Sears preached the equality of women and men. After the Fugitive Slave Law was passed, Sears declared from his pulpit that "when the human and the Divine law were in conflict it was the duty of all to obey the latter." On Sunday, June 16, 1856, Rev. Sears delivered a sermon entitled "Discourse" which not only condemned chattel slavery as evil, but also the slaveholders whom he called the "slave power." The sermon was deemed to be such a strong argument against slavery that it was published and circulated as a pamphlet by Massachusetts Abolitionists. "When wrong has become so organized as to make the state its permanent body," said Rev. Sears, then the state's functions and the men holding offices do the bidding of wrong and of evil. Rev. Sears continued, "... humanity dies out of it state, and demonism becomes its life and soul."