
in Jerusalem, but because he went to Gath after his fu-
gitives, he must die! These men say that a man has a
right to wear a beaver hat, but if as he is passing your
door it is blown by the wind into your yard, and he
goes to get it, you must scold him out! “O consisten-
cy, thou art a jewell”
Let no one think that I am pleading for the rights
of the slaveholder, either to hold or to pursue slaves.
I am only pleading for consistency. In the case sup-
posed, what has the pursuer done but piously and le-

27
gally followed out the relation between master and
slave, owner and property. He is consistent with
himself—just as much so as the man who searches for
a bag of gold he has lost. For if the relation between
master and slave be consistent with the Gospel, then it
must be equally consistent with the Gospel for the
master to pursue his lost slave, even to this city, and
claim him. How can we expect to make the fruit good
while the tree is corrupt “Either make the tree
good and [so] his fruit good, or else make the tree cor-
rupt and [so] his fruit corrupt. For the tree is known
by his fruit.” What kind of fruit does slavery bear !
Bad. As saith the noble Pollok,
“bad the root,
And bad the fruit it bore.”
My sentence is that slavery is condemned by the
general tenor and scope of the New Testament. Its
doctrines, its precepts, and all its warnings are against
the system. I am not bound to show that the New
Testament authorizes me in such a chapter and verse
to reject a skaveholder. It is sufficient for me to show,
what is fully acknowledged by my opponents, that it is
murdering the poor, corrupting society, alienating
brethren, and sowing the seed of discord in the bosom
of the whole church, and covering all missionary
ground with the blasting fires of controversy.
Let us always bear in mind what slavery is, and also
what the Gospel is.
Here is slavery in its legal attributes:
“A slave is one who is in the power of his master
to whom he belongs; the master may sell him, dis-
pose of his person, his industry and his labor; he can
do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire any thing, but
what must belong to his master.” La Civ. Code, Art.

28
35. “All their issue and offspring born and to be born,
shall be, and they are hereby declared to be and re-
main forever hereafter absolute slaves, and shall follow
the condition of the mother.”
It is said that facts are stubborn things. The above
are statute facts.
But here follows an ecclesiastical exposition of slave-
ry, by the Synod of KENTucky.
“This system licenses and produces great cruelty.
“Mangling, imprisonment, starvation, every species
of torture, may be inflicted upon him, (the slave,) and
he has no redress. -
“There are now in our whole land two millions of
human beings, exposed, defenceless, to every insult,
short of maiming or death, which their fellow men may
choose to inflict. They suffer all that can be inflicted
by wanton caprice, by brutal lust, by malignant spite,
and by insane anger. Their happiness is the sport of
every whim, and the prey of every passion that may,
occasionally, or habitually, infest the master's bosom.
If we could calculate the amount of woe. endured by
ill-treated slaves, it would overwhelm every compas-
sionate heart—it would move even the obdurate to
sympathy. There is also a vast sum of suffering inflict-
ed upon the slave by humane masters, as a punishment
for that kind of idleness and misconduct which slavery
naturally produces.
“Brutal stripes and all the varied kinds of personal
indignities, are not the only species of cruelty which
slavery licenses.”
I want no higher authority than this. I want no
truer picture of slavery.
But how does this agree with our Gospel' Does it
sanction “cruelty tº Jas. ii. 13. Does it sanction

29
“mangling 7" Luke x. 30. Does it sanction “impris-
onment 7” Heb. xi. 36. Does it sanction “starvation ?”
Matt. xxv. 45. Does it sanction “torture ?” Heb. xi.
37. In short does it sanction “malignant spite,” “in-
same anger,” and whimsical sporting with the happi-
ness of our fellow men 7
And O how precious is that part of this ecclesiastic-
al exposition which speaks of the “vast sum of suffer-
ing inflicted upon the slave by “HUMANE masters,” for
evils INHERENT in the system—“idleness and miscon-
duct which slavery naturally produces.”
Two hundred and thirty long, dreary and bloody
years have passed away, during which eight gen-
erations of us have sunk, starved, beaten, mangled,
broken-hearted, and bathed in blood to the grave.
At this day of reform, revivals, missionary operations,
political renovations, and literary excellence, when we
rise up and cry to these men upon Christian principle,
enough, enough, O do let the past days of your bloody
doings suffice; slacken your hands, let us go that we
may make friendship, and do a little for the glory of
God before the day of account comes with us both;
they turn upon us and ask by what authority we say
these things. We think it now about time to ask
these self consecrated tyrants, by what authority they
have done these things and continue to do them. It
is high time they begun to look to the account they
will have to give ere long. They have pretended to
act by Bible authority. They very well know that if
We are right, they are wrong; hence they are afraid
to come “to the law and to the testimony,” because
on this subject they know there is no truth on their
side.
Decidedly the greatest, the most critical and the

30
most perplexing biblical question now to be decided,
is whether the Bible does, or does not, condemn Amer-
ican slavery; and consequently whether we have a
right to refuse communion with Americanslaveholders
as Christians. Some taunting wag might ask, what
have learned theologians and pious statesmen been
about these eighteen hundred years the world has
been in possession of the Gospel, that they have not
settled that question in its light ! My brethren, the
question is fully settled with me; and I hope it is with
you. -
And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the
word of his grace, in the confident hope that during the
two years of our pastoral separation, God will be your
Almighty friend, protector and guide, and his word
your light, support and comfort; that you will live
unitedly in the fear and love of God; that you will
keep your church pure; be examples of public and pri-
vate piety; train your children right; pray much;
pass the fugitive along, support the temperance cause,
stand by the Union Missionary Society, pray for the
Mendi mission and brother Raymond. And the God
of Grace reward you.
Let piety prevailin your families. Let order prevail
in your meetings. Pray do not take a retrograde move-
ment in your affairs, but advance, even faster than you
have done heretofore.
Let both the Female Missionary and the Female Re-
lief Societies hold on their way faithfully. You have
done nobly—you can continue to do so.
I hope all the children of the church and congrega-
tion will earnestly seek early piety. I hope the chil-
dren of the Sabbath school will not let the children of
Detroit think more of and do more for the Mendi mis-

31
sion than they. Cannot the little girls of the congre-
gation do something to help Mrs. Raymond You
can pray for the Mission. I hope you will at night as
you retire, utter a prayer like this: “O Lord, our
Heavenly Father, be pleased to bless Mr. and Mrs. Ray-
mond, spare their lives and bless the work of their hands,
to the salvation of the chiefs, the people and the children
of Mendi, for Thy name's sake. Amen.
“Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds,
Is like to that above.
Before our Father’s throne
We pour our ardent pray'rs;
Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one,
Our comforts and our cares.
We share our mutual woes;
Our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows
The sympathizing tear.
When we asunder part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be join’d in heart,
And hope to meet again.”
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