(January 6, 1811–March 11, 1874), was a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts for 23 years, 1851–74. He was strongly opposed to slavery and was persecuted for taking that unpopular stand. So firm was his conviction against slavery, that he was once physically assaulted on the floor of the House by Representative Preston S. Brooks of South Carolina, receiving injuries from which he never fully recovered. As one of the founders of the Republican Party, Charles Sumner declared:
Familiarity with that great story of redemption, when God raised up the slave-born Moses to deliver His chosen people from bondage, and with that sublimer story where our Saviour died a cruel death that all men, without distinction of race, might be saved, makes slavery impossible.
Because Christians are in the minority there is no reason for renouncing Christianity, or for surrendering to the false religions; nor do I doubt that Christianity will yet prevail over the earth as the waters cover the sea.2434