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Show 172 George B. Cheever. water, perfectly insensiule, not only to the stings of mnsquilocs, but even the dart~ oC men. It is a~ a S ·rbonian uog, that will swallow the whole iniquity of 8l::t\'Cry, anu leave no trace; it i · a , a sea of asphaltic , lime, that will flow . luggi::; hly onwarcl, and not C\·en a whirlwind can lash it into waYc:3 that will break, but the most tc rriule convu l ~ i on. will leave it as ~ moot h and unrufilccl as the pavcm 'nt that you treat1upon. A ~e ar ed and sluggish con ciencc always wake. too late. Con.·cicncc was appointeu, not for remorse only, but to ue a guardian, a g uiding spirit in the right, and a saving and pre: ' rving powct· from evil. If remorse is the only operation in which it is permitted to be efTcclual, then indeed is it powerful only for perdition and despair. "'\Ve mu t trike for the right, or Go<l him elf will trik e, by the very r eaction and r ctriuution of the wrong. It i · God's awful proviucntial rule, that if men, Christian men, in tructcd of God, with His 'Vord, the agent of Omnipotence in th i1• hands, will not, out of r egard to him and to the demanu of benevolence and ju · ticc, ri rrht a brrrcnt \\Tone-r then the w1·onrr . o o' 0 wtll sooner or later right itself in earthquake and desolation in conflict aud war, in battle and blood. 'V e must . trike fo1: the rig ht. or spccuily the fiye millions of laves will become ten, and God will let loo·e the avalanche; and when he Jocs this, it will no more be in the power of an appalled and trembling church, by an untimely repentance, wrung out of. elfishno s and terror, to stay or· prevent the ruin, than it would be pos iulc for a regiment of conservative sa ints to hold back an Alpine .cataract, or a ridge on the icy fore head of the J ungfrau ~ountam, already loo cned by the tempe t anu thundering Into the valley below. 'Ve must ,' trike for olher ', whose appeal is to u. for mercy, or God himself will strike us. ''If ye have not been faithful in that which ia a noth er man's who shall give you that whieh i ' your own ? " 'V c mu ·t trike for ri~rr h.t eOUS~ 'tl eSS 'an d J.U S t'r cc, w l1 1'1 c t 11 erc 1· s any admowlcdgmcnt of c1ther left in the land; for it i fast becoming p erfectly corrupted. H e that eateth of their eggs dieth, anu that which is crusheq breaketh out into a viper. George B. Cheever. 173 Finally, we mnst ehoosc rightcousrlC' ~s, ob<•y God, do ju~tly, love m ·rcy, an~l. walk hun.1uly with Him. J>olit i t i an~ may arg ue from political expetl!Cncy, but God will have ju~ticc, and comruam1s our n ation every where to r epent. llis command comes now, as it <lid of oltl. Let my people go, that th y may . erve me ; let them go, with th eir 11ock , their herd., and th eir little one . God in trueted l\Io es to bring no arg;ument to bear upon Pharaoh but just God's command. lie did not permit l\{oses to consult with Jannes and J amurc. , and rret them to per suade Pharaoh that free labor was more profilaule than slave. lie did not permit. 1\Io~es to wnit a g neration or so, till Pharaoh and the E ~ypt ian s . hou ld he eonvincetl that obedie nce to God's commnnu wa for their own inter ·~t, and so uy 'elfi hn 'S itself, and not by any r crrard to God or )·listie(' t"> ' • ' or humanity, Slav ry ·houlcl die out. Gocl will not be thus mocked, and if we, a::; ministers of his word, . brink back from applying it, and say, L eave it to the politicians and the laws of nature to work away this c Yil, but let us not di ·turu the churche and our cong regations with God's denunciation· of it a ' o. sin; this is neither more nor l·:;s, as I have said on anothe r occa ion, than to make ourselves in the mini ' try one great, concentrate<l, consol idated Jonah; and God somcwh re will haYe in preparation the whale to swallow u ·. It woultl have uccn every way a proper for Jonah, when God commanded him to preach r cpeutance in N ineY h, to say, Let Nineveh alone, and uy and by the people will find out uy their own experience that holine s i. more l)rofttn.ble than in, but to fly in the face of their pas ions a nd prejudice· with the 'Vord of G od commanding them at once to r epent, and humble them elve before him, would be mndue"s, would only , tir up . trifc, and expo c me a a propltet to per;:;cculion and denth ; it would hnvc been ju t a · proper and right for him to have r a:onetl thui', a::; it would be n ow for u ~ to aclopt, the ~am e policy of ilcnce as to our country's g reat r eigning in iquity. 'V c cannot thus take pas age to Tarsl1i h , and go into our bt'rths and slc p with safety. The whole country, and tbe L)~ |
