Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker volume 6.djvu/247

234 "Before God, I will say no word for freedom or against it, in behalf of the slave-holder or of his victim/' the anti-Slavery enterprise would have been further on than it is at this day. I say, that, notwithstanding the majestic memory of William Ellery Channing, a magnanimous man, whose voice rung like a trumpet through the continent, following that other clearer, higher, more widely sounding voice, still spared to us on earth (Mr. Garrison's); notwithstanding the eloquent words which do honour to the name of Beecher and the heart of humanity; notwithstanding the presence of this dear good soul (referring to Samuel J. May), whose presence in the anti-Slavery cause has been like the month whose name he bears, and has brought a whole lapful of the sweetest flowers,—the Church has hindered more than it has helped. For the tallest heads in the great sects were lifted up to blaspheme the God of Righteousness, and commit the sin which Mr. Remond says is second only to Atheism,—the denial of humanity. While the Atheist openly denied God, many a minister openly denied man. I think the minister committed the worst sin; for he sinned in the name of God, and hypocritically: he wrought his blasphemy that he might gain his daily bread, while the Atheist perilled his bread and his reputation when he stood up, and said, "I think there is no God." I have no respect for Atheism; but, when a man in the pulpit blasphemes the Divinity of God by treading the humanity of man under His anointed foot, I say I would take my chance in the next world with him who speaks out of his own heart, in his blindness, and says, "There is no God," rather than share the lot of that man who, in the name of Jesus and of the Father, treads down humanity, and declares there is no higher law.

There are a great many direct anti-Slavery forces.

1. The conduct of the slave-holders in the South, and their allies, has awakened the indignation of the North. The Fugitive Slave Bill was an anti-Slavery measure. We said so six years ago; now we know it. Kidnapping is anti-Slavery; it makes anti-Slavery men. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise stirred anti-Slavery sentiment in Northern hearts. The conduct of affairs in Kansas, Judge Kane's wickedness, and the horrible outrage at Cincinnati,