Francis Jackson Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879; the story of his life told by his children: volume 2, Chapter 3: the Clerical appeal.

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‘ [145] at New Haven by J. H. N. and others];¹ said his mind was heaving on the subject of Holiness and the Kingdom of Heaven, and he would devote himself to them as soon as he could get anti-slavery off his hands. I spoke to him especially on the subject of government, and found him, as I expected, ripe for the loyalty of heaven.’ ‘A few days after this interview,’ he sent Mr. Garrison the following letter, which made a profound impression on the recipient:

John Humphrey Noyes to W. L. Garrison.

Newark, N. J., March 22, 1837.
² Dear Br. Garrison: In addressing you, I use the liberty which ought to exist between every member of a race which God made of one blood. Moreover, the fact that I was once most heartily engaged in the cause you advocate, and am now separated from it only by devotion to a kindred object, entitles me to call you brother, with peculiar emphasis. When I saw you in Boston, we spoke of the kingdom of God, in its relations to the kingdoms of this world. I rejoiced to find in you a fellowship of views and feelings on this subject which has long been a rarity to me. I proposed to show you a written declaration of my principles, but was prevented. I write now to fulfil that proposal.
I am willing that all men should know that I have subscribed my name to an instrument similar to the Declaration of ‘76, renouncing all allegiance to the government of the United States, and asserting the title of Jesus Christ to the throne of the world. . . .
When I wish to form a conception of the government of the United States (using a personified representation), I picture to myself a bloated, swaggering libertine, trampling on the Bible —its own Constitution—its treaties with the Indians—the petitions of its citizens: with one hand whipping a negro tied to a liberty-pole, and with the other dashing an emaciated Indian to the ground. On one side stand the despots of

1 The first number bears date of Aug. 20, 1834. Probable evidence of acquaintance with the paper on Mr. Garrison's part as early as the fall of 1836 has been given above (p. 114), and it is not impossible that a file of it was in his hands a year earlier, or that he had read the Perfectionist regularly from the commencement.

2 Lib. 7.166; Am. Socialist, June 12, 1879.

The Century Company. , 1885-1889.

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Francis Jackson Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879; the story of his life told by his children: volume 2

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John Humphrey Noyes to W. L. Garrison.