T HE MART Y R.

A DISCOURSE,

IN COMMEMORATION

OF

THE MARTYRDOM

OF

THE REV. ELIJAH P. LOVEJOY,

DELIVERED IN BROADWAY TABERNACLE, NEW YORK; AND IN THE BLEECKER STREET CHURCH, UTICA.

BY BERIAH GREEN,

PRESIDENT OF THE ONEIDA INSTITUTE.

PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY,

NO. 143 NASSAU STREET.

DISCOURSE.

"When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”—Acts vii. 54—60.

THE primitive Christians, as witnesses to the truths of the Gospel, seem at first to have been known as martyrs. It was not long before some of them were called to seal their testimony with their blood. Of these, Stephen and Antipas seem to have been distinguished for the excellence of their character and the extent of their usefulness. Since their death, the awful eircumstance of scaling one's testimony to the truth with his blood, has entered into the definition of a martyr. When I say to the truth, I do not deny, that the advocate of error may maintain his bad cause at the expense of his life. His, too, may be a death of violence, inflicted by "wicked hands." But, though he may thus be a victim, he is not a martyr. Strong claims he may justly have on our compassion, but he is not entitled to our heart-felt esteem and profound reverence. These gems befit only the martyr's crown.

The facts belonging to "the Book of Martyrs," admit of easy explanation. As endowed with the light of reason, man is capable of seeing and applying those elemental truths, which are known by the name of principles. These are called self-evident, as being too plain and certain to admit of proof and illustration from any foreign sources. Necessary they are called, as they command our assent. They are called universal, since they commend themselves as undeniable to every human understanding. And as they depend on none of the contingencies of time and space, they are eternal. In being able to discover and apply these truths consists especially the image of God, which is constitutionally im.

pressed upon the human soul. But man has senses also. These con. nect him with the world of time and space. Here he finds multiplied objects, which are adapted to interest his feelings, to supply his wants, to please his taste, to gratify his passions-in a thousand ways to contribute to his enjoyment. All these objects he ought to estimate and dispose of in the light of those principles, which the reason furnishes. Thus would reason, will, and passion, be in delightful coincidence with each other. Thus the sweetest harmony would result from the operation of the human powers. But, instead of being the possessor of pas. sions, man has become possessed by his passions. They have gotten the dominion over him. Thus has he become a voluntary slave. He bows, not to the dictates of reason, but to the impulses of passion. The things of sense occupy, engross, control his powers. He thus consents to sink from a place by the side of angels, to a place among the "beasts that perish." He lays himself a victim on the altar of animalism. In all his objects, plans, methods, and exertions, he feels and acts like a mere animal. It is thus in every age with large communities of human creatures. Is it not thus with a majority of the children of Adam? Amidst all this revolt and degradation, and misery, instead of leaving himself "without witness," God opens the lips of his commissioned prophets. They give voice to the principles of reason and the dictates of conscience. The light of neglected truth they pour upon the darkened bosoms of the creatures of sense around them. These start up from their guilty slumbers. They are filled with perplexity, apprehension, and terror. Reason and conscience command them to "turn from their evil ways;" passion impels them onward. Thus they are placed between two conflicting forces. And alas, of "the many" we must say, they resist the authority of reason. But peace cannot be so procured. The conflict rages within. They feel guilty, degraded, wretched, and fearfully exposed to far greater evils than have yet befallen them. What can they do? The voice of rightful authority within them, they are fully bent on disobeying. How earnestly they wish to reduce that voice to silence! To do this they eagerly employ multiplied expedients. But they cannot succeed in their suicidal purpose while the prophet of God--the ally of truth--is continually pouring upon their ears what their reason approves, and what arms against them the terrors of an accusing conscience. Tortured with remorse and blind with rage, they at length "stop their cars," and with loud outcries and murderous violence, "run" upon the messenger of truth, and do him whatever injury they have the power to inflict. This is a brief but just

account of all the persecutions which "the Faithful" have been called to endure, from the murder of Abel to the murder of Lovejoy.

To our fathers it was self-evident, that every one who had the constitution of a man, was entitled to act and to be treated as a man. With them, it was his inalienable right, while he respected the rights of others, to enjoy life, liberty, and to pursue happiness in such objects and by such methods as he might, for reasons of his own, see fit to prefer. This great truth they laid at the basis of the government which they were commissioned to form. To this, every thing was professedly adjusted. But arrangements were admitted totally at variance with it. According to these arrangements, one-sixth part of the people of these United States were to be stripped of every right and robbed of every privilege to which human nature, as such, was declared to have an inalienable claim-they and their posterity were to be reduced to a level with things-to be kept and disposed of as "articles of merchandise." The circumstances in which the young republic was placed, contributed somewhat to conceal the form, or at least to soften the features of this monstrous and horrible anomaly. In the shouts of recent victory, the cries of the oppressed were drowned and lost. With peace came pros. perity. The nation grew rich and powerful. Pride and luxury gradually insinuated themselves. The authority of reason and conscience was less and less generally and reverently regarded. The sway of appetite and passion became continually wider and more powerful. The control of the senses became long ago well nigh resistless and universal. The animal of our nature placed its hoof upon the spiritual and rational of our nature-upon the image of God in the soul of man-to a most mortifying and frightful extent. Indeed, in almost one half of the republic, mankind was divided into two classes of animals, the noble and the ignoble-or in the language of those who made this division-into capitalists and laborers;-the one as animals to be made wholly subservient to the other as animals! And this arrangement seemed to be rapidly gaining favor with those who exerted "a leading influence" in every part of "the Union." The great truth which lay at the basis of our free instittuions, attracted less and less attention-awakened less and less discussion-exerted less and less influence. At length it was to a wide extent looked upon as bed-ridden and obsolete; until men were found among us, who without apprehension, and with slight rebuke from any quarter, proclaimed it "a rhetorical flourish!" Thus were we led, "like an ox to the slaughter," to the brink of destruction!