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that men can have the spirit of Christ, who hold their fellow-creatures in bondage; -I do not believe it is right or consistent for abolitionists to support a pro-slavery priesthood, or recognise a pro-slavery church as a religious body; I do not believe that it is right for Christians to imprison, hang or butcher their enemies ;-I do not believe that governments of human contrivance, upheld by military power, and administered by wicked rulers, are divine; - I do not believe in the necessity of sinning against God, or being always more or less in bondage to the devil-I do not believe that Christ is unable to save his people from their sins in the present life, or that the world may not be overcome, through faith, by those who dwell in it; I do not believe in holiness of time, but in holiness of heart; I do not believe in a worldly sanctuary and ordinances of divine service, but in the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not man, and in spiritual worship and communion, without the intervention of any types or figures; and, finally, I do not believe in making religion a thing of circumstance, time or place something distinct from the every-day pursuits and avocations of life—but earnestly maintain, with Him who was ranked among the offscouring of all things, that, whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, we should do all to the glory of God. This is the head and front of my infidelity.' How far it is dishonorable to God, or hostile to the temporal or eternal interests of man, I leave the reader to decide, according to the light that is in him.

Before the Liberator was established, I doubt whether, on either side of the Atlantic, there existed a newspaper or periodical that admitted its opponents to be freely and impartially heard through its columns as freely as its friends. Without boasting, I claim to have set an example of fairness and magnanimity, in this respect, such as had never been

set before; cheerfully conceding to those who were hostile to my views, on any subject discussed in the Liberator, not only as much space as I, or as others agreeing with me, might occupy, but even more, if they desired it. From this course, I have never deviated. Nay, more; I have not waited for opponents to send in their original contributions, but, in the absence of these, have constantly transferred their articles, published in other periodicals, to my own paper, without prompting from any quarter. In this manner, I have laid before my readers thousands of columns of matter, strongly denunciatory of my sentiments, crowded with sweeping misrepresentations of my designs, and bitterly unjust in regard to the anti-slavery enterprise. To these, I have seldom appended a word of comment, to show their folly or malignity. Can any other editor in the world say as much?

For the hundredth time I repeat it, the Liberator is an independent journal, devoted to the abolition of slavery in particular, and the cause of humanity in general; that it is not, never has been, and, while it is mine, I am quite sure, never will be, the organ of any anti-slavery society, or any other organization whatever; that, for its support, it is solely dependent on its subscription list; that its aim is to reform, not merely to please; and that it claims to be animated by the apostolic injunction, Prove all things-hold fast that which is good.' Hence it is not only unjust, but extremely base, to make any anti-slavery society responsible for what appears in its columns, and equally absurd and unreasonable to complain that it is open to the discussion of other questions besides that of chattel slavery; and most unjust is it to hold me responsible for the views of my correspondents, any further than they are approved by me. Those who do not want, or cannot tolerate such a paper, have a very simple remedy at hand, so far as they are concerned→→→

either not to subscribe for it, or, if they are subscribers, to discontinue it whenever they think proper. I mean that the Liberator shall be a FREE PRESS, in a comprehensive and manly sense; and I advise those who cannot endure free discussion to beware how they give it any countenance. But to those who believe with JEFFERSON, that' error of opinion may be safely tolerated where reason is left free to combat it,' I present the Liberator as a journal conducted in the spirit of absolute independence and entire impartiality. It is as free to those who believe in eternizing slavery, as it is to the friends of immediate emancipation; as free to the advocates of war, as it is to those of peace; as free to the believers in the necessity of the gallows, as it is to those who plead for the entire abolition of capital punishment; as free to those who maintain the holiness of the first or seventh day of the week, as it is to those who esteem every day alike; as free to those who believe in the plenary inspiration of the Bible, as it is to those who do not; as free to those who regard woman as subordinate to man, as to those who believe that the rights of the sexes are equal; and so on to the end of the catalogue. Now, then, whenever any person withdraws his subscription, or refuses any longer to contribute to the National Anti-Slavery Bazaar, or the funds of the American Anti-Slavery Society, on account of both sides of every question being allowed an impartial hearing in the Liberator, or because he discovers in the paper sentiments which he deems heretical, I find no difficulty in reading the mind and spirit of that person, like an open book, printed in very legible characters; and at once come to the conclusion, that his mind is narrow, or his spirit cowardly, or his confidence in the truth weaker than a bulrush, or his regard for the perishing bondman of a very superficial stamp. For whoever is strong in the truth, never runs from the advocate of error; whoever delights in progress,

believes in probing and testing all things; whoever admires freedom, likes equally well free discussion; whoever 'remembers them that are in bonds as bound with them,' will never sacrifice their cause to gratify a sectarian spirit.

I sincerely pity all bigots, pharisees, formalists, timeservers, and the like; for they are ever querulous, uncomfortable, suspicious, cowardly, and proscriptive of the true and good. These I expect to anathematise the Liberator, and to be utterly unable to read its pages with composure. To my ears, their mingled outcries against me of infidelity, incendiarism, treason, fanaticism,' are like strains of melody; and so long as these fill the air, I shall neither ask nor desire better evidences of the rectitude of my course, or the efficacy of my labors.

Sonnet to the Lew Year.

Now let there be on earth an end of sin,

And all oppression cease throughout the world;

The glorious reign of HOLINESS begin,

And Satan's empire to the dust be hurled!

Let heavenly PEACE her final victory win!

Let WAR's red banner be for ever furled!
Resolve, Mankind! to love and bless each other;
Forget each hateful caste, each jarring creed;
Behold in every man a friend and brother,
And minister to him as he hath need.
Are ye not children of a common Father?

Then to His will implicitly give heed :—

So Crime and Poverty shall disappear,
And perfect bliss shall crown each new-born Year.

Extracts from a Fourth of July Oration.

I PRESENT myself as the advocate of my enslaved countrymen, at a time when their claims cannot be shuffled out of sight, and on an occasion which entitles me to a respectful hearing in their behalf. If I am asked to prove their title to liberty, my answer is, that the Fourth of July is not a day to be wasted in establishing self-evident truths.' In the name of the God, who has made us of one blood, and in whose image we are created; in the name of the Messiah, who came to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; I demand the immediate emancipation of those who are pining in slavery on the American soil, whether they are fattening for the shambles in Maryland and Virginia, or are wasting, as with a pestilent disease, on the cotton and sugar plantations of Alabama and Louisiana ; whether they are male or female, young or old, vigorous or infirm. I make this demand, not for the children merely, but the parents also; not for one, but for all; not with restrictions and limitations, but unconditionally. I assert their perfect equality with ourselves, as a part of the human race, and their inalienable right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That this demand is founded in justice, and is therefore irresistible, the whole nation is this day acknowledging, as upon oath at the bar of the world. And not until, by a formal vote, the people repudiate the Declaration of Independence as a false and dangerous instrument, and cease to keep this festival in honor of liberty, as unworthy of note or remembrance; not until they spike every cannon, and muffle every bell, and disband every procession, and quench every bonfire, and gag every orator; not until they brand Washington, and Adams, and Jefferson, and Hancock,