William Patton

“ Let our cities become places of holiness: let holiness to the Lord be written upon the heart of every merchant, of every mechanic, of every statesman, of every counsellor, of every officer, upon every hall of legislation, and every splendid edifice; and an influence sweet, holy, and happy, shall go forth to revive the hearts of God's people, to awe and confound opposers, and to dress up the wilderness "like the garden of God." ”

“ And is not the human species, physically, as much a pari of the animal Kingdom, and subject to the same laws of Nature, that govern it, as the animals of the other departments of it arc? And why should there not be a similar diversity of black, white and intermediate races of man, as there is in the varieties of the genus, species or families of animals of the brute creation? And, are not the races of man as well known from each other, by their different features and complexions, as the lower animals are? Is it at all probable that a White man could be mistaken for a China man? ”

“ Our hearts rejoice to see new blocks of buildings going up to decorate our city. But what is that to the present and eternal elevation of these thousand minds? Should we not then exult in the privilege of lifting all the degraded portions of our city, and of our land, into intellectual and moral grandeur? What object of ambition could there be, equal to that of thus creating an empire of righteousness—a world of intellect? Such monuments of glory shall remain, when earthly governments shall be no more, and the earth itself shall have passed away. ”

“ Thomas Jefferson said, "Nothing is more certainly written in the Book of Fate, than that these people are to be free, nor is it less certain that the two Races, equally free, cannot live under the same government." ”

“ His condescending language is, "Concerning the work of my hands command ye me." I see among you men of wealth, who can count your tens, your fifties, and your hundreds of thousands,—all of which has been solemnly consecrated to God. I see among you men of talent,—"capable of intimidating the collective vices of a nation or an age." I see among you men of enterprise, and courage, and resistless perseverance. I see among you men, who have strong confidence in God. And shall these varied powers of resistance and aggression be circumscribed by the walls of individual churches? ”

“ If the Parents are white, the children will be white—if they are black, their children will be black: or if one of the Parents is white and the other black, then the complexion of their children will be midway between that of their Parents; and so it is, whatever the complexion of their Parents may be; and, therefore, according to the laws of Nature, the complexion of either the white or black man cannot possibly be derived from any crossing between his race and that of any other. ”

“ O, what a scene of grandeur and glory, when the thousands of the saints shall wrestle in the spirit of Jacob for the blessing: when they shall rise up in the spirit of their Master, and display an untiring zeal for the salvation of man! O, what a scene, when the immense crowds of immortal beings, who throng our streets, shall be deeply impressed with the conviction of their accountability!—When every man shall feel that he is acting continually under the eye of God, and in full prospect of the judgment. ”

“ Therefore, reasoning by analogy, we may infer that the Black man bears the same relation to the animal kingdom that the wild animals and, Fruits bear to the animal and vegetable Kingdoms; and as lie partakes of the semblance of the wild animals, in the uniform color of his eyes and hair or wool, and approximates nearer to them in his physical formation than any of the other Races, as I shall show hereafter, it is evident that he is the connecting link, in the great chain of animal creation, between the lowest variety of the genus Homo or man ”

“ Their influence is great, whether we consider them in a moral or political point of view. The capture of a city has decided the destiny of nation. When Babylon was taken, a mighty empire was given to the invader. When Jerusalem was vanquished, all Judea was subdued. When ill-fated France was tossed with revolutions and counter-revolutions, the possession of her metropolis gave to either party the supreme command.
Now suppose that all this influence of cities is of a worldly, immoral, irreligious character; what must be its blasting power on the general interests of religion! ”

“ Thus showing how fastidious Nature is in preserving the separate identity of each of the Races; and how the great Author of Nature has put his irrevocable seal of condemnation upon this new and unnatural doctrine of mis-cegenation—a process, by which the intellectual standard of the inferior race would be partially elevated at the lamentable sacrifice of dragging down that of the superior race to an intermediate and degrading level of a spurious race ”

“ The advocates of the mental equality of the black and white races are obliged to go outside of the ranks of the. black man, with very rare exceptions, and claim for his race the talents of a Fred. Douglas, a Selma Martin, a John M. Langston, a Solomon Cooper, and others of a mixed race, who have inherited their talents from their white ancestry; and it is as untrue to call those men black men, or negroes, as it would be to call them white men—they are neither. ”

“ And not until the angel shall "cry, with a mighty and strong voice, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen," will the strong man armed be vanquished, and the earth be encompassed with glory. Not until the evil influence of cities shall be arrested, will the mighty obstacles to the world's redemption be removed. How immeasurably important then, that great efforts be made for their conversion; and how merciful in God to destroy such of them as will not repent. Oh, it was mercy infinite, that rained down fire upon Sodom, and poured it heavily upon Gomorrah ”

“ The whole arcana of Nature shows that the Creator delighted in varieties. In the animal Kingdom, we have varieties of the Horse, Cow, Hog, Dog, Wolf, Fox, Deer. &c. In the vegetable Kingdom we have varieties of the different kinds of Fruits, Vegetables, Flowers, &c, and, in the mineral Kingdom, we have varieties of the different kinds of Earths, Ores, Crystals, &c., and the varieties of mankind are therefore in perfect unison with the vast system of creation. ”

“ We could tell you of Athens, the eye and glory of Greece; of Philippi, the chief city of Macedonia; of Iconium, "where a great multitude, both of the Jews and also of the Greeks, believed;" of Rome too, and many others; but we forbear, since enough is already before you to illustrate the position, that cities were the theatres of the Holy Spirit's first and most illustrious achievements. Indeed, what is the book of the Acts, but one continued history of revivals in cities and populous places?
IV. We should seek the conversion of Cities, because in them the Adversary reigns with peculiar power. ”

“ Oh, what a day, when all our increasing facilities of intercourse with the land, and with foreign nations, shall be used mainly for advancing that kingdom which consists in righteousness and peace!—when thousands shall prayerfully wait the arrival of every post, and hail the coming in of every vessel, for intelligence, not of this world's riches and glories, but of the glories and victories of Zion.
Such, however, is the present power of the adversary in cities, that no ordinary effort will dispossess him. ”

“ As early as 2700 years ago the fair widowed Queen, Dido, of Carthage, committed suicide rather than comply with the unnatural and selfish importunities of her principal subjects, to marry Iarbus, the swarthy Monarch of Mauritania, in Africa. And as a further illustration of its existence, the white man is quicker and fiercer to resent an insult from a black man than from one of his own race. ”

“ There are a very few instances where white women, who, are abandoned to all respect for the popular sense of propriety of their own sex and race, that have cohabited with black men; and also where giddy white girls have been decoyed into matrimonial alliances with them, through the illusion of a delusive feeling of romance ”

“ And where is the strength of our Republic, if not in our cities and large towns? There talent in every art and profession is fostered, and exerts peculiar influence. There wealth concentrates its millions upon millions, to exert extensively a blasting or brightening influence on society. There the press daily sends out its thousands and its tens of thousands of winged messengers, to excite the passions, to influence the opinions, to control the energies of a nation. ”

“ He must have died for his salvation also, as a part of mankind; and, therefore, I can see no danger of his being left outside of the pale of redemption, on account of his separate creation. But if he should not be embraced in it, God, who created him, will, in his infinite wisdom, justly provide for his ultimate destiny, whatever it may be, and is accountable to Himself, alone, for whatever disposition may be made of him. ”

“ But suppose that all the influence of cities were of an heavenly character—suppose the intelligence could be circulated along all our navigable rivers and canals—suppose it could be communicated from village to village, and from family to family, throughout the country, that the Spirit of God, as on the day of Pentecost, had come down in awful majesty and power among us; that all our men of business, and youth of folly, had been arrested in their worldly career; that all our theatres and resorts for vain pleasure had been forsaken ”

“ But the learned Theologians say that Adam's name imports that he was a red man. For my part I propose to compromise with the Theologians, by calling him a white man with a reddish complexion—because that is really the natural complexion of white men, generally: but there are some of them who are naturally of such a reddish hue, that it would be no mistake to call them red men; and for aught we know, Adam might have been of that class.
The Indians of this country are called red men; but their complexion is not a true red—they are copper colored—which is a pale brick red tinged with yellow. ”

“ Thus the black man inherently carries with him, the natural elements of his own dark complexion; and his black and thick skin; his matted wool; his thick skull, and his strong odor, to repel the baneful effects of the sickening malaria of a hot climate were evidently intended to adapt him to it, and thus, also, the other colored races inherently carry with them the elements of their own native complexions. ”

“ And surely, under such circumstances, human nature would plead, that, when persecuted in the city, they might turn to the less prejudiced inhabitants of the country. But no: the command is, "When they persecute you in one city, flee ye into another; for, verily, I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of Man be come."
It is true, that in the last great commission, in which the world was spread before them as the field, every limitation was taken off, save that they should begin at Jerusalem. Still the example of the apostles is worthy of notice. ”

“ Oh, the tauntings, and the high looks, the stiff neck, and the contemptuous sneer, with which wealth and station conduct themselves towards the lowliness of Christian meekness! Oh, the power that nerves itself against holiness! Wealth and imposing splendour, eloquence and numbers, are in its ranks. ”

“ In short, none of them have ever given to the world a Harrison to invent Time pieces—a Guttenburg to invent Types—a Fulton and a Stephenson to apply the power of steam to ships and machinery—a Franklin to draw the lightening from the clouds—a Morse to give to electricity the power of winging thoughts with the speed of lightening—or a Daguerre to invent the camera to paint true imitations of animate and inanimate objects with geometrical exactness. ”

“ In the mean time, let our civil fathers look well to the execution of laws, which themselves have made, for the suppression of sabbath-breaking and immorality. And let them inquire seriously, Whether all our children and youth may not be brought under the influence of instructors of good character, and other moral restraints, a thousand-fold more efficacious, for preventing crime, than statutes, and prisons, and chains. ”

“ The theories and arguments advanced by you are of such a startling character that even those who have been inclined to concede to Darwin all that is claimed for him, are looking at your work with critical and enquiring eyes. There is a brilliant originality and plausibility in all the leading features of your work, that causes thinkers to regard it as one of the most valuable papers of the age. ”

“ The triumph of the cross, the salvation of the world can never be perfected without it. I know there are difficulties;—that cities do congregate vast assemblies of active depravity;—that they present multiplied enchantments to ruin;—that in every city wickedness displays a stern and lofty front. ”

“ Paul did not say that God made all men, of one blood; but "all Nations of men" of one blood, If it had been intended to apply indiscriminately to all men, merely as individuals, then the words "Nations of," would be mere surplusage; because, the simple expression, that God hath made of one blood, all men, or all mankind, would have fully expressed the idea of its general application to all men , irrespective of their nationalities. ”

“ Anciently, all the interior parts of Africa, lying south of Egypt, were called Ethiopia, and comprised those countries now called Nubia and Abyssinia. The black race who inhabited Ethiopia, were then called Ethiopeans; and every book we open, which treats of the Ethiopean or black Race; is involved in acknowledged obscurity. We find the great mass of the Race, in its own country, in a state of heathenism and barbarism ”

“ He that is faithful over a few things, shall be made ruler over many things. Yes; when all our cities, and the earth itself, and these heavens shall be "wrapt in consuming fire," we may, "with the great multitude found faithful," enter that City, which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God. ”

“ But I also know, that before the coming Spirit of God these obstacles shall melt away like wax, and vanish like smoke; "for strong is his hand and high is his right hand."
It was when revivals prevailed in cities, that the gospel spread with such amazing rapidity: and so, when the Spirit shall again descend upon them, will the work of reformation move forward with such power and grandeur, as shall make manifest that God is in Zion; "that the chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels;" ”

“ The disparity in the Races is so palpably evident that even the untutored savage, guided by the light of natural reason and the instincts of nature, believes in their separate creations, as is aptly illustrated by the following curious tradition. ”

“ Shall they not send a strong, concentrated light into every dark retreat of wickedness? Shall not the tide of dissipation, and crime, that would overflow and mar every thing sacred, be met and turned back? Shall not thousands and tens of thousands on our borders, and in our midst, be rescued from the iron sway of the destroyer, and be saved from going down to the pit? ”

“ While Nature refuses to let the white man and the adulterated projeny of the fourth crossing, have any issue, she permits the female issue of that crossing and a black man of the original type to breed, and to breed on in a retrograding direction, until, after successive projenies, the black race resumes, as nearly as possible, its original type. ”

“ Many faithful pastors in the land weep over the growing immoralities occasioned by the influence of cities. Many churches lament the defection of their members, having become worldly in their spirit, and vain in their imaginations, by reason of their frequent intercourse with cities. If such, then, is their influence upon the country, well may the churches, planted throughout the land, feel deeply interested in the moral character of cities, and pray for their conversion to God. ”

“ Thus the day shall yet be, when the presence and power of the Holy God in cities shall so absorb the affections, and command the energies of their inhabitants, that, throughout the land, they shall be known and celebrated, not for their wealth, their splendour, their numbers, or their worldly enterprise, but as the places where God has fixed his tabernacle. ”

“ In urging the importance of special effort and prayer for the renovation of cities, we do not overlook the interests of the country; but would thus guard every town and village from an influence heavily impregnated with moral poison and death. The merchants of the interior, in the prosecution of their business, regularly visit the metropolis. Many of them, on the enticement of friends and acquaintance, attend the theatres, and other places of vain amusement and sin; they become familiar with their glare and dissipation. ”