The Liberator

A HEAVENLY MINDED MINISTER.

We had the pleasure of spending the last Sabbath at Sharon, and of pleading before a respectable number of the ladies and gentlemen of that quiet town the cause of the oppressed slave. The Rev. Mr. Waitt, the Baptist minister, gave us a cordial welcome. He is a very estimable man, and has a heart to sympathize with the suffering and the dumb. We are sorry we cannot speak in as favorable terms of the minister who has been preaching to the Congregational church as a candidate for settlement. When we delivered our first lecture in Sharon, a short time since, he avowed the opinion that slavery was not in itself a sin, but that it was recognized in the Bible as an existing institution, and not condemned. He is an Andover student, and imbibes fully the opinions of Professor Stuart. Our first lecture was delivered in the Congregationalist meeting-house, and the second, on Saturday last, in that of the Baptists. It having been determined to have a lecture at half past 5 o'clock, P. M. on the Sabbath, the question arose, in which house shall it be delivered? Out of respect to Mr. Eastman, the Congregationalist minister, we called on Sabbath morning to consult him on the subject. When we mentioned the subject, he said he had no opinion to give, but he had intended to appoint a meeting himself at the Congregationalist meeting-house at the same hour fixed upon for our lecture ; but he would consult the deacons, and perhaps they would think it best that his meeting should be omitted. He then went on to say, that he felt it to be his duty, as a minister of the gospel, to keep the minds of his people on subjects appropriate to the Sabbath, and he did not think that slavery was such a subject. When we asked him the why and wherefore, he said he should say nothing further about it, as he was going to preach that day on the subject of HEAVEN, and wanted to keep his mind in a calm and placid frame ! He had staid away from our lecture on Saturday for the same reason—for fear it would divert his mind from the theme on which he intended to preach! Here was a heavenly minded minister for you! Professing to believe it is no sin in itself to hold the image of God as a chattel, and sell the members of Christ's body in the shambles, and at the same time so conscientious in his observance of the Sabbath, that he could not speak on that day in behalf of two millions of people, who are described by ecclesiastical bodies at the South as ' a nation of heathen in our very midst!' It is not unlikely that the Priest and Levite were deterred by motives equally good from binding up the wounds of the man who fell among thieves! It is by no means improbable that they too were meditating on the subject of Heaven, and that they 'passed by on the other side' for fear of disturbing their contemplations and ruffling the placidity of their minds! We have rallied all our 'deference for the pastoral office,' but we cannot bring our mind to any other conclusion than that such a minister will prove a curse to any people over whom he is placed. We would as soon recognize as a minister of Jesus Christ a disciple of Mahomet, or a worshiper of Juggernaut, as a man who maintains that slavery is not in itself a sin.

J.