"How all things have been sacrificed to this; all things made tributary to this! For the salvation of men how willing God was to employ the cruel wrath of human covetousness to inaugurate the great movement."

Now, when we speak of the origin of the American Board, or of Foreign Missions in this country or in England, or of Home Missions, and refer the plan to human agency as of noble and grand "intent and execution," we mean that the plan, movement and means were adopted as methods and instrumentalities well adapted to their end, and worthy to be chosen for that object. Does Dr. Stiles also mean that in this "stupendous scheme of Providence" the Lord chose the African slave trade, and slavery, as worthy instrumentalities for carrying forward His plan of salvation? And does he give glory to God for His wisdom and preference of so excellent means as the slave trade and slavery, to save Africa? Then let him be consistent and give some honor to men too for choosing the same, and for now practicing them, provided only that they seem to be guided by a purpose in sympathy with Africa's salvation. Let him condemn no one for having ever engaged in slavery or the slave trade, not even a single soul of all the slave pirates of the last century who sold their cargoes in America, not even Ghezo, the monster savage slave-king of Dahomey, for he sold his slaves to traders from Christian slave countries; let him blame no one of them all except for failure to have as good a motive as they ought,― and only for that failure.

Dr. Stiles calls upon us "to ponder this stupendous scheme of Providence," the divine election of the slave trade and slavery," the second," and "the fourth" "historical facts" "of the successive steps" "peradventure of the most philosophical and sublime missionary movement under heaven." But if you praise God for the choice of slavery and the slave trade, do not blame men for the same choice; only blame them because they are wanting in good motives, no matter what their iniquities. If only they have a motive to do good by doing evil that good may come, praise them. Praise men for all the pious frauds they have committed under heaven! Praise the Romish Church for all her assumptions of divine preroga

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tives, for her oppressions, her persecutions, her murders of heretics; unless, indeed, it can be shown that she has not deceived herself, in all these abominations, into the persuasion that she was doing God service.

But these conclusions are too much even for Dr. Stiles. Though he calls on us "to study out this bold missionary movement of heaven upon earth," this selection of the slave trade and slavery for "that spiritual achievement, the religious good of the heathen," yet, when he comes to the case of man, he shrinks from the legitimate deductions of his own philosophy. He does, after all, denominate slavery and the slave trade as "man's wickedness;" he does speak of "man's outrageous cruelty in making slaves; (Is not that incendiarism?) he does say that "against the original institution of slavery, violence could not be too decided," and that "in many of its present aspects hostility against it is still justifiable." Now, for our own part, we are not going to "ponder a stupendous scheme of Providence" and admire it, and praise its Author, when the same thing in man we call "wickedness," and pronounce it "outrageous cruelty." We hope we have another way to worship and honor God. And what is "wickedness" and "outrageous cruelty" in man, we are not going to entitle "historical facts" "of the successive steps peradventure of the most philosophical and sublime missionary movement under heaven." When we do that, we will raise a pæan of glory to Judas for his higher "sublime missionary movement" in helping forward the tragedy of the cross, though we detract somewhat from his praise, on account of a defect in his motives. Why does not Dr. Stiles call on us "to ponder the stupendous scheme of Providence," "and see that spiritual achievement, the religious good of" mankind, in God's employment of all the hatred, and lies, and murderous intents of the Scribes and Pharisees, resulting finally in the death of His Son-in order to accomplish the Atonement? Does Dr. Stiles preach in that way? It strikes us as going one step further than the Scriptures. We have heard of God's causing the wrath of man to praise him, and restraining the remainder; we have heard of his

doing good despite of evil; but we do not find in the Bible that he has concocted iniquity and set men upon it as a "sublime missionary movement " for their salvation. Christ's atoning death would have been just as dear to us if he had accomplished it by a second, or the first agony in the Garden, rather than while suffering under the traitorous act of Judas, and the murderous hatred of unbelieving Jews. Surely, Dr. Stiles's argument is to no purpose, unless he wishes to treat slavery and the slave trade with leniency and charity because they are "historical facts" of the "sublime missionary movement." But we have no respect or patience with sin for any such reason, nor do we believe God has. He declares that it is that abominable thing which he hates. To close our mouths and refuse to rebuke the guilty supporters of slavery and the slave trade, would be to enter into a conspiracy with those who are responsible for much of "man's outrageous cruelty in making slaves." Will Dr. Stiles ask us to do that? And yet he does, by his course of reasoning.

But will he say that he means, only, that notwithstanding these great iniquities God has given salvation to some of the victims of the slave trade, and to some of their descendants? Why, then, has he not said it, and not set himself to an exaltation of slavery and the slave commerce? In his preaching of the Gospel does he exalt sin and call it a "stupendous scheme of Providence" on account of its potency in affording the opportunity to man to be saved by Christ's Atonement? Poor Angels, then! For what shall they praise God? Does he expend any of his oratorical genius in exalting the oppressions of the Established Church of England which drove the Pilgrims and Puritans to the New England shore? Does he commend to our respect and affection the exorbitant and unnatural demands of the mother country, in consequence of which at length the freedom of the American Colonies was declared and maintained?

But we are not questioning Dr. Stiles alone. He is the representative of a class.

"Mrs. E. J. Tracy, writing to The Memphis Appeal from Holly Springs, Miss., having seen some negroes going to meeting on Sunday, says: 'As with the ra

pidity of thought I glance from such a scene to benighted Africa, sunk in moral degradation, over whose millions of human souls the darkness of heathenism folds her sombre wings in rayless night, my heart swells with gratitude to the Great Father of all for the institution of American slavery.'"

Then she may thank God for sin, for without sin there would have been no Redeemer from sin. Is it, indeed, better to sin and then by mercy and great sacrifice be saved from it, than never to sin at all, but always be holy as the sinless angels? For which ought she to thank God, for "man's wickedness and "outrageous cruelty in making slaves," or that God, despite slavery and all sin, has saved some of the African race and will save more? Is it not high insult to God to thank him for that which he affirms on oath that he hates? Men and women should beware! One form of the unpardonable sin may lie in this direction.

"In his work on Slavery, Dr. Smith says: 'The number of Africans who have died in the communion of the Methodist and Baptist Churches to the present time, and who, therefore, we may assume were Christianized by their residence in this country, exceeds the whole number of all the heathen who have been Christianized by the missionary labors of all the Protestant denominations of Christendom since the days of Luther."

What if it were true? Which has been the Saviour, slavery, or Jesus Christ? Some men have already made slavery their idol. They are robbing God in giving honor and love to it. We have not yet learned whether Dr. Smith has a book on the great benefits accruing from the Devil's fall and Adam's original sin, or on the immensely greater number saved since than before Judas's betrayal of his Master, and the final culmination of Jewish hatred and spite against Christ Jesus! We wonder whether he has made a mathematical calculation of the superior advantages for the salvation of men which have grown out of the persecution of Christians, and the denial of their freedom, which early led to the settlement of this country by many colonies of the true church. Can he tell us how many more are converted in consequence of that iniquity than would have been without it? Does he call us to ponder that oppression as one part of a "stupendous scheme of Providence," and "one of the successive

steps" of a philosophical and sublime missionary movement?" We should like to know whether he has become the disciple of Mohammedanism because it is not so bad as Paganism, or whether he has adopted the Romish Church because more within her pale have been saved (though despite all that makes her Romanism) than would have been saved without her existence?

The author of the "South Side" has the following "cheerful view" of the subject: "Such have been the marvelous acts of Divine grace to the Africans, in bringing, through the cupidity and sinfulness of men, to this country, and saving a great multitude of them, that it requires neither strong faith nor fancy to suppose that this work might still go on, in the form of interchange of the blacks between Africa and the Southern States. The South has learned to be, and is fitted to be, the protector and friend of the Africans." ("South Side View of Slavery," p. 118.) Dr. Adams's "South Side" was written some years since, but we suppose his conception of this pleasant "interchange of the blacks between Africa and the Southern States" must be exemplified in a recent case, intelligence of which has just come to hand.

"NEW YORK, Dec. 21.-Advices from Liberia, Africa, to latter part of September, report a new and most extraordinary phase of the slave trade. The Rebecca, a Baltimore clipper, commanded by Capt. Carter, arrived there in July last, with forty-two colored emigrants from New Orleans, liberated from the McDonough estate. She was under charter from the Colonization Society, but having landed the free blacks, she moved off to the Southwest coast, and took in a full cargo of slaves, with which freight she is now bound home."

This, then, is the way to operate set the Colonization Society fully a going, in chartering vessels and carrying to Africa liberated slaves of this country, that have in themselves and their ancestors a long time enjoyed the "protection and friendship of the South," in the fullest play of the chattel principle and all the slave code enactments, and then foment quarrels and wars among the native Africans, help forward the difficulties by grants of whiskey, firearms, &c., buy up all the prisoners and impress on board the slave ships as many other African negroes as possible, and so keep the transportation