to tell you that slavery is a curse, debasing in
its effects, cruel in its operations, fatal in its continuance. The day
and the occasion require no such revelation. I do not claim the
discovery as my own, that 'all men are born equal,' and that among their
inalienable rights are 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'
Were I addressing any other than a free and Christian assembly, the
enforcement of this truth might be pertinent. Neither do I intend to
analyze the horrors of slavery for your inspection, nor to freeze your
blood with authentic recitals of savage cruelty. Nor will time allow me
to explore even a furlong of that immense wilderness of suffering which
remains unsubdued in our land. I take it for granted that the existence
of these evils is acknowledged, if not rightly understood. My object is
to define and enforce our duty, as Christians and philanthropists."

This was, by way of exordium, the powerful skirmish line of the address.
Assuming the existence of the evil, he advanced boldly to his theme,
viz., the duty of abolishing it. To this end he laid down four
propositions, as a skillful general plants his cannon on the heights
overlooking and commanding his enemies' works. The first, broadly
stated, asserted the kinship of the slave to the free population of the
republic. They were men; they were natives of the country; they were in
dire need. They were ignorant, degraded, morally and socially. They were
the heathen at home, whose claims far outranked those in foreign lands;
they were higher than those of the "Turks or Chinese, for they have the
privileges of instruction; higher than the Pagans, for they are not
dwellers in a Gospel land; higher than our red men of the forest, for we
do not bind them with gyves, nor treat them as chattels."

Then he turned hotly upon the Church, exclaiming: "What has Christianity
done by direct effort for our slave population? Comparatively nothing.
She has explored the isles of the ocean for objects of commiseration;
but, amazing stupidity! she can gaze without emotion on a multitude of
miserable beings at home, large enough to constitute a nation of
freemen, whom tyranny has heathenized by law. In her public services
they are seldom remembered, and in her private donations they are
forgotten. From one end of the country to the other her charitable
societies form golden links of benevolence, and scatter their
contributions like rain drops over a parched heath; bu