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mtA u,mm w im nirv,«, it *rf;*nro*ror/H AHtmujA,hm « tag* rerennfa f* tlw* of hi# frtomfo fmwlrtn* f# oBonA tmpftmbm otnffnJhmkm* to storetr ht the etfHton m fto mrmtmt prepared m tha Ametkm market, Thu turn, rekflb m*»whk timt mtUnrmtom um wMafc rmhtmth mmp w «rlt; ppwjjpjfrf w»w? ivmfWMOT, i vwvfnM*kmfrankmAmmepm themthjoetto karef, MIIM* fetter Aon not Mfy mm (he tmf m wo skatt fair, to afeir wonte,afrw retorrittto# 0\o letter HmH toihohtepm tkm of ortt reader* i— %o the Mftw of tho Christian Watchman amiHtjiir trrf:— 1 hare atoay* cotMffaftf li ur to my duty to fat with fa *h» tWcfc 1 parceired to to mom rampant maong my toarere. Wa mfcw (h« mark wton wo preach of •fan*Individual*, li hi vsry easy to talk «hont tto brutality ottto uneducated when addressing my lord and my lady, bnt I prefer to toII them gantry theft own stop, fa not to flatter them by comparing them with otherr, Thfe rule ftaa brought mo at diver* time# Into no little tremble, which 1 hare rery cheerfully endured and bare rejoiced therein. Bnt now a now outcry le rateed hr your land, and I am charged, not with being too revere with Brother Jonathan, bnt with letting him off too easily. Baring no slaveholders in England, 1 gfionld hare been beating the air if 1 had preached Against etarery to my people, for thi* is tho rery last crime they are likely to commit. It Is far njore probable that any slaveholder who should show himself in onr neighbourhood would get a mark which he would carry to his grare, if it did not carry him there.“ I do from my inmost soul detest slavery anywhere and everywhere, and although I commune at the Lord's table with men of all creeds, yet with a slaveholder I hare no fellowship of any sort or kind. Whenever one has called upon me, I have considered it my duty to express my detestation of his wickedness, and would as soon thinxof receiving a murderer into my church, or into any sort of friendship, as a man-stealer. Nevertheless, as I have preached in London and not in Now York, I have very seldom mode any allusion to American slavery in my sermons. This accounts for tho rumour that I nave left oat the anti-slavery from my American edition of sermons. This is not true in any measure, for, os far as my memory serves me, I cannot remember that the subject was handled at all in any of my printed sermons beyond a passing allusion, and I have never altered a single sentence in a sermon which has been sent ont to my An beyond the mere correction which involved words md no. sense. However, if any think me capable ol such doublet dealing, I doubt not that they judge of me by themselves, and from such persons esteem is not desirable. I do not, therefore, regret the loss of it. I have this much to say to all who respect me in America, I did not want to be blaming you constantly, while there are sins enongh in my own country, but I shall not spare your‘nation in fhture. I shall remember that my voice echoes beyond the Atlantic, and the cryinj sin of a man-stealing people shall not go unrebuked. I did not know that I had been so fully adopted a citizen of your republic, but finding that you allow mo to be one of yourselves, 1 will speak out quite severely enough, and perhaps more sharply than will meet with approbation.“ I have not been altogether silent upon tho subject, for I have spoken with burning words when the matter has been on hand ; but as this has usually been upon; thq platform, and not from tho pulpit, these utterwees have not reached the press. I must see that there are some such things in the sermons, if not in England at least inAmerica. Messrs. Sheldon and Co. are ready to publish anything I may-have to say on the matter, and I also avail myself of The Watchman and Reflector.“ Finally, let me add, John Brown is immortal in the memories of tho good in England, and in my heart ho lives.—I am, yours most truly,“ C. H. Spurgeon.”“ Clapham, London, Jan. I860.”Mr. Spurgeon has acted wisely and faithfiilly in dealing with sins which are most rampant among his hearers. We should not look to his sermons for frequent and pointed references to American slavery } though it might be worth' his while to consider how far the cotton manufacturers of England are responsible for the financial support of the system. We should be glad to get his views upon the ethics of trading in the products or coerced and unrequited labour, as distinguished from the ethics of trading directly in that labour. American slavery, through its great representative crop, has a direct relation to the commerce and manufactures of Great Britain, which no English philanthropist can afford to overlook, If the forges of _ Birmingham manufacture shackles for American slaves,-and the mills of Manchester buy from slaveholders the cotton produced directly by slavo-labour, and manufacture this into cheap “ domestics” which British merchants sell to American slaveholders wherewith to clothe their human cattle, there is an ethical bearing of J srican slavery upon the English people which it behoves Mr. Spurgeon to take in hand. Moreover, since The London Times nas become the open apologist of slavery and . the slave-trade, Mr. Spurgeon would ' find that he is not,s beating the air ” in preacnim against slaveiy to an English audience.But the complaint recently mode by many of Mr. Spurgeon’s friends in this country, was neither that he had been wholly silent on the subject of American slavery nor that entire sermons or addresses of his upon this sub-r ject—if such there be—have not been republished in this country j but that what he has occasionally and tw * leatally-said upon slavery in sermons which have been printed in England, is omitted in the American edition t his sermons, t N obody has charged Mr. Spurgeon with complicity in thist transaction. Probably ho was not aware oj the loot of' such omissions until his attention was called to it by American newspapers—-for wo do not be sve that he hasever critically re-read the volumes of his own sermons pul - lt;lished in America. But Mr. Beecher and other persons* whose esteem Mr. Spurgeon cannot affoei to despise; do; publicly aver that the anti-slavery sentiments found incertain sermons of Mr, Spurgeon, as printed in England,
Newspaper Details
Christian Cabinet
London, Middlesex, GB
Wed, Feb 22, 1860
Page 13
Full Page
Clipped by
Daniel K.
USA 20 Oct 2019
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