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104 A KENTUCKY BAPTIST-THE BIBLE UNION.

Every Protestant translation of the Scriptures since the Papal defection, has been got up in the face of violent opposition, and prosecuted through the fiery furnace of Papal hostility, arrogance, and infallibility.

We, too, known as the Disciples of Christ, have been made to grow and spread over Protestant Christendom, in less than an ordi nary active life time, wherever our vernacular obtains, and that through the fiery ordeal of a long and fierce controversy, on great fundamental propositions.

And now, an improved version of the Word of Life, in our vernacu lar, and in the currency of the present day, is no sooner proposed, than the same spirit of opposition and contumely scowls, with portentous fury, on any one that will presume to meddle with the timehonored and consecrated errors of King James' Version and generation, although the book, so regarded, has been altered in many points, by whom, probably, not one of the opponents of this great undertaking can name.

I was called to take some interest in this movement, and have done so; and for this, I am now rudely assailed by a disguised and masked Kentucky Baptist, whose readings and mine, it seems, on some matters very remotely connected with the subject, have not been just the same; or, perhaps, my old recollections, and their recent readings, happen to be at isuse on some historical matters, that have as much to do with the contents of the New Testament, as the sheep skin and lettering on the cover has to do with the 119th Psalm or the ninth commandment. True, the Greek article has greatly interested this very learned and profound sciolist-nay, rather, grammarian; and that being the first part of speech, it was in good taste and style that he should commence with it. He has, indeed, given to Dr. Macknight and myself a very gratuitous lesson on 1 Co., xiv. 27, for which I must thank him, as the Doctor cannot at present, being on a visit to Paradise. But as we are before the public in our proper person, naked and unmasked, and as the "Kentucky Baptist" has very modestly concealed himself, we cannot, of course, approach him, not knowing whether he is in the lion's den, with the motto over its entrance, Nulla vestigia retrorsum; or, in a mouses nest, under the appropriate enigma, Mus currit in campis sine pedibus suis. Let this very profound critic come out in his own real and proper personality, and we shall look at him, with all the respect and admiration due to his great genius and profound critical attainments.

I stand prepared to maintain my position on this great subject,

although I might have read off the tablet of my memory matters somewhat dim by years, and have placed St. Xavier among western, rather than amongst eastern Indians, which, I presume, the Kentucky Baptist may have read since 1845, or, perhaps, heard some Roman Priest descant upon it in Kentucky, in proof that Bishop Purcel was more profoundly read in popish saints than I was, or expect ever to be.

I have only to stipulate, that this Kentucky Baptist will, when unmasked, have some mercy, amidst his much learning; and so much justice, as to stipulate with some organ of the anti-Bible Union, east or west, that my responses shall go with his allegations against the Bible Union, and my position on that subject, as propounded in my address before that Union. I invite any gentleman of the denomination to assail my positions on that subject, and promise him page for page in my monthly, he guaranteeing column for column in some anti-Bible Union paper of respectability, in the east or in the west.

The anti-Bible Union party will, we hope, show that they are not afraid to maintain the position which they have assumed, and, in good fraternal feeling and Christian benevolence, stand up to the work which they have begun, until they see cause, if reasons good and satisfactory can be urged, why they should co-operate in the great work proposed. It is not to be put down by mere vaporing gasconade or ridicule; nor even by ecclesiastical dogmatism and authority, but by good and solid argument and proof. We respectfully request the Editors of the Baptist Banner to copy this article into their very popular journal--a favor which we will, at any time, cheerfully reciprocate. A. C.

OUR POSITION ON AMERICAN SLAVERY.

Brother Campbell: In last month's Harbinger I see a letter from our Bro. John Kirk. Permit me to say, that I regret its publication. I do so for two reasons: The first of which is, that the weakness of our excellent brother is exposed; and the second, that it will be quoted and referred to by the hotspurs of the south, as a fair exhibition of northern feeling.

From a long and intimate acquaintance with Bro. Kirk, I feel strongly attached to him, on account of his many estimable qualities. There are few better men. Like many other good men, however, he has permitted his humane and benevolent feelings to lead his judgment in all matters

connected with slavery. His eye is never, for one moment, lifted from the contemplation of the odious features of the institution-the breaking up of families and the whipping of women; so that his feelings have become wound up to a condition bordering on frenzy. With him, slavery is a sin― an unmitigated sin-essentially and necessarily, under any and all circumstances, a sin. Hence the exceedingly harsh and severe character of his denunciations. He does not understand, and, indeed, it is almost impossible for a northern man to understand, the difficulties that surround the subject in the States where slavery exists. I do not pretend to understand more than a ty the of these difficulties myself; still, I know enough to be fully persuaded that Bro. Kirk's bitter and abusive language is not only unbecoming, but unsound. Slavery is a relation neither sinful or otherwise, in itself considered. Like all other relations, it has its peculiar duties and obligations, which, when faithfully discharged, relieves it from all moral objections. I cannot see any thing in the relation itself, necessarily incompatible with the purity of the Christian Religion; and feel no more difficulty in uniting, in all the acts of religious worship, with a slave-holder, than I would in uniting with my over-heated but excellent Bro. Kirk.

Slavery, be it good or bad, is not the voluntary choice of the present generation in the south. They inherit it, and all their established habits of thinking and acting, individually and socially-morally, politically, and religiously-are, more or less, identified with it. If its existence be sinful, they are not conscious of it, and are unlikely to be enlightened by calling them horse thieves and villains. If any change is to be accomplished, it must be brought by cooler heads and wiser ones, to say no more, than sit on the shoulders of some of our fierce Abolitionists of the Reserve. For my own part, I am satisfied to read Don Quixotte, without enacting it. I have no quarrel with any man, north or south, bond or free, slave-holder or abolitionist, who will keep the commandments of God. There is a day coming, when the secrets of all hearts will be revealed. Let us, therefore, forbear these hard speeches and proscriptive denunciations, and await, with meekness, the righteous judgment of God. I expect to meet many slaveholders in heaven, and slaves, too, and am preparing for it by meeting them here. I want to meet Bro. Kirk there, too. I hope, however, that, in the meantime, the Lord will teach him that he does not belong to that dispensation which called down fire from heaven, on those who differed from them. It would be a pity to have the quiet of Paradise disturbed by this "stand aside, I am holier than thou," sort of behavior. The Saviour has many "little ones," even in the south, of whom he is exceedingly tender, and it would be wise not to offend them. Zeal is good; but zeal at the expense of charity, will carry its possessor where I don't want to go. I dislike slavery; all my habits and associations are averse to it, and I firmly believe that it would be better for our country-our whole country—were we honorably and safely rid of it. But my sympathies are not all with the slave, for, in many instances, the master is the one oppressed. Neither am I willing to join in a wild, reckless, and fruitless crusade against my fellow

citizens and fellow-christians, who have the misfortune, as I regard it, to be connected with the system. If kindness will do nothing, violence will do less.

I would say, then, to our brethren on the Reserve, of whom Bro. Kirk speaks-and I say it in all kindness-drop the style of Abby Kelly; adopt the style of our Master, and his illustrious servant Paul. Require no more from slave-holding brethren than Paul required. Be content to restrain your views of Christian character within the limits of the New Testament. In the hope of eternal life, SAMUEL CHURCH.

I adopt, with much pleasure, the following eloquent passage from the conclusion of the late annual message of Gov. Wright, of Indiana, presented to the State Legislature at the present session, as fully expressive of my views on the subject of our proper position as patriots, philanthropists and Christians, at the present crisis.

A. C.

"Above all, Indiana recognizes the imperative duty, by every good citizen, of obedience to the laws of the land.

"Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the late compromise measures enacted by Congress; however ultra men in the north or in the south may oppose or denounce them, there is but one course of action for the true patriots to pursue; and that is, unhesitatingly and in good faith to carry out their enactments.

"There is no safety for property, for liberty, nor for life, except in the absolute supremacy of the law. There is no higher duty of the citizen than to maintain, by word and deed, that supremacy. As we value the heritage, rich beyond all price, purchased not with silver or gold, but with the life's blood of the good and the brave-that heritage bequeathed to us by our fathers, and which we, in turn, must bequeath inviolate to our descendants let us bear in mind the great truth, that the first public act of disobedience to law is the first fatal step on the downward road to anarchy.

"The constitution of this great confederacy, written on parchment, may be rent assunder, if it be not written also on the hearts and affections of the people. It is written on ours. We love, we respect it. we give it our highest sanction, alike for the sake of the sacred principles, guardian of human liberty, embodied in its provisions, as for the unnumbered blessings we have enjoyed under its rule, and in memory of that band of great and good men who conceived and established it. This truth should be understood by our people, that this Union cannot be preserved by force. If it could, it would not be worth preserving. The bonds and ligaments that bind us together are moral, and not physical. Our glorious Union is one of consent, and not of force. It is a Union of confidence, of trust, of love, and of affection. When these are gone, the Union loses all its attraction and value.

"At no hour of our history have we required, more than at present, an infusion into our councils of that spirit in which the articles of our confederacy were first conceived. As representatives, as citizens of Indiana, as citizens of the United States, we have difficult, delicate, important duties to perform. Foremost amongst these is the obligation to oppose, by every lawful means, that spirit of factious fanaticism, alike suicidal wherever it

has birth, which insidiously assumes the garb in one section of philanthro py, in another of State rights. By speech, by action, by concession, by forbearance, by compromise, by the influence of moral suasion, and the strong power of kindness-by each and all of these means, let us seek to allay the spirit of lawless misrule; that spirit which instals each man's opinion the arbiter of constitutional rights, or which coolly estimates the value of the Union, and looks with steady eye on a separation of these States, the certain herald of bloodshed and a thousand horrors; a separation to be surely and speedily followed by war in its most odious form-servile, perhaps, as well as civil-war among those of the same race, the same name, the same blood-war that shall bring together, in hostile array, neighbor against neighbor, brother against brother, son against sire.

"To avert calamities so direful, Indiana will cast, even to the last, the entire weight of her influence. She will be just to each and every member of the confederacy-just to the constitution-just to the laws. She will abide by the constitution, abide by the laws; and, and above all, she will abide by the compromises made by our fathers-the compromises made by the great and good men of this day. She will hope, she will pray, that the same kind and overruling Providence which watched over our fathers at the adoption of the constitution, and has sustained in every crisis and cheered in every hour of darkness since, will direct their sons also in the paths of wisdom and peace, and enable us to transmit to posterity that sacred instrument, a guide and a blessing in the future, as it has ever been in the past. "Indiana takes her stand in the ranks, not of Southern destiny, nor yet of NORTHERN DESTINY. She plants herself on the basis of the Constitution, and takes her stand in the ranks of AMERICAN DESTINY.' 99

DISCOVERIES OF THE LAST CENTURY.

THERE has been no period since the commencement of the world in which so many important discoveries, tending to the benefit of mankind, were made, as in the last half century. Some of the most wonderful results of human intellect have been witnessed in the last fifty years. Some of the grandest conceptions of genius have been perfected. It is remarkable how the mind of the world has run into scientific investigation, and what achievements it has effected in that short period. Before the year 1800, there was not a single steamboat in existence, and the application of steam to machinery was unknown. Fulton launched the first steamboat in 1807. Now there are three thousand steamboats traversing the waters of America, and the time saved in travel is equal to seventy per cent. The rivers of every country in the world, nearly, are traversed by steamboats. In 1800 there was not a single railroad in the world. In the United States alone there are now 8,797 miles of railroad, costing $286,000,000 to build, and about 22,000 miles of railroad in England and America. The locomotive will now travel in as many hours, a distance which in 1800 required as many days to accomplish. In 1800 it took weeks to convey intelligence between Philadelphia and New Orleans; now it can be accomplished in minutes through the electric telegraph, which only had its begin

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