837429 4.5.52669 HARVARD Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1837, by ISAAC KNAPP, in the office of the Clerk of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. PREFACE. It is no pleasant thing to attack the prejudices of mankind; especially when they appear under the guise of gray-headed custom. It is no easy matter to perceive the propriety or injustice of manners and habits, to which we have been long accustomed. These are received by most men as the legacy of their fathers and they forget to apply to them the touchstone of truth-the GOLDEN RULE of human society. If all the customs of civilized life were brought up to this ordeal, how few could stand? For example, suppose the church should set apart a seat in the extreme corner of the gallery, for all those who have red hair; and it should be generally understood that no such person would be allowed to occupy any other seat: Would a red-haired man or woman ever be found in the church? What opinion would they form of the religion which makes such invidious distinctions in the worship of the Great God? Yet, this is only asking red-haired people whether they would like to be subject to to the same rule that is applied to those who have black faces. |