through storm and revolution, the passions of the multitude and the unflinching fidelity of the few combine, from the irresistible necessities of the hour, each acting in its own characteristic channel, one through fire and blood the other through the preaching of truth alone, to baptize anew the idea incarnated at creation's birth, when man was created in the image of God, that as such he should enjoy all the prerogatives, immunities and heirships to which he is entitled as an immortal being, irrespective of clime, color or condition. His resolution was formed. He would exert his own influence to rouse the slumbering conscience of the North to a sense of its participation in the common guilt by maintaining silence when such enormities were perpetrated in the heart of the nation. Especially was it incumbent on the church, whose mission it was to preach the gospel to every creature, to remember the oppressed as bound with them and to warn the oppressor of the day of judgment, when if he did not heed the divine command to break every yoke, he would be visited with fire and sword, with pestilence and famine, to take up this question and present its claims to the religious world.
