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 OUR D A Y, 
 
 A GIFT FOR THE TIMES 
 
 EDITED BY J. G. ADAMS. 
 
 The age of practice is now at hand. The true credentials are deeds. 
 The genuine teat is performance." GOODWIN BARHBT. 
 
 la better than it once was, and hath more 
 Of mind and freedom than it ever had." 
 
 FMTTJS. 
 
 BO-STON: 
 B. B. MUSSEY & CO. 
 
 1848.
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 POINTED BT DAMRELL AND MOORB, 
 
 No. 52 WasMngton-otreet
 
 AN INTRODUCTORY WORD. 
 
 READER, The book into which you are now looking is 
 intended as an utterance a faint one, though it may be 
 of the great heart of humanity at the present time. It will 
 speak freely of the moral movements of our day, peace, 
 temperance, the reformation of the criminal, human free- 
 dom, the abolition of the gallows, and of other indications 
 of human progress in which the true philanthropist rejoices. 
 
 It is not a sectarian book. The editor designed that its 
 pages should speak the free thoughts of free minds ; minds 
 moved to utter, for the oppressed and abused of our race, the 
 words of everlasting truth and right. Though sorry that he 
 has not received contributions asked of some who might 
 have spoken to good advantage here, he is very thankful to 
 those who have so freely condescended to honor these pages 
 with their acceptable gifts. God reward them in the many 
 thanks of souls to whom their words will be as " the blessing 
 that maketh rich." 
 
 Let me now speak more freely in reference to the fact 
 just noted, that the book is not sectarian. The truth it 
 utters is that of Christianity ; not, however, of a Christianity 
 exclusively confined to any outward Christian church institu- 
 tion ; bnt of that Christianity now working wherever wrong 
 is assailed, and the rights of man are proclaimed and vindi- 
 cated. It is an appeal to all nominal Christians, that they give 
 heed to the great conflict of good and evil, error and truth.
 
 4: AN INTRODUCTORY WORD. 
 
 now going on in our world. Too many Christians, we have 
 reason to apprehend, are at fault here. They see about all 
 the good actually worth claiming or knowing among men, 
 in the church to which they belong, or with the sect whose 
 name they bear. They know but little of reform going on 
 among men, unless it be effected in just their way, and by 
 just the means which they may be pleased to approve. 
 And they seem to suppose, either that all real reform is 
 going on just as they would have it (though, indeed, very 
 slow in this way), or that it is waiting till the right time 
 comes, when, free from all these illegitimate pretenders to 
 reformation, it may go on, only in this one way, unto per- 
 fection. 
 
 Such discerners of the signs of our times surely err in 
 vision. They hear not the true utterance of the present 
 hour. They are dreaming in the past, when they should be 
 realizing in the present. The conflict of truth and error is 
 confined to no sect is hemmed in by no denominational 
 lines. It is going on everywhere ; in the church away 
 from the church among ministers with the people. 
 Christ never came to do his work thus denominationally. 
 His field is the world ; and most blessed that sect, whatever 
 it be, who shall most heartily labor for the overthrow of 
 wrong, and for the triumph of the right therein. In this wide 
 field, multitudes of the valiant and noble-hearted are now 
 laboring. They are uttering their strong voices against evil ; 
 and they are heard by many listening ears, and welcomed by 
 many opening hearts. They are out now ; and their trum- 
 pet-words are rising amid that mass of reigning evil and 
 abounding sin over which the philanthropist so often sighs, 
 and lifts up trusting hands to heaven. 
 
 l< Where the heel of hard Oppression standeth on the quivering 
 
 heart ; 
 
 Where Humanity is bartered at the auction or the mart ; 
 Wheresoti'er a chain is rusting into any human right ; 
 There they loudest swell the conflict ; hottest there, they wax the 
 
 fight."
 
 AN INTRODUCTORY WORD. 5 
 
 We have such spirits in the church, and out of it. Nor in 
 noisy strife or clamor do their works of truth go on. Their 
 words are spoken in the bye-places of evil, in the dark cor- 
 ners of suffering, sin, and shame words of encouragement, 
 words of hope and life everlasting. 
 
 And their words and their works will be mighty through 
 God. They must be; for they are founded in his unwaver- 
 ing truth. They will do good in the direct influence they 
 have exerted in the alleviation of human suffering in the 
 detection and exposure of wrong in defence, illustration, 
 and enforcement of the truth in taking hold on the tem- 
 porally and morally sick and infirm, bound, crushed, blinded, 
 and imprisoned, and restoring them to life, liberty, and hap- 
 piness. They have done such good. They are still effect- 
 ing it. And while they labor thus in truth's holy name, it is 
 not possible that such labor should be unsuccessful. 
 
 They do good, moreover, in the agitations they make 
 among the opinions and pretensions of mankind. They help 
 to prove what is the commendable, and pure, and abiding, 
 and what is merely outward and illusive in the professions 
 and actions of men. And this is cheering. Any honest 
 movement that thus sends up the inquiry to the origin of 
 every creed or code, " Is it of God, and will it benefit man ? " 
 and that would compel every pretender to righteousness to 
 vindicate his claim by corresponding works of justice and 
 of love, should be hailed and encouraged. Let not the voice 
 for the right be silenced. Let the wrong be assailed, freely 
 and fearlessly no matter where it shall entrench itself 
 no matter how it may pile up mountains of influence, or 
 fashion, or wealth, or temporal greatness around it or how 
 dignified or sanctimonious it may look out on us when we 
 dare to question its authority. No matter whether it hold a 
 Bible, or a Declaration of Independence, or a state constitu- 
 tion, or a slave-whip, or a wine-cup, or a sword, or any other 
 sign of its authority and power. If it be wrong, then is 
 heaven's word then is God then is man's true soul
 
 6 AN INTRODUCTORY WORD. 
 
 then are all the interests of our race then are the lights 
 and hopes of the present then are the sure prophecies of 
 good concerning the future, all, all against it ! And though 
 it boast itself, and utter " great swelling words of vanity," 
 and defy the truthful armies of the living God, it shall fall 
 beneath the conquering arm of omnipotent Eight, and amid 
 the rejoicings of a race redeemed ! " He that hath ears to 
 hear, let him hear." 
 
 It will be perceived that the names of the authors, at the 
 heads of the articles, " Democracy," " Thomas Clarkson," 
 and " The Moving Spirit of Reform," have been omitted ; an 
 error in proof-reading, occasioned by the absence of the 
 editor. The names are given, however, in the table of 
 Contents, 
 
 TE EPITOR.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Pge. 
 Reform REV. J. WESLEY HANSON, 9 
 
 Reforms and Reformers, . REV. MOSES BALLOU, . . 13 
 Interested Opposers of Moral Re- 
 forms, REV. A. R. ABBOTT, . . 27 
 
 The Gallows shall be Cast Down, J. G. ADAMS, ... 33 
 Night and Morning, . . REV. T. L. HARRIS, . . 44 
 The Redeemed Husband, . . MRS. MARY A. LIVERMORE, 47 
 The Reward, . . . J. G. WHITTIER, . . 62 
 
 Death of N. P. Rogers, . . J. G. ADAMS, ... 64 
 The Alleged Inferiority of the Af- 
 rican Race, .... REV. C. STETSON, . . 66 
 The Fugitive Slave, . . . REV. HENRY BACON, . . 77 
 
 A Glimpse, 79 
 
 Anniversary Week in Boston, . J. G ADAMS, ... 83 
 To Frederick Douglass, . . J. G. ADAMS, . . . 106 
 The Criminal, .... REV. CHARLES SPEAR, . 108 
 A Prisoner's Death, . . JAMES LUMBARD, . . 125 
 Fourier and his Social System, HORACE GRBELEY, . . 128 
 
 A Prayer, JAMES LUMBARD, . . 147 
 
 The Beavers, .... REV. THEODORE PARKER, 148 
 Democracy, . . . . J. G. ADAMI, . . .154
 
 O CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 A Demon to be Exorcised, . REV. G. G. STRICKLAND, . 157 
 
 The Pulpit and Popular Reforms, REV. A. D. MAYO, . . 160 
 Thomas Clarkson, . . . J. G. ADAMS, . . .171 
 
 Christianity, .... RKV. DAY K. LEE, . 188 
 Responsibility of the Traffic in 
 
 Spirits, H. BALLOT:, 2n, D.D., . . 191 
 
 The Hutchinsons, . . . REV. A. HIGHBORN, . 200 
 
 The Moving Spirit of Reform, J. W. BROWN, ESQ., . . 207 
 
 The Reformer and the Redeemer, 216 
 
 One Idea, RKV. W. R. G. MELLEN, . 219 
 
 Patriotism, .... REV. T. S. KING, . . 236 
 
 Our Country, Right or Wrong 240 
 
 The Dialect of Reform, . . REV. HENRY BACON, . 256 
 
 " Thy Kingdom Come," . . MRS. S. C. E. MAYO, . . 259 
 
 The Idolatry of Party, . . REV. E. H. CHAPIN, . 260 
 God's Law : Man's Interpretation 
 
 of it, S. E. COTTES, ESQ., . . 266 
 
 " Thy Kingdom Come," . . REV. W. P. TILDKN, . 272 
 
 Song of Prophecy, . . J. G. ADAMS, . . . 278 
 
 A Sermon for Every-day Life, . 279
 
 OUR DAY 
 
 REFORM. 
 
 BY REV. J. WESLEY HANSON. 
 
 I HEAR a tumult from the heaving sea 
 
 Of Human Life. The multitudinous Waves, 
 
 Like Ocean's billows, lift their mighty voices, 
 
 And, with a deep and solemn sound, they ask 
 
 A Change. The awful din startles the ear 
 
 Of gouty Sin, and scowling, blear-eyed Wrong ; 
 
 And old Conformities, with chattering teeth, 
 
 Shrink back affrighted. Forms and Kites, and old 
 
 Observances, upon whose wrinkled brows 
 
 The gray and grisly locks of Age are seen, 
 
 Bend low, and speed away, like ghosts, before 
 
 This roar of many voices. Loud they cry : 
 
 :< Reform ! Reform ! " Blind old Conservatism, 
 
 Fearing advance, looks timorously on ; 
 
 And in the distant sound, hourly more near, 
 
 It hears in low, deep thunder-tones : " REFORM ! "
 
 10 OUK DAY. 
 
 God speed that day ! The World's great aching heart 
 
 Is wildly throbbing for the issue and 
 
 Perfection of this prophecy of Heaven ! 
 
 The Church, God's holy Church, arrayed in weeds. 
 
 And weeping like a widow, moans " Reform ! " 
 
 Within her Gothic piles, and stately temples, 
 
 Wealth and magnificence are broadly strown. 
 
 The golden light streams dimly in through carved 
 
 And painted windows ; and, with splendid hue, 
 
 Sleeps on high pillar and gilt organ-pipe. 
 
 But low-browed Cunning and red-handed Sin 
 
 Go skulking up the cushioned aisle ; and, when 
 
 High nave and choir are trembling with a burst 
 
 Of organ-music, sharp-set, keen eyed men 
 
 Are hoarsely whispering of " Loss and Profit," 
 
 " Bank-stocks," and " Six-per-cents." And, o'er the edge 
 
 Of yonder desk, silk-canopied, there peers, 
 
 In sacerdotal vestments, one who prays 
 
 And preaches, but who bows a willing knee 
 
 At Mammon's gilded shrine. Nay, when a storm 
 
 Of music sweeps yon cloistered aisle, the ear 
 
 May, in the pause of anthems, hear sick cries 
 
 For bread and Holy Truth ; the Poor, who cry 
 
 In vain for that which God made free as air, 
 
 And, 'neath the very Sanctuary's eaves, 
 
 They cry, and beg, and pray for Life unheard. 
 
 And then the World, the weeping, bleeding World, 
 Where God's high Law is rudely jeered, and Might 
 And Strength make Right. ; where sickly Poverty, 
 Clothed in vile rags, sits weeping by the way ;
 
 EEFOEM. 11 
 
 Where the great highway 's thronged by busy forms, 
 Who, in the rush and whirl for gain, see not, 
 Below the dust, poor Want weeping hot tears 
 That wet the soil. Brothers ! Pause ye now ! 
 And see in Life's great chart how Law becomes 
 But the stern will of Wealth and Pride ; how weak 
 And feeble men must bow the knee, and sweat 
 And strive in vain to shake the iron yoke 
 From their galled, weary necks ; how Poverty 
 Must bend to Wealth ; and Truth, with double tongue, 
 Deal falsely ; and e'en Virtue, pure and spotless, 
 Sell all her good to pampered, bloated Vice. 
 Hear ! far above the low, sweet prayer of Faith, 
 And Piety's clear music, and the song 
 Of the good angel Hope, the scream of Sin, 
 The curse of Blasphemy, the shouts of men 
 Drunk with the blood of souls, the roar and din 
 Of Vice, and Sin, and Crime, and deadly Wrong ! 
 # * * * * * 
 
 But Light, like bright Aurora's streakings, streams 
 Along the distant Orient, and waves 
 Its golden banners ; and, from distant shores, 
 We catch the glad, harmonious songs of men 
 Redeemed, released, and clothed in the white robes 
 Of Freedom and of Light. Oh ! hear their shouts, 
 And list their heavy tramplings ! On they come, 
 Shaking the firm-set Earth, which rocks beneath 
 Their mighty footsteps. Hear then- song ! It throbs 
 With its great burthen, and the trembling air
 
 12 OUR DAY. 
 
 Is filled with anthems of triumphal music. 
 
 Beneath their feet bright flowers spring up, and smile 
 
 From their blue eyes ; and the old, worn-out Earth 
 
 Renews her youth, and rustles sweetest music 
 
 To the mild-answering Stars, who gladly pour 
 
 From out their golden urns a heavenly blessing. 
 
 Earth is renewed, and Man redeemed again : 
 
 Great Right and Truth have conquered Wrong and Sin !
 
 13 
 
 REFORMS AND REFORMERS. 
 
 BT REV. MOSBS BALLOU. 
 
 ALL true reforms must have for their object 
 the recognition and observance of the principles 
 of Christian truth. No reformer can hope to 
 succeed, who is unmindful of this great fact. 
 I assume here, of course, that the purpose of 
 Christ and Christianity is not the mere granting 
 of an insurance policy ; but that it embraces, in 
 its comprehensive range, every thing that belongs 
 to the proper development of man, or the reali- 
 zation of true human destiny. Admitting this, 
 the work of Christ and the work of the re- 
 former must be one. The reformer must labor 
 in Christ's cause, use his weapons, and always 
 in his spirit. 
 
 Christianity, as the great agent in all true 
 reformation, manifests three distinct, but co- 
 operating elements ; viz., a destructive, a conser- 
 vative, and a constructive power. The divine 
 writers compare its operations to the process of
 
 14 OUR DAY. 
 
 transforming the wilderness and the desert into 
 gardens of fertility and beauty ; * recognizing 
 clearly these three characteristics. 
 
 As the tiller of the soil drains the marsh, and 
 irrigates the dry places ; levels the forest, clears 
 the ground of all incumbrances, sows his field, 
 and fills it with grain, and fruits, and flowers ; so 
 shall the gospel carry on its great reforms, till 
 human life becomes flourishing like Eden, and 
 blooming and beautiful as the garden of the 
 Lord. 
 
 1. It hath a destructive power. 
 
 I have no hesitation in assuming the position, 
 that the first work of the reformer is to destroy, 
 however much the timorous or kind-hearted may 
 shrink from the declaration. The language of 
 Christ is " Every plant which my heavenly 
 Father hath not planted shall be rooted up ; " t 
 and it is a divine sanction, from the highest 
 authority, of the ground I have taken. If the 
 soil to be tilled was free from all incumbrances, no 
 such work would be necessary, no implement 
 of destruction would be wanted. The labor of 
 the reformer would be wholly constructive. 
 
 The reality, however, is far otherwise. The 
 ground is already occupied. It contains much 
 
 * Isa. xirv, 1, 2, 7 ; and li. 3. t Matt. xv. 13.
 
 REFORMS AND REFORMERS. 15 
 
 that must be removed in the outset. The tall 
 old trees must be hewn down, however venera- 
 ble the age of centuries may have made them. 
 Their very roots must be torn from the earth, to 
 give place for better productions. Rocks must 
 be removed, and weeds, that are robbing the soil 
 of its nutriment, swept away. The plough and 
 the harrow must pass over, to break up, mellow, 
 and fit it for use. All this must be done before 
 the husbandman can hope to succeed in his pur- 
 poses. The axe is his first implement; and his 
 first work, destruction. 
 
 Like this is all true reform, in its incipient 
 stages. To destroy is its first work. In religion 
 it is so. The minds and hearts of men are not 
 a mere unoccupied blank, on which a new creed 
 can be written, or a new likeness imprinted. 
 Those minds are already filled with false notions. 
 Those hearts are choked up with errors. And 
 these must be destroyed, before truth can find a 
 lodging-place within them. 
 
 Whoever reads the history of Christ will 
 find this fact fully confirmed in his practice. In 
 the famous Sermon on the Mount, he attacks 
 directly and pointedly the old doctrinal errors of 
 the religious Jews. Against their false notions, 
 he wields his battle-axe ; and, with a strong 
 arm, sweeps away the principles of the popular
 
 16 OUR DAY. 
 
 faith. He knew very well that these could not 
 exist in connection with his truth, and his first 
 work was to root them up. The true reformer 
 in religion will find it necessary to copy his 
 example. It is as essential now, as it was then, 
 that the axe, the fire, and the plough, should 
 go before the hand that sows. 
 
 It is so in morals. Impure passions, unholy 
 desires, and, above all, vile and degrading habits, 
 are already in possession of the hearts of men ; 
 and the hand that would reform must first purge 
 these out. The good harvest must not be ex- 
 pected from the wilderness. Weeds must be 
 destroyed before flowers will grow. It is the 
 same in social improvements. Society already 
 has its customs, habits, and institutions. That 
 these need remodelling, no one can doubt who 
 has ever felt, or even witnessed, the curses that 
 some of them have inflicted. There is much, 
 therefore, to be torn down by the hand of the 
 true reformer. Savage laws, barbarous treat- 
 ment of offenders, slave institutions, false codes 
 of honor and respectability, and all convention- 
 alities that defy the mandates of God, must be 
 done away ; and he who would attempt this 
 must not fear to go manfully to work with the 
 implements of destruction. The cause of truth,
 
 REFORMS AND REFORMERS. 17 
 
 the welfare of society, and the glory of God, all 
 demand it. 
 
 But this, however important, is not alL Christ- 
 ianity hath also, 
 
 2. A conservative power. 
 
 Its work is not merely to destroy. This alone 
 were an ignoble task indeed. It is always the 
 work of an inferior mind. No good man would 
 stoop to it. But when the instrument of destruc- 
 tion becomes absolutely necessary, when it is 
 used only to prepare the way for a good not 
 attainable without, it becomes at once elevated 
 and ennobled ; and the good man seizes upon it 
 as freely as the wise surgeon grasps his knife. 
 Such is the character and operation of this ele- 
 ment in Christianity. 
 
 Its destructive power acts not as an end, but 
 as a means. It hews down, only that it may 
 build up anew ; destroys, only that it may finally 
 save. In this process, it is and must be emi- 
 nently conservative. In converting the wilder- 
 ness and waste places into a garden of fertility 
 and beauty, the judicious laborer often finds it 
 necessary to interpose a preserving hand. Many 
 a natural scene would be left in pristine loveli- 
 ness ; many a tree, and shrub, and flower, he 
 would save, either for ornament or utility. 
 Christian truth must operate in the same way.
 
 18 OUR DAT. 
 
 Reformers must act on this principle. Perfection 
 and imperfection, beauty and deformity, good 
 and evil, are so mixed and blended in this world 
 of ours, that the hand of reform must move with 
 caution and discrimination. 
 
 All changes are not improvements. All revo- 
 lutions are not true reforms. And I doubt 
 not that, in reference to this particular, good- 
 meaning men have been sometimes blinded and 
 led astray. Reformers in every sphere have 
 been extremely liable to confound the good with 
 the bad ; uses with abuses ; and not unfre- 
 quently, perhaps, have hurled both to a common 
 ruin. 
 
 Some have treated religion in this way. Its 
 perversions and conceptions, too plain to be 
 overlooked, standing out in bold relief, appear 
 striking and important, and arouse indignation. 
 They fix an eye upon these, and these alone. 
 They will not stop to look at the other side of 
 the picture. 
 
 They pause not to inquire for its uses, its 
 benefits, its blessings ; but, confounding all these 
 with its evils, cast all overboard together. Such, 
 I hardly need say, is not the course of the true 
 reformer; and the fault cannot be too strongly 
 reprehended. Christ was far from this in his 
 great movement. He was always keenly dis-
 
 REFORMS AND REFORMERS. 19 
 
 criminating. He recognized the good, wherever 
 existing, and cast only the bad away. The 
 diamond to him was valuable, though buried 
 fathoms deep in the dirt and filth of the mine. 
 Truth existed in the world before he came ; and 
 he did not reject it, because he found it in 
 connection with so much of error. But as the 
 destroying angel, in smiting the land of Egypt, 
 passed over every child of Israel, and saved it ; 
 so Christ, in destroying falsehood and evil, was 
 ever cautious that truth and goodness should 
 not perish with them. 
 
 Social reformers, too, we have reason to fear, 
 have not always been sufficiently discriminating. 
 Society, as now organized, has its evils. Some 
 of these are fast becoming intolerable. No one 
 with his eyes open can deny it. Philanthropists 
 have seen this, and deplored it. They have 
 become excited by looking only at the darker 
 shades in the social picture ; and, in the heat of 
 their enthusiasm, have sometimes rushed on 
 headlong in attempts to raze society to its very 
 foundations. In their blind recklessness, they 
 would leave it neither root nor branch. 
 
 To the candid eye, however, it is plain that, 
 with all the evils and abuses that are attendant 
 upon the present social system, it has many 
 redeeming traits and features, that no destroying
 
 20 OUR DAY. 
 
 hand ought ever to disturb. If it has curses, it 
 has also blessings ; and, while the former are 
 abolished, the latter should be preserved with the 
 most sedulous care. No system so extensive, 
 that has grown up from human wants, can be 
 wholly evil. That which is cannot all be wrong. 
 
 Good and evil, like tares and wheat, grow 
 often in the same field. And the effort that is 
 made to root up the one should always have a 
 due regard to the welfare of the other. 
 
 Slavery is now, I thank God, considered by 
 most men as a monstrous evil. But our civil 
 compact, which was formed under peculiar cir- 
 cumstances, it was thought at the time, must 
 tolerate this institution, and has sustained it by 
 its authority ever since. Now from this one 
 fact, there are, doubtless, thousands of men in 
 our country who would gladly see the Constitu- 
 tion of our Union trampled in the dust. It 
 countenances one great evil ; and that is, appa- 
 rently, all they consider. They have no eye for 
 its various and multiplied blessings. Its supe- 
 riority, in other respects, seems to be utterly 
 overlooked or forgotten ; and, for this single 
 defect, they would rejoice to see the whole 
 whelmed in one common mass of ruins. Much 
 as I hate slavery, deeply as I detest it, I can- 
 not think this is right. It is destruction with-
 
 REFORMS AND REFORMERS. 21 
 
 out conservatism, as I believe. It is rooting 
 up plants and weeds, wheat and tares, toge- 
 ther. 
 
 This same principle, that I would adopt as a 
 reformer, I would recommend to the attention of 
 those who are so fond of denouncing reformers. 
 It is notorious that there is a class in our coun- 
 try, made up chiefly of those who are very well 
 off themselves; whose absorbing selfishness can- 
 not be tempted by the promise of a change in 
 the present order of things ; and who, therefore, 
 desire none. Such are very bitter towards 
 reformers generally. They will mock at their 
 excited sympathies ; sneer at their efforts ; de- 
 clare that every thing is right as it is ; and that 
 reformers are the craziest fools on earth. 
 
 I admit that reformers sometimes expose 
 themselves to severe judgments. They are, 
 perhaps, generally inclined to enthusiasm. Their 
 enterprises are such as to attract readily the 
 most ardent spirits. Often they become fanati- 
 cal. By dwelling upon a single idea, it grows 
 into immense importance. The cause to which 
 they have given their whole energies becomes 
 magnified ; and it is to be expected that they 
 will grow bigoted and narrow-minded in regard 
 to it. But is it right to seize upon these faults ; 
 faults which grow out incidentally from the
 
 22 OUR DAT. 
 
 action of the noblest virtues, and the purest 
 feelings, and speak of their whole work in terms 
 of the most bitter and sweeping condemnation ? 
 How often is this done ! How often is an indi- 
 vidual or a party assailed, in terms of indiscri- 
 minate censure, when in reality the great purpose 
 of their efforts and sacrifices is nobly generous, 
 and their faults, in endeavoring to realize it, 
 merely incidental ! 
 
 But Christianity hath also, 
 
 3. A constructive power. 
 
 This is, in fact, its most glorious feature ; and, 
 without it, the whole system would be worth very 
 little to the world. Christ would not only 
 destroy all that is evil, and preserve all that 
 is good, but he would enlarge and increase that 
 good. To refer once more to the figure I have 
 used, the power that would transform the wil- 
 derness into a garden must be a power emi- 
 nently constructive. It is not enough that the 
 old forest is laid low, and the tangled thicket 
 swept away. It is not enough even that all 
 should be preserved which is found valuable. 
 There is an order of things to be created anew. 
 There is planting, transplanting, and sowing, to 
 be done ; and the process of pruning, dressing, 
 and cultivating, must be carried on, until finally
 
 REFORMS AND REFORMERS. 23 
 
 the wilderness becomes like Eden, and the desert 
 like the garden of the Lord. 
 
 All true reforms must have this constructive 
 element. And there is, perhaps, no one parti- 
 cular in regard to which human effort falls so far 
 short of its true object as this. It is a want of 
 this element that renders so many exertions fruit- 
 less, and oftentimes worse than fruitless. Too 
 much is done to destroy, and too little to create 
 anew. A small mind may tear down, but it 
 requires a higher order of talent to build up 
 successfully. 
 
 The former may be the work of bad passions, 
 but the latter must proceed from a good heart. 
 There are more in almost every department of 
 life who had rather find fault with what is, than 
 make a single earnest endeavor to improve it. 
 The former requires but words, the latter actions ; 
 and those who love not work do not hesitate long 
 in choosing between them. Therefore, many are 
 engaged in destroying, and few, comparatively, in 
 constructing ; many, as Carlyle quaintly ob- 
 serves, " have a torch for burning, but no ham- 
 mer for building." And I am very confident, 
 that, if as much well-directed effort was put forth 
 of a constructive, as is now exhibited of a 
 destructive character, the world would grow ra^ 
 pidly wiser and better.
 
 24 OUR DAY. 
 
 This is evidently far from being the reality ; 
 and the fact is developed in a great variety of 
 ways. It is seen in the man who opposes Chris- 
 tianity ; who terms the gospel " an old wife's 
 fable," and the teachings of Christ delusive ; 
 while at the same time he offers us no substitute, 
 gives us nothing to solve the great problems of 
 human existence, nothing that will account for 
 what is, or assure us what will be. 
 
 It is seen, too, hi the professing Christian, who 
 hates the religion of other men, and cares little 
 about his own ; who opposes others' errors, not 
 that he may prepare them for something better, 
 but from mere love of opposition ; who values 
 his own faith, chiefly as he can make it an instru- 
 ment of war ; and who has little or no desire 
 that truth, holiness, and love, should be built up, 
 and prevail in the earth. It is seen also, very 
 strikingly, in still another class, to which I have 
 before alluded. They are those who stand to all 
 the great moral and philanthropic movements of 
 the age, as mere heartless spectators and critics. 
 They look on, and watch those who are engaged 
 in these enterprises ; find fault with their means 
 and mode of conducting operations ; but never 
 for a moment think of taking hold of the work 
 themselves, and trying to do it better. Few 
 things are meaner than this. If I am toiling in
 
 REFORM AND REFORMERS. 25 
 
 any work of reform, either to remove some 
 great evil, or encourage some great virtue, let 
 no man complain of my mode of operations, until 
 he can give me a substitute that is preferable, or 
 do the work better himself. 
 
 But I cannot, in this article, name half the 
 variety of ways in which it is manifest that there 
 are more who are laboring to destroy, than there 
 are who are engaged hi building. Let not the 
 hearts of true reformers, however, be discour- 
 aged. God, Christ, angels, and all good men, 
 are with them in spirit. Glorious prospects for 
 humanity beckon them onward, and assurances 
 of ultimate triumph ought ever to warm their 
 hearts. Better days for man, even in this world, 
 are yet to come. If I rightly interpret Scrip- 
 ture, God has promised them. Old errors will 
 die. Vicious habits will be done away. The 
 cursed bowl will poison its millions no longer. 
 Oppression, too, will perish. The chains will be 
 rent from the slave, 
 
 like flax 
 
 That falls asunder at the touch of fire." 
 
 Wars will cease, and peace throw her kind arms 
 around the nations, and bind them all hi one. 
 
 This is God's work, and it will prosper. It is 
 to be realized, however, through the agency of
 
 26 OUR DAY. 
 
 secondary causes. Men are to be active and co- 
 operative in it. It is not a change which God is 
 to effect for us, and independent of us ; but one 
 that he is to aid us in working out for ourselves. 
 It will be the result of no miracle. He furnishes 
 the means, and blesses their use. 
 
 The enterprise, under him, is given to all true 
 reformers. Theirs is the high privilege of being 
 co-workers with God and his dear Son, in making 
 the wilderness to rejoice, and the desert to bud 
 and blossom as the rose.
 
 27 
 
 INTERESTED OPPOSERS OF MORAL 
 REFORMS. 
 
 BY REV. A. E. ABBOTT. 
 
 " Mammon sits before a million hearths 
 Whelte God ia bolted out from every house." 
 
 FESTTS. 
 
 INTEREST is the genuine lever of Archimedes 
 its fulcrum, the sordid heart ; it moves the 
 world. 
 
 Men are seldom aware of the extent to which 
 their opinions and actions are under the control 
 of interest self-interest. Even when they 
 think they are acting the part of free men, 
 perfectly unshackled, and unbiased by any sel- 
 fish considerations whatever, a searching analy- 
 sis of their motives would frequently show them 
 that they are much more under the influence of 
 feeling than of judgment. Our own personal 
 interests by which I mean to include all our 
 prepossessions and prejudices spread a veil
 
 28 OUR DAT. 
 
 before our eyes, thick as the " veil of futurity," 
 through which it is next to impossible for us to 
 see things in their proper light. Crimes lose 
 their startling appearance of criminality ; errors 
 and misdemeanors are softened down till they 
 wear the hues, if not of virtues, at least of very 
 excusable faults ; and, on the whole, we are apt 
 to think them productive of much more good 
 than evil, especially if the good, as we call it, 
 promotes our interest, and the evil falls on some 
 one else. 
 
 It is well to stop occasionally amidst the jars 
 and discords of sects and parties, amidst the 
 criminations and recriminations so freely dealt 
 out upon each other, by those who would think 
 themselves insulted if you should question their 
 perfect love for all mankind ; it is well occa- 
 sionally to stop amidst all this bickering and 
 strife of antagonism, and ask ourselves how far 
 these contentions are dictated by self-interest 
 and blind prejudice. It is well to contemplate 
 this drama of human life, continually passing 
 before our eyes. It yields instruction to the 
 thoughtful man. Here we may learn how will- 
 ingly, nay, how obstinately, men will close their 
 eyes to light, when, by receiving and acting in 
 harmony with it, they would be obliged to make 
 some little pecuniary sacrifice. Here, too, we
 
 OPPOSERS OF MORAL REFORMS. 29 
 
 may see with what fearful tenacity men will 
 cling to a chain of gold, though it drag them to 
 hell. 
 
 We propose in this article to illustrate the 
 action of this spirit, in the opposition with which 
 the reforms of the day are continually beset ; 
 the position occupied by those who take the 
 lead in this opposition. And, as we have no 
 time to waste on introductory remarks, we will 
 proceed immediately to the work. 
 
 I. We will say a few words on the great 
 subject of Southern Slavery. It is a fact which 
 no man will pretend to deny, that there are 
 many men in our section of the country, even 
 in New England, so devotedly attached to lib- 
 erty, who are strenuously opposed to every 
 movement which the more philanthropic are 
 making to rid the country of this blighting 
 curse. They vilify every lecturer who attempts 
 to enlighten the people upon this subject, or to 
 enlist their sympathies in behalf of the suffer- 
 ing millions who groan under the scourge and 
 the lash, and whose cries rend the heavens, 
 morning, noon, and night, calling for vengeance 
 on the head of the oppressor. And if a minis- 
 ter of the gospel of Jesus so far forgets the 
 duties and responsibilities of his station as to 
 lift his voice in behalf of the oppressed and
 
 30 OUR DAY. 
 
 down-trodden, or if he so far disregards the 
 obligation he is under to those who support him 
 as to make this " exciting topic " a theme of 
 public discourse, these opposers will use every 
 means in their power to deprive him of his 
 place. 
 
 They are as ready as any to acknowledge 
 that slavery is wrong, that it is a great evil, 
 that it is a disgrace and a curse to the country. 
 And yet, with what seems a most singular 
 inconsistency, they strenuously refuse to have 
 any thing said of this monstrous evil. They are 
 as much opposed to slavery as any one so 
 they say. And perhaps they are ; but this 
 we know ; a searching, earnest discourse upon 
 this subject will fire them up, as certainly as a 
 blaze of lightning would ignite a train of gun- 
 powder. Let the preacher, when such a man 
 attends church, speak plainly and without re- 
 serve upon this topic, and he will soon hear 
 from this conservative abolitionist. The man 
 says he is opposed to slavery, what fault can 
 he find with a discourse intended to give the 
 people light on this point ? He will not answer 
 this question directly ; he is unwilling to enter 
 into any explanation, perhaps; but he thinks 
 that ministers, especially, may find enough to do 
 in "preaching the gospel," without attacking
 
 OPPOSERS OF MORAL REFORMS. 31 
 
 the " institutions of the country," or setting one 
 part of our citizens in battle array against the 
 other. He acknowledges that some of our 
 "southern institutions" are not in perfect ac- 
 cordance with the highest idea of Christianity, 
 or with the true spirit of republicanism ; but he 
 thinks there are evils enough at home to occupy 
 those who are so anxious to reform the commu- 
 nity, and that they need not go so far out of their 
 way to find work to do in that sphere. 
 
 All this is significant ; somewhat enigmati- 
 cal to be sure, but as clear and direct as any 
 thing we shall be likely to obtain on the subject 
 from this source. Very evidently the man wishes 
 to have nothing said on the subject of southern 
 slavery ; and he must have some reason for his 
 objection. Of course none will deny that there 
 is evil enough in all communities, it is all 
 around us on every side ; and the earnest 
 reformer need not fold his hands in idleness, 
 though he should not meddle with the matter of 
 slavery. But it is the merest sophistry in the 
 world to give that as a reason why he should 
 not speak upon that subject. Is the fault-finder 
 so particularly anxious that no evils should be 
 spoken of, except those which prevail in the com- 
 munity where he resides ? By no means : it is 
 only when one single subject is mentioned that
 
 02 OUK DAT. 
 
 he is so sensitive ; it is only then that he is so 
 vividly conscious of the evils at home, demand- 
 ing immediate attention ! We say, then, it is 
 the merest subterfuge in the world for him to 
 give such a reason. There is something deeper 
 than this, some more powerful inducement for 
 him to pursue the course he does, than the mere 
 existence of other evils besides slavery. What 
 are his reasons ? He does not attempt to defend 
 the institution of slavery, perhaps there is 
 not a man in New England who would attempt 
 this, on high, moral grounds ; who would attempt 
 to prove it right and just. Why this objection 
 then to its being made the topic of public de- 
 bate? These are the reasons: Sometimes, 
 perhaps not very frequently, the objector has a 
 brother, or some relative or dear friend, who 
 resides at the South, owns a plantation and forty 
 or fifty slaves. And occasionally you may as- 
 certain that the objector himself owns an interest 
 in the souls and bodies of men, women, and 
 children. We have known such cases ; and such 
 men are usually very sensitive when the subject 
 of slavery is mentioned. But, in a vast majority 
 of cases, the fault-finder is a zealous politician, 
 belonging to one or the other of the great lead- 
 ing parties ; and he regards with a jealous eye 
 the rapid increase of the " third party," as it is
 
 OPPOSERS OF MORAL REFORMS. 33 
 
 termed, which, a very moderate share of sagacity 
 enables him to perceive, will soon hold the bal- 
 ance of power in its own hands. This lies at 
 the bottom of almost every objection against 
 anti-slavery lectures and sermons. It is not 
 because the objector would have more attention 
 paid to evils that exist in the community where 
 he lives ; but because he would have his own 
 interest promoted, or the influence of his party 
 extended. It is not morally or religiously that 
 he objects at all, but politically. And, if he can 
 make the reformer an instrument to promote 
 his party purposes, morality, philanthropy, and 
 religion, may find their advocates where they 
 can. But so long as they stand in his way, he 
 is their sworn and bitter foe. Self-interest and 
 party are the only gods that such men worship. 
 
 II. The subject of Temperance may serve as 
 another illustration of our position. Who will 
 attempt, on moral or religious ground, to defend 
 the sale and use of intoxicating drinks, as they 
 now exist in our community? Certainly, no 
 one, unless he is willing to forfeit all claims to 
 sanity, or at least to be called a monomaniac. 
 Still, notwithstanding the temperance movement 
 has become so generally popular, there are men 
 who use every effort to oppose it. No matter 
 how extensively the evil of intemperance may
 
 34 OUR DAY. 
 
 prevail in the community where they live ; no 
 matter how much pauperism and crime or how 
 many deaths it may produce ; no matter how 
 much of human misery may flow from this 
 source alone, it must not be spoken of; they 
 will have nothing said of it, if they can prevent 
 it. Do such men deny that intemperance is an 
 evil, and one of the greatest with which any land 
 was ever cursed? Or, admitting it to be such 
 an evil, do they mean to say that it should be 
 permitted to grow unmolested, striking its roots 
 deeper and deeper into the soil of our country, 
 and overshadowing, with its poisonous branches, 
 the best, the holiest institutions of the land? 
 Will they contend that it is wrong to check the 
 progress of this monster-evil, which is annually 
 hurrying its hundreds of thousands to a prema- 
 ture grave, and making millions of paupers 
 throughout the length and breadth of the land ; 
 which is binding in chains of ignorance so many 
 of the rising generation? "Will any one con- 
 tend that it is inconsistent with the spirit of 
 Christianity to use every reasonable effort to 
 arrest the growth of such an evil? We will 
 put it on broader ground than this. Will any 
 one who claims to be a Christian, or even a well- 
 wisher to humanity, say that duty does not abso- 
 lutely demand that the reformer take a firm
 
 OPPOSERS OF MORAL REFORMS. 35 
 
 and decided stand against this evil ? Why, then, 
 object ? Why find fault with those who choose 
 to discharge their duties, and trust the conse- 
 quences with God? Why not let them stand 
 on the only ground that can be occupied by the 
 true man, who will be faithful to humanity, to 
 duty, and to his Maker ? 
 
 We are not ignorant that opposition to the 
 temperance movement is somewhat unpopular 
 at present ; but it cannot be denied that opposi- 
 tion still exists. And who are the opposers ? 
 Let this question be fairly answered, and we 
 shall see at once by what motives they are 
 prompted. They are the owners of distilleries 
 where rum is manufactured ; and they are the 
 landlords of taverns, and keepers of groceries 
 and cellars where rum is sold. They are the 
 manufacturers, wholesale dealers, and retailers, 
 whose interests are directly connected with this 
 infernal business; and their governing motive 
 is avarice. The mother of the living child 
 which Solomon ordered to be divided with the 
 sword was not more anxious that its life should 
 be spared than men now are that those vices 
 should remain untouched by the hand of reform, 
 which minister to their profit or pleasure. This 
 is the secret of their opposition. Their inter- 
 ests are invaded; and, with starting eye-balls
 
 36 OUR DAY. 
 
 and trembling hands, they clutch at the ghost of 
 a departing penny, as if their souls' salvation 
 depended upon retaining it. They would grasp 
 and hoard their ill-gotten gains, though every 
 coin were cankered all over with the blood, and 
 blistered with the tears, of widows and orphans. 
 They would grasp the very heart-strings of their 
 deluded brother, till the life-blood oozed through 
 their fingers; and then they would coin the 
 drops, if they were able, and heap up the pence 
 in their coffers. 
 
 What do such men care for the moral and 
 religious interests of the community ? They are 
 not so short-sighted as not to perceive that the 
 more moral and religious a society is, the less is 
 their chance of living in it. The less of such 
 ingredients enter into the composition of a so- 
 ciety, the better is it fitted for their use. 
 
 It was our intention, when we commenced this 
 article, to speak of several other of the reforms ; 
 but the space to which we are limited will not 
 permit. Those we have mentioned may be 
 taken as samples of all the others ; for the same 
 spirit operates through the whole. Distinctive 
 Washingtonianism was deeply injured by those 
 who threw over its shoulders the mantle of 
 sectarianism, swathed it in bandages of the law, 
 and thrust into its strong right hand the hammer
 
 OPPOSEES OF MORAL REFORMS. 37 
 
 of legal force. The abolition of capital punish- 
 ment has been retarded by those who, with cun- 
 ning malignity worthy to have emanated from 
 the infernal regions, have sought to make it a 
 sectarian test-question. 
 
 But we need not be discouraged. There are 
 men full of love for this sin-blinded family of 
 humanity, men of great and noble natures, 
 earnest and firm in the cause of truth, who 
 are ready to sustain the right at whatever cost. 
 And five such men, who are willing to be 
 governed by God's eternal laws of right, are 
 stronger than a thousand with falsehood upon 
 their tongues, and the price of blood and human 
 misery in their hands.
 
 38 
 
 THE GALLOWS SHALL BE CAST DOWN. 
 
 BY J. G. ADAMS. 
 
 " Away with the executioner and the execution, and the very 
 name of its engine, not merely from the limbs, but from the very 
 thoughts, the eyes, the ears of Roman citizens ! For not alone the 
 occurrence and the endurance of all these things, but also the liabi- 
 lity, the apprehension, even the mere mention of them, are unworthy 
 of a Roman citizen and a free man." CICERO. 
 
 THE Gallows shall be cast down ! Encourag- 
 ing, indeed, to its true friends, is the progress of 
 this " one idea." It is truthfully written on the 
 present ; it will be joyfully realized in the 
 future. 
 
 The first bold declarations of this idea were 
 met by some Christians with the cry of " Infi- 
 delity ! a denial of the authority of the Scrip- 
 tures ! Moses taught capital punishment, and 
 Christ sanctioned Moses ; and so this institution 
 of death was made a part of Christianity, and 
 he who would abolish it would dishonor the 
 Christian religion ! " Into the discussion of this
 
 THE GALLOWS SHALL BE CAST DOWN. 39 
 
 question went the friends and opponents of the 
 gallows. And the old Jewish law was exam- 
 ined ; and the black Hebrew roots were dug up 
 and turned over, and the dust and mould beaten 
 from them ; and Greek and Latin were set this 
 way and that again ; and logic and theology 
 made to measure their weapons. And what is 
 the result ? Plainly, that the Jews under Moses 
 are no guides to us in the framing of civil codes ; 
 that if we are not to take life as they did, in 
 case of more than thirty capital offences, neither 
 are we to take it in any instance ; that, if we 
 may not stone, decapitate, saw asunder, or cru- 
 cify, neither may we strangle. It must needs 
 be, we suppose, that we have all this controversy 
 to find out this plain truth. But let us be 
 thankful the truth is made so plain now. The 
 controversy will lead us to understand that 
 Christ came not to sanction the death-code of 
 Moses ; " not to destroy men's lives, but to save 
 them." "We never hear him requiring blood for 
 blood. It is mercy's, it is love's law, which he 
 speaks. Sanguinary punishments must disap- 
 pear before the increasing and undying light, 
 
 A cry for the public safety was heard, also, 
 when this question arose. Public safety ! where 
 would this be, if capital punishment should be 
 abolished ? And on went the work of investiga-
 
 40 OUR DAT. 
 
 tion, and out came to the world page after page 
 of truth. Denmark, Russia, Tuscany, Belgium, 
 all gave answer, that the modification or aboli- 
 tion of this punishment effected no such dreaded 
 evil as the increase of crime. And evidences to 
 this effect are still accumulating ; and the con- 
 test of opinion is now fairly set in. Reason and 
 Scripture, Logic and Philanthropy, Jewish and 
 Christian law, each shall have their questions 
 answered, and their authorities duly respected. 
 Churchman and Gome-outer, Conservative and 
 Radical, call for the abolition of the death pen- 
 alty. 
 
 Strong are the reasons for this abolition. It 
 is urged, because the preponderance of the Scrip- 
 tural argument is in favor of such a reform; 
 because it is a settled axiom, that the certainty 
 of punishment is a much more effectual restraint 
 from crime, than its severity ; because it is all 
 mistake to suppose that the fear of a possible 
 chance of death that end to which we know 
 we all must sooner or later come has often 
 much effect in deterring men from any act to 
 which they are impelled by any powerful pas- 
 sion or motive; because it is not necessary to 
 hang a man who has committed a murder, for 
 the protection of society against the repetition of 
 the act, other means of punishment and protec-
 
 THE GALLOWS SHALL BE CAST DOWN. 41 
 
 tion being available ; because nothing short of 
 an absolute and demonstrable necessity can jus- 
 tify the maintenance of the death penalty, and 
 this has in no case yet been proved; because 
 capital punishment is often fatally pernicious, 
 and attended with most demoralizing and brutal- 
 izing influences on society, multiplying the 
 very crime which it vainly seeks to prevent, by 
 imitating and suggesting it, so that the hangman 
 is himself the direct or indirect cause of more 
 murders than he ever punishes or avenges ; 
 because it is founded on the pernicious principle 
 of vengeance ; because this punishment of death 
 is irremediable, numerous cases having occur- 
 red in which innocence has suffered, and it may 
 be thus in multitudes of instances in the future ; 
 because, by abolishing the publicity of execu- 
 tions, our own law has already half acknow- 
 ledged their inutility. if not their pernicious 
 influence, as deterring examples ; and, once 
 more, because there exists abundant testimony 
 in the experiments already made in other coun- 
 tries less enlightened and civilized than our own, 
 to the safety and probable influence that would 
 attend the proposed reform.* 
 
 Such is the strong call, and it will be an- 
 
 Th*e reasons are condensed from a recent popular report. 
 3
 
 42 OUR DAT. 
 
 swered. Many of our own states are now mov- 
 ing aright to it. Remarkable changes of opinion 
 have taken place, where discussions in reference 
 to the expediency or inexpediency of capital 
 punishments have been held. Michigan has 
 first voted right in this work ; and she will not 
 be long alone. Our own land shall repudiate 
 this outrage on humanity ; and other lands shall, 
 by example, respond Amen ! Let the light con- 
 tinue to shine ; let the word continue to be 
 uttered, 
 
 " Till Dagon. from his basement riven, 
 Falls down before the ark of heaven." 
 
 It must fall, if the opposite opinions can have 
 fair conflict. There is no alternative but defeat 
 for the gallows-defenders, the gallows-sustainers, 
 the gallows-goers. What if old conservatives, 
 who never will budge one inch out of their 
 tracks till they are pushed or drawn out, shall 
 say, as did one of the old school, of whom I 
 heard recently in Boston, " that the idea of an 
 execution once more is really refreshing ; it 
 indicates the public safety " ? "What if some 
 magistrate, in prejudice unbefitting his station, 
 shall go for " stretching hemp," that we may 
 have orderly times again ? * Or what if church 
 
 * A Rhode Island Judge !
 
 THE GALLOWS SHALL BE CAST DOWN. 43 
 
 and state yet adhere, with renewed grasp, to this 
 detestable error ? Just for the present, perhaps, 
 this most needs be; though that more human 
 life may be sacrificed the while makes us sick at 
 heart. Yet we must not despair of the right. 
 Our truth will prevail. The people shall hear it ; 
 our Rulers, our Judges, our Reverend men, our 
 Conservatives, our Radicals, all shall hear it. 
 They shall be challenged to meet it; and, as 
 they fail, so all the louder shall truth's voice be 
 heard, and all the surer shall her triumphs be 
 won. Therefore, let us not be weary in our well- 
 doing for this cause of God and man. THE 
 GALLOWS SHALL BE CAST DOWN ! Let us, in 
 truth's name, make this our sure word of pro- 
 phecy, and in its cheering spirit move onward.
 
 44 
 
 NIGHT AND MORNING. 
 
 BY EEV. T. L. HARRIS. 
 I. 
 
 THE dread, primeval Night drooped round, with many an icy fold. 
 Where wide the realm of chaos lay all desolate and cold ; 
 No yoice was there, no life, no thought, no power amid the gloom. 
 'T was Death where yet no Life had been, a tomb within a tomb. 
 
 All silently the roid reposed, its hollow gloom untrod, 
 
 When, lo ! on radiant wing swept down the LIVING THOUGHT OP GOD ! 
 
 The chaos at its rushing breath with spirit all was rife, 
 
 And Earth was born like some great SOUL that thrills and burns to life. 
 
 That swift-winged Thought ! Its pinions arched, it shot its glance of 
 
 flame, 
 
 And so the skies and sun were born, and so the MORNING came ; 
 And beauty blushed beneath its smile, and far and wide unrolled. 
 Till mount, and vale, and wave, were robed in crysolite and gold. 
 
 The stars at morning's purple gates, with crowns of silver fire, 
 Awoke their joyous lays, and swept the love-attuned lyre, 
 And greeted MAN, who stood sublime, with earnest, thoughtful eyeB ; 
 Heir of the Palace of the Earth, the Temple of the Skies. 
 
 II. 
 
 The awful Night of Sin, and Hate, and Tyranny, and Gloom, 
 Has hung its raven veils o'er Earth, like palls above a tomb ;
 
 NIGHT AND MORNING. 45 
 
 The world is bound with priestly chains, and beat by War's wild blast. 
 And thunders roll and lightnings blaze from out the angry Past. 
 
 The Star of Solyma has set, her prophet-voices died, 
 And Spectres from the Delphian shrine and high Parthenon glide ; 
 And o ; er the shadowed tents, and o'er the marble temples, roll 
 The wares of darkness and of pain, tke midnight of the soul! 
 
 Lo ! wide the gates of Morning burst, and, crowned with lore and light, 
 The Ruler of the Day-spring comes in Truth's all-conquering might ; 
 Pale idols from their columns roll, and, wakened by bis tread, 
 The Grave unbars its iron doors, and yieldeth up its dead. 
 
 In ram from " Moses' Seat " roll down the thunder-bolts of wrath : 
 In rain the chasm of the grave yawns open in his path : 
 New light, new life, new faith and hope, beam up beneath his eye, 
 As o'er the orient hills he comes, the Day-spring from on high ! 
 
 He tears away the ancient veils from Truth's resplendent brow ; 
 God reigns no more the Thunderer, he smiles " our Father " now ! 
 And with the golden Brotherhood he clasps our human kind, 
 Commanding love to God and man, in life, and act, and mind ! 
 
 m. 
 
 The weary world is girt again with crushing chains of night ; 
 Oppression rules with red right arm, and Terror breathes its blight ; 
 The State its scorpion pangs around man's bleeding heart has thrown ; 
 The Church, one* full of life, is now a sepulchre of stone ! 
 
 Philosophy with blinded eye forgets the Spirit Cause ! 
 
 Like a cold snake, she coils around the dead material laws ; 
 
 And Sense usurps the throne of Soul, and Life they call but breath, 
 
 And " Endless Sleep " they write above the icy halls of Death ! 
 
 Woe to the Prophet ! hunt him down ! they cry with flame and steel ; 
 Woe to the Weak and Poor who fall beneath the crushing wheel ;
 
 46 OUR DAY. 
 
 Woe to the Strong, their bosoms bleed ; the vulture Conqueror's prey : 
 List to those groans, " How long, Lord ! how long before the day ? " 
 
 But see .' the banners lifted high amid the purple MOKN, 
 And hear the thrilling cry that now Love's better day is born ; 
 And hear the throne and altar fall, and see the dungeon shake ; 
 And, like the ocean in its strength, MAN'S ancient spirit wake. 
 
 The Tree of Freedom strikes its root in green Mount Ternon's grave. 
 And far along the circling orb its radiant branches ware ; 
 The weary ones are strong again ; the thronging blind, they see ; 
 The broken heart is bound once more ; the Slave shall yet be free ! 
 
 from his pale battle-horse reels WAR, and dies with demon frown ; 
 The conqueror bears the mark of Cain, no more the laurel crown ; 
 The law that binds our race shall be the blissful Law of Love ; 
 And Earth and Time shall open up to yon clear heaven above ! 
 
 The Universe is dead no more. From GOD its LIVING Soul, 
 Through every Star, through every Heart, bright revelations roll ; 
 The Heroes rise, the Prophets live ; the light that fills our sphere. 
 It streameth from the INFINITE. Our FATHER, GOD, is here !
 
 47 
 
 THE REDEEMED HUSBAND. 
 
 BY BIBS. HABT A. LIVERMORE. 
 
 THE clock told the hour of twelve the dead 
 hour of night ! In various and dissonant chimes 
 it rung from the numerous steeples of the city ; 
 and with solemn slowness, and startling clear- 
 ness, it sounded from the brass time-keeper 
 stationed on the mantel of the little parlor, 
 where sat Frances May, awaiting her husband's 
 return. Roused from the painful reverie into 
 which she had fallen, she sprang to her feet, 
 paced the room rapidly for a few moments as 
 in tumultuous agony, then suddenly stopped, 
 clasped her hands over her bosom, and raising 
 her eyes to Heaven, uttered the ejaculation, 
 " Oh, my Father ! " and became calm again. 
 The childlike trust expressed in these words 
 filled her heart as with light ; and in the blessed- 
 ness of calm confidence in the Holy One, she sat 
 her down beside her infant's cradle, and sang a 
 soothing lullaby.
 
 48 DUE DAT. 
 
 Slowly paced the hand of the clock around 
 the dial's circle, one of the morning pealed 
 through the little apartment, and still James 
 May returned not. A thousand vague, unformed 
 fears flitted through the mind of the pale and 
 weary watcher; a heavy sigh burst from her 
 bosom, her needle-work fell from her nerveless 
 fingers, and the song which she attempted died 
 upon her lips. Two o'clock three o'clock 
 four o'clock sounded : the gray light of morning 
 broke over the heavens, the rattling of wheels 
 over the pavements, and the occasional tread of 
 a passer-by told that the world was awaking to 
 the cares and duties of the new-born day still 
 the absent and neglectful husband came not. 
 Brighter and brighter dawned the morning, and 
 soon the dazzling rays of the rejoicing sun 
 streamed into the parlor, where still stood the 
 little table bearing the evening meal intended 
 for the absent one, where rested the wrought 
 slippers beside the cushioned easy-chair, with 
 the dressing-gown flung across it. Noon came, 
 and then the westering sun began slowly to 
 decline in the horizon, and still James May 
 was absent. 
 
 In the fever of anxiety, and the torture of 
 suspense, poor Frances passed those long and 
 weary hours. Her brain whirled, her temples
 
 THE REDEEMED HUSBAND. 49 
 
 throbbed, her heart was sick; and she could 
 neither give her attention to any employment, 
 nor interest herself in the innocent playfulness of 
 her infant daughter, or the lively prattle of her 
 sprightly boy. If a coach passed, she sprang 
 to the window, hoping and fearing, she hardly 
 knew what ; if a door was opened or closed, she 
 started nervously, and turned pale ; if the door- 
 bell rang, or a knock was heard, the palpitations 
 of her heart almost suffocated her ; and still the 
 day waned and waned, and before the suffering 
 wife there seemed but the prospect of another 
 lonely night, another eternity of suspense. The 
 certainty of any calamity seemed more tolerable 
 than these harrowing fears and forebodings ; and 
 leaving her children in the care of a neighbor, 
 she hastened with fleet footsteps to the house 
 
 of , in the heart of the city, where her 
 
 husband had been employed for years as senior 
 clerk. 
 
 God of Heaven ! what agony was in store for 
 her! Her husband was not at his post in the 
 counting-room, nor had he been there during 
 that day, or during that week. She pushed 
 her queries farther ; and the kind-hearted mer- 
 chant at last owned, reluctantly and painfully, 
 that he had been compelled to discharge him 
 from his service a year before, for dishonesty.
 
 50 OUR DAY. 
 
 Frances sank into a chair, gasped for breath, 
 and for a moment it seemed as if the very jaws 
 of death were opened before her. But by a 
 mighty effort she crushed down her feelings, and 
 leaning against the counter, with more of faint- 
 ness and fear than before, inquired yet farther. 
 Little by little she wrung from her unwilling 
 informant, while his heart bled for the wretched 
 wife, the whole bitter truth. She listened to a 
 recital of the doubtful and suspicious sources 
 upon which her husband had, during the past 
 year, depended for a subsistence, of the dissi- 
 pated and vicious haunts which he had punc- 
 tually frequented, to the declaration that he was 
 a reputed gamester and libertine, and to the 
 appalling announcement that he was that morn- 
 ing arrested for a desperate and daring forgery, 
 just as he was on the point of embarking for 
 Liverpool, and was then lying in the City Jail ; 
 and the deep groan which burst from the 
 heart of the poor wife, the heavy drooping of 
 her head upon the counter, and her fall to the 
 floor, senseless and corpse-like, told how unex- 
 pected and full of anguish were these sad reve- 
 lations. 
 
 The fatherly merchant raised the pale young 
 creature in his arms, and applied restorative 
 measures ; and, half an hour afterwards, he was
 
 THE REDEEMED HUSBAND. 51 
 
 seen driving rapidly towards Leveret-street 
 Jail, with Frances May seated beside him, where 
 both alighted; he giving to her that support 
 without which she would have fallen. They 
 passed within the gloomy building; a few sec- 
 onds' delay occurred ; and then, preceded by the 
 turnkey, she tottered, rather than walked, to her 
 husband's Cell. The key turned gratingly in the 
 lock, the ponderous iron door swung open, she 
 stepped forward, the door was closed and locked 
 behind her, and Frances May was alone with 
 her guilty husband. She moved slowly towards 
 him, gazed into his haggard face, and read there 
 a whole volume of suffering and sorrow ; and 
 every shade of resentful feeling faded from her 
 heart : from the depths of her soul she forgave 
 and pitied him, and laying her head upon his 
 bosom, she wept like an infant. The first burst 
 of feeling being over, a long and earnest conver- 
 sation occurred between the twain a conver- 
 sation of confession, of despair, remorse, and 
 extravagant self-upbraiding, on the part of one 
 of extenuation, of forgiveness, soothing, and 
 encouragement, on the part of the other. It was 
 all true, the story of his guilty life ; and with his 
 own lips James May confessed himself a guilty 
 man, a felon, a forger. Not because born for 
 evil, not because sin was the element he loved
 
 52 OUR DAY. 
 
 the best, not for lack of kindly affections, or 
 tenderness of heart, had he strode onwards in 
 dishonesty, recreant to honor, honesty, and do- 
 mestic faithfulness, but through an early-devel- 
 oped love of gaming, so intense, so infatuating, 
 so consuming, that it had seduced him on and on 
 in vice, until at last the felon's cell embraced 
 him within its massive and frowning walls, a 
 guilty, daring culprit. 
 
 Often, while his confiding wife, who felt his 
 alienation from his family, and perceived the 
 embarrassment of his pecuniary circumstances, 
 but was unable to penetrate to the cause often, 
 while she had supposed him reluctantly detained 
 from home by the pressing claims of business, 
 had he been wasting the hours of night in the 
 society of the vile and profligate, rattling the 
 dice, shuffling the cards, or rolling the billiard 
 balls polluting his lips with the ribald song 
 and the blasphemous oath, and lavishing upon 
 the forms of beauty that flitted around him, but 
 to lure him to sin, and the eyes of light that 
 shone, but to lead him to ruin, those blandish- 
 ments of affection which belonged alone to her 
 the deserted one. All this did James May con- 
 fess to his wife, and much more ; and as one of 
 old, in the consciousness of guilt, prayed to Him 
 who was the embodiment of purity, " Depart
 
 THE REDEEMED HUSBAND. 53 
 
 from me, for I am a sinful man ! " so did the 
 conscience-stricken husband conclude his fearful 
 revelations of the past to his injured and inno- 
 cent wife, with the prayer that she would cast 
 him off for ever, account him as one of the dead, 
 and leave him to meet alone the rigors of the 
 offended law. 
 
 No wonder that Frances May went forth from 
 that interview with a face of marble whiteness, 
 and passed another long night in agony that was 
 speechless, from the inadequacy of words to 
 express it. No wonder, that, as she bowed be- 
 fore God, her overwhelmed spirit could find no 
 utterance of its big and bitter sorrow, and that 
 her supplications to Heaven were but the deep 
 groans of a nearly broken heart. The playmate 
 of her childhood the companion of her girl- 
 hood the chosen one of her heart the father 
 of her children how far had he fallen ! How 
 entirely had he forfeited the love and respect of 
 all who knew him, and how had he cast himself 
 down to the lowest depths of degradation ! But 
 would Frances May now cast off for ever her 
 sinning husband ? and would the entreaties of her 
 aristocratic friends and relatives that he might 
 henceforth be left to his own fate, and that the 
 interests and sympathies of the twain might be 
 hereafter eternally divorced, avail with her?
 
 54 OUR DAT. 
 
 Never ! never ! Not thus had she loved him ; and 
 as she thought of him, guilt-bowed and sorrow- 
 stricken in his lonely cell, and beheld his face 
 in miniature in the innocent countenances of 
 her blessed children, her whole soul went out to 
 him in love and pity, and she resolved that she 
 would prove his savior, and would win him back 
 to goodness. 
 
 Morning came, and no expostulations or 
 angry threats could detain Frances May from 
 the City Jail. Another hour was passed in that 
 dim cell, and oh ! how, like an angel of God, she 
 pleaded with her husband to form purposes of 
 reformation which would be immediately acted 
 upon ; to bear submissively the punishment 
 attached to his crime by the law ; so that when 
 his guilt should be expiated, and his term of 
 imprisonment ended, he would come forth into 
 society a reformed man! How she reminded 
 him of the innocent days of youth, of the bless- 
 edness of a clear conscience and an unstained 
 heart ; and how she sought, by an outpouring of 
 her own affection, to win back his love to herself 
 and her babes ! 
 
 Visit followed visit, each performing more and 
 more the holy work of reformation, and strength- 
 ening, in the secrecy of the soul, that good will- 
 ing, which must necessarily precede good acting,
 
 THE REDEEMED HUSBAND. 55 
 
 until the day of trial came ; when Frances May 
 appeared in the crowded court-room, that her 
 presence might sustain the prisoner. Too timid 
 to lift her eyes beneath the gaze of the curious 
 multitude, she was yet strong in heart to endure 
 any extreme of disgrace with her husband ; and 
 although the public revelations of his dissipa- 
 tion, inconstancy, and dishonesty, seemed to 
 destroy the sympathy of others for him, and 
 sometimes paled her cheek with strong emo- 
 tion, or crimsoned it with shame, they dimmed 
 not the look of love which she bent upon him, 
 nor infused into her heart an emotion of anger. 
 " Guilty " was the verdict of the empanelled 
 jury, and "Ten years' imprisonment and hard 
 labor in the State Prison" was the sentence 
 pronounced upon him : a doom which his wife 
 shuddered to hear ; for she feared lest hope 
 would expire, and good resolutions would vanish, 
 and evil passions would attain fearful supremacy, 
 during that long confinement. 
 
 Noble woman ! how she soothed, and encour- 
 aged, and calmed him, and depicted the far-off 
 future that would succeed his release in pleasing 
 colors ; until, like herself, he became submissive, 
 and resolved to do right to the utmost of his 
 ability ! And how she hushed his self-upbraid- 
 ings and expressions of remorse, and kissed
 
 56 OUR DAT. 
 
 away his tears as he wept over his children, who 
 visited him the day before his removal to Char- 
 lestown, and promised that they should be taught 
 to love and cherish him ! And, though her own 
 heart was nearly breaking with sorrow at the 
 dismal future before them both, she yet spake 
 cheerily to him, and smiled her sweetest upon 
 him, and bade him be of good cheer, for better 
 days were yet in store for him. Noble Frances ! 
 would that every child of guilt and sin, every 
 imprisoned criminal, possessed a friend of kin- 
 dred faithfulness and affection, a friend of like 
 goodness and devotion ! 
 
 James May entered upon his long and dreary 
 term of penance ; and from that day Frances 
 commenced the execution of a plan, in the 
 devising of which she took no counsel, save 
 that of her own loving and self-denying heart. 
 Her native taste and skill enabled her to suc- 
 ceed admirably as a dress-maker ; and to this 
 occupation she declared her intention to devote 
 herself. It was to her a slight thing that her 
 friends opposed this measure, and offered to her- 
 self and children an almost luxurious home : 
 her plans embraced more than mere provision 
 for her own and children's necessities. Ten 
 years hence, a reformed and beloved husband 
 would be released from prison ; and she knew
 
 THE REDEEMED HUSBAND. 57 
 
 how depressing to him would be the prospect of 
 commencing life anew, without friends, without 
 character, without money, with a family depend- 
 ing upon him for support ; and for the exigencies 
 of that period she now aimed to prepare. Day 
 and night she toiled ; soon her little work-room 
 was exchanged for a larger, the number of her 
 apprentices increased, and experienced assistants 
 were employed ; and, by-and-by, she was not 
 able even to superintend, alone, her extensive 
 establishment : her patrons were numerous, and 
 included some of the wealthiest and most aristo- 
 cratic families of the city. 
 
 Meanwhile, her attentions to her husband 
 were unremitted, her visits frequent, her con- 
 versation cheerful and encouraging, elevating 
 and ennobling; and thus was effectually coun- 
 teracted the evil influence which the severity 
 of prison discipline might else have exerted, the 
 overbearing domination of haughty officers, or 
 the " evil communications which corrupt good 
 manners." Never longed the hungry for food, 
 or the thirsty for water, more than James May 
 longed for these occasional visits from his wife ; 
 and it would not be easy to decide, whether the 
 love which he had felt for her in the earliest 
 days of their affection was comparable to that 
 which he now manifested. 
 4
 
 58 OUR DAT. 
 
 Time hasted onwards, and gradually slipped 
 away the ten years, which, in prospect, had 
 seemed almost interminable. Never for a mo- 
 ment had the true heart of the wife been turned 
 aside from her purpose, the ultimate and com- 
 plete redemption of her husband. Never for a 
 moment had she regarded with favor any of the 
 manifold schemes of her friends to promote her 
 own interests, dissociated from those of her hus- 
 band, nor listened to their entreaties that she 
 would disconnect her fate from his. And when, 
 at the expiration of the eighth year of his impri- 
 sonment, friends interceded for a lover of wealth 
 and influence, who had laid at her feet his heart 
 and his fortune, urging her acceptance of him on 
 the ground that her husband's already length- 
 ened term of confinement had legally divorced 
 her from him, and that the eager aspirations of 
 her gifted and intellectual son demanded exten- 
 sive means of improvement, and the frail and 
 delicate health of her daughter a freedom from 
 care and labor that could not otherwise be ob- 
 tained ; she spurned them from her presence 
 with an outburst of contemptuous indignation 
 which made them quail before her, and forbade 
 them any farther intrusion on her private affairs, 
 in tones of authority and decision that precluded 
 reply.
 
 THE REDEEMED HTSBA3O). 59 
 
 The day came at last, long wished for and 
 desired ; and James May was liberated from his 
 long durance, and set without the prison walls. 
 Oh the joy with which he was welcomed home 
 by his little family ! His wife and his children 
 clung round his neck, weeping for very gladness ; 
 and, as his own tears mingled with theirs, he 
 asked again and again, " Can you, indeed, be so 
 glad that I am released ? " The neat and taste- 
 fully arranged rooms of their dwelling, how 
 magnificent they seemed, by contrast, with the 
 stern, rugged, and contracted cell, in which he 
 had dwelt for the last ten years ! How luxurious 
 seemed their fare ! how ample their accommoda- 
 tions! Every thing that the watchful love of 
 his wife could suggest had been done to render 
 this first evening of his return pleasant ; and, 
 when a few of his former acquaintances who 
 had approved of and sympathized in the mea- 
 sures of Frances relative to her husband, came, 
 by previous invitation, to pass the evening with 
 them, and spake kindly and encouragingly to the 
 repentant man, his feelings overpowered him ; 
 and he hastened from the room, to disburden his 
 heart of the grateful emotion which overflowed 
 it, in thankful prayer. 
 
 But when, on the v next day, he expressed 
 some anxiety to obtain speedy employment, and
 
 60 OUR DAY. 
 
 his wife brought forward a small book, showing 
 her amount of bank deposits to exceed somewhat 
 a thousand dollars, which she placed in his hand, 
 with the request that he would consider it his 
 own, and use it as such ; and when he learned 
 what constant toil and rigid economy had ob- 
 tained this sum, what love had prompted the 
 labor, and sustained his wife throughout her toils 
 and cares, James May bowed his head upon the 
 table, and wept, as man seldom weeps, until his 
 whole frame was convulsed with the violent 
 emotion. 
 
 " Frances," said the grateful being, when he 
 could speak, taking her hand reverently within 
 his own, " your love is only surpassed by the 
 love of Christ ; and, like his, it is bestowed upon 
 so unworthy an object, that, although it has 
 become my very element of life, I am yet over- 
 powered by it. Oh ! if ever again I neglect and 
 forget you, as I have done, may God neglect me 
 when most I need his aid, and forget me, when 
 he calls home his children to heaven." 
 
 The next day a clerkship was offered to James 
 May, through the tireless exertions of his wife ; 
 and then the amount of severely earned money 
 received another appropriation, no less a one 
 than the defrayal of his noble son's college 
 expenses. Time passed away, and Frances May
 
 THE REDEEMED HUSBAND. 61 
 
 saw, with unutterable gratitude, that her hus- 
 band's reformation was permanent; that there 
 was an abiding renovation of his moral nature ; 
 and that his loathing and dread of his former 
 vices were too intense to allow of a relapse into 
 sin. He was a truly redeemed man ; and to the 
 quenchless, fathomless love of his wife, was due 
 the praise of his redemption. 
 
 Often, as James May contemplates his present 
 happy position, surrounded by earthly blessings, 
 winning more and more the good opinions of 
 those who once believed him dead to every 
 virtue, his life rendered useful and happy, he 
 turns to his loving and beloved wife, and says : 
 " If every criminal had as kind and never- 
 wearied a friend as I have found in you, and 
 if to all the same love was manifested, the same 
 encouragement given, the same helping hand 
 extended, and the same deep interest felt, society 
 would soon cease to need its prisons and peni- 
 tentiaries."
 
 62 
 
 THE REWARD. 
 
 BT J. 6. WHITTIER. 
 
 WHO, looking backward from his manhood's prime, 
 Sees not the spectre of his misspent time ; 
 
 And, through the shade 
 Of funeral cypress, planted thick behind, 
 Hears no reproachful whisper on the wind 
 
 From his loyed dead ? 
 
 Who bears no trace of passion's evil force ? 
 Who shuns thy sting, O terrible Remorse ? 
 
 Who would not cast 
 Half of his future from him, but to win 
 Wakeless oblivion for the wrong and sin 
 
 Of the sealed Past? 
 
 Alas ! the evil, which we fain would shun, 
 We do, and leave the wished-for good undone ; 
 
 Our strength to-day 
 
 Is but to-morrow's weakness, prone to fall ; 
 Poor, blind, unprofitable servants all, 
 
 Are we alway.
 
 THE REWARD. 63 
 
 Tet who, thus looking backward o'er his years, 
 Feels not his eye-lids wet with grateful tears, 
 
 If he hath been 
 
 Permitted, weak and sinful as he was, 
 To cheer and aid, in some ennobling cause, 
 
 His fellow-men ? 
 
 If he hath hidden the outcast or let in 
 A ray of sunshine to the cell of sin ; 
 
 If he hath lent 
 
 Strength to the weak, and, in an hour of need, 
 Over the suffering, mindless of his creed 
 
 Or hue, hath bent : 
 
 He has not lived in vain ; and, while he gives 
 The praise to Him in whom he moves and lives, 
 
 With thankful heart, 
 
 He gazes backward, and with hope before, 
 Knowing that from his works he never more 
 
 Can henceforth part
 
 DEATH OF N. P. ROGERS. 
 
 BY. J. 0. ADAMS. 
 
 [We had the promise of a contribution from Mr. Rogers for this 
 work from his pen ; but death has prevented the fulfilment of that 
 promise. He cannot write for us. Deep respect, and love for a 
 noble heart, impels us to write our humble word for him.] 
 
 A LIGHT in Freedom's temple dimmed ! 
 
 A star gone from our northern sky ! 
 A requiem for the noble, hymned 
 
 In Love's deep harmony ! 
 
 No little earthly king is dead; 
 
 No warrior in Mood-contest slain ; 
 But one whose hero-soul was wed 
 
 To Truth's great strife and gain ; 
 
 Who, not with zeal for sect or clan, 
 In stinted words his message brought ; 
 
 But, in deep love for suffering Man, 
 Dared, uttered, lived, and wrought. 
 
 He scorned what others might allow, 
 To ask what Church or State would say, 
 
 When Wrong was bold ; the Eight ! and now 
 Let 's follow and obey !
 
 DEATH OF N. P. ROGERS. 65 
 
 Though small the day when first he gave 
 True heart and hand in manhood's cause, 
 
 Yet, in his lore of duty, brave, 
 He could not quail nor pause. 
 
 By silver lake and winding stream, 
 And up where mountain cloud-wreaths hung, 
 
 In busy mart and hermit's dream, 
 His pealing trump-notes rung. 
 
 They waked the echoes far and near, 
 Called many a true-born witness forth ; 
 
 Life-soldier in this new career 
 Of Freedom in the North. 
 
 Brave spirit ! more like thee we need, 
 
 In this our world's great conflict-hour, 
 To sow, with trusting hand, Truth's seed, 
 
 And wait her ripening power.
 
 66 
 
 THE ALLEGED INFERIORITY OF THE 
 AFRICAN RACE. 
 
 BY REV. C. STETSOX. 
 
 THE indifference with which the wrongs of 
 the blacks are regarded among us may be 
 traced, in part, to the prevalent belief that they 
 are an inferior order of beings. " I don't call a 
 nigger a man," said a sprightly boy of fifteen to 
 me, in reply to some expression of sympathy 
 with this much-injured race. He was of a good 
 family, well educated, and had at least the aver- 
 age share of humane and generous feeling. But 
 he spoke heedlessly upon a subject which had 
 never occupied his mind, or touched his heart. 
 He gave utterance, not to any conviction of his 
 own, but to a vague impression in the public 
 mind. The word " nigger " expresses a common 
 feeling. It is a term of contempt, used by young 
 and old; often thoughtlessly, but not the less 
 is it an indication of the popular feeling. When 
 we call a colored man a negro, we employ a
 
 INFERIORITY OF THE AFRICAN RACE. 67 
 
 proper distinctive term, implying nothing re- 
 proachful or offensive. But " nigger " is a vul- 
 gar nickname, always carrying with it something 
 of scorn and insult. In almost every town in 
 New England, there is one, at least, of these 
 unfortunate persons, who is looked upon by the 
 boys as fair game. "Without any conscious ma- 
 lignity of purpose, they feel at liberty to make 
 him the butt of their ridicule, and the object of 
 all manner of mockeries and practical jokes ; as 
 if he were a creature ludicrously aping the form, 
 without having the feelings, of a man. And, as 
 might be expected, they grow up with the idea 
 that negroes are something less than men, des- 
 tined by the Creator to a servile condition ; and 
 not greatly wronged, therefore, by being made 
 the slaves and drudges of a higher race. 
 
 This alleged inferiority of the negro to the 
 white man is relied upon, I think, as the best 
 defence of American Slavery ; for I do not 
 know that the selling of our white fellow-citizens 
 into slavery by the Algerines has ever been 
 justified in this country. In the present de- 
 graded state of the African race, there is no 
 doubt that such inferiority actually exists. So 
 were the Northmen, our ancestors, an inferior 
 race, as compared with the modern man of Old 
 or New England. When they landed on the
 
 68 OUR DAY. 
 
 shores of Britain, fierce, red-haired, shaggy 
 pirates, it may be doubted whether they were 
 not below the negroes of this country at the 
 present day, in all the finer attributes of huma- 
 nity. 
 
 The wretched mode of life, to which the 
 oppressions of many centuries have doomed the 
 Africans, makes it impossible to determine what 
 would be the result, if they had a fair chance to 
 unfold their powers. A flower cannot put forth 
 its sweetest fragrance, nor a tree its richest fruit, 
 under the cold mountain's shadow. The un- 
 happy negroes, crushed down by a barbarian 
 despotism at home, by a still more merciless 
 despotism as the slaves of civilization abroad, 
 may have wrapped up in their being the rudi- 
 ments of all that is great and noble ; as certain 
 seeds lie buried in cold and shady places, wait- 
 ing for the sunshine of genial circumstances to 
 make them germinate, and grow, and bear their 
 proper fruits. Many an African Plato, Shaks- 
 peare, Newton, Franklin, or "Washington, may 
 thus lie " in cold obstruction." 
 
 Civilized man has defrauded the soul of his 
 victim of all genial culture and nourishment ; 
 systematically kept him down, as near as possi- 
 ble, to a brute, that he might be a more willing 
 slave; and then made his inferiority an argu-
 
 INFERIORITY OF THE AFRICAN RACE. 69 
 
 ment for holding him in perpetual bondage ! 
 Is not the fact, that the master dares not educate 
 his slave, an admission of the slave's capacity 
 to become a man, capable of understanding and 
 maintaining the rights of manhood ? The negro, 
 at present, has a low physical organization. 
 With all his disadvantages, under such a system 
 of outrage, deprived of all means of physical 
 comfort and moral improvement, he cannot be 
 a finely organized man. It is said by English- 
 men, who are curious in the breeding of horses, 
 that it requires five generations of careful train- 
 ing to secure a first-rate hunter. And it will, no 
 doubt, require several generations of physical 
 improvement and intellectual culture, under the 
 inspiring influences of freedom and Christianity, 
 to raise the organization of the blacks to the 
 level of our own. The wonder is, not that they 
 are deficient in some of the higher attributes of 
 civilized man, but that, out of the dim depths of 
 their misery and debasement, so many persons 
 of eminent ability have emerged. 
 
 Among these, one of the most remarkable, 
 not much known in this country, was Alexander 
 Pushkin, the poet and historian of Russia ; the 
 favorite alike of the emperor and the people. 
 He died about ten years ago ; and though he 
 had reached only the age of thirty-seven, he
 
 70 OUR DAT. 
 
 was declared to be the only man who could wear 
 with honor the mantles of Derzhavin and Kar- 
 amsin. His maternal grandfather was a negro 
 named Annibal, who was patronized by the czar, 
 and held a commission in his naval service. 
 Pushkin dedicated more than one of his poems 
 to the memory of the black sea-captain ; and his 
 works contain frequent allusions to his own Afri- 
 can blood. His loosely-curled, wiry hair, his 
 mobile and irregular features, and dark complex- 
 ion, betrayed his negro origin, of which he was 
 never ashamed. In view of such examples of 
 intellectual and moral greatness as Pushkin, 
 Alexander Dumas, Toussaint L'Ouverture, Pe- 
 tion, Placido, Henry Bibb, and Frederick Doug- 
 lass, shall an ordinary white man dare to despise 
 and flout the race from which they sprung, as 
 beings of a lower order than himself? The 
 many thousands who have listened with breath- 
 less interest to the burning eloquence of free- 
 dom from some of these, so lately unlettered, 
 branded, whip-scarred slaves, must regard 
 them as Heaven-taught sons of genius, whose 
 indomitable spirit the white man's insolent op- 
 pressions could not break. If men like these 
 are indeed children of a race so abject as to be 
 rightfully denied the privilege and liberty of 
 manhood, then we must regard them as cer-
 
 INFERIORITY OF THE AFRICAN RACE. 71 
 
 tain nations do their idiots and maniacs as 
 chosen vehicles of Divine inspiration. The elo- 
 quence of the negro is the white man's shame 
 and condemnation. 
 
 In the poor, despised, and oppressed African, 
 we see a man and a brother. In his follies and 
 vices, in his loves and hatreds, in his virtues, 
 passions, and weaknesses, we recognize our 
 common humanity. We feel the truth of St. 
 Paul's affirmation, " God hath made of one blood 
 all the nations of men." If we find the colored 
 race, on the average, inferior in capacity to our 
 own, we are bound to consider what has made 
 them so. They have been denied their share 
 of the advantages which society affords to the 
 meanest white man. They have been rudely 
 thrust out of the pale of those impulses, en- 
 couragements, and hopes, by which great aspira- 
 tions are kindled in the soul, and great powers 
 often called forth from the obscurity of humblest 
 life. But what chance has the negro, even the 
 free negro, to find countenance and friendly 
 sympathy in any sphere of thought or action, 
 that would call into exercise the higher faculties 
 of man ? With all the disadvantages of his 
 position, is it strange that his mind should not 
 freely unfold itself, and that he should show but 
 little originality and invention ? But if, in these
 
 72 OUE DAY. 
 
 respects, he is inferior to the white man, it does 
 not appear that he is so in all. 
 
 In natural eloquence, it seems to me that the 
 negroes surpass all other races ; and this gift 
 implies the possession of some of the highest 
 faculties of the mind. I need not speak of 
 their great orators, whose speeches are now 
 startling the world from its slumber ; men whose 
 memory will live for ever in history. We have 
 heard many an unlettered slave, just broken 
 loose from his iron bondage, pouring out his 
 deep emotions in words of power and life, that 
 stir men's souls like the blast of the trumpet. 
 I know not whence comes this gift of speech to 
 an ignorant and degraded race. A New Eng- 
 land man of ordinary education, called upon to 
 address a strange audience under like circum- 
 stances, would be struck dumb, or be able to 
 utter himself only in vague and incoherent bab- 
 blings. 
 
 In the faculty of imitation, and the capacity to 
 appreciate and adopt the civilization of a more 
 favored race, the African has probably no equal. 
 Take a North American savage from his forest 
 home ; give him for years all the advantages of 
 education and society that we enjoy ; and the 
 chances are that he will remain a savage still. 
 But the negro, torn away from his home and
 
 INFERIORITY OF THE AFRICAN RACE. 73 
 
 country, sold to a merciless slave-trader, sub- 
 jected to the horrors of the middle passage, and 
 at length landed on a foreign shore, to be sold 
 again to a taskmaster, becomes forthwith a civil- 
 ized man. No human being is so ready as he to 
 adopt whatever improvement is offered, and 
 learn whatever can be learned, from those who 
 are more advanced than himself in the arts and 
 amenities of life. A spirit so imitative, so docile, 
 so receptive of good from every quarter, is emi- 
 nently fitted to move onward near to the front 
 rank, if not to take the lead, in the progress of 
 human improvement. 
 
 The noblest elements of character, however, 
 are not intellectual, but moral attributes ; and in 
 these the African, with- equal advantages, might 
 perhaps be found to have the advantage of the 
 Anglo-Saxon race. His nature is more conge- 
 nial than ours with the spirit of Christianity. He 
 is less proud, fierce, arrogant, and self-willed. 
 He has gentler and kinder affections ; and more 
 of the meek, humble, and submissive temper, 
 which receives the gospel of Christ as a little 
 child, and reposes in the bosom of the Father's love 
 with a child-like faith and trust. Dr. Channing, 
 who had meditated upon the African character 
 and condition with profounder insight than al- 
 most any man of the age, expressed the opinion
 
 74 OUR DAY. 
 
 that the Christian religion was yet to receive its 
 highest and most beautiful development in the 
 negro race. For, in the natural characteristics 
 of that race, the obedient, peaceful, and loving 
 spirit of Jesus meets with less antagonism than 
 in those of any other people. 
 
 No one who has given earnest attention to 
 this subject, can doubt that there are in the 
 African nature fine elements, which need free- 
 dom and generous culture only, to be unfolded 
 into great excellence and beauty of character. 
 If the negro race is, in some respects, inferior to 
 the Anglo-Saxon, in other, and quite as import- 
 ant respects, it may be found to have the supe- 
 riority. I cannot, therefore, feel any respect for 
 a defence of slavery resting on the assumption 
 that the blacks are a lower order of beings, 
 incapable of taking care of themselves, and fit 
 only to be hewers of wood and drawers of water 
 to their arrogant masters. For, if we admit the 
 fact of their inferior capacity, I would found on 
 that very fact the strongest plea for their deliv- 
 erance and social elevation. The unfortunate 
 negro whether a slave or a freeman, always 
 despised and persecuted makes the touching 
 appeal to our hearts, " Am I not a man and a 
 brother ? " And shall we stop to inquire whether 
 he is our equal or our inferior, before we put
 
 INFERIORITY OF THE AFRICAN RACE. 75 
 
 forth our hand to lift off his crushing burden of 
 misery and oppression ? His degradation is his 
 strongest claim to our pity and help. As a 
 Christian people, we read our duty to an inferior 
 race in the words of Jesus : " The princes of the 
 Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones 
 exercise a tyrannical authority. But it shall not 
 be so among you. But whosoever will be great 
 among you, shall be your minister ; and whoso- 
 ever of you will be the chiefest, shall be the ser- 
 vant of alL" The spirit of Christ is large, liberal, 
 universal ; comprehending in the range of its 
 beneficence the whole brotherhood of man. It 
 teaches us that it is especially the duty of those 
 who are foremost in the grand procession of 
 humanity to render disinterested service to the 
 ignorant and degraded ones, who are too feeble 
 or blind to follow with equal pace. They pine 
 in bondage and in sore distress for want of the 
 brotherly sympathy and aid which it is our priv- 
 ilege to afford. "I have shown you," said St. 
 Paul, " how that so laboring ye ought to support 
 the weak." 
 
 So kind and affectionate is the spirit of Jesus ; 
 and such must be the spirit of every truly Chris- 
 tian people. It is a far-reaching, all-embracing 
 benevolence. Wherever a human being is, there 
 it recognizes a child of God and a brother, with
 
 76 OUK DAY. 
 
 profound sensibility to his sorrows and wrongs. 
 " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." This 
 is the great central law of the social system, 
 which Christ would establish upon the earth; 
 and by his own interpretation of this law, every 
 one is our neighbor whose sufferings our sym- 
 pathy can mitigate, or our charity relieve. 
 Oceans, rivers, mountains, parallels of latitude, 
 boundaries of states, can never make any part 
 of the human family aliens to their fellow-men. 
 From whatever quarter or distance the cry of 
 human wretchedness comes, it touches our hearts 
 as the wail of a brother's agony. But these 
 poor, dark-colored brothers and sisters of ours, 
 though of African blood, are our own country- 
 men ; born, for the most part, in this land of 
 freedom and equal rights. They are suffering 
 under our laws, usages, and prejudices. And if 
 their souls have been crippled, dwarfed, and 
 blinded, by our injustice, all the more impera- 
 tively are we called upon to afford them pity and 
 relief.
 
 77 
 
 THE FUGITIVE SLAVE. 
 
 BT REV. HENRY BACON. 
 
 " Canada and hearen," he said, " are the oulj- two places that the 
 slaye sighed for." Brawn. 
 
 MY God ! and is it so ? On this green earth, 
 So fruitful with the blood of martyred sires, 
 
 Is there no spot where Freedom's sons have birth, 
 As Nature's priests, to feed her altar-fires, 
 
 And bid the flames rise up, a beacon-light, 
 
 To cheer the darkness of the wanderer's night ? 
 
 When the stretched hands and awful speaking eye 
 Plead for our aid to rush from slavery on, 
 
 Is there no spot New England's mountains nigh, 
 Where we can bid the despot's imps begone ? 
 
 No spot where Law, by erring man laid down, 
 
 Shall not demand the crash of Freedom's crown ? 
 
 Oh ! must he haste from where the shadow lies 
 Of the tall pillar reared to mighty deeds ; 
 
 And seek a home beneath Canadian skies, 
 
 Though toil-worn nature in its anguish bleeds ? 
 
 While still the accusing cry and taunt is given, 
 
 " Shame on ye here ! Canadian lands, or heaven ! "
 
 78 OUR DAT. 
 
 Oh ! by the blood that mantles to the cheek, 
 That tingles in each vein in fiery shame, 
 
 Let the bold lip and bolder heart outspeak 
 The vow we make in Freedom's holy name ; 
 
 That, through a living wall, by strokes of death, 
 
 Alone shall despots come with prison-breath. 
 
 Oh ! when, with swollen limbs and bleeding feet, 
 Beside my hearth the wanderer sits him there, 
 
 Thou shalt, my brother, full protection meet, 
 Nor tremble more with thy fierce, dread despair. 
 
 Ay, by the fires that kindle in my soul, 
 
 No might of man shall there his fate control. 
 
 Firm stand the hills around my childhood's home, 
 Grand wave the forests in their native pride, 
 
 Swift flow the streams that there in grandeur roam, 
 And pour their treasures to the Ocean tide : 
 
 From hills and forests, streams and mighty sea, 
 
 I '11 learn the might to help the slave be free.
 
 79 
 
 A GLIMPSE. 
 
 T WAS erewhile I had a vision, when I saw each varied race 
 Of the lords of earth assembling near a towering mountain's base : 
 Some were winding from the summit downward to a grassy lea, 
 Which lay, strewn with golden flowers, stretching to the wavy sea ; 
 And, in groups, were many landing along the sounding shore, 
 Some from strange-rigged ships and barges that I ne'er had seen 
 before. 
 
 There I saw the polished German, with his thought-enkindled brow, 
 Greet the Frenchman and the Spaniard ; while each breathed a 
 
 friendly vow. 
 
 And the Anglo-Saxon settler of Columbia's wide-spread lands 
 With the Indian aborigine in amity shook hands. 
 There the pale and dwarfish Icelander, and Afric's sable son, 
 Mingled with the varied natives of Borneo and Ceylon. 
 
 And there, too, were turbaned Arabs, and imperial Chinese, 
 
 And, from beyond the sacred Ganges, the swarthy Siamese ; 
 
 The Tartar, Bit-man, Tonquinese, the Thibetian, and Hindoo, 
 
 In strange contrast with the tribes that came from Chili and Pern. 
 
 The giant Patagonian stood beside the Esquimaux, 
 
 And men from far-off ocean isles were wandering to and fro. 
 
 Rambling ; mid that throng were natives of all climes beneath the 
 
 sun, 
 And, to grace a festal jubilee, some offering brought each one :
 
 80 OUR DAY. 
 
 Oleasters from Judea ; purple grapes from sunny France ; 
 
 Date and cocoa from umbrageous groves, where Caffre children 
 
 dance ; 
 
 Luscious, mellow fruits from Cuba, from Cape Verd, and Comoro ; 
 Sweetest spices from green islands, where winds perfume-laden blow. 
 
 Now the sun poured down his radiance on all the charmed scene ; 
 And, for miles, he glazed the ocean with a vermeil-tinted sheen. 
 In the gently-waving tree-tops birds of gorgeous plumage sang, 
 And then- sweet, melodious warbling with entrancing echo rang. 
 The pulse of joy ecstatic seemed to thrill the blessed air ; 
 For gladness, love, and purity, and peace, were everywhere. 
 
 The intent of this vast gathering I felt curious to know, 
 
 And throughout my sentient being did a strange emotion glow ; 
 
 Like that mystic intuition which so often in our dreams 
 
 Doth presage the truth, though dimly, that, when wakened, on us 
 
 gleams; 
 
 Then, as unpent water riseth in a fountain, rose the thought 
 Which gave answer to the problem why this interview they sought : 
 
 And I shouted, hi my rapture, This assemblage bodeth good ; 
 
 'T is to form a grand Alliance a confederate Brotherhood. 
 
 Not for kingly exaltation, nor for sordid traffic's gain, 
 
 Nor to palliate oppression, nor to forge a bigot's chain ; 
 
 But with quickening afflatus every dormant soul to move, 
 
 And to girdle Earth with freedom, with truth, holiness, and love. 
 
 Soon I learned that instantaneous was the burning impulse felt, 
 That made sectional aversion's triple-welded fetters melt ; 
 Urging every delegation hither from each clime remote, 
 Giving courage to the voyagers o'er unfathomed deeps to float ; 
 Novel radiance imparting, that in every feature glowed, 
 As each on his new acquaintance a saluting glance bestowed. 
 
 And Earth's languages, so various, uttered each in differing tone, 
 Became somehow strangely molten, and soon blended into one ;
 
 A GLIMPSE. 81 
 
 That in sweetness ne'er was equalled in the soft Italian clime, 
 Where the dark -eyed maidens' voices like /Eolian music chime. 
 Hatred's harsh discordance vanished, in oblivious silence lulled ; 
 For meek LOVE, the world's new empress, Babel's edict had annulled. 
 
 Then I wandered to the mountain ; and, ascending to its height, 
 Viewed the lovely scene beneath me, bathed in Summer's golden 
 
 light. 
 
 There I lingered till the rosy beams of waning day had passed 
 Down below the far horizon, and the gentle Evening cast 
 O'er the mount her veil of shadows, and with coolness filled the air. 
 And, with ocean for her mirror, placed her gems within her hair. 
 
 Gazing upwards, I discovered that her jewels were arranged 
 In new figures and positions, or my mood their aspect changed ; 
 As we sometimes, in our musing, lying wakeful on our bed, 
 People with our brain-wrought images the ceiling overhead. 
 For no longer seemed Bootes in a hunter's garb arrayed, 
 Nor seemed Ursa Major fleeing, his pursuers to evade. 
 
 Metamorphosed was Centaurus, and no more the semblance gave 
 Of a being, formed half-human, made brute passion's fated slave. 
 Of fierce strife and grim oppression would fair Night no emblems 
 
 yield ; 
 
 Even stalwart, old Orion seemed divested of his shield ; 
 And the gentle maid, Andromeda, from bondage found release ; 
 All the signs within the heavens were the signs of love and peace. 
 
 While absorbed in contemplation, gentle sounds I seemed to hear, 
 Through the night-air floating downward, from each distant, glitter- 
 ing sphere ; 
 And I listened, till life's current glided raster through my veins, 
 
 the soul-enchanting music of those soft, symphonious strains, 
 Which orb after orb repeated, till the chorus died away 
 Where resplendent astral systems in the hazy distance lay.
 
 82 OUR DAY. 
 
 Clearly then were voices ringing, low at first, but rising higher, 
 Chanting, " Are we not all brothers ? Have we not one glorious 
 
 Sire ? 
 
 Though the tie of this relation I had felt before that hour, 
 It had never thrilled my being with such vitalizing power. 
 No distinction nor credenda my free sympathies can bind 
 To one coterie or nation ; I AM BROTHER TO MANKIND ! 
 
 ALPHONBO.
 
 83 
 
 ANNIVERSARY WEEK IN BOSTON. 
 
 BT J. 0. ADAMS. 
 
 IT is old election-time in Massachusetts the 
 last Wednesday in May once a greater day 
 than now, but yet held in remembrance, as it 
 doubtless will be through at least a few more 
 generations. The actual election-time has been 
 changed from this blooming May season to mid- 
 winter ; yet some of the " pomp " if less of the 
 " circumstance " of the occasion remains. 
 
 The military are out ; and the military in 
 Boston seldom go begging for spectators. Hark ! 
 that ringing of horns, and that exhilarating and 
 inimitable talk of Kendall's clarionet, bespeak 
 one of the best bands the old or new world can 
 hear. It is with "the tigers,"* (a perfectly 
 appropriate name), just from Faneuil Hall, and 
 now turning up into State Street. Troops of 
 longer or shorter boys do the escort duty to the 
 
 * A familiar name for the Boston Light Infentry.
 
 84 OUR DAT. 
 
 citizen-soldiers ; all led on by this glorious out- 
 cry of music, as it sends its stirring notes among 
 the brick and stone avenues of this busy city, 
 and in at each door or window-chink, calling 
 even the most abstracted calculator from his 
 ledger or bank-notes to gaze and listen for a 
 moment, as the soldierly pageant passes on. 
 Corresponding indications of the day are heard 
 from other streets ; and echoes and reechoes of 
 glorious martial strains come breaking in on 
 every hand. 
 
 Look on the Common, the grand old Com- 
 mon, so long known as one of the chief beauties, 
 as well as conveniences, of Boston. Its venera- 
 ble old elm, " the elm," never looked down on a 
 multitude that seemed more merry-hearted than 
 these youthful groups seen in its tidy path- 
 ways. Freshness and beauty are in the bending 
 tree branches, on the green grass carpet, and in 
 the children's faces. More order, and none the 
 less joy, do we find, now that in these goodly 
 temperance days the alcoholic exhibition is not a 
 part of the election show on the Common. The 
 confectioners are here ; but the rum dram-dealer 
 has no place in this entertainment, except as a spec- 
 tator of other sales than those in his immediate 
 line. This is as it should be. What a splendid 
 panorama comes up before the eye, as we stand
 
 ANNIVERSARY WEEK IN BOSTON. 85 
 
 in the green yard of the State House, looking 
 downwards ! The full Common, with its swarms 
 in their spring dresses, military and all, shifting 
 among the trees like hues of the kaleidoscope ; 
 Park-street spire, and the long and noble ranges 
 of buildings wherein the elite of the city dwell ; 
 and, upon our right, as if surveying the welcome 
 scene, the old Hancock House, a veritable Re- 
 volutioner of the glorious past, taking quiet note 
 of the more glorious present. Verily, this is 
 none other than Boston, and election day. 
 
 These, however, are but the outward indica- 
 tions of one day. Let them be enjoyed to every 
 heart's brim ! Let the frolicksome boys and 
 girls " have their time out " on this spacious 
 Common, and in the full streets ; and the sol- 
 diers, too, and all the older spectators of their 
 evolutions. Let this day's glory and joy be fully 
 said, sung, and written. Yet this is not all of 
 Anniversary Week. 
 
 If this old election day brings out the soul of 
 military soldiery, so does the whole week bring 
 more fully and effectually out the soul of our 
 moral soldiery hi Massachusetts and New Eng- 
 land. No mere sword and plume, fife and drum, 
 small beer and confectionary exhibition have we 
 here now, hi this renowned Boston ; but a 
 greater occasion by far. Here are noblest mus-
 
 86 OUR DAY. 
 
 terings, surpassing evolutions, richest entertain- 
 ments. Here are warriors armed to the heart 
 and mouth, blowing strongest blasts from their 
 stirring war-trumpets, and making their heavy 
 cannonading heard all over the land ; and its 
 long reverberations, likely as not, throughout the 
 world. 
 
 Now is the time for the annual meeting of the 
 various religious, benevolent, and progress asso- 
 ciations, for which our moral agitators have been 
 waiting all the year. Peace, Prison Discipline, 
 Sabbath School, Missionary, Education, Tract, 
 Bible, Temperance, Colonization, Anti-slavery, 
 Seaman's Friend, and various other societies, 
 now have their yearly reports and reckonings, 
 and so their different representations. Scores of 
 ministers, deacons, and other honorary members 
 of the church orthodox, more orthodox, most 
 orthodox liberal, more liberal, most liberal 
 from Dr. Storrs, of Braintree, to Rev. Theodore 
 Parker, between whom may be realized the 
 whole distance signified by the two superlatives 
 just used, have come up to their anticipated 
 repasts, and will enjoy more than one good 
 intellectual and moral meal before the week has 
 gone. Old Park-street, and Berry-street, and 
 the new and elegant Winter-street churches, are 
 open almost every day or evening ; and Brom-
 
 ANNIVERSARY WEEK IN BOSTON. 87 
 
 field-street church, and Washingtonian Hall, and 
 the famed Marlboro' Chapel. Nor does the 
 Church or State have all this glory on their 
 behalf. Gome-outers, Reformers, Disunionists, 
 and other Radical "break-downs," are here ; 
 men and women, the white race, the black race, 
 and some of the noblest pleaders for both races, 
 or rather the one race, that the world bears up. 
 I tell you there is a heart here which this old 
 world must feel, will feel, to its very extremities. 
 Father Taylor, the seaman's minister, says : 
 " There is but one Boston, and that is in the 
 centre of God's universe." If you want to have 
 this conviction really move you, keep yourself 
 among the goers to these benevolent and reform 
 associations during Anniversary Week. 
 
 Shall we take a few rapid glances into the 
 convocations ? Here is a session of the Ameri- 
 can Prison Discipline Society. Hon. Theodore 
 Lyman is in the chair. The report from the 
 secretary, Mr. Dwight, is a cheering one. He 
 has been on a European tour, and has returned 
 with funds of information on this important 
 topic. He tells us that some of the best minds 
 in Europe are engaged in the great work of 
 reforming the vicious, and of saving those ex- 
 posed to vicious influences. Charles Sumner 
 reads a report, too, a kind of review of former
 
 88 OUR DAT. 
 
 proceedings, which elicits strong discussion. Mr. 
 Sumner is a grand specimen of our best public 
 speakers. Tall, finely formed, with his dark 
 hair, strong and benevolent eye, rich voice, and 
 appropriate gesture, he always makes an impres- 
 sion when he has prepared himself for an effort. 
 His Fourth of July oration, on the " True 
 Grandeur of Nations," and one or two public 
 addresses at Cambridge, have made for him a 
 renown that will last long years yet. But 
 dinner-time has come imperative caller ! and 
 this meeting must adjourn. 
 
 Enter softly that door of Winter-street church ; 
 for don 't you hear that voice, pure and musical 
 as the running water of some fresh, strong 
 stream, down the green hill-side, in spring ? Pro- 
 fessor Greenleaf, of Cambridge, is speaking. 
 This is the Bible Society, and he is vindicating 
 its claims. No man will do the subject better 
 justice. I wish I could report his speech ; so 
 manful, so vigorous, so free from cant, so irre- 
 sistibly true. You would not feel like keeping 
 silence if the Bible was reproached in your 
 hearing, after getting filled with the inspiration 
 of such a speech. The venerable Dr. Pierce, of 
 Brookline, presides at this meeting. An excel- 
 lent report has been read by Dr. Parkman. It 
 is the thirty-eighth anniversary of the society.
 
 ANNIVERSARY WEEK IN BOSTON. 89 
 
 Society for the Promotion of Collegiate and 
 Theological Education at the West a nume- 
 rously attended meeting in Tremont Temple. 
 This is an efficient association. Eleven thousand 
 dollars have been contributed by the New Eng- 
 land churches alone, during the past year, to 
 promote its objects. Rev. G. "W. Blagden, Dr. 
 Baird, J. M. Worcester, and Henry W. Beecher, 
 address the meeting. The last named is from 
 Indianapolis. He is a son of the old Doctor, 
 now of Cincinnati ; and is a giant man for one 
 of his inches and years, when he undertakes to 
 wield pen or tongue in earnest. He has just 
 been giving them some excellent specimens of 
 western oratory, at the anniversaries in New 
 York city. He has in him all the boundlessness 
 of genius we might expect of a genuine Beecher 
 growth, in the amazing river, lake, and prairie 
 land. 
 
 In the chamber of the great Railroad depot, in 
 Haymarket Square, a hall that more nearly 
 approaches immensity than any other in New 
 England, you may see assembled, at well- 
 furnished tables, twelve hundred Unitarians and 
 their friends of the Old Bay and other states. 
 It is a yearly social gathering j a festival given 
 by the laity to the ministers. And a a feast of 
 reason " indeed is it. George S. Hillard, Esq. 
 6
 
 90 OUR DAT. 
 
 is the presiding officer. He opens the intellec- 
 tual entertainment in an address full of words 
 most fitly chosen, every one of them in the right 
 place. Other appropriate speeches follow. Ire- 
 land and Canada are here represented in Uni- 
 tarian clergymen. Father Taylor is here. It 
 has just been said that he is to go to Ireland in 
 the relief ship, Macedonian, from New York. 
 The chairman, to call him up, asks if the report 
 is true. The old salt starts on his feet, and 
 pours out a speech with his whole heart hi it : 
 
 " The chairman has asked me a question : I 
 wish he would answer his own. It is not my 
 prerogative ; it is not hi my place ; it is not in 
 my power. I am not my own. I have lost my 
 independence. I have been married to Boston 
 'most twenty years. Their will is my pleasure 
 at all times. Wherever an assembly like this 
 calls me to go, I go, if it is to attack his majesty 
 at home. I fear no harm nor danger, where such 
 life and such grace shall give direction. 
 
 " But, sir, really this does come home worse 
 than a shell or a torpedo. This is new news to 
 me, that I am to be banished. I have served 
 you the best that I might. I have been with 
 you 'most forty years. I came to you a home- 
 less, friendless boy, and never knew, nor have 
 not learned to this day, whether I ever had a
 
 ANNIVERSARY WEEK IN BOSTON. 91 
 
 home. I found one here. I have sailed for 
 you. I have fought for you in the war. I have 
 served you in peace. I have grown old. I have 
 become like a clock on the wall, which has struck 
 so long it starts no one ; and they have got a 
 convenient way to get another to banish me to 
 Ireland. 
 
 " Well, sir, be it so. If I am to go there for 
 a grave, I carry a better load than most that go ; 
 for it is not all that carry four thousand barrels 
 of provisions. "Why I should go, I know not. 
 Why I should not go, it is not my business to 
 inquire. I am willing to do any thing to aid 
 humanity to aid those hi whose service I am a 
 voluntary, willing, and well-rewarded servant. 
 Your service and your toil are my rest and my 
 recreation." 
 
 Here are some prosy speeches, as well as 
 these fresh and stirring ones. After a meeting 
 of four hours, the noble hall is filled with the 
 vocal strains of the closing doxology. 
 
 The Universal Brotherhood is in session at 
 the Bromfield-street church. This association is 
 the plan of Elihu Burritt. He has drawn up a 
 universal Peace Pledge ; and they have been 
 discussing its merits and bearings here. Amasa 
 Walker is hi the chair ; a large audience before 
 him, representing all sentiments from out-and-out
 
 92 OUR DAY. 
 
 non-resistance, to expedient, defensive, or aggres- 
 sive war ; but few of the latter, however. Father 
 Taylor is here, too ; but not in that happy posi- 
 tion where we saw him yesterday, at the Unita- 
 rian festival. He has just been speaking in his 
 usual warm and vehement manner, and has said 
 something in vindication of the sword ; when lo ! 
 he is met by one of the most dreadful moral 
 hornets America has ever yet known, Stephen 
 S. Foster. Straight, thin-faced, spectacled, and 
 solemn, stands this man of umjRried nerve and 
 tongue. Hot, impudent, rough-and-tumble as he 
 sometimes seems, apparently reckless of the feel- 
 ings of opponents, he is now collected, careful, 
 courteous ; but in logic keen as a razor, and in 
 clearness of exposition, and strength of appeal, 
 irresistible. Father Taylor attempts to correct 
 him, but in vain. Has he mistaken Father 
 Taylor's words ? He appeals to the audience, 
 and they answer, " No ! " and out he pours his 
 fire again ; and on and on he streams, till the 
 clock stops him, as he has agreed to hear an 
 answer. The old seaman's minister arises, and 
 attempts to play back ; but his odd comparisons 
 and witticisms, well enough of themselves, are 
 out of the range of Stephen's argument. They 
 cannot meet it. Foster very wisely leaves the 
 matter to the judgment of the audience. This
 
 ANNIVERSARY WEEK IN BOSTON. 93 
 
 is a spirited meeting. Good will come of it 
 Between thirty and forty thousand names have 
 been added, within six or eight months, to this 
 brotherhood pledge, on each side of the At- 
 lantic. 
 
 Now we are in Bromfield-street, let us look in 
 at Washingtonian Hall ; a beautiful, new, and spa- 
 cious meeting-room, for those noble reformers, 
 the Washingtonians. Here is a goodly assem- 
 blage, because made up of many self-sacrificing 
 and true souls. There is the mild face of a 
 good philanthropist, Dr. Walter Charming. 
 Hark ! he is " not afraid to speak evil of dig- 
 nities." " Our rich men, and men in Congress, 
 sustain drunkenness." He compliments the Bos- 
 ton mayor and aldermen for the stand they 
 have just taken against licensing rum-sellers. 
 " Father Thompson " is here, one of the small- 
 est and largest of the genuine human kind ; in 
 bodily stature commanding, if placed on a high 
 rostrum in the midst of a multitude ; in heart 
 and soul, sure of a " tall " welcome in Washing- 
 tonian Hall. He is one of the presiding geniuses 
 here ; and one of the noblest, most indefatigable 
 laborers in the temperance cause, that treads 
 New England ground. The noted John Haw- 
 kins is present ; and the musical Potter, and 
 Coles, of the " New England Washingtonian." 
 Coles cannot make a speech, without some pun
 
 94 OTTK DAT. 
 
 or witticism. " Brother Thompson has called me 
 out, and I suppose I must say something. He 
 seems to rule here, to-day ; and I suppose we 
 must obey him. We are, therefore, to-day, all 
 Thompsonians" He does not spare the wine- 
 drinking clergymen of the city, in his spicy 
 address. Blessings on this band of reformers ! 
 May Heaven smile as propitiously on them in the 
 future, as it has in the past. 
 
 The meeting of the Seaman's Friend Society 
 is almost always one of interest. It is held on 
 Wednesday of this week, in Tremont Temple. 
 There are some hearts here, ardently devoted to 
 the cause of the ocean-children, whom the world 
 often forgets, or treats so roughly. Jack Tar is 
 remembered in prayers and speeches here, how- 
 ever deserted and lonely at times he may feel. 
 Excellent addresses are made : one, in parti- 
 cular, by Rev. Mr. Adams, Seaman's Chaplain 
 at Havre ; and another by Lieutenant Foote, of 
 the United States' Navy. Among other good 
 suggestions, he urged upon the society and aud- 
 ience the duty of using all their influence to 
 abolish the whisky portion of the rations in the 
 navy. Thank him for that. Our higher officers, 
 in both army and navy, should talk more after 
 this manner. 
 
 A breakfast at Faneuil Hall a grand rally 
 of the " Liberty Party " there. Edmund Quincy
 
 ANNIVERSARY WEEK Df BOSTON. 95 
 
 has written in the Anti-slavery Almanac, for 
 1847, that the " Liberty Party " is dead, without 
 hope of rising ; so down, that 
 
 " All the king's hones, and all the king's men, 
 Can 't set Humpty Dnmpty up again ! " 
 
 But here are six hundred of this party most 
 earnestly at work. This is death only to 
 the eatables and drinkables of the occasion. 
 Dead men do not eat so do not talk so. 
 Why, here is spirit enough to make and keep 
 life in any party, great or small. Rev. Mr. 
 Lovejoy, a brother of the Alton martyr, presides 
 at this festival. Joshua Leavitt, the editor of 
 the Emancipator, makes a pertinent speech. He 
 is one of the most vigorous of political writers, 
 especially when the "peculiar institution" of 
 the South is to be discussed. Mr. Calhoun has 
 acknowledged as much as this, if not more, con- 
 cerning him. Hayden, Henson, and Gould, all 
 slaves, make thrilling appeals. Dr. Snodgrass, 
 a young anti-slavery editor from Baltimore, en- 
 ters into the work with a commendable zeal. 
 The way in which he administers flagellation to 
 slave-owning clergymen is worthy of note. This 
 is the resolution to which the Doctor speaks, 
 and which is heartily adopted : 
 
 " Resolved, That the plea so often made by cler-
 
 96 OUR DAT. 
 
 gymen of the North, in behalf of their slave- 
 holding brethren of the South, that they are 
 compelled by law to continue their present rela- 
 tions, is an utter fallacy ; and that it should 
 be so regarded everywhere, by the real friends 
 of truth and freedom." 
 
 Now for Marlboro' Chapel, and the meeting of 
 the New England Anti-slavery Society. Here 
 is where Mr. Emerson says you may find " elo- 
 quence dog cheap." Verily so. Do n't talk of 
 parliaments or congresses, if you can hear the 
 speakers of this convention in full blast. I 
 would set them up, on any great moral question, 
 against the same number you might select from 
 all the oratorical multitudes now speaking our 
 mother-tongue. Here you have ultraism, not 
 only to the backbone, but the very backbone 
 itself. Frederick Douglass is chosen president ; 
 but he is not able, from bodily illness, to take 
 the chair. He will not speak at this meeting ; 
 and so, many will be disappointed ; for, since his 
 visit to Europe, he has become quite a lion, a 
 genuine one, too. There are but few white 
 men, and, I presume, not another black man in 
 the world, capable of making a stronger or more 
 stirring speech on the abomination of slavery, 
 than this same Frederick. If you want to put 
 a man on the sure road to conversion to anti-
 
 ANNIVERSARY WEEK IN BOSTON. 97 
 
 slavery doctrines, give him the life of this now 
 redeemed slave, written by himself, and get him 
 to read it attentively. If the fire does n't mount 
 his cheeks, and the -water look out of his eyes, 
 before he finishes the first reading, then he 
 knows no more of freedom's spirit than an infant 
 Hottentot. Douglass is an eloquent speaker ; 
 and he has been his own educator, from the time 
 he first found out his letters, on pieces of paper 
 picked up hi the streets of his Southern homes. 
 His pronunciation is said to have improved, 
 during his visit to Great Britain. One who has 
 just heard him at the New York anniversaries, 
 writes : " "We question whether Mr. Macready 
 himself, that martinet in the matter of English, 
 could find fault with half-a-dozen words used by 
 this escaped slave, who, as we are assured, 
 never went to school a day in his life, but has 
 made himself what he is by native talent and 
 industry." 
 
 Remond, and other able orators "in black," 
 are here ; full charged and ready with the truth, 
 to do themselves and the cause of freedom jus- 
 tice. I have named the colored brethren first 
 But they do not completely represent this assem- 
 bly. We have here some white thundering he- 
 roes, who seldom talk long to sleepy listeners ; 
 and whose names are pretty well known in every
 
 98 OUR DAY. 
 
 nook and corner of our land. This is a " Gar- 
 risonian " meeting ; and there is the agitator for 
 whom it is thus named a sober-looking Massa- 
 chusetts man, of the sternest Puritan firmness, 
 and with a martyr's spirit of self-sacrifice ; his 
 benevolence of soul written in his face, and 
 shining from that bald head, for which some 
 thousands of dollars were once offered by certain 
 aggrieved Southern bloods, and upon which the 
 maledictions of more than as many thousands of 
 slaveholders have been falling very harmless, 
 during these dozen or fifteen last years. He is 
 an orator of the old Roman stamp. And so is 
 Wendell Philips, who sits near him no who 
 has just risen to speak. The audience have 
 been somewhat uneasy, but are still now. The 
 silver trumpeter will give them a blast from his 
 rich-toned instrument. He will please, excite, 
 affront, and allay them. The clergy come in for 
 a share of his eloquent maledictions ; that is, 
 certain of them who gave encouragement to 
 slavery, and who once denounced the abolition- 
 ists as madmen, for putting the Bible above the 
 statute-book, and St. Calhoun, and the Gospel of 
 South Carolina according to George McDuffie ! 
 So far, all is well. But now his words of light 
 and flame are hurled at President Polk and 
 Daniel Webster. " Scoundrels and cowards are
 
 ANNIVERSARY WEEK IN BOSTON. 99 
 
 they ! " Out come the hisses from the crowd 
 around. These only serve to render his castiga- 
 tions of the " great expounder " still more severe. 
 " In his recent visit to Charleston, South Caro- 
 lina," says Mr. P., " Mr. "Webster has disgraced 
 Massachusetts ! He has not represented her 
 feelings at the treatment of Samuel Hoar ! He 
 should not have gone there, if he did not feel 
 equal to the crisis of speaking for Massachusetts, 
 in reference to the treatment of that individual. 
 His coward lips should not have taken the name 
 of the honored state, which he had not the 
 courage to represent faithfully. He has acted 
 the part of the fawning sycophant, and not that 
 of a true representative of Massachusetts senti- 
 ment!" If the expounder himself were here 
 now, he might look some premonitory lightning 
 out of those " cavernous eyes." The storm of 
 indignation seems subsiding ; and the orator 
 concludes in strains more melodious and sooth- 
 ing. 
 
 But, heigh ho! Here comes the invincible 
 Stephen S. Foster. We have already spoken of 
 his encounter with Father Taylor. He is less 
 m*aly-mouthed now. So we may judge from 
 his opening volley : " If we had men, instead of 
 monkeys, in Massachusetts, she would not for a 
 moment longer preserve even the form of union
 
 100 OUK DAT. 
 
 with such a state as South Carolina ! " Hissing 
 and stamping ensue. But the imperturbable 
 green spectacles look it down, and the strong 
 voice rings out with still more force and effect. 
 " Shame on Massachusetts ! Shame on Massa- 
 chusetts ! the meanest state that lives ! " The 
 response is a general " muss " in the outer edges 
 of the congregation. A few benches are broken, 
 and the police have some brief sayings and 
 doings with certain outraged hearers of this 
 treasonable scandal. But Stephen speaks till he 
 has a mind to conclude, and then sits as quietly 
 down as if nothing had happened. He has 
 only been swimming in his element the odd 
 fish. 
 
 A new speaker is here, a lady-stranger, 
 Mrs. Lucretia Motte, of Philadelphia, a kind 
 of moderate Daniel Webster, in Quaker cap and 
 gown. She is about Mr. "VV.'s age ; and speaks 
 as clearly and logically before this audience, as 
 the Massachusetts senator would in his place in 
 congress. Dr. Combe thinks she has as good a 
 woman's head as any he found in America. 
 Mrs. M. advocates resolutions offered by a Rev. 
 Mr. Grew, against using the products of slave 
 labor. Wendell Philips, in one of his smoothest, 
 strongest, and happiest strains, annihilates the 
 resolutions, or the doctrine on which they are
 
 ANNIVERSARY WEEK IN BOSTON. 101 
 
 founded. But where shall we end? for all 
 this is but a sprinkling of the entertainment. 
 Here are other lady speakers, able and eloquent. 
 Here are the now-distinguished Rev. Theodore 
 Parker ; Rev. Mr. Stetson, of Medford ; Rev. Mr. 
 Himes, the Second Advent Man ; Rev. Adin 
 Ballou, the non-resistant advocate ; Rev. William 
 H. Channing; and Parker Pillsbury, with his 
 battle-axe always in hand, ready to cleave down 
 all reverends who are not born of the spirit of 
 American anti-slavery. He advocates a reso- 
 lution, expressing exultation in view of the 
 declining state of the hitherto popular American 
 religion, and the reviving of a purer, through 
 the reformatory movements of the age. Free 
 speeches are here the order of day and even- 
 ing ; rowdy interruptions, and police inter- 
 ferences, the disorder. Yet the meeting will 
 have its good effect. Amid all its strange 
 voices, some of the choicest and most enduring 
 reformatory truth has been spoken. Certain 
 secular papers denounce the meetings ; but this 
 only excites the more interest. Religionists and 
 politicians fuss and fume, because of the hard 
 talk of these reformers against church and state. 
 But the church need not fear, if God and truth 
 are with her. She had better remember old
 
 102 OUR DAY. 
 
 Gamaliel's words to the persecutors of the apos- 
 tles. As for the state, let most of our mere 
 praters for constitutional liberty find out what 
 the state is. Many are the fears expressed, that 
 our glorious union is so very glass-housey as to 
 be broken into by such insults as these Gome- 
 outers fling at it. And by whom are such fears 
 expressed ? Why by some, certainly, who can- 
 not repeat one line of our Constitution ; who 
 never read it, nor heard it read, in their lives ! 
 What is right in the Constitution will stand 
 against all the radicalism of the ages ; what is 
 wrong will perish, or there is no God's truth in 
 the universe. 
 
 One other allusion, and we leave our fruitful 
 theme. There is, in "Washingtonian Hall, ano- 
 ther breakfast entertainment. The Universalist 
 Reform Association hold a morning festival 
 there. Yesterday they had their meeting, where 
 some of our chief reform topics were discussed, 
 in the School-street church ; to-day they conclude 
 at the tables. It is their first meeting of this 
 kind ; and they will never have a much hap- 
 pier one. The young historian of Charlestown, 
 Richard Frothingham, jr., is in the president's 
 chair. His opening address is admirable. He 
 is followed by some of the strong men of the
 
 ANNIVERSARY WEEK IN BOSTON. 103 
 
 denomination, chiefly clergymen Miner, Fay, 
 Bacon, Streeter, and Ballou. Chapin, too, is 
 here ; ready, full, and splendid as ever with 
 his wonderful tongue. Although pretending to 
 have in hand only " skirts and fragments of 
 ideas," he magically forms them into complete- 
 ness, and endues them with power. He speaks 
 of Christianity and Reform : 
 
 u Christianity has not changed, or added any 
 thing to itself. But we find in it latent truths. 
 "We discern new meaning in old truths. He 
 said that his eye had rested that very morning 
 upon the passage which Jesus read in the syna- 
 gogue of Nazareth, ' The spirit of the Lord is 
 upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach 
 the gospel to the poor ; he hath sent me to heal 
 the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the 
 captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to 
 set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach 
 the acceptable year of the Lord.' What a 
 profound meaning does this passage receive now, 
 in the light of these stirring reforms! How 
 does its truth open before us, vast and deep as 
 the clear, blue heaven over our heads ! Christi- 
 anity authorizes and animates these social move- 
 ments. Its social spirit, and its labors of love, 
 make us live more in a year, than elsewhere in 
 a lifetime.
 
 104 OUR DAT. 
 
 1 Not in vain the distance beacons ; forward, forward, let us range ; 
 Let the people spin for ever down the ringing grooves of change. 
 Through the shadow of the world we sweep into the younger day ; 
 Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay.' 
 
 He alluded to the early fathers of our faith who 
 were present. How must their hearts thrill, as 
 they see the operation of those principles which 
 they enunciated so long ago. They came forth, 
 literally, preaching in the wilderness ; and now 
 the sentiments they advanced are moving the 
 heart of society, animating its noblest reforms, 
 breathing in its best spirit, adopted in its litera- 
 ture and philosophy. They began their labor in 
 the early morning, when the light of the truth 
 they announced just tinged the mountain tops ; 
 and now, as they are about vanishing from our 
 horizon, its full effulgence shines upon their grey 
 hairs, and makes them a crown of glory. The 
 young must take their places." 
 
 The venerable Ballou makes the concluding 
 speech. Quietly, modestly, fervently, drop his 
 patriarchal words. From that ancient saying of 
 Christ, " The kingdom of heaven is like unto 
 leaven, which a woman took and hid in three 
 measures of meal, till the whole was leavened," 
 he brings out a new and comprehensive word, 
 inspired by the scenes of yesterday and to-day. 
 Eloquently does he urge home the admonition to
 
 ANNIVERSARY WEEK IN BOSTON. 105 
 
 his denominational children around him, that 
 they seek to accomplish all their reformatory 
 work hi the spirit of Christian love. He con- 
 cludes ; and, at the word of the president, " The 
 Brave Old Oak " is sung, and responded to by 
 the applause of the audience. 
 
 Reader, you have here only the meagre out- 
 line of description. Anniversary Week in Bos- 
 ton is one of the God-sends to this erring world. 
 With all its contrariety of opinions, its conser- 
 vatism and ultraism, orthodoxy and heresy, church 
 and anti-church, constitution and anti-constitution 
 doctrines, it has more good in it than a presiden- 
 tial election, or a dozen battles of Monterey or 
 Buena Vista. There is moral wisdom enough 
 then manifested in this New England metropolis, 
 to make our nation what its mere politicians 
 never will make it, unless they are nearer the 
 kingdom of heaven than they now are ; glorious, 
 not in extension of territory, nor in wealth, nor 
 in arms, but in that preeminent Democracy 
 which our patriots of the past and present have 
 sought, but not yet found, Christian truth and 
 righteousness reigning in the people.
 
 106 
 
 TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS.* 
 
 BY J. G ADAMS. 
 
 God speed thee ! Nature's nobleman, along thy brightening way, 
 From Slavery's darkness, deep and drear, to Freedom's opening day ; 
 From that oppression chain, which held thy manly spirit low, 
 To this high ground, where Liberty meets arm to arm her foe ! 
 
 God speed thee ! for his wisdom sure thy glorious course began ; 
 Sent thee into our world of wrong, a soldier in the van 
 Of that increasing army, clad in panoply of light, 
 Who come life-long to battle for Inalienable Right ! 
 
 I know that God will speed thee, friend ; I know his promise stands 
 To guard the right, and thwart the work of foul oppression's hands ; 
 I know thy trumpet- words will speak through hoary Wrong's domain, 
 And aid in that sure power that breaks the last lone bondman's chain. 
 
 And yet I grieve, that here, where thou shouldst be most aided, 
 
 blest, 
 
 Thy feet have not their standing sure, nor thy true heart a rest ; 
 That there are those my countrymen, descendants of the brave, 
 Who lightly speak thy name with that of " fugitive " and " slave : " 
 
 * At the time this little tribute was penned, Mr. Douglass was a 
 slave, owned by an American white man in Maryland. His freedom 
 has since been " legally " procured by his friends in England.
 
 TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS. 107 
 
 Who deem thy strife presumptive, and in words of bitter sneer, 
 Would speak of thee as Slavery's sons might well rejoice to hear ; 
 When thy coming should awaken and arouse their voices all, 
 As when from Freedom's heights her hosts unto each other call! 
 
 But I have hope in Him to whom all erring souls belong, 
 Who gives the race not to the swift, nor battle to the strong ; 
 And who, by means howe'er despised, yet just hi his own sight, 
 Will turn by his unerring will the hearts of men aright. 
 
 Disgraced and smitten though we are by Slavery's iron rod, 
 The truth we will have spoken here the living truth of God ! 
 They dare not stifle her free words, who glory in their shame, 
 And gladly would perpetuate Oppression's work and name. 
 
 So be thou strong of heart, and still speak out thy words of Right, 
 For not thus always shall man grope in Slavery's blasting night: 
 The morning dawns ! its coming now is hailed by song and prayer ; 
 And sick and faint humanity inhales its healthful air ! 
 
 The mountain-tops are gilded with the rays of Freedom's sun ; 
 Her advocates increasing hi their joy together run ; 
 The voice is waxing louder, and the force still firmer bands ; 
 A deeper tread of hosts is there a stronger grasp of hands ! 
 
 And soon shall come the final strife who doubts the issue then ? 
 Oppression's power once fairly met with fearless living MEN ! 
 God speed that glorious day ! and mayst thou, Douglass, live to see 
 Its fulness shining on thee this Freedom's jubilee !
 
 108 
 
 THE CRIMINAL. 
 
 BY REV. CHARLES SPEAR. 
 
 " The criminal must be condemned to lose his freedom, and to be 
 separated from society, in order to put it out of his power to injure ; 
 and be restored, if possible, by means of a rational punishment, to 
 reflection and to better purposes. But society must, with tender 
 sympathy and maternal care, follow even its misled children." * 
 
 BEFORE the Author of Christianity left our 
 world, he enjoined and illustrated every human 
 duty. Among the duties which he recommended 
 by his high example, was sympathy for the 
 criminal. Looking over the moral history of 
 the world, since he closed his great mission, we 
 soon discover that this class has been sadly 
 neglected. True, in different periods, the world 
 has given birth to a Howard and a Fry ; but, 
 alas ! how small the number ! The time has 
 now fully come, when this duty should be more 
 deeply impressed upon the public mind. " "We 
 
 * On Punishments and Prisons. Written by his Majesty the King 
 of Sweden and Norway. London : 1844. pp. 89.
 
 THE CRIMINAL. 109 
 
 have," says an English writer, " workhouses 
 for the poor, houses of refuge for the destitute, 
 hospitals for the sick, soup-kitchens for the hun- 
 gry, clothing societies for the naked. We have 
 schools for the ignorant ; societies for distributing 
 bibles ; associations for the sailor, for the soldier, 
 for broken-down merchants and tradesmen. We 
 have societies for the old, the young, the middle- 
 aged ; for providing for foundlings, and those 
 born in lawful wedlock. We have societies to 
 look after the interests of those who are about 
 to enter this world ; and societies whose object 
 it is to insure a decent interment in going out 
 from it. There are but few forms of human 
 misery, indeed scarcely one, of all the nume- 
 rous ' ills ' from the cradle to the grave, 
 
 ' that flesh is heir to,' 
 
 no single class of miserable or unfortunate hu- 
 man beings, that is not, in some shape or 
 other, cared for by some one or other of the 
 associations so prevalent among the Christian 
 communities of these modern times. How comes 
 it about, that, with all this extraordinary expen- 
 diture of time and money, it has never yet come 
 into the mind of what is called the 'religious 
 world ' to make some efforts at reclaiming our 
 convicted criminals ? "
 
 110 OUR DAY. 
 
 Such are the impressive words of a foreign 
 writer, who, judging from his language, must 
 have felt deeply the importance of the subject. 
 The criminal has been too long neglected. "When 
 his sentence consigns him to the sufferings and 
 degradation of a prison, all interest dies away in 
 this last, cold inquiry, "Is he safely lodged 
 within those walls from which he cannot es- 
 cape ? " This question being once answered, 
 the multitude turn away ; satisfied, if bolts, and 
 bars, and chains, guard the space between them 
 and their brother. Henceforth he is viewed as a 
 ruined man ; an outcast from human society and 
 human compassion. Few inquire whether he 
 shall be restored to his family and to the world, 
 a penitent man ; or whether he shall come forth 
 from his den, like some malignant fiend, to 
 ravage and destroy. Much of the apathy of 
 the past has arisen from ignorance. Since How- 
 ard left the world, few have been found to 
 plunge into the loathsomeness of dungeons, and 
 to make report of the secret wickedness of pri- 
 sons ; and the world has been so much absorbed 
 in amassing wealth, that no time has been found 
 to ameliorate the condition of the criminal. 
 
 A brighter period is dawning upon the world. 
 Prison Associations are being formed. The 
 press that " mighty engine for good or evil "
 
 THE CRIMINAL. Ill 
 
 is now exerting an immense influence upon the 
 great heart of the community. To further this 
 end, we shall present some reasons why there 
 should be a warmer, Christian sympathy mani- 
 fested for the prisoner. 
 
 The subject presents a variety of aspects. 
 We may contemplate the criminal, 1. On trial. 
 2. While suffering his sentence. 3. When dis- 
 charged. In the first two instances, he is more 
 beyond our reach than in the last. Which is 
 the most painful state, we cannot determine. 
 When the hour of trial arrives, the mind must 
 be keenly alive to the result. Friends are 
 eagerly sought ; facts are magnified ; every 
 influence is sought to sway the jury or the 
 judge. The whole life is laid open to public 
 gaze. When the trial ends, and sentence is 
 passed, then, for a season, hope gives place to 
 despair. The intercourse of friends is with- 
 drawn. The prisoner is conveyed to his cell, 
 and the door is closed. Now he feels that he is 
 a convict. If his cell has a window, he looks 
 out upon the busy, free, and, to him, happy 
 world. He thinks of his wife and children. 
 She is now the wife of a convict. The play- 
 mates of his children will say, " Your father is 
 in the State Prison." He feels abandoned by 
 the world. Now is the moment to speak to him
 
 112 OUR DAY. 
 
 of a Saviour's love ; to lead him to the Sinner's 
 Friend. " Ah ! " said a criminal to an inspector, 
 "it seems to me there never was but one judge 
 on earth who understood the right treatment of 
 criminals." The inspector looked at him with 
 astonishment. "It was the man of Calvary," 
 answered the prisoner, as his eyes filled with 
 tears. The melting moral of Christ, " Go, and 
 sin no more," had sunk deep into the heart of 
 the poor, condemned culprit. 
 
 As the term of sentence shortens, hope and 
 fear alternately take possession of the mind; 
 hope, that society may again look kindly ; fear, 
 that the slow-moving finger of scorn will be 
 pointed at him, and that he will hear a voice 
 everywhere saying, " He is an old convict ; he 
 is a prison-bird." How cruel ! Who wonders 
 that he perpetrates a fresh crime, and is recom- 
 mitted to his narrow cell? The only wonder 
 is, that there are not a thousand outbreaks to 
 one. 
 
 That our sympathy may be aroused and quick- 
 ened, it may be well to state the number annu- 
 ally imprisoned in the United States, and the 
 number annually discharged. The whole num- 
 ber now confined in the various state prisons is 
 about five thousand ; about two thousand are 
 annually discharged. Extending our view, we
 
 THE CRIMINAL. 113 
 
 learn that there were no less than eight hundred 
 discharged from, the House of Correction at 
 South Boston, in a single year. About five hun- 
 dred need assistance, or a temporary home, that 
 employment may be procured for them ; and thus 
 be saved from a relapse into crime. To meet this 
 want, the benevolence of our day has suggested 
 various plans. Among the most successful is 
 that of an INTELLIGENCE OFFICE FOB DIS- 
 CHARGED CONVICTS in Boston ; connecting with 
 it a weekly periodical, bearing the appropriate 
 title of Prisoner's Friend, He who shall labor 
 in this department will be a benefactor to his 
 race. Of all the great moral movements that 
 characterize our day, this stands in the front 
 rank. What can be more noble than to furnish 
 to the degraded and the fallen new incentives to 
 truth and virtue ? "We believe some one has 
 said, that he who makes two blades of grass 
 grow where only one grew before, has done 
 more than all the statesmen and politicians that 
 ever existed. With how much greater propriety 
 might this be said of him who redeems a human 
 being, to borrow the language of Professor 
 UPHAM, "by planting the seeds of knowledge 
 and virtue, which shall afterwards spring up and 
 incorporate the strength of their branches, and 
 the beauty of their flower and foliage, in the
 
 114 OUR DAT. 
 
 mature life and action of the man ! How much 
 greater is it to subdue man, than the earth 
 on which he treads ! How noble the conquests 
 which are obtained over the human soul ! How 
 much superior to all the victories of a Napoleon 
 or an Alexander ! What are all the mighty 
 discoveries of our day, in the physical world, 
 compared to those in the moral world ! What 
 are our railroads and our telegraphs, where 
 we travel thirty miles the hour on the one, and 
 send messages by the lightning on the other, 
 compared to the great work of leading a human 
 being back to virtue ? We live in a wonderful 
 age. Discoveries in heaven and earth throng 
 upon us, till we are overwhelmed with astonish- 
 ment. Now a new planet appears ! Now some 
 new development in machinery ! Now some 
 hidden power in nature ! Still science stretches 
 her wings. How immense the physical uni- 
 verse ! How much greater the moral universe ! 
 The mind can seem to set bounds to the one. 
 Who can bound the other? And, as ages roll 
 on, new discoveries will be made in moral 
 science, till that great day shall finally be ush- 
 ered in when the last soul shall be redeemed, 
 and a voice be heard, as in the beginning, ' And 
 God saw every thing that he had made, and 
 behold it was very good.' "
 
 THE CRIMINAL. 115 
 
 " The antiquary," says William H. Channing, 
 " expends a fortune to disinter from the ruins of 
 ages the relics of art : some hand or limb of a 
 statue ; some urn or vase ; some coin or medal ; 
 and prizes it as of inestimable value. Unspeak- 
 ably higher is the skill which can set free from 
 the rubbish of evil habit and association the 
 buried, but not lifeless, energies of goodness." 
 
 Let us pause a moment, and contemplate the 
 scene before us. We have said there are about 
 five thousand human beings incarcerated within 
 the walls of our state prisons. Much larger 
 numbers are in jails, and other places of con- 
 finement. Many of them for the first offence ; 
 many without parents ; many with families ; 
 many who once occupied honorable stations ; 
 many utterly ignorant of the very laws by which 
 they were condemned ; many whose very orga- 
 nization predisposed them to crime; many vic- 
 tims of intemperance ; many who never enjoyed 
 parental instruction ; and, perhaps, many who 
 never committed the crimes of which they are 
 charged. In fine, who can tell the various influ- 
 ences that lead to the commission of crime ? 
 Who can say that, under similar circumstances, 
 he would not have been guilty of the same 
 offence as his brother-man ? " Had I been 
 situated as these men have been," said the
 
 116 OUR DAT. 
 
 excellent "Warden of our State Prison, " I, too, 
 might have become equally guilty." Perhaps 
 poverty drew them into crime ; perhaps the 
 failure or oppression of some merchant or trades- 
 man involved them. But time would fail to 
 enumerate the various causes of crime. Does 
 not society make its own criminals ? "I think 
 pirates should be executed," said a sea-captain 
 to the writer. " Who made the pirates ? " we 
 earnestly asked. Society often makes the crimi- 
 nal; then builds the cold, dreary cell for his 
 confinement, or the gibbet for his execution. 
 Society has, indeed, a long account to settle with 
 its members. What a sad picture might be 
 drawn here ! Oh that some master-spirit would 
 draw it to the life! Man, for ages, has been 
 considered as a mere appendage to the state. 
 A great truth is yet to be taught. Man is not 
 made for the state, but the state for man. Man 
 is above and before all human institutions. They 
 did not make him; he made them. How few 
 statesmen have dared to utter this great fact! 
 Of those who have, how many have fallen mar- 
 tyrs ! And the most melancholy part of their 
 history is, that the faggot has often been lighted 
 by the very class for whom they labored ! Alas ! 
 the frailty of human nature ! How evanescent 
 is all human applause ! To-day, a king ; to-
 
 THE CRIMINAL. 117 
 
 morrow, a malefactor! To-day, the shouts of 
 the multitude ; to-morrow, the reproaches of the 
 world ! The life of every true reformer shows, 
 that no dependence can be placed upon popular 
 favor. It is fickle as the wind, evanescent as 
 the passing cloud, fading as the rose, and empty 
 as the bubbles. How close the connection be- 
 tween truth and the cross ! 
 
 But we are entering a wide field. Let us 
 retrace our steps. We have spoken of the 
 causes of crime, and of the number of criminals. 
 Let us now look at the reasons why a deeper 
 interest should be felt in their behalf. 
 
 I. Few persons are disposed to plead for the 
 prisoner. " I am aware," said the chaplain of a 
 penitentiary, " that every thing which relates to 
 prisons and their guilty inmates is, to multitudes, 
 revolting ; in them such themes create no inter- 
 est, they awaken no sympathy. On all this 
 moral desert they can see no verdant spot. 
 Other wastes may be made to bud, and blossom, 
 and bear fruit ; but, within the precincts of a 
 prison-house, nothing is found to attract the eye 
 of faith, to enkindle the dawnings of hope, or 
 call forth the aspirations of the spirit." Those 
 who enter heartily into this great work are soon 
 denominated "fanatics,*' "spurious philanthro- 
 pists," "humanity-mongers," &c. But let the
 
 118 OUR DAY. 
 
 world deride and persecute. "What stronger 
 evidence can be given of the truthfulness of a 
 cause? What philanthropist, that was true to 
 humanity, ever lived without persecution and 
 reproach ? He lives and has his being amid 
 scorn and suffering. His very mission is to 
 stand amid the storm, and say to the contending 
 waves, " Peace ! be still." And, as he moves 
 on in his sublime career, he will hear a voice 
 saying, " Be of good cheer ; I have overcome 
 the world." He will be reproached, derided, 
 perhaps nailed to the cross. But his Master 
 suffered all this before. " If they call the 
 master of the house Beelzebub, how much more 
 shall they call they of his household ? " He 
 must be resigned to all this, and calmly meet his 
 fate. We admire the remark of Howard, when 
 about to make what his declining health seemed 
 to indicate would be his last tour of benevolence. 
 While his weeping friends were dissuading him 
 from his purpose, he meekly said, " It is as near 
 to heaven from Cairo as from London." 
 
 II. The prisoner cannot plead his own cause. 
 His friends, in fact, can scarcely find a place to 
 speak for him. Let us pause here a moment ; 
 and we shall see that the philanthropy which 
 embraces the criminal, encounters obstacles not 
 to be met with in any other moral movement.
 
 THE CRIMINAL. 119 
 
 i 
 
 To illustrate. In that great enterprise which so 
 distinctly marks our day, the liberation of the 
 slave, when the friends gather together, the 
 victim himself is there. He comes panting, 
 fresh from the land of darkness and oppression. 
 He rehearses his thrilling story. Who can tell 
 one more cruel ? The heart is touched ; the 
 high, determined resolve follows. Look at an- 
 other reform, the temperance movement, a 
 movement which has burst upon the community 
 like the splendors of a noon-day sun ; a move- 
 ment which has carried forward the world, at 
 least, a whole century towards the millennial day. 
 In this benevolent work, a part is taken by the 
 poor, forsaken inebriate. He hears a friendly, 
 cheering voice, saying, " This is the way ; walk 
 ye in it." For the first time in his wretched 
 career, he rehearses his tale of awful degrada- 
 tion and blighted hopes. He then refers to his 
 penitence, his pledge, and his high resolves for a 
 better life. His story penetrates the very depths 
 of the soul. The genius of philanthropy takes 
 a higher flight. The story reaches heaven. 
 The angels bend a listening ear ; they strike 
 afresh their golden harps, singing, " There is 
 joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth." 
 We might speak of other great moral move- 
 ments, showing in what manner the very reci-
 
 120 OUR DAT. 
 
 pients contribute to their aid. The dumb pleads 
 in mute signs ; the blind prepare a concert ; the 
 orphan tells a plaintive tale ; the sailor rehearses 
 his sufferings ; the slave portrays his wrongs ; the 
 inebriate describes his degradation; and even 
 the maniac conducts the press. How different 
 the situation of the convict ! His trials and his 
 temptations may be presented, but not by him- 
 self. He can prepare no concert ; he can speak 
 through no press. He is in his narrow cell ; or, 
 if discharged, driven from door to door, scarcely 
 able to obtain food or shelter. Surely, then, he 
 will not be suffered to advocate his own cause. 
 Who will believe him, if he should ? It will be 
 said, " He is an old convict ; that 's enough." 
 True, here and there a heart would respond to 
 his story. For God, in every age, has had some 
 that would listen to the calls of humanity. But 
 how small the number ! How many turn a deaf 
 ear! It will not be always so. The day will 
 come when the prison itself will furnish mission- 
 aries ; when, from the gloomy cell, will come 
 forth our Dixes, our Frys, and our Howards. 
 That day is near at hand. What a day ! How 
 many thrilling incidents are locked up in the 
 heart of the prisoner ! What a story would he 
 rehearse of his poverty, his fears, his hopes, and 
 his temptations ! The great problem will then
 
 THE CRIMINAL. 121 
 
 be solved, Which is the greater criminal, soci- 
 ety or the convict ? Society is a great nursery 
 of crime. What a fearful account has society to 
 settle with the criminal ! How many tempta- 
 tions are thrown out before the weak and unsus- 
 pecting ! How painful the contrast between the 
 social position of the rich swindler and the poor 
 thief! Governments have not been slow to 
 punish crime, nor in erecting dungeons or gib- 
 bets. But the prevention of crime, and the 
 reformation of the offender, have nowhere taken 
 root among the first objects. The day, we 
 repeat, is coming, when missionaries will come 
 forth from within the very prisons. It will be a 
 glorious day. Many a soul, now cold and indif- 
 ferent, will then be reached. That day is dawn- 
 ing. Already the muse finds her votaries within 
 the prison walls. Sweet strains are already 
 heard from the dark, gloomy cell. The essay- 
 ist, the poet, the orator, is there. How often do 
 we find, beneath the rubbish of crime, a mind 
 that has reached a lofty height in science ! 
 How often do we find one who has even received 
 the polish of education, but whose heart has run 
 to waste ! Alas ! how much of the education of 
 our day merely reaches the intellect ! Look at 
 our schools and universities. How much is done 
 8
 
 122 OUR DAY. 
 
 for the mental ! how little for the moral ! But 
 this is too wide a field. 
 
 III. The doctrine of universal brotherhood 
 presents a strong motive for extending sympathy 
 to the prisoner. This great doctrine was beauti- 
 fully embodied in the life and teachings of the 
 Son of God. For the utterance of this truth, 
 the world owes him a debt of everlasting grati- 
 tude. Simple human brotherhood was taught by 
 Moses. But who was that brother ? It was the 
 Jew. It remained for the Great Teacher to set 
 forth and illustrate the sublime doctrine of Uni- 
 versal Brotherhood. How admirably is this done 
 by his precepts and example ! Look at his 
 inimitable parables of the Prodigal Son and the 
 Good Samaritan. What rich imagery ! What 
 a lesson of kindness ! In what an affectionate 
 manner was it presented to the human soul ! 
 It was no dull, cold, lifeless truth, addressed 
 merely to the intellect. The whole soul vibrated 
 to purity and goodness. No wonder the people 
 exclaimed, " Never man spake like this man." 
 No other doctrine will ever convert the world. 
 The hour is coming when it will be diffused 
 over the whole earth. Its purifying influences 
 will reach the heart of the monarch, as well as 
 the subject. Already do we see this great senti- 
 ment of universal brotherhood penetrating all
 
 THE CRIMINAL. 123 
 
 ranks and classes. In its progress, it builds an 
 asylum for the blind, a school for the orphan, 
 a Bethel for the sailor, a home for the idiot, a 
 refuge for the inebriate, an institute for the 
 dumb. Here it has stopped: not of itself; for 
 it has a power that will overcome all obstacles. 
 Selfishness hedges up its way. It is to move 
 on, and embrace the prisoner. It is to find its 
 way into the solitary cell. It is to follow him 
 when he leaves that cell to mingle again with 
 society, finding him protection and employment. 
 In due time, it will lay the corner-stone of an 
 edifice, over the door of which shall be written, 
 in the enduring marble, AN ASYLUM FOR DIS- 
 CHARGED CONVICTS. 
 
 Look at the example of Jesus. A poor, 
 trembling culprit was brought before him. The 
 stern law of that day condemned her to an 
 ignominious death. Shamed by the withering 
 rebuke of Jesus, her eagle-eyed enemies left him 
 alone with her. Then he said : " Woman, where 
 are those thine accusers ? Hath no man con- 
 demned thee ? She said, No man, Lord. Jesus 
 said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee. Go, 
 and sin no more." The prison-walls have not 
 yet resounded with this noble sentiment " Could 
 it but enter the heart of every legislator ; did it 
 but guide the hand that constructs the cell of
 
 124 OUR DAY. 
 
 the poor captive ; did it apportion his pallet of 
 straw, and his scanty meal ; did it determine the 
 completeness and the duration of his exclusion 
 from the light of day, and the pure breeze of 
 heaven ; did it apply his manacles (if, disdain- 
 ing to treat a human being with more indignity 
 than is practised towards the most savage brutes, 
 it did not dash his chains to the earth) , what a 
 different aspect would these miserable mansions 
 soon assume ! What different inhabitants would 
 they contain ! Prisons would not then be the 
 hot-beds of vice, in which the youthful offender 
 grows into the hardened criminal, and the want 
 of shame succeeds the abolition of principle 
 but hospitals of the mind, in which its moral 
 disorder is removed by the application of effec- 
 tual remedies."* When this doctrine reaches 
 the gloomy cell, then will every prison become 
 an asylum ; then will every gibbet be demol- 
 ished ; and then will ancient prophecy find a 
 new application : " I will make thy officers 
 peace, and thy exactors righteousness ; violence 
 shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor 
 destruction within thy borders ; but thou shalt 
 call thy walls salvation, and thy gates praise." 
 
 * Illustrations of the Divine Government. By T. SOCTHWOOD 
 .Sunn. p. 838. Boston : 1831.
 
 125 
 
 A PRISONER'S DEATH. 
 
 BY JAMES LUMBAUD. 
 
 FULL twenty years have flown 
 Years of most hopeless agony and pain 
 
 Since he was rudely thrown 
 Within those walls where dread and darkness reign. 
 
 The joyous light, that shines 
 So blessedly upon the homes of men, 
 
 In faint and feeble lines 
 Falls through the grated window of his den ! 
 
 The pure, free winds, that steal 
 With balmy freshness through their happy homes, 
 
 Their breath he cannot feel : 
 In that dark cell of his it never comes ! 
 
 And music, that they hear 
 From human voices and from nature's choir, 
 
 Comes never to his ear, 
 To gratify his yearning soul's desire.
 
 126 OUR DAT. 
 
 The friends he knew, ere yet 
 Upon his brow the seal of crime was placed, 
 
 He cannot well forget ; 
 But from their hearts his name is now erased. 
 
 His young and lovely wife, 
 From whom 't was more than agony to part, 
 
 Soon yielded up her life, 
 And left the record of a broken heart. 
 
 Upon his couch he lies, 
 The embodiment of misery and despair ; 
 
 He lifts his sunken eyes, 
 And this is his impassioned, earnest prayer : 
 
 " O Father! if thy piercing eye 
 
 Can all thy hapless children see, 
 Oh ! listen to my earnest cry, 
 And cast that pitying eye on me ! 
 
 I know that lengthened years of sin 
 Have led my heart from thee away ; 
 
 And that, where innocence had been, 
 Dark passions held determined sway. 
 
 I pray, that from my soul the stains 
 Of guilt and crime may be erased ; 
 
 And that, where fearful doubting reigns, 
 True hope may be securely placed.
 
 A PRISONER'S DEATH. 127 
 
 A little while, and I shall leave 
 
 The shadows that engirt me here; 
 And that immortal life receive, 
 
 Conferred by thee beyond this sphere. 
 
 Oh ! take me to thyself, and pour 
 
 Within my soul the tide of love ; 
 That I may with the saints adore, 
 
 Who worship in thy courts above ! " 
 
 One groan ! his languid head 
 Fell back, and all his throes and straggles ceased ; 
 
 The prisoner was dead, 
 For ever from that hideous grave released ! 
 
 God speed the happy time 
 When man shall learn that to be just is not 
 
 To seek revenge for crime, 
 And hope for ever from the spirit blot ! 
 
 That, if he fain would make 
 The guilty tread the path from which they stray, 
 
 With kindness he must take 
 Them by the hand, and point them out the way !
 
 128 
 
 FOURIER AND HIS SOCIAL SYSTEM. 
 
 BY HORACE GREELEY. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM AN UNPUBLISHED LECTURE 
 ON " SOCIETY." 
 
 * * * * THE last of the social archi- 
 tects, to whom I shall invite your attention, is 
 CHARLES FOURIER ; and, if I ask more of your 
 time for a development of the nature and de- 
 tails of his system, it is because I consider his 
 plans far less imperfect in themselves than any 
 other, and more likely to lead to beneficent 
 results. Fourier, born at Besancon, in France, 
 1772, was trained to commercial pursuits in the 
 shop of his father, a woollen-draper; where, at 
 five years of age, he was punished for telling the 
 truth to a customer, whereby a purchase was 
 prevented. From this time his infantine mind 
 pondered anxiously on the means of obviating 
 frauds in commercial dealings, and of establish- 
 ing uniform truth and justice in the business
 
 FOURIER AND HIS SOCIAL SYSTEM. 129 
 
 relations of mankind. At twenty-one years of 
 age, he engaged in commerce for himself, on a 
 capital of SI 6,000, his portion of the family 
 property ; which was swept away before the 
 close of that year, in the siege and capture of 
 Lyons, during the convulsions which attended 
 the French Revolution. His life was barely 
 saved by escape and flight ; he was again ar- 
 rested at Besancon, and compelled to enter the 
 army to avoid execution, but, after two years' 
 service, was discharged, on account of ill health. 
 He afterwards engaged as clerk at Marseilles ; 
 where he was employed to throw into the river 
 an immense quantity of rice, which had been 
 monopolized in a season of public scarcity, in 
 the hope of realizing an enormous profit ; but 
 which, having been held too high and kept too 
 long, became worthless and unsaleable. Other 
 incidents conspired to stimulate his early resolu- 
 tion to discover the means of preventing the 
 calamities resulting to mankind from the frauds, 
 extortions, falsehoods, and adulterations of com- 
 merce. Pursuing this inquiry, he saw the field 
 wider before him ; disclosing and embracing the 
 broad domain of Industry, and the whole social 
 condition of our race. He became convinced, 
 that nothing short of a universal science could 
 solve the difficulties and obscurities in which this
 
 130 OTJK DAY. 
 
 vast subject was involved. This science, of 
 which the outline was, as he believed, discovered 
 by him in 1799, was first set before the public 
 in 1808, in his earliest work, " The Theory of 
 the Four Movements," or of universal attraction 
 and repulsion. [This was four years previous 
 to the appearance of Owen's " New View of 
 Society."] The volume which was published 
 was but one of eight, of which the whole work 
 was to consist, and was rather a prospectus of 
 what was to follow. Those who know any thing 
 of the common or probable fate of such works 
 will not need to be told that the other seven 
 were never published at least not in their 
 author's lifetime. I have heard that a copy of 
 the published volume was submitted to Napo- 
 leon, then in the zenith of his power and glory. 
 The relentless warrior, then involved in his 
 Spanish war, and about to plunge into another 
 desperate struggle with Austria, bestowed but 
 little thought upon it. " The earth must first 
 be ploughed by the sword," said he, "before it 
 will be fitted to produce such harvests as this 
 man thinks of." It was ploughed with the 
 sword, how thoroughly, let Wagram, and Bor- 
 odino, and Leipsic, and "Waterloo, bear witness. 
 In the event, Napoleon was hurled to his island- 
 rock ; having found no time to look farther into
 
 FOURIER AND HIS SOCIAL SYSTEM. 131 
 
 the undistinguished citizen's far-reaching specu- 
 lations on divine benignity and human destiny. 
 
 The name of Fourier's first work will have 
 indicated, that, though he may be condemned as 
 visionary, he cannot rationally be considered nar- 
 row or superficial. Though his primary object 
 was the prevention of fraud, and whatever indu- 
 ces men to act in opposition to the general or 
 highest good, his researches took the widest 
 scope; and he undoubtedly believed that their 
 result was the discovery of the laws of universal 
 unity, or those divinely-ordained harmonies, by a 
 knowledge and observance of which, all discord, 
 all evil, shall be banished from the earth. At- 
 traction and Repulsion being the laws by which 
 planets are held in their orbits, oceans hi their 
 beds, and the multiform races of animals nur- 
 tured in infancy, and taught to do whatever is 
 proper and needful to them, Fourier held that 
 these same laws, duly applied to the organization 
 and mechanism of society, will there produce 
 equally benign results. Some of the more im- 
 portant of Fourier's deductions from a profound 
 and critical investigation of nature, I have very 
 freely rendered, as follows : 
 
 1. The attractions of all beings are propor- 
 tioned to their destinies. Thus every animal is 
 fitted, by nature and inclination, for the element
 
 132 OFK DAT. 
 
 he is to inhabit, and the life he is destined to lead. 
 So man is precisely fitted for that social harmony 
 for which he was created, but which he has not 
 hitherto discovered and realized. 
 
 2. The harmonies of the universe are distrib- 
 uted in series, stretching from the highest to the 
 lowest order of beings. Whatever law exists for 
 one, exists for every other ; though necessarily 
 modified in its applications. To understand tho- 
 roughly the laws which govern one, is to under- 
 stand the laws which govern all. 
 
 3. The human race exists, not as many, but as 
 one. The ignorance, vice, misery, which seem 
 to afflict but a part, do truly mar the happiness 
 of all. Hence no reform can be perfect which is 
 not universal, and no happiness unalloyed until 
 all evil is vanquished. The good should labor 
 and strive for nothing less than the emancipation 
 and elevation of the race. 
 
 4. All needful labor may be rendered attrac- 
 tive. By this he means, not merely that all labor 
 may, by proper inducements, be procured with- 
 out constraint or degrading servitude ; but that, 
 under proper arrangements, men will love labor 
 for itself, will prize it as an intrinsic good, and 
 as contributing to health, vigor, enjoyment, and 
 true dignity. To this law Fourier admits, in 
 practice, some exceptions ; consisting of labors
 
 FOURIER AND HIS SOCIAL SYSTEM. 133 
 
 now requisite, which are intrinsically repulsive 
 and disgusting, for which he prescribes increased 
 rewards and the highest social honors. All 
 other labor, he insists, may and will be per- 
 formed as freely and willingly as hunting, fishing, 
 and other sporting functions, are in our existing 
 society. 
 
 o. The right to labor, and to the fair reward 
 of labor, inheres in all men, and cannot he with- 
 held from any without grievous wrong and injury. 
 The man who has no resource but in the strength 
 of his sinews, the skill of his fingers, has a posi- 
 tive claim on the possessors of land and of pro- 
 perty, for opportunity to earn and receive a 
 subsistence. 
 
 On these principles, here most imperfectly 
 stated, is based Fourier's system of society. 
 
 Let me endeavor to set before you some rude 
 idea of a community, constituted according to 
 Fourier's suggestions. But, in order that you 
 may understand the change he proposes, I will 
 first give a sketch of the society he would su- 
 persede : 
 
 A Northern township [answering to the French 
 commune, and, in some respects, to the smaller 
 counties of Virginia] is a tract some six miles 
 square, inhabited, in the average, by about two 
 thousand inhabitants, divided into four hundred
 
 134 OUR DAT. 
 
 families. Of these families, one-half obtain their 
 subsistence by farming ; a fourth by the various 
 mechanical or manufacturing arts ; half-a-dozen 
 by merchandise ; three or four by religious teach- 
 ing ; two or three by law ; as many by physic ; 
 a few are so wealthy as to be above the neces- 
 sity for labor ; some are loafers, supported by 
 the town ; while perhaps a dozen live as they 
 may, by hiring out to labor when they must, and 
 picking up whatever they can at all times. It 
 would be a liberal estimate to say, that three 
 hundred good days' work are performed daily on 
 the average, in all branches of productive labor, 
 among these two thousand people ; while per- 
 haps as much more labor is performed by women, 
 children, and servants, in the less profitable, but 
 still essential, duties of the household. Out of 
 the products of this labor, often rudely applied 
 and unskilfully directed, the whole community 
 must obtain such a livelihood as it has. 
 
 Fourier's system would make of these four 
 hundred families one community, or association, 
 inhabiting one vast, capacious edifice (instead of 
 four hundred scattered dwellings of all grades, 
 from comfortable to miserable), with half-a-dozen 
 spacious and perfectly-constructed granaries, in- 
 stead of three hundred ill-adapted, leaky barns, 
 the safe harbors of countless destructive quadru-
 
 FOURIER AND HIS SOCIAL SYSTEM. 135 
 
 peds. These buildings he would locate conve- 
 niently to the choicest lands of the association, 
 and near its water-power, if such were among 
 its possessions. Instead of some twenty odd 
 thousand acres of land (the area of the town- 
 ship), the association would require but half 
 so much ; but of this the arable portion would 
 be brought to and kept at the highest point of 
 cultivation. The property would be represented 
 by stock, as in a railroad or bank ; each mem- 
 ber, whether resident or not, holding shares and 
 receiving dividends according to his investment. 
 The whole of the produce is to be sold or 
 valued annually ; a fixed interest or propor- 
 tionate dividend paid to the capital ; and the 
 residue apportioned to all the members, accord- 
 ing to the amount and efficiency of the labor 
 and skill of each. Meantime, education is zeal- 
 ously prosecuted in the association ; the fittest 
 persons being chosen for teachers in various 
 departments, who are to initiate all the children, 
 not merely into the rudiments of learning, as 
 now taught in schools, but into the principles of 
 Mechanics, the knowledge of Chemistry, Geo- 
 logy, Botany, but, above all, into the love and 
 practice of Industry. From earliest infancy 
 they are to be familiarized with the various pro- 
 cesses of Agriculture, Manufactures, and the
 
 136 OUR DAT. 
 
 Arts; they are to see labor, however rude or 
 repulsive, the main source of honor and dis- 
 tinction, as well as wealth ; and they are to be 
 thus taught to seek the knowledge and skill 
 which shall fit them for eminence in the domain 
 of Industry, and to grasp the earliest opportunity 
 of winning her cherished rewards. Such is a 
 very meagre outline of the means by which labor 
 is to be rendered attractive. 
 
 Among the material advantages reckoned by 
 Fourier, as inevitably resulting frorh association, 
 as contrasted with the present modes of life and 
 industry, are these : 
 
 1. A saving of at least nine-tenths of the 
 fuel now required, of the land set apart to pro- 
 duce, and the labor needed to prepare it. 
 
 2. A saving of nineteen-twentieths of the 
 fences now required, covering and defacing 
 the land, and requiring endless repairs, materials, 
 and attention. 
 
 3. A saving of the time now consumed in 
 the endless exchanges of products between the 
 various classes of producers, and in petty trade. 
 
 4. A saving of the labor now misapplied and 
 wasted, by reason of the want of skill or science 
 in the workman, or rendered relatively inefficient 
 by the want of the best labor-saving machinery. 
 The small fanner cannot afford to purchase for
 
 FOURIER AXD HIS SOCIAL SYSTEM. 137 
 
 his few acres all the costly implements of the 
 most skilful modern husbandry. 
 
 5. A saving of three-fourths of the labor 
 now required for the preparation of food, and in 
 the various departments of the household. It 
 is evident, that these would require far less labor 
 in one house than in five hundred ; and that the 
 food of two thousand persons may be prepared 
 in three or four spacious apartments, amply sup- 
 plied with every convenience, with infinitely less 
 labor than in four hundred petty kitchens, with 
 scarcely any convenience at all. Whether the 
 members shall partake of their food at common 
 tables, in small groups, or in families, is to 
 depend on the free choice of each. 
 
 6. A saving of the entire services of those 
 now employed in the unproductive functions of 
 retail trade; and of most of those now living 
 by law, physic, &c. &c. One good physician 
 would be enough ; one lawyer, it is hoped, too 
 much for an association ; while fewer but better 
 teachers than are now required would impart a 
 far wider range of instruction to the young. 
 
 These are but a part of the economies insisted 
 on by Fourier, who is sanguine in the faith, 
 that the annual product of the community would 
 be fourfold what it now is; while an immense 
 saving, on the other hand, of property now 
 9
 
 138 . OUR DAY. 
 
 destroyed by waste, and ignorance, and subdi- 
 vision, and want of skill, is also predicted. 
 
 The general results which he affirms are 
 these : 
 
 1. All needful labor skilfully and cheerfully 
 performed. In so large a community, there 
 would be found capacity for every duty, and a 
 duty for every capacity ; so that each indi- 
 vidual would find that employment best suited 
 to his abilities, and which, by a general though 
 not inflexible rule, would be to him most at- 
 tractive. In the exceptional instances of duties 
 to be performed, which no one would undertake 
 of choice, their recompense is to be raised until 
 some one is induced to undertake them. 
 
 2. Every individual infants, idiots, and 
 disabled persons, excepted will be secured the 
 means of earning an ample subsistence, and of 
 acquiring property ahead. The vast economies 
 and vastly increased productions of the commu- 
 nity are to redound to the benefit, not mainly of 
 Capital, but of Labor. Each man, woman, and 
 child, is guaranteed the fullest opportunity to 
 labor and earn, in the vocation of his or her 
 choice, as nearly as may be, and with assu- 
 rance of the just and fair reward of his or her 
 exertions. To women and children, gardening, 
 horticulture, the care of fruits, and the prosecu-
 
 FOURIER AND HIS SOCIAL SYSTEM. 139 
 
 tion of a great variety of manufactures, in addi- 
 tion to the cares of the household, proffer indus- 
 trial careers as ample, varied, and independent, 
 as those of men. With each individual an 
 account is kept ; in which he is charged the fair 
 cost of his subsistence, the rent of his apart- 
 ments, and whatever he draws from the common 
 stores ; while he is credited for his labor, or the 
 fruits of that labor, whether used by the associa- 
 tion, or sold at its fair market value. 
 
 3. The most thorough education is guaranteed 
 to every individual. The schools, though ample, 
 well-taught, and never intermitted, are not, ac- 
 cording to Fourier, the main sources of know- 
 ledge ; but the fields, the edifices, the workshops, 
 manufactories, and all industrial processes, are to 
 be rendered his books and his monitors. From 
 earliest infancy, a thirst for information is to be 
 studiously excited. The child is to be trained 
 to seek honor in usefulness, pleasure in duty, 
 and to plead for instruction in Letters and in 
 Arts, as the means of enjoyment and of personal 
 distinction. To become familiar with some new 
 truth, some new process, some application of 
 science to the promotion of human well-being, is 
 his daily step-stone on the path of manhood and 
 its honors. The library of the association, open 
 to all, will afford the amplest stores of knowledge
 
 140 OUR DAT. 
 
 to old and young ; while stated meetings of those 
 engaged in each branch of industry will be held, 
 to receive and to impart the results of expe- 
 rience, of observation, and of study, until the 
 knowledge and skill of each shall be combined 
 in the understanding and practice of all. 
 
 Such are some rude, imperfect outlines of 
 Fourier's system. Of the means by which he 
 proposes to secure to each his just dividend of 
 the aggregate product to each family the do- 
 mestic privacy and sanctity of its own apart- 
 ments to each individual or family the freedom 
 of living more or less sumptuously, according to 
 ability or inclinations I have not room to 
 speak in this place. Unlike every other notable 
 social architect, from Plato to Owen, Fourier is 
 wholly averse to Communism or Agrarianism ; 
 as utterly subversive of justice not merely, but 
 of individual freedom. Basing his system on a 
 rigorous analysis of the divine economy, as 
 evinced in nature, he holds that diversity, not 
 uniformity, is the fundamental law to which all 
 human regulation must conform. Many are 
 indifferent to present gratification, but eager 
 for permanent acquisition ; others are careless of 
 the future, so that the present be but joyous. 
 Some choose to devote a large proportion of 
 their income to dress, others to food ; others
 
 FOURIER AND HIS SOCIAL SYSTEM. 141 
 
 delight in spacious and richly-furnished apart- 
 ments. Some grudge every moment abstracted 
 from their work ; others regret rather those 
 hours wherein they must work. Fourier, insist- 
 ing that work may be rendered as attractive as 
 play now is, leaves to each individual the perfect 
 control of his hours and their uses ; the associa- 
 tion taking care only that his earnings shall 
 equal the cost of his subsistence; in default 
 of which, his stock is sold to make up the 
 deficiency, until it has entirely disappeared, when 
 his rights of residence and membership are at 
 an end. 
 
 In short, while St. Simon erects his social 
 fabric on universal love, and Owen on calm, 
 enlightened reason, Fourier builds on absolute, 
 comprehensive, and carefully administered jus- 
 tice ; a justice which secures to each his own, 
 whether of development, of opportunity, or of re- 
 compense. Give every one the work for which 
 he is best fitted, give him knowledge and skill, 
 and guarantee him the full reward of his exer- 
 tions ; but disturb not the foundations of pro- 
 perty, nor transfer to any one, save in charity, 
 the earnings of another. This keen sense of 
 justice is the basis of his hostility to commerce, 
 other than the wholesale interchange of the 
 products of different climes and communities.
 
 142 OUR DAY. 
 
 Traders, as such, have no place in his social 
 economy. The extent and minuteness of his 
 arrangements, to obviate the possibility of casting 
 injustice, and to reconcile perfect order and 
 harmony with the largest individual freedom, can 
 be apprehended only by those who are familiar 
 with his works. 
 
 Yet I could not, with any confidence of a 
 favorable result, invite the mass of readers to 
 study Fourier's system in his own writings. 
 Replete as they are with profound observation, 
 and the most searching analytical criticism, they 
 will not impress happily the casual or careless 
 student. The author is too positive in his self- 
 assurance too dogmatic too contemptuous in 
 his regard for whatever opposes his views. He 
 has no adequate patience with our difficulty in 
 seeing through his spectacles on the first trial. 
 A lonely, obscure, thoughtful, studious man, 
 treated with obloquy, or more commonly a dis- 
 dainful silence, by the world's flattered teachers 
 and arbiters, as though he were an idiot or a 
 madman, we may not wonder, but must regret, 
 that he returned scorn for scorn ; and that many 
 of his later works are marred by fierce denun- 
 ciations of the duplicity, barrenness, and so- 
 phistry of the leaders of public opinion. 
 
 The world without, and that within, such a
 
 FOUEIER AST) HIS SOCIAL SYSTEM. 143 
 
 man, must present a strange and striking con- 
 trast. Around him, poverty, neglect, derision, 
 a settled hostility, or a more humiliating indif- 
 ference ; within, the consciousness of mighty dis- 
 coveries, of truths competent now, and certain 
 ultimately, to transform and electrify mankind. 
 Around him, obstruction and want, perhaps 
 hunger and cold ; within, the deep conviction 
 that he had discovered the means ordained of 
 God for banishing want from the earth, by 
 quadrupling production, diminishing wasteful 
 consumption, renovating and beautifying the 
 earth ; until at last even the polar ices should 
 be dissolved, and a joyous, exhilarating spring- 
 time envelope our planet The reclamation of 
 deserts, of pestilential marshes, of wildernesses, 
 and snow-capped mountains, until all earth shall 
 praise heaven, by comforting and blessing man- 
 kind ; all these, and many more dizzying, are 
 among the ultimate consequences of social reor- 
 ganization anticipated by Fourier. 
 
 This sanguine spirit waited eight years after 
 his first work appeared, for a disciple, perhaps 
 for his first attentive reader. Six years later, he 
 published his second work ; which was met, like 
 the former, by absolute silence and indifference 
 on the part of the press, and so remained un- 
 known to the public. It was not till ten years
 
 144 OUR DAT. 
 
 afterward, on the dispersion of the St. Simonian 
 fraternity, in 1832, that he obtained any general 
 hearing. Then a considerable number were 
 attracted by his theory ; a journal was started ; 
 and, in spite of his earnest remonstrances, an 
 estate was purchased near Paris, and an attempt 
 made at practical association. It failed, at the 
 outset, for want of means ; though, if this had 
 been surmounted, the want of knowledge and of 
 fit men would, doubtless, have been found as 
 serious an obstacle to success. The unthinking 
 many were repelled by the failure, of which 
 they neither knew nor cared to know the rea- 
 sons ; the judicious few stood unmoved. Their 
 journal was kept up, and its circulation extended; 
 and, abandoning the idea of practical experiment 
 until knowledge shall have been adequately dif- 
 fused, and the confidence of men of wealth and 
 influence obtained, they are still laboring in the 
 cause with spirit and success. In France they 
 number thousands, including many eminent in 
 station, in intellect, and in worth ; in England 
 they have made some progress ; in Germany 
 more, though there they are checked by the 
 prevalence of Communism ; in this country the 
 doctrines of Fourier have gained adherents in 
 every State, and, in some sections, in almost every 
 neighborhood, and are still making steady pro-
 
 FOURIER AND HIS SOCIAL SYSTEM. 145 
 
 gress. Meantime, Fourier himself has gone 
 down to the grave in obscurity, but in undoubt- 
 ing conviction of having pointed the way to a 
 loftier and happier career for humanity on earth. 
 He died in 1837. 
 
 I have thus hurriedly traced the outlines of 
 Fourier's life and social system, the industrial 
 and economical, rather than the intellectual and 
 spiritual, features of the latter. I doubt not that 
 I have exposed him to objections which a better 
 knowledge of his works would remove ; but, on 
 the other hand, I have passed over many of his 
 speculations, on subjects having no necessary 
 connection with the social reform, that would be 
 likely to provoke opposition. He was a bold 
 adventurer in unknown seas ; and whether he 
 brought back more pearls or bubbles I need not 
 here discuss. I stop not for criticism or pane- 
 gyric, even on his social theory ; though it seems 
 to me to invite the one, and deserve the other. 
 What time I may trespass farther on your atten- 
 tion shall rather be devoted to the living and the 
 practical ; to a consideration of our own duties, 
 our hopes, and our responsibilities, in connection 
 with social reform. 
 
 The famous pamphlet of the Abbe Sieyes on 
 the Third Estate, or Commons, of France, which 
 gave so powerful an initial impulse to the great
 
 146 OUR DAT. 
 
 revolution, assumed to propose and answer three 
 questions : " What is the Third Estate ? No- 
 thing. What might it be ? Every thing. What 
 should it be ? Something" In a kindred spirit, 
 I am accustomed to regard the various efforts in 
 our day, for effecting a radical social reform. * *
 
 147 
 
 A PRAYER. 
 
 BY JAMES LUMBAHD. 
 
 O FATHEH ! give us earnest hearts to feel 
 
 For the poor, injured, and degraded one. 
 He is our brother ; and may his appeal 
 For Freedom, and its blessings rich, unseal 
 
 Within our hearts that fount, whose waters run 
 Serenely bright, and inward gems reveal ; 
 
 And may our labors, Holy One, avail 
 In softening the oppressor's hardened heart. 
 
 He, too, our brother is ; though he may fail 
 To act the wiser and the better part. 
 
 Upon the tablet of his inmost soul engrave 
 Thy will, in characters of light and love ; 
 
 That he no longer from the toiling slave 
 May hold that liberty vouchsafed him from above.
 
 148 
 
 THE BEAVERS. 
 
 BY REV. THEODORE PARKER. 
 
 ONE day the beavers were about building a 
 new dam, and constructing a village of cabins. 
 The chief beavers, the counsellors, and other 
 heads of the nation, assembled to talk about the 
 place, the plan, and the like, when one of them, 
 called CASTOR, arose and addressed the as- 
 sembly. 
 
 It seems that the internal policy of the beav- 
 ers, at that time, differed a good deal from their 
 present notions of political economy ; for the few 
 wise beavers stayed at home, and, by dint of their 
 long heads, contrived to live in splendor, making 
 slaves of all the rest. This Castor was a young 
 beaver, of great acuteness and parts ; descended 
 from one of the most ancient and distinguished 
 families. He spoke as follows : 
 
 " I think our present mode of action is wrong. 
 Hitherto the strongest of us have forced the weak 
 and foolish to build the dams and cabins ; to pre-
 
 THE BEAVERS. 149 
 
 pare the food of the whole tribe. At the same 
 time, they do all the work ; they have the most 
 uncomfortable dwellings, the poorest food, and 
 the least of it. The strong sit at home, and pre- 
 tend to be indispensable to the well-being of the 
 state ; but claim all the ease and honor thereof. 
 Let it be so no more. Let the strongest do the 
 hardest work. Let the wisest think, the most 
 prudent become the stewards, and the bravest 
 the soldiers of the whole tribe. Then we shall 
 help one another. There will be no idle hands, 
 and no empty mouths. There will be no idlers 
 laid up with the gout, and no laborers bent 
 double with rheumatism, acquired through exces- 
 sive toil and exposure." 
 
 This speech was received with marked signs 
 of disgust by all the greybeards. One said to 
 the speaker, " / can 't bear ye." Others looked 
 very conservative and sour. They cried out, 
 " Infidel ! " " Atheist ! " and the like. At length 
 one Fiber likewise a young beaver of illustri- 
 ous descent, for which alone he was remark- 
 able hazarded a reply. He declared it was 
 the law of nature that the strongest and most 
 cunning should have the best of the loaves and 
 fishes of life, (bark and wood were the terms 
 in the original) simply in virtue of working 
 and thinking for themselves alone. They are the
 
 150 OUR DAY. 
 
 natural lords of society ; they own all the land, 
 and, of right, ought to compel the others to work, 
 while themselves sit quiet at home, and do 
 nothing but enjoy what the others have only to 
 earn and not enjoy. Anybody that doubted this, 
 he thought, was an infidel, an atheist, and ought 
 to be hanged by the tail till he was dead. As 
 proof that such was the general law of nature, he 
 cited the case of the LION, the BEE, and that of 
 MAN, with whom, he continued, everybody knows, 
 the strong rule, for their own good, purely. 
 
 But Castor contended, in return, that it was 
 not so ; for the strong lion, it was shown, always 
 helps the feeble ; brings home food for the old, 
 the sickly, or the weak. He asked if it could be 
 shown that one lion ever forced a feebler one to 
 serve him. He admitted that the queen-bee did 
 not work in getting materials, or in putting them 
 together. But she did, nevertheless, direct the 
 movements of the whole swarm ; and was often 
 obliged to sit up all night long, taking an account 
 of stock, and devising plans for the general good. 
 Besides this, she was actually the mother of 
 every bee in the hive ; and the bare work of lay- 
 ing the eggs was ten times the labor of any other 
 of the race. In addition to all this, she was the 
 most economical bee in the hive ! He admitted 
 that the drones, being destitute of stings, were
 
 THE BEATERS. 151 
 
 put to death by the neuters, because they would 
 not do any work, or could not. This, he con- 
 fessed, was wrong. They ought to be left to 
 themselves ; and, if they would not work, they 
 might die, if they saw fit. But the present pol- 
 icy of the bees, in respect to the drones, was only 
 the natural reaction of the old tunes, when the 
 drones kept the neuters under their thumb ; 
 made interest with the queen-bee, and so got the 
 best places in the hive, eat the honey, wasted 
 the wax, and imprisoned or hung the half-starved 
 neuters, if ever they made a strike for higher 
 wages and equal rights. No doubt, said he, the 
 bees at last will come to their natural state. 
 But at present they are in advance of all the 
 world; for everywhere else the drones have 
 the best of it, and horribly oppress all the doers 
 of work. 
 
 As for the case of man, said he, that animal 
 with but two legs, who has been but a few 
 thousand years on the earth, and is therefore but 
 a baby, so to say, he is at present the most 
 frightful anomaly in nature. To reason from 
 his case to ours, to conclude that because the 
 strong and the cunning among men do over- 
 master and oppress the foolish and weak, there- 
 fore we must always do the same in our state, 
 so much older, is as foolish as to send our
 
 152 OUR DAT. 
 
 grandfathers back to their mothers' breasts, be- 
 cause beavers newly born can do nothing but 
 feed in that way. 
 
 " I wish," said he, " that my scheme might be 
 tried. If it does not work well, let us come 
 back to the present arrangement, bad as it is. 
 You have generally thought, until now, that I 
 am the wisest and most powerful animal in this 
 settlement : at this early age, on account of my 
 talents and services, you have counted me as a 
 prophet among the beavers, and conferred on 
 me the title of Great Dam Projector, an honor 
 never before bestowed on one of my years. I 
 will now go and work. I will take upon myself 
 the execution of the most difficult task, both in 
 planning and effecting the work." 
 
 He did so. The rest were ashamed to sit 
 still. The grandees took off their white gloves, 
 and went to work like Gibeonites, each doing 
 what he could do best. All the tribe, in a short 
 time, fell in with the new plan. They had a 
 most entire social unity of action. There was 
 not a pauper, nor a glutton, nor any criminal, in 
 their whole land. The dams were better built 
 than ever before ; their habitations were enclosed 
 in less time, and adorned with more taste and 
 beauty. All that winter there was no quarrel 
 about mine and thine ; and there never has been
 
 THE BEAVERS. 153 
 
 since. All have enough, and to spare ; no one 
 is proud of his possessions or his power ; no 
 one grumbles at his work. They have not yet 
 reconsidered the vote by which they adopted 
 their present constitution. 
 
 10
 
 154 
 
 DEMOCRACY. 
 
 WHAT is true Democracy ? 
 
 Tell us, wiser ones, than we. 
 
 Tell us, ye who, night and day, 
 
 Lead the nations on their way. 
 
 King of Europe, potentate 
 
 Of an Asiatic state ; 
 
 Afric chief, or western man, 
 
 Red or white American. 
 
 Tell us, statesman, young or old ; 
 
 Tell us, politician bold ; 
 
 In your strife for power and place, 
 
 Look us fully in the face. 
 
 Heady for an answer be : 
 
 What is true Democracy ? 
 
 Is it territory wide, 
 Over which, in freedom, stride 
 Stern Oppression's brazen feet ? 
 Where, in fellowship, may greet 
 Eight and Wrong ? Or can it be 
 In your men " created free,"
 
 DEMOCRACY. 155 
 
 As their " Declarations " read ; 
 While in slavery groan and bleed 
 Millions of their brethren true, 
 With a skin of darker hue ? 
 Enterprise, or wealth, or fame, 
 Under Democratic name ? 
 Ballot-boxes, by the score, 
 With then* free votes running o'er ? 
 Armed hosts, with deafening din, 
 Moving forth new fields to win ? 
 Statesmen strong, of bearing high ? 
 Orators, to prophecy 
 Of a permanent renown, 
 Through remotest regions down ? 
 Call ye this Democracy ? 
 This the glory of the free ? 
 Answer not thus impiously ! 
 
 This is true Democracy, 
 Where the people all are free. 
 Free the vow of Truth to take ; 
 Free each spell of Wrong to break ; 
 Free to have thought, word, and might, 
 Sworn for ever to the Bight. 
 Where, in Freedom's shining day, 
 Bondmen fling their chains away ; 
 Where Prevention comes to win 
 Tempted souls from blighting sin ; 
 Where Oppression shall not grind ; 
 Where the poor, the crushed, and blind,
 
 156 OUR DAT. 
 
 Fed, restored, and made to see, 
 Bless the grand equality. 
 Where the politician's strife 
 Comes of Christian faith and life ; 
 Where no Christian, priest or lay, 
 Hath expedient words to say ; 
 But for God and Progress raise 
 Heart of prayer and voice of praise. 
 Where the words of Peace and Love, 
 Boldly uttered, surely prove 
 More effectual than, before, 
 Murderous sword and cannon-roar. 
 Where, from mountain-top and plain, 
 Crowded mart, or heaving main, 
 Turret, minaret, or dome, 
 Waves the flag of Virtue's home. 
 Where, from sense and meanness low, 
 Public soul would God-ward go ; 
 While on earth its life outgiven, 
 Here secures the people's heaven. 
 Small in number though they be, 
 Or as sands on shore of sea ; 
 Men in earth's possession poor, 
 Or with riches running o'er ; 
 Reaching this whole wide world round, 
 Or in some lone portion found ; 
 People who these blessings share, 
 Best to all men can declare, 
 Best this question answer me, 
 What is true Democracy ?
 
 157 
 
 A DEMON TO BE EXORCISED. 
 
 BY EXT. 0. a. STRICKLAND. 
 
 THERE is a spirit abroad, which not only says 
 to three millions of slaves, " I will devour thee ! " 
 but says the same to every philanthropist who 
 dares to lift up his voice in an earnest appeal for 
 the oppressed, and to demand, in the name of 
 justice and of God, that this wrong shall cease 
 from among us. This spirit exists, not at the 
 South alone, but also, in no measurable degree, 
 at the North ; here, by our firesides and in our 
 churches. 
 
 Let a Torry, at whose heart the story of the 
 negro's wrongs lies heavy, go among those who 
 devour all the dear rights of the inner and outer 
 man, the free spirit, and the lifelong powers of 
 bodily endurance, and they say to him, " I 
 will devour thee, with my chain, and my dun- 
 geon, and my whips ! I will devour thee with 
 the rust of the iron manacle, with the dampness 
 of the prison-cell, with the tooth of long confine-
 
 158 OUE DAT. 
 
 ment ! " This they say to him, and this they do 
 to him. And the sentinels on the watch-towers 
 of liberty and of religion here at the North dare 
 not, or do not, open the mouth ! Let a "Walker, 
 
 a just man, fearing God and eschewing evil, 
 
 freight at our free shores his little bark with 
 poor slaves, who seek in the realm which owns 
 a monarch's hand, not the freedom they desire, 
 not the freedom which is their just due, but an 
 approach to it which our free government denies 
 them, this insatiable demon says to him, " I 
 will devour thee ! " and there is none to help ! 
 
 When I think of this vast and blood-red 
 oppression, of this unmitigated wrong, of 
 this outstretching and outswelling iniquity, never 
 satisfied with victims, at times, when the 
 thought is strong, "like a spell of might cast 
 o'er me from above," when my vision is 
 directed into the boundless deeps of this horrid 
 infernum, and I realize how little is thought 
 about it, and how little care, even by those I 
 love, I stand bewildered ; my brain whirls ; 
 my heart throbs, and beats hard against its bar- 
 riers, as it would burst ; I am sick and dis- 
 tressed ; for it seems as though the word " duty," 
 in the mouth of this American people, had be- 
 come unmeaning ; and that justice, and love, 
 and God, were only words pleasing to the ear,
 
 A DEMON TO BE EXORCISED. 159 
 
 with which the people delight to be lulled to 
 rest. 
 
 But hope comes to me. It tells me, that, notwith- 
 standing this crying evil, the good is not afar off. 
 It speaks of a fountain, sealed to be sure, but 
 soon to be opened by a strong hand, and which 
 shall send forth waters for the cleansing of the 
 sanctuary. It tells me, that all among the free 
 and beautiful hills and valleys, the villages and 
 cities of New England, there is a spirit, slumber- 
 ing at this moment though it may be, but anon 
 to arouse itself, and speak in a voice which 
 oppression shall hear, and which millions of free 
 hearts shall respond to. God speed the day! 
 On it the true reformer has fixed his longing 
 eye.
 
 160 
 
 THE PULPIT AND POPULAR REFORMS. 
 
 BY REV. A. D. MATO. 
 
 WHAT is the mission of the Christian pulpit, 
 and what its relation to the popular reforms of 
 the day ? We shall attempt to give an an- 
 swer to these interesting questions. We shall 
 first define the object of public religious instruc- 
 tion ; then indicate the relation of these reforms 
 to such object ; and, lastly, speak of the manner 
 in which the minister of Christ should perform 
 a duty so important. 
 
 To understand the obligations of the religious 
 teacher, we must understand the spiritual condi- 
 tion of humanity. Man is " born upright." It 
 is natural for him to seek the truth, to love, to 
 worship. By this we mean that his nature, if 
 properly developed, will move in the way to 
 perfection. Greatness and goodness are the 
 health of the soul. Ignorance and sin, the dis- 
 ease ; and, like all other diseases, unnatural. 
 
 Now were each human being, at his birth,
 
 THE PULPIT AND POPULAR REFORMS. 161 
 
 placed in a condition of society where every 
 faculty could receive its proper development, the 
 progress in truth and holiness would be uninter- 
 rupted. Reverence for parents would insensibly 
 become reverence for the Deity. The sponta- 
 neous faculty of the soul would be occupied in 
 receiving truth imparted by God : directly, as in 
 moral intuition and conscience ; or indirectly, 
 through the agency of natural objects. The 
 intellect, like an interpreter between the infinite 
 and the finite, would explain the facts of con- 
 sciousness. The body would be a " temple for 
 the Holy Spirit." Man would live in harmony 
 with himself and his Maker. 
 
 But such is not the good fortune of any man. 
 Every individual, upon his entrance into life, 
 encounters many obstacles to perfect develop- 
 ment. Even while an infant, in the nurse's 
 arms, the work of distortion begins. His phy- 
 sical constitution is outraged, and his temper 
 soured by injudicious management. Through 
 the successive years of youth, the same destruc- 
 tive process continues. His lungs are irritated 
 by improper ventilation ; his spine bent upon the 
 form in the school-room ; his stomach crammed 
 with indigestible food, and disordered by heating 
 and stimulating drinks. His mind is permitted 
 to dissipate its energies, or so burdened with
 
 162 OUR DAT. 
 
 unsuited knowledge that its freshness is de- 
 stroyed. His affections are tainted by corrupt 
 intercourse, or laced about with creeds and a 
 formal religion. His gushing fountains of social 
 feeling are sealed up by the absurd customs of 
 fashionable life. Thus he lives, until the " law 
 of the land " pronounces him a man ! 
 
 Now his "education" is completed. He is 
 turned loose into the world, to encounter the 
 awful mystery of life ! With a body on fire 
 with disease ; a mind, in which, at best, one 
 faculty thrives upon the ruin of others, as the 
 deadly upas grows encircled with death ; a moral 
 constitution wild as the instinct of a tiger, or 
 morbidly sensitive beneath the influence of a 
 false religion; he is compelled before heaven 
 and earth to become an individual ! His na- 
 ture lies in ruins, from which he must build a 
 temple to the living God ! 
 
 It is the noble mission of the minister of 
 Jesus Christ to aid men in building this temple. 
 He lives in a community where there is no 
 complete man. All are, in one or the other 
 way, distorted : some so hopelessly gone, that 
 they know not their own condition ; others, at 
 times impressed with the mournful fact of their 
 imperfection, yet so crushed by circumstances 
 that the will sinks at the thought of the Hercu-
 
 THE PULPIT AND POPULAR BEFOBMS. 163 
 
 lean labor of renovation ; others, who are 
 cheerfully moving onward in the upward path 
 of spiritual excellence. All these he, an imper- 
 fect specimen of humanity, must assist. To the 
 slumbering spirit he must speak in tones so 
 piercing, that it shall awaken and know its awful 
 condition. To the soul longing for strength, to 
 overleap the barriers that rise around it, his 
 instruction must be full of heavenly encourage- 
 ment. His words must thrill, like bursts of 
 martial music ; that the drooping courage may 
 be awakened, and the yielding strength renewed. 
 He must paint the glorious picture of a true 
 manhood ; with its radiant mountain-tops, and 
 its yawning gulfs and black torrents below ! To 
 him who has overcome the earliest obstacles, he 
 must speak of spiritual culture, of harmony 
 and proportion in character. He must encou- 
 rage men to lay the foundation of their education 
 broad and deep, to study for eternity. Every 
 soul has one peculiar faculty, or a certain combi- 
 nation of faculties, constituting its individuality. 
 This, of course, should lead, but not to the 
 destruction of other powers. It should advance, 
 like a commander at the head of an army, not 
 stand like a statue in a desert ! 
 
 Such are the results to be sought by the min- 
 ister of Jesus Christ : spiritual regeneration and
 
 164 OUR DAT. 
 
 spiritual culture ; repentance and life ! the pro- 
 duction of a true manhood in every being within 
 the sphere of his influence. To aid him, God 
 has sent upon earth a perfect man, and a perfect 
 method of religious duty. This is the fountain 
 from which he must refresh his own weakness, 
 and to which direct the people of his charge. 
 His field of labor is the soul. He is interested 
 in every thing that influences humanity. What- 
 ever will awaken, encourage, and develope, must 
 he notice to approve. Whatever will stupify, 
 discourage, and distort, must he condemn. 
 
 The only question, therefore, to be asked, in 
 relation to these sins which are the occasion of 
 reform organization, is, are they obstacles in the 
 way of spiritual regeneration and spiritual cul- 
 ture ? 
 
 Let them pass in review before us. First 
 appears Intemperance, followed by the ghastly 
 crew of its worshippers. Its works we behold 
 in widow's tears and orphan's cries ; in shattered 
 minds and wasted features ; in crime, disease, 
 and death! Then comes Slavery, dragging its 
 chained suppliants ; bearing aloft its statute- 
 books, red with bloody decrees ; trampling under 
 its feet a free constitution, and the petitions of 
 sovereign states ; crying aloud for more territory, 
 and unloosing " the dogs of war." Around press
 
 THE PULPIT AND POPULAB REFORMS. 165 
 
 the duellist, the debauchee, and the assassin ; the 
 priest blasphemously preaching servitude from 
 God's word ; the time-serving politician, the 
 citizen, with a muzzle tied upon his mouth. 
 War strides on a Colossus, wrapped in robes 
 dyed with the blood of nations. The hounds of 
 pestilence, famine, fire, and slaughter, are baying 
 at its heels. It cannot pause ; for yonder flutter 
 the "stars and stripes," and Satan has more 
 work to be done in Mexico ! Then comes a throng 
 " that no man can number ; " forms of human 
 suffering, the ignorant, the sinful. And yonder 
 behold a procession, bearing aloft the black gal- 
 lows. Holy men of God form a rampart around 
 it, and prayers ascend for its victims. What 
 crying abominations before heaven are these ? 
 None other than the powers of the evil one 
 himself! 
 
 Now shall we insult readers, by asking if such 
 evils are obstacles in the way of Christianity? 
 Who will affirm that the man cast in the slough 
 of drunkenness is in a condition for spiritual 
 influences ? Is he, who lives upon the blood and 
 sweat of a hundred negroes, prepared to receive 
 truths of God's paternity and the brotherhood of 
 man? Is a nation, insane for conquest, in a 
 situation to understand the gospel of peace? 
 Will not Paine and Voltaire have the argument,
 
 166 OUR DAY. 
 
 while ministers prove capital p.unishment from 
 the Bible? "Will you preach of the uses of 
 affliction to men without clothes, and houses, 
 and food ? We should flee from before the face 
 of a man, who would answer questions like these 
 in the affirmative. 
 
 These evils, then, are terrible obstacles in the 
 way of spiritual regeneration and culture. Then 
 should the public servant of God, above all men, 
 on proper times, and in a proper manner, expose 
 their enormity. Before he can rear the temple 
 of religion, he must wield the sledge, the pick, 
 and the crow-bar, to clear the land for a founda- 
 tion ! 
 
 But we are told, " These sins, of which you 
 speak, are separate forms of transgression. The 
 minister should labor to create the religious prin- 
 ciple which will expel all sin." 
 
 We do not say if intemperance, slavery, war, 
 inhuman legislation, and bodily want, were abol- 
 ished, men would necessarily become Christians. 
 Freedom from bad habits is not religion ; yet, 
 while such habits enslave the soul, it cannot 
 begin the spiritual life. Before I can teach my 
 neighbor Christianity, I must make him sober, or 
 break the chains of whatever evil practice would 
 indispose him to receive it. We acknowledge 
 that reform preaching is only a portion it
 
 THE PULPIT AND POPULAR REFORMS. 167 
 
 may be a small portion of the obligation rest- 
 ing on the pulpit I do no good by caring a 
 man of one bad habit, unless I continue the 
 work ; for if I leave the devil in him, it will 
 break out in some other form. But we do not 
 intend to stop here. We preach against public 
 sins, to remove obstacles in the way of a more 
 spiritual ministration. My neighbor is in feeble 
 health. He needs vigorous exercise to restore 
 him. But, unfortunately, he has broken his leg. 
 What shall I do ? Still insist that he shall 
 exercise, while he cannot stir from his chair? 
 He says : " Cure my leg, and I will obey your 
 directions." I say : " No, my dear sir. I am 
 concerned for your general health. What good 
 will a sound leg do you, if your whole body is 
 diseased ? Therefore exercise, my friend ; exer- 
 cise." Could any thing be more senseless ? Yet 
 we tell men that spiritual culture is what they 
 need, while they are slaves to appetites which 
 are destroying health, character, and reason! 
 Is not all this mockery ? Cure the man of his 
 bad habit, put a coat on his back, and give him 
 food and work; and then you have a right to 
 preach to him of spiritual regeneration and 
 culture ! 
 
 The important question remains, In what 
 manner shall the minister of Christ engage ia
 
 168 OUR DAY. 
 
 these reforms ? As a partisan of some organized 
 body, or from his own individualism ? 
 
 "We unhesitatingly declare for the latter me- 
 thod. "We know many good men think differ- 
 ently. We have seen the good that has resulted 
 from organized effort, but we are not ignorant of 
 the dangers besetting it On every side we see 
 men losing their individuality, and becoming 
 wheels in some great machine of reform. These 
 vast associations sadly take away our freedom. 
 "We live too much by favor of " executive com- 
 mittees." Societies usurp the throne of Provi- 
 dence, and decide when we shall work. We are 
 too dependent upon the good will of unscrupulous 
 parties. They can make presidents of small 
 lawyers, and blacken the reputation of great 
 statesmen. We believe it not well, that the 
 minister of Christ's free gospel should subject 
 himself to such conditions. Let him not be a 
 piece of a society, but a man. In religious 
 belief let him spurn sectarian limits, and pro- 
 claim the truth his Maker gives him. In politics 
 let him, from a lofty position, view the policy of 
 statesmen, and vote " with the fear of God 
 before his eyes." In reform let him speak 
 according to the wants of the community around 
 him, with a fearless tongue and a loving heart. 
 Let him avoid vulgar personalities, and look
 
 THE PULPIT AND POPULAR REFORMS. 169 
 
 with divine compassion even upon the obstinacy 
 of wicked men. Let him come to every subject 
 from the high ground of Christian meditation, 
 as fearless of the cant of the friends of reform 
 as the insults of its enemies. And, above all, 
 let him speak in love. If called to rebuke, let 
 him rebuke in the spirit of Jesus, " more in 
 sorrow than in anger." And when, by the 
 blessing of God, he has reformed a man, let him 
 not desist until the vacant mind is stored with 
 noble thoughts, and the languid heart refreshed 
 by lofty purposes ; that the repenting one may 
 be led on in the way to heaven ! 
 
 Such is our opinion of the duties of the 
 pulpit. We know it is not the popular view. 
 The extreme license of the desk in former times 
 has given place to a contracted circle of subjects. 
 It is true, permission is given the clergy, on 
 certain occasions, to speak freely. They are 
 expected, on " Fast Day," to predict the coming 
 of plagues, pestilences, and all inflictions of 
 heaven upon our godless nation ; while, on 
 " Thanksgiving Day," they announce the arrival 
 of the millennium, and the glories of the time 
 when the United States of America shall become 
 the Mount Zion of the earth. We decline this 
 benevolent gift. If destruction is about to fall 
 upon the land, it is hard that the clergyman 
 11
 
 170 OUR DAY. 
 
 should wait until " Fast Day " to blow his 
 trumpet of alarm. And we are not very solicit- 
 ous of the privilege to speak upon the rise and 
 fall of kingdoms on " Thanksgiving Day," to a 
 few men and children, whose thoughts are in 
 their kitchens at home. We object to a ministry 
 shut up in a pen of conventionalism fifty-two 
 days in the year, while upon two days the gates 
 are unbarred ; and the terror-stricken men, hav- 
 ing cautiously delivered themselves of a few 
 moral and political axioms, gladly retreat to the 
 sacred protection of the Sabbath and the sanc- 
 tuary ! If the pulpit be not free, it is a nuisance 
 upon the earth ! Whenever the great interests 
 of God's kingdom are insulted by men in high 
 places ; when public immorality or political dege- 
 neracy are sweeping over the land ; the minister 
 of Christ is recreant to his duty if he do not 
 speak, not only in a timid voice on " governors' 
 sabbaths," but freely, and with the power his 
 Creator has given him, on God's Sabbaths! 
 Thus will he be a follower of him who uttered 
 his word of truth, and died that all men might 
 enjoy the " glorious liberty of the sons of God."
 
 171 
 
 THOMAS CLARKSON. 
 
 have in Thomas Clarkson one of the 
 great moral heroes of the day in which we live. 
 Though, after a long life, he has just gone from 
 us, his character and influence are of the present, 
 and will tell, for ages, on the destiny of man. 
 
 Mr. Clarkson was born March 28, 1760. His 
 father held the situation of master of the Wis- 
 beach Free Grammar School, where the son was 
 at first educated, until removed to St Paul's 
 school, and subsequently to St. John's College, 
 Cambridge. Here young Clarkson soon acquired 
 distinction. Previous circumstances seemed to 
 have been prepared to call forth the spirit that 
 was in him, to vindicate the great doctrine of 
 human rights. It was in 1785, while Clarkson 
 was at the University, that Dr. Peckhard, being 
 then Vice-Chancellor, announced to the Senior 
 Bachelors of Arts, this question, as a subject for 
 a Prize Latin Dissertation : "Is it right to
 
 172 OUR DAT. 
 
 make slaves of others, against their will ? " Our 
 young scholar had already gained one prize in 
 dissertation here, and was desirous to sustain his 
 reputation. With this intent, he repaired to 
 London, and there obtained, according to his 
 pecuniary means, many books on the subject of 
 slavery. He returned to the University, and 
 began the work of his essay. It was by means 
 of this intellectual effort that the fountains of the 
 great deep of his moral affections were reached, 
 and made to issue forth in behalf of the bond- 
 man. Pained with the harrowing truth which 
 the perusal of these volumes unfolded, he ceased 
 to regard his immediate pursuit as the work of a 
 scholar. The philanthropist had been aroused. 
 He sees the need of a life devoted to the inter- 
 ests of the slave, and to the utterance and appli- 
 cation of freedom under the government of which 
 he was a subject, and everywhere throughout 
 the world. "With such conviction urging him, it 
 is no wonder that his essay was successful. It 
 was clothed with a power that went far beyond 
 the mere occasion of its first public reading. It 
 spoke to other minds as the facts which called it 
 out had spoken to the mind of its author. 
 
 It was from this period that Mr. Clarkson 
 became devoted to the great cause of human 
 emancipation. His Prize Essay he now issued
 
 THOMAS CLABKSON. 173 
 
 in tract form. It went abroad wherever the 
 new reading matter of the English press found 
 welcome. It reached America ; and first in this 
 land identified the name of Clarkson with that of 
 the African and of freedom. 
 
 The influence of his character was now felt at 
 home and abroad. Some of the best hearts in 
 England were in sympathy with him. Yet he 
 was very far from a position with the majority. 
 The everlasting Right stood with him, but not 
 the influence of the greatest number. This was 
 yet away in the future. A good co-worker gave 
 him the heart and hand of friendship ; the noble, 
 toiling, philanthropic Wilberforce. Together, 
 they drew other kindred souls into this royal 
 work. Wilberforce was to bring the subject 
 into Parliament; Clarkson was to turn public 
 agitator without. He did so. In the principal 
 towns and cities of England were his labors of 
 truth known. Meetings were held, evidences 
 collected, books published, petitions forwarded to 
 Parliament. Wilberforce made the movement 
 here began the debate, and stirred up the fires 
 of eloquence on his great theme. But for a 
 time he stood in that Parliament almost alone. 
 Neither Pitt nor Fox could come to his aid, so 
 formidably were the interests of the vast slave- 
 trade capital of British merchants standing in
 
 174 OUR DAY. 
 
 the way. It was a massive stone under which 
 this same Wilberforce had placed his lever. It 
 was heavy with gold ! 
 
 Yet it was destined to be moved when God's 
 time came. Within and without Parliament, the 
 agitation of the subject increased. Statesmen, 
 who had been timid on it, gained courage. The 
 illustrious Pitt himself set in operation its dis- 
 cussion, though at first venturing not his whole 
 soul in it. Through all these proceedings, which 
 were going on for years, the labors of Mr. Clark- 
 son were inconceivably great. To give an in- 
 stance in illustration of this statement, I refer to 
 the testimony of Robinson Taylor, who has re- 
 cently written of him. It is as follows : 
 
 "In the early period of the struggle, it was 
 necessary to lay evidence before the privy coun- 
 cil, to prove the allegation that the unhappy 
 Africans were kidnapped and dragged from their 
 homes. The procuring of such evidence was 
 attended with the greatest difficulties, as the 
 small vessels which conveyed the negroes to 
 the slave-ships were manned entirely by natives ; 
 Europeans being very rarely permitted to be on 
 board, that the nature of the horrible traffic 
 might be the better concealed from the knowl- 
 edge of the civilized world. Clarkson, nothing 
 daunted, but his courage mounting with every in-
 
 THOMAS CLARKSON. 175 
 
 creasing difficulty, made a tour in the provinces. 
 All the information he could procure was, that a 
 gentleman, a year before, had conversed at an 
 inn with an English sailor who had been up the 
 African rivers, and who, it was conceived, would 
 be fully competent to give evidence, providing 
 he could be found. Nothing was known of the 
 man's ( where-about ; ' Clarkson was ignorant 
 even of his name ; all the information he pos- 
 sessed for his guidance was merely a personal 
 description of the sailor. Conceiving that he 
 might be found on board some British ships, 
 Clarkson, with the permission of Sir Charles 
 Middleton, Comptroller of the Navy, boarded, in 
 succession, all the men-of-war at Deptford, Wool- 
 wich, Chatham, Sheerness, and Portsmouth ; but 
 the sailor still remained undiscovered. To use 
 Clarkson's own words, 'Matters began to look 
 disheartening. There was but one port left, 
 Plymouth, and that was distant more than two 
 hundred miles ; but thither I was determined to 
 go. The first day after my arrival, I boarded 
 forty ships ; but found no one who had been on 
 the coast of Africa, or even in the slave-trade. 
 Things were now drawing to a close ; my spirits 
 began to droop, and I was restless and uneasy 
 during the night. I entered my boat the next 
 morning, agitated alternately by hope and fear.
 
 OUR DAT. 
 
 The fifty-seventh vessel I boarded in this harbor 
 was the ' Melampus ' frigate. On examining the 
 men, I found a sailor who had been two voyages 
 to Africa ; and, to my inexpressible joy, I soon 
 perceived that he was the person to whom I had 
 been referred. I found, too, that he had been 
 present on several occasions when the natives 
 had been forcibly torn from their homes, and 
 that he was able and willing to give evidence.' 
 Such was the energy with which Clarkson tri- 
 umphed over his difficulties. The important 
 link in the chain of evidence being furnished, 
 another rivet was knocked from the manacles of 
 the bleeding and exhausted slave. 
 
 " These were the sort of labors which demon- 
 strated the character of the man, and which con- 
 tributed to form the halo of glory that encircles 
 his name." 
 
 The new century commenced, and still the 
 slave-trade continued to disgrace the British 
 government and the world. The union with 
 Ireland, in 1801, brought into Parliament rep- 
 resentatives who were ready to take part on the 
 right side of this subject. A measure for sup- 
 pressing the trade passed both houses, though 
 the measure did not become a law until 1807. 
 The history of this long and eventful struggle was 
 prepared and published by Mr. Clarkson himself.
 
 THOMAS CLARKSON. 177 
 
 Though now called upon to change the nature 
 of his labors, Mr. Clarkson was not, in conse- 
 quence of this final triumph of his much-loved 
 measure, induced to release himself from the 
 great work of philanthropy. He still used his 
 tongue and pen in behalf of human rights. 
 During the French revolution, he went to Paris, 
 with the intention of interesting the French gov- 
 ernment in the subject so near his heart; but 
 was unsuccessful. He went also to the Congress 
 of Aix-la-Chapelle, and there had an interview 
 with the emperor of Russia, who promised not 
 only to oppose the slave-trade by the exercise of 
 his own authority, but to use his influence with 
 other sovereigns, that they might be induced to 
 do likewise. 
 
 Years rolled on; and this great anti-slavery 
 movement continued to be felt everywhere. In 
 England this law of 1807 had prepared the 
 minds of Englishmen for wider conceptions and 
 more decisive measures against slavery. An 
 association of the people was formally entered 
 into in 1823, the primary object of which was 
 to effect the abolition of slavery in the British 
 "West Indies. Of this association Mr. Clarkson 
 was a true and zealous conductor. Age had not 
 cooled his ardor ; and although it brought upon 
 him the affliction of a temporary blindness, it by
 
 178 OUR DAY. 
 
 no means obscured the vision within. That saw 
 plainly by faith the night of oppression broken, 
 and sure glimmerings of a better morning for the 
 enslaved and abused of our race. He was in his 
 seventy-fourth year when the bill awarding 
 twenty million pounds sterling as compensation 
 to the slaveholders, passed both houses of Par- 
 liament ; an event never to be forgotten while 
 England's or man's history can be read in our 
 world. 
 
 And so to the end of his long life was this 
 good man a diligent laborer. His " Portraiture 
 of Quakerism," his " Life of William Penn," his 
 " Researches Antediluvian, Patriarchal, and His- 
 torical," together with his volumes of the history 
 of his earlier life, already mentioned, abundantly 
 prove this. He could not be idle. His "one 
 idea" did not narrow, but expand, his soul. 
 Says a writer in the London Nonconformist : 
 "Although the accumulated weight of upwards 
 of fourscore years pressed heavily upon his shat- 
 tered energies, so long as life and being lasted, 
 his great anxiety was to do good. It was indeed 
 a noble sight to enter his apartment, and see this 
 venerable man, with sight impaired, and his once 
 fine frame bowed down by the exertions of added 
 years, still engaged, under much physical suffer- 
 ing, in efforts to lessen the sorrows of the human
 
 THOMAS CLARKSON. 179 
 
 race. Within the last few months of his death, 
 the case of the sailor occupied much of his atten- 
 tion. The wrongs under which this useful class 
 of men is suffering, deeply moved his heart, and 
 induced him to write a pamphlet, and to take 
 other steps in their behalf." 
 
 Mr. Clarkson departed this life on the 26th of 
 September, 1846, in the eighty-seventh year 
 of his age. His memory will be held sacred 
 where he was most known in private life, as the 
 companion, citizen, counsellor, and friend. The 
 inhabitants of Wisbeach, his native place, sub- 
 scribed for his portrait, to be preserved in their 
 town, as a memorial of their esteem for so dis- 
 tinguished a fellow-citizen. And abroad his 
 inner likeness maketh many a manifestation to 
 anxious eyes and throbbing hearts. Multitudes 
 who may never catch the expression of that out- 
 ward countenance, shall bless the name of Clark- 
 son, and bless God, too, that they are familiar 
 with the man. His fame is world-wide, and 
 shall never wax dim. It shall live in the 
 graphic speech of the matchless Brougham ; in 
 the smooth and strong verse of the poet-laureate 
 of England ; in the words he himself uttered, 
 never to die away ; and yet surer still, identified 
 with this great movement, progress, accomplish- 
 ment, and ultimate triumph of freedom in
 
 180 OUR DAT. 
 
 behalf of which the hosts of the truly good and 
 philanthropic of every civilized nation are fast 
 mustering ; and whose power shall, as heaven 
 itself is true, prevail. 
 
 We need not dwell longer on the details of 
 the life of this illustrious man. Rather let us 
 ask what his history is teaching us. And first, 
 let us look at his adherence to principle in the 
 face of the prejudice and opposition of the world. 
 Here is a lesson worth learning at any hour of 
 our lives ; and one, too, which we need to have 
 often brought before us, while we are so liable to 
 receive our impressions of truth and right from 
 the prevailing opinion, instead of seeking them 
 through the means of a true conscience and a 
 free investigation. Men too often inquire, before 
 they act in reference to their social, political, or 
 religious duties, what will be most safe for them 
 in the judgment of their fellow-men ; what the 
 world will say ; what this now-prevailing opin- 
 ion however erroneous or corrupt this opinion 
 will decide. No higher than this do they 
 allow themselves to look for their duty. If their 
 social code, or political pamphlet or newspaper, 
 or their religious creed, shall read them a differ- 
 ent lesson, then are they disinclined to any 
 counter movement. Conscience may sometimes 
 speak; but the crowd will not be permitted to
 
 THOMAS CLAEKSON. 181 
 
 hear it. Truth may strike deep conviction ; but 
 this must be stifled, in base servitude to the all- 
 governing opinion of a system or a party ! 
 
 Now, when the world is born and baptized 
 into any new and great truth, it must be through 
 the instrumentality of minds who are not con- 
 trolled by such considerations as we have just 
 named. There must be a leading influence, 
 working its way against all this conservative and 
 threatening wrong. We can seldom, if ever, 
 have any revolution of righteousness in the 
 world, without such an influence. It may be 
 small, at first, as the grain of mustard-seed ; yet 
 its growth is sure as the will or word of Omnipo- 
 tence. 
 
 Such was Clarkson's influence, such his 
 example. It was the small striving of truth 
 against the combined force of public opinion. 
 Church and state were silent, in reference to 
 this wrong, and seemed satisfied with it. And 
 the great, ruling, monied interests of the might- 
 iest nation of the earth were against it. What 
 could be done, in opposition to such power as 
 this by one single man, or by the few true souls 
 he might call around him ? What would the 
 most prudent and unmoving Conservative of 
 that day have said to this same question, were 
 he then called upon to answer it ? Said ? Why,
 
 182 OUR DAY. 
 
 that the man was a fanatic a moral schemer 
 an abstractionist ! a good philanthropist at 
 heart, perhaps ; but then in intellect a subject 
 of strange visions and dreams ! Why, what 
 avails such force against all this wealth and 
 intellect of the nation? All this subservient 
 prejudice of the great world, too ? Your preach- 
 ing and appealing philanthropist cannot forward 
 his work. He will fail. This old influence of 
 wealth and intellect will rule ! Indeed ! and so 
 it did rule here ruled its day out ; and then 
 its power yielded, and was turned in the right 
 direction. Yes, some of that twenty millions 
 of pounds, paid for West India Emancipation, 
 came from this very monied influence once in 
 array against the prayers and petitions of Clark- 
 son and Wilberforce ! " As the rivers of water 
 are turned," so was changed this influence, by 
 God's hand, from error unto truth ! 
 
 Adherence to principle ! When, when shall 
 we learn this great duty ? When shall we 
 realize what wonders we shall accomplish by it ? 
 When shall we feel all that is implied in that 
 great word of the apostle, " With me it is a 
 very small thing that I should be judged of 
 man's judgment." When shall we begin to com- 
 prehend what Christ's own declaration implies, 
 " If ye have faith like a grain of mustard-seed,
 
 THOMAS CLARKSOX. 183 
 
 ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou cast into 
 the sea, and it shall be done." Deem this not 
 a figure merely. It is living, veritable fact. 
 Every age lives it over and over again. It is 
 glorious fact in the instance of Clarkson. And 
 never will the great truth it makes known deny 
 itself. Courage to the true and loving soul, in 
 all its strifes with a grievous, an overpowering, 
 and aggravating wrong ! Judicious, persevering, 
 untiring labor, in God's name, shall effect its 
 overthrow ; and a cheered and blest world shall 
 rejoice in the triumph of humanity and heaven. 
 
 What Clarkson did we may all do, each in 
 our places ; speak and act, never in palliation 
 of the wrong, but always against it ; never with 
 the " let it alone " policy in our hearts or on our 
 lips, but always with the assailant disposition. 
 though in prayer to Heaven that what we say 
 and do be directed by its unerring wisdom. A 
 wrong, like that which Clarkson assailed, darkens 
 our land; and sorry are we that similar influ- 
 ences are hi operation to sustain it, none of 
 them more potent than this same golden one ! 
 But who says now, that this shall always tri- 
 umph ? Let him read England's recent history 
 again. Let him hear a public opinion echoed 
 by the well-known biographer of Dr. Johnson.
 
 184 OUR DAY. 
 
 protesting against what this eminent scholar had 
 justly written of the African slave-trade : 
 
 "To abolish a status, which in all ages God 
 has sanctioned and man continued, would not 
 only be robbery to an innumerable class of our 
 fellow-subjects, but it would be extreme cruelty 
 to African savages ; a portion of whom it saves 
 from massacre, or intolerable bondage in their 
 own country, and introduces into a much happier 
 state of life ; especially now, when their passages 
 to the West Indies, and their treatment there, is 
 humanely regulated. To abolish that trade 
 would be to shut the gates of mercy on man- 
 kind."* 
 
 What less than this is said now, in our own 
 land, where this same evil is encouraged and 
 sustained ? Yet who will venture his reputa- 
 tion for prophecy on the assertion, that this 
 opinion will not change ? Who in England now 
 will, with unblushing face, quote and approve 
 this barbarian language of Boswell ? Who, fifty 
 years to come, will say as much in reference to 
 the merciful nature of the institution of slavery 
 in our own land ? 
 
 And what shall change opinion ? Ah ! Is 
 this question asked ? What is changing it now, 
 
 * BoswelTs Life of Johnson.
 
 THOMAS CLARK SOX. 185 
 
 every day and every hour ? Individual convic- 
 tion of truth, and individual manliness in uttering 
 this truth. A holy conviction ; it is deeper down 
 than all sectarian, political, or religious profes- 
 sions or combinations. It is God's voice, and 
 humanity's. Let us repeat it, again and again. 
 Let us understand the effects of our words and 
 our deeds. Small in themselves, they may go 
 out in great missions of blessedness and love for 
 mankind. We each owe a labor for the purifica- 
 tion of public opinion. Let nothing we shall say 
 or do tend to corrupt it 
 
 Some reformers are really individuals of " one 
 idea." They look so long at one object, that it 
 absorbs their whole mind. They see every 
 thing else through its image. Such have lived 
 in other days ; such live now. Such some- 
 times become bigoted, even in their philanthropic 
 sympathies and strivings. Clarkson was not 
 one of this number. His was an enlarged phil- 
 anthropy. Not the black man only, but the 
 white man, claimed and received his service of 
 love. A righteous example. If we will be 
 true reformers after the Christian model, no one 
 idea short of this can absorb us, the all- 
 including, all-directing Right, in reference to 
 every question of human duty, ability, or des- 
 tiny. 
 
 IS
 
 186 OUR DAY. 
 
 " The light of the righteous rejoiceth." Thus 
 has it been ; thus shall it be, henceforth. Honor 
 to these champions of God's truth, these moral 
 sentinels of humanity, marking its progress, 
 and guarding its right ! 
 
 " They stand like mountains, when the deep-toned roaring 
 
 Of warring elements is round their breasts ; 
 While on their summits heaven's rich light is pouring, 
 
 And silent Peace in radiant beauty rests. 
 There the first beams of new-bom morning play ; 
 And lingers, with soft light, the sun's last dying ray ! " 
 
 "We celebrate such heroes in grand oration, 
 fervent sermon, and harmonious song. Our 
 hearts respond to the demands of just fame, 
 with which they come ! 
 
 There is a higher reverence we may pay 
 them ; a reverence which man shall feel, and 
 God himself approve. It is that of living as 
 they lived ; our whole being responsive to their 
 godlike virtues, and in readiness to imitate and 
 repeat them. Be the testimony of Clarkson 
 thus repeated by us ; repeated, too, in strong 
 hope and faith ; and with no doubt that, in our 
 own land, as in every other on which the free 
 sun shines, through the slow, yet irresistible, 
 influence of correct individual opinion, the utter- 
 ance of a regenerated public opinion shall be in 
 accordance with this truthful and stirring Ian-
 
 THOMAS CLARKSON. 187 
 
 guage of one of the mightiest intellects of the 
 present age : 
 
 " Tell me not of rights ; talk not of the pro- 
 perty of the planter in his slaves. I deny the 
 right ; I acknowledge not the property. The 
 principles, the feelings, of our common nature 
 rise in rebellion against it. Be the appeal made 
 to the understanding or to the heart, the sen- 
 tence is the same that rejects it. In vain you 
 tell me of laws that sanction such a claim ! 
 There is a law above all the enactments of 
 human codes, the same throughout the world, 
 the same in all times, it is the law written by 
 the finger of God on the heart of man ; and by 
 that law, unchangeable and eternal, while men 
 despise fraud, and loathe rapine, and abhor 
 blood, they shall reject with indignation the wild 
 and guilty fantasy, that man can hold property 
 in man ! " 
 
 * Lord Brougham.
 
 188 
 
 CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 BY RET. DAY K. LEE. 
 
 THE GOD of CHRISTIANITY ! 
 
 Oh ! who shall not adore him ? 
 His word fulfils, and demon ills 
 
 Are vanishing before him. 
 Kind smiles of light, like morn on night, 
 
 Outshine from his pavilion : 
 His voice " ARISE," thrills earth and skies, 
 
 And wakes the slumbering million. 
 On all the lands his altar stands, 
 
 And there the ransomed gather ; 
 In grace and spirit, His sons inherit, 
 
 He reigns and rules THE FATHER. 
 
 The CHRIST of CHRISTIANITY ! 
 
 O nations ! all behold him ! 
 The Friend of friends, he lives, ascends, 
 
 As holy seers foretold him. 
 His era rolls, and myriad souls 
 
 Receive his heavenly story ; 
 And still he reigns, and still attains 
 
 New victory and glory.
 
 CHRISTIANITY. 189 
 
 Like vernal blooms, his kingdom comes 
 
 In waste and wintry regions ; 
 And radiant faces of all the races 
 
 Swell wide his adoring legions. 
 
 The HOPE of CHRISTIANITY ! 
 
 Is heaven her sole possession ? 
 Shall sons of time cease ne'er from crime, 
 
 Nor put away transgression ? 
 Long not on high her realms to spy, 
 
 Till given an angel's pinion ! 
 Her gardens grow, blest grace ! below : 
 
 The WORLD is her dominion ! 
 She sings of hours, when Eden-bowers 
 
 Shall crown all earth's plantations ; 
 And Eden-joys, without alloys, 
 
 Beatify the nations. 
 
 The DAT of CHRISTIANITY ! 
 
 How jubilant its warning ! 
 How grand its dawn, now leading on 
 
 The rosy-footed morning ! 
 Fell Falses gray shall melt away, 
 
 Like mist-forms, in its rising ; 
 Nor Wrong nor Woe the wide world know, 
 
 In all the scene surprising. 
 New earth and heaven shall then be given. 
 
 As hailed by saints and sages ; 
 And LOVE shall lighten, and Wisdom brighten, 
 
 The Sabbath of the ages.
 
 190 OUR DAT. 
 
 The WORK of CHRISTIANITY! 
 
 Are all its acts a fable ? 
 To do thy Word, thy Will, O Lord, 
 
 Shall men build towers of Babel ? 
 No ! they who TOIL on LOVE'S broad soil 
 
 Are the commandment-keepers. 
 Go forth, all hands ! God's fallow lands 
 
 Want ploughmen, seedmen, reapers ! 
 Plough deep and long ; uproot old Wrong ; 
 
 Turn sins, turn slaveries under : 
 Sow Wisdom, Lowliness, Freedom, Holiness : 
 
 And reap in joy and wonder ! 
 
 The PEATER of CHRISTIANITY ! 
 
 Breathe they, O Lord, its burden, 
 Who fleece thy fold, then basely bold 
 
 Demand thy daily pardon ? 
 No ! no ! its fires wing warm desires, 
 
 And kindle high convictions ; 
 Its sweet voice pleads in manly deeds, 
 
 And breathes kind benedictions ! 
 It cries : " Thy Will, O God, fulfil ! 
 
 Send smiles ; send consolations ! " 
 And last petitions, " Move on the missions 
 
 Of loving liberators ! "
 
 191 
 
 RESPONSIBILITY OP THE TRAFFIC IN 
 SPIRITS. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM A TEMPERANCE ADDRESS. 
 
 BT H. BALLOU. 2s, D.D. 
 
 IT has long appeared to me, that some of the 
 essential elements in this question concerning 
 the traffic in spirits are not usually taken into 
 the account. I hope you will bear with a few 
 suggestions that I think important to right action 
 in the premises. 
 
 People in general seem to regard it as a per- 
 fectly simple question, so far, at least, as the 
 moral responsibilities of the business are con- 
 cerned. They say to themselves, "There, on 
 that hand, are those who are engaged in the 
 sale, together with those who advocate and de- 
 fend it ; and here, on this hand, are those who 
 oppose it : these two parties, and no more ; 
 wholly distinct from each other in the matter." 
 It is taken for granted that those of one party
 
 192 OUR DAT. 
 
 are the authors of all this mischief ; that they 
 obtruded it upon the public, and forced it into 
 circulation ; that they alone are responsible for 
 it ; and that they ought to be treated accord- 
 ingly, by being made to suffer all the penalty of 
 it, as other offenders against the public are made 
 to suffer. A very simple case, indeed ! Only 
 two sides to it: there, the guilty; here, the 
 innocent. 
 
 But, my friends, that is not the state of the 
 case. If you set out with that view of it, you 
 make your calculations on a false plan, and it 
 will lead you wrong. You will become entan- 
 gled before you get through, and perhaps fail, as 
 many have already found on trial. There are 
 some very material things in the case, which you 
 have left out ; and the sum will not work right 
 if you set it down so. 
 
 Look back, now, into the history of the matter, 
 and recollect how this traffic grew up to its 
 present formidable strength. It was the com- 
 munity that first called for the sale of spirits, and 
 for the taverns and stores where it is carried on ; 
 just as it called for blacksmiths' shops and car- 
 penters' shops, and other establishments for trade. 
 It was the people at large who did this. And 
 when they called, the tavern-keepers, and other 
 dealers in the article, came, and engaged in the
 
 TRAFFIC IN SPIRITS. 193 
 
 business, as the blacksmiths and carpenters came 
 and opened theirs ; all with the public approba- 
 tion ! Every new tavern and grog-shop in a 
 village was hailed as so much clear gain: be- 
 sides adding to the conveniences, it was supposed 
 to increase the business of the place, and help to 
 make it flourish. When people spoke of a town, 
 they used to rate its importance and eligibleness 
 by saying, So many taverns, so many meeting- 
 houses, so many grocery stores, meaning spirit 
 stores, &c. The traffickers were the servants of 
 the public will. In conformity to that, they 
 gave themselves up to their trade, invested their 
 all in it, embarked their energies, their lives, and 
 their families in it. New adventurers came in, 
 and trained themselves up for the business, to 
 the general joy. And so the enterprise went on, 
 till within a few years. 
 
 And now, because we have got our eyes open, 
 at length, to the terrible mistake we made, do 
 we expect that the numerous hosts which were 
 called into the field are to wheel about, at the 
 first tap of the drum, and march off? that they 
 are to bear all the penalty of our mutual blun- 
 der ? to sacrifice their property, business, and 
 arrangements for life, without any trouble, or 
 expense, or sacrifice, on our part ? I assure 
 you, my friends, this is not the way things ever
 
 194 OUR DAT. 
 
 work in God's righteous providence. "We our- 
 selves have sowed to the wind ; and we, too, 
 shall have to reap the whirlwind. We must be 
 content to endure the tempest, till, by strenuous 
 labor, pursued in humility and penitence, we 
 shall have secured a common shelter from its 
 further devastations. It is we who must do 
 away this evil, which we brought on. We must 
 work, and work hard, for it. We must be ready 
 to meet expense ; we must be ready to suffer, if 
 need be ; we must pay, in one way or another, 
 for the mistake we committed. We shall not be 
 let off short of this. 
 
 I say we, because we are part of the social 
 body, and inherit its liabilities as well as its 
 advantages. Besides, the most of us here have 
 been, in our day, personal actors in this wrong, 
 either by our example, or by our more direct 
 agency. 
 
 No ; the blame does not rest wholly on the 
 spirit-dealers. It lies quite as heavily on the 
 community at large. I do not say on every 
 individual ; for there may be some who always 
 protested against the evil ; and there are many 
 younger persons who never had any direct share 
 in it. But these are only the exceptions. The 
 truth, after all, is, that the people, as a body, 
 have entered into the patronage of this traffic to
 
 TRAFFIC IN SPIRITS. 195 
 
 a far greater extent than they are aware of. I 
 shall say nothing of the immense, almost univer- 
 sal, participation they have had, in the way of 
 buying and consuming. Pass by the maxim, 
 that the partaker is as bad as the thief. I will 
 only mention one fact ; which, however, covers 
 the whole ground, and shows that the people 
 have actually taken upon themselves the respon- 
 sibility and the guilt, to the utmost. They went 
 so far as to sanctify the sale, by solemn enact- 
 ments, as necessary "to the public good." I 
 may mistake in what I am about to say : My 
 impression is, that they have continued that 
 sanction on the statute-book, down to this day ; 
 though every soul of them knows it is one of the 
 most impudent, scandalous falsehoods that a 
 people ever uttered in legislation. They have 
 done more. They hesitated, indeed, to speak 
 out in plain words, right on the face of the stat- 
 ute-book, just how far they wished the traffic to 
 be carried. But they always took good care, 
 after the laws were made, to have them adminis- 
 tered in such a way as to answer their wishes 
 completely. For a long time they elected offi- 
 cers, who, generally speaking, would license as 
 many as applied, were they more or less, good, 
 bad, or indifferent ; and they kept those officers 
 in place, after it was seen and known how they
 
 196 OUR DAT. 
 
 managed. They -would have no other. They 
 contended for them at the caucus ; they con- 
 tended for them at the polls. They would have 
 it so. 
 
 Now, leaving wholly out of the account the 
 part the people have acted in purchasing, let us 
 put it to our conscience to say whether all the 
 blame lies on the venders. The community has 
 been accessory ; perhaps we ought to say, princi- 
 pal ! Remember this. Let the blame be shared 
 in just proportion among the several parties. 
 Do not charge it all on the dealers. They must, 
 indeed, take their share ; and a heavy one it is. 
 But if we try to lay the whole of it there, it will 
 not stay there. It is one of the terrible ordi- 
 nances of Divine Justice, that, when a people 
 have consented to folly, it is they who must 
 atone for it by suffering, and by long-continued 
 efforts to repair the harm they have done. In 
 the case now before us, the body-politic delib- 
 erately and wilfully took this malignant humor, 
 this erysipelas, into its own blood ; and the same 
 body-politic cannot now get rid of it simply by 
 being moderately sorry for it, and by putting 
 forth a few efforts at its leisure. It will have to 
 work it out by bitter medicines, and by a long 
 course of suffering. That, we shall find to be 
 God's law.
 
 TRAFFIC IN SPIRITS. 197 
 
 Perhaps some will ask, " But why do you go 
 into these considerations? We do not see the 
 use. It seems like pleading the cause of the 
 trafficker." No, my friends ; that is not the in- 
 tent. We do it for two reasons : First, to 
 render impartial justice, which, in every under- 
 taking, it is always important sacredly to regard ; 
 and, secondly, to take the only true ground to 
 bring ourselves into the right frame of mind for 
 working with success against this traffic. Shall 
 I mention three or four considerations that are 
 plainly suggested by the view we have taken ? 
 
 Considering how deep the evil lies, and how 
 generally we have participated in it, we must 
 not expect to succeed in suppressing it at one, 
 two, or three trials ; any more than a man with 
 a chronic disease ought to expect that one or 
 two doses of medicine will cure him. Repeat 
 the prescription, and still repeat it. These 
 failures are only a small part of the penalty 
 which the community is to pay for the share it 
 has taken in establishing and sustaining the 
 business. We shall probably fail many times 
 yet ; but patience and perseverance will do the 
 work at length. Again : We must not think to 
 carry the enterprise through, without much sacri- 
 fice on our own part. It is but the just due that 
 God will exact of us. It is mortifying to hear
 
 198 OUR DAT. 
 
 the complaints which some temperance people 
 themselves make against any measure that in- 
 terferes with their convenience or pecuniary 
 interest ; as if they supposed that they were, of 
 course, to be spared all trouble in the matter. 
 One says, "These prosecutions make a bill of 
 cost for the county. They increase our taxes. 
 My tax bill is several cents more, on that ac- 
 count. This will never do." Another says, 
 " This shutting-up of the regular sale obliges me 
 to pay more for the article, when needed for 
 medicine or bathing. I will not submit to this." 
 Another, " I have dealings, in the way of barter, 
 with yonder spirit store. Others, perhaps, ought 
 to withdraw their custom ; but I cannot be ex- 
 pected to do so, because it would take business 
 out of my hand, to the amount of several dollars 
 a year." It is not a little trying to one's pa- 
 tience to listen to such pleas. You would have 
 the rum-seller sacrifice the main part of his 
 business ; he can do that well enough. But 
 you, good temperance people, you will not bear 
 to be charged a quarter of a dollar on your tax 
 bill, nor fourpence on a bottle of alcohol, nor 
 give up a fraction of your barter trade, nor suf- 
 fer the least inconvenience, to bring about the 
 reform ! No ; God forbid ! These people be- 
 tray themselves. They show very clearly, that,
 
 TRAFFIC IN SPIRITS. 199 
 
 if they themselves were engaged in the trade, 
 they never would give it up so long as they 
 could make one cent by it. Again : We see 
 that personal denunciation against the dealers 
 themselves is as unbecoming as it certainly is 
 impolitic. Many of them were drawn into the 
 trade by the facilities and encouragement which 
 the community offered ; and the most of us have 
 partaken of the guilt. How few can cast the 
 first stone ! Remember, it is their business we 
 have to do with, not the men. Call them rum- 
 sellers ; that expresses the whole of the fact in 
 the case. Calling them by other hard names 
 only presupposes that their actual crime is not 
 bad enough. Finally, we see that, with all ten- 
 derness and sympathy for the persons engaged 
 in it, we must, nevertheless, put a stop to the 
 traffic, at all hazards, and at all expense, or we 
 are but adding to the guilt of our former delin- 
 quencies. Go to work with the consciousness 
 that we, that the public at large, are responsible 
 before God and man for this great evil; that, 
 generally speaking, we all are sinners together 
 in this matter; that we cannot throw off the 
 guilt, nor sign ourselves off from it, while the 
 curse remains ; but that, with God's help, we 
 will be sinners in this respect no longer; and' 
 that we will see this terrible fountain of ruin, 
 shut up.
 
 200 
 
 THE HUTCHINSONS. 
 
 BY REV. A. HIGHBORN. 
 
 IT was once remarked, by one deeply skilled 
 in the science of human nature, " Let me write 
 the songs of a people, and I care not who makes 
 their laws." The history of nations has fully 
 illustrated the truth implied in this saying; to 
 wit, that poetry and music are two of the most 
 powerful elements in forming the opinions and 
 governing the actions of man. A witty divine 
 was once asked why the Wisdom of Solomon 
 was left out of the canon of Scripture, while the 
 Songs of Solomon were retained. He replied, 
 that "men in all ages had preferred songs to 
 wisdom ; " the truth of which, we think, is ob- 
 vious. 
 
 Music operating, as it does, upon the pas- 
 sions and impulses of man's nature must ne- 
 cessarily control, in great measure, his volitions, 
 while under its influence. Its language, too, is 
 universal. Who has not, at some moment of
 
 THE HDTCHINSONS. 201 
 
 his life, bowed in submission to its power ? It 
 has its plaintive and voluptuous strains, by 
 which the lover softens the heart of his mistress, 
 and bends her cold and haughty spirit to his will. 
 It stirs up the mind of the soldier, and urges him 
 on to deeds of valor, steeling his soul against pity or 
 fear. Up the steep and icy track of the Alps, 
 undaunted by cold or death, he drags, with vi- 
 gorous arms, the heavy cannon ; marching to the 
 soul-inspiring strains of Napoleon's matchless 
 bands. It comes anon, like a ministering angel, 
 to the soul laden with grief and woe, and opens 
 to the vision the bright field of peace and beauty. 
 It swells the heart with 
 
 ' Thoughts that lie too deep for tears," 
 
 when the soul comes into the presence of its 
 Maker to worship ; it seems to lift us above the 
 world and all things pertaining thereto, save its 
 deep and holy affections ; and we enter the pres- 
 ence of the beautiful and the divine. It sheds a 
 holy calm around the bed of death, and throws 
 the gleam of immortality across the dark and 
 cheerless valley of dissolution. But why enu- 
 merate examples ? We know that there is more 
 in music than " our philosophy e'er dreamed 
 of;" and we hail with joy the fact, that the 
 13
 
 OUR DAT. 
 
 divine, spiritual element of the science is becom- 
 ing better understood and appreciated. 
 
 Every department of life has its peculiar 
 music ; each, in its turn, embodying the current 
 and ruling ideas and passions. The wildly- 
 fantastic melody of the sable inhabitant of the 
 rice and cotton fields of the South which he 
 makes at night, when the whip and the hoe are 
 laid aside, and he has gathered with his compan- 
 ions in some rude hut is as expressive of his 
 condition, and tells in far more eloquent and 
 truthful tones the depth of his moral and phy- 
 sical degradation, than when depicted in the 
 burning words of liberty's most faithful and 
 uncompromising champions. God speed the day, 
 when a more hopeful and rejoicing strain shall 
 blend with their wild harmony ! 
 
 The influence which music exerts, in moulding 
 the opinions of men, has not been overlooked 
 by the different classes of modern reformers. 
 The Washingtonians have sung, as well as 
 preached ; and it were bard to tell with which 
 weapon they have gained the most victories. 
 Their speeches may become stale, but their 
 songs never; and so long as the boys at their 
 play, and the girls at their needles, and the 
 mother at the cradle, and the father at his toil, 
 are humming and shouting the beautiful cold-
 
 THE HUTCHINSONS. 203 
 
 water melodies, the cause of temperance can 
 never retrograde. They have taken the place 
 of the bacchanalian odes, which in our boyhood 
 were as familiar as household words ; and which, 
 without doubt, were corrupting in their tendency 
 upon the youthful mind. The cause of human 
 freedom has much to hope from the same source ; 
 and in this department its friends have not been 
 idle. The songs of Garrison, and Pierpont, and 
 Longfellow, and many others who might be 
 named, are among the best lyric compositions of 
 our literature ; and freedom has much to hope for 
 from them. Men will sing, but not for slavery ; 
 the music of the native heart is called forth only 
 by freedom's strains ; and in her name may the 
 Muses ever be invoked. 
 
 Foremost among the sweet minstrels of our 
 day are the Hutchinson Family, the name we 
 have placed at the head of this article. They 
 are known and appreciated, not only in New 
 England, their native home, but in Old England, 
 the mother of us all. We need not speak of their 
 history : whoever has listened to their inimitable 
 " Old Granite State " (and who has not ?) under- 
 stands this already. They have done much to 
 awaken a love in our people for native music ; 
 and broken we trust for ever the foolish 
 taste for foreign importations of an inferior
 
 204 OUR DAT. 
 
 quality. Their chief merit, as artists, consists 
 in the purity of their tones, the fine-blended 
 harmony of their voices, and their naturalness ; 
 the entire absence of all affectation, and striving 
 after effect, which is the characteristic of foreign* 
 ers. They have thus come directly in contact 
 with the native heart, which never loses its loy- 
 alty to truth and virtue, nor its love for the 
 really pure and beautiful, pervert and distort it 
 as you may : the divine spark cannot be trodden 
 out by sensualism, for it is God's spirit. But the 
 chief glory of these charming singers is, they 
 have consecrated their divine gifts to the work of 
 reform. You will find them at the anti-slavery 
 meeting, stilling the mobocratic tendencies of 
 the " sovereigns" who cannot bear to be told 
 of the sins of their country by a chorus of 
 sweet sounds, which drives the spirit of sin out 
 from their hearts, and involuntarily leads them 
 to join in the stirring chorus of " Clear the 
 track for emancipation ! " The hearts of the 
 veterans are made glad, and inspired with new 
 zeal for the work before them. And when the 
 jarring elements of reform lose their equilibrium, 
 and a tempest is threatened where harmony and 
 unity are indispensable, like oil upon the troubled 
 waters has descended the sweet harmony of 
 their voices, and peace and order prevail. But
 
 THE HUTCHINSONS. 205 
 
 not to this department of reform alone have they 
 given their aid : theirs is a heart which beats for 
 universal humanity. You may find them in the 
 prison, striving to awaken the diviner elements 
 in the minds of those whose lives have been 
 darkened by crime, and whom society has cut off 
 from her sympathies. Many a rough and har- 
 dened criminal, who could face danger and death 
 with unflinching nerves, and whose nature seemed 
 steeled against sympathy, the fountains of its 
 goodness dried up, has been made to feel that 
 there was hope for him, and that virtue was 
 worth an effort, while listening to the strains of 
 these apostles of love ; and thus the lonely cell, 
 and the monotonous round of their lives, have 
 been cheered, as it were, by a visitation from 
 heaven. Like Elisha, they go long in remem- 
 brance thereof ; and, as they look back on the 
 days of their confinement, ever behold this 
 bright and happy spot. 
 
 God bless the noble Hutchinsons ! for indeed 
 are they ministers of peace, love, and freedom. 
 Methinks, too, there is a spirit of divine pro- 
 phecy in their songs. Who that has listened to 
 " There 's a good time coming," can doubt it ? 
 Humanity may well rejoice, as she looks forward 
 to her future triumphs. Not only have the pure 
 in heart gathered around her standard, and
 
 206 OUK DAT. 
 
 eloquence and poetry swelled the ranks of her 
 worshippers, but the spirit of music the divine 
 element of power to mould the human heart 
 has joined in her train. The tendencies of the 
 age are towards reform. Literature, the arts, 
 and music, are all sweeping on in this mighty 
 current. Hoary vice may hug its chains; but 
 the soul must and will be free. We need set no 
 bounds to our hope ; for the triumphs of love 
 and humanity are infinite. The spiritual ener- 
 gies of man are being developed as never before, 
 and the songs of the world are of virtue and 
 freedom. Yea, " there 's a good time coming ; " 
 and God grant that the noble minstrel-band, who 
 are hastening it onwards, may live to see and to 
 sing its triumphs !
 
 207 
 
 THE MOVING SPIRIT OF REFORM. 
 
 Joy shall be in heaven over one tinner t/tat 
 repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just 
 persons which need no repentance. Why ? 
 
 Because heavenly beings were never distressed 
 in their own state by sympathy with the suffering 
 of the ninety and nine just persons. But they 
 had borne the burden of the shiner's suffering, 
 in sympathy, through their kindred nature ; and 
 when his spirit by repentance had cast off that 
 burden, they, too, with him were relieved. 
 Therefore rejoiced they both with him, and in 
 the heaven of their own being, with double joy, 
 more than over the ninety and nine just, who 
 had no suffering in themselves, and caused none 
 by sympathy to the angels. The sinner repent- 
 ant set himself and the angels free together, and 
 so there was joy in heaven. Because of his sin, 
 heavenly spirits had been in suffering with him 
 through their love. The righteous had no such 
 burden to bear, and no such burden to lay upon
 
 208 OUR DAT. 
 
 them. Earth wrong will not leave heaven at 
 peace. Man, in sin and suffering, touches the 
 angels with sadness. Such and so universal is 
 the spiritual law of love. The spirits in heaven 
 do not escape suffering, while one being on earth 
 is in the woe of sin. The happiness of heaven 
 is not complete while in all the universe is one 
 wrong spirit. Heaven is not a place, but a 
 state. Hell is not a place, but a state. The 
 kingdom of heaven is within you. The kingdom 
 of hell is within us. There can be no hell but 
 what sin makes in the spirit. There can be no 
 complete heaven while there is hell in any spirit 
 in the universe, because of yearning love. On 
 the whole spiritual universe is laid the necessity 
 to root out sin from every heart, or it can never 
 itself be in the heaven of rest and peace. Eter- 
 nal sin, eternal suffering, is impossible in God's 
 universe, because of love. Love knows it to be 
 so. The spiritual universe must redeem the 
 sinner, that it may itself be whole. That neces- 
 sity is laid upon it. So alone comes its har- 
 mony, its unity. 
 
 The poor man's friend, the drunkard's friend, 
 the slave's friend, the prisoner's friend, the out- 
 cast's friend whatsoever name the outcast may 
 bear who are they ? why are they ? If they 
 be true, they are those in whom abides this kin-
 
 THE MOVING SPIRIT OF REFORM. 209 
 
 dred love, which lays upon their souls the an- 
 gelic necessity of suffering in others' suffering. 
 And this also is the reason why they are. Hu- 
 manity is strong in them ; the kindred tie holds 
 them to their suffering kind. They have no life 
 till they relieve the suffering. This is the end 
 for which they live their life itself. They 
 know that all are brethren ; that redemption is 
 not possible for one unless it be actual for all. 
 They are instinct with love ; pledged in the 
 necessity of their natures to the work of redeem- 
 ing humanity ; and rest not till their work be 
 done. They seem inordinate, because they are 
 gifted with the necessity of love beyond their 
 fellows. This burden of sympathy is laid upon 
 them ; the burden which the angels bear. They 
 may have the weakness of impatience, the in- 
 temperance of indignation. But these do not 
 move them to their work. Love moves them. 
 Whatsoever other weakness they may have, 
 their strength lies in this love ; this necessity in 
 their natures of doing the promptings of love. 
 
 They are not banded together for self, nor for 
 some, but for all. They are not called the 
 slave's friends, the prisoner's friends, the out- 
 cast's friends, except by a partial designation. 
 The name is convenient, but it does not tell the 
 whole ; for they are at the same time the friends
 
 210 OUR DAY. 
 
 of those who enslave the slave, the friends of 
 those who imprison the prisoner, the friends 
 of those who outcast the outcast. They know 
 that all the race are as one ; that they labor for 
 all, in the cause of all, when they labor to re- 
 move any evil. They who do a wrong are aided 
 when the wrong is removed, as well as they to 
 whom the wrong is done. To encounter wrong 
 is to help all, as well those who do, as those 
 who suffer, the wrong. Humanity is one. The 
 cause of humanity is one. 
 
 Strikingly, impressively, these reformers, in 
 this age, are, as a body, moral suasionists, non- 
 resistants, peace persons, anti-physical-force per- 
 sons, in the theory of the means to be used in 
 their work. However violent they may seem, 
 however violent they may be, in their involun- 
 tary temperament and constitution (the gift of 
 generation, and the inheritance of birth, in a 
 distempered time, the law in the members war- 
 ring against the law of the mind), they utterly 
 repudiate the principle of violence, in the depth 
 of their spiritual being, in the central free-will, 
 the source of all true motion, and affirm the law 
 of love. They affirm that violence is wrong, 
 though in the best cause; and that out of 
 wrong no right can come. They are content to 
 be themselves judged by this principle. No end
 
 THE MOVING SPIRIT OF REFORM. 211 
 
 can justify wrong means, even in the holiest 
 cause. No good end can come by wrong means, 
 even in the holiest cause. They know that if 
 they must transform themselves into soldiers, 
 that is, into man-killers, to establish even the 
 truths of religion and liberty, they have done it 
 by a falsehood to the loving nature, as great as, 
 perhaps greater than, the abuse they have so 
 sought to overcome. They know that wrong 
 can never establish right. They know that the 
 true soul must love even enemies, if it were only 
 to keep itself in love. They know that love your 
 enemies is the necessary condition of the state of 
 love in the heart, the joy of which state ceases 
 for any being the moment he ceases to love all 
 and begins to hate any. Hate is suicidal. It 
 must have slain love in our souls first, before it 
 could go out of us, and arm itself with the sword 
 to slay the enemy. He who would keep his 
 own inward state of peace cannot adventure to 
 make war upon any being. Thereby he loses 
 himself. 
 
 These reforming natures are called destruc- 
 tives, as showing an evil purpose violently to 
 destroy. They are not at all so. Destruction 
 is the consequence of their purpose, not their 
 purpose. Their purpose is creative, constructive. 
 Where stands the evil, they would build the good,
 
 212 OUR DAT. 
 
 when the evil is fallen down. They declare cer- 
 tain practices, in which men have embodied sel- 
 fish passions, and on which they have built selfish 
 interests, to be what they are, wrong, evil. All 
 evil practice, all evil institution, grows out of evil 
 in men's hearts. The truths they declare will 
 move men's hearts, will reform men's hearts, will 
 reestablish the good there, instead of the evil, 
 out of which the wrong practice has grown, and 
 it will then inevitably fall : for then its founda- 
 tion is gone ; the soil out of which it grew is 
 gone; it must then perish. This consequence 
 they who have passions and interests pledged in 
 the evil practice see beforehand, in the preach- 
 ing of the truth ; and so they cry out against the 
 preachers, as disturbers, as destructives. But 
 the truth, moving men's hearts, destroys the evil 
 institution, not the destructive intent, of the 
 preacher battering at its walls. Men are the pil- 
 lars of all human institutions ; and when they 
 come away from under them to hear and love 
 the preacher's truth, lo! the institutions are 
 fallen down, which they left without support, 
 and they proceed to set up the new. Some 
 southern man in Congress, speaking of the anti- 
 slavery agitation, said, it is not the interference 
 of the abolitionists with our property, which we 
 fear ; we can defend that against any direct as-
 
 THE MOVING SPIRIT OF REFORM. 213 
 
 sault from them. It is their work upon the 
 consciences of the South, which we fear. The 
 slaveholder saw the matter truly. The reform- 
 ers see it truly. All evil institutions grow out 
 of evil in the heart ; they know and are per- 
 suaded of it. It is in vain that the reformer 
 turns destructive, and overthrows, by any force, 
 the outward institution, before men's hearts are 
 prepared. It will grow up again as soon as it 
 is destroyed. All history's violent revolutions 
 turned backward demonstrate this, with the 
 finger of warning, as a stern and uncontradicta- 
 ble fact, to the hardest intellect, which has no 
 ears to hear love's voice continually whispering 
 the same truth, as the word of its simplest self- 
 evident inward revelation. When the evil prin- 
 ciple is gone out of the heart, the evil institution 
 will disappear out of society. Never effectually 
 and thoroughly till then. Get slavery out of the 
 heart, it will no longer appear in the institution. 
 Get prisons out of the heart, they will not ap- 
 pear on the earth. Get rum out of the heart, 
 the distilleries and bar-rooms will all go with it. 
 Pull down with violent destruction any institu- 
 tion, slavery, rummery, the gallows, prisons, 
 whatsoever other, and leave them in men's 
 hearts, and your labor is worse than lost. It 
 was all premature wrong end foremost they
 
 214 OUK DAT. 
 
 will be built up again to-morrow. Take away 
 their spiritual foundation in the soul of man, and 
 behold them all drop down of themselves, before 
 your eyes, some day, in broad noon, and dis- 
 appear, materially annihilated, as by miracle. 
 Then the ground is clear ; the new spirit will 
 draw on its materials for construction ; and when 
 you wake refreshed from sleep, next morning, 
 behold, the first rays of the sun greet new-created 
 institutions. 
 
 These reformers of the nineteenth century 
 have learned this lesson by outward history and 
 inward promptings. They are not destructives, 
 except negatively. They have the creative pur- 
 pose. This moves them. They love humanity. 
 They are the friends of universal man, universal 
 humanity. Humanity is one. They labor for 
 all, while they labor for any. And they never 
 doubt. They know that all good spirits that 
 THE Good Spirit is with them in their work.
 
 215 
 
 THE REFORMER AND THE REDEEMER. 
 
 THE REFORMER. 
 
 Lo, he comes! a man of might; 
 
 At the root of the tree of evil 
 He lavs his axe ; and on he goes 
 
 To meet the grim old DeviL 
 
 Three smooth stones within his sling, 
 
 On his nervous arm he bears : 
 The thought of Faith, the word of Truth, 
 
 The deed of Might His prayers, 
 
 Like eagles on their pinions strong, 
 
 To a God of Justice rise ; 
 And, through the wilderness of Wrong, 
 
 " Repent ! repent ! " he cries. 
 
 " For long enough the world hath borne 
 
 Her heavy weight of woe ; 
 Repent, and let your evil deeds 
 
 From all their strong-holds go ! "
 
 216 OUK DAY. 
 
 Beneath his heavy tread, the flowers 
 
 Oft unawares he crushes ; 
 The song of birds, within the groves, 
 
 His clear and strong voice hushes. 
 
 The little children know him not ; 
 
 His shaggy vestments fright them; 
 The piercing rays of his flashing eye 
 
 Oppress their hearts, and blight them. 
 
 On woman's still and waiting soul 
 His words, like hailstones, rattle ; 
 
 He rather as a warrior seems, 
 With his armor on for battle. 
 
 The earth may need him ; let him go, 
 And smooth her nigged places ; 
 
 And batter down her Babel towers, 
 And leave room in their spaces 
 
 For him whose shoes he may not loose, 
 Whose word he cannot speak. 
 
 Truth may be strong, but, shorn of Love, 
 Its utterance is weak. 
 
 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 Lo, the eastern sky is gleaming 
 
 With the coming light ! 
 In the west a still star beaming, 
 
 The last ray of night.
 
 THE REFORMER AND THE REDEEMER. 217 
 
 Like the spheral harmonies, 
 
 Softest angel-voices, 
 Through the silence, whisper peace, 
 
 And the earth rejoices. 
 
 Whence He cometh, none may know; 
 
 His voice we shall not hear; 
 But round the world the murmurs flow, 
 
 Repeating, " He is near ! " 
 
 In the deep furnace of his heart 
 
 The fires of love are glowing ; 
 They melt the chains ; and stony souls, 
 
 Like molten steel, are flowing 
 
 With tears of penitence ; and prayers 
 
 Go up, like winged seeds, 
 And rest upon the heavenly hills, 
 
 And spring in holy deeds. 
 
 The eye of childhood looketh up, 
 
 And in his smile rejoices ; 
 And woman's wounded soul is healed 
 
 With the music of glad voices. 
 
 No little flower shall bend its head 
 
 In the way where he may pass ; 
 The early dew he will not brush 
 
 From off the springing grass. 
 14
 
 218 OUR DAY. 
 
 age of noise ! to his beloved 
 
 He giveth Peace. 
 Will you not stop your crashing wheels, 
 
 Your thunders cease; 
 
 And, in the stillness of the night, 
 
 One hour watch ; 
 That ye may see the dawning light, 
 
 The music catch, 
 
 Which floweth from the heart of Love 
 
 Around the earth ? 
 For only from its mighty fount 
 
 The Truth hath birth. E.
 
 219 
 
 ONE IDEA. 
 
 BY REV. W. R. 0. MELLEN. 
 
 THERE has been, perhaps, no period in the 
 world's former history comparable to our own ; 
 no scenes like those in which we are participating. 
 Society is full of dissent and protest ; while all 
 sexes and conditions are agog for something novel 
 and eccentric. Human thought is busy. All great 
 questions are discussed with no little zeal and 
 avidity. Not a few seem to be contented, and 
 to be contented only in the midst of some excite- 
 ment. Old institutions and customs are assailed 
 with but little reverence, not to say audacity; 
 while new movements are projected almost every 
 day, labelled " Reform," and foisted upon the 
 community ; many of which having, like the pro- 
 phet's gourd, grown up in a day, have drooped 
 and died in a night. 
 
 But while one class is engaged in these new 
 measures, by which the world is to be converted 
 and saved instanter, another with knees smit-
 
 220 OUR DAY. 
 
 ing together like Belshazzar's is clinging to 
 the old, dust-covered, and mouldering altars of 
 the Past. The latter party is horror-struck at 
 the innovations which are going on around it. 
 It sees nothing more plainly foretold by the 
 signs of the times, than the fact, that society is 
 outgrowing its old garments, and refusing to 
 tarry longer in the old temples, where its devo- 
 tions have formerly been paid. And, as sounds 
 of progress which come to us from lofty hill- 
 tops, and from deep valleys through which long 
 hosts are sweeping fall upon the ear, it hears 
 nothing but tokens of alarm in those very sounds 
 which, to others, are so pregnant with hope. 
 Thus the cause of God and man goes forward. 
 Retrogression is no longer a possibility. 
 
 But there is an objection to both the conserv- 
 ative and reformatory parties, which seems not 
 to have been developed to the extent it should 
 be. Not, perhaps, that it is essential to either, 
 as a party ; but still one which may be alleged, 
 to a greater or less extent, against both ; though, 
 doubtless, many in the ranks of each are void 
 of offence in this particular. 
 
 The objection to which I refer is this : Men 
 who engage heart and hand in these causes are 
 liable soon to take a narrow view of the world 
 as it is; to suppose that they have been so
 
 ONE IDEA. 221 
 
 V 
 
 blessed as to gather the whole truth ; and, there- 
 fore, not a pearl is left for any other seeker 
 thereof: in short, they are liable to become men 
 of ONE IDEA. They bestride a favorite hobby, 
 and spur its sides till it threatens to drop dead 
 beneath them. They are, for instance, deeply 
 interested in some topic of reform. They look 
 upon the old and hoary evils under which society 
 is groaning and staggering like the drunken 
 man, and their hearts are fired with a laudable 
 zeal to remove them. Apparently, they forget 
 that there is any other evil in the world. They 
 revolve this within their minds ; it is the subject 
 of their thoughts when awake, and of their 
 dreams when asleep ; and, could their projects 
 be carried into operation, this old, bloody world 
 would soon become like the Eden of ancient, or 
 the El Dorado of modern days. As quack 
 physicians, who have invented some nostrum 
 which the journals of the day assure us is to 
 cure all diseases, and almost, if not quite, pre- 
 vent men from becoming a prey to the grim 
 tyrant Death ; so these moral and social practi- 
 tioners imagine they have discovered the grand 
 infallible panacea for life's ills, by which all may 
 be brought back from their wanderings, and the 
 world purged of its iniquities. Propose to them 
 any other subject for consideration ; and, though
 
 222 OUR DAT. 
 
 x 
 
 of the greatest magnitude, yet you find them as 
 cold and dead with reference to it, as they deem 
 the world to be with regard to their own idea ; 
 for which coldness not a few unseemly epithets 
 are bestowed. 
 
 This is the case, not only in the moral world, 
 with the moral reformer, but it is thus in the 
 religious world. Men often talk as though there 
 were but one truth, but one fact, in the universe ; 
 and that God, in his marvellous goodness, had 
 made them the apostles of that. The different 
 religious sects in Christendom seem to be edu- 
 cating men thus to utter one note without 
 variance, and to say Amen to One Idea. They 
 are all somewhat in fault in this respect. Take a 
 few illustrations. 
 
 The all-essential of one sect is the " Church." 
 Beyond, and separate from this, there is little 
 worthy of consideration. He who is not within 
 its pale is, to say the least, a heretic and schis- 
 matic. With this sect the whole of truth may 
 be, ay, is, embraced in thirty-nine articles ; 
 while he who subscribes to them virtually de- 
 clares, that the world has made no advances in 
 light and knowledge for the last two centuries ; 
 and unless the church should make some pro- 
 gress, he will not, so long as he remains a 
 member thereof. Bound thus with worse than
 
 OXE IDEA. 223 
 
 iron fetters, need we marvel that men's minds 
 become contracted, narrowed down to a very 
 exclusive and illiberal view of the things and 
 circumstances by which they are surrounded ? 
 
 Another sect has made the idea of Divine Jus- 
 tice its all-essential. It is this, and the awful 
 doom which they imagine it will inflict on the 
 unregenerate in theTuture, which form the turn- 
 ing point of its discourses, its exhortations, and 
 its prayers. Speak to the members of this sect 
 of the love of God; that it is higher than 
 heaven, deeper than hell, broader than the uni- 
 verse ; and the reply is, " We know all that ; 
 but God is just And, unless we comply here 
 and now with the terms on which salvation is 
 proffered, we cannot hereafter." Having gazed 
 upon this attribute of the Deity through a dis- 
 torted medium, and having supposed that it 
 would bear unlimited sway in the councils of the 
 Eternal, they have besought sinners, not "by 
 the mercies of God," but by the terrors of men, 
 
 which have been misnamed the Justice of God, 
 
 to consecrate themselves to his service. And 
 as a result of thus looking at only one aspect of 
 the Divine Mind, may be named the coldness 
 and servility of our forms of worship ; concern- 
 ing which not a few devout and loving hearts 
 have so often complained. Many also have
 
 OUR DAT. 
 
 thereby obtained a morbid idea of justice, -which 
 is as far from the true one as God's thoughts and 
 ways are above the intentions and devices of our 
 own hearts. 
 
 Now the truth is, the justice of the Almighty 
 is if I may so speak, and I would use the 
 comparison reverently but one accordant string 
 in the great harp of the universe. An import- 
 ant one, I know ; but poor music could be made, 
 were it not for this ; and yet, when continually 
 touched by the finger of the player, be he never 
 so skilful, that which would be melody in its 
 appropriate place is changed to doleful sounds 
 and dismal groans. 
 
 Again ; another sect makes the Unity of God 
 its idea. So much is this the case, that, by 
 common consent, it would seem to have become 
 its peculiar property, notwithstanding it is held 
 by others in common with it. The denomination 
 to which I refer has derived its name from the 
 fore-mentioned idea ; and it is the centre around 
 which it turns. To the followers of this sect, 
 there are few things more inconsistent, or fla- 
 grantly absurd, than that which represents God 
 under the character of a triune being. It has 
 delighted in controverting and exposing the ar- 
 guments by which this has been supported. But 
 society has become weary of so profitless a
 
 ONE IDEA. 225 
 
 discussion. It is asking of this, as it has asked, 
 or will ask, of every unsettled question, " Cui 
 bono ? " " What good " will the race gain 
 from its decision ? It is beginning to feel 
 it of far greater importance to ascertain the 
 moral character of God, and the destiny which 
 the race may anticipate. Bat God be thanked 
 that this sect, which wields so mighty an influ- 
 ence among us, and which may yet wield so 
 much more, is beginning to heed the voice of 
 sick humanity, which is praying for something 
 tangible on which it may lean for support as it 
 goes down the hill of life. The human heart 
 demands something definite, to which it may as- 
 pire in the solemn hour of death. Men are crying 
 out to be fed with the bread of life, and not with 
 the husks of finely-woven speculations. They 
 are asking for water, not for a golden goblet, in 
 which nothing to quench their thirst can be 
 found. 
 
 But there is one other sect to which I wish to 
 refer, that has been, to no small extent, in bond- 
 age to One Idea. Its idea is the ultimate salva- 
 tion of every soul from sin and sorrow. Upon 
 this has it dwelt and harped, to the exclusion of 
 almost every thing else ; and thus has begotten, 
 in many minds, the impression, that men were to 
 be saved somewhere, and by some means, they
 
 226 OUR DAY. 
 
 know not, and care but little how. When this 
 has been proved, beyond the shadow of a doubt, 
 for one hundred and four times in the year, they 
 are satisfied. And when the work has once 
 been done, when every stone has been taken 
 from the traveller's pathway, they desire that 
 the same work should again be attempted, that 
 the path should be strewn with worse rubbish 
 than before, and the preacher again commence 
 and clear it away. 
 
 But is there only one idea revealed in the 
 gospel of Jesus ? Are we to sound but one note 
 in the grand anthem which creation is chanting 
 to the Creator, and attempt no other for fear of a 
 discord? But there are many nominal Chris- 
 tians, whose whole minds, so far as the subject of 
 religion is concerned, are centered in this. Their 
 cries and clamors for it are unceasing. Like the 
 poet's cottager, they are telling this o'er and o'er, 
 
 " From morn till night, from youth till hoary age." 
 
 Now the greatest cause of complaint is, not 
 that they have not already learned, but that they 
 are unwilling to learn, that salvation, either here 
 or hereafter, can never be experienced without 
 " repentance toward God, and faith in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ." They have not, as yet, acquainted 
 themselves with that primal truth which declares
 
 OXE IDEA. 227 
 
 that we can enter heaven only through him who 
 is the Door ; and that as are our affections and 
 our character, so will be our happiness, wherever 
 we may be. 
 
 Thus it will be seen, that the different sects 
 are partisans of some one idea. Of this I would 
 not so much complain, were it not for the fact, 
 that the various members of each are extremely 
 liable to suppose, that themselves have gathered 
 the whole truth within the compass of a few 
 sentences. The natural result of such a state of 
 feeling is that narrow-souled and iron-hearted 
 bigotry which induces not a few to look upon 
 those whose creeds have not been clipped to 
 square with their own, and who pronounce not 
 shibboleth like themselves, as aliens from the 
 commonwealth of Israel. 
 
 Come, my brother, who art thus a slave of 
 one idea, come with me out among the works of 
 Nature. You will not find your own narrow- 
 ness of thought answered here. In every thing 
 you behold variety, and yet unity. You look 
 upon the same object, and at different times it 
 greets you with appearances as dissimilar as are 
 the phases of the moon. Still it is ever the 
 same. Examine the most trite objects around 
 you : the atmosphere, for instance. You do not 
 find it all oxygen, nor all nitrogen ; neither is it
 
 228 OUR DAT. 
 
 composed of these two exclusively, but contains 
 also variable portions of carbonic acid gas and 
 aqueous vapor. And yet thou wouldst be glad 
 to have the religious atmosphere, which the soul 
 must breathe, consist of one ingredient only. 
 Thou wouldst have that in precise accordance 
 with thine own idea of what an atmosphere 
 should be. But has it never occurred to thee, 
 that such an air would be as destructive to spir- 
 itual life, as one composed of either the above- 
 named gases would be to animal being ? Be 
 cautious, then, or thou mayest poison many 
 souls. 
 
 Again ; what is this mysterious something 
 which greets us every morning, and retires from 
 us at every night, which sprang into being 
 when God said, "Let there be light"? Wilt 
 thou analyze it, and tell me its composition 
 whether it be substance or not? Apply the 
 prism to that ray which enters your eye at this 
 moment. That which, an instant since, appeared 
 colorless and destitute of all beauty, is now one 
 of the most splendid objects you have ever seen. 
 That which you thought had no color is com- 
 posed of no less than seven colors ; all that 
 glitter on the pavilion of the sun, as he retires 
 from our view at nightfall. Let these different 
 rays fall upon the same object, and how different
 
 ONE IDEA. 229 
 
 is the appearance which it presents ! We hardly 
 recognize it as the same. 
 
 This may illustrate the reason, why men 
 behold the subjects of religion and of human 
 duty in various lights. One has reflected, by his 
 theological prism, a ray of light. But one of 
 the colors has been painted on the retina of his 
 eye. He has not paused to ascertain whether 
 he has comprehended the whole object from his 
 point of observation ; but, taking this for granted, 
 his voice is soon hoarse, and his lungs exhausted, 
 with his vociferations to induce others to join 
 him, and gaze through precisely the same me- 
 dium that he has done. The epithets bestowed 
 upon those who decline, are by no means of the 
 gentlest character. The blue ray enters the eye 
 of one ; and he vainly imagines that every thing 
 " in the heavens above, in the earth beneath, and 
 in the waters under the earth," is blue. To an- 
 other, for the same reason, every thing is violet ; 
 to a third, red ; and so on to the end of the cata- 
 logue. 
 
 Now the fact is, that all things are tinged 
 with neither ray. Join them all together, and a 
 far different appearance, which is the true one r 
 is presented. Is it not thus with the different 
 religious sects ? The main idea from which 
 they start may be, and doubtless is, a correct
 
 230 OL T R DAY. 
 
 one. It is one ray of light. The visions which 
 many have seen, by means thereof, are not only 
 selfish and narrow, but truly monstrous and 
 absurd. And, for one, I want no more conclu- 
 sive evidence of the arrogance and bigotry of 
 any sect or man, than is furnished by a disposi- 
 tion thus to exalt its or his idea above every 
 thing else, as though there were no other thought 
 in the universe. 
 
 This spirit may be seen not only in the reli- 
 gious world, but also among the various reform- 
 atory movements of the age. We enter the 
 Temperance meeting. We find a band of warm- 
 hearted, noble-souled men, toiling, to the best of 
 their ability, in a cause which God approves, 
 and man has had reason to bless. I sympathize 
 with them, in the exertions they are making. I 
 bid them God-speed, in their efforts against the 
 monstrous wrong with which they are contend- 
 ing. I suffer nothing to divorce my heart from 
 them, and the noble enterprise whose champions 
 they are. 
 
 Still I have no expectation that the temper- 
 ance reform, even if triumphant, will make the 
 world a paradise. I have no expectation that 
 the adamantine heart of yonder cool and calcu- 
 lating villain will be softened thereby. I have 
 no expectation that it will make this man or
 
 ONE IDEA. 231 
 
 that less disposed to deprive the widow of her 
 pittance, and the orphan of its inheritance. I do 
 not suppose that it will elevate man to a true 
 sense of the great brotherhood of humanity ; and 
 therefore it is that I cannot subscribe to that 
 lofty panegyric which some of its evangelists 
 have bestowed upon it. The idea of it is truly 
 noble and grand ; but does it contain all of truth 
 and reform which the world needs ? 
 
 "We visit the Anti-slavery meeting. We listen 
 to the remarks which are made on the unity of 
 the race, that, before God, we are all one ; 
 and hence one member has no right, either innate 
 or delegated, to tyrannize over or oppress an- 
 other. We listen to the heart-stirring appeals 
 made to the dignity of human nature ; that 
 every thing good is mocked and insulted by the 
 chains and fetters which our sable brothers and 
 sisters are dragging about with them to their 
 daily drudgery ; and our souls are moved within 
 us. But I cannot join in that indiscriminate 
 denunciation which some have thought proper to 
 use against those who, for a moment, under any 
 circumstances, hold slaves in their possession. I 
 abhor the system, I trust, as much as any other 
 man. I regard it as the greatest curse that has 
 ever visited our land. I have no wish to cloak its 
 iniquities; but would rejoice, were it in my
 
 OUR DAT. 
 
 power, to tear away the veil which time-serving 
 priests and cunning politicians have thrown over 
 it I would exhibit to you, reader, the rice- 
 fields wet with your brother's tears, and the 
 cotton crimsoned with your brother's blood. I 
 would show you the braided whips, and the backs 
 flayed alive. I would show you the implements 
 of torture, the racks and thumb-screws of this 
 infernal system ; and so stir your very life-blood 
 to do something for your fellow-men, thus cast out 
 and trodden under foot. 
 
 But while I would do all this, I would not 
 forget another thing, that the slaveholder is 
 equally a brother of the human family. I would 
 remember, that he has been educated under 
 different circumstances from what I have. / do 
 not, nor does any one, know what would have 
 been his peculiarities, if educated in a slave- 
 holding country, and imbibing its atmosphere. 
 Thinkest thou, brother, that, under such circum- 
 stances, thou wouldst have known thy present 
 self ? Why, then, judgest thou so harshly thy 
 fellow-men ? That they are in great error and 
 sin, God knoweth. Hesitate not to say this; 
 how great, he alone can tell. And when I hear 
 all denounced, whose creed does not correspond 
 with your own, even by the line and plummet, 
 as worse than slaveholders; when I hear the
 
 OKE IDEA. 233 
 
 churches throughout the land stigmatized as 
 worse than any brothel in the city, I am con- 
 strained to think, that he who thus asserts is a 
 man of but One Idea. Is there no other sin in 
 the world, than the sin of slavery ? Is there no 
 other cause worthy a moment's consideration, 
 than its abolition ? "We should be guarded 
 against this exclusive One-idealism ; which, hav- 
 ing eyes, yet sees no good in the creed and 
 worship of him who bends at a different shrine 
 from ourselves. Christianity is not quite so 
 narrow a system as that. The lofty and varied 
 character and bearing of the truths connected 
 with it, can no more be fathomed or exhausted 
 than God himself. New glories, and more di- 
 vine, are bursting upon us at every step. New 
 truths, to the feeble conception of which we 
 have hardly arisen, are greeting us with over- 
 powering splendor on every hand. 
 
 But the man of One Idea is profaning the 
 temple of God, thus to make it echo but one 
 sound. He is like the band of musicians in the ser- 
 vice of the emperor of Russia ; each one of whom 
 is suffered to sound but one note, that he may 
 acquire the greater skill and perfection at that.* 
 But the human soul should not stand for a unit 
 in the creation, but for the universe ; reflecting, 
 
 * See Mrs. Child's Letters, first series, p. 187. 
 15
 
 234 OUR DAY. 
 
 from its own hidden depths, the images of all 
 things good and true. I would hope that this 
 willingness to see and receive truth from all 
 sources, is becoming more prevalent; that our 
 sympathies are growing less sectarian, and more 
 universal ; our minds less narrow and exclusive, 
 and more generous and expansive. I would 
 hope that, in whatever party or rank we may 
 stand, we are becoming more desirous of gather- 
 ing in the pearls of wisdom and truth, than of 
 advancing a party. We need far more of this 
 spirit, for the world's redemption. "We need to 
 banish all technicalities of time and circumstance 
 between our souls and truth, and between us 
 and our brother's soul. We should let no mean 
 prejudice, no paltry apprehension, mar the full 
 and free enjoyment of whatever is soul-reviving 
 in our brother's word, or heart-quickening in 
 his thought.* Who has the monopoly of truth ? 
 And yet we should be pledged to nothing Jmt 
 this. Do sweet and healing waters bubble up 
 at only one fountain ? Are there not others 
 which send them forth, to fertilize many a rood 
 of arid soil, and gladden many a lonely heart ? 
 Possibly these may be better than those we are 
 now quaffing. 
 
 Go forth, then, reader, to your task on the 
 
 * Hedge's Oration before the Pencinian Society of Bowdoin College.
 
 ONE IDEA. 235 
 
 great arena of life ; but go with a free and a lov- 
 ing heart. Go, pledged to no creed but truth ; 
 adhering to nothing, and loving nothing, but 
 right. Go to work for the race ; but be not so 
 vain as to imagine that you have plucked every 
 flower that springs by the true disciple's path- 
 way; be not so arrogant as to think that you 
 have secured the ideas by which the worlds were 
 made, and by which all are to be re-created. 
 God has other children beside yourself. They 
 have another mission ; which you may not, which 
 you, possibly, could not perform. It is for Paul 
 to plant, Apollos to water, and all to labor in 
 hope and love. Thus toiling, heaven's choicest 
 benedictions shall descend upon you, as the rain 
 upon the mown grass. And your present One 
 Idea shall be lost, as you go onward in light, till 
 over your soul shall spread the sheltering wings 
 of the cherubim and seraphim of Jehovah.
 
 236 
 
 PATRIOTISM. 
 
 BY REV. T. 8. KIKG. 
 
 THE sentiment of patriotism is, of course, a 
 legitimate sentiment. It is perhaps a native 
 principle of the human constitution. We were 
 wisely constructed with local sympathies and at- 
 tractions, the action of which holds society to- 
 gether into some order and harmony. The 
 moral structure of the world presents a plan 
 very similar to the mechanism of the heavens : 
 men are bound together into private and selfish 
 systems ; and these again into constellations ; 
 and these into firmaments ; and all held and 
 swayed by the central force, active in each atom, 
 and omnipotent over all. Of all the sentiments 
 which are less pure than of Samaritan brotherly 
 love, undoubtedly patriotism is the purest and 
 the best. But, in the common definition of it, is 
 it an ultimate sentiment, from the blind dictates 
 of which there can be no appeal ? Is it binding, 
 is it lawful, to the extent our country, right
 
 PATRIOTISM. 237 
 
 or wrong ? Ask a man, in his cool, calm mo- 
 ments, if he is amenable to the law of abstract 
 right, if that law has an imperious despotic claim 
 for his obedience, and he will answer, Yes. Ask 
 him, in seasons of exciting national controversy, 
 if he will support his government in a wrong, 
 and he will plead against you the duties of citi- 
 zenship and patriotism, which urge him to defend 
 his " country, right or wrong." The conflict of 
 moral perceptions implied in the prevalent and 
 popular notions of patriotism, results, in a great 
 measure, we think, from a confusion of figures 
 and metaphors which are commonly used to ex- 
 press the obligations included in it. The nature 
 of true patriotism is distorted, or is not dis- 
 tinctly seen, through the mists of poetic imagery 
 in which it has been enveloped. In popular 
 literature, and in the national heart, the senti- 
 ment stands on the same level, and is illustrated 
 by analogous ties, with filial attachment and 
 obligations. The imagination has clothed the 
 abstraction of our country with female attributes. 
 Our native land is termed our common mother ; 
 and in every emergency we are thought to be as 
 strongly bound to a blind defence of her, as of 
 our own natural mother or families. It is un- 
 pleasant to disturb the sweet illusions of poetry ; 
 but, hi seeking for exact truth, we are often com-
 
 238 OUR DAT. 
 
 pelled to dissect the beauty of many a fanciful 
 image, until the life escapes. Undoubtedly, to 
 the length of repelling a direct invasion, of re- 
 sisting the immediate violence of a hostile army, 
 advancing upon our homes, and threatening 
 property and life, patriotism lays a duty upon 
 every man, however wicked the cause in which 
 our country be engaged. But we must also con- 
 sider that patriotism here receives great addi- 
 tional force from, and perhaps merges itself in, 
 the principle of self-defence, and of interest for 
 the welfare of our immediate neighbors. The 
 duty does not spring so much, at such times, 
 from affection for our abstract common mother, 
 as from more substantial regard for our real 
 relatives and personal friends. Setting this duty 
 aside, then, as not purely referable to the claims 
 of patriotism alone, we maintain that, beyond this 
 limit, patriotism is subordinate to law of right. 
 If, in the common dealings and public relations 
 between our own and foreign governments, we 
 conscientiously believe that our own rulers have 
 committed a wrong, we have no right blindly to 
 espouse the cause of our own people, under the 
 plea of obligatory patriotism ; and if then we 
 talk of our common parent, and of our filial 
 duties to her, we confuse images as well as prin- 
 ciples. In all negotiations, and in every relation
 
 PATRIOTISM. 239 
 
 of international business, our government * is 
 merely a representative board, and we are joint 
 partners in an extensive house ; being no more 
 absolved from the imperative duty to resist in- 
 justice, because we have committed it, than a 
 private merchant has a right to be party to 
 a fraud which a majority of his firm are bent on 
 perpetrating. The doctrine of ultra and blind 
 allegiance to our own administration, hi such a 
 time, looks absurd. It might, with exactly the 
 same propriety, be applied to common relations 
 in more limited spheres. How would it do for a 
 railroad stockholder to announce the principle in 
 cases of clashing business interest, or legal claims, 
 My railroad company, right or wrong ? or for a 
 bank director to contend for the same theory of 
 morals ? or for a citizen to declare for his state or 
 his county, in every emergency, right or wrong ? 
 Stripped of a false poetic glare, examined in the 
 cold, dry light of justice, the doctrine will not 
 abide the test. Translate it into common speech, 
 and apply it to minuter relations, and it looks 
 ridiculous. 
 
 Not that in these remarks we wish to commit 
 the blunder or the folly of denying the existence 
 of a legitimate patriotism. We believe that it 
 does exist ; and that, truly interpreted, it covers 
 even all the poetic ground, and justifies all the
 
 240 OUR DAY. 
 
 rich enthusiasm which it has awakened. But 
 the same patriotism is always associated with 
 our native land, not in its usual commercial and 
 business attitude, and its common intercourse 
 with other nations, but with our native land as 
 the seat and theatre of peculiar and sacred insti- 
 tutions, and as the representative of a theory of 
 government and rights which we would defend 
 before the world. Our country, in this sense 
 its broadest, abstract sense is very different 
 from any administration of the government of 
 that country. The banner and the common 
 centre of the true patriot's affections, in this 
 view, cannot be the acts of his rulers, but the 
 constitution of his land and the true spirit of its 
 laws. And so far from being held by this pa- 
 triotism to defend every measure of the ruling 
 power of his land, even in their foreign and 
 international relations, he may often be com- 
 pelled to disavow them, and withhold all support, 
 on the very ground that they do not represent 
 his " country ; " that they violate its spirit, and 
 all that makes it hallowed and dear ; and his 
 opposition will then be the truest patriotism, 
 because it is the effort to bring back the attitude 
 of the administration to the spirit of his country. 
 It is not always distinctly seen that there is a 
 radical difference between the patriotism of the
 
 PATRIOTISM. 241 
 
 revolution, and even of the last war, which con- 
 tended for the country against hostile ideas and 
 foreign aggression, and the unprincipled subser- 
 viency and convenient laxity of morals, too often, 
 in our time, synonymous with patriotism, which 
 goes for all the acts of the dominant party, right 
 or wrong. 
 
 It is always well to know the extent and the 
 limits of the legitimate application of principles 
 which must influence our common life. I do not 
 believe that duty and right are so flexible and 
 pliant, that, in the light of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury, their authority can be properly and uncere- 
 moniously shaken off at the bidding of a con- 
 fused poetic feeling. The tendency of morals is 
 to see more clearly that Caesar is subservient 
 to God. And furthermore, I believe that much 
 of the rhetoric by which the appeal of this 
 rampant and boyish patriotism is now enforced, 
 comes down to us from classical antiquity; a 
 rhetoric which was once the proper expression 
 of natural feelings, but which, from the politi- 
 cal condition and circumstances of our land, is 
 out of place, and therefore degenerates into 
 something very like bombast and melo-dra- 
 matic rant. The fountain of this patriotic in- 
 spiration of our times is mostly in Grecian 
 and Roman antiquity; and most of its models
 
 242 OUR DAY. 
 
 are still selected by our eloquent politicians from 
 their heroes and warriors. The staple allusions 
 of most of our eloquent patriotic speeches are, 
 as every school-boy knows, the career of The- 
 mistocles, the public virtue of Aristides, or the 
 bravery of Leonidas, and the marvellous hero- 
 ism of Thermopylae, and the devotion of Epami- 
 nondas, and the integrity of Cincinnatus, and the 
 sternness of Brutus, &c., all drawn from the his- 
 toric remains of Grecian and Roman life. But 
 patriotism of such kind was admirably fitted 
 for small states, and cases of perpetual war, 
 and for such circumstances alone. A Boeotian, 
 or an Argive, or a Spartan, or an early Roman, 
 in the infant days of the republic, could well be 
 patriotic : he could stretch out his arms, and 
 touch the boundaries of his country. Every 
 interest of personal safety was connected with 
 the existence of his little land. He must stand 
 in perpetual armor. International law and the 
 common moral sense of nations were entirely 
 unknown. Patriotism was hardly more than 
 family interest, a regard for his mother and 
 father, his relations by marriage, and all his 
 cousins. It was a principle of self-defence, ne- 
 cessary for the protection of his person and his 
 rights. It justified a gaudy and passionate 
 rhetoric : there was something in it more than
 
 PATRIOTISM. 243 
 
 abstract or mere poetic beauty to it. But such a 
 patriotism is really somewhat silly now. The 
 language of this rampant love of country, if we 
 analyze it, borders closely on the ludicrous. It 
 starts our risible muscles to see a man trying to 
 embrace a whole continent in his patriotic arms. 
 Extent of territory, degrees of latitude and lon- 
 gitude, embarrass it in modern times. The old 
 spirit cannot live in our circumstances. It has 
 geographical limits, if it has not moral limits. 
 Complexity of interests, too, disturb the ease of 
 its operation. Massachusetts is full large enough 
 for a man to be patriotic in, after the Greek and 
 Roman standard. But what shall we say when 
 you throw in Kentucky and Arkansas, South 
 Carolina and Mississippi ? It becomes, then, 
 like loading a boy's arms with apples : he can 
 carry only so many, and will drop one for every 
 additional one you give him beyond his power. 
 I once heard a celebrated lecturer of our time 
 speaking of a thirst for knowledge remark : 
 " We wake in the morning with an appetite that 
 can take in the solar system like a cake. We 
 stretch out our hands to grasp the morning star, 
 or wrestle with Orion." However this may be 
 with our love of truth, patriotism, in the lower 
 acceptation of the term, has not a digestive sys- 
 tem strong enough. If you make it stand for
 
 244 OUR DAY. 
 
 something lower than eternal principles, it will 
 not cover now twenty-eight States of the Ameri- 
 can Union. 
 
 Go into any of the political parties of the 
 time, and you will find that with each of them, 
 whig, democratic, or abolitionist, there is some 
 member of our confederacy, some Texas, or 
 South Carolina, or Rhode Island, over which 
 their personal sympathies will not spread, and 
 which the charm of patriotism cannot render 
 palatable. It is because there is some conflict 
 in principle between the ideas represented by 
 those states, and the views of the party which 
 feels and expresses the distaste. And this fact 
 confirms the position I have taken, that mod- 
 ern patriotism should stand on principle, and 
 that there is a conservative element in size 
 which makes classic patriotism impossible and 
 absurd. Let us be thankful for this fact. 
 Let us rejoice that Providence works a ho- 
 moeopathic cure, the law of similars, and by 
 every addition of territory makes a false patriot- 
 ism defeat itself. In trying to extend it over 
 such a vast field of conflicting interests and dif- 
 ferent ideas, it becomes attenuated, it breaks, 
 and condenses again into the law of duty. We 
 are safe there, and only there. We are not 
 embarrassed by any limits, when we are gov-
 
 PATRIOTISM. 245 
 
 erned by the love of right. Boundaries do not 
 disturb us, when the love of our neighbor is the 
 guiding law. In great emergencies, it is suffi- 
 cient to talk the flowery and sectional language 
 of a selfish patriotism ; but Christianity is the 
 present chart of the world, and its imperative 
 love is obedience to right ; its central principle, 
 an expansive charity to a universe of brethren. 
 Csesar may claim our taxes, but God and duty 
 must claim our hearts. And while a genuine 
 Christian principle does not forbid, but encour- 
 ages and impels us, to cherish and defend our 
 country, however broad, in every peril when 
 the cause is just, let us remember that the great 
 promise of Christianity is the reign of that pe 
 riod God speed its coming ! when this paltry 
 eloquence shall be unknown ; when neither the 
 Atlantic nor the Pacific, the Arctic nor the In- 
 dian Seas, nor degrees of latitude, nor tempera- 
 ture of zone, nor race, nor color, nor creed, nor 
 any narrow interest, nor conventional tie, shall 
 break the full flow of that magnetic sympathy, 
 and fellowship, and love, which should unite the 
 hearts of brethren bound by one blood, children 
 of a universal Parent, heirs of a common im- 
 mortality.
 
 246 
 
 OUR COUNTRY, RIGHT OR WRONG. 
 
 LONG and loudly do we hear, at times, this 
 outcry. Particularly clamorous have many voices 
 been with it, during our strife with Mexico. 
 Much ink has been shed on paper devoted to 
 patriotism, in proof that, whether saintism or 
 satanism shall take the lead in its affairs, right 
 or wrong, we must hold our tongues, and go for 
 our country with the majority. It is not our 
 business, in this article, to enter upon any argu- 
 ment, the one side or the other ; but simply to 
 register sentiments which others have expressed. 
 As we are making an impress of " our day " in 
 these pages, we would here preserve two da- 
 guerreotypes in them, one on each side of this 
 question, " Our Country, Right or Wrong." 
 They are such complete embodiments of their 
 kind, that we wish to preserve them, both for 
 curiosity and instruction. We give the names
 
 OUR COUNTRY, RIGHT OR WRONG. 247 
 
 of the authors. Let their words speak for them; 
 and, reader, judge ye which is nearest right. 
 Here speaks one side : 
 
 " OUR COUNTRY, RIGHT OR WRONG." 
 
 BT 6. 8. U'.NT, ESQ. 
 
 " Our Country, right or wrong," 
 
 What manly hearts can doubt 
 That thus should swell the patriot-song, 
 
 Thus ring the patriot-shout ? 
 Be but the foe arrayed, 
 
 And War's wild trumpet blown, 
 Cold were his heart who has not made 
 
 His country's cause his own. 
 
 Though faction rule the halls 
 
 Where nobler thoughts have swayed, 
 One sacred voice for ever calls 
 
 The patriot-heart and blade ! 
 He, at his country's name, 
 
 Feels every pulse beat high ; 
 Wreaths round her glory all his fame, 
 
 And loves for her to die ! 
 
 Where'er her flag unrolled 
 
 Waves the saluting breeze, 
 Flings o'er the plain its starry fold, 
 
 Or floats on stormy seas,
 
 248 OUR DAT. 
 
 All dearest things are there, 
 All that makes life divine, 
 
 Home, faith, the brave, the true, the fair, - 
 Cling to the flaming sign. 
 
 Oh ! is this thought a dream 1 
 
 No ! by the gallant dead 
 Who sleep by hill, and plain, and stream, 
 
 Or deep on ocean's bed ! 
 By every sacred name, 
 
 By every glorious song, 
 By all we know and love of fame, 
 
 " Our Country, right or wrong ! " 
 
 And here speaks the other : 
 " OUR COUNTRY, RIGHT OR WRONG." 
 
 BT REV. 8. D. BOBBINS. 
 
 Our Country is the Right, no soil, no clime, 
 No spot on earth, no period in time. 
 Where truth resides, with liberty and love, 
 There is our father-land, below, above. 
 
 Disciples we of Christ, of God the seed; 
 - Ours be the right, in thought, in speech, in deed. 
 To Truth alone allegiance we pay ; 
 Ours is the light, our walk be in the day.
 
 OUR COUNTRY, RIGHT OR WRONG. 249 
 
 Dear is the realm alone where good abides, 
 Where justice dwells, and equity presides ; 
 There is our homestead, there our altar-place ; 
 Our father, God ; our brotherhood, the race. 
 
 He is the patriot, noble only he 
 "Whose heart and hearth-stone burn amid the free; 
 Whose soul is consecrate to manhood's cause, 
 Lives in the truth, and promulgates its laws. 
 
 Our Country right, not wrong, be this our boast ; 
 That most our Country, which to man is most ; 
 This be our aim of life, our theme of song, 
 Our Country shall be right, and right the wrong. 
 
 16
 
 250 
 
 THE DIALECT OF REFORM. 
 
 BY REV. HENRY BACON. 
 
 WHEN the reformer gives utterance to the 
 strong thoughts and deep feelings of his soul, 
 and brings out his solemn convictions to shame 
 the narrow prejudices and unholy customs of 
 society, the cry is made, " Be charitable ! Oh ! 
 have charity ! " To this is added many a plea 
 against the dialect of reform, as used by those 
 who think less of the musical tinkling of the 
 silver bells of classic speech, that lulls to poetical 
 dreaminess over human sin and sorrow, than of 
 the iron clang of the startling and arousing peal 
 that will not let men sleep. We are told that 
 we might as well strike with the sword as with 
 our words ; and are kindly admonished, that we 
 shall never accomplish any thing for the regene- 
 ration of man, till we have the spirit of Him 
 whose symbol, at his baptism, was not a vulture 
 or an eagle, but a dove. 
 
 We willingly receive this caution ; and, in our
 
 THE DIALECT OF REFORM. 251 
 
 charity, will neither impugn the motives nor ques- 
 tion the intelligence of those who offer this counsel. 
 We admit that the dialect of reform is an 
 important matter. " The preacher sought to 
 find out acceptable words," words that would 
 express his thoughts, without unnecessarily awak- 
 ening passion. " He did this, he exercised this 
 carefulness, because of the imperfection of the 
 best chosen language to give the true embodi- 
 ment to thought, and the difficulty of securing a 
 right apprehension of the ideas of his mind ; 
 the prejudices and interests which, like the old 
 and new stained glass windows of a temple, give 
 different and changing media to the same light 
 that pours in upon the worshippers. He is 
 true neither to his own soul, nor to the souls of 
 others, who does not imitate the preacher in this 
 respect, but is careless of the costume of his 
 thoughts, and willing to play the harlequin on 
 the stage of reform. It is wrong, we admit, to 
 speak more to show how strongly we feel upon a 
 subject, than to convince others of error and sin ; 
 to preach ourselves, rather than the truth we pro- 
 pose to propagate. If the farmer must sow seed 
 when the winds are let loose, he should, and, if he 
 be wise, he will do it ; but he would certainly be 
 foolish to try to raise the wind, to sweep over 
 the field to be sown. Some do this: they use
 
 OUK DAY. 
 
 the language of irritation and accusation, in 
 order to create passionate feeling, or, as they 
 say, " to get the people awake ; " and then 
 they think they can utter the sober truth with 
 better effect We think they do not judge 
 human nature aright. Like a careless surgeon, 
 feeling round a wound, they excite an irritation 
 that must modify the action of the remedial 
 agent afterwards employed. Paul indeed charged 
 his spiritual son to rebuke certain characters 
 "sharply;" but here he employed a metaphor 
 taken from a surgical operation, where there is a 
 necessity for probing deep and cutting keenly ; 
 and this is the best illustration of the true wis- 
 dom. How carefully the surgeon examines the 
 evil to be remedied ! how cautiously he selects 
 his instruments ! how studiously he aims to com- 
 prehend all the ulterior effects of the operation, 
 and the best method of combining quickness of 
 action with complete success ! And then, when 
 he proceeds to his repulsive labor, the quickness 
 of movement, the calm, cool perseverance, 
 notwithstanding the cries and screams, and the 
 deadly paleness, of the subject upon whom the 
 operation is performed, are only the results of 
 due preparation, of perfect confidence in the 
 chosen means, of a desire to succeed, and of 
 intentness upon the end kept in view. "Who
 
 THE DIALECT OF REFORM. 253 
 
 would think of crying out to a surgeon thus 
 employed, " Oh ! be charitable ! Do have some 
 mercy about you ! " He now might give the 
 wonderful gas, and thus deaden feeling, but the 
 reformer has no such gas to give ; and if he had, 
 he would not consent to give it, for he wants to 
 deal with mind in its most active and impressible 
 state. Like the Saviour, he refuses to take the 
 stupefying draught; for he will "endure the 
 cross," and he will not give it to another, in 
 the enlarged charity of one whose love of hu- 
 manity reaches out to compass the great and 
 permanent interests of the race, he will endure 
 the cross, " despising the shame ; " and others 
 must do the same, or never find the moral change 
 which is essential to true excellence. 
 
 "We own the reaction of our speech upon 
 ourselves ; subtle, unconscious, but real and 
 enduring. On this ground it is we assert, that 
 earnest thought must have earnest language; 
 and earnestness may be as majestic and towering 
 in a moral cause, as in a martial. It was said of 
 Napoleon that he was " organized victory : " we 
 want the dialect of reform to possess the same 
 victorious qualities, with infinitely better results. 
 We want to use the dialect of war, as Paul did ; 
 for life " is a battle and a march." "We want to 
 make the spirit of man as exultant, when a hope
 
 254 OUR DAT. 
 
 of success is given to encourage reformatory 
 labor, as when the trumpets thrill the souls of 
 armed hosts with notes of triumph and conquest. 
 This may be. " Deep calleth unto deep " in the 
 moral world, and must be answered. It is the 
 mere " murdering to dissect," the Burking of 
 literature, that tells us, it is horrid to say with 
 the poet, 
 
 " On the nation's naked heart 
 
 Scatter the living coals of truth j " 
 
 but we quote that as the expression of deep and 
 strong emotion, which springs from a solemn 
 conviction that there is all around us much dead- 
 ness of heart, which cannot be removed but by a 
 burning process. 
 
 What, then, is this plea for charity? We 
 answer, first, that charity has nothing to do with 
 the nature or attributes of truth. It enters into 
 definition only so far as the spirit with which 
 inquiry should be made is concerned. " He 
 that loveth not, knoweth not God." Love is the 
 grand medium of knowledge, as the purer the at- 
 mosphere, the more can we see of the heavens. 
 But yet truth is truth : the spirit of love and of 
 wrath cannot alter it. Intemperance, war, sla- 
 very, licentiousness, tyranny over thought and 
 action, the oppression of the poor, and all the
 
 THE DIALECT OF REFORM. 255 
 
 moral evils that may follow in this category, 
 cannot be altered by the blandest smile of char- 
 ity. "Charity," says Paul, "rejoiceth not in 
 iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth ; " and she 
 must show it. She lifts up no distorting medium, 
 but the plain mirror of God, and says, " Look 
 and see ! " 
 
 The common remarks in reference to charity, 
 in connection with the dialect of reform, arise 
 from a false view of charity. It is made a nar- 
 row, sectional thing, or not an ever-broadening 
 principle. The Saviour defined it when he said, 
 "If a man love father or mother, sister or 
 brother, more than me, he is not worthy of me ; 
 and if he take not up his cross and follow me, he 
 cannot be my disciple." He did not strike 
 against any duty to the affections. No ; for in 
 following Jesus, though it caused many social 
 and domestic antagonisms, the disciple would be 
 more charitable than in yielding to the partial 
 claims of sectional love. We want the great 
 principle of Christian charity, that makes a man 
 so love in the nearest circle, that the widening 
 of his charity may be perfect in its action. We 
 want the principle of the thing that which 
 underlies all just and true action that, when 
 we act from impulse, or amid excitement, the 
 pleadings of friendship, and the demands of
 
 256 OUE DAY. 
 
 the dearest of home, we may act wisely ; and be 
 as faithful to Christian charity, when our whole 
 being is concentrated in the strong utterance of 
 the truth, as when we write in the quietness 
 of perfect solitude. We shall then speak right 
 on, as flows the stream which has received such 
 guides as make its whole force fall upon the 
 whirling wheel that moves the intricate machin- 
 ery of industrial life in the factory. We want 
 charity for the great interests of man, too en- 
 larged to be contracted to sectional feeling, a 
 charity such as is demanded of the true minister 
 of Christ, who will " not shun to declare all the 
 counsel of God ; " no, not to palliate any private 
 feeling of offence that may be awakened by his 
 touching on some peculiar or particular sins. 
 Cry to the pulpit, "Be charitable," and the 
 answer shall come, if Christ's servant is there, 
 " Charity does not compromise the truth. It 
 cannot alter a feature of her stern and awful 
 countenance, majestic as the front of love." 
 
 How has it been with every real advance 
 made by man ? Has not reform been met by 
 this plea, that asks for a mere morbid charity, 
 a charity which pales and sickens before the 
 momentary evils occasioned by the " new move- 
 ment " against error and sin ? And this, too, 
 comes from those who accuse us of having
 
 THE DIALECT OF EEFOEJI. 257 
 
 only morbid sympathy, sighing over the criminal 
 in forgetfulness of the great and permanent 
 interests of society and man. The witnesses 
 against Christ never agree together; and too 
 often now, Barabbas is chosen instead of the 
 Anointed. "We take the principle on which 
 the noble souls of the past have sacrificed all 
 that was dear to the individual, in devotion to 
 the interests of the race. Why has the world 
 applauded the patriot so long and loud? Be- 
 cause he takes his life in his hand, and absorbing 
 all lesser loves in the one great affection for his 
 country, he places himself in the passes of lib- 
 erty, and defends them to the last. Thus have 
 died the martyrs to truth. Decision and charity, 
 of the true metal, were blended in the gold of 
 their character. And, like them, must we go 
 forth, if we would be faithful. If, on the one 
 side, stand our friends, with supplicating looks, 
 and even tears ; and on the other, Christ, if 
 he moves forward, we must follow, though never 
 so piteous are the pleadings that would restrain, 
 that would take us from the excitement, as the 
 mother and brethren of Jesus once sought to 
 draw him from the crowd to his home. Like 
 Peter, we must step forth, as though the waters 
 were, as they will become, like the marble pave- 
 ment beneath our feet. While we look on Christ,
 
 258 OUR DAY. 
 
 we are safe ; but if we turn to the waves around, 
 the sense will appall the soul, and we are gone ! 
 God help us. 
 
 "Speaking the truth" that is the essential 
 decision ; " speaking the truth in love" that is 
 the essential charity, the charity that belongs 
 to the whole being, and all that is done. It is 
 the spirit which moulds and tempers all the 
 mind touches. It is a deep consciousness of 
 the relationship which exists between all spirits, 
 and a sense of responsibility so to act as to pro- 
 mote the great interests of human brotherhood, 
 even, if in its efforts to exorcise a vile spirit, the 
 miserable subject may be rent and torn in the 
 struggle.
 
 259 
 
 1 THY KINGDOM COME." 
 
 BY MBS. S. C. E. MAYO. 
 
 WHEN Man his brother shall no longer slay ; 
 
 When chains no more shall bind the bleeding slave ; 
 When legal Murder, curst and past away, 
 
 No more shall hollow the untimely grave ; 
 When Love, and not Kevenge, shall deal with Crime ; 
 
 When Spirit shall be lord, in place of Sense ; 
 When Man shall not be bound to Earth and Time, 
 
 Making his gods of shillings and of pence; 
 When Love, and Peace, and Equity, shall reign, 
 
 And none shall starve while some are richly fed ; 
 When one man shall not hoard his wealth of grain, 
 
 And see his neighbor die for want of bread ; 
 When Earth for every man has hearth and home, 
 Then, not till then, God, will thy Kingdom come !
 
 THE IDOLATRY OP PARTY. 
 
 BT EEV. E. 3. CHAPIS. 
 
 IT is with any reform, as with the Chris- 
 tianity from which it issues its nominal disci- 
 ples far outnumber its real friends. In a calm 
 season many will profess allegiance to it, who 
 abandon it in the hour of need. They can make 
 a thousand ideal sacrifices, but cannot surrender 
 one solid interest. They profess great love for 
 principles, but are devout adherents of policy. 
 They will organize, sign, declaim ; but, the mo- 
 ment there comes a test, these lip-martyrs exer- 
 cise that discretion which is the better part of 
 valor. Perhaps nothing so plainly exposes the 
 worthlessness of all these pretensions, as the 
 touchstone of party. One of those great political 
 excitements which periodically sweep through 
 our country, will work marvellous transforma- 
 tions. The professed temperance man becomes 
 amalgamated with the zealous "rummy," and 
 winks at "hard cider." Our quondam anti-
 
 THE IDOLATRY OF PARTY. 261 
 
 slavery friend works with all his might for " the 
 available " slaveholder. And the honeyed advo- 
 cate of peace now exhausts his rhetoric to cele- 
 brate the praises, and urge the claims, of the 
 soldier and the hero. Really, one would think 
 this moral labor-field a mere ball-room, so lightly 
 are these masks laid aside, so quickly is the new 
 set formed, so oddly are old faces jumbled to- 
 gether, and so adroit are the crossings and skip- 
 pings in search of new partners. 
 
 To speak seriously, there can be no breadth 
 of principle, no spiritual earnestness, in those 
 who make a moral question secondary to a mere 
 party issue. Parties acquire their value and 
 authority as the instruments of great purposes. 
 Certain results, which could not be attained by 
 violent effort, are secured by their united action. 
 Men waive secondary issues in order to insure 
 union on some primary interest. 
 
 But moral principles can never be made sec- 
 ondary. Individual responsibility cannot be 
 dissolved in the action of the mass. It is true 
 that all great reforms are accomplished by de- 
 grees, and sometimes one right must be post- 
 poned until another is secured ; but that post- 
 ponement is simply action upon a consistent 
 line of advancement. It is intended to secure 
 ultimately the thing postponed. But, in the
 
 262 OUR DAT. 
 
 party idolatry of our day, these primary facts 
 are lost sight of. There is in " the party" a talis- 
 man, a mysterious power, to which men render 
 an allegiance that nullifies every other claim. 
 Around that they rally, and for it moral scruples 
 are thrown off and tossed aside, locked up in 
 iron safes, smothered in bags of cotton. The 
 party is an end, instead of an instrument. It ab- 
 sorbs or repudiates the principles by which alone 
 it can legitimately exist. 
 
 Sometimes there comes before the country a 
 question deep as the heart of humanity, and 
 broad as the law of God. Your partisan allows 
 that it is a great question, it involves important 
 interests, and he earnestly sympathizes with it. 
 But then its agitation at the present time would 
 divide " the party." It is outside the objects for 
 which " the party " was organized, and which it 
 has always maintained. So this plea must pre- 
 clude the great question ; and " the party," east 
 and west, north and south, being placated and 
 kept together, secures some interests of revenue 
 or territory, of loaves and fishes, which are 
 styled "democratic principles," or "whig pol- 
 icy," or " constitutional rights," but which dwin- 
 dle to little or nothing beside the great issue 
 which has thus been postponed. 
 
 This should not be so. If " the party" has
 
 THE IDOLATRY OP PARTY. 263 
 
 not virtue enough to carry a great principle to 
 its climax, let it split asunder ; and from the 
 scattered fragments let a new organization arise, 
 which will be true to those great ideas which 
 alone can authorize or dignify a party. As it is, 
 " the party " has no longer a right to exist. It 
 is held together by an unholy compromise which 
 cannot last long at the farthest, but which, while 
 it lasts, perplexes and betrays the great cause of 
 human progress, of truth and righteousness. 
 
 But the partisan says, " Your great ques- 
 tion is an abstract one, and should not be intro- 
 duced into the political action of the times." 
 Truly, one has almost reason to be afraid of 
 these abstract questions! There is a mystery 
 about them. The bare mention of them is 
 deemed a spell sufficient to allay the wildest 
 spirit of agitation and reform. If we plead in 
 behalf of some violated right ; if we rebuke some 
 false institution with which the pecuniary inter- 
 ests of a large number are bound up; if we 
 speak of the iron that fetters the limbs and eats 
 into the very souls of men, we are reminded by 
 the shrewd and practical, that we are meddling 
 with an " abstract question." If, in the eager 
 strife of selfishness, and amid the immoralities of 
 conventionalism, somebody evinces an unusual 
 scruple of conscience, it is said that he is " crazed
 
 264 OUR DAT. 
 
 about abstractions" If we seek to pour into the 
 forms of political action the life of Christian 
 principle ; if we tell men that the law of right- 
 eousness is incumbent upon them at all times ; 
 that they possess a solemn individuality which no 
 party connections can cancel ; if we remind 
 them that they cannot serve God and mammon ; 
 yea, if we entreat them to be consistent with 
 their own great professions, we are told, " the 
 introduction of abstract questions is foreign to 
 the objects of the party " ! 
 
 A question of right is never untimely. The 
 rule of duty is not an abstraction ; or, if so, it is 
 because men suffer it to remain unexercised. 
 
 But the partisan tells us again, that the ques- 
 tion to which we invite his attention " is a very 
 exciting one, and will only offend and irritate." 
 Perhaps there is no excuse for delay and com- 
 promise more common than this. Its common- 
 ness makes it a suspicious and false plea. It is 
 employed to prevent the agitation of any princi- 
 ple that assails the cherished sins, or interferes 
 with the selfish interests, of individuals or of 
 classes. The fact is, every truth is offensive and 
 irritating to some. No right can be embodied 
 and become practical, without conflicting with 
 some wrong. It is the tendency of truth to pro- 
 duce agitation. It is always a drawn sword.
 
 THE IDOLATKY OF PABTY. 265 
 
 There is no plea against the introduction of a 
 great principle, more fallacious than the argument 
 that it will produce excitement. If it is a prin- 
 ciple applicable to the times, it must cause an 
 excitement, and be introduced at an exciting 
 moment. If not applicable to the times, or to 
 any existing evil, then, to be sure, it will not 
 produce any excitement ; but then it need not be 
 introduced at alL 
 
 But enough of these evasions. Those to 
 which I have alluded, sufficiently indicate the 
 evil I complain of. The idolatry of party 
 is an obstacle which the reformer meets at 
 every step. It is an evil, than which no other 
 more loudly calls for reformation. I do not 
 plead for the dissolution of any party ties that 
 do not conflict with conscience. But there 
 should be a solemn league and covenant of all 
 true men, that in all relations they will abide by 
 the good and the right. The southerner clings 
 to the institution of slavery; and for that, if 
 need be, casts aside the harness of all party, and 
 rallies around a common centre. The consis- 
 tency thus evinced in a bad cause should be 
 cherished in behalf of righteousness. Party 
 should ever be held secondary to principle ; and 
 if it thwarts and opposes principle, let it break 
 in pieces like Dagon before the ark of God. 
 17
 
 266 
 
 GOD'S LAW : MAN'S INTERPRETATION 
 OF IT. 
 
 BY 8. S. COCES, ESQ. 
 
 " Thou shalt not kill " without profit or advantage to thyself. 
 
 " THOU shalt not kill " is the law of God. 
 The words are plain, direct, and intelligible. 
 There is no limit or qualification to the prohi- 
 bition. Human life is sacred, inviolable, and 
 never to be taken. But, while there are a few 
 fanatics who give to the law its literal meaning, 
 the world, in its wisdom, qualifies it; so as to 
 obey God, and yet take life, whenever profit or 
 advantage is to be derived from the slaughter. 
 
 This is the reasoning : Our lives would not be 
 safe, were not the assassin and the murderer 
 destroyed ; nor could our rights, our privileges, 
 our happiness, be protected without the sword. 
 Law must be enforced by the life-taking power 
 which government wields. Our welfare, both as 
 individuals and as members of the body politic,
 
 GOD'S LAW: MAN'S INTERPRETATION. 267 
 
 demands of us that we kill. God permits homi- 
 cide, therefore, because of its profit or advantage. 
 He forbids only wanton, unnecessary murder. 
 His law, therefore, must be read with a reserva- 
 tion of the right to kill, so far as the killing is 
 necessary, expedient, or advantageous. 
 
 Thus understood, it is a law most easily 
 obeyed. It exacts no self-sacrifice. It permits 
 the world to pass on, undisturbed, in its blood- 
 stained path. A young man may enter the 
 army, and, with a satisfied conscience, swear 
 that he will do his duty, though that duty will 
 be to kill, wherever and whenever he is com- 
 manded to kill. In other words, his profession 
 calls on him to make himself useful in human 
 butchery, and this he can most innocently do ; for 
 a soldier is a man hired to kill for the good of his 
 country. He may go to Mexico, to the attack 
 of Vera Cruz ; and there most deliberately and 
 skilfully direct a cannon against the city, and 
 exult and thank God when his shot has been 
 successful ; even though the ball cut in twain a 
 woman, and tear off" the limbs of the child 
 clinging to her bosom; the mother dying in- 
 stantly, her little boy bleeding slowly to death, 
 his head upon the crushed flesh of his mother, 
 wailing in agony until death come to his relief. 
 
 God forbade not this killing. It was deemed
 
 268 OUR DAY. 
 
 necessary, and is, of course, justifiable. No 
 war, offensive or defensive, can be carried on 
 without killing the innocent. The very intent 
 of war is to kill all whom it may be necessary to 
 kill, in gaining the proposed advantage. If any 
 fighting be right, there must be soldiers ready 
 for pay, rations, and glory, to kill, when ordered 
 to kill. The profession of the soldier is most 
 devilish and fiend-like, if he may not innocently 
 kill, whenever they who command deem the 
 slaughter to be advantageous. 
 
 A short time after the capture of the city of 
 Vera Cruz, a soldier killed a Mexican woman. 
 He killed without orders, unnecessarily. He is 
 a murderer. He cannot plead an advantage 
 from the slaughter. Now comes in the mercy 
 of the world ; its hatred of homicide, its up- 
 holding the laws of God ! Blood for blood ; the 
 penalty is exacted ; and the officer who killed 
 the woman and child shall superintend the exe- 
 cution of the murderer. Again have we pro- 
 fitable homicide ! The fate of the executed 
 man will be a warning to others ; and Mexican 
 women shall not be again killed, until there is an 
 advantage from their deaths. 
 
 It has been said, that there was slaughter by 
 our soldiers in the streets of Monterey, after its 
 capture, when the advantage from killing had
 
 GOD'S LAW: MAN'S INTERPRETATION. 269 
 
 ceased. I know not whether it be true : if not 
 true, Monterey escaped the fate common to cities 
 taken by storm after a long straggle. If there 
 were bloodshed after the battle was over, it was 
 justifiable, as the necessary consequence of the 
 advantageous murder committed in capturing the 
 city. Men become reckless and ferocious, when 
 for a long time they have breathed in the atmos- 
 phere of carnage ; when for days they have 
 exerted every faculty, and strained every nerve, 
 for slaughter. The desire to kill stops not sud- 
 denly ; their blood cools not down at the tap 
 of the drum ; La the flush of conquest, they 
 become not, at the word of command, merciful, 
 blood-hating men ; and some will pass over the 
 line which limits necessary murder, and most 
 innocently, too ! 
 
 The excess of murder, committed after the 
 carrying of a city by storm, may be fully justified 
 on the ground of its utility. It will animate the 
 attack of the next city, and discourage its de- 
 fenders. We read hi the papers, that the city of 
 Mexico will not be defended ; for the inhabitants 
 will recollect the fate of Monterey and Yera 
 Cruz, and open their gates to our army ; and 
 thus excess of murder may prevent future blood- 
 shed! 
 
 There is a recruiting officer in the city of
 
 270 OUR DAT. 
 
 Boston. He gathers from the poor, the igno- 
 rant, the friendless, his full company of men, 
 one-half of whom are doomed to death, are 
 doomed to be killed in the attempt to kill the 
 enemy. It is justifiable, because our govern- 
 ment deems their exposure to death to be advan- 
 tageous to the country. 
 
 Thus it appears that we may kill innocently, 
 whenever killing is profitable or advantageous. 
 "We may kill the soldiers of the enemy, their 
 women, and children. "We may kill them in 
 battle, or after the battle. We may kill our own 
 citizens ; doom them to death. "We may also 
 kill the murderer, or kill a soldier who refuses 
 to kill, when commanded to do his duty. We may 
 kill the innocent or the guilty, with this condition 
 only, that the slaughter be deemed profitable or 
 advantageous. 
 
 Thou shalt not kill, without profit or advan- 
 tage to thyself. Such is the understanding of 
 the law, as manifested by the conduct of those 
 who take life, or of those who uphold the taking 
 of life. It seems almost impossible, that men 
 should dare thus to interpret the law of God ; 
 that they should offer, as an apology for ho- 
 micide, its advantage to themselves. Consi- 
 der it: the very apology is an abrogation of 
 the law ; it takes from it all restraining power ;
 
 GOD'S LAW: MAN'S INTERPRETATION. 271 
 
 this very apology constitutes homicide a crime ; 
 this very apology is an admission of guilt, for it 
 is the motive of the assassin, whose bitter selfish- 
 ness nerves his arm to strike the fatal blow. 
 Nay, the murder prompted by passion is far less 
 criminal, than murder deliberately committed on 
 the ground that there is gain from the deed.
 
 272 
 
 "THY KINGDOM COME." 
 
 BY BEV. W. P. TELDEN. 
 
 So prays the Christian world, morning and 
 evening, " Thy kingdom come." So prayed 
 the Jews, of old, before the advent of the Re- 
 deemer. Indeed, so scrupulous were they in the 
 use of words, as to declare that " he prays not 
 at all, in whose prayer there is no mention made 
 of the kingdom of God." Hence they were ac- 
 customed to say, "Let him cause his kingdom 
 to reign, and his redemption to flourish; and 
 let the Messiah speedily come, and deliver his 
 people." 
 
 But, when the prayer was answered, and the 
 Messiah came, they nailed him to the cross. 
 
 They knew not for what they prayed. For, 
 though their prophets had announced the true 
 Messiah as the Prince of peace, in whose 
 reign swords should be beaten into ploughshares, 
 and spears into pruning-hooks, yet, as they 
 could not comprehend how a " kingdom," even of
 
 "THY KINGDOM COME." 273 
 
 heaven, could be established without the sword, 
 and as they thought, verily, they were God's 
 peculiar people, and should be distinguished by 
 temporal aggrandisements, they felt sure tak- 
 ing counsel of passion and prejudice, rather than 
 God's prophetic word that their Redeemer 
 would come clothed with earthly power and roy- 
 alty, and, sitting upon a Jewish throne, " con- 
 quer a peace " for Israel, by the destruction or 
 subjugation of all her enemies. 
 
 The result is known. She took the sword, 
 and perished by the sword; praying all the 
 while, with scrupulous fidelity, " Let the Messiah 
 come." 
 
 The moral blindness and stubborn prejudice 
 of these poor Jews is a frequent theme of lamen- 
 tation in our churches ; and earnest prayers are 
 offered, that the outcast "remnant of Israel" 
 may be restored. 'Tis well. The true heart 
 ever prays for all. But is the solemn admoni- 
 tion of the national destruction of that heaven- 
 favored people heeded ? Has Christendom yet 
 learned that ' Scripture-lesson " she has read so 
 often, of a rejected and crucified Saviour ? 
 
 Her deeds must answer. 
 
 She prays, " Thy kingdom come ; " but does 
 she know for what she prays ? Has she learned 
 the nature of that kingdom at the feet of its
 
 274 OUR DAT. 
 
 "born king"? Does she know that his king- 
 dom is not of this world ; in the world, but 
 not of it ; that it has no fellowship with the 
 spirit of violence, and bloodshed, and oppression, 
 that distinguish the kingdoms of this world ; 
 that it is a kingdom of peace, and love, and 
 brotherhood, in which evil must be overcome 
 with good, and none be left to hurt or destroy ? 
 Is it for such a kingdom that Christendom is now 
 praying and laboring ? 
 
 The answer comes in the wail of three millions 
 of God's children, who, in our own professedly 
 Christian land, are crushed beneath the iron 
 yoke of slavery. It comes from the hundred 
 thousand new-born infants, that every year are 
 systematically, legally, and religiously plun- 
 dered of their birth-right, and imbruted. It 
 comes from the battle-field, where Christian 
 nations " armed and equipped as the law " 
 and the religion of the land " directs," with pow- 
 der and balls for the body, and chaplains and 
 bibles for the soul go forth for the wholesale, 
 premeditated murder of those whom Christ has 
 bidden them to love. 
 
 Alas ! what meaning does the Christian slave- 
 holder, or his apologist, attach to the phrase 
 " kingdom of God," when he repeats the prayer 
 of him whom he calls " Lord and Master " ?
 
 "THY KINGDOM COME." 275 
 
 What idea has the Christian soldier of that 
 kingdom, when, on the eve of battle, he buckles 
 on his armor, grasps his death-dealing weapons, 
 and prays that it may come ? Does he deem it 
 the reign of peace and brotherhood? Do men 
 murder under the influence of love ? avenge 
 in the spirit of forgiveness ? ply the sword of 
 death with the hand, while fraternal love is 
 throbbing at the heart? 
 
 And yet we shudder at the "rejection of 
 Christ " by the poor, passion-blinded Jews ! But 
 how much better are we, as a nation, than they ; 
 even though in one breath they could pray 
 devoutly, "Let the Messiah come," and in the 
 next shout, with the reckless and infuriated mob, 
 " Away with him ! Crucify him ! crucify him ! " ? 
 They crucified his body ; we, his principles. 
 They thrust the spear into his side, as his open 
 and avowed enemies: we trample in the dust 
 his truth, while professing to be his friends. 
 
 That heavenly kingdom which Christ lived 
 and died to establish on earth, and for which he 
 taught his followers to pray and labor, will come 
 only as the " heart's sincere desire " goes up to 
 heaven, in deeds as well as words. 
 
 God is ever ready to bestow, when man is 
 ready to receive. 
 
 But while the prayer of the life belies the
 
 276 OUR DAT. 
 
 prayer of the lips ; while in our daily walk and 
 conversation we conform to the cold maxims of 
 worldly policy, instead of the pure precepts of 
 Jesus ; while we are ready to avenge an injury, 
 though Christ has said, " Bless them that curse 
 you ; " while we can look unmoved upon human- 
 ity, plundered, wounded, and bleeding, and pass 
 by on the other side, still praying, " Thy king- 
 dom come," we surely need not marvel that we 
 receive no "answer of peace." What are all 
 such prayers but solemn mockery ? We might 
 as well plant nettles and thorns, and then pray 
 for a harvest of grapes. We might as well go 
 to the bold blasphemer, and tell him that Jesus 
 was an impostor, that his pure precepts for a holy 
 life are Utopian folly, and then pray that he might 
 be converted to a living faith in the Kedeemer. 
 
 If we would offer " effectual prayer " for the 
 reign of truth, and love, and brotherhood, on 
 earth, then we must know for what we pray ; 
 and, in trusting faith, let voice, and hand, and 
 heart, and life, all supplicate "Thy kingdom 
 come ! " Only such prayers are heard in 
 heaven. The blessing comes when the heart is 
 fitted for it. Even Divine Love could not give 
 it sooner. The kingdom of heaven is within 
 the reign of Christ's spirit in the soul. " Know 
 ye not that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be
 
 "THY KINGDOM COME." 277 
 
 reprobate ? " The prayer that opens the heart 
 to more of his spirit, and baptizes the soul more 
 deeply with his love, is the prayer that is " ef- 
 fectual " to the upbuilding of the heavenly king- 
 dom. It is only through individual redemption 
 that the world can be redeemed ; only as the 
 kingdom comes within, that it can come around. 
 The prayer that never finds the human heart, 
 will hardly find its way to heaven. To our own 
 hearts, then, let us look for the " signs of his 
 coming " for the breaking of the " day-spring " 
 of truth and love ; else, like the poor self-blinded 
 Jew, with the prayer, "Thy kingdom come," 
 upon our lips, we, too, may crucify the Son of 
 God afresh, and fail of the salvation he has 
 proffered us.
 
 278 
 
 SONG OF PROPHECY. 
 
 BY J. 0. ADAMS. 
 
 Lo, the night receding ! 
 
 Wake, and lift thy voice ! 
 Hail the morning, brother ; 
 
 In its light rejoice ! 
 
 Good its rays betoken ; 
 
 Wrong and ill retire ; 
 Evil finds its victor, 
 
 Love's consuming fire ! 
 
 Man, so long degraded, 
 Fears no tyrant's rod ; 
 
 Finds in man his brother, 
 Father in his God. 
 
 Discord's murmurs dying 
 Angels, men, upraise 
 
 Earth's redemption-anthem, 
 In harmonious praise !
 
 279 
 
 A SERMON FOR EVERY-DAI LIFE. 
 
 FROM AN E VERY-DAY PULPIT. 
 
 " As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men." 
 St. PACL. 
 
 IT is not to do good as we would desire, that 
 the direction is given. The desire of the truly 
 philanthropic soul cannot be so easily answered. 
 When we read the living story of human ills and 
 wrongs ; when we see the weak basely rendered 
 the victims of spoilers and oppressors ; the igno- 
 rant sitting in darkness and the shadow of death ; 
 the honest and trustful defrauded ; the innocent 
 betrayed; the noble brought to ruin; the pure 
 corrupted ; the godlike benefactor scorned and 
 crucified ; when we hear the cry of the slave 
 in his chains, under the lash of his master ; the 
 moaning of the prisoner hi his lone cell, where 
 none comes ever to remind him, that, although a 
 sinner, he is still a man ; when the great army 
 of the poor raise their ragged banners as signals 
 for help, in God's name ; when the victims of
 
 280 OUR DAT. 
 
 intemperance reel before us, and we hear the 
 sad story of their repeated plunges into the burn- 
 ing gulf, and witness the tears and afflictions, 
 worse than death, of those who are the innocent 
 partakers of their dreadful guilt and shame ; 
 when we see, too, selfishness, avarice, worldli- 
 ness, driving in fury on with eyes, and ears, and 
 hearts closed against these agonizing sights and 
 sounds, content to know that so much of im- 
 mediate temporal good has been secured to them- 
 selves, by means whether honest or fraudulent, 
 no matter, let others help that if they can, so 
 long as the ends of self are answered; when, I 
 say, all this array of evil glares upon us in its 
 hideousness, from out this great mass of human- 
 ity, as it strives, changes, strives again, and thus 
 continually, the wrong against the right, and the 
 right against the wrong; we send up our 
 prayers for help against these armed forces of 
 the adversary of men. "We would have the en- 
 durance of Job, the strength of Samson, the 
 invincibleness of Paul, and almost the miracu- 
 lous power of his Master, that we might say to 
 these mists and this darkness, " Disperse ! " 
 to these groans, " Be hushed ! " to these mis- 
 eries, " Cease evermore ! " 
 
 True and holy as are these aspirations, our 
 individual power and means cannot adequately
 
 A SEBMON FOE EVEBY-DAT LIFE. 281 
 
 answer them. This is doubtless all right, though 
 we are not yet enabled so clearly to understand 
 it, as doubtless in the future we shall be. Our 
 limits of action are prescribed. We must avail 
 ourselves of our means. We must " do good as 
 we have opportunity." In the very spirit of 
 this desire for the amelioration of our race, we 
 must seek what we can individually DO towards 
 the great end. To pray for the accomplishment 
 of the good, is one thing ; to do what we actually 
 can towards its attainment, another. This is one 
 of the practical truths of our good text. It calls 
 for our devotion and zeal. 
 
 "As we have opportunity." We are not to 
 consult mere convenience here, or mere impulse. 
 To do a good act to-day, because that act may 
 be agreeable to our present desire, and consonant 
 with some special, urgent, or uncommon call 
 made upon us this is not to answer the de- 
 mand of Christianity. How and when have we 
 opportunity of doing good ? This should be our 
 leading inquiry. And rightly to answer it should 
 be the aim of our life. 
 
 " Pythagoras," says Lord Bacon, " being asked 
 by Hiero, what he was, answered : If Hiero was 
 ever at the Olympic games, he knew the manner 
 that some came to buy their fortunes for the 
 prizes ; some as merchants, to utter their com- 
 18
 
 282 OUR DAT. 
 
 modities; some to make good cheer, and be 
 merry, and meet their friends ; and some came 
 to look on ; and that he was one of them that 
 came to look on : but men should know, that, 
 in this theatre of man's life, it is only for God 
 and angels to be lookers-on." But not with 
 these higher and more glorious intelligences do 
 we connect the idea of inaction. God cannot be 
 passive. He ever labors in his infinite goodness. 
 So are his angels ministering spirits to those of 
 lesser strength and life, who need their blessed 
 aid. Swift, in one of his noted fictions, tells us 
 that the arms of Lilliput are an angel lifting a 
 lame beggar from the earth. 
 
 All men have opportunities for doing good. 
 None can claim exemption here. We have in 
 our stern, actual life, no apologies for 
 
 " The sluggard Pity's vision-weaving tribe, 
 Who sigh for wretchedness, yet shun the wretched, 
 Nursing in some delicious solitude 
 Their slothful loves and dainty sympathies ; " 
 
 Nor for those so inbound with thoughts of self, 
 and family, and home, that they seldom, if ever, 
 open their ears to the pleading voices that come 
 up to them by the way-side, or turn at all out of 
 their old daily and long-trodden paths, to know 
 what new and fresh " luxury of doing good " 
 they may secure.
 
 A SERMON FOR EVERT-DAT LIFE. 283 
 
 We regard with respect, and gratitude, and 
 love, many of the distinguished philanthropists 
 whose lives have blessed the world. This is 
 well. But what if we all made that application 
 of means and opportunities which they made? 
 Should we not now have a better world ? And 
 is not the direction " to go good and to communi- 
 cate," universal ? Are not all to labor as they 
 " have opportunity " ? These examples should 
 be multiplied. In this actual work of Christian 
 grace, we should be "every one helpers one of 
 another." We must be, or our Christianity 
 will not extend, and take root, and flourish, and 
 bless, as prophecy declares it will. The old 
 prophecy will be read, and admired, and read 
 again ; but still remain unfulfilled. Our millen- 
 nium will still be afar off, seen only in dreams 
 and visions, and brought no nearer by the right- 
 eous action of those who sing most repeatedly 
 and earnestly, 
 
 " Fly swifter round, ye wheels of time, 
 And bring the welcome day." 
 
 The influences of home ! How ought these to 
 tell for truth and righteousness ? Mothers ! 
 what lack your children ? what lack you ? Not 
 of means, but of the disposition to use means 
 already at your disposal, for their greater and
 
 284 OUR DAT. 
 
 increasing welfare and happiness. Fathers ! 
 what of lesser import occupies attention than 
 that great work of the moral rearing of your off- 
 spring? Sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, all 
 who delight in the sweet and sacred influences 
 of home see what new sources of instruction, 
 blessing, and peace, it may be in your power to 
 open within this consecrated place. Be true to 
 home. False here, where else will you be 
 faithful? 
 
 Abroad, too, should our influences for good 
 extend. Our words of fraternal greeting may 
 bring others near us ; our words of peace hush 
 the spirit and the voice of contention ; our strong 
 words of encouragement give new life to the 
 weaker and desponding ; our words of truth and 
 soberness, right direction to the reckless and 
 vain. Our words, I say, may do this. There is 
 a mighty power in words. If there are many 
 words wasted and ill-spoken, by which men are 
 rather injured than blessed, there are also many 
 words unuttered, for which men are waiting, not 
 knowing the good which might be thus easily 
 imparted. It is so. We need oftener to " put 
 ourselves out " a little, as the saying goes, if we 
 can in the right way, to speak a few words for 
 good. If many pay too much attention to the 
 affairs of their neighbors, there are those also
 
 A SERMON FOR EVERY-DAY LIFE. 285 
 
 who mind their own business too scrupulously 
 and stiffly. They have too few words to spare ; 
 words so cheap an article. Such penuri- 
 ousness is intolerable. 
 
 Our actions lso are to come into the account 
 here. A careful acquaintance with our own re- 
 sources will assure us, I think, that we are not 
 yet in danger of exhausting them in our attempts 
 to benefit those around us. Do we really know 
 what we are able to do ? Does the rich man ? 
 Does the poor man? Do all? For it is not 
 always in the amount we bestow, but in the dis- 
 position which prompts the gift, that the blessing 
 is most directly imparted. 
 
 " As we have opportunity," so are our days to 
 be filled up with all the good we are capable of 
 doing. We know not, when we rise to our works 
 of the day, what good thing these works may 
 bring forth ; how, by God's wisdom, and our 
 humble and trusting earnestness, they may bring 
 light out of darkness, and waken melodies that 
 will gladden us for ever. That is a charming 
 incident related of Rev. George Herbert, the 
 distinguished poet of England : "In one of his 
 walks to Salisbury, to join a musical society, he 
 saw a poor man, with a poorer horse that had 
 fallen under his load. Putting off his canonical
 
 286 OUR BAT. 
 
 coat, he helped him to unload, and afterwards to 
 load his horse. The poor man blessed him for 
 it, and he blessed the poor man. And so like 
 was he to the good Samaritan, that he gave him 
 money to refresh both himself and his horse ; at 
 the same time admonishing him, that, if he loved 
 himself, he should be merciful to his beast. So 
 leaving the poor man, and coming to his musical 
 friends, at Salisbury, they began to wonder that 
 Mr. George Herbert, who always used to be so 
 trim and clean, should come into that company 
 so soiled and discomposed. But he told them 
 the reason ; and one of them said to him, ' He 
 had disparaged himself by so mean an employ- 
 ment.' His answer was, he thought that what 
 he had done would prove music to him at mid- 
 night, and that the omission of it would have 
 made discord in his conscience whenever he 
 should pass by that place. ' For if/ said he, ' I 
 am bound to pray for all who are in distress, 
 I am surely bound, as far as it is in my power, 
 to practise what I pray for. And although I do 
 not wish for such an occasion every day, yet let 
 me tell you that I would not willingly pass one 
 day of my life without comforting a sad soul, or 
 showing mercy ; and I bless God for this oppor- 
 tunity. So now let us tune our instruments.' "
 
 A SERMON FOR EVERY-DAY LIFE. 287 
 
 There are rich and cheering strains in this his- 
 torical relation. Let them not fall unheeded on 
 our ears. 
 
 It is not so much the great and signal deeds 
 we may do, as the ordinary and comparatively 
 obscure, that meet the demand of the text. The 
 great sum of life's interest and enjoyment is 
 made up of littles. We are all contributors. 
 We all supply the streams. Our common life 
 furnishes, in its most ordinary calls, pursuits, 
 exertions, the elements of enjoyment or affliction. 
 None of us are so obscure, none so destitute of 
 influence, as not to be able to say or do some- 
 thing, every day, that shall tend to render some 
 other happier or better. Let no one, then, say 
 wistfully, or in doubt or hesitancy, What can I 
 do in a world where so much is to be accom- 
 plished, where wrong is so bold, sin so strong, 
 evil so abounding? Friend, "be not faithless, 
 but believing." You may do much. Rather let 
 your question be, What may I not do ? What 
 evil, what wrong, what ill, is so mighty, that by 
 some means my influence may not reach and 
 contribute to weaken it ? You have heard of 
 the sweet singer in the discordant choir, who 
 sang on amid that musical jargon, till the whole 
 choir was in perfect harmony with his one voice. 
 Only do what you can, and not wish, and hope,
 
 288 . OUR DAT. 
 
 and talk merely, and think that others may ac- 
 complish. Only make the true endeavor, and 
 see what saddening discord you may resolve into 
 sweet and living harmony ! 
 
 Once more. Have strongest faith in practical 
 goodness. Limit not its power. Deem no pro- 
 fession no talk of religious opinions, a substi- 
 tute for it. " Faith without works is dead, being 
 alone." Faith and works shall remove the 
 mountain, and cast it into the sea. " That which 
 is most wanting," says Goodwin Barmby, " should 
 be most tried after. All things are possible to 
 faith." 
 
 Reader, if thou canst preach thyself a better 
 sermon from this text, then heaven be praised. 
 I can tell thee that thou mayest. Be THY LIFE 
 this sermon. So shall thy God, and Christ, and 
 all good angels of heaven and earth so shall 
 thy peaceful conscience say, Amen.
 
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