Communications: For The Signal Of Liberty: The Jews--And Ame...

"Hisfory ís Philosophy teaching by example." Is it quite preposterous to insiiiutc acomparison bctwpen the Jewsof our Saviour's time, and the Slaveholding Christinns of America? - I think not.- ■e know that thero is much sall in the American Cluirchcs that has not lost its savor. But is there enough to save tho putrifying mass, rnay be a question. - There is much light. But is there enough to pieree the supenncumbent d-irkness and dissipale it? We hope there is - but that Ihat light must shine. It mut not be concealed. Churches, like nations, ha%e their rewovdsand punishmenis in this world. - They are built up, or broken ín pieces, as their course picases or displeases the great Head. The Jew of our Saviour's time was a great stickler for the lold yathsS Moses and the prophets he believed in. wliom his fathors killed. He gnrnished their Repül. chers, and said f he had lived in their day he had not done so. But when one came in the spirit Sc power of EÜjih,he said, he hath adevil. And when one greater than Elias- greater than Jonas, or Solomon, came, he shouted, cruci fy. crucify him! Henee all the righteous blood that had ever been shed from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias the son of Bnrachia?, who was slain between the porch and the altar, was required of that generation. And how has the American Church in mnny instances trteaed the Repr'ïsentalives of Jesus? - Bound them in chains - bought them and sold them like catile - whipped them and worked them like beasts or bi r U n- snatched from them the key of knowledge, and the word of life -ered.thosewhom God had joined in holiest ties - husband from wife, and wife from husband - parent from child, and child from parent. Yes, and then, as il' to make damnation doublé sure - to cnp the climax of hypocrisy, they have sold a brother to the soul driver, and put the price (accursed of God as it is) into the treasury of the Lord to send the Gospel - Glad Tidings, to the poor of other lands! Who is not p rompled to exelaim with the maddened Othello in view of such doings - "Never pray more: abandon all remorse; On h'rror's heaJ. hrrr.rsaccumulate: Do dueds to make Mcaven wepp.all earth amazcd. For noiliins can'st tliou to damnaiion add Greater than thai!l ' VVhat marked the Jewish Church asfitted for destruction? Did the Scribes and Pharisees bind heavy burdens, grievous to be borne, wjjich they would not touch with one of their fingers? - What were all their mpositions ar.d exactions compared with the oppressions inflicted by American Ecclesiastics! "Devoured widow's houses" did they? - O, "f these modern Pharisees were satisfied with houses and lands,or an thing that Jewish avarice coveted, we might almost extend to them the hand of fellowship.' These devour whole families with houses and lands and then their unappeasnble appetite is undamped - their glutless maw unfilled. - Their cry is still, 'give! give'! The fabulous dragon oí Wantby that swallowed whole villages was scarcely more voracious. "Received the greater damnation," did they, for their long prayers? These not only make long prayers, but profess tobe the followers and ambassadors of the mcek and lowly Jesus - anointed to proclnim glad tidings to ihe poor - to preach deliverance to the captive, and the opening of the prison, to them tbat are bound. Thus daring the 'dread artillery of Heaven' and plucking the fiery boks on their beads. And will not God break the jaw of the wicked and pluck the spoil from their teethl Doubtless, he will do it by means. He has given it to us, as the great moral enterprise of the age. VVho is engnged in thiswork?-v 'Thcy tithed mint, anise and cumin, and omitthe miglitier matiers of the law, Judgment, Mercy and Faith." Is this characteristic of a Christianity that toleratesSlavery? See the acts of the Triennial Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. They passed certain grave resolutions censuring the practice of dancing, but rejected those whicli called the Ileaven-daring, God-dishonoring Sin of Slavery by iis right name. Admirable consistency! Most consummate hypocrisyü Man-hating,slave-breeding. womanwhipping ecclesiaslics with their foot on their brother's neck - hand-cufis in their pockets - (a literal fact) passing censure upon those who indulge in the venial sin(1) of dancing! O shame! where is thy blush? Whata mighty moral influence for good must such a course have on the world. Was Tetsall, when elling indulgences lo commit the grossest sins, vet gravely rebuking a poor man foreuting meat on Fridoy - less consistent? Again, see the Old School Assembly suspending a brother, for marryingadeceased wife's sister - blindly followlng the Confession of Faith in the misinterpetation of an obscure passage in the Mosaiccode, while the plain unequivoeul law of the ame code - uHe that slealeth a man and selleth hlm, or if he bo found in bis hands, shnll surely ba put to dath,"is totally disregardcd- .and men-stealers, men-holders, men-sellers, predomínate and - control the entire body. Tlie systcm which they thus tolérate, snnction, nnd fot-ter, plncos in their commuriion thousands whom it is impossible to discipline for any brench of tlie7th commandment. Inccsts the most shockmg nnd revolling in their character are known tooecur. See 'igain, their recent decisión that Baptism'toy a Calbolic priest is not valid, right in thft face of their own Book, wbichsays the cfficncy of the ordinances s not dependant on the character of ihe administrator. And their denial of the sinfulness of slnveholding, in diametrical opposition to tonner discus ious! And now I would ask, what eharacteristic of the Ji-wisli church - what denunciation conlinued in that most JerifTic of all discourscs- (23d Mnthew) wliicl) feli from the lips of II ira who spake as never man spnke, is not applicable lo tho American slaveholding church? But if you apply the very words of our Saviour in cases sociearly paralleled, il is called viïupzraiion, denunciation, and rebuked n the forni of a "handsato" that candonogood! Tbough your heart may be swelling with love for the oppressor ns well as the oppressed, yet if you exposé sin, you may expect persecution - for the sinner's cry is still, 'Prophesy not unto us right things - speak unto us smooth tliings, prophesy deceits." But our duty is plain. Thou shalt in anywise rebuke thy neighbor and not suffer sin upon him.