Speeches, Addresses, and Occasional Sermons, Volume 2 (of 3)Parker, Theodore
Religion
Speeches, Addresses, and Occasional Sermons, Volume 2 (of 3)
Parker, Theodore
Sermons, American; Unitarianism
It is said, the abolitionists waste time and wind in denunciation. It is
partly true. I make no doubt it inspires the slaveholder's heart to see
division amongst his foes. I ought to say his friends, for such we are.
He thinks the day of justice is deferred, while the ministers thereof
contend. I do not believe a revolution is to be baptized with
rose-water. I do not believe a great work is to be done without great
passions. It is not to be supposed that the Leviathan of American
Slavery will allow himself to be drawn out of the mire in which he has
made his nest, and grown fat and strong, without some violence and
floundering. When we have caught him fairly, he will put his feet into
the mud to hold on by; he will reach out and catch hold of every thing
that will hold him. He has caught hold of Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster. He
will catch hold of General Cass and General Taylor. He will die, though
slowly, and die hard. Still it is a pity that men who essay to pull him
out, should waste their strength in bickerings with one another, or in
needless denunciation of the leviathan's friends. Call slaveholding,
slaveholding; let us tell all the evils which arise from it, if we can
find language terrible enough; let us show up the duplicity of the
nation, the folly of our wise men, the littleness of our great men, the
baseness of our honorable men, if need be; but all that with no unkind
feelings toward any one. Virtue never appears so lovely as when
destroying sin, she loves the sinner, and seeks to save him. Absence of
love is absence of the strongest power. See how much Mr. Adams lost of
his influence, how much he wasted of his strength, by the violence with
which he pursued persons. I am glad to acknowledge the great services he
performed. He wished to have every man stand on the right side of the
anti-slavery line; but I believe there were some men whom he would like
to have put there with a pitch-fork. On the other hand, Dr. Channing
never lost a moment by attacking a personal foe; and see what he gained
by it! However, I must say this, that no great revolution of opinion and
practice was ever brought about before with so little violence, waste of
force, and denunciation. Consider the greatness of the work: it is to
restore three millions to liberty; a work, in comparison with which the
American Revolution was a little thing. Yet consider the violence, the
denunciation, the persecution, and the long years of war, which that
Revolution cost. I do not wonder that abolitionists are sometimes
violent; I only deplore it. Remembering the provocation, I wonder they
are not more so and more often. The prize is to be run for, "not without
dust and heat."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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