clergyman jurists, would adorn the high courts of the country if
they would only consent to take their seat upon the bench! The
Judges of the United States Supreme Court ought to be thankful, that
these clergymen Judges have done their duty for them in advance,
deciding the law to be unconstitutional and no more is to be done!
Benevolent men, these clergymen! Some have done the duty of the
jurors for them and others the duty of the judges--the verdict and
the decision are both recorded! yea indeed, in advance, and without
pay!

But seriously, it were far better, that these clergymen should
attend to their own appropriate duties to which their Master has
bidden them, than to be engaged in fostering excitements among their
people, which _never can_ result in any good, civil or religious. If
we shall have the rebellion, disunion, and civil war, to which these
evil principles and these excitements tend, the guilt of such
clergymen will not be small! I would not have their accountability
for all the gold of Ophir!

But it is not all the clergymen of this part of the country, nor the
most of them, nor the half of them, who have turned Constitutional
lawyers, or turned law opposers. I hesitate not to say, it is only a
small minority, and those in general who are not entitled to the
most respect for erudition, sense, or excellence of character. The
(New School) Synod of New York and New Jersey, as respectable a body
of ministers and elders as is to be found in the Presbyterian
Church, at their late meeting in this city, had good sense enough,
and good religion enough, to "leave the constitutionality of the
recent enactment" (the Fugitive Slave Law) "to be adjudicated by the
civil tribunals of the country." They deserve the thanks of the