In page 25 is the following:—­

“The Rev. James Smylie, A.M., of the Amite Presbytery, Mississippi, in a pamphlet, published by him a short time ago, in favor of American slavery, says:—­’If slavery be a sin, and advertising and apprehending slaves, with a view to restore them to their masters, is a direct violation of the Divine law; and if the buying, selling, or holding a slave, for the sake of gain, is a heinous sin and scandal; then, verily, three-fourths of all the Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians, in eleven States of the Union, are of the devil.  They ‘hold,’ if they do not buy and sell slaves, and, with few exceptions, they hesitate not to ’apprehend and restore’ runaway slaves, when in their power.’”

Yet, in the face of evidence so overwhelming as this, showing how the whole moral atmosphere of the Northern States is tainted with pro-slavery corruption, the abolitionists are frequently taunted with the question, what has the North to do with slavery?  It is, however, a part of their vocation to bear contempt and reproach.  They know they are at the right end of the lever, though at some apparent distance from the object to be moved. Their mission is to correct public opinion in the free States.  Let us suppose, for a moment, this object attained—­the whole slave-holding portion of the churches cut off, as a diseased and corrupt excrescence; the national literature purified, and the entire community pervaded by sound Christian feeling—­a feeling which should abhor all participation, in word or deed, with the guilt of slavery; and how could the South maintain, for a single day, the perpetual warfare, which would be thus waged against her from without, and seconded by alarmed consciences in her own citadel?

The rise of the present abolition movement dates from the year 1832, when a few persons met at Philadelphia, and adopted and signed a declaration of their sentiments.  He, however, who would trace anti-slavery sentiments to their source, must go back to the first era of Christianity, and to the authoritative promulgation of the Divine law of love by the lips of the Savior of mankind himself.  In the darkest times, since that period, the true doctrine of the unlawfulness of slavery has never been wholly lost, being in fact a part of the imperishable substance of vital Christianity.

From 1832 until the division referred to in an early portion of this work, the anti-slavery societies multiplied with extraordinary rapidity.  The following account of the present state of the cause is furnished by my friend, John G. Whittier.