But take a few more examples from the bible, of those in high stations being reproved by men of inferior rank. Look at David rebuked by Nathan, Ahab and Jezebel by Elijah and Micaiah. What, too, was the conduct of Daniel and Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego, but a _practical_ rebuke of Darius and Nebuchadnezzar? And _who_ were these men, apart from these acts of daring interference? They were the Lord’s prophets, I shall be told; but what cared those monarchs for _this fact_? How much credit did they give them for holding this holy office? None. And why? Because all but David were impenitent sinners, and rejected with scorn all ‘interference to modify their conduct or characters.’ Reformers are rarely estimated in the age in which they live, whether they be called prophets or apostles, or abolitionists, or what not. They stand on the rock of Truth, and calmly look down upon the careering thunder-clouds, the tempest, and the roaring waves, because they well know that where the atmosphere is surcharged with pestilential vapors, a conflict of the elements _must_ take place, before it can be purified by that moral electricity, beautifully typified by the cloven tongues that sat upon _each_ of the heads of the 120 disciples who were convened on the day of Pentecost. Such men and women expect to be ‘blamed and opposed, because their measures are deemed inexpedient, and calculated to increase rather than diminish the evil to be cured.’ They know full well, that _intellectual_ greatness cannot give _moral_ perception--therefore, _those who have no clear views of the irresistibleness of moral power, cannot see the efficacy of moral means_. They say with the apostle, ‘The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.’ We know full well, that northern men and women laugh at the inefficacy of Anti-Slavery measures; _but slaveholders never have ridiculed them_: not that their moral perceptions are any clearer than those of our northern opponents, but where men’s _interests_ and _lust of power_ are immediately affected by moral effort, they instinctively feel that it is so, and tremble for the result.