to be winked at, because done fanatically,
or with good intentions; for how much mischief may be wrought with good
designs! They have fallen into the common error of enthusiasts, that of
exaggerating their object, of feeling as if no evil existed but that
which they opposed, and as if no guilt could be compared with that of
countenancing and upholding it. The tone of their newspapers, as far as
I have seen them, has often been fierce, bitter, and abusive." p. 133.
"Another objection to their movements is, that they have sought to
accomplish their object by a system of agitation; that is, by a system
of affiliated societies gathered, and held together, and extended, by
passionate eloquence." "The abolitionists might have formed an
association; but it should have been an elective one. Men of strong
principles, judiciousness, sobriety, should have been carefully sought
as members. Much good might have been accomplished by the co-operation
of such philanthropists. Instead of this, the abolitionists sent forth
their orators, some of them transported with fiery zeal, to sound the
alarm against slavery through the land, to gather together young and
old, pupils from schools, females hardly arrived at years of discretion,
the ignorant, the excitable, the impetuous, and to organize these into
associations for the battle against oppression. Very unhappily they
preached their doctrine to the colored people, and collected these into
societies.[261] To this mixed and excitable multitude, minute,
heartrending descriptions of slavery were given in the piercing tones of
passion; and slaveholders were held up as monsters of cruelty and
crime." p. 136. "The abolitionists often speak of Luther's vehemence as
a model to future reformers. But who, that has read history, does not
know that Luther's reformation was accompanied by tremendous miseries
and crimes, and that its progress was soon arrested? and is there not
reason to fear, that the fierce, bitter, persecuting spirit, which he
breathed into the work, not only tarnished its glory, but limited its
power? One great principle which we should lay down as immovably true,
is, that if a good work can not be carried on by the calm,
self-controlled, benevolent spirit of Christianity, then the time for
doing it has not come. God asks not the aid of our vices. He can
overrule them for good, but they are not to be chosen instruments of
human happiness." p. 138. "The adoption of the common system o