We preach the Gospel to arouse men, they to subdue them; we to awaken, they to soothe; we to inspire self-reliance, they submission; we to drive them forward in growth, they to repress and prune down growth; we to convert them into men, they to make them content to be beasts of burden!
Beecher contrasts the aims of Gospel preaching with the oppressive intentions of slaveholders.
Share
More from Henry Ward Beecher
I am quite aware that the subject of Slavery has been regarded, by many, as sectional; and the agitation of it in the North needless, and injurious to our peace and the country's welfare.
Whatever may have been the evils, the agitation has only come through men, not from them.
Remember, that New-England brought to America those principles which every State in the Union has more or less thoroughly adopted.
Right would be a word as much out of place as among birds and beasts.