heir hopes of success in their project, on the
success which crowned the efforts of British philanthropists in the case
of slavery, and on the success that has attended efforts to banish
intemperance? And do not these two cases differ entirely from the
Abolition movement in this main point, that one is an effort to convince
men of _their own_ sins, and the other is an effort to convince men of
the sins of _other persons_?

The second reason I would urge against joining the Abolition Society is,
that its character and measures are not either peaceful or Christian in
tendency, but they rather are those which tend to generate party spirit,
denunciation, recrimination, and angry passions.

But before bringing evidence to sustain this position, I wish to make a
distinction between the _men_ who constitute an association, and the
_measures_ which are advocated and adopted.

I believe, that as a body, Abolitionists are men of pure morals, of
great honesty of purpose, of real benevolence and piety, and of great
activity in efforts to promote what they consider the best interests of
their fellow men. I believe, that, in making efforts to abolish slavery,
they have taken measures, which they supposed were best calculated to
bring this evil to an end, with the greatest speed, and with the least
danger and suffering to the South. I do not believe they ever designed
to promote disunion, or insurrection, or to stir up strife, or that they
suppose that their measures can be justly characterized by the
peculiarities I have specified. I believe they have been urged forward
by a strong feeling of patriotism, as well as of religious duty, and
that they have made great sacrifices of feeling, character, time, and
money to promote what they believed to be the cause of humanity and the
service of God. I regard individuals among them, as having taken a bold
and courageous stand, in maintaining the liberty of free discussion, the
liberty of speech and of the press; though this however is somewhat
abated by the needless provocations by which they caused those
difficulties and hazards they so courageously sustained. In speaking
thus of Abolitionists as a body, it is not assumed that there are not
bad men found in this party as well as in every other; nor that among
those who are good men, there are not those who may have allowed party
spirit to take the place of Christian principle; men who have exhibited
a mournful destitution of Christian cha