of space or time de- | stroy. It gathers into | one | glorious company | all the real | lovers of | truth, |of| from a- | mong | all people, | nations, and |

all time,

languages.

1

Although the

doctrine of re- | ligious | liberty is so

| | plain, and it is so much for the interest of every

de- | nomi- | nation of | Christians is important to ob- | serve broad di- | rectly op- | posed to it.

to

cling to it, it

that

there is a | spirit a- |

And it be- | comes

cares for the truth

។

us, it becomes | every one who and for | liberty, to watch that | spirit | closely. | It | shows itself in every | effort which is made to in- | timidate the minds of ❘ men- to scare them a- | way from the | exami- | nation of | any par- | ticular o- | pinions, | in | every | dispo- | sition which is e- | vinced to pre- | vent them from | reading | what | others have | written, | and from hearing what | others | have to say. 7 is this spirit but the same that in | former | times | manifested itself in | still | grosser vio- | lations of | common | justice; that was not satisfied with over- | powering men's minds | by | denunci- | ations of | future | woe, by appealing to their re- | ligious | fears,

What

but | aimed | also to visit them with the | swift | vengeance of the | temwhen- | ever they | ventured to | think |

And to |

would |

poral power, differently from the established | way. | what but the same un- | hallowed | practices this spirit | lead | now, I were it al- | lowed to strengthen itself again? It would | bring | back | ages of | ignorance, ages of ❘ mental and po- | litical | servitude. 771

But not to mention the in- | fringement of the | sacred | rights of the mind with | which it is | chargeable,

they who cherish it at | all a- | ware

it is calculated to | injure their | own |

are |

how di- | rectly

cause and | ruin

their own | best | hopes? || You are in pur- | suit of

91

the truth. When you | seek to | terrify your | | | from | going in a | certain di- | rection in o- |

fellow-men

pinion,

how do you | know but | that you are shutand your own from the |

ting out their | souls ways of light and glory? "Ah! but we are | | con- vinced that we are | right," |▼ you | say, |

"and |

if we were to con- | sent, that | what we con- | sider er- | roneous views should | have as | fair a | hearing as we give to correct o- | pinions, the former would be- come as | prevalent as the latter." || What a | miser| able idea you must | have of the truth! ||17| Is it | so, that | truth and | error | are so | little dis- tinguishable? | How, then, do you happen to be | ។ | | | | so confident? 11

Be as- | sured that | if they are

| freely and closely ex- | amined, as they never | have

cept where | perfect | freedom

that | truth will ex- | cel in |

been and never will be, exof mind is es- | tablished, beauty and power | everything as much as the un- | measured transcends this | humble | fabric which | human | hands have reared. 17771

།ཤ།

that is op- | posed to it, | dome of the | heavens | ▼

W. H. FURNESS.

BARNES ON SLAVERY.

IN estimating the | influence of the church on the

subject of slavery,

and the | tendency of the ❘ represen

|tations made on the | subject,

sidered how much is done by

it de- | serves to be con

these representations

to promote infi- | delity. There is a | deep

and growing con- | viction in the

minds of the mass of

man- | kind that | slavery | violates

| great | laws of our | nature; that it is contrary to the dictates of hu- | manity; that it is es- | sentially un- | just, op- | pressive, | and cruel; that it in- | vades the | rights of | liberty | 1 with which the | Author of our | being has en- | dowed | all human beings; and that, in | all the | forms in | which it has ever ex- | isted, it has been im- | possible to | | guard it from | what its | friends and | advocates would | call "a- | buses of the system." It is a | vio- | | | lation of the first | sentiments ex- | pressed in our | Decla- | ration of | Inde- | pendence, and on | which our | fathers | founded the | vindi- | cation of their | own | conduct | in an appeal to arms; it is at | war with | all that a | man | claims for him- | self and for his own | children; | struggles of man- |

and it is op- | posed to all the

kind, in all ages, for freedom.

The

claims of hu

| manity | plead against it. The | struggles for | freedom | everywhere in our | world con- | demn it. The in- | stinctive feeling in | every man's | own | bosom in re- | gard to him- | self is a condem- | nation of it. The ! noblest deeds of | valor and of | patriotism | in our | own | | land, and in | all | lands where | men have | struggled for | freedom, are a | condem- | nation of the system. | | | |

1

All that is | noble in | man is op- | posed to it. | All that is | base, | op- | pressive, | and | cruel, | pleads for it. It is con- | demned by the in- | stinctive | feelings of the human | soul; it is con- | demned by the | principles | laid | down in the | books on mo- | rality that are placed in the hands of the young; it is con- | demned by the | uni- | versal | voice of | history. There is nothing on which the | sentiments of ❘ men out- | side of the church are | coming to be | more har- | monious | ◄ than in regard to the essential | evil of slavery; there is nothing to | which the | course of things in the | world, under the promptings of hu- | manity, is more | certainly | tending | in | all | lands, | than to the conviction that slavery is es- | sentially | evil and | wrong, and that | every | human | being, un- | less con- victed of crime, has a right to | freedom. There is no

by

thing that | finds a | more | hearty appro- | bation from the | world at large than an act of e- | manci- | pation | a | government; | there is nothing that | goes | more | permanently into the | history of a | nation, than the changes in | public af- | fairs which re- | sult in | such an | act. | There has been | nothing that has more definitely |

or constituted | more |

marked the course of history,

marked epochs in

history,

than the successive |

steps which | break the | bonds of | slavery, | and | elevate

| men to the | rank and | dignity of | freemen. |

It is now im- | possible to con- | vince the world that

change

| slavery is | right, || or is in ac- | cordance with the | will of God. No de- | cisions of councils or synods, | | and no teachings of a hierarchy, will the | onward | course of o- | pinion on this | subject. | No al- leged au- | thority of the | Bible will | satisfy | men at | large that the | system is not | always a | vio- | lation of the laws that God had en- | stamped on the | human | soul. No a- | pologies | for it will take it out of the category of crime in the | esti- | mation of man- | kind at | large, and place it in the | category of | virtues. | sentiment that it is wrong always |

wrong

The

wrong—always

that it is a | vio- | lation of the | great |

laws of our being, that it is contrary to the be- | nevo

lent arrangements of the | Maker of the | race,

coming as fixed as the ever-lasting | hills; | nothing can e-radicate this | sentiment

hearts of man- | kind. |

This sentiment is be- | coming | deeper and

the con- | victions of the | world | every | year;

| |▼ ever may change,

is be

and |

from the |

deeper in

and, what

|

this is destined to re- main

of all good men will | rest upon the | system. |17| No