The Trial of Theodore Parker: For the "Misdemeanor" of a Speech in Faneuil Hall against Kidnapping, before the Circuit Court of the United States, at Boston, April 3, 1855, with the DefenceParker, Theodore
Religion
The Trial of Theodore Parker: For the "Misdemeanor" of a Speech in Faneuil Hall against Kidnapping, before the Circuit Court of the United States, at Boston, April 3, 1855, with the Defence
Parker, Theodore
Antislavery movements -- Massachusetts -- Boston; United States -- Fugitive slave law (1850)
"Well, my brethren, these are only the beginning of sorrows.
There will be other victims yet; this will not settle the
question. What shall we do? I think I am a calm man and a
cool man, and I have a word or two to say as to what we
shall do. Never obey the law. Keep the law of God. Next I
say, resist not evil with evil; resist not now with
violence. Why do I say this? Will you tell me that I am a
coward? Perhaps I am; at least I am not afraid to be called
one. Why do I say, then, do not now resist with violence?
Because it is not time just yet; it would not succeed. If I
had the eloquence that I sometimes dream of, which goes into
a crowd of men, and gathers them in its mighty arm, and
sways them as the pendent boughs of yonder elm shall be
shaken by the summer breeze next June, I would not give that
counsel. I would call on men, and lift up my voice like a
trumpet through the whole land, until I had gathered
millions out of the North and the South, and they should
crush slavery for ever, as the ox crushes the spider
underneath his feet. But such eloquence is given to no man.
It was not given to the ancient Greek who 'shook the arsenal
and fulmined over Greece.' He that so often held the nobles
and the mob of Rome within his hand, had it not. He that
spoke as never man spake, and who has since gathered two
hundred millions to his name, had it not. No man has it. The
ablest must wait for time! It is idle to resist here and
now. It is not the hour. If in 1765 they had attempted to
carry out the Revolution by force, they would have failed.
Had it failed, we had not been here to-day. There would have
been no little monument at Lexington 'sacred to liberty and
the rights of mankind' honoring the men who 'fell in the
cause of God and their country.' No little monument at
Concord; nor that tall pile of eloquent stone at Bunker
Hill, to proclaim that 'Resistance to tyrants is obedience
to God.' Success is due to the discretion, heroism,
calmness, and forbearance of our fathers: let us wait our
time. It will come--perhaps will need no sacrifice of
blood."[215]
[Footnote 215: 2 Parker's Occasional Sermons, p. 334-337, 343-348,
351, 352.]
Gentlemen, I think Judge Finch could construct a misdemeanor out of
these words; you will find in them nothing but the plain speech of a
minister of the Christian religion.
On the 6th of July, 1851, I preached "Of the three chief Safeguards of
Society," and said:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account