pressed here are now shut out from the Southern pulpit. We can give the same reason for the exclusion that they can. If we have meddled with their institution, so have they with ours. Theirs is slavery; ours is liberty for all. Neither has any one a right to object, if we rather decline intimate relations with those between whom and us there is so pervading an uncongeniality on a momentous and absorbing subject. We would treat them kindly, whenever we can serve them; but it would be a proslavery course, to prefer and select them for our companions. Our acquaintance must have limits, and we do no wrong to the multitude outside of its limits. The Irish population in the same cities with us take no offence at the broad line of separation between them and the natives; and it will be more and more the case, that the champions of freedom and the advocates of slavery walk apart. Let neither party frown or feel slighted. They are equally remote from one another. What hundreds of men there are that we venerate, but never speak to ! Our tastes are different. The The great question remains, How much should clergymen here preach on the subject? One who, in the present state of the question, gives all its aspects the go-by, as he does tyrannicide, and witchcraft, and crimes obsolete and impossible to us, will not escape the charge of proslavery. He must utter his testimony distinctly, and often enough to have it entirely understood on which side he stands. The more distinctly, the less often will be necessary; and he must not reserve it as a bitter pill for the Fast-Day or Thanksgiving, when there will be no one to swallow it. We should not wish it presented to ourselves from the pulpit as frequently, by any means, as more solemn and devotional themes. Sabbath was made for man, but chiefly for man to realize his relations to God. No general rule can be given, except it be this, that such testimony is needed in proportion as it is resisted; and in that same proportion is prudence needed in uttering it. Let it not be forced; let it not vex the dull ears of drowsy men, a crambe repetita usque ad nauseam. Most fatal mistake, when the preacher assumes a pugnacious attitude to his hearers, and forgets that "the wrath of man never worketh the righteousness of God"! Better assume that he has not a proslavery man before him; that they are all antislavery, of course, in this latitude, if they only understood themselves, all of one mind already; and that he introduces 1848.] Preaching on Slavery. 77 the subject, not so much to effect conversions, as to "stir up their pure minds, by way of remembrance" of what they have long since believed. If any one objects to a preacher's doing so much as this, he will, of course, take to himself the title of proslavery; and then we are not addressing him. We write to those who would know what is necessary to escape that title. That any one, North or South, should say that a teacher of the religion of Jesus does wrong in warning his young men scores of whom are going South every winter against the peculiar moral dangers into which they go, seems to us passing strange. It would be as reasonable to object to a Southern father's or guardian's reminding the generous youth under his charge, about to come this way, that among the Yankees are shrewd and enterprising speculators, given to paying attentions to the unwary, and the boys would better examine carefully the nutmegs they buy; or that there exists here a cruel prejudice against the dark-skinned races, and the young men must be on their guard and not imbibe a disposition to deride and insult, as well as enslave, the companions and playfellows of their childhood. Bitter as is slavery's draught, this intense contempt for the negro would make the bondman's burden unspeakably more 'intolerable. As the young New-Englander who goes to the South carries this ingrained prejudice with him, predisposing him in any way to trample on those he already shuns and despises, it is the more necessary to warn him against the temptations to unrighteousness it will so fearfully augment. But slavery is a concise, short-hand symbol for all immorality. Now, what father may not admonish his son against the various forms of immorality separately, by their respective names? What pastor, then, who is a spiritual father to the young of his flock, may not do the same? And if he may do it in many words, may he not in one? May he not use a comprehensive term, instead of spending his breath needlessly in wearisome diffuseness? Stenography is not forbidden to the pulpit ; nor are precision and point often complained of in it. The young man warned will remember one word, where he would not a dozen; and a comprehensive expression for a comprehensive iniquity-yea," the sum of all iniquities" (we thank Wesley for teaching us that word) - will have a force proportioned to its succinctness. No advice is needed but this : "Avoid all practices connected with slavery." We close, hoping that we leave this comprehensive advice emphatically impressed upon the reader. Yes, slavery is the fertile mother of abominations. But if it were nothing but loss of liberty, if it included no other cruelty, what slave has not shown a burning passion for liberty, as itself, at any price, the paramount blessing of life? This sentiment is the handwriting of God on every human heart. Dryden has truly said, "O, give me liberty! For, were even a paradise itself my prison, M. I. M. F. Bekmar. ART. V.-LIFE OF DR. BELKNAP.* "THE life of a modest man," said Miss Lucy Aikin, speaking of the memoir of a cherished friend, which she was anxiously expecting, "should be modestly written " and could Dr. Belknap himself have designated his biographer, he could not have selected one who would more appropriately have performed the task. It is a graceful, unpretending tribute from filial hands to an honored ancestor. Its chief merit is the judicious arrangement of letters and documents, furnished, for the most part, from his own writings; and we welcome, after the interval of half a century which has elapsed since his death, these memorials of one who, as an historian and a man of letters, as a faithful clergyman and a wise philanthropist, was among the distinguished men of his times. Dr. Belknap was born in Boston, June 4, 1744, and graduated at Harvard College in 1762. While preparing for the ministry, he engaged in the instruction of youth; and at Milton, where for two years he was master of the public school, at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and in other places where he taught, he left lasting remembrances of himself as a skilful, affectionate, and successful teacher. "He was one of those, says his biographer, "whom companions and * Life of Jeremy Belknap, D. D., the Historian of New Hampshire; with Selections from his Correspondence and other Writings. Collected and arranged by his GRANDDAUGHTER. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1847. 18mo. pp. 254. 1848.] Early Life. 79 friends not only love, but reverence, at an early age." As a proof of the sincerity of his character and of his benevolent desire to serve those around him in any way in his power, she adduces part of a letter, written shortly after he was graduated, to a young friend at Cambridge who had requested his aid in composing a theme on the immortality of the soul. The theme was sent, but with it the following gentle monition : "Though I shall never be loth to serve you in the same manner, yet I cannot recommend it to you to pursue this method, but wish that you would endeavour to acquire a better talent at composition. It would be an unspeakable advantage to you. Do not let your genius lie uncultivated, and your abilities be any longer dormant, but only put them once into action, and they will continue to supply you with whatever you want in this way with the greatest ease. I speak experimentally." - p. 14. His entrance on the ministry was not without painful scruples and distrust as to his spiritual qualifications. In a letter to his great-uncle, the well-known Mather Byles, he thus expresses his perplexities: "It is a fixed and settled opinion with me, that no person ought to take on him the office of a minister of the Gospel, unless he has experienced the renovating power of it on his own soul; but, unhappy me! I have never experienced this, and therefore I dare not preach, though I have been much urged to it."- p. 15. We have seen nothing of Dr. Byles which has pleased us more, or given a more agreeable view of his character, than his reply to this letter, in which he seeks to relieve the difficulties of his young friend, and to encourage his entrance upon the profession of his choice. "I am pleased," says he, "to see your regards to the work of the ministry. "T is what you choose.' And why do you choose it? Perhaps answering this very question to yourself may relieve your anxious heart." p. 17. When at length these scruples were overcome, and he had relinquished a plan, which under their influence he had formed, of devoting himself to the instruction of the Indians, Mr. Belknap accepted the unanimous invitation of the people of Dover, New Hampshire, to become their pastor, and was ordained February 18, 1767. In this place he labored, amidst great discouragements, for more than nineteen years; fulfilling all the duties of a faithful minister, honorably known and frequently employed on occasions of public interest in other churches, and in various parts of the State; and at the same time, with the skilful industry which was always one of his characteristics, collecting materials for those valuable works which have given him so wide a reputation as an historian and biographer. Among his best friends and parishioners was Thomas W. Waldron, one of the most influential men in Dover. On the friendship and judgment of this gentleman he confidently relied; and," being very modest in estimating his own powers," and willing to be guided by friendly counsel, he addressed to him a letter, at the commencement of his historical researches, which, when we consider his subsequent success in this department, cannot be read without the interest which, as has been remarked by another, "we naturally feel with regard to all the circumstances of a distinguished man's preparation for his future eminence."* "SIR, You cannot help having observed in me an inquisitive disposition in historical matters. I find it so strong and pow erful, and withal so increasing with my opportunities for gratifying it, that it has become a question with me, whether I might not freely indulge it, with a view to the benefit of my fellowmen, as well as for my own improvement. As it is natural for us to inquire into the ancient state and circumstances of the place of our own abode, and to entertain a peculiar fondness for such inquiries in preference to more foreign matters, so I have applied myself, in some leisure hours (making it of late my principal amusement), to learn what I can from printed books and manuscripts, and the information of aged and intelligent persons, of the former state and affairs of this town and province. "The knowledge I have yet obtained is at present very imperfect; but I find a disposition to pursue it with a view to the collecting some memoirs which may, in future time, after much reviewing and correcting by myself and others, be made public. "I desire you would speak freely; and if you think my age, or abilities, or circumstances as a minister, or opportunities for collecting fit materials, or any other matters, are objections against my undertaking it, I shall immediately give up all thoughts of making public any thing of the kind, and shall confine myself entirely to my own amusement. "July 17th, 1772." Thacher's Life of Buckminster. pp. 47, 48. |