the first sentiments of the Declaration of Independence_." You find it
difficult to persuade men that Moses and Paul were moved by the Holy Ghost
to sanction the philosophy of Thomas Jefferson! You find it hard to make
men believe that Moses saw in the mount, and Paul had vision in heaven,
that this future _apostle of Liberty_ was inspired by Jesus Christ.

You torture very severely. But the muscles and bones of those old men are
tough and strong. They won't yield under your terrible wrenchings. You get
only groans and mutterings. You claim these voices, I know, as testimony
against slavery. But you cannot torture in secret as in olden times. When
putting the question, you have to let men be present,--who tell us that
Moses and Paul won't speak for you,--that they are silent, like Christ
before Pilate's scourging-men; or, in groans and mutterings,--the voices
of their sorrow and the tones of their indignation,--they rebuke your
pre-judgment of the Almighty when you say if the Bible sanctions slavery,
"it neither ought to be nor could be received by mankind as a divine
revelation."

This, sir, is the _second result_ you have gained by your agitation. You
have brought a thousand Northern ministers of the gospel, with yourself,
to the verge of the same denial of the word of God which they have made,
who are only a little ahead of you in the road you are travelling.



_A Third Result of Agitation._


3. Meanwhile, many of your most pious men, soundest scholars, and
sagacious observers of providence, have been led to study the Bible more