THE UNIONIST

BROOKLYN, DECEMBER 19, 1833.

Is it safe to obey God?— Startle not at the query, reader, but answer it candidly. Has God commanded us to do any thing which would be unsafe and inexpedient for us to do? If he has, then, painful as it might seem, it is our duty to obey, for surely God will not require an unnecessary sacrifice of any one. But we believe that it is not only always safe to obey the commands of God, but that our safety consists in such obedience alone. We believe that He commands us to do nothing except what is for our best good, and that we are not safe for a moment while we refuse to obey. Should we not therefore obey all the commands of God— now ‑ immediately? We should—the candid and christian reader will echo the reply, “we should!” Well—so much for the sermon, now for the application.

God has commanded— “Undo the heavy burdens and let the oppressed go free.” Not yet, says the colonizationist—the oppressed, though they are happy and contended in their bondage, would so highly resent the gift of liberty and the proffer of kindness and sympathy that they would cut our throats for the gift and burn our dwellings for the proffer. It would not be safe to obey the command of God NOW—wait, and let us leave off sinning by degrees and make a compromise with God that will leave us in our sins a few years longer. Such is, in effect, the reasoning of the apologist for slavery. When will the time come in which men will think it sage and expedient to obey the Supreme Ruler of the Universe?