SERMON XXI. LIBERTY AND SLAVERY. "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." JOHN viii. 36. AMONG the many things which distinguish the present age, pretensions to an abhorrence of slavery are not the least. Liberty has been contended for as the birthright of every human being; without respect to any adverse circumstances, claims, or principles. The title chosen for this sermon will not mislead the reader in his conjectures, when coupled with the affirmation that white slaves, not black ones, shall be the subjects of consideration.* It is *Don't be alarmed, reader, and imagine the ghost of the monomania 'ycleped Abolitionism, about to appear. "Let there be light," was the word. "Let there be light," is the word, now. Let the TRUTH be heard. First-Paul charges Titus (ii.) to "speak the things that become sound doctrine"-sound doctrine, remember and specifies, in detail, certain things that become sound doctrine-and one of these things, is to exhort certain persons to do certain things, saying, without any circumlocution whatsoever, of slaves, "SLAVES to be obedient unto their MASTERS"-not servants, be obedient unto your employers! Proof-In the original Greek, (Titus ii. 9,) Δούλους, ἰδίος δεσπόταις ὑποTásosoba. (Doulous, idios despotais upotassesthai.) Both classical and orthodox_authorities agree, in the definition of these terms. (See Pick. Grk. & Eng. Lex., Schrev. Grk. & Lat. Lex., Prof. Rob. Grk. & Eng. Lex.) See Aovλów, etc., to reduce to slavery, enslave, subjugate. Aooλwois, etc., the act of enslaving; conquest; subjugation. Aovλwoovn, bondage, slavery. Consequently, Doulos, a slave; Doulous, slaves, in the plural. And deonórais (rendered masters, in the plural,) of Acσñórns, etc., a lord, a master; a commander, a sovereign, a king; a possessor or owner of any thing. A term that is used in the Scriptures to signify the authority of JEHOVAH, and His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only necessary to add, that idios signifies own; and upotassesthai, obedience. Second-Examine Leviticus xxv. 39-46. Here you will learn that a distinction exists, and was commanded of God, too! between servants, and bondmen or slaves. The Israelites were commanded to buy their bondmen, and bondmaids, of the heathen. Their slavery was involuntary, and they were to be slaves for ever! It is high time that madmen, who have no fear of God, nor regard for man, (unless he has a black face!) should learn what their Bibles teach; and no longer libel the Scriptures, and their fellow-men, from sheer ignorance. I affirm, boldly, that JEHOVAH has authorized what modern madmen have called "trafficking in human flesh." And I have God's prophet MOSES, for my authority! And further, I give my opinion, that trafficking in human souls, is a greater sin, than trafficking in huVOL. I.-28 not the whip of the driver, the lash of the master, but the passions and prejudices of the driven-it is voluntary submission-it is an abjectedness of mind, as much more degrading than that of the body, as mind is superior to matter. Vulcan, with volcanic fires and whirlwind blasts, never forged chains so ponderous, and fetters so strong, as superstition. Iron may bind the body-error enslaves the mind. "The mind is the man." He must be measured by his soul, as Dr. Watts beautifully expresses the sentiment. Ah, how little will the measure of that soul appear, which is screwed and pressed beneath the dogmas of sectarians and bigots! What so minute, as the space circumscribed within the invisible confines of a bigot's philanthropy! Were to hazard a comparison, I would man bodies!!! I, be it remembered, am not an advocate of Slavery-but, an advocate of TRUTH! God, in His sovereign pleasure, has made me a freeman. And our brother Paul says, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free;" and I mean to. It is quite time to speak the truth-the naked, unadorned truth, whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear. The competent and well-informed among the orthodox clergy, stand aloof, trembling for their popularity-that portion of them who have committed themselves by engaging in a crusade against reason, truth, and common sense, are, probably, either too ignorant to know their duty, or too wicked to regard it. Reader, have spoken the truth plainly; and I meant to, and I have a greater regard for the truth, than for public, or any opinion, save that of God in whom I trust. See Paul's Epistle to Philemon, written to him, on the occasion of sending back to him his slave Onesimus. Philemon was a Christian, and a slave-holder. Onesimus, his slave, had been converted to a belief in Jesus Christ; and Paul, instead of threatening Philemon with the curse of God, for holding slaves, sends back to him his slave, beseeching him to receive him for ever, Ouketi os doulon, not as a slave, alla uper doulon, but on the contrary (in a condition) above a slave; viz: as a brother beloved." But, notwithstanding, as his own servant, so far as obedience is in question. It is a fact, and must be received, even if it goes against the grain of the recipient, that no language under heaven contains a term more significantly, and unequivocally expressive of slavery, and involuntary bondage, than the Greek term dovλcías; it is used to signify man's bondage to corruption in the flesh! and this is final. On the subject of slavery, I will say, that I am opposed to slavery, as an abstract principle. It exists, in our country, at present, a necessary evil. I have been, from time to time, three years in a slave state. I have been on plantations, among slaves, and seen their condition; and truth compels me to affirm, from my knowledge, and personal observation, that the laves are "better off," as the phrase is, their condition is more prolific of eal enjoyment, and possesses the elements of contentment, ease, and quietess, to a greater extent, than does that of the free blacks, according to numbers. And I have no doubt, that there are at least 20,000 inhabitants of the city of New-York, whose condition is worse than the condition of the slaves in our Southern states. And that under the paternal government of commiserating England, there are in England and Ireland, at least three millions of people, whose condition is more deplorable than that of our slaves! say, that it would require an infinite subdivision of a nonentity, to produce a parallel for human nothingness, where superstition reigns, and error triumphs over the annihilation of every godlike sentiment. Liberty in its highest sense. Liberty in its most exalted signification, is the handmaid of TRUTH. In the highly figurative and expressive language of Inspiration, the word has gone forth, "Proclaim liberty to the captives-the opening of the prison to them that are bound." Liberty in word and in deed—an exemption from restraint—a freedom without limits-a scope wide as creation for desire to rejoice in. For "where the Spirit of the LORD is there is liberty." (2 Cor. iii. 17.) The magian hypothesis of a duality, or two eternal principles, good and evil, is only erroneous, like modern orthodoxy, in dividing the universe between God the Creator, and a miserable devil, of imaginary origin, powers, and destination. A duality exists-truth and error-light and darkness. God is the light-error the darkness. God the friend-error, in all its guises, the foe, the adversary of man. This is the Devil, personified, in a palpable prosopopœia, in every wicked man and woman. When, and where did the sons of God meet, and Satan the adversary, came not among them? (See Job i. 6.) The magian duality stood the test among the advocates of error, until a council of Bishops, with mathematical precision, formed a theological triangle; they ousted the Persian Devil from his locality, and placed him in the position which would make a quarternion in absurdity. Preposterous as it shall appear to the eye of reason, it is, nevertheless, a lamentable fact, that modern orthodoxy is deeper in error than were the pagan doctors of Babylon; for two persons only were in their duality of difficulties; now we have a trinity, three gods, and a devil to divide the spoils of the universe. My ears were not long since shocked to hear a respectable, and zealous advocate of orthodox absurdity say, "I believe as And this abominable "This is life eternal, only true God, and Jesus (John xvii. 3.) much in a devil as I do in a God." declaration, too, when Jesus says, that they might know thee the Christ whom thou hast sent." The conservative press of England has quoted from Coleridge, with expressions of admiration, the following incontrovertible truth-"The necessity for external government to man, is in the inverse ratio of the vigour of his self-government. Where the last is most complete, the first is least wanted. Hence the more virtue the more liberty." Vide Black. Ed. Mag. for Jan. 1837. Reader, however trite the saying is, it deserves a repetition-There is only light and darkness, truth and error. Therefore, if "where the spirit of the LORD is there is liberty," it follows of necessity, that where the spirit of the LORD is not, negatively, the spirit of error or of the Devil is, positively-and where the spirit of error, of the Devil is, there is slavery. Not slavery which consists in hoeing corn, cultivating the tobacco plant, and growing rice and cotton, but serving the Devil. Yea, the most abject submission to the hardest, the most cruel, and, at the same time, contemptible master in creation. "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" (Rom. vi. 16.) Obedience unto righteousness. Then, wide as creation is your liberty. Having the Spirit of God, you may do what you please. Having obeyed unto righteousness, you will not, like many pious orthodox christians, say, If I could only believe so and so, I would give liberty to all my vicious propensities, and sin with a high hand. No. You would gratify your righteous desires without any let or hindrance. Walking in the ways of wisdom, nothing but pleasantness and peace would be found in your path; and pleasure and peace are all that a reasonable being can desire. The pious orthodox christian thinks differently. His eye, like reynard's, is fixed on the grapes, and he would steal and eat them, if he did not, coward as he is, fear his master Devil would torment him for the theft. 0, says he, if I were not afraid of the consequences! Pious soul! Full of longing, only your aspirations happen to be not in wisdom's ways, not after righteousness, not after Heaven, but after "the grapes of Sodom;" and your ugly master Devil, will torment you, if you eat them. So you do really love, and long for these sour grapes? Yes; I can't help it. They look so pleasant to the eye, and are so much to be desired to make one wise. And you would really like to eat them? O, yes; if I were not afraid of the Devil, I would eat the whole of them. I wish I could only believe that I can eat them and escape from being tormented by this ugly Devil. Well, it strikes me, that these pious lovers of sour grapes, are degenerate sons of old Mother Eve. Woman as she was, she ate the grapes, because she said she liked the looks of them; and was too courageous to be frighten ed from her purpose by the Devil, although he stood by, close at her elbow. If there is any thing in creation more contemptible than a coward, I would give a bounty to any one who shall discover it. There is no escape for the orthodox saint, the pious soul, who loves sour grapes. No. The meshes of Paul's net hold him fast. Here is one reason for all his difficulty. If he only obeyed unto righteousness, he would lose his appetite for sour grapes, and he would despise his ugly Devil as much as he now fears him. I have turned this matter over, and over, and I can imagine but one excuse for orthodox cowards. They may privately admit the possibility of the truth of the Magian hypothesis, and calculate on some advantage to be derived from their deference to their Devil, who may be conciliated by their timeserving. An idea occurs, and it is my duty to mention it. May it not be possible that the orthodox christian's fear of the consequences of gratifying his wicked desires, is on this wise, that his fear of the Devil is secondary to his fear of his Maker, and that the Deity, if provoked, will employ the Devil as the instrument of punishment? There is no escape from both of these alternatives. Will this view of the matter redound to their honour? They would transgress God's laws, and violate any or all of God's commandments, if they were not restrained by fear that God will give them to the Devil to be tormented. And they live in the hope that this fear will entitle them to heaven, in some shape or other. It is in vain for such pretenders to deny that Jesus Christ, and his gospel, are out of the question. For they condemn themselves in all shapes. Their only hopes are founded on their doing violence to their strongest desires, and abstaining, from fear of torment by a Devil, from a full gratification of their vicious propensities, which they acknowledge would vielate every command in the decalogue. What a degrading slavery! What a hiding of the talent in the napkin, is this? The explanation of the parable is to the very life. "I knew thee, that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou has not strowed." What an abominable orthodox subterfuge! What! reaping where thou hast not sown? Reaping obedience from the orthodox slave! If it was the Devil, who called his servants to an account, he would reap where he has sown, and his harvest would be a plentiful one. But to the parable-" And I was AFRAID, [Ah, the |