of harmonizing with our creeds. A man who has adopted the creed of
a materialist, is entirely incompetent to receive, entertain, and
represent a spiritual fact. My creed is the window at which I sit,
and look at all the world of truth outside of me. All truth is
tinted by the medium through which it passes to reach my mind; and
such is my imperfection and my weakness, that I could not raise my
window immediately, and place my soul in direct, vital contact
with the great atmosphere of truth, if I would.

But if bigotry be such a bar to the correct perception of truth,
what shall be said of self-interest and personal vices of appetite
and passion? It is possible for no man who owns a slave and finds
profit in such ownership, to receive the truth touching the right
of man to himself, and the moral wrong of slavery. We have too
much evidence that even creeds must bend to self-interest, and
that any traffic will be regarded as morally right which is
pecuniarily profitable. Once, in the creed of the slaveholders,
slavery was admitted to be wrong, but that was when it was looked
upon as temporary in its character, and, on the whole, evil in its
results to all concerned. Now, when it is sought to be made a
permanent institution, because it seems to be the only source of
the wealth of a section, it has become right; and even the
slave-trade logically falls into the category of laudable and
legitimate commerce. It is impossible for a people who have allowed
pecuniary interest to deprave their moral sense to this extent,
to perceive and receive any sound political truth, or to apprehend
the spirit and temper of those who are opposed to them. The same
may be said of the liquor traffic. The act of selling liquor is
looked upon with horror by those who stand outside, and who have
an eye upon its consequences; but the seller deems it legitimate,