It may be permitted to close this chapter, composed so largely of eulogium, by a few words from the subject of it, pronounced in the sermon already referred to, on the life and work of a friend and brother. "We have not designed to draw a sketch of a perfect man, but of one who, like others, was compassed with infirmity, who was conscious of sin, but who sought forgiveness through the blood of Christ." SLAVERY IN CHURCH AND STATE. 1857. In consenting to take part in the discussions of this interesting and important occasion, I am not merely lending a willing compliance to the invitation of your "Executive Committee;" but acting, as I trust, under an imperative sense of duty, and in obedience to the command of Him who has said, "Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction," I have the more readily complied, because I understood that the invitation was designed as a recognition of the position which the ecclesiastical organization with which I am connected early assumed, and, I think, has consistently maintained, with respect to American slavery and its great bulwark, the Constitution of the United States. In connection with other religious bodies are to be found men who have battled, are now battling, and will, we hope, to the end battle, nobly and manfully against this stupendous conspiracy against the rights of God and man. Other denominations, respectable for their numbers and the purity of their faith, have excluded slaveholders from their communion. But Reformed Presbyterians, or, as we are frequently termed, Covenanters, - Old-School Covenanters, — have alone entirely divorced themselves from the system, - not merely by excluding slaveholders, and all apologists and abettors of slaveholders, from their communion, but by refusing to vote, hold office under, swear to support, or in any way countenance, a system of government that sanctions, or even tolerates, an institution so odious and abominable. I need not speak here, sir, of the Covenanters. Their history is well known. The world has it by heart. They have ever been the stern, uncompromising foes of tyranny in every form, whether civil or ecclesiastical. It may not, however, be inappropriate to remind this nation of a fact which they seem to have forgotten, that to the Covenanters of Scotland, not less than to the Puritans of England, they are indebted, under God, for all that is great and good in their institutions, for the measure of civil and religious liberty which they enjoy, and for whatever of national greatness and glory they have achieved. We refuse allegiance to this government, not because we are anti-government in principle, for we recognize government to be a divine ordinance, and of law say no less than that "its seat is the bosom of God, and its voice the harmony of the world; " not because we are enemies to our country, for we take pride in all that is great in her character, and excellent in her institutions; not because we prefer any other form in general, or any other nation in particular, for we are republican in principle, and lift our testimony against every nation upon the face of the earth, but because we cannot lift up our hands to heaven, and swear, as we shall answer to God at the great day, to a constitution which ignores alike his existence and the authority of his Son, which refuses to recognize the obligations of that immutable and imperative higher law which he has given to be a perfect rule of faith and practice, and which robs, or permits millions of unoffending men to be robbed, of their just and inalienable rights. With respect to slavery, we stood for years alone, and directly in the face of all the political and religious sentiment of the country, yet confident that this was the only consistent position, and that here, and here alone, lay the salvation of the Church from the guilt of this sin so foul and enormous. The progress of truth in this as in many other instances has been slow. But it is encouraging to reflect that those truths which a few years since were proclaimed from a few obscure pulpits, "like the voice of one crying in the wilderness," are now the platform of a powerful organization, and embraced and defended by men who have the ability and determination to send them abroad throughout the land in tones that must be heard. As a church we have ever advocated the immediate, total, and eternal overthrow of slavery. That slavery is a sin, a sin of no ordinary character, but one of enormous magnitude, - I cannot now wait to prove. Such it is felt and declared to be by every conscience that is not seared with a hot iron, by the universal moral sense of the world, and by the word of God as interpreted by all, save in the miserable booby theology of slaveholding churches. Why, sir, convince me that slavery as it is, slavery as it has come under my own observation, slavery as it must be, is no sin, that its practice is not incompatible with Christianity, and I shall be convinced that there is no such thing as sin or sinners in the universe; that we are all a set of immaculate saints or angels together; and this world, which we have been |