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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32422-0.txt b/32422-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1383115 --- /dev/null +++ b/32422-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3263 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Three Prize Essays on American Slavery, by +R. B. Thurston and A.C. Baldwin and Timothy Williston + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Three Prize Essays on American Slavery + +Author: R. B. Thurston + A.C. Baldwin + Timothy Williston + +Release Date: May 19, 2010 [EBook #32422] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVERY *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + +Liberty or Slavery; the Great National Question. + +THREE PRIZE ESSAYS + +ON + +AMERICAN SLAVERY. + +"THE TRUTH IN LOVE." + +BOSTON: + +CONGREGATIONAL BOARD OF PUBLICATION. + +1857. + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by + +SEWALL HARDING, + +In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of +Massachusetts. + +CAMBRIDGE: + +ALLEN AND FARNHAM, STEREOTYPERS AND PRINTERS. + + + + +PREMIUM OFFERED. + + +A benevolent individual, who has numerous friends and acquaintances both +North and South, and who has had peculiar opportunities for learning the +state and condition of all sections of the nation, perceiving the danger +of our national Institutions, and deeply impressed with a sense of the +importance, in this time of peril, of harmonizing Christian men through +the country, by kind yet faithful exhibitions of truth on the subject +now agitating the whole community, offered a premium of $100 for the +best Essay on the subject of Slavery, fitted to influence the great body +of Christians through the land. + +The call was soon responded to by nearly fifty writers, whose +manuscripts were examined by the distinguished committee appointed by +the Donor, whose award has been made, as their certificate, here +annexed, will show. + + + + +PREMIUM AWARDED. + + +The undersigned, appointed a Committee to award a premium of one hundred +dollars, offered by a benevolent individual, for the best Essay on the +subject of Slavery, "adapted to receive the approbation of Evangelical +Christians generally," have had under examination more than forty +competing manuscripts, a large number of them written with much ability. +They have decided to award the prize to the author of the Essay +entitled, "_The Error and the Duty in regard to Slavery_," whom they +find, on opening the accompanying envelope, to be the Rev. R. B. +THURSTON, of Chicopee Falls, Mass. + +They would also commend to the attention of the public, two of the +remaining tracts, selected by the individual who offered the prize, and +for which he and others interested have given a prize of one hundred +dollars each. One of these is entitled, "_Friendly Letters to a +Christian Slave-holder_," by Rev. A. C. BALDWIN, of Durham, Conn.; the +other, "_Is American Slavery an Institution which Christianity sanctions +and will perpetuate?_" by Rev. TIMOTHY WILLISTON, of Strongsville, Ohio. + + ASA D. SMITH, + MARK HOPKINS, + THEODORE FRELINGHUYSEN. + +_May, 1857._ + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + +I. THE ERROR AND THE DUTY IN REGARD TO SLAVERY, 1 + +II. FRIENDLY LETTERS TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVE-HOLDER, 39 + +III. IS AMERICAN SLAVERY AN INSTITUTION WHICH CHRISTIANITY +SANCTIONS AND WILL PERPETUATE, 99 + +FOOTNOTES + + + + +THE ERROR AND THE DUTY + +IN + +REGARD TO SLAVERY. + +BY + +REV. R. B. THURSTON. + + +The great and agitating question of our country is that concerning +slavery. Beneath the whole subject there lies of course some simple +truth, for all fundamental truth is simple, which will be readily +accepted by patriotic and Christian minds, when it is clearly perceived +and discreetly applied. It is the design of these pages to exhibit this +truth, and to show that it is a foundation for a union of sentiment and +action on the part of good men, by which, under the divine blessing, our +threatening controversies, North and South, may be happily terminated. + +To avoid misapprehension, let it be noticed that we shall examine the +central claim of slavery, first, as a legal institution; afterwards, +the moral relations of individuals connected with it will be +considered. In that examination the term _property, as possessed in +men_, will be used in the specific sense which is given to it by the +slave laws and the practical operation of the system. No other sense is +relevant to the discussion. The property of the father in the services +of the son, of the master in the labor of the apprentice, of the State +in the forced toil of the convict, is not in question. None of these +relations creates slavery as such; and they should not be allowed, as +has sometimes been done, to obscure the argument. + +The limits of a brief tract on a great subject compel us to pass +unnoticed many questions which will occur to a thoughtful mind. It is +believed that they all find their solution in our fundamental positions; +and that all passages of the Bible relating to the general subject, when +faithfully interpreted in their real harmony, sustain these positions. +It is admitted that the following argument is unsound if it does not +provide for every logical and practical exigency. + +The primary truth which is now to be established may be thus stated: +_All men are invested by the Creator with a common right to hold +property in inferior things; but they have no such right to hold +property in men._ + +Christians agree that God as the Creator is the original proprietor of +all things, and that he has absolute right to dispose of all things +according to his pleasure. This right he never relinquishes, but asserts +in his word and exercises in his providence. The Bible speaks thus: "The +earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof, the world and they that +dwell therein, for he hath founded it. We are his people and the sheep +of his pasture"--ourselves, therefore, subject to his possession and +disposal as the feeble flock to us. Even irreligious men often testify +to this truth, confessing the hand of providence in natural events that +despoil them of their wealth. + +Now, under his own supreme control, God has given to all men equally a +dependent and limited right of property. _Given_ is the word repeatedly +chosen by inspiration in this connection. "The heavens are the Lord's, +but the earth hath he _given_ to the children of men." In Eden he +blessed the first human pair, and said to them, in behalf of the race, +"Replenish the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of +the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that +moveth upon the earth. Behold, I have _given_ you every herb bearing +seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in the +which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed." This, then, is the +original and permanent ground of man's title to property; and the +important fact to be observed is the _specific divine grant_. The right +of all men equally to own property is the positive institution of the +Creator. We all alike hold our possessions by his authentic warrant, his +deed of conveyance. + +Let us be understood here. We are not educing from the Bible a doctrine +which would level society, by giving to all men equal shares of +property; but a doctrine which extends equal divine protection over the +right of every man to hold that amount of property which he earns by his +own faculties, in consistency with all divine statutes. + +This right is indeed argued from nature; and justly; for God's +revelations in nature and in his word coincide. It is, however, a right +of so much consequence to the world, that, where nature leaves it, he +incorporates it, and gives it the force of a law; so that in the sequel +we can with propriety speak of it as a law, as well as an institution. +To the believer in the Bible, this law is the end of argument. + +It will have weight with some minds to state that this position is +supported by the highest legal authority. In his Commentaries on the +Laws of England, Blackstone quotes the primeval grant of God, and then +remarks, "This is the only true and solid foundation of man's dominion +over external things, whatever airy metaphysical notions may have been +started by fanciful writers upon this subject. The earth, therefore, and +all things therein, are the general property of all mankind, exclusive +of other beings, from the immediate gift of the Creator."[A] + +It will enhance the force of this argument to remember that this +universal right of property is one of what may be called a sacred +trinity of paradisaical institutions. These institutions are the +Sabbath, appointed in regard for our relations to God as moral beings; +marriage, ordained for our welfare as members of a successive race; and +the right of property, conferred to meet our necessities as dwellers on +this material globe. These three are the world's inheritance from lost +Eden. They were received by the first father in behalf of all his +posterity. They were designed for all men as men. It is demonstrable +that they are indispensable, that the world may become Paradise +Regained. "Property, marriage, and religion have been called the pillars +of society;" and the first is of equal importance with the other two; +for all progress in domestic felicity and in religious culture depends +on property, and also on the equitable distribution or possession of +property, as one of its essential conditions. Property lies in the +foundation of every happy home, however humble; and property gilds the +pinnacle of every consecrated temple. The wise and impartial Disposer, +therefore, makes the endowments of his creatures equal with their +responsibilities: to all those on whom he lays the obligations of +religion and of the family state, he gives the right of holding the +property on which the dwelling and the sanctuary must be founded. It is +a sacred right, a divine investiture, bearing the date of the creation +and the seal of the Creator. + +The blessing of this institution, like that of the Sabbath and of the +family, has indeed been shattered by the fall of man; but when God said +to Noah and his sons, concerning the inferior creatures, "Into your hand +are they delivered; even as the green herb have I given you all things," +it was reëstablished and consecrated anew. The Psalmist repeated the +assurance to the world when he wrote, "Thou madest him to have dominion +over the works of thy hand; thou hast put all things under his feet." + +We now advance to the second part of our proposition. Men have no such +right to hold property in men. Since the right is from God, it follows +immediately that they can hold in ownership, by a divine title, only +what he has given. But he has not given to men, as men, a right of +ownership in men. No one will contend for a moment that the universal +grant above considered confers upon them mutual dominion, or rightful +property in their species. The idea is not in the terms; it is nowhere +in the Bible; it is not in nature; it is repugnant to common sense; it +would resolve the race into the absurd and terrific relation of +antagonists, struggling, each one for the mastery of his own estate in +another,--I, for the possession of my right in you; and you, for yours +in me. Nay, the very act of entitling all men to hold property proves +the exemption of all, by the divine will, from the condition of +property. The idea that a man can be an article of property and an owner +of property by the same supreme warrant is contradictory and absurd. + +We now have sure ground for objecting to the system of American slavery, +as such. It is directly opposed to the original, authoritative +institution of Jehovah. He gives men the right to hold property. Slavery +strips them of the divine investiture. He gives men dominion over +inferior creatures. Slavery makes them share the subjection of the +brute. That slavery does this, the laws of the States in which it exists +abundantly declare. Slaves are "chattels," "estate personal." +Slave-holders assembled in convention solemnly affirm in view of +northern agitation of the subject, that "masters have the same right to +their slaves which they have to any other property." + +This asserted and exercised right is the vital principle and substance +of the institution. It is the central delusion and transgression; and +the evils of the system to white and black are its legitimate +consequences. The legal and the leading idea concerning slaves is that +they are property: of course, the idea that they are men, invested with +the rights of men, practically sinks; and, from the premise that they +are property, the conclusion is logical that they may be treated as +property. Why should _property_, contrary to the interests of the +proprietor, be exempt from sale, receive instruction, give testimony in +court, hold estate, preserve family ties, be loved as the owner loves +himself, in fine, enjoy all or any of the "inalienable rights" of _man_? +It is because they are held as property, that slaves are sold; because +they are property, families are torn asunder; because they are +property, instruction is denied them; because they are property, the +law, and the public sentiment that makes the law, crush them as men. + +We do not here call in question the mitigations with which Christian +masters temper into mildness the hard working of an evil system. Those +mitigations do not, however, logically or morally defend slavery. Nay, +they condemn it; for they are practical tributes to the fact that the +laws of humanity, not of property, are binding in respect to the slaves. +Hence they really show the inherent inconsistency of the idea, and the +unrighteousness of the system which regards men as property. + +Notwithstanding those mitigations, the system itself, like every wrong +system, produces characteristic evils, which can be prevented only by +removing their cause, the false doctrine that men can be rightfully held +in ownership. Fallen as man is, no prophet was needed to foretell at the +first the dreadful facts that have been recorded in the bitter history +of man's claim of property in man. Such a history must always be a +scroll written within and without with lamentations and mourning and +woe. Man is not a safe depositary of such power. A human institution +which subverts a divine institution, and which carries with it the +assumption of a divine prerogative in constituting a new species of +property, naturally saps the foundations of every other divine +institution and law which stands in its way. Hence, for example, the +fall of the domestic institution before that of slavery. + +The inherent wrongfulness of American slavery as a legal and social +institution is therefore clearly demonstrated. It formally abolishes by +law and usage a divine institution. Hence, in its practical operation, +it sets aside other divine institutions and laws. Consequently it stands +in the same relations to the divine government with the abolition of the +Sabbath by infidel France, and with the perversion of the family +institution by the Mormon territory of Utah. + +Here the fundamental argument from the Bible rests. But slavery +justifies itself by the Bible. It becomes essential, therefore, to +examine the validness of this justification. + +There are but two possible ways of avoiding the conclusion that has been +reached. To vindicate slavery it must be proved, first, that God has +abolished the original institution, conferring on men universally the +right to hold property; or, secondly, it must be proved, that, while he +has by special enactments taken away from a portion of mankind the right +to hold property, he has given to other men the right to hold the +former as property. Further, to justify American slavery, it must be +shown that these special enactments include the African race and the +American States. + +In regard to the first point we simply remark, it is morally impossible +that God should permanently and generally abolish the original +institution concerning property; because, as in the case of its coevals, +the Sabbath and marriage, the reason for it is permanent and +unchangeable, and "lex stat dum ratio manet," the law stands while the +reason remains. Moreover, there is not a word of such repeal in the +Bible. That institution, therefore, is still a charter of rights for the +children of men. Till it is assailed, more need not be said. + +As to the second point, we believe that careful investigation will prove +conclusively, that no special enactments are now in force which arrest +or modify the institutions of Eden, in regard to any state or any +persons. It will, then, remain demonstrated, that the legal system of +slavery exists utterly without warrant of the Holy Scriptures, and in +defiance of the authority of the Creator. The word of God is throughout +consistent. + +It is here freely admitted, that God can arrest the operation of general +laws by special statutes. He can take away from men the right to hold +property which he has given, and, if he please, constitute them the +property of other men. It is, in this respect, as it is with life. God +can take what he gives. If, then, he has given authority to individuals +or to nations to hold others as property, they may do so. Nay, more; if +their commission is imperative, they must do so. But such an act of God +creates an exception to his own fundamental law, and, like all +_exceptions_, conveys its own restrictions, and _proves the rule_. It +imposes no yoke, save upon those appointed to subjugation. It confers no +authority, save upon those specifically invested with it. They are bound +to keep absolutely within the prescribed terms, and no others can +innocently seize their delegated dominion. Outside of the excepted +parties the universal law has sway unimpaired. It is in this instance as +it is in regard to marriage. God permitted the patriarchs to multiply +their wives; but monogamy is now a sacred institution for the world. So +the supreme Disposer can make a slave, or a nation of slaves; and the +world shall be even the more solemnly bound by the original institutes +concerning property. It follows, without a chasm in the argument, or a +doubtful step, that, when persons or States reduce men to the condition +of chattels, _without divine authorization_, they are guilty of +subverting a divine institution; and, since it is the prerogative of God +to determine what shall be property, they are chargeable with a +presumptuous usurpation of divine prerogative, in making property, so +far as human force and law can do it, of those whom Jehovah has created +in his own image, and invested with all the original rights of men. + +The soundness of the principle contained in these remarks, both in law +and in biblical interpretation, will not be questioned. In the light of +it, let us examine briefly the justifications of slavery as derived from +the Bible. Happily the principle itself saves the labor of minute and +protracted criticism. + +We first consider the curse pronounced upon Canaan by Noah. Admitting +all that is necessary to the support of slavery, namely, that that curse +constituted the descendants of _Canaan_ the property of some other tribe +or people, upon whom it conferred the right of holding them as property, +yet even so this passage does not justify but condemns American slavery; +for that curse does not touch the African race: _they are not +descendants of Canaan_;[B] and it gives no rights to American States. +In later times the Canaanites were devoted to destruction for their +sins. The Hebrews were the agents appointed by Jehovah to this work of +retribution. It was not, however, accomplished in their entire +extermination. In the case of the Gibeonites it was formally commuted to +servitude, and other nations occupying the promised land were made +tributary. Thus the curse upon Canaan was fulfilled by _authorized +executioners_ of divine justice. + +What light does the whole history now throw upon slavery? It is plain +the curse was a judicial act of God concerning Canaan. It follows that +conquest with extermination or servitude was a judgment of God, which he +appointed his chosen people to execute. It follows further, that those, +who, without his commission, reduce to bondage men who are not +descendants of Canaan, do inflict a curse on those whom he has not +cursed; and thus virtually assume his most awful prerogative as the +Judge of guilty nations. + +We then inquire whether the States of the South have received warrant +for enslaving any portion of mankind. Has God _given_ them the African +race as property? Where is the commission? The argument fails to justify +modern slavery for the same reason identically that it fails to justify +offensive war and conquest. God has not given the right--has neither +proclaimed the curse, nor commissioned the agent of the curse. Christian +States in America seize it, and lay it upon those whom he has not +cursed. The passage of his word which has been considered affords them +no sanction. + +We proceed to another passage. It is supposed by many to be an +incontrovertible defence of modern slavery, that the Hebrews were +authorized to buy bondmen and bondmaids of the heathen round about them. +Let us candidly examine this defence. + +Why were the Hebrews authorized by God in express terms to buy servants, +and possess them as their "money?" Evidently _because they did not +otherwise have this authority_. Human beings, as we have seen, were not +"given" in the grant of property. They do not, therefore, fall within +the scope of the general laws of property. If they had so fallen, the +special statutes, by which the Hebrews purchased them, would have been +as gratuitous as special enactments for buying animals, trees, and +minerals. _Of all nations they only have possessed this right; for they +only received it by special bestowment._ The rest of mankind have ever +been prohibited from assuming it by fundamental laws. If ever there was +a case in which the exception proves the rule, that case is before us; +and therefore a chasm yawns between the premise and the conclusion +defensive of slavery, which no exegesis and no logic can bridge over. + +To illustrate the strength of this argument, let the fact be observed, +that, if it could be set aside, it would follow, by parity of reasoning, +that the clergy of our country, regardless of fundamental laws, have +right to take possession of a tenth part of the estates and incomes of +their fellow-citizens, because the Levites in this manner received their +inheritance among their brethren. It is plain, however, that, as in +regard to other interests no less important than liberty or slavery, so +also in regard to slavery itself, the special laws of the Old Testament +are no longer in force; whence it follows that the vital doctrine of the +system, "masters have the same right to their slaves which they have to +any other property," is totally erroneous. The institution which claims +solid foundation here is built on nothing. + +We cannot forbear to adduce an instance of unexceptionable testimony to +the validity of this reasoning. In one or two famous articles on slavery +and abolitionism, the Princeton Repertory adopts it, with another +application, and says, "So far as polygamy and divorce were permitted +under the old dispensation they were lawful, and became so by that +permission; and they ceased to be lawful when that permission was +withdrawn, and a new law given. That Christ did give a new law is +abundantly evident." In the same manner, 'so far as' slavery 'was +permitted under the old dispensation it was lawful, and became so by +that permission; and it ceased to be lawful when that permission was +withdrawn, and a new law given.' It is true, however, only in a +qualified sense, that Christ gave "a new law" concerning polygamy and +divorce. His law restored the original institution of marriage, as in +Eden; and this was "new" to the Jews, because there had been departure +from it. In like manner the New Testament, if not the very words of +Christ, now gives a new law concerning slavery in the same sense; that +is, as will appear, in the sequel, the Christian precepts restore the +original institution concerning property as well as concerning marriage. +The laws which allowed polygamy and slavery, and therefore the right, +passed away together. + +Here we leave the Old Testament. No other passages need examination; for +all consist with these positions. So far as that sacred volume gives +light, the world are bound by the laws and have equal right to the full +blessings of three divine institutions, whose foundations were laid in +Paradise, and whose complete and glorious proportions will encompass the +universal, millennial felicity. + +The defence of slavery from the New Testament now demands brief notice. +We desire to allow it full force, while we ask the reader's candid +judgment of the conclusion. + +Of course, the New Testament sanctions now what it sanctioned in the +days of its authors. That must have been _Roman, not Hebrew_, slavery; +for they lived and wrote to men under Roman law. Besides, there is +reason to believe, as Kitto states, that the Jews at that time held no +slaves. In point of historic truth, it appears that the Mosaic law, +finding slavery in existence, practically operated as a system of +gradual emancipation for its extinction. "There is no evidence that +Christ ever came in contact with slavery." This sufficiently explains +why he did not give a "new law" concerning it in specific terms. The +occasion did not arise, as it did arise in regard to polygamy and +divorce, with which he did come in contact. Furthermore, there was no +need of new law, other than was actually given. + +The argument from the New Testament for the rightfulness of slavery is +twofold, being built on the instructions given to masters and servants. +It fails on both sides. + +For, first, the precepts addressed to servants convey no authority to +national rulers or to private individuals to set aside the institution +of Jehovah by reducing men to the condition of slaves. These precepts +simply enjoin the conduct which Christianity required in their actual +situation. They do not vindicate the law and usage by which they were +held as property. This is abundantly evident in the texts themselves, +and more emphatically, when they are compared with the parallel cases. + +Christ promulgated these rules. "I say unto you that ye resist not evil; +but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other +also. And if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, +let him have thy cloak also." Does this empower States to legalize fraud +and violence? Does it transmute all the _evil_ which Jesus' disciples +have endured into _righteousness_ of those who have inflicted the evil? +Does it wash the crimsoned hands of persecutors in innocency? Does it +justify the wilful smiter? All men know better. No one contends for such +exposition. Yet it is indispensable to the interpretation which finds a +justification of slavery in precepts which enjoin obedience on slaves. +That obedience is required on other grounds. + +Another example. The New Testament explicitly commands citizens to +submit to the civil power. Does this sanctify the tyranny of a Nero or a +Nicholas? In the enjoined submission of subjects, has the despot, or the +state, full license for edicts and acts of oppression and iniquity? Yet +they are logically compelled to admit this, and thus, in theory at +least, banish freedom from the whole earth, who find in commands +addressed to servants power conferred on legislators and masters to make +them slaves; that is, to hold them as property. Instead of this, the +rights and obligations of rulers, and of those who claim to be owners of +their fellow men, are defined in a very different class of instructions. + +Secondly, the instructions addressed to masters forbid the exercise of +the right which is assumed in slavery. To make this clear, we observe, +primarily, there is no passage in the New Testament which _institutes_ +the relation of men held in ownership by men. There is no direct +reference to the civil laws which constituted this relation. They are +passed by silently, as are the laws that established idolatry, and +kindled the fires of persecution. Their existence is tacitly +acknowledged in the use of the terms which designate masters and +servants; and that is all. Hence those who find here an apology for +slavery are obliged to refer to secular history for the facts and +definitions on which their argument rests. Accordingly, no passage in +the New Testament would be void of meaning, though slavery should cease. +In this respect the Constitution of the United States resembles the +sacred books; for not one word of that instrument, interpreted on just +principles as the palladium of liberty, needs to be obliterated in the +abolition of slavery. Furthermore, and this covers our position, the New +Testament, disregarding the Roman law, refers masters exclusively to the +law of God as their rule for the treatment of servants. A single +citation, with which all passages agree, is sufficient to show this. +"Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal, knowing +that ye also have a Master in heaven." Now, as none can find in such +precepts a right to destroy God's primary institution concerning the +family, no more can they find in them a right to destroy his primary and +universal institution concerning property. Stronger than this, the +conclusion is inevitable, that the very precepts which are relied upon +to support American slavery do condemn and destroy it; for the law of +God, by which they bind masters, ordaining from Eden what is just and +equal between men, abolishes the fundamental and central law of the +system.[C] + +It is argued, indeed, that slavery is right, because masters, as well as +fathers and rulers, may require obedience. The argument fails utterly; +for there is at the foundation no analogy in the cases. The family and +the State are divine institutions, having sanction in the Bible; but +slavery subverts a divine institution. Fathers and rulers, _as such_, +have duties and rights suitable to the relations they sustain by the +will of God. Masters, _as such_, have no _rights_; for their relation, +as holding property in men, is contrary to his will. Their duty, to +which they are bound by the solemn consideration that he is their +Master, is practically to restore to their servants the rights which he +confers upon all; for nothing less than this can be just and equal in +his sight. + +This view discloses the harmony of the whole Bible concerning slavery; +and, in the light of the two Testaments, the institution stands as a +legalized violation of the positive will of Jehovah. + +We now condense the whole argument into its briefest form, in the +following syllogisms. + +The entire right of men to hold property is given by the Creator. He +gives to American States and citizens no right to hold property in men. +Therefore they have no such right. + +Again. An institution is sinful, which, without divine warrant, holds +property in men, thus assuming a divine prerogative, and subverting a +divine institution. American slavery does this. Therefore it is a sinful +institution. + +The purpose of this tract now introduces a new series of topics. The +argument demands its application; and the exigencies of the times +present momentous questions, which it must answer. + +Hitherto we have spoken of the system of slavery. We come now to persons +connected with it. Because the system is sinful, the question +immediately occurs, who are chargeable with the sin; for there is no sin +without sinners. The answer is obvious. They are chargeable who founded +it, and all who wilfully implicate themselves with it. Practically, they +are always chargeable who adopt it as their own in theory and practice, +who support it in the State, consecrate it in the Church, and labor for +its extension. They are chargeable, for they bring heresy into creeds, +unrighteousness into legislation, and crime into popular usage. If they +are masters, they stand in the same moral relations with persecutors and +tyrannical rulers, guilty for all personal injuries they inflict under +color of unjust laws; and, whether masters or not, they are guilty for +exerting their influence to sustain laws which set aside the authority +of God, and withhold the rights he has given. Such men are accountable +to God and to society for deliberate, organised, aggressive iniquity. +The "organic sin" of the State is their sin, the sin of each in his own +measure; for they are the individuals who determine the acts and the +character of the slave-holding State as such. + +But are there no exceptions among slave-holders? We trust there are +many. There is a plain distinction between wicked laws and the personal +acts of men who live under those laws. Some may approve them, and use or +abuse them to the injury of their fellow men. Others may disapprove +them, and refuse, by means of them, to do or justify a wrong. Christians +may become in a legal sense owners of slaves, while they heartily +deprecate the system of oppression, while they are ready to unite with +good men in feasible and wise measures for its removal, and while they +obey the Christian precepts towards their servants, rendering unto them +what is just and equal to men and brethren in Christ. Such Christians +and such men do not hold slaves in the sense which God forbids; and they +cannot be charged with the wickedness of laws by which they, as well as +the slaves, are oppressed. On their estates a higher law than that of +slavery has sway. To them their slaves, though legally property, are +morally and actually men. The Bible sustains their position. They are +the Philemons to whom Paul gives fellowship, and Onesimus returns, not +as a slave, but a brother beloved. In the trials of their situation they +should receive the cordial sympathy of Christians everywhere. It is, +indeed, to their sound convictions and their political influence the +world must look, in part at least, for the ultimate, peaceful extinction +of American slavery. Without them, what would the South become? With the +Scriptures in our hand we earnestly say to them, "Throw the weight of +your influence against unrighteous laws, fulfil to servants the law of +God, and you shall have the sympathy and confidence of good men +everywhere. Nay, more; you, with their help, and they with your help, +will confine the spreading curse, till, with God's blessing, it shall +cease; and Christian and civilized man shall have no more communion with +it." + +These discriminations answer certain ecclesiastical questions, which +have occasioned much perplexity and discord. When properly applied, they +take away whatever support a wicked institution has found by leaning +upon the Church; at the same time they award to consistent Christians +what is due to them by the religion of Jesus. If it shall be said, there +will be practical difficulty in applying these discriminations, it is +sufficient to answer, it will be less than the difficulty of +disregarding them. + +The question now arises, what can be done for the restriction and +ultimate extinction of slavery as it is; for, since it is sinful, +Christianity and patriotism declare it should be restrained and +abolished. + +First. The extension of slavery can and should be prevented by the +Federal Government. The Scriptures have shown us, that the people in +their sovereignty have not the right to create a slave State or a slave. +Of course, the legislators and presidents; who receive in trust the +power which emanates from the people, have no such right. If the +Constitution assumed to confer this power, it would be the first +national duly to amend that instrument in this particular. There is no +power on earth competent to set aside either of the Creator's original +institutions for man. But, according to the sound and established +principle of strict construction, the Constitution as it is does not +create slavery, or even acknowledge its existence, except by inference. +Hence there is no legal objection to the measure which religion herself +ordains. The religious and the political obligations of all citizens and +all legislators coincide to protect, under the jurisdiction of Congress, +the right of every man to be exempt from the condition of property, and +to enjoy the property which he honestly earns. Thus the question +concerning slavery and the territories is morally settled by divine +authority; and to this no real objection can be made, except by that +great interest, whose existence is inherently unrighteous and +irreligious. + +Secondly. In the slave States, legislation should restore to the +enslaved population the primitive rights which God has given to all men, +establishing for them, on humane and Christian principles, such +relations as are suitable to their condition of poverty, ignorance, and +dependence, and are adapted to secure at once their improvement and the +general welfare. + +This is the logical conclusion to be derived from the premises. As the +central wrong of slavery consists in making men articles of property by +law, the rectification is to lift from them by law the curse of the +false and irreligious doctrine, that they can be rightfully held as +property. Thus the axe is laid to the root of the tree. + +This is also the conclusion to which we are forced by other moral +principles bearing on the case. For men to receive services of men is +right. Accordingly, the New Testament allows masters to receive services +of those who are slaves in the sense of human law; but at the same time +the sacred book requires masters, with all who employ labor, to make the +recompenses which are just and equal towards men; for slavery is not +right; and legislators, on their responsibility to the Ruler of nations, +are bound to adjust the laws in harmony with the first principles of +individual and moral obligation. + +Furthermore, this is the only practical conclusion. By inevitable +necessity, the slaves, as a body, must remain on the soil of their +bondage. Only exceptional cases of removal can occur. They are the +laborers of the South; and no State will, or can, or is bound, to remove +its laborers. It is simply bound to protect and treat them with +Christian equity and kindness. Banishment of them would be injustice and +cruelty, violating perhaps no less than restoring divine rights. +Moreover, no practicable means of removing them have ever been seriously +proposed; and, till they shall be, the point needs no discussion. + +But the question may be raised, "Are the slaves to endure their present +wrongs until the laws shall be thus renewed, or perhaps forever?" We +reply, in showing how slave-holders can cease from guilty connection +with slavery; we have also shown how the situation of the slaves becomes +one of practical righteousness, before the laws can be readjusted; and +for this great obligation of the body politic, sufficient time most be +allowed. Moral principles do not exact natural impossibilities. The +elevation of oppressed millions can be accomplished only in harmony with +great natural and social, as well as ethical laws, which the wisdom of +God has ordained. + +It remains therefore, that, for a period of which no man can see the +end, the slaves must, in most cases, dwell within the present +boundaries; but it is incumbent on the citizens and legislators of the +South to institute _immediate_ measures for restoring to them the +inviolable rights of men. So long as they continue, by the _necessities_ +of the case, in the relation of servants and laborers, masters should +deal with them according to the rules of humane and Christian equity, +paying to them in suitable ways their just earnings, holding sacred +their family ties, and securing to them the privileges of education and +religion. Meanwhile, the legislatures of the several States, by wise +enactments, should coöperate with masters in training their servile +population for the position which the Creator designed for men. + +When these things shall come to pass, a consideration, in which many +good men have sought relief in regard to slavery, will have multiplied +force. The providential wisdom of God, in bringing millions of the +children of Africa from a land of pagan darkness and violence to a land +of freedom and Christianity, will shine with new lustre, when they shall +receive from American hands, together with true religion, every divine +right, and shall thus be qualified and enabled to convey to the dark +habitations of their fathers the infinite blessings of enlightened +liberty and of the gospel of eternal salvation. + +These things are practicable. So long as "righteousness exalteth a +nation," a great, free, and Christian people can do what they should do; +and thus only can they secure, under the divine blessing, their own +highest prosperity and glory. To prove this would be simply to repeat +the familiar facts which exhibit the legitimate effects of slavery on +general intelligence, enterprise, and virtue. + +But what shall produce the true and wide spread public sentiment, which +is indispensable to usher in so radical a change in the laws and +institutions of proud and powerful States? Truth must accomplish this +great work--THE TRUTH that our Creator does not place those who bear his +image in bondage to their fellow men as property, but invests them with +a common and inviolable right of dominion over inferior things. The +vivid light which this truth sheds on the social relations of men has +been extinguished at the South; and it has been dimmed at the North. In +every right way and in every place, therefore, it should be made to +shine again unobscured. Expounders should bring it forth from the Holy +Oracles; for Jehovah has hallowed it there, and made it equal in +authority with the Sabbath. The press should publish it; for it is the +function of the press to convey unceasingly to the public mind whatever +will establish and crown the public integrity and welfare. All men +should seal it in their hearts; for it is the divine rule and bond of +brotherhood in the universal dominion. It surrounds them with protected +families, and builds their safe firesides and their altars of worship. + +The question arises here, can general agreement be expected in regard to +this primary truth, and measures which legitimately proceed from it? It +is to be supposed there are men in whose hearts there is no fear of God +or love of their fellow beings. With such men these views may be +powerless; but for men of Christian principle, we are confident they +show a common foundation for united sentiments and efforts. + +There is now a general, practical, vital consent that government and +society should respect the divine institutions of the family and the +Sabbath. Beneath all superficial strifes and irrelevant issues, there is +the same sure ground for a living and earnest agreement, that government +and society should respect the equal and coeval institution of the right +of property. + +Christian and conservative men can unite in the proposed measures and +the truth which appoints them; for they desire to preserve only what is +right. Christian and progressive men can unite in them; for they desire +to abolish only what is wrong. Politics can approve them; for they are +constitutional and patriotic. Philanthropy can be satisfied with them; +for they promise all that in the nature of the case can be promised for +the early relief of the slaves. Religion sanctions them; for they +restore her own institutions. Good men of the South can unite in them +with those of the North; for they have equal authority North and South. +They proffer only that moral aid which great communities, sharing common +interests and responsibilities, should render and receive with intimate +and cordial confidence. They honor the sovereignty of proud and jealous +States; for each of them, exercising the power which springs from its +own people in its own way, will discharge its political obligations to +all within its boundaries. + +A few years or even months of combined efforts will suffice to convey +this truth with vital energy to millions of minds and hearts. In due +time it will manifest its efficacy in the public sentiment and public +policy. We trust in its power. It is invincible; it will be victorious; +for it is from God. Its absence from the popular and legislative mind +well explains many of the evils that have been precipitated upon the +nation. Its future prevalence, under divine mercy, will arrest the +progress of events which would be, as we judge, not remedy, but +retributive destruction, on account of slavery. + +This leads us to the final question. Are the principles and measures +advocated in this tract or their equivalents, with the contemplated +result, essential to the welfare of our country? We are compelled to +believe so. + +We present, for the consideration of citizens and statesmen, this fact. +In harmony with that law of fitness which pervades the Creator's works, +all men are constituted with a nature corresponding with the dominion +they have received. They feel that they have a right to hold property, +and should not be held as property. Slaves feel this. Masters often show +that they feel it. They who make laws for slavery, North and South, show +that they feel it. The little property which slaves are often allowed to +possess, so far from furnishing apology for slavery, is an unwitting +tribute to the living principle that destroys the system. Here is a +philosophical demonstration that slavery cannot stand in perpetuity. +This vital element in human nature, to which a divine institution itself +is but an index, is subterranean fire beneath the pyramid of oppression. +Though long crushed and silent, it will not always sleep. Do men expect +to control forever, by law and force, that sense of rights which burns +inextinguishable in every human breast, which God himself kindled in +Eden? As well pile rocks on volcanoes to suppress earthquakes. + + "Vital in every part, + It can but by annihilating die." + +In this light, it is no prediction to say, if slavery survives to +consummate its own results it will destroy our country. + +The great political and religious problem of the slave-holding States, +on which their welfare really depends, is not, how shall we extend +slavery? but, how shall we lay legal foundation for the rights of our +servile population as men? Unless it shall be anticipated and prevented, +by restoring to them the dominion which the Creator bestowed, a day is +as sure to come on natural principles as the sun to rise, when the +masses of human property will assert for themselves the indestructible +rights of their being. Generations may not see it; but woe betides the +States implicated in this oppression, when that day shall dawn; and the +longer it tarries the greater the woe. + +To our mind, the statesmen are infatuated who do not in their policy +regard this universal sense of rights. It is this which is now making so +bitter conflict on the prairies of Kansas. It will always make conflict, +till slavery expires. + +In connection with the general welfare, there is another consideration, +which we solemnly urge upon every man who respects the Bible. It is the +displeasure of God for slavery. He gave the rights which it denies; and +he will assuredly vindicate his own institutions. It would contradict +his word and history, which is but the story of his providence, to +suppose that he will perpetually allow myriads of men, in this land of +light, to hold as property other myriads and even millions of their +fellow men and fellow Christians, whom he has endowed, as bearing his +own image, with equal rights. With Jefferson we have reason to tremble +for our country, when we behold her support of slavery and remember that +God is just. France abolished the Sabbath; and thrones have gone down in +blood. America may abolish another divine institution; and for this her +proud States may be convulsed. The previous topic shows, indeed, that +God has so constituted the social elements of this world, that a great +wrong, like slavery, ultimately provides for its own retribution. The +oppressor himself treasures up the vials of wrath for Him who taketh +vengeance. + +In view of all the considerations which have now passed before our +minds, is it too much to believe, that the diffusion of kindly and +scriptural sentiments, with the blessing of heaven producing general +agreement in principles and measures, must be the means of our country's +salvation from the guilt and perils of slavery? If it is not extended, +misguided, infatuated men may, indeed, threaten to dissolve the Union. +Still we fear that extension most; for religion teaches us to fear God +more than man. It allows us but this alternative, to keep his +commandments, and trust that he will make the wrath of man to praise +him. We hold that national righteousness in his sight, "first pure, +then peaceable," is better and safer than union and slavery with his +frown. Let justice be done, and the heavens will not fall. + +Whatever purposes God may conceal in the cloudy future, present duties +are ours. He seals them in his word. Notwithstanding all the heats and +perversions of parties and interests, we trust there will yet be a +single voice of our nation's good men. Citizens will speak the truth, +legislators will enact the truth, churches will hallow the truth, vital +to civilization and Christianity, that, by Jehovah's will, man is not +the property of man. Then, under the benediction of our Father in +heaven, all his children in mutual protection and benevolence will enjoy +their property, their homes, and their Sabbath; and he will more richly +bless the land of the free and the just. + + + + +FRIENDLY LETTERS + +TO + +A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. + +BY + +REV. A. C. BALDWIN. + + + + +LETTER I. + +INTRODUCTION.--SOUTHERN COURTESY AND HOSPITALITY.--CHARACTERISTICS +OF THE SOUTH AND NORTH.--NO ESSENTIAL DIFFERENCE AT HEART.--THEY +SHOULD UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER BETTER.--A FREE INTERCHANGE OF +SENTIMENT DESIRABLE.--SINCERE PATRIOTISM AND PIETY COMMON TO +BOTH.--THESE AN EFFECTUAL SAFEGUARD TO OUR UNION AND +GOOD-FELLOWSHIP. + + +MY DEAR CHRISTIAN BROTHER,--I embrace the first moment at my command +since leaving your pleasant home, to express the gratification afforded +me by my recent visit to the "Sunny South." The kind hospitality and +polite attentions shown me by yourself and other Christian friends, +during my recent interesting sojourn with you, will ever be gratefully +remembered. I had previously heard "by the hearing of the ear" of the +open, frank warm-heartedness and generous impulses of southern people, +but now I can fully appreciate them. The lessons taught us by +experience, whether they be pleasant or painful, are the most +profitable, and are most deeply engraven upon the memory. If there are +any persons who think or speak lightly of the reputed complaisance and +Christian courtesy of those who live south of "Mason and Dixon's line," +I have only to say to them,--go and make the acquaintance of those +families which give the tone and character to society there, and enjoy +the hospitalities which they almost force upon you with so much +politeness and delicacy as to make you feel that by sharing them you are +conferring rather than receiving a favor, and your skepticism on this +point will be happily and effectually removed. + +You will not understand me, my dear sir, as implying that our southern +brethren have really more heart than we at the North, although there +seems to be "_primâ facie_" evidence in your favor; at least, so far as +polite and generous attention to strangers is concerned. In this last +particular, you are constantly teaching us important lessons. Still, I +contend that the Northerner has as large and generous a soul, when you +get at it, as anybody. We have hearts which beat warm and true, but our +cautious habits and constitutional temperament (phlegmatic sometimes) +conceal them from view; whereas you carry yours throbbing with generous +emotions in your hands, exposed to the gaze of everybody. The Southron +is artless and impulsive, as well as noble; the Northerner is no less +noble, but having been taught more frequently the doctrine of +"expediency" than his southern brother, he stops and "calculates" when, +and in what circumstances, it is best to exhibit his whole character. In +both cases, the pure gold is there; but in the former it lies upon the +surface or in the alluvial, while in the latter it is often imbedded +deep in the quartz-rock;--it requires some labor to get it out, but the +ultimate yield is most rich and abundant. + +It is very desirable that a greater degree of social intercourse be kept +up between the North and South. We are brethren of one great family, and +there is no good reason why this family should not be a united and happy +one. To a considerable extent it is so. It is true we do not all think +alike on every subject, and some of these subjects are of vast +importance, and intimately connected with our prosperity and happiness. +We need to understand each other better, and to this end there should be +more intimacy, and a frequent and free interchange of views;--not for +strife and debate, but for mutual edification and enlightenment. There +was probably never a family of brothers, however strong their love for +each other, whose views of domestic policy were exactly alike; but +there need be no lack of fraternal confidence and harmony for all that. +There are certain great fundamental principles which underlie every +thing else, and form the basis of the family compact. These principles +are filial reverence, fraternal affection, love for home, and a watchful +jealousy of aught that can in the least interfere with the happiness or +reputation of their beloved family circle. Falling back upon these +principles to preserve good-will and harmony, they are not in the least +afraid to discuss those topics on which there is an honest difference of +opinion; on the contrary, they take pleasure in doing so, for the result +is a strengthening of the ties which bind them to each other, and a +modification and partial blending of opinions that seemed antagonistic. + +Thus it should be in our great political and religious brotherhood. The +North and South have each their peculiar views of what pertains to their +own interests, and the interests of the great family of the Republic. +But do not let us stand at a distance and look at each other with an eye +of jealousy because of these differences. Surely we can meet as +fellow-citizens, and discuss matters of common interest, and the +interests of common humanity, without losing our temper or engendering +any ill feeling or family discord. + +It is affirmed by some, that there are certain subjects, at least one, +of so peculiar and delicate a nature as to forbid discussion, lest the +result should be heart-burnings, alienation, and perhaps disunion in our +happy fraternity. I cannot for a moment admit the sentiment. It is an +ungenerous reflection upon the courtesy, Christian candor, piety, and +good-sense, both of the North and South. I hold that good citizens and +good Christians can, if they will, discuss any subject without giving +the least occasion for offence, or endangering that compact which so +happily binds us together. As it is in the family circle, there are +certain great principles most dear to us all, on which we can fall back, +and which, if we are true to ourselves and to them, will prove efficient +safeguards to our temper and good-fellowship. The first of these is +Patriotism. We have a common country, and we love it, and we love each +other for our country's sake. We are children of a common mother, whose +kind arms have encircled us, and whose bosom has nourished us +bounteously and with impartiality, and God forbid, that, as wayward, +ungrateful children, we should wring her maternal heart with anguish by +our unfraternal conduct toward each other. We shall not do it,--either +at the North or at the South. We are true patriots, and in our very +differences, love of country comes in as an important element to shape +and modify our opinions; and while we may be adopting different +theories, we are conscientiously seeking the same end, namely, the +greatest good of our beloved country. + +The second is piety. We love our country well, but we love our Saviour +more, and for his sake we will love and treat each other as brethren, +and not fall out by the way because we may not see through the same +optic-glasses. We will cheerfully hear what each has to say on whatever +pertains to Christian morals and practice. There are thousands of +sincere, warm-hearted Christians, whose love to Christ raises them +immeasurably above sectionalism and prejudice, and who daily inquire, +"what is truth?" and "what is duty?" and they entertain that "charity" +which "suffereth long and is kind; is not easily provoked, thinketh no +evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all +things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things;" +and "never faileth." When this love is in exercise, Christian brethren +may open their hearts freely to each other on any subject, whether it +be "for doctrine, or reproof, or for instruction in righteousness." + +Whatever may be true of others, I hope that you and I will be able to +demonstrate to the world, that, although one of us lives at the North +and the other at the South, yet we can communicate with each other +unreservedly on an almost interdicted topic, with mutual kind feelings, +if not to edification. + +Respectfully and fraternally, + +Yours, &c. + + + + +LETTER II. + +A DIFFICULT AND DELICATE SUBJECT PROPOSED.--AGITATION OF IT +UNAVOIDABLE.--CHRISTIANS NORTH AND SOUTH SHOULD GIVE THE DISCUSSION +OF IT A RIGHT DIRECTION.--WE ARE ALL INTERESTED IN THE +ISSUE.--NORTHERN DISCLAIMERS. + + +MY DEAR CHRISTIAN BROTHER,--In my last I intimated that I hoped you and +I, by our correspondence, would be able to furnish the world a practical +illustration of good-nature and kind feeling in the discussion of a +subject that has been a fruitful source of trouble and unchristian +invective. You have already anticipated my theme--it is DOMESTIC +SLAVERY. It must be confessed that this is the most difficult and +delicate of all topics to be agitated by a Northerner and a Southerner, +and yet I have the fullest confidence that neither of us will give or +take offence. I need offer you no apology for calling your attention to +this subject at the present time. Not only is it a theme of vast +importance in itself, involving, either directly or indirectly, +interests most dear to you and to me, and to every one who has at heart +the welfare of his country and his race, but it is a subject that must +be discussed,--there is no avoiding it, however much you or I or other +individuals may desire it. It has come before the public mind in such a +manner as peremptorily to demand the attention of every Christian and +every patriot. Whether we approve or deprecate the peculiar causes that +have made this topic so prominent in our country, both North and South, +we have to take things as they are, and turn them to the best possible +account. Politicians and demagogues are all discussing American slavery, +and will continue to do so for the purpose of forwarding their own +favorite schemes; and any attempt to silence them would be as futile as +an effort to arrest the gulf-stream in its course. It remains only for +brethren, both at the South and North, to take up the subject as we find +it brought to our hands in the inscrutable providence of God, and, under +the guidance of his Spirit, given in answer to our prayers, take a truly +Christian view of some of its leading features, and then inquire, What +is duty? I think you will not claim, with some of your southern friends, +that slavery is a subject with which we at the North "have nothing to +do." As patriots, we have something to do with every thing that affects +the interests of our common country; and as Christians, we sustain +responsibilities which we cannot shake off toward all our brethren of +the human family, whether it be at the North or South--whether they be +bound or free. "Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created +us?" "We are many members, but one body, and whether one member suffer +all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the +members rejoice with it." + +Your candor will not impute to me any unkind or improper motive in +entering upon this discussion; and you will permit me, in the outset, to +enter a few disclaimers, in order that you may be the better able to +appreciate what I have to say. + +In the first place, it is not my design to throw down the glove for the +purpose of enlisting you, or any of your friends, in a controversy; this +would be an unpleasant and profitless undertaking. + +Nor is it to advocate the doctrine, that sustaining the legal relation +of master to a slave for a longer or shorter time is in all possible +cases sin. I will admit that there may be circumstances in which the +relation may subsist without any moral delinquency whatever; as, for +instance, persons may become slaveholders in the eye of the law without +their own consent, as by heirship; they sometimes become so voluntarily +to befriend a fellow-creature in distress, to prevent his being sold +away from his wife and family; persons sometimes purchase slaves for the +sole purpose of emancipating them. In these, and other circumstances +which might be mentioned, no reasonable man either North or South would +ever think of pronouncing the relation a sinful one. + +Nor is it my design to question the conscientiousness or piety of all +slaveholders at the South, both among the laity and clergy. Whoever +makes the sweeping assertion, that "no slaveholder can be a child of +God," gives fearful evidence that he himself is deficient in that +"charity" which "hopeth all things." There is an obvious distinction +between those who hold slaves for merely selfish purposes and regard +them as chattels, and those who repudiate this system, and regard them +as men having in common with themselves human rights, and would gladly +emancipate them were there not legal obstacles, and could they do it +consistently with their welfare, temporal and eternal. + +Nor is it my purpose to advocate immediate, universal, unconditional +emancipation without regard to circumstances. This doctrine is not held +by the great mass of northern Christians. There are, no doubt, some +cases where immediate emancipation would inflict sad calamities, both +upon the slaves themselves and the community. The opinions of northern +men have often been misunderstood and misrepresented on this subject. +The ground that calm, reflecting opponents of slavery take, is, that +slaveholders should at once cease in their own minds to regard their +slaves as chattels to be bought and sold and worked for mere profit, and +that they should take immediate measures for the full emancipation of +every one, as soon as may be consistent with his greatest good, and that +of the community in which he lives. + +This, it is true, is virtually immediate emancipation; for it is at once +giving up the chattel principle, and no longer regarding servants as +property to be bought and sold. It is to act on the Christian principle +of impartial love, doing to them and with them, as, in a change of +circumstances, we would have them do to and with us. This does +immediately abolish, as it should do, the main thing in slavery, and +brings those who are now bondmen into the common brotherhood of human +beings, to be treated, not as chattels and brutes, but on Christian +principles, according to the exigencies of their condition as ignorant, +degraded, and dependent human beings, "endowed, however, by their +Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, +and the pursuit of happiness," which rights should be acknowledged, and +with the least possible delay be granted. + +Nor is it my design to reproach my southern brethren as being to blame +for the origin of slavery in these United States. Slavery was introduced +into this country by our fathers, who have long been sleeping in their +graves, and the North, if they did not as extensively, yet did as truly, +and in many cases did as heartily, participate in it, as the South; so +that, in respect to the origin of American slavery, we have not a word +to say, nor a stone to cast. And besides, our mother country must come +in and share with our fathers to no small extent in the wrong of +introducing domestic slavery to these colonies. Happily, as we think, +slavery was virtually abolished at the North by our ancestors of a +preceding generation; but for their act we are entitled to no credit. +Your ancestors omitted to do this; but for their omission you are +deserving of no blame. We would never forget, that slavery was entailed +upon our southern brethren, and for this entailment they are no more +responsible than for the blood that circulates in their veins. + +If you will be so kind as to keep these disclaimers in mind, I think you +will better understand and appreciate what I shall hereafter say on the +subject. With the kindest wishes for you and yours, I remain, in the +best of bonds, + +YOUR CHRISTIAN BROTHER. + + + + +LETTER III. + +THE REAL SUBJECT.--NOT TO BE CONFOUNDED WITH ANCIENT +SERVITUDE.--NOR TO BE JUDGED OF BY ISOLATED CASES.--NORTHERN MEN +COMPETENT AS OTHERS TO DETERMINE ITS TRUE CHARACTER.--SLAVERY +IGNORES OUR DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.--IS INCONSISTENT WITH OUR +CONSTITUTION. + + +MY DEAR FRIEND AND BROTHER,--I propose in this and subsequent letters to +take a brief, candid view of some of the prominent characteristics of +American slavery. I speak of servitude, not as it existed in patriarchal +times, for that is essentially a distinct matter. While it had some +things in common with American slavery, there was so much that was +dissimilar in the relation of master and servant, that analogy is in a +great measure destroyed. + +Neither do I speak of slavery as I saw it developed on your plantation, +and on those of your immediate neighbors. When I went to the South, I +confess I went with strong prepossessions, (prejudices if you choose so +to call them,) against the "peculiar institution." I regarded it an +evil, and only an evil. But while my general views of the legitimate +workings of the system remain unchanged, candor compels me to admit, +that, if all slaves were as well cared for, as kindly treated, as well +instructed, and were they all as contented and happy as yours; and, +especially, were there no evils incident to the system greater than I +saw with you, I would simply divest slavery of its odious name, and it +would virtually be slavery no longer. The plantations at the South would +then, perhaps, with some propriety he denominated communities of +intelligent, happy, Christian peasants. And yet it is slavery, as it +really takes away inalienable rights. Would to God that slavery as it +exists with you were a fair illustration of the system. But alas! it is +not. Perhaps you may say that "it is impossible for a northern man to +speak of slavery so as to do the subject justice." You may indeed know +more and better than we do about the state and condition of the slaves. +But in some respects, where great principles are involved, we at the +North are more competent than you, for our judgment is less liable to be +biased by self-interest; and in my remarks I shall confine myself +chiefly to those points on which a northern man is at least as well +qualified to speak as a slaveholder. + +What, then, are some of the prominent characteristics of American +slavery as a system? + +FIRST, Slavery ignores and repudiates the foundation-stone on which +rests our renowned Declaration of Independence. That document, for more +than three fourths of a century, has been the boast and glory of +America. It is the platform on which our noble ancestors planted their +feet, with a consciousness that they stood on the eternal principles of +truth and justice. To maintain these principles, relying on God for aid, +they pledged to each other "their lives, their fortunes, and their +sacred honor." Our fathers knew that they were right, and, to carry out +the principles embodied in this Declaration, many of them cheerfully +poured out their heart's blood to defend the "unalienable rights" of +humanity. + +Now let us turn our attention to the foundation paragraph of this +memorable Declaration;--I do not mean in that general way in which it is +often read, but minutely and particularly;--let us calmly look at it in +its full import, and not shrink back and avert our eyes on account of a +foreboding that we shall be led to conclusions which we would be glad to +avoid. + +"We hold these truths to be self-evident;--that all men are created +equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable +rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of +happiness." + +These significant words are inscribed upon the scroll of our nation's +history, and there they will remain till time shall be no longer. They +need no glossary or explanation. He who runs may read them, and he who +reads can understand them. The sentiment they embody it is impossible to +mistake; it stands out in bold relief, like the sun in the heavens. It +is, that every man has received, from a higher than earthly power, a +charter, which secures to him the unalienable right of life, liberty, +and the pursuit of happiness. It is impossible for the most ultra +advocate of "human rights" to paraphrase these words, or give them a +rendering so as to make them support his dogmas more strongly than they +now do. On the contrary, he would only weaken their force by the +attempt. + +Now, my dear brother, I would candidly, seriously ask you--I would ask +all your southern friends--I would ask everybody, Can the sentiment of +that Declaration be consistent with American slavery? Are not slaves +men? Do color and degradation change a creature of God from a human +being to a soulless brute? No; our southern brethren would as +indignantly repudiate this infidel view as we at the North. Now if a +slave is a man, he has received from his Creator an unalienable right to +liberty if he chooses to avail himself of it, or else the first +principle laid down in our revered Declaration of Independence, so far +from being "self evident," is in fact untrue, and ought at once to be +taken from its honored position in the archives of these United States, +and consigned to the heaps of rubbish of the dark ages. + +But does the slave enjoy this liberty? or is it within his reach? It +will not be pretended. The very name by which his class is designated +forbids it. The term free slave is a solecism. His liberty consists in +the freedom to do as he is told to do, or suffer punishment for his +disobedience, and he can pursue happiness only in accordance with the +will of his master. + +There is the same incongruity between slavery and that clause in our +constitution which stipulates that "no person shall be deprived of life, +liberty, or property, without due process of law." Now, my brother, does +it not require considerable ingenuity and special pleading to avoid +conclusions to which unbiased common sense would arrive in an instant, +in the application of these declared rights to persons held as slaves? I +am not going to inflict upon you a dissertation, or a series of +syllogisms on this hackneyed subject, but I beg that you and your +friends will calmly look again at what, I doubt not, you have seen +before,--the palpable incongruity between the system of holding persons +perpetually in slavery without their consent, and those declared, +self-evident, heaven bestowed, unalienable rights professedly secured to +all men in these United States by our glorious constitution. Said that +great statesman and patriot, Henry Clay: "We present to the world the +sorry spectacle of a nation that worships Slavery as a household +goddess, after having constituted Liberty the presiding divinity over +church and state." + +Surely something must be out of joint here. I have looked again and +again at this matter, I think with perfect candor, and I have tried to +the utmost of my ability to reconcile these apparent inconsistencies, +but I cannot do it. Can you? + +Believe me, as ever, your sincere friend and + +CHRISTIAN BROTHER. + + + + +LETTER IV. + +SLAVERY TRANSFORMS MEN TO CHATTELS.--SOUTHERN +LAWS.--SLAVE-AUCTIONS.--MEN PLACED ON A LEVEL WITH BRUTES.--NO +REDRESS FOR WRONGS.--IGNORANCE PERPETUATED BY LAW. + + +MY DEAR CHRISTIAN FRIEND,--A second characteristic of American slavery +is, It regards human beings, declared to be in the "image of God," as +"chattels,"--things or articles of merchandise. "Slaves," say the laws +of South Carolina and Georgia, "shall be deemed, sold, taken, reputed, +and adjudged in law to be chattels personal in the hands of their owners +and possessors, and their executors, administrators and assigns, to all +intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever."[D] "A slave," says the +code of Louisiana, "is one who is in the power of his master, to whom he +belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry, +and his labor; he can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire any +thing, but what must belong to his master."[E] + +Thus, rational, immortal beings, children of our common Father in +heaven, are taken from the exalted scale in which God placed them, and +degraded to that of the brute creation. They are, as you know, +advertised, mortgaged, attached, inherited, leased, bought, and sold +like horses and cattle. Like them they are brought to the auction block, +and like them subjected to a rigid examination as to their age, and +soundness of wind, chest, and limb. Said a gentleman to me: "When I was +at----, I visited the slave mart; and as I saw one and another and +another of my fellow-beings brought forward to the block, and rudely +exposed and minutely examined, in order to ascertain their marketable +value in dollars and cents, and then struck off to the highest bidder, +amid the gibes and jeers of the vulgar, my heart was nigh unto bursting, +and I was obliged to turn away my eyes and weep, exclaiming, O God! can +it be! thy children! my brothers and sisters of humanity,--perhaps my +fellow-heirs of heaven,--precious souls for whom the Saviour died, whose +names may be written in the Book of Life, and over whose repentance +angels may have rejoiced! Can it be?" + +For myself, I never witnessed any such scenes, and heaven grant I never +may. It is enough, and too much for me to know, that they exist. I +allude to them in this connection, not to awaken and pain your +sensibilities, but simply to illustrate the fact, that American slavery +sanctions them, and by its operation brings down the noblest work of God +to a level of the beasts that perish. As far as it can do so, it +dehumanizes man, and treats him as a thing without a soul. It may be +remarked, however, in passing, "A man's a man, for a' that." + +I might speak in this connection of the obstacles which are thrown in +the way of the slave's obtaining redress for his wrongs should he +unfortunately get into the hands of a cruel and unreasonable master, +being forbidden to defend himself, and not allowed the testimony of his +brethren to be given in his behalf; but there are other features of this +system which more urgently demand our attention. + +Neither will I dwell upon the ignorance and mental degradation which are +an essential part of the system. You need not be informed, that, in ten +States, knowledge is kept from the slave by legal enactments,--that +teaching him to read is regarded a crime, to be severely "punished by +the judges." I was happy to find that you and a great many others +totally disregard that law, and, in spite of legislators and penal +statutes, you teach your slaves to read, and in some cases to write. For +this _crime_, I doubt not but heaven, at least, will forgive you. I +shall allude to this latter topic again in a future letter. + +Most truly and affectionately, yours, etc. + + + + +LETTER V. + +DOMESTIC LIFE.--THE MARRIAGE RELATION.--DOMESTIC HAPPINESS A RELIC +OF PARADISE.--ITS ENDEARMENTS.--ITS VALUE.--THE BARBARISM OF +INVADING THE DOMESTIC SANCTUARY.--AN ILLUSTRATION. + + +MY DEAR BROTHER,--I come now, in the third place, to speak of slavery as +it is related to the endearments and duties of domestic life. On this +subject my heart is full. I am almost afraid to speak, lest I say what I +ought not; and yet I cannot keep silence. I can, in a good measure, +sympathize with Elihu when he said,-- + + "For I am full of words, + The spirit within me doth constrain me, + Behold I am as wine which hath no vent, + I am ready to burst like new bottles, + I will speak that I may breathe more freely, + I will open my lips and reply."[F] + +We now approach a topic more intimately connected with the present and +future happiness of the human race than almost any other. Man was not +completely blest, even in Eden, until God instituted the marriage +relation. His Creator gave him a companion to participate in his joys, +binding them together by ties which no human power might sunder. +Paradise was lost by sin, but as our first parents were exiled thence, +God in infinite kindness permitted them to take one of its purest, +sweetest sources of joy with them to this world of sorrows. + + "Domestic happiness! thou only bliss + Of Paradise that has survived the fall!" + +You, my dear brother, are a husband and father, and can appreciate my +meaning, when I speak of the richness, the tenderness, the depth, of +connubial and paternal love; how it lights up this dark world with +smiles,--how it stimulates us to manly exertion,--how it lightens the +burdens of human life, and enables us cheerfully to sustain its ills, +while it almost restores to us Eden itself. To understand what is meant +by the term domestic happiness, it is necessary for you and me only to +look at the circles around our own firesides, and listen to the musical +accents of the loved ones who dwell there, as they pronounce the words +husband, father, mother, brother, sister, and exchange with them kind +looks and the affectionate embrace. What earthly joys can be compared +with those of home? What would tempt us to part with them? All the gold +in California and Australia would be spurned in contempt, if offered in +exchange. What should we say, and what should we do, were any power on +earth to interfere with our fireside delights, and attempt to wrest them +from us? + +Suppose Providence had cast our lot under a despotic government, which +we will suppose to be for the most part kind and paternal, but having +this peculiarity,--every now and then, finding its finances embarrassed, +it should be in the habit of selling some of its subjects to a foreign +power to strengthen its exchequer, and should arbitrarily select its +victims from this family and that;--how should you feel were the doomed +family your own? What would have been your emotions this morning, had +some one come to your room and told you that that bright-eyed boy, +"Willie," who last night sat upon your knee and amused you with his +innocent prattle, showed you his toys, examined your pockets, played +with your hair and features, and finally clasped his little arms around +your neck and impressed the "good-night" kiss upon your lips, had been +seized by an officer, and sold from your sight forever to you know not +whom, and to be carried you know not whither? Nay, more;--suppose that +while he was yet speaking, there came also another with the tidings that +the same fate had befallen your first-born,--your daughter, just budding +into womanhood,--the affectionate, joyous, light-hearted "Kate," whose +voice to your ear is sweeter than the music of flowing waters, whose +feet are swifter than those of the light gazelle, as with open arms she +bounds to meet you on your return from a temporary absence, to welcome +you home with a tear of joy in her eye and a kiss upon her lips,--that +she too had been by the officials of the government clandestinely +abducted from your dwelling, and sold, literally sold, for a valuation +put upon her person in dollars and cents, to a hopeless captivity, to +spend her days in unrequited toil, or, not unlikely, in ministering to +the caprices and brutal passions of a stranger? + +And while he was yet speaking, and as your _wife_, half frantic with +grief and terror, was entwining her arms around you, and you were +striving to ease your bursting heart, to crown the whole, suppose +another official and his posse had entered your apartment, and by force +of arms had torn her from your embrace, and with thongs upon her hands, +and a bandage over her mouth, hurried her away to greet your sight no +more? What a scene! There go in one direction the children of your body, +"bone of your bone, and flesh of your flesh," to an unknown but fearful +destiny! In another is ruthlessly borne the object dearer to you than +all the world beside,--one whom you had solemnly sworn to love, cherish, +and protect until death,--the light of your dwelling,--the mother of +your children,--the mutual sharer of all your joys and sorrows,--the +richest and most precious treasure heaven ever gave you!--there she goes +in an agony of wo, to toil under a burning sun, compelled to call +another man her husband, or, it may be, to grace her master's seraglio! +Merciful God! what meaneth this? What horde of barbarians from the dark +corners of the earth have found their way hither to lay waste all that +is beautiful and lovely! What fiend from the pit has been let loose to +enter this little Paradise to destroy and bear away all the good that +was left of the primitive Eden! + +No ruthless band of barbarians from benighted lands have found their way +to this Christian domestic sanctuary,--no malignant spirit from below +has been here to snatch the only type of Heaven that escaped his grasp +six thousand years ago. "Think it not strange," brother, "concerning +this fiery trial as though some strange thing had happened to you." This +is only the legitimate working of the patriarchal system of government +under which we live. Be calm,--this is all done according to law, and +with as much kindness as the circumstances will permit. No stripes are +inflicted, and no more force is exerted than is absolutely necessary to +secure the object, and prevent a useless outcry; no ill-will is +entertained toward the victims of these outrages,--it is only because +the finances of the government are low, and must be replenished, and +this is the most convenient, and perhaps at present the only practical, +way of raising the money! + +Now, my brother, what should you and I think of living under a +government where such things were permitted by the laws? It would not +reconcile us to the administration to be told, that such proceedings as +I have supposed are of rare occurrence, and that the general character +of the government is kind, that it dislikes exceedingly to sell its +subjects, and especially that it has a great repugnance to separating +husbands and wives, and breaking up of families, and does it only when +severely pressed by pecuniary necessity. To your and my mind this would +be altogether unsatisfactory; it would not change our opinion of the +system. No matter if the heart-rending scene I have supposed were +witnessed only once a year, or once in ten years,--I think we should +loudly protest against a system which allowed the occurrence of it at +all. + +You will please, my dear sir, apply the foregoing illustration to the +liabilities and actual workings of the slave system at the South, just +so far as it is applicable, and no further. If there are any points in +which the analogy fails, I will thank you to point them out to me in +your next. + +With much love and esteem, + +I remain yours, most truly. + + + + +LETTER VI. + +SACREDNESS OF THE MARRIAGE RELATION.--GOD ALONE CAN DISSOLVE +IT.--THE "HIGHER LAW."--SLAVERY SANCTIONS POLYGAMY AND +ADULTERY.--RELATION OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN.--FEARFUL +RESPONSIBILITY ASSUMED. + + +MY DEAR CHRISTIAN BROTHER,--My objections to any system of government +that interferes at will with the family relation, and forcibly separates +husbands and wives, parents and children, do not arise chiefly from the +personal wrongs and bitter woes inflicted upon its victims. A +contemplation of these is calculated to affect our sensibilities, and +excite the tender sympathies of our nature; but there is a more enlarged +Christian view which forces itself upon us. If we could by some magic +process allay the anguish of the stricken heart, and heal its wounds +when the strongest ties of nature are rent asunder,--could we even +obliterate the susceptibilities of the soul, destroy natural affection, +and render man more callous than the brutes, so that he could be torn +from his home and kindred with less pain than they,--in a _moral_ point +of view the case would be altered but little. As I have remarked in a +previous letter, the _marriage relation_ was instituted by God, and he +made it indissoluble. "What God hath joined together let not man put +asunder," is the language of "holy writ;" and whoever, for any cause +which God himself has not specified, breaks up this relation, encroaches +upon God's prerogative, and goes directly in face of his positive +commands. Much has been said of late, seriously, sarcastically, and +contemptuously, about a "higher law;" but notwithstanding the improper +use often made of that term, there is an important sense in which you, +and I, and every Christian recognize what that term implies. If, on any +subject whatever, human enactments do obviously conflict with the +enactments of God, then God's law is the "_higher_," and must be obeyed. +To deny this is worse than infidelity. + +Now, brother, does not the system of slavery in the United States +tolerate, and even authorize, the forcible rending asunder of the +marriage tie? Are not husbands, not seldom, but often, sold from their +wives, and wives from their husbands, and new matrimonial alliances +formed by them, with consent and encouragement of their masters? Thus +is flagrant adultery sanctioned in nearly one half of the States of this +Christian Republic, and in some cases the crime is almost, if not quite, +forced upon the wretched perpetrators of it. When God's law is +disregarded, and an ordinance on which depends all we hold dear in +social and Christian life is trampled in the dust by an institution +existing in the midst of us, what shall we say? If slavery were a +question merely of expediency, political economy, or even personal wrong +and suffering, it would be easier to keep silence; but when God is +dishonored, and gross sin sanctioned by law, is it not the duty of his +children, North and South, to enter their solemn, earnest, decided +protestations? You will agree with me, that no Christian can or ought to +acquiesce in what, either directly or indirectly, violates a positive +divine precept; and against what shall he remonstrate, if not against a +system that encourages polygamy and legalizes adultery?[G] + +There is another view in which the operation of the system of slavery; +in breaking up families, has affected my mind powerfully and painfully. +Parents sustain most important relations to their children, as well as +to each other. Who can be so much interested in the temporal and eternal +well-being of the child as those by whose instrumentality he had his +existence? Who has so much influence over him, or who could direct his +feet in the way he should go, so well? God has imposed upon all parents +most important duties, which they may not neglect. These duties are as +truly incumbent on the slave-parent as on the master who sustains the +same relation. It may be, indeed, extensively true that he does not +understand them, and is in a great measure incompetent to discharge +them; and that often the child suffers nothing morally or intellectually +by being removed from his influence. But this results in a great measure +from the hopeless ignorance in which the parent is involved. There are, +however, as you can bear witness, multitudes of exceptions. In how many +cases are slave-parents truly pious and intelligent, and feel as much +solicitude for the eternal interests of their children, as you do for +yours, and pray with them as frequently and as fervently. With how much +pleasure did you and I listen to your "Jamie," one time when we were +taking an evening stroll past his cabin, and overheard his family +prayer. With what simplicity and earnestness did he pour out his soul to +God for the salvation of his "dear children." And do you not remember, +too, how with equal importunity he prayed God to "bless dear kind Massa +and Missus, and dere precious children, and also Massa's friend, and dat +all may meet to praise Jesus togedder in heaven," and how we found it +difficult to speak for a minute or two, and how the big tear-drops stood +in our eyes, and we couldn't help it? + +You told me there were a great many "Jamies" at the South, and I have no +doubt of it; they love their little ones as well, and who so competent +to train them up for Christ? Who will presume to step in between these +parents and their children and say, this family altar shall be broken +down, and those who have bowed around it shall be separated, to meet no +more till they meet at the judgment? Who will peril his own soul by +taking those children away from such an influence, and for a pecuniary +consideration cast them upon the wide world with none to instruct them, +and none to care or pray for them, except their heart-broken parents +whom they have left behind? I would not do it, neither would you, for +the wealth of the world; and yet, is it not often done? In speaking of +this subject, one of the most eminent southern divines[H] uses the +following language: "Slavery, as it exists among us, sets up between +parents and their children an authority higher than the impulse of +nature and the laws of God; breaks up the authority of the father over +his own offspring, and at pleasure separates the mother at a returnless +distance from her child, thus outraging all decency and justice." I +shall refer to the sentiments of this brother again. + +I remain as ever, + +Affectionately yours, etc. + + + + +LETTER VII. + +THE CROWNING EVIL OF SLAVERY.--PRECIOUSNESS OF THE BIBLE.--OUR +CHART AND COMPASS ON LIFE'S VOYAGE INDISPENSABLE.--ORAL +INSTRUCTIONS INSUFFICIENT.--DANGERS.--SHIPWRECK ALMOST +INEVITABLE.--WITHHELD FROM THE SLAVE.--SHUTS MULTITUDES OUT OF +HEAVEN.--AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY.--TESTIMONY OF GENERAL +ASSEMBLY.--OF SYNOD OF KENTUCKY.--OF DR. BRECKENRIDGE. + + +MY DEAR BROTHER,--There is one feature of slavery, fourthly, which gives +me more pain by far than any other, and I may say more than all others +put together, and that is, it imperils the immortal souls of millions of +our fellow-beings by keeping from them the Word of God. + +Next to the Saviour, and the Holy Spirit, the most precious gift God has +bestowed on man is the Bible. This volume contains our only perfect rule +of life, and is our only guide to heaven. It teaches us our character +and our destiny; it alone raises the curtain between time and eternity, +and dissipates the darkness that otherwise would forever enshroud the +grave; it reveals to us another state of being, in which we shall be +happy or miserable, ages without end. On this Book alone do we depend +for our knowledge of the way of salvation by Christ. It is here we read +the story of the manger and the cross, and the wonderful plan of +redemption through atoning blood. What could we do without the Bible? It +is of infinitely greater value than houses and lands, silver and gold, +and every earthly good beside. To take from us the Bible, would be like +blotting out the sun in the heavens, and enveloping the universe in the +gloom and darkness of eternal night. Take from me riches, honors, +pleasures, comforts, and even liberty itself; and give me instead +thereof poverty, disgrace, pains, affliction, hunger, cold, nakedness, +and a dungeon; tear me from my friends, bind me with chains, scourge me +with the lash, brand my flesh with hot irons, deprive me of every source +of earthly good, and inflict upon me every kind of bodily and mental +anguish which the utmost refinement of cruelty can invent;--but give me +my Bible--leave me this precious treasure, which is the gift of my +heavenly Father, to teach me his will and guide me to himself. Torture +and destroy my body, if you will, but O! give me facilities for saving +my soul. Turn me not adrift on life's troubled ocean to seek alone a +far distant shore, exposed continually to storms, breakers, hidden +reefs, whirlpools, and shoals, with nothing but a few verbal +instructions to direct my way. If I am to make this fearful voyage, (and +make it I must,) take not from me my chart and compass. Your verbal +directions I shall be likely to forget when I most need them. The +polestar, which you tell me may be my guide, is often for a long time +concealed by impenetrable clouds. There are fearful maelstroms, near the +verge of whose deceptive and destructive circles my course lies, and ere +I am aware of it I shall have passed the fatal line, from which no +voyager returns. Between me and my desired haven there is a "hell-gate," +where are sunken rocks and conflicting currents, and amid all these +complicated dangers my frail bark will make shipwreck, without my chart +and compass. Deprived of these, I cannot keep my reckoning, I cannot +shape my course, I cannot find my haven. + +I need not tell you, my dear brother, that it is a part of the +slaveholding policy to take from thousands and millions of immortal +beings in our nominally Christian land, this precious chart and +compass,--the Bible, the only safe guide to heaven. I have often heard +you speak of it, and deplore it. Those severe laws which forbid +teaching the slave to read, do virtually take from him the Bible,--his +directory to the New Jerusalem. You may, indeed, give him oral +instruction, and in many instances, no doubt, they are blessed to his +conversion; but how utterly inadequate are they to his spiritual wants, +how imperfect are they at best, and in how many thousands of cases are +even these entirely wanting. Every enlightened and intelligent Christian +knows, from his own experience, how hard it is to enter the "strait +gate," and to keep in the "narrow way," and how needful to him are all +the helps within his reach, and then he is but "scarcely saved." What +hope is there, then, for the poor slave, who is deprived, not only of +most of the ordinary and extraordinary means of grace which we enjoy, +but is forbidden the printed Word of God? Is not a fearful +responsibility incurred by those who, for any reason, stand between God +and his children, and intercept those messages of grace and mercy which +are contained in the Holy Scriptures? + +That noble institution, the American Bible Society, is multiplying +copies of the sacred Word by thousands and hundreds of thousands, and +scattering them over the land and the world; it hesitates not to thrust +them into the hands of the followers of the false prophet,--the deluded +followers of the man of sin,--the disciples of Confucius and +Zoroaster,--the worshippers of Juggernaut and Vishnoo, and the degraded +inhabitants of the South Seas and Caffraria;--it benevolently resolves +to put a copy of the Bible into the dwelling of every white family in +these United States; but it is obliged by law to pass by the cabin of +the slave, and leave more than three millions of immortal beings to find +the road to heaven the best way they can. + +My brother, I cannot think of these things without the deepest grief, +and I know that you fully sympathize with me; but it is some consolation +to believe that the great mass of evangelical Christians take the same +views of the wrongs inflicted upon the slave that we do, for it is to +the Christian sentiment of this country that we must look for the +removal of them. + +Our brethren of the Presbyterian church have borne their testimony most +fully and pointedly against the evils of slavery which we have been +considering. You doubtless recollect the action of the General Assembly +on this subject in 1818. A committee was appointed, to whom was referred +certain resolutions on the subject of selling a slave,--a member of the +church,--and which was directed to prepare a report to be adopted by +the Assembly, expressing their opinion in general on the subject of +slavery. The report of this committee was unanimously adopted, and +ordered to be published. It is, in part, as follows:-- + +"The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, having taken into +consideration the subject of slavery, think proper to make known their +sentiments upon it to the churches. + +"We consider the voluntary enslaving of the one part of the human race +by another, as a gross violation of the most precious and sacred rights +of human nature; as utterly inconsistent with the law of God, which +requires us to love our neighbors as ourselves; and as totally +irreconcilable with the spirit and principles of the gospel of Christ, +which enjoins that all things 'whatsoever ye would that men should do to +you, do ye even so to them.' Slavery creates a paradox in the moral +system; it exhibits rational, accountable, and immortal beings in such +circumstances as scarcely to leave them the power of moral action. It +exhibits them as dependent on the will of others, whether they shall +receive religious instruction; whether they shall know and worship the +true God; whether they shall enjoy the ordinances of the gospel; whether +they shall perform the duties and cherish the endearments of husbands +and wives, parents and children, neighbors and friends; whether they +shall preserve their chastity and purity, or regard the dictates of +justice and humanity. + +"Such are some of the consequences of slavery,--consequences, not +imaginary, but which connect themselves with its very existence. The +evils to which the slave is always exposed often take place in fact, and +in their very worst degree and form, and where all of them do not take +place, as we rejoice to say that in many instances, through the +influence of the principles of humanity and religion on the minds of +masters, they do not, still the slave is deprived of his natural right, +degraded as a human being, and exposed to the danger of passing into the +hands of a master who may inflict upon him all the hardships which +inhumanity and avarice may suggest." + +An Address from the Synod of Kentucky, in 1835, to the Presbyterians of +that State, is much more specific in its delineations of the evils of +slavery, and in its denunciations of the system, and adopts language far +more severe than many northern Christians would think it expedient to +use. It presents a picture of its actual workings which could be drawn +only by one who had seen the original. If you have not read this +address, I beg that you will do so. It is altogether a southern +document. I have room only for a short extract. + +Slavery is characterized as "a demoralizing and cruel system, which it +would be an insult to God to imagine that he does not abhor; a system +which exhibits power without responsibility, toil without recompense, +life without liberty, law without justice, wrongs without redress, +infamy without crime, punishment without guilt, and families without +marriage; a system which will not only make victims of the present +unhappy generation, inflicting upon them the degradation, the contempt, +the lassitude, and the anguish of hopeless oppression; but which even +aims at transmitting this heritage of injury and woe to their children +and their children's children, down to their latest posterity. Can any +Christian contemplate, without trembling, his own agency in the +perpetuation of such a system?" + +Coincident with the judgment of these two most respectable and revered +ecclesiastical bodies is the testimony of one of the most prominent and +honored sons of the southern church, the Rev. Dr. R. L Breckenridge. +Says he:-- + +"What then is slavery? for the question relates to the action of certain +principles of it, and to its probable and proper results; what is +slavery as it exists among us? We reply, it is that condition enforced +by the laws of one half of the States of this confederacy, in which one +portion of the community, called masters, are allowed such power over +another portion called slaves, as---- + +"1. To deprive them of the entire earnings of their own labor, except so +much as is necessary to continue labor itself by continuing healthful +existence: thus committing clear robbery. + +"2. To reduce them to the necessity of universal concubinage, by denying +to them the civil rights of marriage, thus breaking up the dearest +relations of life, and encouraging universal prostitution. + +"3. To deprive them of the means and opportunities of moral and +intellectual culture, in many States making it a high penal offence to +teach them to read, thus perpetuating whatever of evil there is that +proceeds from ignorance. + +"4. To set up between parents and their children an authority higher +than the impulse of nature and the laws of God, which breaks up the +authority of the father over his own offspring, and at pleasure +separates the mother at a returnless distance from her child, thus +abrogating the clearest laws of nature, thus outraging all decency and +justice, and degrading and oppressing thousands upon thousands of +beings, created like themselves in the image of the most high God! This +is slavery as it is daily exhibited in every slave State." + +Yes, such is the nature and character of an institution in this +enlightened Christian republic, claiming to be the freest nation on +earth, calling itself "an asylum for the oppressed," inviting the +downtrodden subjects of all the despots of the old world to come to this +happy land, and place themselves under the protection of the American +eagle, and in this "eyrie of the free" taste and enjoy the sweets of +liberty! + +The views presented in the above extracts may be taken, it is to be +presumed, as an exponent of the southern Christian sentiment on domestic +slavery. There are, indeed, exceptions. It is painful to notice that +within a few years some men of reputed piety and worth have been +attempting to maintain that American slavery is a "divine and +patriarchal institution," "sanctioned by the Bible,"--is "necessary to +the highest state of society," and is "to be perpetuated;" but I am +happy to believe that the number of those who hold such views, +repudiating those of the Presbyterian church, and at the same time call +themselves disciples of Him who said, "whatsoever ye would that men +should do to you, do ye even so to them," is comparatively small. + +I close this long letter by subscribing myself, as ever, + +Your affectionate + +Friend and Brother. + + + + +LETTER VIII. + +THREE QUESTIONS SUGGESTED.--1. MUST SLAVERY BE PERPETUAL?--2. DOES +THE CHURCH OF CHRIST SUSTAIN ANY RESPONSIBILITY IN THIS MATTER?--3. +WHAT SHALL WE DO? + + +MY DEAR CHRISTIAN FRIEND,--I fear I shall make myself tedious to you by +dwelling so long upon this, to me, painful subject,--slavery. I will, +therefore, in the present letter, finish what I have to say for the +present, hoping that our future correspondence may be on more grateful +themes. + +There are a few questions which are suggested to us by the brief view we +have taken of this most important subject. The first is, Must slavery, +with all its attendant evils, be perpetuated? Must this blot rest upon +our beloved country, and tarnish its escutcheon forever? I am persuaded +that the spontaneous answer from the Christian heart of this nation is, +_No!_ It was never contemplated by Washington nor Jefferson nor Adams, +nor by the framers of our Constitution, nor by the great mass of noble +patriots who perilled their all for the independence of their country, +that slavery was to be handed down to posterity. If you will look at the +writings of the leading public men of the last century, you will find, +that, almost without exception, they looked upon slavery in the United +States as a temporary evil, to be removed as soon as circumstances would +permit. They regarded it not only a wrong inflicted upon the slave, but +an incubus upon the nation, soon to pass away. + +The great body of Christians in our land have been looking forward to +the time, and praying for its arrival, when all the oppressed within our +borders shall go free. That the time will come when slavery shall cease +in our land, I as fully believe as I believe that there is a God who +presides over and directs the destinies of men. You and I may not live +to see the day; but it will come. + +Another question suggested is, Does the church of Christ in this country +sustain any responsibility in regard to slavery, and has she any duty to +discharge in relation to it? By the church of Christ, I mean the great +mass of Christians of every name who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity, +both North and South. + +This question is easily answered. There are no evils existing in the +Christian's field of labor--the world--in regard to which he has not +some responsibility, and for the removal of which he is not bound to do +something. As a general truth, the nearer the evils come to our own +firesides and bosoms, the weightier those responsibilities become. The +hundreds of millions of heathens in foreign lands lying in sin and +degradation appeal to our sympathy and efforts, and that appeal we may +not disregard. But the heathen in our own land have on us much stronger +claims, and our obligations to put forth efforts in their behalf are +more imperious. + +Slavery is a great evil and sin, which affects not only individuals, but +our country; and, both as Christians and patriots, we ought to be +sensibly alive to every thing that affects our common weal. You who live +at the South, it may be, have more responsibility in this matter than we +at the North; but none of us can say, "because I am not personally +implicated in inflicting wrongs upon the slave, therefore I have nothing +to do for their removal." Should this become the universal sentiment of +the church, Satan's kingdom in our world would never come to an end, and +wickedness would prevail forever. The spirit of Christianity, although +preëminently mild, gentle, patient, and long-suffering, is nevertheless, +in an important sense, aggressive. It has ever claimed the right of +interesting itself in the welfare of every human creature--to exert its +influence to check the progress of sin in every form--to attack error in +principle and in practice--to "loose the bands of wickedness,"--"undo +heavy burdens,"--"break every yoke,"--"deliver the poor and needy,"--and +to "remember them that are in bonds as bound with them." This, by some, +may be called officiousness, but we cannot help it; it is a part of the +Christian's legitimate business to volunteer his influence and his +services (in every proper way) in opposing wrong, and to stand up and +plead the cause of those who suffer it the world over. He cannot refrain +from doing so, without proving himself false to his Master and his +Master's cause. + +Admitting, then, that all Christians have some kind of responsibility +and duty devolving on them, a most important question comes up. Thirdly, +what shall they do? There are certainly some things which it is +perfectly evident we should not do,--though we should rebuke this and +every sin, we should not give vent to our hatred of the system in +ebullitions of wrath, invective, and abuse toward slaveholders. Thus did +not Christ nor his apostles. This is not in accordance with the +Christian spirit, and could be productive only of evil. + +Neither should we endeavor to exert an influence over the slaves to make +them restive and disobedient; none but an enemy to the true interests, +both of the slave and his country, would do that, unless under some +hallucination. + +Neither should we interfere politically with slavery beyond the +boundaries of our own State, in States where it now exists by the laws +of the land. I might go on indefinitely, and specify what we should not +do; but this does not meet the case;--what shall we do? It would be +arrogance in me to attempt a full answer to a question that has engaged +the attention of many abler heads and better hearts than mine, but there +are some things which have already been said by others, that cannot be +too frequently repeated. + +In the first place, we can commit this whole matter to God in humble, +earnest prayer. Here is something which we can all do, North and South, +and in which we shall all be agreed. However much we may differ in +regard to the safety and expediency of other measures to moderate the +condition of the slave and bring about his ultimate emancipation, we are +of one mind in regard to the safety and efficacy of prayer. One effect +of this will be to unite our own hearts more closely in sympathy and +love. There will be no danger of calling each other hard names, bandying +unchristian epithets, and biting and devouring one another, if we are in +the habit of meeting daily at the throne of grace to pray for a cause in +which we take a mutual interest. + +By prayer we may hope to be enlightened more fully in regard to our +duty. "If any man lack wisdom," and surely we all do on this subject, +"let him ask of God." + +In answer to prayer, we have reason to hope that God will open the eyes +to teach the hearts of all slaveholders, and lead them to "do justly and +love mercy," and also that he will, in his holy and wise Providence, +redress the wrongs of his oppressed children, and prepare the way for +their ultimate emancipation. + +Prayer is the Christian's first and last resort. Let us, then, my dear +brother, pray over this subject continuously, and with an earnestness +commensurate with its importance, and then, I doubt not, we shall +ourselves be more enlightened than we now are as to our future course. + +A second duty, hardly less obvious than prayer, is to use all the +influence we possess to prevent the extension of the domain of slavery. +To this end, we should utter our voices long and loud in remonstrance +against any such measure. If we and our legislators may not politically +interfere with slavery in States where it now exists, we may interfere +to prevent it from exerting its baleful influence over territory now +free. We should do many things for the sake of peace and conciliation. +We have heretofore made concessions and compromises--perhaps too +many--on this subject; but here is where the people of God, North and +South, should make a stand, and declare before heaven and earth, and +with an emphasis which cannot be misunderstood, that not another inch of +our public domain shall be cursed with slavery for any consideration +whatever, if our influence can prevent it. In our remonstrances, we will +be respectful, but firm. Let our politicians know that all persons who +are governed by Christian principle, through the length and breadth of +the land, have taken their position, and that the mountains shall be +removed out of their places, ere they will swerve from it, and there +will be but little danger of slave extension. + +In the third place, we should use every endeavor to disseminate the +gospel of Christ, and bring its principles to bear upon all classes of +persons, North and South. If we can do this effectually, it is all +sufficient. The Gospel, if faithfully applied, is a sure remedy for +every social and moral evil that ever existed. We at the North should +demonstrate to our slave-holding friends whom we wish to influence, that +we ourselves are governed by its spirit, and actuated by its principle, +in all that we do in relation to this subject. It is not ambition, a +lust for power, sectional jealousy, a spirit of censoriousness or +ill-will, that prompts us to what they have been in the habit of +regarding as intermeddling with their affairs, in which we have no +concern, but a spirit of love,--love not less to them than to their +slaves. And then, in the temper of Christ, we will bring the Gospel to +bear on the slaveholder's conscience and sense of justice. We will hold +up and keep before his mind the great rule of life given by Him who +spake as never man spake,--"Whatsoever ye would that men should do to +you, do you even so to them." Let this rule be once adopted and carried +out, and it is enough. Human beings would no more be sold as beasts in +the market, and driven to unrequited toil; the minds of men would no +longer be kept in ignorance; the domestic circle would never again be +invaded by the hand of sordid avarice separating husbands and wives, +parents and children, doing savage violence to the noblest affections +of our nature; the Bible would be put into the hands of every slave, and +he would be taught to read it; common schools and Sabbath schools would +be everywhere established and maintained, as well for the slave as for +the white child; the master would regard those whom he now holds as +property as his own brethren, going with him to the same judgment, and +destined finally to dwell with him as his equals, in the same heaven, +and to wear as bright crowns and sing as rapturous a song as he. He +would immediately set himself about preparing his slaves for +emancipation, and for the enjoyment of those natural rights, of which +they have for so long a time been most unjustly deprived. In short, +slavery, as the term is now understood, would cease instantly, and a +kind, parental guardianship would take its place, and every southern +plantation would be transformed into a moral garden of beauty and +happiness, and universal and entire emancipation would follow with the +least possible delay. And, finally, we should if possible bring the +Gospel to bear upon the great body politic, upon our presidents, our +governors, our National and State legislators. It would seem that some +of our lawmakers are much better acquainted with Blackstone and Vattel, +than they are with the Lord Jesus Christ, or they would not disgrace +our statute-books with laws which ignore the "higher laws" of God. We +should often remind them that this is a Christian, and not a heathen or +infidel republic; and that every enactment, not consistent with the +gospel of Christ and inalienable human rights, does violence to the +Christian sentiment and Christian conscience of the nation, and must be +repealed. If they will not hear us, we have only to appoint more +faithful servants, who will do as they are told. We have no idea of +"uniting church and state," but to infuse as much of the Gospel into the +state as possible is both a privilege and duty; and when all our affairs +and institutions, public, domestic, and private, are administered on +gospel principles, we shall become a free, prosperous, and happy people, +and not till then. + +And now, may God bless you, my dear brother, and guide you, and guide us +all, to pursue such a course in regard to the three and a half millions +of slaves in our professedly free republic as will afford us the most +satisfaction when we meet them as our equals at the judgment-seat of +Christ. + +With high esteem and much affection, + +I remain your Christian brother, + +A. C. BALDWIN. + + + + +AN ESSAY, + +BY + +REV. TIMOTHY WILLISTON. + + IS AMERICAN SLAVERY AN INSTITUTION WHICH CHRISTIANITY + SANCTIONS, AND WILL PERPETUATE? AND, IN VIEW + OF THIS SUBJECT, WHAT OUGHT AMERICAN + CHRISTIANS TO DO, AND REFRAIN + FROM DOING? + + Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto.--TERENCE. + Bear ye one another's burdens.--PAUL. + + + + +ESSAY. + + +A great moral question is, in this nineteenth century, being tried +before the church of Christ, and at the bar of public sentiment. It is, +Whether the system of servitude known as American slavery be a system +whose perpetuity is compatible with pure Christianity? Whether, with the +Bible in her hand, the church may lawfully indorse, participate in, and +help perpetuate, this system? Or whether, on the other hand, the system +be, in its origin, nature, and workings, intrinsically evil; a thing +which, if, like concubinage and polygamy, God has indeed tolerated in +his church, he never approved of; and which, in the progress of a pure +Christianity, must inevitably become extinct? I feel assured that the +latter of these propositions will, without argument, command the assent +of the mass of living Christians. But there are those in the church who +array themselves on the other side. While they would not justify the +least inhumanity in the treatment of slaves, they profess to believe +that slavery itself has the approbation of Jehovah, and may with +propriety be perpetuated in the church and the world. At their hands I +would respectfully solicit a patient hearing, while I proceed to assign +several reasons for differing with them in opinion. + +First. Slavery is a condition of society not founded in nature. When +God, in his Word, demands that children shall be in subordination to +their parents, and citizens to the constituted civil authorities, we +need no why and wherefore to enable us to see the reasonableness of +these requirements. We feel that they are no arbitrary enactments, but +indispensable to the best interests of families and of society, and +therefore founded in nature. We are prepared, too, from their obvious +necessity and utility, to rank them among the permanent statutes of the +Divine Legislator. But can as much be said of slavery? Is there such an +obvious fitness and utility in one man's being, against his will, owned +and controlled by another, as to prepare us to say that such an +ownership is founded in the very constitution of things? None will +pretend that there is. Not only is slavery not founded in nature, but, + +Second. It is condemned by the very instincts of our moral constitution. +These instincts seem to whisper that "all men are born free and equal;" +equal, not in intellect, or in the petty distinctions of parentage, +property, or power; but having, as the creatures of one God, an equal +right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Job's moral +instincts taught him, that the fact of all men's having one and the same +Creator gave his servants a right to contend with him, when wronged; and +that, if he "despised their cause," he must answer it to his God and +theirs. That men of all races and grades are essentially equal before +God; that every man has a right to himself, to the fruits of his toil, +and to the unmolested pursuit of happiness, in all lawful ways; and +hence, that slavery, as existing in these States, is a gigantic system +of evil and wrong,--are truths which the moral sense of men is +everywhere proclaiming with much emphasis and distinctness. If it be not +so, what means this note of remonstrance, long and loud, that comes to +our ears over the Atlantic wave? Why else did a Mohammedan prince,[I] +(to say nothing of what nearly all Christian governments have done,) +put an end to slavery in his dominions before he died? And how else +shall we account for that moral earthquake which has for years been +rocking this great republic to its very centre? One cannot thoughtfully +observe the signs of the times,--no, nor the workings of his own heart, +methinks,--without perceiving that slavery is at war with the moral +sense of mankind. If there be any conscience that approves, it must be a +conscience perverted by wrong instruction, or by a vicious practice. And +can that be a good institution, and worthy of perpetuity, which an +unperverted conscience instinctively condemns? + +Third. The bad character of slavery becomes yet more apparent, if we +consider the manner in which it has chiefly originated and been +sustained. Did God institute the relation of master and slave, as he did +the conjugal and parental relations? It is not pretended. In what, then, +did slavery have its beginning? Doubtless the first slaves were +captives, taken in war. In primitive ages, the victors in war were +considered as having a right to do what they pleased with their +captives; and so it sometimes happened that they were put to death, and +sometimes that they were made to serve their captors as bondmen. Thus +slavery was at first the incidental result of war. But as time rolled +on, the love of power and of gain prompted men to make aggressions on +their weaker neighbors, for the very purpose of enslaving them; and, +eventually, man-stealing and the slave-trade became familiar facts in +the world's history. Upon these has slavery, for centuries past, +depended mainly for its continuance. And, although these feeders of +slavery are now by Christian nations branded as piracy and strictly +vetoed, they are far from being exterminated. Indeed, it seems to be +well understood, that, if all commerce in slaves, foreign and domestic, +ceases, slavery itself must soon become extinct. + +Now if man-stealing be an act which the Word of God and the moral +instincts of men do most pointedly condemn,--and I will attempt no +demonstration of this here,--what shall we say of that which is its +legitimate offspring and dependant? Far be it from me to affirm, that, +circumstanced as our southern brethren are, it is just as criminal for +them to hold slaves as it would be to go now to Africa and forcibly +seize them. But, in the spirit of love, I would ask my slave-holding +brother, Can that be a justifiable institution, and deserving to be +upheld, which has so bad a parentage? "Do men gather grapes of thorns?" +"Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" + +Fourth. There are, in the Scriptures, many clear indications that +slavery has not the approbation of God, and hence has not the stamp of +perpetuity upon it. Under this head, let us notice several distinct +particulars. + +1. Had God regarded servitude as a good thing, he would not, in +authoritatively predicting its existence, have said, "Cursed be Canaan; +a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." What God visits +men with as a curse cannot be intrinsically good and beneficial. + +2. The judgments with which God visited Egypt and her proud monarch, for +refusing to emancipate the Israelites, and for essaying to recapture +them, when let go, and the wages which he caused his people, when +released, to receive for their hitherto unrequited tolls, clearly evince +that he has no complacency in compulsory, unrewarded servitude. + +3. The same thing is indicated by the fact that God has, by statute, +provided expressly for the protection and freedom of an escaped slave; +but not for the recovery of such a fugitive by his master. "Thou shalt +not deliver unto his master, the servant which is escaped from his +master unto thee: he shall dwell with thee, even among you in that place +which he shall choose.... Thou shalt not oppress him." Now be it, if +you will, that this statute had reference only to servants who should +escape into the land of Israel from Gentile masters; does it not +indicate a strong bias, in the mind of God, to the side of freedom, +rather than that of slavery? And does it not establish the point, that, +in God's estimation, one man cannot rightfully be deemed the property of +another man? Were it otherwise, would not the Jew have been required to +restore a runaway to his pursuing master, just as he was to restore any +other lost thing which its owner should come in search of? Or, to say +the least, would not the Israelites have been allowed to reduce to +servitude among themselves the escaped slave of a heathen master? But +how unlike all this are the actual requirements of the statute. God's +people must neither deliver up the fugitive nor enslave him themselves; +but allow him to dwell among them as a FREEMAN, just "where it liketh +him best." And, in this connection, how significant a fact is it, that +the Bible nowhere empowers the master from whom a slave had escaped to +pursue, seize, and drag back to bondage that escaped slave. + +4. That which constitutes the grand fountain of slavery,--the forcible, +stealthy seizure of a man, for the purpose of holding or selling him as +a slave,--was, under the Mosaic dispensation, punishable with death; +and is, in the New Testament, named in connection with the most heinous +crimes. "He that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in +his hand, he shall surely be put to death." What could more forcibly +exhibit God's disapprobation of one of the distinctive features of +slavery,--compulsion? What more impressively show the value that he puts +upon a man's personal independence,--his right to himself? Now if God +doomed that man to die a felon's death who should steal and sell a +fellow man, can it be that he would hold him guiltless who should buy +the stolen man, knowing him to have been stolen? God's people were, +indeed, allowed to "buy bondmen and bondmaids" of the strangers that +dwelt among them, and of the surrounding heathen. But were they ever +allowed to buy persons whom they knew to have been unlawfully obtained, +and offered for sale in manifest opposition to their own wishes? If they +were not,--and, from the statute just referred to, it seems certain that +they were not,--does American slavery derive countenance from that which +was tolerated in the Jewish church and nation? True, the slaves now held +as such among us were not themselves feloniously seized on a foreign +soil, torn away from kindred, homes, and country, and sold into hopeless +bondage in a strange land; but their sires and grandsires were. +Man-stealing is confessedly the stock out of which has sprung, and grown +to its present dimensions, the vast and overshadowing Upas of American +slavery; and if the Bible brands that stock as pestiferous, must not the +entire tree partake of the noxious influence? Again: if, as competent +critics assert, the popular sense of the word rendered "men-stealers," +in 1 Tim. i. 10, be "those who deal in men--literally, slave-traders," +then trafficking in slaves for mercenary ends is, by Paul, ranked among +vices the most abominable; and American slavery is, if possible, more +pointedly condemned by that passage than by the statute found in Ex. +xxi. 16. For who does not know that trading in "the persons of men" has +ever been, and yet is, a main pillar in the fabric of slavery? Indeed, +man-stealing and slave-trading are to slave-holding precisely what the +business of the distiller and of the vendor is to the vice of +intemperance. There is, in either case, a trio of associated evils; and +it is difficult to say which member of either trio is the most repulsive +and harmful. + +If, now, it be objected to this argument from the Bible, that the Mosaic +institutes expressly recognize such a thing as involuntary servitude, +and prescribe rules for its regulation, I answer: true, but the +servitude thus recognized and regulated by statute was of a far milder +type than that which is legalized in these American States. For, 1. It +allowed the bondman a large amount of leisure, or time which he need not +devote to his master's service; 2. It made it possible for him to +accumulate a considerable amount of property; 3. It placed him on a +perfect level with his master, in regard to religious privileges; 4. It +gave him his freedom whenever he should be so chastised as to result in +permanent injury to his person: thus operating as a powerful preventive +of inhumanity in chastising; 5. It respected the sanctity of the +conjugal and parental relations, when existing among bondmen, and did +not authorize a compulsory severing of family ties; 6. It made no +provision for the sale of a servant by his Jewish master, nor for any +such domestic commerce in the persons of men as is practised in the +southern States of this Union; 7. It provided for the periodical +emancipation of all that were in bondage; thus aiming a fatal blow at +the very existence of servitude in the Hebrew commonwealth. I may not, +consistently with the necessary brevity of a tract designed for popular +perusal, go into any demonstration of the facts above asserted. For +proof that they are facts, let my readers studiously examine the Mosaic +books, and the Rev. A. Barnes's "Inquiry into the Scriptural Views of +Slavery." I see not how any candid and discriminating investigator can +help being convinced that the servitude which was temporarily tolerated +in the Jewish church, was, in numerous respects, very unlike to that +which exists among us, and far less repulsive. + +But suppose, for argument's sake, it had been just as repulsive a system +as ours, would the fact of its having been tolerated under the Jewish +economy prove it to be intrinsically good, and worthy of being +perpetuated? Then, by parity of reasoning, the good men of ancient times +might safely have concluded that certain other practices were good and +would endure, which we know were not good, and were not to last. Had the +question been propounded in Abraham's or in David's day, whether +polygamy and concubinage were approved of God, and would be perpetuated +in the church, it is probable that even the saints of those periods +would have responded affirmatively. The fact that God had so long +allowed his people to practise these things unrebuked, might, to them, +have seemed sufficient proof that these practices were intrinsically +proper, and were to rank among the permanent fixtures of human society. +But were Abraham and David now on the earth, with what changed feelings +would they regard the cast-off system of concubinage and a plurality of +wives. Again: suppose the conjecture had been hazarded, three thousand +years ago, that woman, from being a menial drudge, or a mere medium of +bestial indulgence, would one day occupy the dignified position to which +Christianity has actually lifted her, would not incredulity have lurked +in every heart, and found expression on every tongue? Now there are +plain indications, not only in the Word, but the providences of God, +that he never regarded slavery with complacency, any more than he did +polygamy, concubinage, or the serfdom of woman; and that he never +designed its perpetuity. Scrutinizing that Word and those providences, +one needs no prophetic ken to enable him to predict with certainty, +that, when Christ's millennial reign is ushered in, contraband will be +inscribed on slavery, as it already has been on some other evils that +were once tolerated, not only in society, but in the church of God. + +But I shall be reminded here, that, when the apostles were disseminating +Christianity in the Roman empire, there prevailed throughout that empire +a system of slavery more odious and oppressive than ours; and yet that +both slaveholders and slaves were converted and admitted to the church, +without its affecting the relation of master and slave; that the New +Testament instructs the parties how to demean themselves in that +relation, but nowhere enjoins emancipation on the master, or encourages +absconding or non-submission in the slave; in short, that it nowhere +expressly condemns slavery, or intimates that its extermination was to +be expected or desired. In reply to this, I would say,-- + +(1.) To infer, because the New Testament enjoins obedience on slaves, +and makes no direct attack on the institution of slavery, that it +therefore sanctions the institution, and would have it perpetuated, is +as much a _non sequitur_ as to infer, because God enjoins on men +subjection to existing civil authorities, whatever may be their +character, that he as much approves of a despotic as of a constitutional +government,--of the government of Ferdinand of Naples as of that of +Victoria of England. Nor is it more difficult to comprehend why God has, +in the Scriptures, made no direct assault on slavery, than it is to see +why He has not directly assailed governmental despotisms, or expressed +any preference for one form of government over another. An obvious and +far-seeing wisdom is discernible in this, which it behooves us to +admire, and not unfrequently to imitate. Had the apostles or the +Scriptures openly denounced all absolutism, whether civil or domestic, +it would have aroused unnecessary prejudice and opposition, and diverted +the attention of men from the grand object aimed at in giving the world +a written and preached gospel. God deemed it wiser to reach these evils +through the slow but sure progress of certain great principles laid down +in his Word, than through the medium of specific prohibitions. + +(2.) The fact that the apostles received into the church converts who +not only held slaves, but held them under a slave-system that was +awfully despotic, was no indorsement on their part of that odious +system, nor even of the slightest inhumanity on the part of a master +towards his slaves. It does, indeed, prove that a man may be a +Christian, without ceasing to be a slaveholder in form; but not that a +master may indulge in all the legal barbarities of the system, and yet +be a Christian. Merely to sustain the relation of a Christian master for +the good of the slave, or from the necessity of the case, is one thing, +while to advocate and defend this chattel system, and hold in bondage +fellow human beings for personal and selfish ends, is quite another +thing. Nowhere do the Scriptures countenance, or even wink at, the least +degree of inhumanity or injustice in the treatment of servants. So far +from this, they expressly enjoin it on masters to "give unto their +servants that which is just and equal," all the law of disinterested +love would require; accompanying the injunction with the significant +hint, that they themselves have a Master, and that with him there is "no +respect of persons." + +(3.) Though the Scriptures do not directly assail the system of slavery, +they indirectly and obviously condemn it, and that very abundantly. +Slavery is indirectly and yet strongly rebuked in such passages of +Scripture as the following: "Wo unto him that ... useth his neighbor's +service without wages." "Is not this the fast that I have chosen, ... to +undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye +break every yoke?" "What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do +justly, and to love mercy?" ... "Have we not all one Father? Hath not +one God created us?" ... "And hath made of one blood all nations of men, +for to dwell on all the face of the earth; ... that they should seek the +Lord." ... "God is no respecter of persons." "The people of the land +have used oppression, ... therefore have I poured out mine indignation +upon them." ... "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." "Therefore, +all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so +to them." It needs no unusual acuteness to see, that, were the spirit of +these and kindred passages (for numerous others of the sort might have +been cited) everywhere acted out, slavery would as readily vanish, as do +the icebergs of the North, if perchance they float away into milder +latitudes. + +Fifth. To the four reasons already assigned for thinking that slavery +has not God's approbation, and ought not to be perpetuated, I will add +but one more,--its baleful effects. (1). As it respects worldly thrift, +or pecuniary prosperity. It is a fact, that slavery exerts a depressing +influence on the business welfare of any community where it prevails; +and that, other things being equal, slaveholding States can never +compete with free ones in the item of financial prosperity. A necessary +brevity forbids my pointing out the causes of this fact; but my readers +will, without my aid, readily ascertain what they are. Suffice it to +say, it has become a settled maxim of political economy, that there +exists an antagonism between slavery and the highest business prosperity +of any people that tolerates it; and the southern States of this Union +furnish abundant confirmation of its truth. (2.) I will name but one +other thing,--its baneful influence on character and morals. That +slavery tends to debase the character and morals of the slaves will +scarcely be questioned. Apart from the ignorance naturally resulting +from their condition, that condition powerfully tends to render them +sensual, indolent, artful, mendacious, stealthful, and revengeful. But +is the bad moral tendency of the institution limited to the bondmen? +Exerts it no corrupting influence on the hearts, the habits, and morals +of the masters? Is it not its legitimate tendency to foster in them such +vices as indolence, effeminacy, licentiousness, covetousness, +inhumanity, haughtiness, and a supreme regard for self? Of course, I do +not affirm that it uniformly produces these sad effects on the character +of masters. So far from this, there may doubtless be found slaveholders, +who, in all that adorns and ennobles human character, will compare +favorably with the very best men at the North. I think it will be +conceded, however, that the legitimate tendency is to evil, and that the +effects of slavery on the character of its sustainers are, in the main, +disastrous; and that the depreciated state of morals prevailing where +slavery exists is mainly attributable to this as its source. I need not +here enter into detail. Facts are too well known to make this +necessary. + +Thus have we contemplated several distinct reasons for believing that +slavery is no good thing,--has not the sanction of Jehovah,--and cannot +with propriety be perpetuated. Its contrariety to nature,--its +antagonism to the moral sense of mankind,--its disgraceful parentage and +manner of support,--its condemnation by the Bible,--and its disastrous +influence on financial prosperity, on character, and on public +morals,--all proclaim that slavery, so far from being a good thing, is a +tremendous curse; yea, more, that it is a stupendous wrong; and hence, +that it should be tolerated in the church of Christ no longer than the +best interests of all concerned may render necessary for a safe +termination. + +But it may be, after all, that I have failed to secure the assent of +some of my southern brethren to the justness of the foregoing positions +and inferences. It may be that they still regard the system of bondage +prevailing in their midst as in the main beneficial, defensible from the +Bible, and, with some modifications perhaps, worthy of perpetuity. Well, +brethren, suppose you do thus regard it; and for argument's sake +suppose, too, that you may possibly be right,--that slave-holding may be +in itself the harmless thing which you deem it; ought you not +cheerfully to abandon it, in obedience to a great Bible +principle,--that of refraining from things which are in themselves +lawful, or which your conscience may not condemn, out of regard to the +conscience of aggrieved Christian brethren, or to the prejudices of +those whose salvation you would not obstruct? You are aware, brethren, +that this magnanimous principle Paul both inculcated and exemplified. +You are also aware that a large majority of the Christians now living +regard your cherished institution as unjustifiable, and at variance with +the spirit of Christianity; and, so regarding it, they long for its +extinction, and are grieved with you for cleaving to it so tenaciously, +and refusing to concert measures for its ultimate overthrow. Indeed, +they are more than grieved; they are profoundly agitated by the fresh +developments of the iniquitous system which you are helping to uphold; +and there seems no prospect, while that system endures, of their +becoming tranquillized. A tempest has sprung up and is raging in the +church of Christ,--to say nothing of the civilized world,--which seems +not likely to cease till its cause be removed; and slavery is that +cause. Now I put it to you, brethren, if here be not an opportunity of +exemplifying, on a broad scale, the self-denying and noble principle +which Paul indicates in the words, "All things are lawful for me, but +all things are not expedient;" "Eat not for his sake that shewed it, and +for conscience' sake: ... conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the +other;" "Though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant +unto all, that I might gain the more." Have it, if you will, that the +brethren for whose sake you are asked to make this sacrifice are weak +brethren, and their consciences weak. Your obligation to make it is none +the less on that account; for the principle just adverted to +contemplates cases of this very sort. Since the practice which grieves +these weak brethren is one that you can probably abandon without +wounding your own conscience, are you at liberty to undervalue their +conscience by persisting in that which grieves them? + +But how much weightier does this argument become, when it is remembered +that the opposers of slavery, besides being exceedingly numerous, have, +many of them, been eminent,--not merely for a conscientious piety, but +for talent, for research, for scholarship, for broad and comprehensive +views of things;--and that the list embraces distinguished southern, as +well as northern men; and men of celebrity in both church and state. +There have been found in the anti-slavery ranks, presidents and noble +men, jurists and legislators, statesmen and divines, scholars and +authors, poets and orators. And, still further to enhance the dignity of +the cause, it should be remembered that several General Assemblies of +the Presbyterian Church of the United States, together with numerous +lesser ecclesiastical bodies, have lifted up their voice in opposition +to slavery, and proclaimed substantially the same views which this +humble Essay has aimed to exhibit. Now if, as we have seen, a +deferential regard should be had to the conscience of aggrieved +Christian brethren, even when they are few and feeble-minded, how much +more, when the aggrieved ones are counted in hundreds of thousands? when +theirs is an intelligent piety and an enlightened conscience? and when, +too, their remonstrance is backed up by a public sentiment that is +wellnigh unanimous through all christendom? + +If now, in spite of all these considerations, I still have readers that +say in their hearts, slavery must be perpetuated, they will pardon me +for lingering no longer in the hope of changing their views. I would be +indulged, however, in one parting interrogation. Has it never occurred +to you, brethren, that yours is, on some accounts, a very unfavorable +stand-point from which to form just and disinterested views of slavery; +and that your very position as slave-holders, and your long familiarity +with the system and its evils, may have blinded you to the magnitude of +those evils, and to the great desirableness of their being removed? May +it not be that long use, and self-interest, and the love of power and +ease, have conspired to warp your judgment, blunt your sensibilities, +and cause you to view slavery through a deceptive medium? + +Having, as I hope, the cordial assent of the great mass of my readers, +northern and southern, to the foregoing argument against slavery and its +perpetuity, we are now prepared to advance to the last great division of +our subject, and to inquire: What are the duties, positive and negative, +which this subject imposes on American Christians? What does it demand +that we, as Christians, should do, and refrain from doing? This question +subdivides itself thus: What ought we northern and professedly +anti-slavery Christians to do, and not do? And, next, What duties, +positive and negative, does the question devolve on professing +Christians in the slave-holding States? + +I. We are to consider what we, the northern and avowedly anti-slavery +section of the American church, ought, in view of this subject, both to +do, and refrain from doing. In reply to the question, What ought we to +do? I would say,-- + +1. It is not only our right, but duty, temperately and with Christian +courtesy to continue to discuss this great theme, both orally and with +the pen; and especially to endeavor to bring the truth into contact with +the mind and heart of our southern brethren,--if, peradventure, we may +thus persuade them soon to cease their connection with slavery. Freedom +of discussion is one important safeguard of the public weal; and that +must be regarded as a bad, untenable cause which will not bear the test +of a full and free discussion before the world. Free inquiry, too, has +not only preceded all great reformations, but has been an important +instrument in bringing them about. That great moral change known as the +temperance reformation is but one example among many that might be +adduced. If slavery is ever to be numbered in history among the things +that are past, it will be by having Bible light and truth made to +converge upon it, through the lens of free public discussion. Hence, +believing as we do that American slavery is an enormous evil and a +gigantic wrong,--a thing with which the church should cease to have +connection as speedily as may be,--as Christians we may, we must, employ +our tongues and our pens in behalf of the enslaved, till our world +shall cease to contain such a class of men. + +2. We ought so to exercise the right of suffrage as to resist the +extension of slavery beyond its present limits. I say nothing here of +the political question of State rights, or of interfering with slavery +in States where it now exists. The question of authorizing by law the +extension of slavery into new States and Territories, or of admitting +new States with pro-slavery constitutions, is another and very different +thing from that of disturbing the compact in relation to slavery entered +into by the founders of this republic. The concessions in relation to +the slave interest which our fathers made by no means oblige us to make +further concessions, by consenting that slavery shall overstep her +present geographical limits. I know not what others may think; but, for +one, I feel constrained, by a sense of duty to God and my country, so to +vote as to have my votes tell against the spread of slavery. I must +carry my Christian principles of love and humanity to the ballot-box, as +well as elsewhere. Though long identified with one of the political +parties, I have of late felt myself bound, as a voter, to ignore the +ancient party lines, and even to ignore all other questions, compared +with the one great and absorbing one, Shall slavery be allowed to have +more territory, in which to breed and expand itself? In my deliberate +judgment, all Christian patriots should, so far as their votes can +speak, say to the system of bondage existing in our midst, "Hitherto +shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall thy proud waves be +stayed." This becomes now a moral and a religious duty. + +3. In our visits to the throne of grace, we ought, with more frequency +and fervor, "to remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them." +Assured that all hearts and events are at God's disposal, that he abhors +oppression, and that prayer is the Christian's mode of taking hold of +God's strength, we must make full proof of this as a weapon with which +to effect the subversion of slavery. It may be that importunate, +persevering prayer will effect more in behalf of the enslaved than all +other instrumentalities. It is, at least, quite certain that other means +will prove inefficacious, if this be not superadded. + +But the question we are considering has a negative as well as positive +side; and we will next inquire, what we anti-slavery Christians ought to +refrain from doing. + +1. We must not, in our efforts to subvert slavery, indulge in an +unchristian spirit, or in language adapted needlessly to anger and +alienate those whom it should be our aim to win. A cause that is +intrinsically good may be advocated in a bad spirit, or with improper +weapons; and such may have sometimes been the case with ours. Would that +all men had ever borne it in mind, that truth and love are the only +weapons with which to wage a successful conflict with this or any other +deep-seated moral evil. + +2. We must not, in our zeal for emancipation, allow mere feeling or +benevolent impulses partially to dethrone reason; and thus disqualify +ourselves for taking impartial views of the subject, or for accurately +discriminating between truth and error. There may have been men in the +anti-slavery ranks, with whom sympathy was every thing, and reason--and +even the Bible--comparatively nothing. In obeying the injunction to +"remember them that are in bonds," they may have neglected to remember +any thing else. Slavery seemed to occupy their entire field of vision. +Hence, not fully informed in regard to the actual condition of things at +the South, they have erroneously supposed that the slave codes +prevailing there were the standard by which to judge of the actual +condition of the slaves, and that all the Southern church was actually +practising the barbarities authorized by those codes. As there was no +just appreciation of the actual conduct of masters towards their +servants, so there was no allowance made for the circumstances which +conspired to render them masters, nor for the obstacles which stand in +the way of their ceasing to be masters. It must be admitted, that +generally, where unrighteous laws are suffered to exist, the mass of the +community will not be better than the laws; but there are +exceptions,--men who intend to give heed to a higher law. So much for +allowing an amiable but blind sympathy to usurp that throne which reason +and revelation were designed conjointly to occupy. It scarcely need be +added, that these ultraisms have done much to prejudice the anti-slavery +cause, and bring it, in the eyes of some, into unmerited contempt. We +must wipe away that reproach, by so conducting our warfare with slavery +as to evince that we are neither men of one idea, nor men whose judgment +is led captive by their sensibilities. + +3. We must not, in opposing slavery, indorse the sentiment, that one +cannot in any conceivable circumstances give credible evidence of piety, +and yet continue in form to hold slaves; that being a master is, +in any and in all circumstances, a disciplinable offence in the +church; or that it should, without exception, constitute a barrier to +church-membership, or to the communion of saints at Christ's sacramental +board. While we believe that all the great principles of God's Word go +to subvert slavery, and while we are constrained to regard the holding +of slaves as diminishing the evidence of a man's piety, and thus far +alienating his claims to a good standing in the Christian church, we may +nevertheless make exceptions, and not keep a man out of the church, or +discipline him when in it, merely because he sustains temporarily the +relation of master, not for selfish ends, but, as in rare cases, for +benevolent reasons. But if a man defends the system, and takes away from +a fellow man inalienable human rights, then we may and should refuse him +admission, or subject him to discipline, as the case may be. But, +obvious and important as is this distinction, it is one which some +anti-slavery men may have failed to make; and that failure may have +prejudiced or retarded the cause of emancipation. A good cause suffers +by having a single uncandid statement or untenable argument advanced in +its support; and the friends of the enslaved must afford their opponents +no room for saying, that their reasonings are illogical or +anti-scriptural. + +4. We must not, in seeking the extinction of American slavery, so +insist on its immediate abolition as to repudiate the responsibility +which a master owes to this dependent and depressed class of his fellow +beings; but that that end be kept steadily in view, to be accomplished +as speedily as is consistent with the best good of the parties +concerned. The immediate and total extinction of southern slavery, if +not obviously impossible, is of questionable expediency. The upas of +American slavery has struck its roots so deep, and shot its branches so +far, and so interlaced itself with all surrounding objects, that, to +have it instantaneously and unreservedly uprooted, might prove, in many +cases, disastrous; and, at all events, is not to be expected. To say +nothing of other obstacles to the immediate abolition of Southern +slavery, the highest good of many of the slaves makes it inexpedient. +Some, probably many of them, need to pass through an educating +process,--a kind of mental and moral apprenticeship,--in order to their +profiting largely by the boon of emancipation.[J] + +II. We are now to inquire, lastly, what duties, positive and negative, +this great question devolves on those Christians among whom American +slavery has its seat, or who are personally identified with it. Hoping, +brethren, that the sentiments thus far advanced are your sentiments, I +shall have your further assent when I say, + +1. That the extinction, at the earliest consistent date, of the system +of servitude existing among you, is a result at which you ought steadily +and strenuously to aim. And, as you see, we base this obligation of +yours, not on the assumption of any sinfulness which you may sustain to +slavery, but on the acknowledged injustice and woes, past, present, and +prospective, of the system as a system,--its contrariety, as a system, +to the fundamental principles of Christianity. Did we regard you as +necessarily sinners, if in any sense you hold slaves, then the least we +could ask of you would be, that with contrition of heart you should +instantaneously cease to indulge in this sin, for all sin should be +immediately abandoned. As it is, we only ask, that, just as fast as your +slaves can be prepared for freedom, and as the providence of God may put +it in your power to liberate them, you will do so. We are not so unwise +as to expect that the work of extinction can be accomplished in a day. +We know, too, that you are not, in your church capacity, the constituted +arbiters of the question as a question of State policy. And, so long as +your legislatures and their constituencies are resolved on maintaining +the system, perhaps you will be unable to effect as much as you desire +in the way of promoting its overthrow. And yet, brethren, there is a way +in which we think you can, with entire safety and manifest propriety, +contribute largely and directly to the extinction of American slavery. +Would the entire Southern church cease all personal participation in +slavery, and throw her whole weight and influence into the scale of +slavery's complete subversion, that "consummation devoutly to be wished" +would soon ensue. Slave-holding, no longer practised or justified by the +church, but discountenanced, could not long retain its foothold in the +State. Now if this be so, our slaveholding brethren will confess that +they are imperiously bound, by motives of Christian duty, to liberate +their bondmen with all consistent speed. Meantime, and as one important +means of qualifying them for freedom, you ought, + +2. To see to it that not only your own, but all the bondmen among +you,--your entire slave population,--are furnished with the Bible, and +qualified to read and comprehend it; and also with stated preaching. +They need a written and preached gospel, were it only to fit them to +exchange, with advantage, a state of vassalage for the dignity of +freemen; for all experience proves that the Bible and the pulpit are of +all instruments the best to qualify men safely to exercise the right of +self-government. But there is a servitude more dreadful by far than any +domestic bondage that men have ever groaned under; and your slaves need +the Bible, and the Bible preached, to prove God's instruments of +breaking the chains imposed by Satan, and making them Christ's freemen. +Before God and in prospect of eternity, the distinctions between the +master and his slave dwindle into insignificance. Having souls that are +alike impure and alike precious, alike remembered by a dying Saviour and +alike in need of the regenerating change, they stand alike in need of +God's Word, written and preached, as the Spirit's instrument in renewing +and sanctifying the soul. Hence the Bible and preaching are as much the +rightful inheritance of the slave as of the master. We rejoice that +these truths and the obligations resulting therefrom are, to some +extent, recognized by southern Christians; and that, in spite of certain +adverse statutes, so much is being done there for the spiritual +well-being of the slaves. Go on, brethren, in the good work of +evangelizing your slave population; in teaching them the art of reading +and the rudiments of knowledge; in putting the Bible into their hands, +and affording them stated opportunities to read it, and to hear it +expounded by you and by Christ's ministers. Go on, we say, till there be +not one southern slave, who, in point of religious privileges, is not on +a footing of equality with yourselves. Prosecuting this laudable work in +the spirit of love, you will probably encounter no serious opposition. +The adverse but dead statutes referred to will not, we hope, be +galvanized into life, in order to oppose you. + +It only remains that we name a few things, which we trust our Southern +brethren will unite with us in saying that they should refrain from +doing. (1.) You ought not to, and we trust you will not, betray +impatience and irritation, whenever we of the North attempt to press the +claims of the enslaved on your attention. Your doing this,--as you +sometimes have,--seems to indicate, that, in your opinion, we Northern +Christians have no responsibility in regard to slavery and its evils; +and that when we discuss this theme we make ourselves "busybodies in +other men's matters." To the justness of this opinion we cannot +subscribe. While we disclaim all right or intention to break our compact +with you as States, we feel that American slavery is a question of too +great moment to ourselves and to unborn generations for us to have no +concern with or responsibility for; and as patriots, as philanthropists, +as Christians, we are constrained to do all that we rightfully may for +the downfall of this hoary system of wrong and woe. If any of you differ +with us in opinion on this theme, we trust you will allow us to discuss +it to our heart's content; and that you will listen to our reasonings +with Christian meekness and candor. Not to do so will be construed as an +evidence of intrinsic weakness in your cause. (2.) You will freely +admit, we presume, that certain practices are authorized by your slave +laws, in which you must not indulge even so long as by any necessity +you hold slaves. Your slave codes, for example, do not recognize the +sanctity of family ties and the domestic affections as existing among +slaves; but, as Christian masters, you must. You doubtless believe, as +do we, that the marriage relation, with all its rights and immunities, +was as much designed for the negro as for the white man; that he, as +truly as the other, is entitled to "cleave unto his wife," unexposed to +the danger of man's putting asunder what God hath so closely joined, +that "they are no more twain, but one flesh." You believe, too, that God +united husband and wife thus indissolubly, not simply that they might be +a help and solace to each other in the toilsome pilgrimage of life, but +that the children with which God should bless them might grow up under +their supervision, and by them be qualified for a career of usefulness +and honor. Thus you believe, and believing thus, you will not, we trust, +counteract God's benevolent designs, by countenancing, in your own +practice, the separation of husbands and wives, or of parents and their +offspring. We feel assured, that, whatever your laws may allow, or +non-professing masters around you may do, you will never ignore the +conjugal or parental rights of your servants, or indulge in any thing +adapted to mar their domestic enjoyment. Were you to do so, we confess +we could not extend to you "the right hand of fellowship" as brethren in +Christ. Were a church-member of ours to practise thus, we should regard +him as amenable to discipline. We should also regard it as disciplinable +for a master to overwork, or brutally chastise, or but half feed and +clothe his servants; or to hold slaves for mere purposes of gain, or to +traffic in them. None of these inhumanities could we reconcile with the +obligations of a Christian profession; and we confidently hope that in +these views you will heartily concur, and that with them your practice +will correspond. + +Christian brethren of the North and the South! The question we have been +considering is one of vast moment. Upon the right disposition of it are +suspended, under God, interests of immeasurable value, and which stretch +far out into the unseen future of our country and the world. Coming ages +and unborn generations are to be affected; favorably or otherwise, by +the decision of this vexed question; and, brethren, unless I misjudge, +its right decision is, to a very great extent, lodged in our hands. As +decides the American church, so, methinks, will decide the American +people. And now,--may I confess it?--I have dared to hope that the +sentiments of this Essay are not only sound, but in unison with the +views of the great mass of American Christians. Are we not agreed in +this: that American slavery is a system of deep injustice and wrong, not +sanctioned by the Word or the providence of God; fraught with +incalculable mischief to the interests of both masters, and slaves, and +to the social and religious well-being of our whole country; a blot on +the escutcheon both of the nation and of the church; a weapon for +scepticism to wield, and an obstacle to the introduction of millennial +glory; and hence, a system which ought speedily to terminate, and which +all good men should unitedly oppose and seek to subvert? If we are thus +agreed, let us join hands as well as hearts, and, swerving neither to +the extreme of passive indifference on the one hand nor to that of +erratic fanaticism on the other, in the majesty of principle let us move +calmly onward, a phalanx of Christian philanthropists, attempting naught +but what they are assured God would have them attempt, and employing +only such means as are warranted by an enlightened conscience. Leaning +prayerfully on Him who hears the sighing of the oppressed, let us push +vigorously forward, and, though the year of jubilee has not yet fully +come, be assured it will come,--that proud day, when not only +"throughout all the land," but throughout the civilized world, liberty +shall be proclaimed "unto all the inhabitants thereof." Hasten its +advent, "O Thou that hearest prayer," and that "delightest in mercy!" +Amen and Amen. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] An extended passage containing the extract may be found conveniently +in Chambers' Cyclopædia of English Literature, vol. 2, p. 246. + +[B] Genesis, 10th Chapter. Vide, Kitto's Cyclopædia, for views in this +connection. + +[C] Col. 4:1; "Ye masters, give unto your servants that which is just +and equal." That is, act towards them on the principles of justice and +equity. Justice requires that all their rights, as men, as husbands, and +as parents, should be regarded. And these rights are not to be +determined by the civil law, but by the law of God.... But God concedes +nothing to the master beyond what the law of love allows. Paul requires +for servants not only what is strictly just, but τὴν ἰσότητα. What is +that? Literally, it is _equality_. This is not only its signification, +but its meaning. Servants are to be treated by their masters on the +principles of equality. Not that they are to be equal with their masters +in authority or station or circumstances; but that they are to be +treated as having, as men, as husbands, and as parents, equal rights +with their masters. It is just as great a sin to deprive a servant of +the just recompense for his labor, or to keep him in ignorance, or to +take from him his wife or child, as it is to act thus towards a free +man. This is the equality which the law of God demands, and on this +principle the final judgment is to be administered. Christ will punish +the master for defrauding the servant as severely as he will punish the +servant for robbing his master. The same penalty will be inflicted for +the violation of the conjugal or parental rights of the one as of the +other. For, as the apostle adds, there is no respect of persons with +him. At his bar the question will be, "What was done?" not "Who did it?" +Paul carries this so far as to apply the principle not only to the acts, +but to the temper of masters. They are not only to act towards their +servants on the principles of justice and equity, but are to _avoid +threatening_. This includes all manifestation of contempt and ill +temper, or undue severity. All this is enforced by the consideration +that masters have a Master in heaven, to whom they are responsible for +their treatment of their servants.... Believers will act in conformity +with the Gospel in this. And the result of such obedience, if it could +become general, would be, that first the evils of slavery, and then +slavery itself, would pass away naturally, and as healthfully as +children cease to be minors. + +_Prof. Hodge's Commentary._ + +[D] See 2 Brevard's Digest, 229; Prince's Digest, 446. + +[E] Civil Code, Art. 35. + +[F] Job ch. 32, v. 17-20, Barnes's translation. + +[G] It is sometimes said that the crime of adultery is neither +perpetrated nor encouraged by the breaking up of slave-families, +because, generally, the connections formed are not truly marriage, not +being solemnized according to forms of law, and hence the marriage +obligation _cannot_ be violated. + +It may be replied, if this be so, it presents slavery in a worse light +still, for it encourages and perpetuates a state of universal +concubinage. But it is _not_ so. When a slave takes a companion, and +they consent and engage to live together as husband and wife until +death, and they thus declare their intentions before others, whether any +legal form is gone through or not, they are as truly "no more twain but +one flesh" as were Adam and Eve. It has been thus decided by our courts +in regard to white persons. + +[H] Rev. R. I. Breckenridge, D. D. + +[I] Mehemet Ali. + +[J] The publishers understand the writer to mean, that the working of +them without wages,--the withholding that which is just and +equal,--should be immediately and universally abandoned, and that +emancipation should be granted as speedily as the slaves can be prepared +to use and enjoy their freedom. The right should be acknowledged, and +the needful means for its security immediately used. The writer does not +say, that holding men in bondage is not generally sinful, nor that all +sin should not be immediately repented of and forsaken, but only that +there may be exceptions where for a time, and under very peculiar +circumstances, it may not be sinful, and cannot consistently with the +greatest good be abandoned, without some previous means of preparation. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Three Prize Essays on American Slavery, by +R. B. Thurston and A.C. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Three Prize Essays on American Slavery + +Author: R. B. Thurston + A.C. Baldwin + Timothy Williston + +Release Date: May 19, 2010 [EBook #32422] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVERY *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + +Liberty or Slavery; the Great National Question. + +THREE PRIZE ESSAYS + +ON + +AMERICAN SLAVERY. + +"THE TRUTH IN LOVE." + +BOSTON: + +CONGREGATIONAL BOARD OF PUBLICATION. + +1857. + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by + +SEWALL HARDING, + +In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of +Massachusetts. + +CAMBRIDGE: + +ALLEN AND FARNHAM, STEREOTYPERS AND PRINTERS. + + + + +PREMIUM OFFERED. + + +A benevolent individual, who has numerous friends and acquaintances both +North and South, and who has had peculiar opportunities for learning the +state and condition of all sections of the nation, perceiving the danger +of our national Institutions, and deeply impressed with a sense of the +importance, in this time of peril, of harmonizing Christian men through +the country, by kind yet faithful exhibitions of truth on the subject +now agitating the whole community, offered a premium of $100 for the +best Essay on the subject of Slavery, fitted to influence the great body +of Christians through the land. + +The call was soon responded to by nearly fifty writers, whose +manuscripts were examined by the distinguished committee appointed by +the Donor, whose award has been made, as their certificate, here +annexed, will show. + + + + +PREMIUM AWARDED. + + +The undersigned, appointed a Committee to award a premium of one hundred +dollars, offered by a benevolent individual, for the best Essay on the +subject of Slavery, "adapted to receive the approbation of Evangelical +Christians generally," have had under examination more than forty +competing manuscripts, a large number of them written with much ability. +They have decided to award the prize to the author of the Essay +entitled, "_The Error and the Duty in regard to Slavery_," whom they +find, on opening the accompanying envelope, to be the Rev. R. B. +THURSTON, of Chicopee Falls, Mass. + +They would also commend to the attention of the public, two of the +remaining tracts, selected by the individual who offered the prize, and +for which he and others interested have given a prize of one hundred +dollars each. One of these is entitled, "_Friendly Letters to a +Christian Slave-holder_," by Rev. A. C. BALDWIN, of Durham, Conn.; the +other, "_Is American Slavery an Institution which Christianity sanctions +and will perpetuate?_" by Rev. TIMOTHY WILLISTON, of Strongsville, Ohio. + + ASA D. SMITH, + MARK HOPKINS, + THEODORE FRELINGHUYSEN. + +_May, 1857._ + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + +I. THE ERROR AND THE DUTY IN REGARD TO SLAVERY, 1 + +II. FRIENDLY LETTERS TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVE-HOLDER, 39 + +III. IS AMERICAN SLAVERY AN INSTITUTION WHICH CHRISTIANITY +SANCTIONS AND WILL PERPETUATE, 99 + +FOOTNOTES + + + + +THE ERROR AND THE DUTY + +IN + +REGARD TO SLAVERY. + +BY + +REV. R. B. THURSTON. + + +The great and agitating question of our country is that concerning +slavery. Beneath the whole subject there lies of course some simple +truth, for all fundamental truth is simple, which will be readily +accepted by patriotic and Christian minds, when it is clearly perceived +and discreetly applied. It is the design of these pages to exhibit this +truth, and to show that it is a foundation for a union of sentiment and +action on the part of good men, by which, under the divine blessing, our +threatening controversies, North and South, may be happily terminated. + +To avoid misapprehension, let it be noticed that we shall examine the +central claim of slavery, first, as a legal institution; afterwards, +the moral relations of individuals connected with it will be +considered. In that examination the term _property, as possessed in +men_, will be used in the specific sense which is given to it by the +slave laws and the practical operation of the system. No other sense is +relevant to the discussion. The property of the father in the services +of the son, of the master in the labor of the apprentice, of the State +in the forced toil of the convict, is not in question. None of these +relations creates slavery as such; and they should not be allowed, as +has sometimes been done, to obscure the argument. + +The limits of a brief tract on a great subject compel us to pass +unnoticed many questions which will occur to a thoughtful mind. It is +believed that they all find their solution in our fundamental positions; +and that all passages of the Bible relating to the general subject, when +faithfully interpreted in their real harmony, sustain these positions. +It is admitted that the following argument is unsound if it does not +provide for every logical and practical exigency. + +The primary truth which is now to be established may be thus stated: +_All men are invested by the Creator with a common right to hold +property in inferior things; but they have no such right to hold +property in men._ + +Christians agree that God as the Creator is the original proprietor of +all things, and that he has absolute right to dispose of all things +according to his pleasure. This right he never relinquishes, but asserts +in his word and exercises in his providence. The Bible speaks thus: "The +earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof, the world and they that +dwell therein, for he hath founded it. We are his people and the sheep +of his pasture"--ourselves, therefore, subject to his possession and +disposal as the feeble flock to us. Even irreligious men often testify +to this truth, confessing the hand of providence in natural events that +despoil them of their wealth. + +Now, under his own supreme control, God has given to all men equally a +dependent and limited right of property. _Given_ is the word repeatedly +chosen by inspiration in this connection. "The heavens are the Lord's, +but the earth hath he _given_ to the children of men." In Eden he +blessed the first human pair, and said to them, in behalf of the race, +"Replenish the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of +the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that +moveth upon the earth. Behold, I have _given_ you every herb bearing +seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in the +which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed." This, then, is the +original and permanent ground of man's title to property; and the +important fact to be observed is the _specific divine grant_. The right +of all men equally to own property is the positive institution of the +Creator. We all alike hold our possessions by his authentic warrant, his +deed of conveyance. + +Let us be understood here. We are not educing from the Bible a doctrine +which would level society, by giving to all men equal shares of +property; but a doctrine which extends equal divine protection over the +right of every man to hold that amount of property which he earns by his +own faculties, in consistency with all divine statutes. + +This right is indeed argued from nature; and justly; for God's +revelations in nature and in his word coincide. It is, however, a right +of so much consequence to the world, that, where nature leaves it, he +incorporates it, and gives it the force of a law; so that in the sequel +we can with propriety speak of it as a law, as well as an institution. +To the believer in the Bible, this law is the end of argument. + +It will have weight with some minds to state that this position is +supported by the highest legal authority. In his Commentaries on the +Laws of England, Blackstone quotes the primeval grant of God, and then +remarks, "This is the only true and solid foundation of man's dominion +over external things, whatever airy metaphysical notions may have been +started by fanciful writers upon this subject. The earth, therefore, and +all things therein, are the general property of all mankind, exclusive +of other beings, from the immediate gift of the Creator."[A] + +It will enhance the force of this argument to remember that this +universal right of property is one of what may be called a sacred +trinity of paradisaical institutions. These institutions are the +Sabbath, appointed in regard for our relations to God as moral beings; +marriage, ordained for our welfare as members of a successive race; and +the right of property, conferred to meet our necessities as dwellers on +this material globe. These three are the world's inheritance from lost +Eden. They were received by the first father in behalf of all his +posterity. They were designed for all men as men. It is demonstrable +that they are indispensable, that the world may become Paradise +Regained. "Property, marriage, and religion have been called the pillars +of society;" and the first is of equal importance with the other two; +for all progress in domestic felicity and in religious culture depends +on property, and also on the equitable distribution or possession of +property, as one of its essential conditions. Property lies in the +foundation of every happy home, however humble; and property gilds the +pinnacle of every consecrated temple. The wise and impartial Disposer, +therefore, makes the endowments of his creatures equal with their +responsibilities: to all those on whom he lays the obligations of +religion and of the family state, he gives the right of holding the +property on which the dwelling and the sanctuary must be founded. It is +a sacred right, a divine investiture, bearing the date of the creation +and the seal of the Creator. + +The blessing of this institution, like that of the Sabbath and of the +family, has indeed been shattered by the fall of man; but when God said +to Noah and his sons, concerning the inferior creatures, "Into your hand +are they delivered; even as the green herb have I given you all things," +it was reëstablished and consecrated anew. The Psalmist repeated the +assurance to the world when he wrote, "Thou madest him to have dominion +over the works of thy hand; thou hast put all things under his feet." + +We now advance to the second part of our proposition. Men have no such +right to hold property in men. Since the right is from God, it follows +immediately that they can hold in ownership, by a divine title, only +what he has given. But he has not given to men, as men, a right of +ownership in men. No one will contend for a moment that the universal +grant above considered confers upon them mutual dominion, or rightful +property in their species. The idea is not in the terms; it is nowhere +in the Bible; it is not in nature; it is repugnant to common sense; it +would resolve the race into the absurd and terrific relation of +antagonists, struggling, each one for the mastery of his own estate in +another,--I, for the possession of my right in you; and you, for yours +in me. Nay, the very act of entitling all men to hold property proves +the exemption of all, by the divine will, from the condition of +property. The idea that a man can be an article of property and an owner +of property by the same supreme warrant is contradictory and absurd. + +We now have sure ground for objecting to the system of American slavery, +as such. It is directly opposed to the original, authoritative +institution of Jehovah. He gives men the right to hold property. Slavery +strips them of the divine investiture. He gives men dominion over +inferior creatures. Slavery makes them share the subjection of the +brute. That slavery does this, the laws of the States in which it exists +abundantly declare. Slaves are "chattels," "estate personal." +Slave-holders assembled in convention solemnly affirm in view of +northern agitation of the subject, that "masters have the same right to +their slaves which they have to any other property." + +This asserted and exercised right is the vital principle and substance +of the institution. It is the central delusion and transgression; and +the evils of the system to white and black are its legitimate +consequences. The legal and the leading idea concerning slaves is that +they are property: of course, the idea that they are men, invested with +the rights of men, practically sinks; and, from the premise that they +are property, the conclusion is logical that they may be treated as +property. Why should _property_, contrary to the interests of the +proprietor, be exempt from sale, receive instruction, give testimony in +court, hold estate, preserve family ties, be loved as the owner loves +himself, in fine, enjoy all or any of the "inalienable rights" of _man_? +It is because they are held as property, that slaves are sold; because +they are property, families are torn asunder; because they are +property, instruction is denied them; because they are property, the +law, and the public sentiment that makes the law, crush them as men. + +We do not here call in question the mitigations with which Christian +masters temper into mildness the hard working of an evil system. Those +mitigations do not, however, logically or morally defend slavery. Nay, +they condemn it; for they are practical tributes to the fact that the +laws of humanity, not of property, are binding in respect to the slaves. +Hence they really show the inherent inconsistency of the idea, and the +unrighteousness of the system which regards men as property. + +Notwithstanding those mitigations, the system itself, like every wrong +system, produces characteristic evils, which can be prevented only by +removing their cause, the false doctrine that men can be rightfully held +in ownership. Fallen as man is, no prophet was needed to foretell at the +first the dreadful facts that have been recorded in the bitter history +of man's claim of property in man. Such a history must always be a +scroll written within and without with lamentations and mourning and +woe. Man is not a safe depositary of such power. A human institution +which subverts a divine institution, and which carries with it the +assumption of a divine prerogative in constituting a new species of +property, naturally saps the foundations of every other divine +institution and law which stands in its way. Hence, for example, the +fall of the domestic institution before that of slavery. + +The inherent wrongfulness of American slavery as a legal and social +institution is therefore clearly demonstrated. It formally abolishes by +law and usage a divine institution. Hence, in its practical operation, +it sets aside other divine institutions and laws. Consequently it stands +in the same relations to the divine government with the abolition of the +Sabbath by infidel France, and with the perversion of the family +institution by the Mormon territory of Utah. + +Here the fundamental argument from the Bible rests. But slavery +justifies itself by the Bible. It becomes essential, therefore, to +examine the validness of this justification. + +There are but two possible ways of avoiding the conclusion that has been +reached. To vindicate slavery it must be proved, first, that God has +abolished the original institution, conferring on men universally the +right to hold property; or, secondly, it must be proved, that, while he +has by special enactments taken away from a portion of mankind the right +to hold property, he has given to other men the right to hold the +former as property. Further, to justify American slavery, it must be +shown that these special enactments include the African race and the +American States. + +In regard to the first point we simply remark, it is morally impossible +that God should permanently and generally abolish the original +institution concerning property; because, as in the case of its coevals, +the Sabbath and marriage, the reason for it is permanent and +unchangeable, and "lex stat dum ratio manet," the law stands while the +reason remains. Moreover, there is not a word of such repeal in the +Bible. That institution, therefore, is still a charter of rights for the +children of men. Till it is assailed, more need not be said. + +As to the second point, we believe that careful investigation will prove +conclusively, that no special enactments are now in force which arrest +or modify the institutions of Eden, in regard to any state or any +persons. It will, then, remain demonstrated, that the legal system of +slavery exists utterly without warrant of the Holy Scriptures, and in +defiance of the authority of the Creator. The word of God is throughout +consistent. + +It is here freely admitted, that God can arrest the operation of general +laws by special statutes. He can take away from men the right to hold +property which he has given, and, if he please, constitute them the +property of other men. It is, in this respect, as it is with life. God +can take what he gives. If, then, he has given authority to individuals +or to nations to hold others as property, they may do so. Nay, more; if +their commission is imperative, they must do so. But such an act of God +creates an exception to his own fundamental law, and, like all +_exceptions_, conveys its own restrictions, and _proves the rule_. It +imposes no yoke, save upon those appointed to subjugation. It confers no +authority, save upon those specifically invested with it. They are bound +to keep absolutely within the prescribed terms, and no others can +innocently seize their delegated dominion. Outside of the excepted +parties the universal law has sway unimpaired. It is in this instance as +it is in regard to marriage. God permitted the patriarchs to multiply +their wives; but monogamy is now a sacred institution for the world. So +the supreme Disposer can make a slave, or a nation of slaves; and the +world shall be even the more solemnly bound by the original institutes +concerning property. It follows, without a chasm in the argument, or a +doubtful step, that, when persons or States reduce men to the condition +of chattels, _without divine authorization_, they are guilty of +subverting a divine institution; and, since it is the prerogative of God +to determine what shall be property, they are chargeable with a +presumptuous usurpation of divine prerogative, in making property, so +far as human force and law can do it, of those whom Jehovah has created +in his own image, and invested with all the original rights of men. + +The soundness of the principle contained in these remarks, both in law +and in biblical interpretation, will not be questioned. In the light of +it, let us examine briefly the justifications of slavery as derived from +the Bible. Happily the principle itself saves the labor of minute and +protracted criticism. + +We first consider the curse pronounced upon Canaan by Noah. Admitting +all that is necessary to the support of slavery, namely, that that curse +constituted the descendants of _Canaan_ the property of some other tribe +or people, upon whom it conferred the right of holding them as property, +yet even so this passage does not justify but condemns American slavery; +for that curse does not touch the African race: _they are not +descendants of Canaan_;[B] and it gives no rights to American States. +In later times the Canaanites were devoted to destruction for their +sins. The Hebrews were the agents appointed by Jehovah to this work of +retribution. It was not, however, accomplished in their entire +extermination. In the case of the Gibeonites it was formally commuted to +servitude, and other nations occupying the promised land were made +tributary. Thus the curse upon Canaan was fulfilled by _authorized +executioners_ of divine justice. + +What light does the whole history now throw upon slavery? It is plain +the curse was a judicial act of God concerning Canaan. It follows that +conquest with extermination or servitude was a judgment of God, which he +appointed his chosen people to execute. It follows further, that those, +who, without his commission, reduce to bondage men who are not +descendants of Canaan, do inflict a curse on those whom he has not +cursed; and thus virtually assume his most awful prerogative as the +Judge of guilty nations. + +We then inquire whether the States of the South have received warrant +for enslaving any portion of mankind. Has God _given_ them the African +race as property? Where is the commission? The argument fails to justify +modern slavery for the same reason identically that it fails to justify +offensive war and conquest. God has not given the right--has neither +proclaimed the curse, nor commissioned the agent of the curse. Christian +States in America seize it, and lay it upon those whom he has not +cursed. The passage of his word which has been considered affords them +no sanction. + +We proceed to another passage. It is supposed by many to be an +incontrovertible defence of modern slavery, that the Hebrews were +authorized to buy bondmen and bondmaids of the heathen round about them. +Let us candidly examine this defence. + +Why were the Hebrews authorized by God in express terms to buy servants, +and possess them as their "money?" Evidently _because they did not +otherwise have this authority_. Human beings, as we have seen, were not +"given" in the grant of property. They do not, therefore, fall within +the scope of the general laws of property. If they had so fallen, the +special statutes, by which the Hebrews purchased them, would have been +as gratuitous as special enactments for buying animals, trees, and +minerals. _Of all nations they only have possessed this right; for they +only received it by special bestowment._ The rest of mankind have ever +been prohibited from assuming it by fundamental laws. If ever there was +a case in which the exception proves the rule, that case is before us; +and therefore a chasm yawns between the premise and the conclusion +defensive of slavery, which no exegesis and no logic can bridge over. + +To illustrate the strength of this argument, let the fact be observed, +that, if it could be set aside, it would follow, by parity of reasoning, +that the clergy of our country, regardless of fundamental laws, have +right to take possession of a tenth part of the estates and incomes of +their fellow-citizens, because the Levites in this manner received their +inheritance among their brethren. It is plain, however, that, as in +regard to other interests no less important than liberty or slavery, so +also in regard to slavery itself, the special laws of the Old Testament +are no longer in force; whence it follows that the vital doctrine of the +system, "masters have the same right to their slaves which they have to +any other property," is totally erroneous. The institution which claims +solid foundation here is built on nothing. + +We cannot forbear to adduce an instance of unexceptionable testimony to +the validity of this reasoning. In one or two famous articles on slavery +and abolitionism, the Princeton Repertory adopts it, with another +application, and says, "So far as polygamy and divorce were permitted +under the old dispensation they were lawful, and became so by that +permission; and they ceased to be lawful when that permission was +withdrawn, and a new law given. That Christ did give a new law is +abundantly evident." In the same manner, 'so far as' slavery 'was +permitted under the old dispensation it was lawful, and became so by +that permission; and it ceased to be lawful when that permission was +withdrawn, and a new law given.' It is true, however, only in a +qualified sense, that Christ gave "a new law" concerning polygamy and +divorce. His law restored the original institution of marriage, as in +Eden; and this was "new" to the Jews, because there had been departure +from it. In like manner the New Testament, if not the very words of +Christ, now gives a new law concerning slavery in the same sense; that +is, as will appear, in the sequel, the Christian precepts restore the +original institution concerning property as well as concerning marriage. +The laws which allowed polygamy and slavery, and therefore the right, +passed away together. + +Here we leave the Old Testament. No other passages need examination; for +all consist with these positions. So far as that sacred volume gives +light, the world are bound by the laws and have equal right to the full +blessings of three divine institutions, whose foundations were laid in +Paradise, and whose complete and glorious proportions will encompass the +universal, millennial felicity. + +The defence of slavery from the New Testament now demands brief notice. +We desire to allow it full force, while we ask the reader's candid +judgment of the conclusion. + +Of course, the New Testament sanctions now what it sanctioned in the +days of its authors. That must have been _Roman, not Hebrew_, slavery; +for they lived and wrote to men under Roman law. Besides, there is +reason to believe, as Kitto states, that the Jews at that time held no +slaves. In point of historic truth, it appears that the Mosaic law, +finding slavery in existence, practically operated as a system of +gradual emancipation for its extinction. "There is no evidence that +Christ ever came in contact with slavery." This sufficiently explains +why he did not give a "new law" concerning it in specific terms. The +occasion did not arise, as it did arise in regard to polygamy and +divorce, with which he did come in contact. Furthermore, there was no +need of new law, other than was actually given. + +The argument from the New Testament for the rightfulness of slavery is +twofold, being built on the instructions given to masters and servants. +It fails on both sides. + +For, first, the precepts addressed to servants convey no authority to +national rulers or to private individuals to set aside the institution +of Jehovah by reducing men to the condition of slaves. These precepts +simply enjoin the conduct which Christianity required in their actual +situation. They do not vindicate the law and usage by which they were +held as property. This is abundantly evident in the texts themselves, +and more emphatically, when they are compared with the parallel cases. + +Christ promulgated these rules. "I say unto you that ye resist not evil; +but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other +also. And if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, +let him have thy cloak also." Does this empower States to legalize fraud +and violence? Does it transmute all the _evil_ which Jesus' disciples +have endured into _righteousness_ of those who have inflicted the evil? +Does it wash the crimsoned hands of persecutors in innocency? Does it +justify the wilful smiter? All men know better. No one contends for such +exposition. Yet it is indispensable to the interpretation which finds a +justification of slavery in precepts which enjoin obedience on slaves. +That obedience is required on other grounds. + +Another example. The New Testament explicitly commands citizens to +submit to the civil power. Does this sanctify the tyranny of a Nero or a +Nicholas? In the enjoined submission of subjects, has the despot, or the +state, full license for edicts and acts of oppression and iniquity? Yet +they are logically compelled to admit this, and thus, in theory at +least, banish freedom from the whole earth, who find in commands +addressed to servants power conferred on legislators and masters to make +them slaves; that is, to hold them as property. Instead of this, the +rights and obligations of rulers, and of those who claim to be owners of +their fellow men, are defined in a very different class of instructions. + +Secondly, the instructions addressed to masters forbid the exercise of +the right which is assumed in slavery. To make this clear, we observe, +primarily, there is no passage in the New Testament which _institutes_ +the relation of men held in ownership by men. There is no direct +reference to the civil laws which constituted this relation. They are +passed by silently, as are the laws that established idolatry, and +kindled the fires of persecution. Their existence is tacitly +acknowledged in the use of the terms which designate masters and +servants; and that is all. Hence those who find here an apology for +slavery are obliged to refer to secular history for the facts and +definitions on which their argument rests. Accordingly, no passage in +the New Testament would be void of meaning, though slavery should cease. +In this respect the Constitution of the United States resembles the +sacred books; for not one word of that instrument, interpreted on just +principles as the palladium of liberty, needs to be obliterated in the +abolition of slavery. Furthermore, and this covers our position, the New +Testament, disregarding the Roman law, refers masters exclusively to the +law of God as their rule for the treatment of servants. A single +citation, with which all passages agree, is sufficient to show this. +"Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal, knowing +that ye also have a Master in heaven." Now, as none can find in such +precepts a right to destroy God's primary institution concerning the +family, no more can they find in them a right to destroy his primary and +universal institution concerning property. Stronger than this, the +conclusion is inevitable, that the very precepts which are relied upon +to support American slavery do condemn and destroy it; for the law of +God, by which they bind masters, ordaining from Eden what is just and +equal between men, abolishes the fundamental and central law of the +system.[C] + +It is argued, indeed, that slavery is right, because masters, as well as +fathers and rulers, may require obedience. The argument fails utterly; +for there is at the foundation no analogy in the cases. The family and +the State are divine institutions, having sanction in the Bible; but +slavery subverts a divine institution. Fathers and rulers, _as such_, +have duties and rights suitable to the relations they sustain by the +will of God. Masters, _as such_, have no _rights_; for their relation, +as holding property in men, is contrary to his will. Their duty, to +which they are bound by the solemn consideration that he is their +Master, is practically to restore to their servants the rights which he +confers upon all; for nothing less than this can be just and equal in +his sight. + +This view discloses the harmony of the whole Bible concerning slavery; +and, in the light of the two Testaments, the institution stands as a +legalized violation of the positive will of Jehovah. + +We now condense the whole argument into its briefest form, in the +following syllogisms. + +The entire right of men to hold property is given by the Creator. He +gives to American States and citizens no right to hold property in men. +Therefore they have no such right. + +Again. An institution is sinful, which, without divine warrant, holds +property in men, thus assuming a divine prerogative, and subverting a +divine institution. American slavery does this. Therefore it is a sinful +institution. + +The purpose of this tract now introduces a new series of topics. The +argument demands its application; and the exigencies of the times +present momentous questions, which it must answer. + +Hitherto we have spoken of the system of slavery. We come now to persons +connected with it. Because the system is sinful, the question +immediately occurs, who are chargeable with the sin; for there is no sin +without sinners. The answer is obvious. They are chargeable who founded +it, and all who wilfully implicate themselves with it. Practically, they +are always chargeable who adopt it as their own in theory and practice, +who support it in the State, consecrate it in the Church, and labor for +its extension. They are chargeable, for they bring heresy into creeds, +unrighteousness into legislation, and crime into popular usage. If they +are masters, they stand in the same moral relations with persecutors and +tyrannical rulers, guilty for all personal injuries they inflict under +color of unjust laws; and, whether masters or not, they are guilty for +exerting their influence to sustain laws which set aside the authority +of God, and withhold the rights he has given. Such men are accountable +to God and to society for deliberate, organised, aggressive iniquity. +The "organic sin" of the State is their sin, the sin of each in his own +measure; for they are the individuals who determine the acts and the +character of the slave-holding State as such. + +But are there no exceptions among slave-holders? We trust there are +many. There is a plain distinction between wicked laws and the personal +acts of men who live under those laws. Some may approve them, and use or +abuse them to the injury of their fellow men. Others may disapprove +them, and refuse, by means of them, to do or justify a wrong. Christians +may become in a legal sense owners of slaves, while they heartily +deprecate the system of oppression, while they are ready to unite with +good men in feasible and wise measures for its removal, and while they +obey the Christian precepts towards their servants, rendering unto them +what is just and equal to men and brethren in Christ. Such Christians +and such men do not hold slaves in the sense which God forbids; and they +cannot be charged with the wickedness of laws by which they, as well as +the slaves, are oppressed. On their estates a higher law than that of +slavery has sway. To them their slaves, though legally property, are +morally and actually men. The Bible sustains their position. They are +the Philemons to whom Paul gives fellowship, and Onesimus returns, not +as a slave, but a brother beloved. In the trials of their situation they +should receive the cordial sympathy of Christians everywhere. It is, +indeed, to their sound convictions and their political influence the +world must look, in part at least, for the ultimate, peaceful extinction +of American slavery. Without them, what would the South become? With the +Scriptures in our hand we earnestly say to them, "Throw the weight of +your influence against unrighteous laws, fulfil to servants the law of +God, and you shall have the sympathy and confidence of good men +everywhere. Nay, more; you, with their help, and they with your help, +will confine the spreading curse, till, with God's blessing, it shall +cease; and Christian and civilized man shall have no more communion with +it." + +These discriminations answer certain ecclesiastical questions, which +have occasioned much perplexity and discord. When properly applied, they +take away whatever support a wicked institution has found by leaning +upon the Church; at the same time they award to consistent Christians +what is due to them by the religion of Jesus. If it shall be said, there +will be practical difficulty in applying these discriminations, it is +sufficient to answer, it will be less than the difficulty of +disregarding them. + +The question now arises, what can be done for the restriction and +ultimate extinction of slavery as it is; for, since it is sinful, +Christianity and patriotism declare it should be restrained and +abolished. + +First. The extension of slavery can and should be prevented by the +Federal Government. The Scriptures have shown us, that the people in +their sovereignty have not the right to create a slave State or a slave. +Of course, the legislators and presidents; who receive in trust the +power which emanates from the people, have no such right. If the +Constitution assumed to confer this power, it would be the first +national duly to amend that instrument in this particular. There is no +power on earth competent to set aside either of the Creator's original +institutions for man. But, according to the sound and established +principle of strict construction, the Constitution as it is does not +create slavery, or even acknowledge its existence, except by inference. +Hence there is no legal objection to the measure which religion herself +ordains. The religious and the political obligations of all citizens and +all legislators coincide to protect, under the jurisdiction of Congress, +the right of every man to be exempt from the condition of property, and +to enjoy the property which he honestly earns. Thus the question +concerning slavery and the territories is morally settled by divine +authority; and to this no real objection can be made, except by that +great interest, whose existence is inherently unrighteous and +irreligious. + +Secondly. In the slave States, legislation should restore to the +enslaved population the primitive rights which God has given to all men, +establishing for them, on humane and Christian principles, such +relations as are suitable to their condition of poverty, ignorance, and +dependence, and are adapted to secure at once their improvement and the +general welfare. + +This is the logical conclusion to be derived from the premises. As the +central wrong of slavery consists in making men articles of property by +law, the rectification is to lift from them by law the curse of the +false and irreligious doctrine, that they can be rightfully held as +property. Thus the axe is laid to the root of the tree. + +This is also the conclusion to which we are forced by other moral +principles bearing on the case. For men to receive services of men is +right. Accordingly, the New Testament allows masters to receive services +of those who are slaves in the sense of human law; but at the same time +the sacred book requires masters, with all who employ labor, to make the +recompenses which are just and equal towards men; for slavery is not +right; and legislators, on their responsibility to the Ruler of nations, +are bound to adjust the laws in harmony with the first principles of +individual and moral obligation. + +Furthermore, this is the only practical conclusion. By inevitable +necessity, the slaves, as a body, must remain on the soil of their +bondage. Only exceptional cases of removal can occur. They are the +laborers of the South; and no State will, or can, or is bound, to remove +its laborers. It is simply bound to protect and treat them with +Christian equity and kindness. Banishment of them would be injustice and +cruelty, violating perhaps no less than restoring divine rights. +Moreover, no practicable means of removing them have ever been seriously +proposed; and, till they shall be, the point needs no discussion. + +But the question may be raised, "Are the slaves to endure their present +wrongs until the laws shall be thus renewed, or perhaps forever?" We +reply, in showing how slave-holders can cease from guilty connection +with slavery; we have also shown how the situation of the slaves becomes +one of practical righteousness, before the laws can be readjusted; and +for this great obligation of the body politic, sufficient time most be +allowed. Moral principles do not exact natural impossibilities. The +elevation of oppressed millions can be accomplished only in harmony with +great natural and social, as well as ethical laws, which the wisdom of +God has ordained. + +It remains therefore, that, for a period of which no man can see the +end, the slaves must, in most cases, dwell within the present +boundaries; but it is incumbent on the citizens and legislators of the +South to institute _immediate_ measures for restoring to them the +inviolable rights of men. So long as they continue, by the _necessities_ +of the case, in the relation of servants and laborers, masters should +deal with them according to the rules of humane and Christian equity, +paying to them in suitable ways their just earnings, holding sacred +their family ties, and securing to them the privileges of education and +religion. Meanwhile, the legislatures of the several States, by wise +enactments, should coöperate with masters in training their servile +population for the position which the Creator designed for men. + +When these things shall come to pass, a consideration, in which many +good men have sought relief in regard to slavery, will have multiplied +force. The providential wisdom of God, in bringing millions of the +children of Africa from a land of pagan darkness and violence to a land +of freedom and Christianity, will shine with new lustre, when they shall +receive from American hands, together with true religion, every divine +right, and shall thus be qualified and enabled to convey to the dark +habitations of their fathers the infinite blessings of enlightened +liberty and of the gospel of eternal salvation. + +These things are practicable. So long as "righteousness exalteth a +nation," a great, free, and Christian people can do what they should do; +and thus only can they secure, under the divine blessing, their own +highest prosperity and glory. To prove this would be simply to repeat +the familiar facts which exhibit the legitimate effects of slavery on +general intelligence, enterprise, and virtue. + +But what shall produce the true and wide spread public sentiment, which +is indispensable to usher in so radical a change in the laws and +institutions of proud and powerful States? Truth must accomplish this +great work--THE TRUTH that our Creator does not place those who bear his +image in bondage to their fellow men as property, but invests them with +a common and inviolable right of dominion over inferior things. The +vivid light which this truth sheds on the social relations of men has +been extinguished at the South; and it has been dimmed at the North. In +every right way and in every place, therefore, it should be made to +shine again unobscured. Expounders should bring it forth from the Holy +Oracles; for Jehovah has hallowed it there, and made it equal in +authority with the Sabbath. The press should publish it; for it is the +function of the press to convey unceasingly to the public mind whatever +will establish and crown the public integrity and welfare. All men +should seal it in their hearts; for it is the divine rule and bond of +brotherhood in the universal dominion. It surrounds them with protected +families, and builds their safe firesides and their altars of worship. + +The question arises here, can general agreement be expected in regard to +this primary truth, and measures which legitimately proceed from it? It +is to be supposed there are men in whose hearts there is no fear of God +or love of their fellow beings. With such men these views may be +powerless; but for men of Christian principle, we are confident they +show a common foundation for united sentiments and efforts. + +There is now a general, practical, vital consent that government and +society should respect the divine institutions of the family and the +Sabbath. Beneath all superficial strifes and irrelevant issues, there is +the same sure ground for a living and earnest agreement, that government +and society should respect the equal and coeval institution of the right +of property. + +Christian and conservative men can unite in the proposed measures and +the truth which appoints them; for they desire to preserve only what is +right. Christian and progressive men can unite in them; for they desire +to abolish only what is wrong. Politics can approve them; for they are +constitutional and patriotic. Philanthropy can be satisfied with them; +for they promise all that in the nature of the case can be promised for +the early relief of the slaves. Religion sanctions them; for they +restore her own institutions. Good men of the South can unite in them +with those of the North; for they have equal authority North and South. +They proffer only that moral aid which great communities, sharing common +interests and responsibilities, should render and receive with intimate +and cordial confidence. They honor the sovereignty of proud and jealous +States; for each of them, exercising the power which springs from its +own people in its own way, will discharge its political obligations to +all within its boundaries. + +A few years or even months of combined efforts will suffice to convey +this truth with vital energy to millions of minds and hearts. In due +time it will manifest its efficacy in the public sentiment and public +policy. We trust in its power. It is invincible; it will be victorious; +for it is from God. Its absence from the popular and legislative mind +well explains many of the evils that have been precipitated upon the +nation. Its future prevalence, under divine mercy, will arrest the +progress of events which would be, as we judge, not remedy, but +retributive destruction, on account of slavery. + +This leads us to the final question. Are the principles and measures +advocated in this tract or their equivalents, with the contemplated +result, essential to the welfare of our country? We are compelled to +believe so. + +We present, for the consideration of citizens and statesmen, this fact. +In harmony with that law of fitness which pervades the Creator's works, +all men are constituted with a nature corresponding with the dominion +they have received. They feel that they have a right to hold property, +and should not be held as property. Slaves feel this. Masters often show +that they feel it. They who make laws for slavery, North and South, show +that they feel it. The little property which slaves are often allowed to +possess, so far from furnishing apology for slavery, is an unwitting +tribute to the living principle that destroys the system. Here is a +philosophical demonstration that slavery cannot stand in perpetuity. +This vital element in human nature, to which a divine institution itself +is but an index, is subterranean fire beneath the pyramid of oppression. +Though long crushed and silent, it will not always sleep. Do men expect +to control forever, by law and force, that sense of rights which burns +inextinguishable in every human breast, which God himself kindled in +Eden? As well pile rocks on volcanoes to suppress earthquakes. + + "Vital in every part, + It can but by annihilating die." + +In this light, it is no prediction to say, if slavery survives to +consummate its own results it will destroy our country. + +The great political and religious problem of the slave-holding States, +on which their welfare really depends, is not, how shall we extend +slavery? but, how shall we lay legal foundation for the rights of our +servile population as men? Unless it shall be anticipated and prevented, +by restoring to them the dominion which the Creator bestowed, a day is +as sure to come on natural principles as the sun to rise, when the +masses of human property will assert for themselves the indestructible +rights of their being. Generations may not see it; but woe betides the +States implicated in this oppression, when that day shall dawn; and the +longer it tarries the greater the woe. + +To our mind, the statesmen are infatuated who do not in their policy +regard this universal sense of rights. It is this which is now making so +bitter conflict on the prairies of Kansas. It will always make conflict, +till slavery expires. + +In connection with the general welfare, there is another consideration, +which we solemnly urge upon every man who respects the Bible. It is the +displeasure of God for slavery. He gave the rights which it denies; and +he will assuredly vindicate his own institutions. It would contradict +his word and history, which is but the story of his providence, to +suppose that he will perpetually allow myriads of men, in this land of +light, to hold as property other myriads and even millions of their +fellow men and fellow Christians, whom he has endowed, as bearing his +own image, with equal rights. With Jefferson we have reason to tremble +for our country, when we behold her support of slavery and remember that +God is just. France abolished the Sabbath; and thrones have gone down in +blood. America may abolish another divine institution; and for this her +proud States may be convulsed. The previous topic shows, indeed, that +God has so constituted the social elements of this world, that a great +wrong, like slavery, ultimately provides for its own retribution. The +oppressor himself treasures up the vials of wrath for Him who taketh +vengeance. + +In view of all the considerations which have now passed before our +minds, is it too much to believe, that the diffusion of kindly and +scriptural sentiments, with the blessing of heaven producing general +agreement in principles and measures, must be the means of our country's +salvation from the guilt and perils of slavery? If it is not extended, +misguided, infatuated men may, indeed, threaten to dissolve the Union. +Still we fear that extension most; for religion teaches us to fear God +more than man. It allows us but this alternative, to keep his +commandments, and trust that he will make the wrath of man to praise +him. We hold that national righteousness in his sight, "first pure, +then peaceable," is better and safer than union and slavery with his +frown. Let justice be done, and the heavens will not fall. + +Whatever purposes God may conceal in the cloudy future, present duties +are ours. He seals them in his word. Notwithstanding all the heats and +perversions of parties and interests, we trust there will yet be a +single voice of our nation's good men. Citizens will speak the truth, +legislators will enact the truth, churches will hallow the truth, vital +to civilization and Christianity, that, by Jehovah's will, man is not +the property of man. Then, under the benediction of our Father in +heaven, all his children in mutual protection and benevolence will enjoy +their property, their homes, and their Sabbath; and he will more richly +bless the land of the free and the just. + + + + +FRIENDLY LETTERS + +TO + +A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. + +BY + +REV. A. C. BALDWIN. + + + + +LETTER I. + +INTRODUCTION.--SOUTHERN COURTESY AND HOSPITALITY.--CHARACTERISTICS +OF THE SOUTH AND NORTH.--NO ESSENTIAL DIFFERENCE AT HEART.--THEY +SHOULD UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER BETTER.--A FREE INTERCHANGE OF +SENTIMENT DESIRABLE.--SINCERE PATRIOTISM AND PIETY COMMON TO +BOTH.--THESE AN EFFECTUAL SAFEGUARD TO OUR UNION AND +GOOD-FELLOWSHIP. + + +MY DEAR CHRISTIAN BROTHER,--I embrace the first moment at my command +since leaving your pleasant home, to express the gratification afforded +me by my recent visit to the "Sunny South." The kind hospitality and +polite attentions shown me by yourself and other Christian friends, +during my recent interesting sojourn with you, will ever be gratefully +remembered. I had previously heard "by the hearing of the ear" of the +open, frank warm-heartedness and generous impulses of southern people, +but now I can fully appreciate them. The lessons taught us by +experience, whether they be pleasant or painful, are the most +profitable, and are most deeply engraven upon the memory. If there are +any persons who think or speak lightly of the reputed complaisance and +Christian courtesy of those who live south of "Mason and Dixon's line," +I have only to say to them,--go and make the acquaintance of those +families which give the tone and character to society there, and enjoy +the hospitalities which they almost force upon you with so much +politeness and delicacy as to make you feel that by sharing them you are +conferring rather than receiving a favor, and your skepticism on this +point will be happily and effectually removed. + +You will not understand me, my dear sir, as implying that our southern +brethren have really more heart than we at the North, although there +seems to be "_primâ facie_" evidence in your favor; at least, so far as +polite and generous attention to strangers is concerned. In this last +particular, you are constantly teaching us important lessons. Still, I +contend that the Northerner has as large and generous a soul, when you +get at it, as anybody. We have hearts which beat warm and true, but our +cautious habits and constitutional temperament (phlegmatic sometimes) +conceal them from view; whereas you carry yours throbbing with generous +emotions in your hands, exposed to the gaze of everybody. The Southron +is artless and impulsive, as well as noble; the Northerner is no less +noble, but having been taught more frequently the doctrine of +"expediency" than his southern brother, he stops and "calculates" when, +and in what circumstances, it is best to exhibit his whole character. In +both cases, the pure gold is there; but in the former it lies upon the +surface or in the alluvial, while in the latter it is often imbedded +deep in the quartz-rock;--it requires some labor to get it out, but the +ultimate yield is most rich and abundant. + +It is very desirable that a greater degree of social intercourse be kept +up between the North and South. We are brethren of one great family, and +there is no good reason why this family should not be a united and happy +one. To a considerable extent it is so. It is true we do not all think +alike on every subject, and some of these subjects are of vast +importance, and intimately connected with our prosperity and happiness. +We need to understand each other better, and to this end there should be +more intimacy, and a frequent and free interchange of views;--not for +strife and debate, but for mutual edification and enlightenment. There +was probably never a family of brothers, however strong their love for +each other, whose views of domestic policy were exactly alike; but +there need be no lack of fraternal confidence and harmony for all that. +There are certain great fundamental principles which underlie every +thing else, and form the basis of the family compact. These principles +are filial reverence, fraternal affection, love for home, and a watchful +jealousy of aught that can in the least interfere with the happiness or +reputation of their beloved family circle. Falling back upon these +principles to preserve good-will and harmony, they are not in the least +afraid to discuss those topics on which there is an honest difference of +opinion; on the contrary, they take pleasure in doing so, for the result +is a strengthening of the ties which bind them to each other, and a +modification and partial blending of opinions that seemed antagonistic. + +Thus it should be in our great political and religious brotherhood. The +North and South have each their peculiar views of what pertains to their +own interests, and the interests of the great family of the Republic. +But do not let us stand at a distance and look at each other with an eye +of jealousy because of these differences. Surely we can meet as +fellow-citizens, and discuss matters of common interest, and the +interests of common humanity, without losing our temper or engendering +any ill feeling or family discord. + +It is affirmed by some, that there are certain subjects, at least one, +of so peculiar and delicate a nature as to forbid discussion, lest the +result should be heart-burnings, alienation, and perhaps disunion in our +happy fraternity. I cannot for a moment admit the sentiment. It is an +ungenerous reflection upon the courtesy, Christian candor, piety, and +good-sense, both of the North and South. I hold that good citizens and +good Christians can, if they will, discuss any subject without giving +the least occasion for offence, or endangering that compact which so +happily binds us together. As it is in the family circle, there are +certain great principles most dear to us all, on which we can fall back, +and which, if we are true to ourselves and to them, will prove efficient +safeguards to our temper and good-fellowship. The first of these is +Patriotism. We have a common country, and we love it, and we love each +other for our country's sake. We are children of a common mother, whose +kind arms have encircled us, and whose bosom has nourished us +bounteously and with impartiality, and God forbid, that, as wayward, +ungrateful children, we should wring her maternal heart with anguish by +our unfraternal conduct toward each other. We shall not do it,--either +at the North or at the South. We are true patriots, and in our very +differences, love of country comes in as an important element to shape +and modify our opinions; and while we may be adopting different +theories, we are conscientiously seeking the same end, namely, the +greatest good of our beloved country. + +The second is piety. We love our country well, but we love our Saviour +more, and for his sake we will love and treat each other as brethren, +and not fall out by the way because we may not see through the same +optic-glasses. We will cheerfully hear what each has to say on whatever +pertains to Christian morals and practice. There are thousands of +sincere, warm-hearted Christians, whose love to Christ raises them +immeasurably above sectionalism and prejudice, and who daily inquire, +"what is truth?" and "what is duty?" and they entertain that "charity" +which "suffereth long and is kind; is not easily provoked, thinketh no +evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all +things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things;" +and "never faileth." When this love is in exercise, Christian brethren +may open their hearts freely to each other on any subject, whether it +be "for doctrine, or reproof, or for instruction in righteousness." + +Whatever may be true of others, I hope that you and I will be able to +demonstrate to the world, that, although one of us lives at the North +and the other at the South, yet we can communicate with each other +unreservedly on an almost interdicted topic, with mutual kind feelings, +if not to edification. + +Respectfully and fraternally, + +Yours, &c. + + + + +LETTER II. + +A DIFFICULT AND DELICATE SUBJECT PROPOSED.--AGITATION OF IT +UNAVOIDABLE.--CHRISTIANS NORTH AND SOUTH SHOULD GIVE THE DISCUSSION +OF IT A RIGHT DIRECTION.--WE ARE ALL INTERESTED IN THE +ISSUE.--NORTHERN DISCLAIMERS. + + +MY DEAR CHRISTIAN BROTHER,--In my last I intimated that I hoped you and +I, by our correspondence, would be able to furnish the world a practical +illustration of good-nature and kind feeling in the discussion of a +subject that has been a fruitful source of trouble and unchristian +invective. You have already anticipated my theme--it is DOMESTIC +SLAVERY. It must be confessed that this is the most difficult and +delicate of all topics to be agitated by a Northerner and a Southerner, +and yet I have the fullest confidence that neither of us will give or +take offence. I need offer you no apology for calling your attention to +this subject at the present time. Not only is it a theme of vast +importance in itself, involving, either directly or indirectly, +interests most dear to you and to me, and to every one who has at heart +the welfare of his country and his race, but it is a subject that must +be discussed,--there is no avoiding it, however much you or I or other +individuals may desire it. It has come before the public mind in such a +manner as peremptorily to demand the attention of every Christian and +every patriot. Whether we approve or deprecate the peculiar causes that +have made this topic so prominent in our country, both North and South, +we have to take things as they are, and turn them to the best possible +account. Politicians and demagogues are all discussing American slavery, +and will continue to do so for the purpose of forwarding their own +favorite schemes; and any attempt to silence them would be as futile as +an effort to arrest the gulf-stream in its course. It remains only for +brethren, both at the South and North, to take up the subject as we find +it brought to our hands in the inscrutable providence of God, and, under +the guidance of his Spirit, given in answer to our prayers, take a truly +Christian view of some of its leading features, and then inquire, What +is duty? I think you will not claim, with some of your southern friends, +that slavery is a subject with which we at the North "have nothing to +do." As patriots, we have something to do with every thing that affects +the interests of our common country; and as Christians, we sustain +responsibilities which we cannot shake off toward all our brethren of +the human family, whether it be at the North or South--whether they be +bound or free. "Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created +us?" "We are many members, but one body, and whether one member suffer +all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the +members rejoice with it." + +Your candor will not impute to me any unkind or improper motive in +entering upon this discussion; and you will permit me, in the outset, to +enter a few disclaimers, in order that you may be the better able to +appreciate what I have to say. + +In the first place, it is not my design to throw down the glove for the +purpose of enlisting you, or any of your friends, in a controversy; this +would be an unpleasant and profitless undertaking. + +Nor is it to advocate the doctrine, that sustaining the legal relation +of master to a slave for a longer or shorter time is in all possible +cases sin. I will admit that there may be circumstances in which the +relation may subsist without any moral delinquency whatever; as, for +instance, persons may become slaveholders in the eye of the law without +their own consent, as by heirship; they sometimes become so voluntarily +to befriend a fellow-creature in distress, to prevent his being sold +away from his wife and family; persons sometimes purchase slaves for the +sole purpose of emancipating them. In these, and other circumstances +which might be mentioned, no reasonable man either North or South would +ever think of pronouncing the relation a sinful one. + +Nor is it my design to question the conscientiousness or piety of all +slaveholders at the South, both among the laity and clergy. Whoever +makes the sweeping assertion, that "no slaveholder can be a child of +God," gives fearful evidence that he himself is deficient in that +"charity" which "hopeth all things." There is an obvious distinction +between those who hold slaves for merely selfish purposes and regard +them as chattels, and those who repudiate this system, and regard them +as men having in common with themselves human rights, and would gladly +emancipate them were there not legal obstacles, and could they do it +consistently with their welfare, temporal and eternal. + +Nor is it my purpose to advocate immediate, universal, unconditional +emancipation without regard to circumstances. This doctrine is not held +by the great mass of northern Christians. There are, no doubt, some +cases where immediate emancipation would inflict sad calamities, both +upon the slaves themselves and the community. The opinions of northern +men have often been misunderstood and misrepresented on this subject. +The ground that calm, reflecting opponents of slavery take, is, that +slaveholders should at once cease in their own minds to regard their +slaves as chattels to be bought and sold and worked for mere profit, and +that they should take immediate measures for the full emancipation of +every one, as soon as may be consistent with his greatest good, and that +of the community in which he lives. + +This, it is true, is virtually immediate emancipation; for it is at once +giving up the chattel principle, and no longer regarding servants as +property to be bought and sold. It is to act on the Christian principle +of impartial love, doing to them and with them, as, in a change of +circumstances, we would have them do to and with us. This does +immediately abolish, as it should do, the main thing in slavery, and +brings those who are now bondmen into the common brotherhood of human +beings, to be treated, not as chattels and brutes, but on Christian +principles, according to the exigencies of their condition as ignorant, +degraded, and dependent human beings, "endowed, however, by their +Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, +and the pursuit of happiness," which rights should be acknowledged, and +with the least possible delay be granted. + +Nor is it my design to reproach my southern brethren as being to blame +for the origin of slavery in these United States. Slavery was introduced +into this country by our fathers, who have long been sleeping in their +graves, and the North, if they did not as extensively, yet did as truly, +and in many cases did as heartily, participate in it, as the South; so +that, in respect to the origin of American slavery, we have not a word +to say, nor a stone to cast. And besides, our mother country must come +in and share with our fathers to no small extent in the wrong of +introducing domestic slavery to these colonies. Happily, as we think, +slavery was virtually abolished at the North by our ancestors of a +preceding generation; but for their act we are entitled to no credit. +Your ancestors omitted to do this; but for their omission you are +deserving of no blame. We would never forget, that slavery was entailed +upon our southern brethren, and for this entailment they are no more +responsible than for the blood that circulates in their veins. + +If you will be so kind as to keep these disclaimers in mind, I think you +will better understand and appreciate what I shall hereafter say on the +subject. With the kindest wishes for you and yours, I remain, in the +best of bonds, + +YOUR CHRISTIAN BROTHER. + + + + +LETTER III. + +THE REAL SUBJECT.--NOT TO BE CONFOUNDED WITH ANCIENT +SERVITUDE.--NOR TO BE JUDGED OF BY ISOLATED CASES.--NORTHERN MEN +COMPETENT AS OTHERS TO DETERMINE ITS TRUE CHARACTER.--SLAVERY +IGNORES OUR DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.--IS INCONSISTENT WITH OUR +CONSTITUTION. + + +MY DEAR FRIEND AND BROTHER,--I propose in this and subsequent letters to +take a brief, candid view of some of the prominent characteristics of +American slavery. I speak of servitude, not as it existed in patriarchal +times, for that is essentially a distinct matter. While it had some +things in common with American slavery, there was so much that was +dissimilar in the relation of master and servant, that analogy is in a +great measure destroyed. + +Neither do I speak of slavery as I saw it developed on your plantation, +and on those of your immediate neighbors. When I went to the South, I +confess I went with strong prepossessions, (prejudices if you choose so +to call them,) against the "peculiar institution." I regarded it an +evil, and only an evil. But while my general views of the legitimate +workings of the system remain unchanged, candor compels me to admit, +that, if all slaves were as well cared for, as kindly treated, as well +instructed, and were they all as contented and happy as yours; and, +especially, were there no evils incident to the system greater than I +saw with you, I would simply divest slavery of its odious name, and it +would virtually be slavery no longer. The plantations at the South would +then, perhaps, with some propriety he denominated communities of +intelligent, happy, Christian peasants. And yet it is slavery, as it +really takes away inalienable rights. Would to God that slavery as it +exists with you were a fair illustration of the system. But alas! it is +not. Perhaps you may say that "it is impossible for a northern man to +speak of slavery so as to do the subject justice." You may indeed know +more and better than we do about the state and condition of the slaves. +But in some respects, where great principles are involved, we at the +North are more competent than you, for our judgment is less liable to be +biased by self-interest; and in my remarks I shall confine myself +chiefly to those points on which a northern man is at least as well +qualified to speak as a slaveholder. + +What, then, are some of the prominent characteristics of American +slavery as a system? + +FIRST, Slavery ignores and repudiates the foundation-stone on which +rests our renowned Declaration of Independence. That document, for more +than three fourths of a century, has been the boast and glory of +America. It is the platform on which our noble ancestors planted their +feet, with a consciousness that they stood on the eternal principles of +truth and justice. To maintain these principles, relying on God for aid, +they pledged to each other "their lives, their fortunes, and their +sacred honor." Our fathers knew that they were right, and, to carry out +the principles embodied in this Declaration, many of them cheerfully +poured out their heart's blood to defend the "unalienable rights" of +humanity. + +Now let us turn our attention to the foundation paragraph of this +memorable Declaration;--I do not mean in that general way in which it is +often read, but minutely and particularly;--let us calmly look at it in +its full import, and not shrink back and avert our eyes on account of a +foreboding that we shall be led to conclusions which we would be glad to +avoid. + +"We hold these truths to be self-evident;--that all men are created +equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable +rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of +happiness." + +These significant words are inscribed upon the scroll of our nation's +history, and there they will remain till time shall be no longer. They +need no glossary or explanation. He who runs may read them, and he who +reads can understand them. The sentiment they embody it is impossible to +mistake; it stands out in bold relief, like the sun in the heavens. It +is, that every man has received, from a higher than earthly power, a +charter, which secures to him the unalienable right of life, liberty, +and the pursuit of happiness. It is impossible for the most ultra +advocate of "human rights" to paraphrase these words, or give them a +rendering so as to make them support his dogmas more strongly than they +now do. On the contrary, he would only weaken their force by the +attempt. + +Now, my dear brother, I would candidly, seriously ask you--I would ask +all your southern friends--I would ask everybody, Can the sentiment of +that Declaration be consistent with American slavery? Are not slaves +men? Do color and degradation change a creature of God from a human +being to a soulless brute? No; our southern brethren would as +indignantly repudiate this infidel view as we at the North. Now if a +slave is a man, he has received from his Creator an unalienable right to +liberty if he chooses to avail himself of it, or else the first +principle laid down in our revered Declaration of Independence, so far +from being "self evident," is in fact untrue, and ought at once to be +taken from its honored position in the archives of these United States, +and consigned to the heaps of rubbish of the dark ages. + +But does the slave enjoy this liberty? or is it within his reach? It +will not be pretended. The very name by which his class is designated +forbids it. The term free slave is a solecism. His liberty consists in +the freedom to do as he is told to do, or suffer punishment for his +disobedience, and he can pursue happiness only in accordance with the +will of his master. + +There is the same incongruity between slavery and that clause in our +constitution which stipulates that "no person shall be deprived of life, +liberty, or property, without due process of law." Now, my brother, does +it not require considerable ingenuity and special pleading to avoid +conclusions to which unbiased common sense would arrive in an instant, +in the application of these declared rights to persons held as slaves? I +am not going to inflict upon you a dissertation, or a series of +syllogisms on this hackneyed subject, but I beg that you and your +friends will calmly look again at what, I doubt not, you have seen +before,--the palpable incongruity between the system of holding persons +perpetually in slavery without their consent, and those declared, +self-evident, heaven bestowed, unalienable rights professedly secured to +all men in these United States by our glorious constitution. Said that +great statesman and patriot, Henry Clay: "We present to the world the +sorry spectacle of a nation that worships Slavery as a household +goddess, after having constituted Liberty the presiding divinity over +church and state." + +Surely something must be out of joint here. I have looked again and +again at this matter, I think with perfect candor, and I have tried to +the utmost of my ability to reconcile these apparent inconsistencies, +but I cannot do it. Can you? + +Believe me, as ever, your sincere friend and + +CHRISTIAN BROTHER. + + + + +LETTER IV. + +SLAVERY TRANSFORMS MEN TO CHATTELS.--SOUTHERN +LAWS.--SLAVE-AUCTIONS.--MEN PLACED ON A LEVEL WITH BRUTES.--NO +REDRESS FOR WRONGS.--IGNORANCE PERPETUATED BY LAW. + + +MY DEAR CHRISTIAN FRIEND,--A second characteristic of American slavery +is, It regards human beings, declared to be in the "image of God," as +"chattels,"--things or articles of merchandise. "Slaves," say the laws +of South Carolina and Georgia, "shall be deemed, sold, taken, reputed, +and adjudged in law to be chattels personal in the hands of their owners +and possessors, and their executors, administrators and assigns, to all +intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever."[D] "A slave," says the +code of Louisiana, "is one who is in the power of his master, to whom he +belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry, +and his labor; he can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire any +thing, but what must belong to his master."[E] + +Thus, rational, immortal beings, children of our common Father in +heaven, are taken from the exalted scale in which God placed them, and +degraded to that of the brute creation. They are, as you know, +advertised, mortgaged, attached, inherited, leased, bought, and sold +like horses and cattle. Like them they are brought to the auction block, +and like them subjected to a rigid examination as to their age, and +soundness of wind, chest, and limb. Said a gentleman to me: "When I was +at----, I visited the slave mart; and as I saw one and another and +another of my fellow-beings brought forward to the block, and rudely +exposed and minutely examined, in order to ascertain their marketable +value in dollars and cents, and then struck off to the highest bidder, +amid the gibes and jeers of the vulgar, my heart was nigh unto bursting, +and I was obliged to turn away my eyes and weep, exclaiming, O God! can +it be! thy children! my brothers and sisters of humanity,--perhaps my +fellow-heirs of heaven,--precious souls for whom the Saviour died, whose +names may be written in the Book of Life, and over whose repentance +angels may have rejoiced! Can it be?" + +For myself, I never witnessed any such scenes, and heaven grant I never +may. It is enough, and too much for me to know, that they exist. I +allude to them in this connection, not to awaken and pain your +sensibilities, but simply to illustrate the fact, that American slavery +sanctions them, and by its operation brings down the noblest work of God +to a level of the beasts that perish. As far as it can do so, it +dehumanizes man, and treats him as a thing without a soul. It may be +remarked, however, in passing, "A man's a man, for a' that." + +I might speak in this connection of the obstacles which are thrown in +the way of the slave's obtaining redress for his wrongs should he +unfortunately get into the hands of a cruel and unreasonable master, +being forbidden to defend himself, and not allowed the testimony of his +brethren to be given in his behalf; but there are other features of this +system which more urgently demand our attention. + +Neither will I dwell upon the ignorance and mental degradation which are +an essential part of the system. You need not be informed, that, in ten +States, knowledge is kept from the slave by legal enactments,--that +teaching him to read is regarded a crime, to be severely "punished by +the judges." I was happy to find that you and a great many others +totally disregard that law, and, in spite of legislators and penal +statutes, you teach your slaves to read, and in some cases to write. For +this _crime_, I doubt not but heaven, at least, will forgive you. I +shall allude to this latter topic again in a future letter. + +Most truly and affectionately, yours, etc. + + + + +LETTER V. + +DOMESTIC LIFE.--THE MARRIAGE RELATION.--DOMESTIC HAPPINESS A RELIC +OF PARADISE.--ITS ENDEARMENTS.--ITS VALUE.--THE BARBARISM OF +INVADING THE DOMESTIC SANCTUARY.--AN ILLUSTRATION. + + +MY DEAR BROTHER,--I come now, in the third place, to speak of slavery as +it is related to the endearments and duties of domestic life. On this +subject my heart is full. I am almost afraid to speak, lest I say what I +ought not; and yet I cannot keep silence. I can, in a good measure, +sympathize with Elihu when he said,-- + + "For I am full of words, + The spirit within me doth constrain me, + Behold I am as wine which hath no vent, + I am ready to burst like new bottles, + I will speak that I may breathe more freely, + I will open my lips and reply."[F] + +We now approach a topic more intimately connected with the present and +future happiness of the human race than almost any other. Man was not +completely blest, even in Eden, until God instituted the marriage +relation. His Creator gave him a companion to participate in his joys, +binding them together by ties which no human power might sunder. +Paradise was lost by sin, but as our first parents were exiled thence, +God in infinite kindness permitted them to take one of its purest, +sweetest sources of joy with them to this world of sorrows. + + "Domestic happiness! thou only bliss + Of Paradise that has survived the fall!" + +You, my dear brother, are a husband and father, and can appreciate my +meaning, when I speak of the richness, the tenderness, the depth, of +connubial and paternal love; how it lights up this dark world with +smiles,--how it stimulates us to manly exertion,--how it lightens the +burdens of human life, and enables us cheerfully to sustain its ills, +while it almost restores to us Eden itself. To understand what is meant +by the term domestic happiness, it is necessary for you and me only to +look at the circles around our own firesides, and listen to the musical +accents of the loved ones who dwell there, as they pronounce the words +husband, father, mother, brother, sister, and exchange with them kind +looks and the affectionate embrace. What earthly joys can be compared +with those of home? What would tempt us to part with them? All the gold +in California and Australia would be spurned in contempt, if offered in +exchange. What should we say, and what should we do, were any power on +earth to interfere with our fireside delights, and attempt to wrest them +from us? + +Suppose Providence had cast our lot under a despotic government, which +we will suppose to be for the most part kind and paternal, but having +this peculiarity,--every now and then, finding its finances embarrassed, +it should be in the habit of selling some of its subjects to a foreign +power to strengthen its exchequer, and should arbitrarily select its +victims from this family and that;--how should you feel were the doomed +family your own? What would have been your emotions this morning, had +some one come to your room and told you that that bright-eyed boy, +"Willie," who last night sat upon your knee and amused you with his +innocent prattle, showed you his toys, examined your pockets, played +with your hair and features, and finally clasped his little arms around +your neck and impressed the "good-night" kiss upon your lips, had been +seized by an officer, and sold from your sight forever to you know not +whom, and to be carried you know not whither? Nay, more;--suppose that +while he was yet speaking, there came also another with the tidings that +the same fate had befallen your first-born,--your daughter, just budding +into womanhood,--the affectionate, joyous, light-hearted "Kate," whose +voice to your ear is sweeter than the music of flowing waters, whose +feet are swifter than those of the light gazelle, as with open arms she +bounds to meet you on your return from a temporary absence, to welcome +you home with a tear of joy in her eye and a kiss upon her lips,--that +she too had been by the officials of the government clandestinely +abducted from your dwelling, and sold, literally sold, for a valuation +put upon her person in dollars and cents, to a hopeless captivity, to +spend her days in unrequited toil, or, not unlikely, in ministering to +the caprices and brutal passions of a stranger? + +And while he was yet speaking, and as your _wife_, half frantic with +grief and terror, was entwining her arms around you, and you were +striving to ease your bursting heart, to crown the whole, suppose +another official and his posse had entered your apartment, and by force +of arms had torn her from your embrace, and with thongs upon her hands, +and a bandage over her mouth, hurried her away to greet your sight no +more? What a scene! There go in one direction the children of your body, +"bone of your bone, and flesh of your flesh," to an unknown but fearful +destiny! In another is ruthlessly borne the object dearer to you than +all the world beside,--one whom you had solemnly sworn to love, cherish, +and protect until death,--the light of your dwelling,--the mother of +your children,--the mutual sharer of all your joys and sorrows,--the +richest and most precious treasure heaven ever gave you!--there she goes +in an agony of wo, to toil under a burning sun, compelled to call +another man her husband, or, it may be, to grace her master's seraglio! +Merciful God! what meaneth this? What horde of barbarians from the dark +corners of the earth have found their way hither to lay waste all that +is beautiful and lovely! What fiend from the pit has been let loose to +enter this little Paradise to destroy and bear away all the good that +was left of the primitive Eden! + +No ruthless band of barbarians from benighted lands have found their way +to this Christian domestic sanctuary,--no malignant spirit from below +has been here to snatch the only type of Heaven that escaped his grasp +six thousand years ago. "Think it not strange," brother, "concerning +this fiery trial as though some strange thing had happened to you." This +is only the legitimate working of the patriarchal system of government +under which we live. Be calm,--this is all done according to law, and +with as much kindness as the circumstances will permit. No stripes are +inflicted, and no more force is exerted than is absolutely necessary to +secure the object, and prevent a useless outcry; no ill-will is +entertained toward the victims of these outrages,--it is only because +the finances of the government are low, and must be replenished, and +this is the most convenient, and perhaps at present the only practical, +way of raising the money! + +Now, my brother, what should you and I think of living under a +government where such things were permitted by the laws? It would not +reconcile us to the administration to be told, that such proceedings as +I have supposed are of rare occurrence, and that the general character +of the government is kind, that it dislikes exceedingly to sell its +subjects, and especially that it has a great repugnance to separating +husbands and wives, and breaking up of families, and does it only when +severely pressed by pecuniary necessity. To your and my mind this would +be altogether unsatisfactory; it would not change our opinion of the +system. No matter if the heart-rending scene I have supposed were +witnessed only once a year, or once in ten years,--I think we should +loudly protest against a system which allowed the occurrence of it at +all. + +You will please, my dear sir, apply the foregoing illustration to the +liabilities and actual workings of the slave system at the South, just +so far as it is applicable, and no further. If there are any points in +which the analogy fails, I will thank you to point them out to me in +your next. + +With much love and esteem, + +I remain yours, most truly. + + + + +LETTER VI. + +SACREDNESS OF THE MARRIAGE RELATION.--GOD ALONE CAN DISSOLVE +IT.--THE "HIGHER LAW."--SLAVERY SANCTIONS POLYGAMY AND +ADULTERY.--RELATION OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN.--FEARFUL +RESPONSIBILITY ASSUMED. + + +MY DEAR CHRISTIAN BROTHER,--My objections to any system of government +that interferes at will with the family relation, and forcibly separates +husbands and wives, parents and children, do not arise chiefly from the +personal wrongs and bitter woes inflicted upon its victims. A +contemplation of these is calculated to affect our sensibilities, and +excite the tender sympathies of our nature; but there is a more enlarged +Christian view which forces itself upon us. If we could by some magic +process allay the anguish of the stricken heart, and heal its wounds +when the strongest ties of nature are rent asunder,--could we even +obliterate the susceptibilities of the soul, destroy natural affection, +and render man more callous than the brutes, so that he could be torn +from his home and kindred with less pain than they,--in a _moral_ point +of view the case would be altered but little. As I have remarked in a +previous letter, the _marriage relation_ was instituted by God, and he +made it indissoluble. "What God hath joined together let not man put +asunder," is the language of "holy writ;" and whoever, for any cause +which God himself has not specified, breaks up this relation, encroaches +upon God's prerogative, and goes directly in face of his positive +commands. Much has been said of late, seriously, sarcastically, and +contemptuously, about a "higher law;" but notwithstanding the improper +use often made of that term, there is an important sense in which you, +and I, and every Christian recognize what that term implies. If, on any +subject whatever, human enactments do obviously conflict with the +enactments of God, then God's law is the "_higher_," and must be obeyed. +To deny this is worse than infidelity. + +Now, brother, does not the system of slavery in the United States +tolerate, and even authorize, the forcible rending asunder of the +marriage tie? Are not husbands, not seldom, but often, sold from their +wives, and wives from their husbands, and new matrimonial alliances +formed by them, with consent and encouragement of their masters? Thus +is flagrant adultery sanctioned in nearly one half of the States of this +Christian Republic, and in some cases the crime is almost, if not quite, +forced upon the wretched perpetrators of it. When God's law is +disregarded, and an ordinance on which depends all we hold dear in +social and Christian life is trampled in the dust by an institution +existing in the midst of us, what shall we say? If slavery were a +question merely of expediency, political economy, or even personal wrong +and suffering, it would be easier to keep silence; but when God is +dishonored, and gross sin sanctioned by law, is it not the duty of his +children, North and South, to enter their solemn, earnest, decided +protestations? You will agree with me, that no Christian can or ought to +acquiesce in what, either directly or indirectly, violates a positive +divine precept; and against what shall he remonstrate, if not against a +system that encourages polygamy and legalizes adultery?[G] + +There is another view in which the operation of the system of slavery; +in breaking up families, has affected my mind powerfully and painfully. +Parents sustain most important relations to their children, as well as +to each other. Who can be so much interested in the temporal and eternal +well-being of the child as those by whose instrumentality he had his +existence? Who has so much influence over him, or who could direct his +feet in the way he should go, so well? God has imposed upon all parents +most important duties, which they may not neglect. These duties are as +truly incumbent on the slave-parent as on the master who sustains the +same relation. It may be, indeed, extensively true that he does not +understand them, and is in a great measure incompetent to discharge +them; and that often the child suffers nothing morally or intellectually +by being removed from his influence. But this results in a great measure +from the hopeless ignorance in which the parent is involved. There are, +however, as you can bear witness, multitudes of exceptions. In how many +cases are slave-parents truly pious and intelligent, and feel as much +solicitude for the eternal interests of their children, as you do for +yours, and pray with them as frequently and as fervently. With how much +pleasure did you and I listen to your "Jamie," one time when we were +taking an evening stroll past his cabin, and overheard his family +prayer. With what simplicity and earnestness did he pour out his soul to +God for the salvation of his "dear children." And do you not remember, +too, how with equal importunity he prayed God to "bless dear kind Massa +and Missus, and dere precious children, and also Massa's friend, and dat +all may meet to praise Jesus togedder in heaven," and how we found it +difficult to speak for a minute or two, and how the big tear-drops stood +in our eyes, and we couldn't help it? + +You told me there were a great many "Jamies" at the South, and I have no +doubt of it; they love their little ones as well, and who so competent +to train them up for Christ? Who will presume to step in between these +parents and their children and say, this family altar shall be broken +down, and those who have bowed around it shall be separated, to meet no +more till they meet at the judgment? Who will peril his own soul by +taking those children away from such an influence, and for a pecuniary +consideration cast them upon the wide world with none to instruct them, +and none to care or pray for them, except their heart-broken parents +whom they have left behind? I would not do it, neither would you, for +the wealth of the world; and yet, is it not often done? In speaking of +this subject, one of the most eminent southern divines[H] uses the +following language: "Slavery, as it exists among us, sets up between +parents and their children an authority higher than the impulse of +nature and the laws of God; breaks up the authority of the father over +his own offspring, and at pleasure separates the mother at a returnless +distance from her child, thus outraging all decency and justice." I +shall refer to the sentiments of this brother again. + +I remain as ever, + +Affectionately yours, etc. + + + + +LETTER VII. + +THE CROWNING EVIL OF SLAVERY.--PRECIOUSNESS OF THE BIBLE.--OUR +CHART AND COMPASS ON LIFE'S VOYAGE INDISPENSABLE.--ORAL +INSTRUCTIONS INSUFFICIENT.--DANGERS.--SHIPWRECK ALMOST +INEVITABLE.--WITHHELD FROM THE SLAVE.--SHUTS MULTITUDES OUT OF +HEAVEN.--AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY.--TESTIMONY OF GENERAL +ASSEMBLY.--OF SYNOD OF KENTUCKY.--OF DR. BRECKENRIDGE. + + +MY DEAR BROTHER,--There is one feature of slavery, fourthly, which gives +me more pain by far than any other, and I may say more than all others +put together, and that is, it imperils the immortal souls of millions of +our fellow-beings by keeping from them the Word of God. + +Next to the Saviour, and the Holy Spirit, the most precious gift God has +bestowed on man is the Bible. This volume contains our only perfect rule +of life, and is our only guide to heaven. It teaches us our character +and our destiny; it alone raises the curtain between time and eternity, +and dissipates the darkness that otherwise would forever enshroud the +grave; it reveals to us another state of being, in which we shall be +happy or miserable, ages without end. On this Book alone do we depend +for our knowledge of the way of salvation by Christ. It is here we read +the story of the manger and the cross, and the wonderful plan of +redemption through atoning blood. What could we do without the Bible? It +is of infinitely greater value than houses and lands, silver and gold, +and every earthly good beside. To take from us the Bible, would be like +blotting out the sun in the heavens, and enveloping the universe in the +gloom and darkness of eternal night. Take from me riches, honors, +pleasures, comforts, and even liberty itself; and give me instead +thereof poverty, disgrace, pains, affliction, hunger, cold, nakedness, +and a dungeon; tear me from my friends, bind me with chains, scourge me +with the lash, brand my flesh with hot irons, deprive me of every source +of earthly good, and inflict upon me every kind of bodily and mental +anguish which the utmost refinement of cruelty can invent;--but give me +my Bible--leave me this precious treasure, which is the gift of my +heavenly Father, to teach me his will and guide me to himself. Torture +and destroy my body, if you will, but O! give me facilities for saving +my soul. Turn me not adrift on life's troubled ocean to seek alone a +far distant shore, exposed continually to storms, breakers, hidden +reefs, whirlpools, and shoals, with nothing but a few verbal +instructions to direct my way. If I am to make this fearful voyage, (and +make it I must,) take not from me my chart and compass. Your verbal +directions I shall be likely to forget when I most need them. The +polestar, which you tell me may be my guide, is often for a long time +concealed by impenetrable clouds. There are fearful maelstroms, near the +verge of whose deceptive and destructive circles my course lies, and ere +I am aware of it I shall have passed the fatal line, from which no +voyager returns. Between me and my desired haven there is a "hell-gate," +where are sunken rocks and conflicting currents, and amid all these +complicated dangers my frail bark will make shipwreck, without my chart +and compass. Deprived of these, I cannot keep my reckoning, I cannot +shape my course, I cannot find my haven. + +I need not tell you, my dear brother, that it is a part of the +slaveholding policy to take from thousands and millions of immortal +beings in our nominally Christian land, this precious chart and +compass,--the Bible, the only safe guide to heaven. I have often heard +you speak of it, and deplore it. Those severe laws which forbid +teaching the slave to read, do virtually take from him the Bible,--his +directory to the New Jerusalem. You may, indeed, give him oral +instruction, and in many instances, no doubt, they are blessed to his +conversion; but how utterly inadequate are they to his spiritual wants, +how imperfect are they at best, and in how many thousands of cases are +even these entirely wanting. Every enlightened and intelligent Christian +knows, from his own experience, how hard it is to enter the "strait +gate," and to keep in the "narrow way," and how needful to him are all +the helps within his reach, and then he is but "scarcely saved." What +hope is there, then, for the poor slave, who is deprived, not only of +most of the ordinary and extraordinary means of grace which we enjoy, +but is forbidden the printed Word of God? Is not a fearful +responsibility incurred by those who, for any reason, stand between God +and his children, and intercept those messages of grace and mercy which +are contained in the Holy Scriptures? + +That noble institution, the American Bible Society, is multiplying +copies of the sacred Word by thousands and hundreds of thousands, and +scattering them over the land and the world; it hesitates not to thrust +them into the hands of the followers of the false prophet,--the deluded +followers of the man of sin,--the disciples of Confucius and +Zoroaster,--the worshippers of Juggernaut and Vishnoo, and the degraded +inhabitants of the South Seas and Caffraria;--it benevolently resolves +to put a copy of the Bible into the dwelling of every white family in +these United States; but it is obliged by law to pass by the cabin of +the slave, and leave more than three millions of immortal beings to find +the road to heaven the best way they can. + +My brother, I cannot think of these things without the deepest grief, +and I know that you fully sympathize with me; but it is some consolation +to believe that the great mass of evangelical Christians take the same +views of the wrongs inflicted upon the slave that we do, for it is to +the Christian sentiment of this country that we must look for the +removal of them. + +Our brethren of the Presbyterian church have borne their testimony most +fully and pointedly against the evils of slavery which we have been +considering. You doubtless recollect the action of the General Assembly +on this subject in 1818. A committee was appointed, to whom was referred +certain resolutions on the subject of selling a slave,--a member of the +church,--and which was directed to prepare a report to be adopted by +the Assembly, expressing their opinion in general on the subject of +slavery. The report of this committee was unanimously adopted, and +ordered to be published. It is, in part, as follows:-- + +"The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, having taken into +consideration the subject of slavery, think proper to make known their +sentiments upon it to the churches. + +"We consider the voluntary enslaving of the one part of the human race +by another, as a gross violation of the most precious and sacred rights +of human nature; as utterly inconsistent with the law of God, which +requires us to love our neighbors as ourselves; and as totally +irreconcilable with the spirit and principles of the gospel of Christ, +which enjoins that all things 'whatsoever ye would that men should do to +you, do ye even so to them.' Slavery creates a paradox in the moral +system; it exhibits rational, accountable, and immortal beings in such +circumstances as scarcely to leave them the power of moral action. It +exhibits them as dependent on the will of others, whether they shall +receive religious instruction; whether they shall know and worship the +true God; whether they shall enjoy the ordinances of the gospel; whether +they shall perform the duties and cherish the endearments of husbands +and wives, parents and children, neighbors and friends; whether they +shall preserve their chastity and purity, or regard the dictates of +justice and humanity. + +"Such are some of the consequences of slavery,--consequences, not +imaginary, but which connect themselves with its very existence. The +evils to which the slave is always exposed often take place in fact, and +in their very worst degree and form, and where all of them do not take +place, as we rejoice to say that in many instances, through the +influence of the principles of humanity and religion on the minds of +masters, they do not, still the slave is deprived of his natural right, +degraded as a human being, and exposed to the danger of passing into the +hands of a master who may inflict upon him all the hardships which +inhumanity and avarice may suggest." + +An Address from the Synod of Kentucky, in 1835, to the Presbyterians of +that State, is much more specific in its delineations of the evils of +slavery, and in its denunciations of the system, and adopts language far +more severe than many northern Christians would think it expedient to +use. It presents a picture of its actual workings which could be drawn +only by one who had seen the original. If you have not read this +address, I beg that you will do so. It is altogether a southern +document. I have room only for a short extract. + +Slavery is characterized as "a demoralizing and cruel system, which it +would be an insult to God to imagine that he does not abhor; a system +which exhibits power without responsibility, toil without recompense, +life without liberty, law without justice, wrongs without redress, +infamy without crime, punishment without guilt, and families without +marriage; a system which will not only make victims of the present +unhappy generation, inflicting upon them the degradation, the contempt, +the lassitude, and the anguish of hopeless oppression; but which even +aims at transmitting this heritage of injury and woe to their children +and their children's children, down to their latest posterity. Can any +Christian contemplate, without trembling, his own agency in the +perpetuation of such a system?" + +Coincident with the judgment of these two most respectable and revered +ecclesiastical bodies is the testimony of one of the most prominent and +honored sons of the southern church, the Rev. Dr. R. L Breckenridge. +Says he:-- + +"What then is slavery? for the question relates to the action of certain +principles of it, and to its probable and proper results; what is +slavery as it exists among us? We reply, it is that condition enforced +by the laws of one half of the States of this confederacy, in which one +portion of the community, called masters, are allowed such power over +another portion called slaves, as---- + +"1. To deprive them of the entire earnings of their own labor, except so +much as is necessary to continue labor itself by continuing healthful +existence: thus committing clear robbery. + +"2. To reduce them to the necessity of universal concubinage, by denying +to them the civil rights of marriage, thus breaking up the dearest +relations of life, and encouraging universal prostitution. + +"3. To deprive them of the means and opportunities of moral and +intellectual culture, in many States making it a high penal offence to +teach them to read, thus perpetuating whatever of evil there is that +proceeds from ignorance. + +"4. To set up between parents and their children an authority higher +than the impulse of nature and the laws of God, which breaks up the +authority of the father over his own offspring, and at pleasure +separates the mother at a returnless distance from her child, thus +abrogating the clearest laws of nature, thus outraging all decency and +justice, and degrading and oppressing thousands upon thousands of +beings, created like themselves in the image of the most high God! This +is slavery as it is daily exhibited in every slave State." + +Yes, such is the nature and character of an institution in this +enlightened Christian republic, claiming to be the freest nation on +earth, calling itself "an asylum for the oppressed," inviting the +downtrodden subjects of all the despots of the old world to come to this +happy land, and place themselves under the protection of the American +eagle, and in this "eyrie of the free" taste and enjoy the sweets of +liberty! + +The views presented in the above extracts may be taken, it is to be +presumed, as an exponent of the southern Christian sentiment on domestic +slavery. There are, indeed, exceptions. It is painful to notice that +within a few years some men of reputed piety and worth have been +attempting to maintain that American slavery is a "divine and +patriarchal institution," "sanctioned by the Bible,"--is "necessary to +the highest state of society," and is "to be perpetuated;" but I am +happy to believe that the number of those who hold such views, +repudiating those of the Presbyterian church, and at the same time call +themselves disciples of Him who said, "whatsoever ye would that men +should do to you, do ye even so to them," is comparatively small. + +I close this long letter by subscribing myself, as ever, + +Your affectionate + +Friend and Brother. + + + + +LETTER VIII. + +THREE QUESTIONS SUGGESTED.--1. MUST SLAVERY BE PERPETUAL?--2. DOES +THE CHURCH OF CHRIST SUSTAIN ANY RESPONSIBILITY IN THIS MATTER?--3. +WHAT SHALL WE DO? + + +MY DEAR CHRISTIAN FRIEND,--I fear I shall make myself tedious to you by +dwelling so long upon this, to me, painful subject,--slavery. I will, +therefore, in the present letter, finish what I have to say for the +present, hoping that our future correspondence may be on more grateful +themes. + +There are a few questions which are suggested to us by the brief view we +have taken of this most important subject. The first is, Must slavery, +with all its attendant evils, be perpetuated? Must this blot rest upon +our beloved country, and tarnish its escutcheon forever? I am persuaded +that the spontaneous answer from the Christian heart of this nation is, +_No!_ It was never contemplated by Washington nor Jefferson nor Adams, +nor by the framers of our Constitution, nor by the great mass of noble +patriots who perilled their all for the independence of their country, +that slavery was to be handed down to posterity. If you will look at the +writings of the leading public men of the last century, you will find, +that, almost without exception, they looked upon slavery in the United +States as a temporary evil, to be removed as soon as circumstances would +permit. They regarded it not only a wrong inflicted upon the slave, but +an incubus upon the nation, soon to pass away. + +The great body of Christians in our land have been looking forward to +the time, and praying for its arrival, when all the oppressed within our +borders shall go free. That the time will come when slavery shall cease +in our land, I as fully believe as I believe that there is a God who +presides over and directs the destinies of men. You and I may not live +to see the day; but it will come. + +Another question suggested is, Does the church of Christ in this country +sustain any responsibility in regard to slavery, and has she any duty to +discharge in relation to it? By the church of Christ, I mean the great +mass of Christians of every name who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity, +both North and South. + +This question is easily answered. There are no evils existing in the +Christian's field of labor--the world--in regard to which he has not +some responsibility, and for the removal of which he is not bound to do +something. As a general truth, the nearer the evils come to our own +firesides and bosoms, the weightier those responsibilities become. The +hundreds of millions of heathens in foreign lands lying in sin and +degradation appeal to our sympathy and efforts, and that appeal we may +not disregard. But the heathen in our own land have on us much stronger +claims, and our obligations to put forth efforts in their behalf are +more imperious. + +Slavery is a great evil and sin, which affects not only individuals, but +our country; and, both as Christians and patriots, we ought to be +sensibly alive to every thing that affects our common weal. You who live +at the South, it may be, have more responsibility in this matter than we +at the North; but none of us can say, "because I am not personally +implicated in inflicting wrongs upon the slave, therefore I have nothing +to do for their removal." Should this become the universal sentiment of +the church, Satan's kingdom in our world would never come to an end, and +wickedness would prevail forever. The spirit of Christianity, although +preëminently mild, gentle, patient, and long-suffering, is nevertheless, +in an important sense, aggressive. It has ever claimed the right of +interesting itself in the welfare of every human creature--to exert its +influence to check the progress of sin in every form--to attack error in +principle and in practice--to "loose the bands of wickedness,"--"undo +heavy burdens,"--"break every yoke,"--"deliver the poor and needy,"--and +to "remember them that are in bonds as bound with them." This, by some, +may be called officiousness, but we cannot help it; it is a part of the +Christian's legitimate business to volunteer his influence and his +services (in every proper way) in opposing wrong, and to stand up and +plead the cause of those who suffer it the world over. He cannot refrain +from doing so, without proving himself false to his Master and his +Master's cause. + +Admitting, then, that all Christians have some kind of responsibility +and duty devolving on them, a most important question comes up. Thirdly, +what shall they do? There are certainly some things which it is +perfectly evident we should not do,--though we should rebuke this and +every sin, we should not give vent to our hatred of the system in +ebullitions of wrath, invective, and abuse toward slaveholders. Thus did +not Christ nor his apostles. This is not in accordance with the +Christian spirit, and could be productive only of evil. + +Neither should we endeavor to exert an influence over the slaves to make +them restive and disobedient; none but an enemy to the true interests, +both of the slave and his country, would do that, unless under some +hallucination. + +Neither should we interfere politically with slavery beyond the +boundaries of our own State, in States where it now exists by the laws +of the land. I might go on indefinitely, and specify what we should not +do; but this does not meet the case;--what shall we do? It would be +arrogance in me to attempt a full answer to a question that has engaged +the attention of many abler heads and better hearts than mine, but there +are some things which have already been said by others, that cannot be +too frequently repeated. + +In the first place, we can commit this whole matter to God in humble, +earnest prayer. Here is something which we can all do, North and South, +and in which we shall all be agreed. However much we may differ in +regard to the safety and expediency of other measures to moderate the +condition of the slave and bring about his ultimate emancipation, we are +of one mind in regard to the safety and efficacy of prayer. One effect +of this will be to unite our own hearts more closely in sympathy and +love. There will be no danger of calling each other hard names, bandying +unchristian epithets, and biting and devouring one another, if we are in +the habit of meeting daily at the throne of grace to pray for a cause in +which we take a mutual interest. + +By prayer we may hope to be enlightened more fully in regard to our +duty. "If any man lack wisdom," and surely we all do on this subject, +"let him ask of God." + +In answer to prayer, we have reason to hope that God will open the eyes +to teach the hearts of all slaveholders, and lead them to "do justly and +love mercy," and also that he will, in his holy and wise Providence, +redress the wrongs of his oppressed children, and prepare the way for +their ultimate emancipation. + +Prayer is the Christian's first and last resort. Let us, then, my dear +brother, pray over this subject continuously, and with an earnestness +commensurate with its importance, and then, I doubt not, we shall +ourselves be more enlightened than we now are as to our future course. + +A second duty, hardly less obvious than prayer, is to use all the +influence we possess to prevent the extension of the domain of slavery. +To this end, we should utter our voices long and loud in remonstrance +against any such measure. If we and our legislators may not politically +interfere with slavery in States where it now exists, we may interfere +to prevent it from exerting its baleful influence over territory now +free. We should do many things for the sake of peace and conciliation. +We have heretofore made concessions and compromises--perhaps too +many--on this subject; but here is where the people of God, North and +South, should make a stand, and declare before heaven and earth, and +with an emphasis which cannot be misunderstood, that not another inch of +our public domain shall be cursed with slavery for any consideration +whatever, if our influence can prevent it. In our remonstrances, we will +be respectful, but firm. Let our politicians know that all persons who +are governed by Christian principle, through the length and breadth of +the land, have taken their position, and that the mountains shall be +removed out of their places, ere they will swerve from it, and there +will be but little danger of slave extension. + +In the third place, we should use every endeavor to disseminate the +gospel of Christ, and bring its principles to bear upon all classes of +persons, North and South. If we can do this effectually, it is all +sufficient. The Gospel, if faithfully applied, is a sure remedy for +every social and moral evil that ever existed. We at the North should +demonstrate to our slave-holding friends whom we wish to influence, that +we ourselves are governed by its spirit, and actuated by its principle, +in all that we do in relation to this subject. It is not ambition, a +lust for power, sectional jealousy, a spirit of censoriousness or +ill-will, that prompts us to what they have been in the habit of +regarding as intermeddling with their affairs, in which we have no +concern, but a spirit of love,--love not less to them than to their +slaves. And then, in the temper of Christ, we will bring the Gospel to +bear on the slaveholder's conscience and sense of justice. We will hold +up and keep before his mind the great rule of life given by Him who +spake as never man spake,--"Whatsoever ye would that men should do to +you, do you even so to them." Let this rule be once adopted and carried +out, and it is enough. Human beings would no more be sold as beasts in +the market, and driven to unrequited toil; the minds of men would no +longer be kept in ignorance; the domestic circle would never again be +invaded by the hand of sordid avarice separating husbands and wives, +parents and children, doing savage violence to the noblest affections +of our nature; the Bible would be put into the hands of every slave, and +he would be taught to read it; common schools and Sabbath schools would +be everywhere established and maintained, as well for the slave as for +the white child; the master would regard those whom he now holds as +property as his own brethren, going with him to the same judgment, and +destined finally to dwell with him as his equals, in the same heaven, +and to wear as bright crowns and sing as rapturous a song as he. He +would immediately set himself about preparing his slaves for +emancipation, and for the enjoyment of those natural rights, of which +they have for so long a time been most unjustly deprived. In short, +slavery, as the term is now understood, would cease instantly, and a +kind, parental guardianship would take its place, and every southern +plantation would be transformed into a moral garden of beauty and +happiness, and universal and entire emancipation would follow with the +least possible delay. And, finally, we should if possible bring the +Gospel to bear upon the great body politic, upon our presidents, our +governors, our National and State legislators. It would seem that some +of our lawmakers are much better acquainted with Blackstone and Vattel, +than they are with the Lord Jesus Christ, or they would not disgrace +our statute-books with laws which ignore the "higher laws" of God. We +should often remind them that this is a Christian, and not a heathen or +infidel republic; and that every enactment, not consistent with the +gospel of Christ and inalienable human rights, does violence to the +Christian sentiment and Christian conscience of the nation, and must be +repealed. If they will not hear us, we have only to appoint more +faithful servants, who will do as they are told. We have no idea of +"uniting church and state," but to infuse as much of the Gospel into the +state as possible is both a privilege and duty; and when all our affairs +and institutions, public, domestic, and private, are administered on +gospel principles, we shall become a free, prosperous, and happy people, +and not till then. + +And now, may God bless you, my dear brother, and guide you, and guide us +all, to pursue such a course in regard to the three and a half millions +of slaves in our professedly free republic as will afford us the most +satisfaction when we meet them as our equals at the judgment-seat of +Christ. + +With high esteem and much affection, + +I remain your Christian brother, + +A. C. BALDWIN. + + + + +AN ESSAY, + +BY + +REV. TIMOTHY WILLISTON. + + IS AMERICAN SLAVERY AN INSTITUTION WHICH CHRISTIANITY + SANCTIONS, AND WILL PERPETUATE? AND, IN VIEW + OF THIS SUBJECT, WHAT OUGHT AMERICAN + CHRISTIANS TO DO, AND REFRAIN + FROM DOING? + + Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto.--TERENCE. + Bear ye one another's burdens.--PAUL. + + + + +ESSAY. + + +A great moral question is, in this nineteenth century, being tried +before the church of Christ, and at the bar of public sentiment. It is, +Whether the system of servitude known as American slavery be a system +whose perpetuity is compatible with pure Christianity? Whether, with the +Bible in her hand, the church may lawfully indorse, participate in, and +help perpetuate, this system? Or whether, on the other hand, the system +be, in its origin, nature, and workings, intrinsically evil; a thing +which, if, like concubinage and polygamy, God has indeed tolerated in +his church, he never approved of; and which, in the progress of a pure +Christianity, must inevitably become extinct? I feel assured that the +latter of these propositions will, without argument, command the assent +of the mass of living Christians. But there are those in the church who +array themselves on the other side. While they would not justify the +least inhumanity in the treatment of slaves, they profess to believe +that slavery itself has the approbation of Jehovah, and may with +propriety be perpetuated in the church and the world. At their hands I +would respectfully solicit a patient hearing, while I proceed to assign +several reasons for differing with them in opinion. + +First. Slavery is a condition of society not founded in nature. When +God, in his Word, demands that children shall be in subordination to +their parents, and citizens to the constituted civil authorities, we +need no why and wherefore to enable us to see the reasonableness of +these requirements. We feel that they are no arbitrary enactments, but +indispensable to the best interests of families and of society, and +therefore founded in nature. We are prepared, too, from their obvious +necessity and utility, to rank them among the permanent statutes of the +Divine Legislator. But can as much be said of slavery? Is there such an +obvious fitness and utility in one man's being, against his will, owned +and controlled by another, as to prepare us to say that such an +ownership is founded in the very constitution of things? None will +pretend that there is. Not only is slavery not founded in nature, but, + +Second. It is condemned by the very instincts of our moral constitution. +These instincts seem to whisper that "all men are born free and equal;" +equal, not in intellect, or in the petty distinctions of parentage, +property, or power; but having, as the creatures of one God, an equal +right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Job's moral +instincts taught him, that the fact of all men's having one and the same +Creator gave his servants a right to contend with him, when wronged; and +that, if he "despised their cause," he must answer it to his God and +theirs. That men of all races and grades are essentially equal before +God; that every man has a right to himself, to the fruits of his toil, +and to the unmolested pursuit of happiness, in all lawful ways; and +hence, that slavery, as existing in these States, is a gigantic system +of evil and wrong,--are truths which the moral sense of men is +everywhere proclaiming with much emphasis and distinctness. If it be not +so, what means this note of remonstrance, long and loud, that comes to +our ears over the Atlantic wave? Why else did a Mohammedan prince,[I] +(to say nothing of what nearly all Christian governments have done,) +put an end to slavery in his dominions before he died? And how else +shall we account for that moral earthquake which has for years been +rocking this great republic to its very centre? One cannot thoughtfully +observe the signs of the times,--no, nor the workings of his own heart, +methinks,--without perceiving that slavery is at war with the moral +sense of mankind. If there be any conscience that approves, it must be a +conscience perverted by wrong instruction, or by a vicious practice. And +can that be a good institution, and worthy of perpetuity, which an +unperverted conscience instinctively condemns? + +Third. The bad character of slavery becomes yet more apparent, if we +consider the manner in which it has chiefly originated and been +sustained. Did God institute the relation of master and slave, as he did +the conjugal and parental relations? It is not pretended. In what, then, +did slavery have its beginning? Doubtless the first slaves were +captives, taken in war. In primitive ages, the victors in war were +considered as having a right to do what they pleased with their +captives; and so it sometimes happened that they were put to death, and +sometimes that they were made to serve their captors as bondmen. Thus +slavery was at first the incidental result of war. But as time rolled +on, the love of power and of gain prompted men to make aggressions on +their weaker neighbors, for the very purpose of enslaving them; and, +eventually, man-stealing and the slave-trade became familiar facts in +the world's history. Upon these has slavery, for centuries past, +depended mainly for its continuance. And, although these feeders of +slavery are now by Christian nations branded as piracy and strictly +vetoed, they are far from being exterminated. Indeed, it seems to be +well understood, that, if all commerce in slaves, foreign and domestic, +ceases, slavery itself must soon become extinct. + +Now if man-stealing be an act which the Word of God and the moral +instincts of men do most pointedly condemn,--and I will attempt no +demonstration of this here,--what shall we say of that which is its +legitimate offspring and dependant? Far be it from me to affirm, that, +circumstanced as our southern brethren are, it is just as criminal for +them to hold slaves as it would be to go now to Africa and forcibly +seize them. But, in the spirit of love, I would ask my slave-holding +brother, Can that be a justifiable institution, and deserving to be +upheld, which has so bad a parentage? "Do men gather grapes of thorns?" +"Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" + +Fourth. There are, in the Scriptures, many clear indications that +slavery has not the approbation of God, and hence has not the stamp of +perpetuity upon it. Under this head, let us notice several distinct +particulars. + +1. Had God regarded servitude as a good thing, he would not, in +authoritatively predicting its existence, have said, "Cursed be Canaan; +a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." What God visits +men with as a curse cannot be intrinsically good and beneficial. + +2. The judgments with which God visited Egypt and her proud monarch, for +refusing to emancipate the Israelites, and for essaying to recapture +them, when let go, and the wages which he caused his people, when +released, to receive for their hitherto unrequited tolls, clearly evince +that he has no complacency in compulsory, unrewarded servitude. + +3. The same thing is indicated by the fact that God has, by statute, +provided expressly for the protection and freedom of an escaped slave; +but not for the recovery of such a fugitive by his master. "Thou shalt +not deliver unto his master, the servant which is escaped from his +master unto thee: he shall dwell with thee, even among you in that place +which he shall choose.... Thou shalt not oppress him." Now be it, if +you will, that this statute had reference only to servants who should +escape into the land of Israel from Gentile masters; does it not +indicate a strong bias, in the mind of God, to the side of freedom, +rather than that of slavery? And does it not establish the point, that, +in God's estimation, one man cannot rightfully be deemed the property of +another man? Were it otherwise, would not the Jew have been required to +restore a runaway to his pursuing master, just as he was to restore any +other lost thing which its owner should come in search of? Or, to say +the least, would not the Israelites have been allowed to reduce to +servitude among themselves the escaped slave of a heathen master? But +how unlike all this are the actual requirements of the statute. God's +people must neither deliver up the fugitive nor enslave him themselves; +but allow him to dwell among them as a FREEMAN, just "where it liketh +him best." And, in this connection, how significant a fact is it, that +the Bible nowhere empowers the master from whom a slave had escaped to +pursue, seize, and drag back to bondage that escaped slave. + +4. That which constitutes the grand fountain of slavery,--the forcible, +stealthy seizure of a man, for the purpose of holding or selling him as +a slave,--was, under the Mosaic dispensation, punishable with death; +and is, in the New Testament, named in connection with the most heinous +crimes. "He that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in +his hand, he shall surely be put to death." What could more forcibly +exhibit God's disapprobation of one of the distinctive features of +slavery,--compulsion? What more impressively show the value that he puts +upon a man's personal independence,--his right to himself? Now if God +doomed that man to die a felon's death who should steal and sell a +fellow man, can it be that he would hold him guiltless who should buy +the stolen man, knowing him to have been stolen? God's people were, +indeed, allowed to "buy bondmen and bondmaids" of the strangers that +dwelt among them, and of the surrounding heathen. But were they ever +allowed to buy persons whom they knew to have been unlawfully obtained, +and offered for sale in manifest opposition to their own wishes? If they +were not,--and, from the statute just referred to, it seems certain that +they were not,--does American slavery derive countenance from that which +was tolerated in the Jewish church and nation? True, the slaves now held +as such among us were not themselves feloniously seized on a foreign +soil, torn away from kindred, homes, and country, and sold into hopeless +bondage in a strange land; but their sires and grandsires were. +Man-stealing is confessedly the stock out of which has sprung, and grown +to its present dimensions, the vast and overshadowing Upas of American +slavery; and if the Bible brands that stock as pestiferous, must not the +entire tree partake of the noxious influence? Again: if, as competent +critics assert, the popular sense of the word rendered "men-stealers," +in 1 Tim. i. 10, be "those who deal in men--literally, slave-traders," +then trafficking in slaves for mercenary ends is, by Paul, ranked among +vices the most abominable; and American slavery is, if possible, more +pointedly condemned by that passage than by the statute found in Ex. +xxi. 16. For who does not know that trading in "the persons of men" has +ever been, and yet is, a main pillar in the fabric of slavery? Indeed, +man-stealing and slave-trading are to slave-holding precisely what the +business of the distiller and of the vendor is to the vice of +intemperance. There is, in either case, a trio of associated evils; and +it is difficult to say which member of either trio is the most repulsive +and harmful. + +If, now, it be objected to this argument from the Bible, that the Mosaic +institutes expressly recognize such a thing as involuntary servitude, +and prescribe rules for its regulation, I answer: true, but the +servitude thus recognized and regulated by statute was of a far milder +type than that which is legalized in these American States. For, 1. It +allowed the bondman a large amount of leisure, or time which he need not +devote to his master's service; 2. It made it possible for him to +accumulate a considerable amount of property; 3. It placed him on a +perfect level with his master, in regard to religious privileges; 4. It +gave him his freedom whenever he should be so chastised as to result in +permanent injury to his person: thus operating as a powerful preventive +of inhumanity in chastising; 5. It respected the sanctity of the +conjugal and parental relations, when existing among bondmen, and did +not authorize a compulsory severing of family ties; 6. It made no +provision for the sale of a servant by his Jewish master, nor for any +such domestic commerce in the persons of men as is practised in the +southern States of this Union; 7. It provided for the periodical +emancipation of all that were in bondage; thus aiming a fatal blow at +the very existence of servitude in the Hebrew commonwealth. I may not, +consistently with the necessary brevity of a tract designed for popular +perusal, go into any demonstration of the facts above asserted. For +proof that they are facts, let my readers studiously examine the Mosaic +books, and the Rev. A. Barnes's "Inquiry into the Scriptural Views of +Slavery." I see not how any candid and discriminating investigator can +help being convinced that the servitude which was temporarily tolerated +in the Jewish church, was, in numerous respects, very unlike to that +which exists among us, and far less repulsive. + +But suppose, for argument's sake, it had been just as repulsive a system +as ours, would the fact of its having been tolerated under the Jewish +economy prove it to be intrinsically good, and worthy of being +perpetuated? Then, by parity of reasoning, the good men of ancient times +might safely have concluded that certain other practices were good and +would endure, which we know were not good, and were not to last. Had the +question been propounded in Abraham's or in David's day, whether +polygamy and concubinage were approved of God, and would be perpetuated +in the church, it is probable that even the saints of those periods +would have responded affirmatively. The fact that God had so long +allowed his people to practise these things unrebuked, might, to them, +have seemed sufficient proof that these practices were intrinsically +proper, and were to rank among the permanent fixtures of human society. +But were Abraham and David now on the earth, with what changed feelings +would they regard the cast-off system of concubinage and a plurality of +wives. Again: suppose the conjecture had been hazarded, three thousand +years ago, that woman, from being a menial drudge, or a mere medium of +bestial indulgence, would one day occupy the dignified position to which +Christianity has actually lifted her, would not incredulity have lurked +in every heart, and found expression on every tongue? Now there are +plain indications, not only in the Word, but the providences of God, +that he never regarded slavery with complacency, any more than he did +polygamy, concubinage, or the serfdom of woman; and that he never +designed its perpetuity. Scrutinizing that Word and those providences, +one needs no prophetic ken to enable him to predict with certainty, +that, when Christ's millennial reign is ushered in, contraband will be +inscribed on slavery, as it already has been on some other evils that +were once tolerated, not only in society, but in the church of God. + +But I shall be reminded here, that, when the apostles were disseminating +Christianity in the Roman empire, there prevailed throughout that empire +a system of slavery more odious and oppressive than ours; and yet that +both slaveholders and slaves were converted and admitted to the church, +without its affecting the relation of master and slave; that the New +Testament instructs the parties how to demean themselves in that +relation, but nowhere enjoins emancipation on the master, or encourages +absconding or non-submission in the slave; in short, that it nowhere +expressly condemns slavery, or intimates that its extermination was to +be expected or desired. In reply to this, I would say,-- + +(1.) To infer, because the New Testament enjoins obedience on slaves, +and makes no direct attack on the institution of slavery, that it +therefore sanctions the institution, and would have it perpetuated, is +as much a _non sequitur_ as to infer, because God enjoins on men +subjection to existing civil authorities, whatever may be their +character, that he as much approves of a despotic as of a constitutional +government,--of the government of Ferdinand of Naples as of that of +Victoria of England. Nor is it more difficult to comprehend why God has, +in the Scriptures, made no direct assault on slavery, than it is to see +why He has not directly assailed governmental despotisms, or expressed +any preference for one form of government over another. An obvious and +far-seeing wisdom is discernible in this, which it behooves us to +admire, and not unfrequently to imitate. Had the apostles or the +Scriptures openly denounced all absolutism, whether civil or domestic, +it would have aroused unnecessary prejudice and opposition, and diverted +the attention of men from the grand object aimed at in giving the world +a written and preached gospel. God deemed it wiser to reach these evils +through the slow but sure progress of certain great principles laid down +in his Word, than through the medium of specific prohibitions. + +(2.) The fact that the apostles received into the church converts who +not only held slaves, but held them under a slave-system that was +awfully despotic, was no indorsement on their part of that odious +system, nor even of the slightest inhumanity on the part of a master +towards his slaves. It does, indeed, prove that a man may be a +Christian, without ceasing to be a slaveholder in form; but not that a +master may indulge in all the legal barbarities of the system, and yet +be a Christian. Merely to sustain the relation of a Christian master for +the good of the slave, or from the necessity of the case, is one thing, +while to advocate and defend this chattel system, and hold in bondage +fellow human beings for personal and selfish ends, is quite another +thing. Nowhere do the Scriptures countenance, or even wink at, the least +degree of inhumanity or injustice in the treatment of servants. So far +from this, they expressly enjoin it on masters to "give unto their +servants that which is just and equal," all the law of disinterested +love would require; accompanying the injunction with the significant +hint, that they themselves have a Master, and that with him there is "no +respect of persons." + +(3.) Though the Scriptures do not directly assail the system of slavery, +they indirectly and obviously condemn it, and that very abundantly. +Slavery is indirectly and yet strongly rebuked in such passages of +Scripture as the following: "Wo unto him that ... useth his neighbor's +service without wages." "Is not this the fast that I have chosen, ... to +undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye +break every yoke?" "What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do +justly, and to love mercy?" ... "Have we not all one Father? Hath not +one God created us?" ... "And hath made of one blood all nations of men, +for to dwell on all the face of the earth; ... that they should seek the +Lord." ... "God is no respecter of persons." "The people of the land +have used oppression, ... therefore have I poured out mine indignation +upon them." ... "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." "Therefore, +all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so +to them." It needs no unusual acuteness to see, that, were the spirit of +these and kindred passages (for numerous others of the sort might have +been cited) everywhere acted out, slavery would as readily vanish, as do +the icebergs of the North, if perchance they float away into milder +latitudes. + +Fifth. To the four reasons already assigned for thinking that slavery +has not God's approbation, and ought not to be perpetuated, I will add +but one more,--its baleful effects. (1). As it respects worldly thrift, +or pecuniary prosperity. It is a fact, that slavery exerts a depressing +influence on the business welfare of any community where it prevails; +and that, other things being equal, slaveholding States can never +compete with free ones in the item of financial prosperity. A necessary +brevity forbids my pointing out the causes of this fact; but my readers +will, without my aid, readily ascertain what they are. Suffice it to +say, it has become a settled maxim of political economy, that there +exists an antagonism between slavery and the highest business prosperity +of any people that tolerates it; and the southern States of this Union +furnish abundant confirmation of its truth. (2.) I will name but one +other thing,--its baneful influence on character and morals. That +slavery tends to debase the character and morals of the slaves will +scarcely be questioned. Apart from the ignorance naturally resulting +from their condition, that condition powerfully tends to render them +sensual, indolent, artful, mendacious, stealthful, and revengeful. But +is the bad moral tendency of the institution limited to the bondmen? +Exerts it no corrupting influence on the hearts, the habits, and morals +of the masters? Is it not its legitimate tendency to foster in them such +vices as indolence, effeminacy, licentiousness, covetousness, +inhumanity, haughtiness, and a supreme regard for self? Of course, I do +not affirm that it uniformly produces these sad effects on the character +of masters. So far from this, there may doubtless be found slaveholders, +who, in all that adorns and ennobles human character, will compare +favorably with the very best men at the North. I think it will be +conceded, however, that the legitimate tendency is to evil, and that the +effects of slavery on the character of its sustainers are, in the main, +disastrous; and that the depreciated state of morals prevailing where +slavery exists is mainly attributable to this as its source. I need not +here enter into detail. Facts are too well known to make this +necessary. + +Thus have we contemplated several distinct reasons for believing that +slavery is no good thing,--has not the sanction of Jehovah,--and cannot +with propriety be perpetuated. Its contrariety to nature,--its +antagonism to the moral sense of mankind,--its disgraceful parentage and +manner of support,--its condemnation by the Bible,--and its disastrous +influence on financial prosperity, on character, and on public +morals,--all proclaim that slavery, so far from being a good thing, is a +tremendous curse; yea, more, that it is a stupendous wrong; and hence, +that it should be tolerated in the church of Christ no longer than the +best interests of all concerned may render necessary for a safe +termination. + +But it may be, after all, that I have failed to secure the assent of +some of my southern brethren to the justness of the foregoing positions +and inferences. It may be that they still regard the system of bondage +prevailing in their midst as in the main beneficial, defensible from the +Bible, and, with some modifications perhaps, worthy of perpetuity. Well, +brethren, suppose you do thus regard it; and for argument's sake +suppose, too, that you may possibly be right,--that slave-holding may be +in itself the harmless thing which you deem it; ought you not +cheerfully to abandon it, in obedience to a great Bible +principle,--that of refraining from things which are in themselves +lawful, or which your conscience may not condemn, out of regard to the +conscience of aggrieved Christian brethren, or to the prejudices of +those whose salvation you would not obstruct? You are aware, brethren, +that this magnanimous principle Paul both inculcated and exemplified. +You are also aware that a large majority of the Christians now living +regard your cherished institution as unjustifiable, and at variance with +the spirit of Christianity; and, so regarding it, they long for its +extinction, and are grieved with you for cleaving to it so tenaciously, +and refusing to concert measures for its ultimate overthrow. Indeed, +they are more than grieved; they are profoundly agitated by the fresh +developments of the iniquitous system which you are helping to uphold; +and there seems no prospect, while that system endures, of their +becoming tranquillized. A tempest has sprung up and is raging in the +church of Christ,--to say nothing of the civilized world,--which seems +not likely to cease till its cause be removed; and slavery is that +cause. Now I put it to you, brethren, if here be not an opportunity of +exemplifying, on a broad scale, the self-denying and noble principle +which Paul indicates in the words, "All things are lawful for me, but +all things are not expedient;" "Eat not for his sake that shewed it, and +for conscience' sake: ... conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the +other;" "Though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant +unto all, that I might gain the more." Have it, if you will, that the +brethren for whose sake you are asked to make this sacrifice are weak +brethren, and their consciences weak. Your obligation to make it is none +the less on that account; for the principle just adverted to +contemplates cases of this very sort. Since the practice which grieves +these weak brethren is one that you can probably abandon without +wounding your own conscience, are you at liberty to undervalue their +conscience by persisting in that which grieves them? + +But how much weightier does this argument become, when it is remembered +that the opposers of slavery, besides being exceedingly numerous, have, +many of them, been eminent,--not merely for a conscientious piety, but +for talent, for research, for scholarship, for broad and comprehensive +views of things;--and that the list embraces distinguished southern, as +well as northern men; and men of celebrity in both church and state. +There have been found in the anti-slavery ranks, presidents and noble +men, jurists and legislators, statesmen and divines, scholars and +authors, poets and orators. And, still further to enhance the dignity of +the cause, it should be remembered that several General Assemblies of +the Presbyterian Church of the United States, together with numerous +lesser ecclesiastical bodies, have lifted up their voice in opposition +to slavery, and proclaimed substantially the same views which this +humble Essay has aimed to exhibit. Now if, as we have seen, a +deferential regard should be had to the conscience of aggrieved +Christian brethren, even when they are few and feeble-minded, how much +more, when the aggrieved ones are counted in hundreds of thousands? when +theirs is an intelligent piety and an enlightened conscience? and when, +too, their remonstrance is backed up by a public sentiment that is +wellnigh unanimous through all christendom? + +If now, in spite of all these considerations, I still have readers that +say in their hearts, slavery must be perpetuated, they will pardon me +for lingering no longer in the hope of changing their views. I would be +indulged, however, in one parting interrogation. Has it never occurred +to you, brethren, that yours is, on some accounts, a very unfavorable +stand-point from which to form just and disinterested views of slavery; +and that your very position as slave-holders, and your long familiarity +with the system and its evils, may have blinded you to the magnitude of +those evils, and to the great desirableness of their being removed? May +it not be that long use, and self-interest, and the love of power and +ease, have conspired to warp your judgment, blunt your sensibilities, +and cause you to view slavery through a deceptive medium? + +Having, as I hope, the cordial assent of the great mass of my readers, +northern and southern, to the foregoing argument against slavery and its +perpetuity, we are now prepared to advance to the last great division of +our subject, and to inquire: What are the duties, positive and negative, +which this subject imposes on American Christians? What does it demand +that we, as Christians, should do, and refrain from doing? This question +subdivides itself thus: What ought we northern and professedly +anti-slavery Christians to do, and not do? And, next, What duties, +positive and negative, does the question devolve on professing +Christians in the slave-holding States? + +I. We are to consider what we, the northern and avowedly anti-slavery +section of the American church, ought, in view of this subject, both to +do, and refrain from doing. In reply to the question, What ought we to +do? I would say,-- + +1. It is not only our right, but duty, temperately and with Christian +courtesy to continue to discuss this great theme, both orally and with +the pen; and especially to endeavor to bring the truth into contact with +the mind and heart of our southern brethren,--if, peradventure, we may +thus persuade them soon to cease their connection with slavery. Freedom +of discussion is one important safeguard of the public weal; and that +must be regarded as a bad, untenable cause which will not bear the test +of a full and free discussion before the world. Free inquiry, too, has +not only preceded all great reformations, but has been an important +instrument in bringing them about. That great moral change known as the +temperance reformation is but one example among many that might be +adduced. If slavery is ever to be numbered in history among the things +that are past, it will be by having Bible light and truth made to +converge upon it, through the lens of free public discussion. Hence, +believing as we do that American slavery is an enormous evil and a +gigantic wrong,--a thing with which the church should cease to have +connection as speedily as may be,--as Christians we may, we must, employ +our tongues and our pens in behalf of the enslaved, till our world +shall cease to contain such a class of men. + +2. We ought so to exercise the right of suffrage as to resist the +extension of slavery beyond its present limits. I say nothing here of +the political question of State rights, or of interfering with slavery +in States where it now exists. The question of authorizing by law the +extension of slavery into new States and Territories, or of admitting +new States with pro-slavery constitutions, is another and very different +thing from that of disturbing the compact in relation to slavery entered +into by the founders of this republic. The concessions in relation to +the slave interest which our fathers made by no means oblige us to make +further concessions, by consenting that slavery shall overstep her +present geographical limits. I know not what others may think; but, for +one, I feel constrained, by a sense of duty to God and my country, so to +vote as to have my votes tell against the spread of slavery. I must +carry my Christian principles of love and humanity to the ballot-box, as +well as elsewhere. Though long identified with one of the political +parties, I have of late felt myself bound, as a voter, to ignore the +ancient party lines, and even to ignore all other questions, compared +with the one great and absorbing one, Shall slavery be allowed to have +more territory, in which to breed and expand itself? In my deliberate +judgment, all Christian patriots should, so far as their votes can +speak, say to the system of bondage existing in our midst, "Hitherto +shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall thy proud waves be +stayed." This becomes now a moral and a religious duty. + +3. In our visits to the throne of grace, we ought, with more frequency +and fervor, "to remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them." +Assured that all hearts and events are at God's disposal, that he abhors +oppression, and that prayer is the Christian's mode of taking hold of +God's strength, we must make full proof of this as a weapon with which +to effect the subversion of slavery. It may be that importunate, +persevering prayer will effect more in behalf of the enslaved than all +other instrumentalities. It is, at least, quite certain that other means +will prove inefficacious, if this be not superadded. + +But the question we are considering has a negative as well as positive +side; and we will next inquire, what we anti-slavery Christians ought to +refrain from doing. + +1. We must not, in our efforts to subvert slavery, indulge in an +unchristian spirit, or in language adapted needlessly to anger and +alienate those whom it should be our aim to win. A cause that is +intrinsically good may be advocated in a bad spirit, or with improper +weapons; and such may have sometimes been the case with ours. Would that +all men had ever borne it in mind, that truth and love are the only +weapons with which to wage a successful conflict with this or any other +deep-seated moral evil. + +2. We must not, in our zeal for emancipation, allow mere feeling or +benevolent impulses partially to dethrone reason; and thus disqualify +ourselves for taking impartial views of the subject, or for accurately +discriminating between truth and error. There may have been men in the +anti-slavery ranks, with whom sympathy was every thing, and reason--and +even the Bible--comparatively nothing. In obeying the injunction to +"remember them that are in bonds," they may have neglected to remember +any thing else. Slavery seemed to occupy their entire field of vision. +Hence, not fully informed in regard to the actual condition of things at +the South, they have erroneously supposed that the slave codes +prevailing there were the standard by which to judge of the actual +condition of the slaves, and that all the Southern church was actually +practising the barbarities authorized by those codes. As there was no +just appreciation of the actual conduct of masters towards their +servants, so there was no allowance made for the circumstances which +conspired to render them masters, nor for the obstacles which stand in +the way of their ceasing to be masters. It must be admitted, that +generally, where unrighteous laws are suffered to exist, the mass of the +community will not be better than the laws; but there are +exceptions,--men who intend to give heed to a higher law. So much for +allowing an amiable but blind sympathy to usurp that throne which reason +and revelation were designed conjointly to occupy. It scarcely need be +added, that these ultraisms have done much to prejudice the anti-slavery +cause, and bring it, in the eyes of some, into unmerited contempt. We +must wipe away that reproach, by so conducting our warfare with slavery +as to evince that we are neither men of one idea, nor men whose judgment +is led captive by their sensibilities. + +3. We must not, in opposing slavery, indorse the sentiment, that one +cannot in any conceivable circumstances give credible evidence of piety, +and yet continue in form to hold slaves; that being a master is, +in any and in all circumstances, a disciplinable offence in the +church; or that it should, without exception, constitute a barrier to +church-membership, or to the communion of saints at Christ's sacramental +board. While we believe that all the great principles of God's Word go +to subvert slavery, and while we are constrained to regard the holding +of slaves as diminishing the evidence of a man's piety, and thus far +alienating his claims to a good standing in the Christian church, we may +nevertheless make exceptions, and not keep a man out of the church, or +discipline him when in it, merely because he sustains temporarily the +relation of master, not for selfish ends, but, as in rare cases, for +benevolent reasons. But if a man defends the system, and takes away from +a fellow man inalienable human rights, then we may and should refuse him +admission, or subject him to discipline, as the case may be. But, +obvious and important as is this distinction, it is one which some +anti-slavery men may have failed to make; and that failure may have +prejudiced or retarded the cause of emancipation. A good cause suffers +by having a single uncandid statement or untenable argument advanced in +its support; and the friends of the enslaved must afford their opponents +no room for saying, that their reasonings are illogical or +anti-scriptural. + +4. We must not, in seeking the extinction of American slavery, so +insist on its immediate abolition as to repudiate the responsibility +which a master owes to this dependent and depressed class of his fellow +beings; but that that end be kept steadily in view, to be accomplished +as speedily as is consistent with the best good of the parties +concerned. The immediate and total extinction of southern slavery, if +not obviously impossible, is of questionable expediency. The upas of +American slavery has struck its roots so deep, and shot its branches so +far, and so interlaced itself with all surrounding objects, that, to +have it instantaneously and unreservedly uprooted, might prove, in many +cases, disastrous; and, at all events, is not to be expected. To say +nothing of other obstacles to the immediate abolition of Southern +slavery, the highest good of many of the slaves makes it inexpedient. +Some, probably many of them, need to pass through an educating +process,--a kind of mental and moral apprenticeship,--in order to their +profiting largely by the boon of emancipation.[J] + +II. We are now to inquire, lastly, what duties, positive and negative, +this great question devolves on those Christians among whom American +slavery has its seat, or who are personally identified with it. Hoping, +brethren, that the sentiments thus far advanced are your sentiments, I +shall have your further assent when I say, + +1. That the extinction, at the earliest consistent date, of the system +of servitude existing among you, is a result at which you ought steadily +and strenuously to aim. And, as you see, we base this obligation of +yours, not on the assumption of any sinfulness which you may sustain to +slavery, but on the acknowledged injustice and woes, past, present, and +prospective, of the system as a system,--its contrariety, as a system, +to the fundamental principles of Christianity. Did we regard you as +necessarily sinners, if in any sense you hold slaves, then the least we +could ask of you would be, that with contrition of heart you should +instantaneously cease to indulge in this sin, for all sin should be +immediately abandoned. As it is, we only ask, that, just as fast as your +slaves can be prepared for freedom, and as the providence of God may put +it in your power to liberate them, you will do so. We are not so unwise +as to expect that the work of extinction can be accomplished in a day. +We know, too, that you are not, in your church capacity, the constituted +arbiters of the question as a question of State policy. And, so long as +your legislatures and their constituencies are resolved on maintaining +the system, perhaps you will be unable to effect as much as you desire +in the way of promoting its overthrow. And yet, brethren, there is a way +in which we think you can, with entire safety and manifest propriety, +contribute largely and directly to the extinction of American slavery. +Would the entire Southern church cease all personal participation in +slavery, and throw her whole weight and influence into the scale of +slavery's complete subversion, that "consummation devoutly to be wished" +would soon ensue. Slave-holding, no longer practised or justified by the +church, but discountenanced, could not long retain its foothold in the +State. Now if this be so, our slaveholding brethren will confess that +they are imperiously bound, by motives of Christian duty, to liberate +their bondmen with all consistent speed. Meantime, and as one important +means of qualifying them for freedom, you ought, + +2. To see to it that not only your own, but all the bondmen among +you,--your entire slave population,--are furnished with the Bible, and +qualified to read and comprehend it; and also with stated preaching. +They need a written and preached gospel, were it only to fit them to +exchange, with advantage, a state of vassalage for the dignity of +freemen; for all experience proves that the Bible and the pulpit are of +all instruments the best to qualify men safely to exercise the right of +self-government. But there is a servitude more dreadful by far than any +domestic bondage that men have ever groaned under; and your slaves need +the Bible, and the Bible preached, to prove God's instruments of +breaking the chains imposed by Satan, and making them Christ's freemen. +Before God and in prospect of eternity, the distinctions between the +master and his slave dwindle into insignificance. Having souls that are +alike impure and alike precious, alike remembered by a dying Saviour and +alike in need of the regenerating change, they stand alike in need of +God's Word, written and preached, as the Spirit's instrument in renewing +and sanctifying the soul. Hence the Bible and preaching are as much the +rightful inheritance of the slave as of the master. We rejoice that +these truths and the obligations resulting therefrom are, to some +extent, recognized by southern Christians; and that, in spite of certain +adverse statutes, so much is being done there for the spiritual +well-being of the slaves. Go on, brethren, in the good work of +evangelizing your slave population; in teaching them the art of reading +and the rudiments of knowledge; in putting the Bible into their hands, +and affording them stated opportunities to read it, and to hear it +expounded by you and by Christ's ministers. Go on, we say, till there be +not one southern slave, who, in point of religious privileges, is not on +a footing of equality with yourselves. Prosecuting this laudable work in +the spirit of love, you will probably encounter no serious opposition. +The adverse but dead statutes referred to will not, we hope, be +galvanized into life, in order to oppose you. + +It only remains that we name a few things, which we trust our Southern +brethren will unite with us in saying that they should refrain from +doing. (1.) You ought not to, and we trust you will not, betray +impatience and irritation, whenever we of the North attempt to press the +claims of the enslaved on your attention. Your doing this,--as you +sometimes have,--seems to indicate, that, in your opinion, we Northern +Christians have no responsibility in regard to slavery and its evils; +and that when we discuss this theme we make ourselves "busybodies in +other men's matters." To the justness of this opinion we cannot +subscribe. While we disclaim all right or intention to break our compact +with you as States, we feel that American slavery is a question of too +great moment to ourselves and to unborn generations for us to have no +concern with or responsibility for; and as patriots, as philanthropists, +as Christians, we are constrained to do all that we rightfully may for +the downfall of this hoary system of wrong and woe. If any of you differ +with us in opinion on this theme, we trust you will allow us to discuss +it to our heart's content; and that you will listen to our reasonings +with Christian meekness and candor. Not to do so will be construed as an +evidence of intrinsic weakness in your cause. (2.) You will freely +admit, we presume, that certain practices are authorized by your slave +laws, in which you must not indulge even so long as by any necessity +you hold slaves. Your slave codes, for example, do not recognize the +sanctity of family ties and the domestic affections as existing among +slaves; but, as Christian masters, you must. You doubtless believe, as +do we, that the marriage relation, with all its rights and immunities, +was as much designed for the negro as for the white man; that he, as +truly as the other, is entitled to "cleave unto his wife," unexposed to +the danger of man's putting asunder what God hath so closely joined, +that "they are no more twain, but one flesh." You believe, too, that God +united husband and wife thus indissolubly, not simply that they might be +a help and solace to each other in the toilsome pilgrimage of life, but +that the children with which God should bless them might grow up under +their supervision, and by them be qualified for a career of usefulness +and honor. Thus you believe, and believing thus, you will not, we trust, +counteract God's benevolent designs, by countenancing, in your own +practice, the separation of husbands and wives, or of parents and their +offspring. We feel assured, that, whatever your laws may allow, or +non-professing masters around you may do, you will never ignore the +conjugal or parental rights of your servants, or indulge in any thing +adapted to mar their domestic enjoyment. Were you to do so, we confess +we could not extend to you "the right hand of fellowship" as brethren in +Christ. Were a church-member of ours to practise thus, we should regard +him as amenable to discipline. We should also regard it as disciplinable +for a master to overwork, or brutally chastise, or but half feed and +clothe his servants; or to hold slaves for mere purposes of gain, or to +traffic in them. None of these inhumanities could we reconcile with the +obligations of a Christian profession; and we confidently hope that in +these views you will heartily concur, and that with them your practice +will correspond. + +Christian brethren of the North and the South! The question we have been +considering is one of vast moment. Upon the right disposition of it are +suspended, under God, interests of immeasurable value, and which stretch +far out into the unseen future of our country and the world. Coming ages +and unborn generations are to be affected; favorably or otherwise, by +the decision of this vexed question; and, brethren, unless I misjudge, +its right decision is, to a very great extent, lodged in our hands. As +decides the American church, so, methinks, will decide the American +people. And now,--may I confess it?--I have dared to hope that the +sentiments of this Essay are not only sound, but in unison with the +views of the great mass of American Christians. Are we not agreed in +this: that American slavery is a system of deep injustice and wrong, not +sanctioned by the Word or the providence of God; fraught with +incalculable mischief to the interests of both masters, and slaves, and +to the social and religious well-being of our whole country; a blot on +the escutcheon both of the nation and of the church; a weapon for +scepticism to wield, and an obstacle to the introduction of millennial +glory; and hence, a system which ought speedily to terminate, and which +all good men should unitedly oppose and seek to subvert? If we are thus +agreed, let us join hands as well as hearts, and, swerving neither to +the extreme of passive indifference on the one hand nor to that of +erratic fanaticism on the other, in the majesty of principle let us move +calmly onward, a phalanx of Christian philanthropists, attempting naught +but what they are assured God would have them attempt, and employing +only such means as are warranted by an enlightened conscience. Leaning +prayerfully on Him who hears the sighing of the oppressed, let us push +vigorously forward, and, though the year of jubilee has not yet fully +come, be assured it will come,--that proud day, when not only +"throughout all the land," but throughout the civilized world, liberty +shall be proclaimed "unto all the inhabitants thereof." Hasten its +advent, "O Thou that hearest prayer," and that "delightest in mercy!" +Amen and Amen. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] An extended passage containing the extract may be found conveniently +in Chambers' Cyclopædia of English Literature, vol. 2, p. 246. + +[B] Genesis, 10th Chapter. Vide, Kitto's Cyclopædia, for views in this +connection. + +[C] Col. 4:1; "Ye masters, give unto your servants that which is just +and equal." That is, act towards them on the principles of justice and +equity. Justice requires that all their rights, as men, as husbands, and +as parents, should be regarded. And these rights are not to be +determined by the civil law, but by the law of God.... But God concedes +nothing to the master beyond what the law of love allows. Paul requires +for servants not only what is strictly just, but [Greek: tên isotêta]. +What is that? Literally, it is _equality_. This is not only its +signification, but its meaning. Servants are to be treated by their +masters on the principles of equality. Not that they are to be equal +with their masters in authority or station or circumstances; but that +they are to be treated as having, as men, as husbands, and as parents, +equal rights with their masters. It is just as great a sin to deprive a +servant of the just recompense for his labor, or to keep him in +ignorance, or to take from him his wife or child, as it is to act thus +towards a free man. This is the equality which the law of God demands, +and on this principle the final judgment is to be administered. Christ +will punish the master for defrauding the servant as severely as he will +punish the servant for robbing his master. The same penalty will be +inflicted for the violation of the conjugal or parental rights of the +one as of the other. For, as the apostle adds, there is no respect of +persons with him. At his bar the question will be, "What was done?" not +"Who did it?" Paul carries this so far as to apply the principle not +only to the acts, but to the temper of masters. They are not only to act +towards their servants on the principles of justice and equity, but are +to _avoid threatening_. This includes all manifestation of contempt and +ill temper, or undue severity. All this is enforced by the consideration +that masters have a Master in heaven, to whom they are responsible for +their treatment of their servants.... Believers will act in conformity +with the Gospel in this. And the result of such obedience, if it could +become general, would be, that first the evils of slavery, and then +slavery itself, would pass away naturally, and as healthfully as +children cease to be minors. + +_Prof. Hodge's Commentary._ + +[D] See 2 Brevard's Digest, 229; Prince's Digest, 446. + +[E] Civil Code, Art. 35. + +[F] Job ch. 32, v. 17-20, Barnes's translation. + +[G] It is sometimes said that the crime of adultery is neither +perpetrated nor encouraged by the breaking up of slave-families, +because, generally, the connections formed are not truly marriage, not +being solemnized according to forms of law, and hence the marriage +obligation _cannot_ be violated. + +It may be replied, if this be so, it presents slavery in a worse light +still, for it encourages and perpetuates a state of universal +concubinage. But it is _not_ so. When a slave takes a companion, and +they consent and engage to live together as husband and wife until +death, and they thus declare their intentions before others, whether any +legal form is gone through or not, they are as truly "no more twain but +one flesh" as were Adam and Eve. It has been thus decided by our courts +in regard to white persons. + +[H] Rev. R. I. Breckenridge, D. D. + +[I] Mehemet Ali. + +[J] The publishers understand the writer to mean, that the working of +them without wages,--the withholding that which is just and +equal,--should be immediately and universally abandoned, and that +emancipation should be granted as speedily as the slaves can be prepared +to use and enjoy their freedom. The right should be acknowledged, and +the needful means for its security immediately used. The writer does not +say, that holding men in bondage is not generally sinful, nor that all +sin should not be immediately repented of and forsaken, but only that +there may be exceptions where for a time, and under very peculiar +circumstances, it may not be sinful, and cannot consistently with the +greatest good be abandoned, without some previous means of preparation. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Three Prize Essays on American Slavery, by +R. B. Thurston and A.C. 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R. B. Thurston, Rev. A.C. Baldwin & Rev. Timothy Williston. +</title> +<style type="text/css"> + p {margin-top:.75em;text-align:justify;margin-bottom:.75em;text-indent:2%;} + +.c {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;font-weight:bold;} + +.chapcontents {text-indent:-2%;margin-left:2%;} + +.r {text-align:right;margin-right:5%;} + +.signatures {margin-left:50%;text-indent:0%;} + +.sml {font-size:70%;} + +.spc {letter-spacing:2px;line-height:30px;} + + h1,h2,h3 {text-align:center;clear:both;} + +.top5 {margin-top:5%;} + +.top15 {margin-top:15%;} + + hr {width:15%;margin:2em auto 2em auto;clear:both;color:black;} + + hr.full {width:100%;margin:5% auto 5% auto;border:4px double gray;} + + table {margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;border:none;} + + body{margin-left:10%;margin-right:10%;background:#fdfdfd;color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman", serif;font-size:medium;} + +.un {text-decoration:underline;margin-top:15%;} + +.ov {text-decoration:overline;margin-bottom:15%;} + +a:link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} + + link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} + +a:visited {background-color:#ffffff;color:purple;text-decoration:none;} + +a:hover {background-color:#ffffff;color:#FF0000;text-decoration:underline;} + +.smcap {font-variant:small-caps;font-family:"Times New Roman", serif;font-size:95%;} + +.footnotes {border:double 6px gray;margin-top:15%;clear:both;} + +.footnote {width:95%;margin:auto 3% 1% auto;font-size:0.9em;position:relative;} + +.label {position:relative;left:-.5em;top:0;text-align:left;font-size:.8em;} + +.fnanchor {vertical-align:30%;font-size:.8em;} + +.poem {margin-left:25%;white-space:nowrap;text-indent:0%;} +</style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Three Prize Essays on American Slavery, by +R. B. Thurston and A.C. Baldwin and Timothy Williston + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Three Prize Essays on American Slavery + +Author: R. B. Thurston + A.C. Baldwin + Timothy Williston + +Release Date: May 19, 2010 [EBook #32422] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVERY *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<h3 class="top15">Liberty<span class="un"> or Slavery; the Great National Que</span>stion.</h3> + +<h2 class="top15">THREE PRIZE ESSAYS</h2> + +<p class="c">ON</p> + +<h1>AMERICAN SLAVERY.</h1> + +<p class="c un"> + </p> + +<p class="c">"THE TRUTH IN LOVE."</p> + +<p class="c ov"> + </p> + +<p class="c">BOSTON:<br /> +CONGREGATIONAL BOARD OF PUBLICATION.<br /> +1857.</p> + +<p class="c top15 sml">Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by<br /> +<span class="spc">SEWALL HARDING,</span><br /> +In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.</p> + +<p class="c top15 sml"><span class="spc">CAMBRIDGE:</span><br /> +ALLEN AND FARNHAM, STEREOTYPERS AND PRINTERS.</p> + +<table summary="toc" style="border:2px double gray;margin-top:10%; +padding:2%;"><tr><td><a href="#CONTENTS"><b>Contents</b></a></td></tr> +</table> + +<h3 class="top15">PREMIUM OFFERED.</h3> + +<p>A <span class="smcap">benevolent</span> individual, who has numerous friends and acquaintances both +North and South, and who has had peculiar opportunities for learning the +state and condition of all sections of the nation, perceiving the danger +of our national Institutions, and deeply impressed with a sense of the +importance, in this time of peril, of harmonizing Christian men through +the country, by kind yet faithful exhibitions of truth on the subject +now agitating the whole community, offered a premium of $100 for the +best Essay on the subject of Slavery, fitted to influence the great body +of Christians through the land.</p> + +<p>The call was soon responded to by nearly fifty writers, whose +manuscripts were examined by the distinguished committee appointed by +the Donor, whose award has been made, as their certificate, here +annexed, will show.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h3 class="top15">PREMIUM AWARDED.</h3> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> undersigned, appointed a Committee to award a premium of one hundred +dollars, offered by a benevolent individual, for the best Essay on the +subject of Slavery, "adapted to receive the approbation of Evangelical +Christians generally," have had under examination more than forty +competing manuscripts, a large number of them written with much ability. +They have decided to award the prize to the author of the Essay +entitled, "<i>The Error and the Duty in regard to Slavery</i>," whom they +find, on opening the accompanying envelope, to be the Rev. <span class="smcap">R. B. +Thurston</span>, of Chicopee Falls, Mass.</p> + +<p>They would also commend to the attention of the public, two of the +remaining tracts, selected by the individual who offered the prize, and +for which he and others interested have given a prize of one hundred +dollars each. One of these is entitled, "<i>Friendly Letters to a +Christian Slave-holder</i>," by Rev. <span class="smcap">A. C. Baldwin</span>, of Durham, Conn.; the +other, "<i>Is American Slavery an Institution which Christianity sanctions +and will perpetuate?</i>" by Rev. <span class="smcap">Timothy Williston</span>, of Strongsville, Ohio.</p> + +<p class="signatures"> +<span class="smcap">Asa D. Smith</span>,<br /> +<span class="smcap">Mark Hopkins</span>,<br /> +<span class="smcap">Theodore Frelinghuysen</span>.<br /> +</p> + +<p><i>May, 1857.</i></p> + +<hr /> + +<h3 class="top15"><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h3> + +<table summary="toc" +cellspacing="2" +cellpadding="2" class="smcap"> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="right">page</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#I">I.</a></td><td valign="top">The error and the duty in regard to slavery,</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_001">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#II">II.</a></td><td valign="top">Friendly letters to a christian slave-holder,</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_039">39</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td> +[<a href="#LETTER_I">Letter: I., </a> +<a href="#LETTER_II">II., </a> +<a href="#LETTER_III">III., </a> +<a href="#LETTER_IV">IV., </a> +<a href="#LETTER_V">V., </a> +<a href="#LETTER_VI">VI., </a> +<a href="#LETTER_VII">VII., </a> +<a href="#LETTER_VIII">VIII.</a>]</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#III">III.</a></td><td valign="top">Is american slavery an institution which +christianity sanctions and will perpetuate,</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_099">99</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td colspan="2"><a href="#FOOTNOTES">Footnotes</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<hr /> + +<h3 class="top15"><a name="I" id="I"></a><a name="page_001" id="page_001"></a>THE ERROR AND THE DUTY</h3> + +<p class="c">IN</p> + +<h3>REGARD TO SLAVERY.</h3> + +<p class="c">BY</p> + +<p class="c">REV. R. B. THURSTON.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> great and agitating question of our country is that concerning +slavery. Beneath the whole subject there lies of course some simple +truth, for all fundamental truth is simple, which will be readily +accepted by patriotic and Christian minds, when it is clearly perceived +and discreetly applied. It is the design of these pages to exhibit this +truth, and to show that it is a foundation for a union of sentiment and +action on the part of good men, by which, under the divine blessing, our +threatening controversies, North and South, may be happily terminated.</p> + +<p>To avoid misapprehension, let it be noticed that we shall examine the +central claim of slavery, first, as a legal institution; afterwards, +the<a name="page_002" id="page_002"></a> moral relations of individuals connected with it will be +considered. In that examination the term <i>property, as possessed in +men</i>, will be used in the specific sense which is given to it by the +slave laws and the practical operation of the system. No other sense is +relevant to the discussion. The property of the father in the services +of the son, of the master in the labor of the apprentice, of the State +in the forced toil of the convict, is not in question. None of these +relations creates slavery as such; and they should not be allowed, as +has sometimes been done, to obscure the argument.</p> + +<p>The limits of a brief tract on a great subject compel us to pass +unnoticed many questions which will occur to a thoughtful mind. It is +believed that they all find their solution in our fundamental positions; +and that all passages of the Bible relating to the general subject, when +faithfully interpreted in their real harmony, sustain these positions. +It is admitted that the following argument is unsound if it does not +provide for every logical and practical exigency.</p> + +<p>The primary truth which is now to be established may be thus stated: +<i>All men are invested by the Creator with a common right to hold +property in inferior things; but they have no such right to hold +property in men.</i><a name="page_003" id="page_003"></a></p> + +<p>Christians agree that God as the Creator is the original proprietor of +all things, and that he has absolute right to dispose of all things +according to his pleasure. This right he never relinquishes, but asserts +in his word and exercises in his providence. The Bible speaks thus: "The +earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof, the world and they that +dwell therein, for he hath founded it. We are his people and the sheep +of his pasture"—ourselves, therefore, subject to his possession and +disposal as the feeble flock to us. Even irreligious men often testify +to this truth, confessing the hand of providence in natural events that +despoil them of their wealth.</p> + +<p>Now, under his own supreme control, God has given to all men equally a +dependent and limited right of property. <i>Given</i> is the word repeatedly +chosen by inspiration in this connection. "The heavens are the Lord's, +but the earth hath he <i>given</i> to the children of men." In Eden he +blessed the first human pair, and said to them, in behalf of the race, +"Replenish the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of +the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that +moveth upon the earth. Behold, I have <i>given</i> you every herb bearing +seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in the +which is the<a name="page_004" id="page_004"></a> fruit of a tree yielding seed." This, then, is the +original and permanent ground of man's title to property; and the +important fact to be observed is the <i>specific divine grant</i>. The right +of all men equally to own property is the positive institution of the +Creator. We all alike hold our possessions by his authentic warrant, his +deed of conveyance.</p> + +<p>Let us be understood here. We are not educing from the Bible a doctrine +which would level society, by giving to all men equal shares of +property; but a doctrine which extends equal divine protection over the +right of every man to hold that amount of property which he earns by his +own faculties, in consistency with all divine statutes.</p> + +<p>This right is indeed argued from nature; and justly; for God's +revelations in nature and in his word coincide. It is, however, a right +of so much consequence to the world, that, where nature leaves it, he +incorporates it, and gives it the force of a law; so that in the sequel +we can with propriety speak of it as a law, as well as an institution. +To the believer in the Bible, this law is the end of argument.</p> + +<p>It will have weight with some minds to state that this position is +supported by the highest legal authority. In his Commentaries on the<a name="page_005" id="page_005"></a> +Laws of England, Blackstone quotes the primeval grant of God, and then +remarks, "This is the only true and solid foundation of man's dominion +over external things, whatever airy metaphysical notions may have been +started by fanciful writers upon this subject. The earth, therefore, and +all things therein, are the general property of all mankind, exclusive +of other beings, from the immediate gift of the Creator."<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p> + +<p>It will enhance the force of this argument to remember that this +universal right of property is one of what may be called a sacred +trinity of paradisaical institutions. These institutions are the +Sabbath, appointed in regard for our relations to God as moral beings; +marriage, ordained for our welfare as members of a successive race; and +the right of property, conferred to meet our necessities as dwellers on +this material globe. These three are the world's inheritance from lost +Eden. They were received by the first father in behalf of all his +posterity. They were designed for all men as men. It is demonstrable +that they are indispensable, that the world may become Paradise +Regained. "Property, marriage, and religion have been called the pillars +of society;"<a name="page_006" id="page_006"></a> and the first is of equal importance with the other two; +for all progress in domestic felicity and in religious culture depends +on property, and also on the equitable distribution or possession of +property, as one of its essential conditions. Property lies in the +foundation of every happy home, however humble; and property gilds the +pinnacle of every consecrated temple. The wise and impartial Disposer, +therefore, makes the endowments of his creatures equal with their +responsibilities: to all those on whom he lays the obligations of +religion and of the family state, he gives the right of holding the +property on which the dwelling and the sanctuary must be founded. It is +a sacred right, a divine investiture, bearing the date of the creation +and the seal of the Creator.</p> + +<p>The blessing of this institution, like that of the Sabbath and of the +family, has indeed been shattered by the fall of man; but when God said +to Noah and his sons, concerning the inferior creatures, "Into your hand +are they delivered; even as the green herb have I given you all things," +it was reëstablished and consecrated anew. The Psalmist repeated the +assurance to the world when he wrote, "Thou madest him to have dominion +over the works of thy hand; thou hast put all things under his feet."<a name="page_007" id="page_007"></a></p> + +<p>We now advance to the second part of our proposition. Men have no such +right to hold property in men. Since the right is from God, it follows +immediately that they can hold in ownership, by a divine title, only +what he has given. But he has not given to men, as men, a right of +ownership in men. No one will contend for a moment that the universal +grant above considered confers upon them mutual dominion, or rightful +property in their species. The idea is not in the terms; it is nowhere +in the Bible; it is not in nature; it is repugnant to common sense; it +would resolve the race into the absurd and terrific relation of +antagonists, struggling, each one for the mastery of his own estate in +another,—I, for the possession of my right in you; and you, for yours +in me. Nay, the very act of entitling all men to hold property proves +the exemption of all, by the divine will, from the condition of +property. The idea that a man can be an article of property and an owner +of property by the same supreme warrant is contradictory and absurd.</p> + +<p>We now have sure ground for objecting to the system of American slavery, +as such. It is directly opposed to the original, authoritative +institution of Jehovah. He gives men the right to hold property. Slavery +strips them of the divine<a name="page_008" id="page_008"></a> investiture. He gives men dominion over +inferior creatures. Slavery makes them share the subjection of the +brute. That slavery does this, the laws of the States in which it exists +abundantly declare. Slaves are "chattels," "estate personal." +Slave-holders assembled in convention solemnly affirm in view of +northern agitation of the subject, that "masters have the same right to +their slaves which they have to any other property."</p> + +<p>This asserted and exercised right is the vital principle and substance +of the institution. It is the central delusion and transgression; and +the evils of the system to white and black are its legitimate +consequences. The legal and the leading idea concerning slaves is that +they are property: of course, the idea that they are men, invested with +the rights of men, practically sinks; and, from the premise that they +are property, the conclusion is logical that they may be treated as +property. Why should <i>property</i>, contrary to the interests of the +proprietor, be exempt from sale, receive instruction, give testimony in +court, hold estate, preserve family ties, be loved as the owner loves +himself, in fine, enjoy all or any of the "inalienable rights" of <i>man</i>? +It is because they are held as property, that slaves are sold; because +they are property, families are torn<a name="page_009" id="page_009"></a> asunder; because they are +property, instruction is denied them; because they are property, the +law, and the public sentiment that makes the law, crush them as men.</p> + +<p>We do not here call in question the mitigations with which Christian +masters temper into mildness the hard working of an evil system. Those +mitigations do not, however, logically or morally defend slavery. Nay, +they condemn it; for they are practical tributes to the fact that the +laws of humanity, not of property, are binding in respect to the slaves. +Hence they really show the inherent inconsistency of the idea, and the +unrighteousness of the system which regards men as property.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding those mitigations, the system itself, like every wrong +system, produces characteristic evils, which can be prevented only by +removing their cause, the false doctrine that men can be rightfully held +in ownership. Fallen as man is, no prophet was needed to foretell at the +first the dreadful facts that have been recorded in the bitter history +of man's claim of property in man. Such a history must always be a +scroll written within and without with lamentations and mourning and +woe. Man is not a safe depositary of such power. A human institution +which subverts a divine institution, and which<a name="page_010" id="page_010"></a> carries with it the +assumption of a divine prerogative in constituting a new species of +property, naturally saps the foundations of every other divine +institution and law which stands in its way. Hence, for example, the +fall of the domestic institution before that of slavery.</p> + +<p>The inherent wrongfulness of American slavery as a legal and social +institution is therefore clearly demonstrated. It formally abolishes by +law and usage a divine institution. Hence, in its practical operation, +it sets aside other divine institutions and laws. Consequently it stands +in the same relations to the divine government with the abolition of the +Sabbath by infidel France, and with the perversion of the family +institution by the Mormon territory of Utah.</p> + +<p>Here the fundamental argument from the Bible rests. But slavery +justifies itself by the Bible. It becomes essential, therefore, to +examine the validness of this justification.</p> + +<p>There are but two possible ways of avoiding the conclusion that has been +reached. To vindicate slavery it must be proved, first, that God has +abolished the original institution, conferring on men universally the +right to hold property; or, secondly, it must be proved, that, while he +has by special enactments taken away from a portion of mankind the right +to hold property, he has<a name="page_011" id="page_011"></a> given to other men the right to hold the +former as property. Further, to justify American slavery, it must be +shown that these special enactments include the African race and the +American States.</p> + +<p>In regard to the first point we simply remark, it is morally impossible +that God should permanently and generally abolish the original +institution concerning property; because, as in the case of its coevals, +the Sabbath and marriage, the reason for it is permanent and +unchangeable, and "lex stat dum ratio manet," the law stands while the +reason remains. Moreover, there is not a word of such repeal in the +Bible. That institution, therefore, is still a charter of rights for the +children of men. Till it is assailed, more need not be said.</p> + +<p>As to the second point, we believe that careful investigation will prove +conclusively, that no special enactments are now in force which arrest +or modify the institutions of Eden, in regard to any state or any +persons. It will, then, remain demonstrated, that the legal system of +slavery exists utterly without warrant of the Holy Scriptures, and in +defiance of the authority of the Creator. The word of God is throughout +consistent.</p> + +<p>It is here freely admitted, that God can arrest the operation of general +laws by special statutes.<a name="page_012" id="page_012"></a> He can take away from men the right to hold +property which he has given, and, if he please, constitute them the +property of other men. It is, in this respect, as it is with life. God +can take what he gives. If, then, he has given authority to individuals +or to nations to hold others as property, they may do so. Nay, more; if +their commission is imperative, they must do so. But such an act of God +creates an exception to his own fundamental law, and, like all +<i>exceptions</i>, conveys its own restrictions, and <i>proves the rule</i>. It +imposes no yoke, save upon those appointed to subjugation. It confers no +authority, save upon those specifically invested with it. They are bound +to keep absolutely within the prescribed terms, and no others can +innocently seize their delegated dominion. Outside of the excepted +parties the universal law has sway unimpaired. It is in this instance as +it is in regard to marriage. God permitted the patriarchs to multiply +their wives; but monogamy is now a sacred institution for the world. So +the supreme Disposer can make a slave, or a nation of slaves; and the +world shall be even the more solemnly bound by the original institutes +concerning property. It follows, without a chasm in the argument, or a +doubtful step, that, when persons or States reduce men to the condition +of chattels,<a name="page_013" id="page_013"></a> <i>without divine authorization</i>, they are guilty of +subverting a divine institution; and, since it is the prerogative of God +to determine what shall be property, they are chargeable with a +presumptuous usurpation of divine prerogative, in making property, so +far as human force and law can do it, of those whom Jehovah has created +in his own image, and invested with all the original rights of men.</p> + +<p>The soundness of the principle contained in these remarks, both in law +and in biblical interpretation, will not be questioned. In the light of +it, let us examine briefly the justifications of slavery as derived from +the Bible. Happily the principle itself saves the labor of minute and +protracted criticism.</p> + +<p>We first consider the curse pronounced upon Canaan by Noah. Admitting +all that is necessary to the support of slavery, namely, that that curse +constituted the descendants of <i>Canaan</i> the property of some other tribe +or people, upon whom it conferred the right of holding them as property, +yet even so this passage does not justify but condemns American slavery; +for that curse does not touch the African race: <i>they are not +descendants of Canaan</i>;<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a> and it<a name="page_014" id="page_014"></a> gives no rights to American States. +In later times the Canaanites were devoted to destruction for their +sins. The Hebrews were the agents appointed by Jehovah to this work of +retribution. It was not, however, accomplished in their entire +extermination. In the case of the Gibeonites it was formally commuted to +servitude, and other nations occupying the promised land were made +tributary. Thus the curse upon Canaan was fulfilled by <i>authorized +executioners</i> of divine justice.</p> + +<p>What light does the whole history now throw upon slavery? It is plain +the curse was a judicial act of God concerning Canaan. It follows that +conquest with extermination or servitude was a judgment of God, which he +appointed his chosen people to execute. It follows further, that those, +who, without his commission, reduce to bondage men who are not +descendants of Canaan, do inflict a curse on those whom he has not +cursed; and thus virtually assume his most awful prerogative as the +Judge of guilty nations.</p> + +<p>We then inquire whether the States of the South have received warrant +for enslaving any portion of mankind. Has God <i>given</i> them the African +race as property? Where is the commission? The argument fails to justify +modern slavery for the same reason identically that it fails to justify +offensive war and conquest. God<a name="page_015" id="page_015"></a> has not given the right—has neither +proclaimed the curse, nor commissioned the agent of the curse. Christian +States in America seize it, and lay it upon those whom he has not +cursed. The passage of his word which has been considered affords them +no sanction.</p> + +<p>We proceed to another passage. It is supposed by many to be an +incontrovertible defence of modern slavery, that the Hebrews were +authorized to buy bondmen and bondmaids of the heathen round about them. +Let us candidly examine this defence.</p> + +<p>Why were the Hebrews authorized by God in express terms to buy servants, +and possess them as their "money?" Evidently <i>because they did not +otherwise have this authority</i>. Human beings, as we have seen, were not +"given" in the grant of property. They do not, therefore, fall within +the scope of the general laws of property. If they had so fallen, the +special statutes, by which the Hebrews purchased them, would have been +as gratuitous as special enactments for buying animals, trees, and +minerals. <i>Of all nations they only have possessed this right; for they +only received it by special bestowment.</i> The rest of mankind have ever +been prohibited from assuming it by fundamental laws. If ever there was +a case in which the exception proves the rule, that case<a name="page_016" id="page_016"></a> is before us; +and therefore a chasm yawns between the premise and the conclusion +defensive of slavery, which no exegesis and no logic can bridge over.</p> + +<p>To illustrate the strength of this argument, let the fact be observed, +that, if it could be set aside, it would follow, by parity of reasoning, +that the clergy of our country, regardless of fundamental laws, have +right to take possession of a tenth part of the estates and incomes of +their fellow-citizens, because the Levites in this manner received their +inheritance among their brethren. It is plain, however, that, as in +regard to other interests no less important than liberty or slavery, so +also in regard to slavery itself, the special laws of the Old Testament +are no longer in force; whence it follows that the vital doctrine of the +system, "masters have the same right to their slaves which they have to +any other property," is totally erroneous. The institution which claims +solid foundation here is built on nothing.</p> + +<p>We cannot forbear to adduce an instance of unexceptionable testimony to +the validity of this reasoning. In one or two famous articles on slavery +and abolitionism, the Princeton Repertory adopts it, with another +application, and says, "So far as polygamy and divorce were permitted +under the old dispensation they were lawful, and<a name="page_017" id="page_017"></a> became so by that +permission; and they ceased to be lawful when that permission was +withdrawn, and a new law given. That Christ did give a new law is +abundantly evident." In the same manner, 'so far as' slavery 'was +permitted under the old dispensation it was lawful, and became so by +that permission; and it ceased to be lawful when that permission was +withdrawn, and a new law given.' It is true, however, only in a +qualified sense, that Christ gave "a new law" concerning polygamy and +divorce. His law restored the original institution of marriage, as in +Eden; and this was "new" to the Jews, because there had been departure +from it. In like manner the New Testament, if not the very words of +Christ, now gives a new law concerning slavery in the same sense; that +is, as will appear, in the sequel, the Christian precepts restore the +original institution concerning property as well as concerning marriage. +The laws which allowed polygamy and slavery, and therefore the right, +passed away together.</p> + +<p>Here we leave the Old Testament. No other passages need examination; for +all consist with these positions. So far as that sacred volume gives +light, the world are bound by the laws and have equal right to the full +blessings of three divine institutions, whose foundations were laid in<a name="page_018" id="page_018"></a> +Paradise, and whose complete and glorious proportions will encompass the +universal, millennial felicity.</p> + +<p>The defence of slavery from the New Testament now demands brief notice. +We desire to allow it full force, while we ask the reader's candid +judgment of the conclusion.</p> + +<p>Of course, the New Testament sanctions now what it sanctioned in the +days of its authors. That must have been <i>Roman, not Hebrew</i>, slavery; +for they lived and wrote to men under Roman law. Besides, there is +reason to believe, as Kitto states, that the Jews at that time held no +slaves. In point of historic truth, it appears that the Mosaic law, +finding slavery in existence, practically operated as a system of +gradual emancipation for its extinction. "There is no evidence that +Christ ever came in contact with slavery." This sufficiently explains +why he did not give a "new law" concerning it in specific terms. The +occasion did not arise, as it did arise in regard to polygamy and +divorce, with which he did come in contact. Furthermore, there was no +need of new law, other than was actually given.</p> + +<p>The argument from the New Testament for the rightfulness of slavery is +twofold, being built on the instructions given to masters and servants. +It fails on both sides.<a name="page_019" id="page_019"></a></p> + +<p>For, first, the precepts addressed to servants convey no authority to +national rulers or to private individuals to set aside the institution +of Jehovah by reducing men to the condition of slaves. These precepts +simply enjoin the conduct which Christianity required in their actual +situation. They do not vindicate the law and usage by which they were +held as property. This is abundantly evident in the texts themselves, +and more emphatically, when they are compared with the parallel cases.</p> + +<p>Christ promulgated these rules. "I say unto you that ye resist not evil; +but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other +also. And if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, +let him have thy cloak also." Does this empower States to legalize fraud +and violence? Does it transmute all the <i>evil</i> which Jesus' disciples +have endured into <i>righteousness</i> of those who have inflicted the evil? +Does it wash the crimsoned hands of persecutors in innocency? Does it +justify the wilful smiter? All men know better. No one contends for such +exposition. Yet it is indispensable to the interpretation which finds a +justification of slavery in precepts which enjoin obedience on slaves. +That obedience is required on other grounds.<a name="page_020" id="page_020"></a></p> + +<p>Another example. The New Testament explicitly commands citizens to +submit to the civil power. Does this sanctify the tyranny of a Nero or a +Nicholas? In the enjoined submission of subjects, has the despot, or the +state, full license for edicts and acts of oppression and iniquity? Yet +they are logically compelled to admit this, and thus, in theory at +least, banish freedom from the whole earth, who find in commands +addressed to servants power conferred on legislators and masters to make +them slaves; that is, to hold them as property. Instead of this, the +rights and obligations of rulers, and of those who claim to be owners of +their fellow men, are defined in a very different class of instructions.</p> + +<p>Secondly, the instructions addressed to masters forbid the exercise of +the right which is assumed in slavery. To make this clear, we observe, +primarily, there is no passage in the New Testament which <i>institutes</i> +the relation of men held in ownership by men. There is no direct +reference to the civil laws which constituted this relation. They are +passed by silently, as are the laws that established idolatry, and +kindled the fires of persecution. Their existence is tacitly +acknowledged in the use of the terms which designate masters and +servants; and that is all.<a name="page_021" id="page_021"></a> Hence those who find here an apology for +slavery are obliged to refer to secular history for the facts and +definitions on which their argument rests. Accordingly, no passage in +the New Testament would be void of meaning, though slavery should cease. +In this respect the Constitution of the United States resembles the +sacred books; for not one word of that instrument, interpreted on just +principles as the palladium of liberty, needs to be obliterated in the +abolition of slavery. Furthermore, and this covers our position, the New +Testament, disregarding the Roman law, refers masters exclusively to the +law of God as their rule for the treatment of servants. A single +citation, with which all passages agree, is sufficient to show this. +"Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal, knowing +that ye also have a Master in heaven." Now, as none can find in such +precepts a right to destroy God's primary institution concerning the +family, no more can they find in them a right to destroy his primary and +universal institution concerning property. Stronger than this, the +conclusion is inevitable, that the very precepts which are relied upon +to support American slavery do condemn and destroy it; for the law of +God, by which they bind masters, ordaining from Eden what is just and +equal<a name="page_022" id="page_022"></a> between men, abolishes the fundamental and central law of the +system.<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a><a name="page_023" id="page_023"></a></p> + +<p>It is argued, indeed, that slavery is right, because masters, as well as +fathers and rulers, may require obedience. The argument fails utterly; +for there is at the foundation no analogy in the cases. The family and +the State are divine institutions, having sanction in the Bible; but +slavery subverts a divine institution. Fathers and rulers, <i>as such</i>, +have duties and rights suitable to the relations they sustain by the +will of God. Masters, <i>as such</i>, have no <i>rights</i>; for their relation, +as holding property in men, is contrary to his will. Their duty, to +which they are bound by the solemn consideration that he is their +Master, is practically to restore to their servants the rights which he +confers upon all; for nothing less than this can be just and equal in +his sight.</p> + +<p>This view discloses the harmony of the whole Bible concerning slavery; +and, in the light of the two Testaments, the institution stands as a +legalized violation of the positive will of Jehovah.<a name="page_024" id="page_024"></a></p> + +<p>We now condense the whole argument into its briefest form, in the +following syllogisms.</p> + +<p>The entire right of men to hold property is given by the Creator. He +gives to American States and citizens no right to hold property in men. +Therefore they have no such right.</p> + +<p>Again. An institution is sinful, which, without divine warrant, holds +property in men, thus assuming a divine prerogative, and subverting a +divine institution. American slavery does this. Therefore it is a sinful +institution.</p> + +<p>The purpose of this tract now introduces a new series of topics. The +argument demands its application; and the exigencies of the times +present momentous questions, which it must answer.</p> + +<p>Hitherto we have spoken of the system of slavery. We come now to persons +connected with it. Because the system is sinful, the question +immediately occurs, who are chargeable with the sin; for there is no sin +without sinners. The answer is obvious. They are chargeable who founded +it, and all who wilfully implicate themselves with it. Practically, they +are always chargeable who adopt it as their own in theory and practice, +who support it in the State, consecrate it in the Church, and labor for +its extension. They are chargeable, for they bring heresy<a name="page_025" id="page_025"></a> into creeds, +unrighteousness into legislation, and crime into popular usage. If they +are masters, they stand in the same moral relations with persecutors and +tyrannical rulers, guilty for all personal injuries they inflict under +color of unjust laws; and, whether masters or not, they are guilty for +exerting their influence to sustain laws which set aside the authority +of God, and withhold the rights he has given. Such men are accountable +to God and to society for deliberate, organised, aggressive iniquity. +The "organic sin" of the State is their sin, the sin of each in his own +measure; for they are the individuals who determine the acts and the +character of the slave-holding State as such.</p> + +<p>But are there no exceptions among slave-holders? We trust there are +many. There is a plain distinction between wicked laws and the personal +acts of men who live under those laws. Some may approve them, and use or +abuse them to the injury of their fellow men. Others may disapprove +them, and refuse, by means of them, to do or justify a wrong. Christians +may become in a legal sense owners of slaves, while they heartily +deprecate the system of oppression, while they are ready to unite with +good men in feasible and wise measures for its removal, and while they +obey the Christian precepts towards<a name="page_026" id="page_026"></a> their servants, rendering unto them +what is just and equal to men and brethren in Christ. Such Christians +and such men do not hold slaves in the sense which God forbids; and they +cannot be charged with the wickedness of laws by which they, as well as +the slaves, are oppressed. On their estates a higher law than that of +slavery has sway. To them their slaves, though legally property, are +morally and actually men. The Bible sustains their position. They are +the Philemons to whom Paul gives fellowship, and Onesimus returns, not +as a slave, but a brother beloved. In the trials of their situation they +should receive the cordial sympathy of Christians everywhere. It is, +indeed, to their sound convictions and their political influence the +world must look, in part at least, for the ultimate, peaceful extinction +of American slavery. Without them, what would the South become? With the +Scriptures in our hand we earnestly say to them, "Throw the weight of +your influence against unrighteous laws, fulfil to servants the law of +God, and you shall have the sympathy and confidence of good men +everywhere. Nay, more; you, with their help, and they with your help, +will confine the spreading curse, till, with God's blessing, it shall +cease; and Christian and civilized man shall have no more communion with +it."<a name="page_027" id="page_027"></a></p> + +<p>These discriminations answer certain ecclesiastical questions, which +have occasioned much perplexity and discord. When properly applied, they +take away whatever support a wicked institution has found by leaning +upon the Church; at the same time they award to consistent Christians +what is due to them by the religion of Jesus. If it shall be said, there +will be practical difficulty in applying these discriminations, it is +sufficient to answer, it will be less than the difficulty of +disregarding them.</p> + +<p>The question now arises, what can be done for the restriction and +ultimate extinction of slavery as it is; for, since it is sinful, +Christianity and patriotism declare it should be restrained and +abolished.</p> + +<p>First. The extension of slavery can and should be prevented by the +Federal Government. The Scriptures have shown us, that the people in +their sovereignty have not the right to create a slave State or a slave. +Of course, the legislators and presidents; who receive in trust the +power which emanates from the people, have no such right. If the +Constitution assumed to confer this power, it would be the first +national duly to amend that instrument in this particular. There is no +power on earth competent to set aside either of the Creator's original +institutions for man. But, according<a name="page_028" id="page_028"></a> to the sound and established +principle of strict construction, the Constitution as it is does not +create slavery, or even acknowledge its existence, except by inference. +Hence there is no legal objection to the measure which religion herself +ordains. The religious and the political obligations of all citizens and +all legislators coincide to protect, under the jurisdiction of Congress, +the right of every man to be exempt from the condition of property, and +to enjoy the property which he honestly earns. Thus the question +concerning slavery and the territories is morally settled by divine +authority; and to this no real objection can be made, except by that +great interest, whose existence is inherently unrighteous and +irreligious.</p> + +<p>Secondly. In the slave States, legislation should restore to the +enslaved population the primitive rights which God has given to all men, +establishing for them, on humane and Christian principles, such +relations as are suitable to their condition of poverty, ignorance, and +dependence, and are adapted to secure at once their improvement and the +general welfare.</p> + +<p>This is the logical conclusion to be derived from the premises. As the +central wrong of slavery consists in making men articles of property by +law, the rectification is to lift from them by law the curse of the +false and irreligious doctrine,<a name="page_029" id="page_029"></a> that they can be rightfully held as +property. Thus the axe is laid to the root of the tree.</p> + +<p>This is also the conclusion to which we are forced by other moral +principles bearing on the case. For men to receive services of men is +right. Accordingly, the New Testament allows masters to receive services +of those who are slaves in the sense of human law; but at the same time +the sacred book requires masters, with all who employ labor, to make the +recompenses which are just and equal towards men; for slavery is not +right; and legislators, on their responsibility to the Ruler of nations, +are bound to adjust the laws in harmony with the first principles of +individual and moral obligation.</p> + +<p>Furthermore, this is the only practical conclusion. By inevitable +necessity, the slaves, as a body, must remain on the soil of their +bondage. Only exceptional cases of removal can occur. They are the +laborers of the South; and no State will, or can, or is bound, to remove +its laborers. It is simply bound to protect and treat them with +Christian equity and kindness. Banishment of them would be injustice and +cruelty, violating perhaps no less than restoring divine rights. +Moreover, no practicable means of removing them have ever been seriously +proposed; and, till they shall be, the point needs no discussion.<a name="page_030" id="page_030"></a></p> + +<p>But the question may be raised, "Are the slaves to endure their present +wrongs until the laws shall be thus renewed, or perhaps forever?" We +reply, in showing how slave-holders can cease from guilty connection +with slavery; we have also shown how the situation of the slaves becomes +one of practical righteousness, before the laws can be readjusted; and +for this great obligation of the body politic, sufficient time most be +allowed. Moral principles do not exact natural impossibilities. The +elevation of oppressed millions can be accomplished only in harmony with +great natural and social, as well as ethical laws, which the wisdom of +God has ordained.</p> + +<p>It remains therefore, that, for a period of which no man can see the +end, the slaves must, in most cases, dwell within the present +boundaries; but it is incumbent on the citizens and legislators of the +South to institute <i>immediate</i> measures for restoring to them the +inviolable rights of men. So long as they continue, by the <i>necessities</i> +of the case, in the relation of servants and laborers, masters should +deal with them according to the rules of humane and Christian equity, +paying to them in suitable ways their just earnings, holding sacred +their family ties, and securing to them the privileges of education and +religion. Meanwhile,<a name="page_031" id="page_031"></a> the legislatures of the several States, by wise +enactments, should coöperate with masters in training their servile +population for the position which the Creator designed for men.</p> + +<p>When these things shall come to pass, a consideration, in which many +good men have sought relief in regard to slavery, will have multiplied +force. The providential wisdom of God, in bringing millions of the +children of Africa from a land of pagan darkness and violence to a land +of freedom and Christianity, will shine with new lustre, when they shall +receive from American hands, together with true religion, every divine +right, and shall thus be qualified and enabled to convey to the dark +habitations of their fathers the infinite blessings of enlightened +liberty and of the gospel of eternal salvation.</p> + +<p>These things are practicable. So long as "righteousness exalteth a +nation," a great, free, and Christian people can do what they should do; +and thus only can they secure, under the divine blessing, their own +highest prosperity and glory. To prove this would be simply to repeat +the familiar facts which exhibit the legitimate effects of slavery on +general intelligence, enterprise, and virtue.</p> + +<p>But what shall produce the true and wide spread public sentiment, which +is indispensable to usher in so radical a change in the laws and<a name="page_032" id="page_032"></a> +institutions of proud and powerful States? Truth must accomplish this +great work—<span class="smcap">THE TRUTH</span> that our Creator does not place those who bear his +image in bondage to their fellow men as property, but invests them with +a common and inviolable right of dominion over inferior things. The +vivid light which this truth sheds on the social relations of men has +been extinguished at the South; and it has been dimmed at the North. In +every right way and in every place, therefore, it should be made to +shine again unobscured. Expounders should bring it forth from the Holy +Oracles; for Jehovah has hallowed it there, and made it equal in +authority with the Sabbath. The press should publish it; for it is the +function of the press to convey unceasingly to the public mind whatever +will establish and crown the public integrity and welfare. All men +should seal it in their hearts; for it is the divine rule and bond of +brotherhood in the universal dominion. It surrounds them with protected +families, and builds their safe firesides and their altars of worship.</p> + +<p>The question arises here, can general agreement be expected in regard to +this primary truth, and measures which legitimately proceed from it? It +is to be supposed there are men in whose hearts there is no fear of God +or love of their fellow beings. With such men these views<a name="page_033" id="page_033"></a> may be +powerless; but for men of Christian principle, we are confident they +show a common foundation for united sentiments and efforts.</p> + +<p>There is now a general, practical, vital consent that government and +society should respect the divine institutions of the family and the +Sabbath. Beneath all superficial strifes and irrelevant issues, there is +the same sure ground for a living and earnest agreement, that government +and society should respect the equal and coeval institution of the right +of property.</p> + +<p>Christian and conservative men can unite in the proposed measures and +the truth which appoints them; for they desire to preserve only what is +right. Christian and progressive men can unite in them; for they desire +to abolish only what is wrong. Politics can approve them; for they are +constitutional and patriotic. Philanthropy can be satisfied with them; +for they promise all that in the nature of the case can be promised for +the early relief of the slaves. Religion sanctions them; for they +restore her own institutions. Good men of the South can unite in them +with those of the North; for they have equal authority North and South. +They proffer only that moral aid which great communities, sharing common +interests and responsibilities, should render and receive with intimate +and<a name="page_034" id="page_034"></a> cordial confidence. They honor the sovereignty of proud and jealous +States; for each of them, exercising the power which springs from its +own people in its own way, will discharge its political obligations to +all within its boundaries.</p> + +<p>A few years or even months of combined efforts will suffice to convey +this truth with vital energy to millions of minds and hearts. In due +time it will manifest its efficacy in the public sentiment and public +policy. We trust in its power. It is invincible; it will be victorious; +for it is from God. Its absence from the popular and legislative mind +well explains many of the evils that have been precipitated upon the +nation. Its future prevalence, under divine mercy, will arrest the +progress of events which would be, as we judge, not remedy, but +retributive destruction, on account of slavery.</p> + +<p>This leads us to the final question. Are the principles and measures +advocated in this tract or their equivalents, with the contemplated +result, essential to the welfare of our country? We are compelled to +believe so.</p> + +<p>We present, for the consideration of citizens and statesmen, this fact. +In harmony with that law of fitness which pervades the Creator's works, +all men are constituted with a nature corresponding with the dominion +they have received. They<a name="page_035" id="page_035"></a> feel that they have a right to hold property, +and should not be held as property. Slaves feel this. Masters often show +that they feel it. They who make laws for slavery, North and South, show +that they feel it. The little property which slaves are often allowed to +possess, so far from furnishing apology for slavery, is an unwitting +tribute to the living principle that destroys the system. Here is a +philosophical demonstration that slavery cannot stand in perpetuity. +This vital element in human nature, to which a divine institution itself +is but an index, is subterranean fire beneath the pyramid of oppression. +Though long crushed and silent, it will not always sleep. Do men expect +to control forever, by law and force, that sense of rights which burns +inextinguishable in every human breast, which God himself kindled in +Eden? As well pile rocks on volcanoes to suppress earthquakes.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">"Vital in every part,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">It can but by annihilating die."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>In this light, it is no prediction to say, if slavery survives to +consummate its own results it will destroy our country.</p> + +<p>The great political and religious problem of the slave-holding States, +on which their welfare really depends, is not, how shall we extend +slavery?<a name="page_036" id="page_036"></a> but, how shall we lay legal foundation for the rights of our +servile population as men? Unless it shall be anticipated and prevented, +by restoring to them the dominion which the Creator bestowed, a day is +as sure to come on natural principles as the sun to rise, when the +masses of human property will assert for themselves the indestructible +rights of their being. Generations may not see it; but woe betides the +States implicated in this oppression, when that day shall dawn; and the +longer it tarries the greater the woe.</p> + +<p>To our mind, the statesmen are infatuated who do not in their policy +regard this universal sense of rights. It is this which is now making so +bitter conflict on the prairies of Kansas. It will always make conflict, +till slavery expires.</p> + +<p>In connection with the general welfare, there is another consideration, +which we solemnly urge upon every man who respects the Bible. It is the +displeasure of God for slavery. He gave the rights which it denies; and +he will assuredly vindicate his own institutions. It would contradict +his word and history, which is but the story of his providence, to +suppose that he will perpetually allow myriads of men, in this land of +light, to hold as property other myriads and even millions of their +fellow men and fellow Christians,<a name="page_037" id="page_037"></a> whom he has endowed, as bearing his +own image, with equal rights. With Jefferson we have reason to tremble +for our country, when we behold her support of slavery and remember that +God is just. France abolished the Sabbath; and thrones have gone down in +blood. America may abolish another divine institution; and for this her +proud States may be convulsed. The previous topic shows, indeed, that +God has so constituted the social elements of this world, that a great +wrong, like slavery, ultimately provides for its own retribution. The +oppressor himself treasures up the vials of wrath for Him who taketh +vengeance.</p> + +<p>In view of all the considerations which have now passed before our +minds, is it too much to believe, that the diffusion of kindly and +scriptural sentiments, with the blessing of heaven producing general +agreement in principles and measures, must be the means of our country's +salvation from the guilt and perils of slavery? If it is not extended, +misguided, infatuated men may, indeed, threaten to dissolve the Union. +Still we fear that extension most; for religion teaches us to fear God +more than man. It allows us but this alternative, to keep his +commandments, and trust that he will make the wrath of man to praise +him. We hold that national righteousness<a name="page_038" id="page_038"></a> in his sight, "first pure, +then peaceable," is better and safer than union and slavery with his +frown. Let justice be done, and the heavens will not fall.</p> + +<p>Whatever purposes God may conceal in the cloudy future, present duties +are ours. He seals them in his word. Notwithstanding all the heats and +perversions of parties and interests, we trust there will yet be a +single voice of our nation's good men. Citizens will speak the truth, +legislators will enact the truth, churches will hallow the truth, vital +to civilization and Christianity, that, by Jehovah's will, man is not +the property of man. Then, under the benediction of our Father in +heaven, all his children in mutual protection and benevolence will enjoy +their property, their homes, and their Sabbath; and he will more richly +bless the land of the free and the just.<a name="page_039" id="page_039"></a></p> + +<h3 class="top15"><a name="II" id="II"></a>FRIENDLY LETTERS</h3> + +<p class="c">TO</p> + +<h3>A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER.</h3> + +<p class="c">BY</p> + +<p class="c">REV. A. C. BALDWIN.<a name="page_041" id="page_041"></a><a name="page_040" id="page_040"></a></p> + +<h3 class="top15"><a name="LETTER_I" id="LETTER_I"></a>LETTER I.</h3> + +<p class="chapcontents">I<span class="sml">NTRODUCTION.—SOUTHERN COURTESY AND HOSPITALITY.—CHARACTERISTICS +OF THE SOUTH AND NORTH.—NO ESSENTIAL DIFFERENCE AT HEART.—THEY +SHOULD UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER BETTER.—A FREE INTERCHANGE OF +SENTIMENT DESIRABLE.—SINCERE PATRIOTISM AND PIETY COMMON TO +BOTH.—THESE AN EFFECTUAL SAFEGUARD TO OUR UNION AND +GOOD-FELLOWSHIP</span>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Christian Brother</span>,—I embrace the first moment at my command +since leaving your pleasant home, to express the gratification afforded +me by my recent visit to the "Sunny South." The kind hospitality and +polite attentions shown me by yourself and other Christian friends, +during my recent interesting sojourn with you, will ever be gratefully +remembered. I had previously heard "by the hearing of the ear" of the +open, frank warm-heartedness and generous impulses of southern people, +but now I can fully appreciate them. The lessons taught us by +experience, whether they be pleasant or painful, are the most +profitable, and are most<a name="page_042" id="page_042"></a> deeply engraven upon the memory. If there are +any persons who think or speak lightly of the reputed complaisance and +Christian courtesy of those who live south of "Mason and Dixon's line," +I have only to say to them,—go and make the acquaintance of those +families which give the tone and character to society there, and enjoy +the hospitalities which they almost force upon you with so much +politeness and delicacy as to make you feel that by sharing them you are +conferring rather than receiving a favor, and your skepticism on this +point will be happily and effectually removed.</p> + +<p>You will not understand me, my dear sir, as implying that our southern +brethren have really more heart than we at the North, although there +seems to be "<i>primâ facie</i>" evidence in your favor; at least, so far as +polite and generous attention to strangers is concerned. In this last +particular, you are constantly teaching us important lessons. Still, I +contend that the Northerner has as large and generous a soul, when you +get at it, as anybody. We have hearts which beat warm and true, but our +cautious habits and constitutional temperament (phlegmatic sometimes) +conceal them from view; whereas you carry yours throbbing with generous +emotions in your hands, exposed to the<a name="page_043" id="page_043"></a> gaze of everybody. The Southron +is artless and impulsive, as well as noble; the Northerner is no less +noble, but having been taught more frequently the doctrine of +"expediency" than his southern brother, he stops and "calculates" when, +and in what circumstances, it is best to exhibit his whole character. In +both cases, the pure gold is there; but in the former it lies upon the +surface or in the alluvial, while in the latter it is often imbedded +deep in the quartz-rock;—it requires some labor to get it out, but the +ultimate yield is most rich and abundant.</p> + +<p>It is very desirable that a greater degree of social intercourse be kept +up between the North and South. We are brethren of one great family, and +there is no good reason why this family should not be a united and happy +one. To a considerable extent it is so. It is true we do not all think +alike on every subject, and some of these subjects are of vast +importance, and intimately connected with our prosperity and happiness. +We need to understand each other better, and to this end there should be +more intimacy, and a frequent and free interchange of views;—not for +strife and debate, but for mutual edification and enlightenment. There +was probably never a family of brothers, however strong their love for +each other, whose views<a name="page_044" id="page_044"></a> of domestic policy were exactly alike; but +there need be no lack of fraternal confidence and harmony for all that. +There are certain great fundamental principles which underlie every +thing else, and form the basis of the family compact. These principles +are filial reverence, fraternal affection, love for home, and a watchful +jealousy of aught that can in the least interfere with the happiness or +reputation of their beloved family circle. Falling back upon these +principles to preserve good-will and harmony, they are not in the least +afraid to discuss those topics on which there is an honest difference of +opinion; on the contrary, they take pleasure in doing so, for the result +is a strengthening of the ties which bind them to each other, and a +modification and partial blending of opinions that seemed antagonistic.</p> + +<p>Thus it should be in our great political and religious brotherhood. The +North and South have each their peculiar views of what pertains to their +own interests, and the interests of the great family of the Republic. +But do not let us stand at a distance and look at each other with an eye +of jealousy because of these differences. Surely we can meet as +fellow-citizens, and discuss matters of common interest, and the<a name="page_045" id="page_045"></a> +interests of common humanity, without losing our temper or engendering +any ill feeling or family discord.</p> + +<p>It is affirmed by some, that there are certain subjects, at least one, +of so peculiar and delicate a nature as to forbid discussion, lest the +result should be heart-burnings, alienation, and perhaps disunion in our +happy fraternity. I cannot for a moment admit the sentiment. It is an +ungenerous reflection upon the courtesy, Christian candor, piety, and +good-sense, both of the North and South. I hold that good citizens and +good Christians can, if they will, discuss any subject without giving +the least occasion for offence, or endangering that compact which so +happily binds us together. As it is in the family circle, there are +certain great principles most dear to us all, on which we can fall back, +and which, if we are true to ourselves and to them, will prove efficient +safeguards to our temper and good-fellowship. The first of these is +Patriotism. We have a common country, and we love it, and we love each +other for our country's sake. We are children of a common mother, whose +kind arms have encircled us, and whose bosom has nourished us +bounteously and with impartiality, and God forbid, that, as wayward, +ungrateful children,<a name="page_046" id="page_046"></a> we should wring her maternal heart with anguish by +our unfraternal conduct toward each other. We shall not do it,—either +at the North or at the South. We are true patriots, and in our very +differences, love of country comes in as an important element to shape +and modify our opinions; and while we may be adopting different +theories, we are conscientiously seeking the same end, namely, the +greatest good of our beloved country.</p> + +<p>The second is piety. We love our country well, but we love our Saviour +more, and for his sake we will love and treat each other as brethren, +and not fall out by the way because we may not see through the same +optic-glasses. We will cheerfully hear what each has to say on whatever +pertains to Christian morals and practice. There are thousands of +sincere, warm-hearted Christians, whose love to Christ raises them +immeasurably above sectionalism and prejudice, and who daily inquire, +"what is truth?" and "what is duty?" and they entertain that "charity" +which "suffereth long and is kind; is not easily provoked, thinketh no +evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all +things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things;" +and "never faileth." When this love is in exercise, Christian brethren +may<a name="page_047" id="page_047"></a> open their hearts freely to each other on any subject, whether it +be "for doctrine, or reproof, or for instruction in righteousness."</p> + +<p>Whatever may be true of others, I hope that you and I will be able to +demonstrate to the world, that, although one of us lives at the North +and the other at the South, yet we can communicate with each other +unreservedly on an almost interdicted topic, with mutual kind feelings, +if not to edification.</p> + +<p class="r">Respectfully and fraternally, <br /> +Yours, &c.</p> + +<h3 class="top15"><a name="LETTER_II" id="LETTER_II"></a>LETTER II.</h3> + +<p class="chapcontents">A<span class="sml"> DIFFICULT AND DELICATE SUBJECT PROPOSED.—AGITATION OF IT +UNAVOIDABLE.—CHRISTIANS NORTH AND SOUTH SHOULD GIVE THE DISCUSSION +OF IT A RIGHT DIRECTION.—WE ARE ALL INTERESTED IN THE +ISSUE.—NORTHERN DISCLAIMERS.</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Christian Brother</span>,—In my last I intimated that I hoped you and +I, by our correspondence, would be able to furnish the world a practical +illustration of good-nature and kind feeling in the discussion of a +subject that has been a fruitful source of trouble and unchristian +invective. You have already anticipated my theme—it is <span class="smcap">Domestic +Slavery</span>. It must be confessed that this is the most difficult and +delicate of all topics to be agitated by a Northerner and a Southerner, +and yet I have the fullest confidence that neither of us will give or +take offence. I need offer you no apology for calling your attention to +this subject at the present time. Not only is it a theme of vast +importance in itself, involving, either directly or indirectly, +interests<a name="page_049" id="page_049"></a> most dear to you and to me, and to every one who has at heart +the welfare of his country and his race, but it is a subject that must +be discussed,—there is no avoiding it, however much you or I or other +individuals may desire it. It has come before the public mind in such a +manner as peremptorily to demand the attention of every Christian and +every patriot. Whether we approve or deprecate the peculiar causes that +have made this topic so prominent in our country, both North and South, +we have to take things as they are, and turn them to the best possible +account. Politicians and demagogues are all discussing American slavery, +and will continue to do so for the purpose of forwarding their own +favorite schemes; and any attempt to silence them would be as futile as +an effort to arrest the gulf-stream in its course. It remains only for +brethren, both at the South and North, to take up the subject as we find +it brought to our hands in the inscrutable providence of God, and, under +the guidance of his Spirit, given in answer to our prayers, take a truly +Christian view of some of its leading features, and then inquire, What +is duty? I think you will not claim, with some of your southern friends, +that slavery is a subject with which we at the North "have nothing to +do." As patriots, we<a name="page_050" id="page_050"></a> have something to do with every thing that affects +the interests of our common country; and as Christians, we sustain +responsibilities which we cannot shake off toward all our brethren of +the human family, whether it be at the North or South—whether they be +bound or free. "Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created +us?" "We are many members, but one body, and whether one member suffer +all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the +members rejoice with it."</p> + +<p>Your candor will not impute to me any unkind or improper motive in +entering upon this discussion; and you will permit me, in the outset, to +enter a few disclaimers, in order that you may be the better able to +appreciate what I have to say.</p> + +<p>In the first place, it is not my design to throw down the glove for the +purpose of enlisting you, or any of your friends, in a controversy; this +would be an unpleasant and profitless undertaking.</p> + +<p>Nor is it to advocate the doctrine, that sustaining the legal relation +of master to a slave for a longer or shorter time is in all possible +cases sin. I will admit that there may be circumstances in which the +relation may subsist without any moral delinquency whatever; as, for +instance,<a name="page_051" id="page_051"></a> persons may become slaveholders in the eye of the law without +their own consent, as by heirship; they sometimes become so voluntarily +to befriend a fellow-creature in distress, to prevent his being sold +away from his wife and family; persons sometimes purchase slaves for the +sole purpose of emancipating them. In these, and other circumstances +which might be mentioned, no reasonable man either North or South would +ever think of pronouncing the relation a sinful one.</p> + +<p>Nor is it my design to question the conscientiousness or piety of all +slaveholders at the South, both among the laity and clergy. Whoever +makes the sweeping assertion, that "no slaveholder can be a child of +God," gives fearful evidence that he himself is deficient in that +"charity" which "hopeth all things." There is an obvious distinction +between those who hold slaves for merely selfish purposes and regard +them as chattels, and those who repudiate this system, and regard them +as men having in common with themselves human rights, and would gladly +emancipate them were there not legal obstacles, and could they do it +consistently with their welfare, temporal and eternal.</p> + +<p>Nor is it my purpose to advocate immediate, universal, unconditional +emancipation without<a name="page_052" id="page_052"></a> regard to circumstances. This doctrine is not held +by the great mass of northern Christians. There are, no doubt, some +cases where immediate emancipation would inflict sad calamities, both +upon the slaves themselves and the community. The opinions of northern +men have often been misunderstood and misrepresented on this subject. +The ground that calm, reflecting opponents of slavery take, is, that +slaveholders should at once cease in their own minds to regard their +slaves as chattels to be bought and sold and worked for mere profit, and +that they should take immediate measures for the full emancipation of +every one, as soon as may be consistent with his greatest good, and that +of the community in which he lives.</p> + +<p>This, it is true, is virtually immediate emancipation; for it is at once +giving up the chattel principle, and no longer regarding servants as +property to be bought and sold. It is to act on the Christian principle +of impartial love, doing to them and with them, as, in a change of +circumstances, we would have them do to and with us. This does +immediately abolish, as it should do, the main thing in slavery, and +brings those who are now bondmen into the common brotherhood of human +beings, to be treated, not as chattels and brutes, but on Christian +principles,<a name="page_053" id="page_053"></a> according to the exigencies of their condition as ignorant, +degraded, and dependent human beings, "endowed, however, by their +Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, +and the pursuit of happiness," which rights should be acknowledged, and +with the least possible delay be granted.</p> + +<p>Nor is it my design to reproach my southern brethren as being to blame +for the origin of slavery in these United States. Slavery was introduced +into this country by our fathers, who have long been sleeping in their +graves, and the North, if they did not as extensively, yet did as truly, +and in many cases did as heartily, participate in it, as the South; so +that, in respect to the origin of American slavery, we have not a word +to say, nor a stone to cast. And besides, our mother country must come +in and share with our fathers to no small extent in the wrong of +introducing domestic slavery to these colonies. Happily, as we think, +slavery was virtually abolished at the North by our ancestors of a +preceding generation; but for their act we are entitled to no credit. +Your ancestors omitted to do this; but for their omission you are +deserving of no blame. We would never forget, that slavery was entailed +upon our southern brethren, and for this entailment they are no more +responsible<a name="page_054" id="page_054"></a> than for the blood that circulates in their veins.</p> + +<p>If you will be so kind as to keep these disclaimers in mind, I think you +will better understand and appreciate what I shall hereafter say on the +subject. With the kindest wishes for you and yours, I remain, in the +best of bonds,</p> + +<p class="r smcap">Your Christian Brother.</p> + +<h3 class="top15"><a name="LETTER_III" id="LETTER_III"></a>LETTER III.</h3> + +<p class="chapcontents">T<span class="sml">HE REAL SUBJECT.—NOT TO BE CONFOUNDED WITH ANCIENT +SERVITUDE.—NOR TO BE JUDGED OF BY ISOLATED CASES.—NORTHERN MEN +COMPETENT AS OTHERS TO DETERMINE ITS TRUE CHARACTER.—SLAVERY +IGNORES OUR DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.—IS INCONSISTENT WITH OUR +CONSTITUTION.</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Friend and Brother</span>,—I propose in this and subsequent letters to +take a brief, candid view of some of the prominent characteristics of +American slavery. I speak of servitude, not as it existed in patriarchal +times, for that is essentially a distinct matter. While it had some +things in common with American slavery, there was so much that was +dissimilar in the relation of master and servant, that analogy is in a +great measure destroyed.</p> + +<p>Neither do I speak of slavery as I saw it developed on your plantation, +and on those of your immediate neighbors. When I went to the South, I +confess I went with strong prepossessions, (prejudices if you choose so +to call them,)<a name="page_056" id="page_056"></a> against the "peculiar institution." I regarded it an +evil, and only an evil. But while my general views of the legitimate +workings of the system remain unchanged, candor compels me to admit, +that, if all slaves were as well cared for, as kindly treated, as well +instructed, and were they all as contented and happy as yours; and, +especially, were there no evils incident to the system greater than I +saw with you, I would simply divest slavery of its odious name, and it +would virtually be slavery no longer. The plantations at the South would +then, perhaps, with some propriety he denominated communities of +intelligent, happy, Christian peasants. And yet it is slavery, as it +really takes away inalienable rights. Would to God that slavery as it +exists with you were a fair illustration of the system. But alas! it is +not. Perhaps you may say that "it is impossible for a northern man to +speak of slavery so as to do the subject justice." You may indeed know +more and better than we do about the state and condition of the slaves. +But in some respects, where great principles are involved, we at the +North are more competent than you, for our judgment is less liable to be +biased by self-interest; and in my remarks I shall confine myself +chiefly to those points on which a northern man is at least as well +qualified to speak as a slaveholder.<a name="page_057" id="page_057"></a></p> + +<p>What, then, are some of the prominent characteristics of American +slavery as a system?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">First</span>, Slavery ignores and repudiates the foundation-stone on which +rests our renowned Declaration of Independence. That document, for more +than three fourths of a century, has been the boast and glory of +America. It is the platform on which our noble ancestors planted their +feet, with a consciousness that they stood on the eternal principles of +truth and justice. To maintain these principles, relying on God for aid, +they pledged to each other "their lives, their fortunes, and their +sacred honor." Our fathers knew that they were right, and, to carry out +the principles embodied in this Declaration, many of them cheerfully +poured out their heart's blood to defend the "unalienable rights" of +humanity.</p> + +<p>Now let us turn our attention to the foundation paragraph of this +memorable Declaration;—I do not mean in that general way in which it is +often read, but minutely and particularly;—let us calmly look at it in +its full import, and not shrink back and avert our eyes on account of a +foreboding that we shall be led to conclusions which we would be glad to +avoid.</p> + +<p>"We hold these truths to be self-evident;—that all men are created +equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable +rights;<a name="page_058" id="page_058"></a> that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of +happiness."</p> + +<p>These significant words are inscribed upon the scroll of our nation's +history, and there they will remain till time shall be no longer. They +need no glossary or explanation. He who runs may read them, and he who +reads can understand them. The sentiment they embody it is impossible to +mistake; it stands out in bold relief, like the sun in the heavens. It +is, that every man has received, from a higher than earthly power, a +charter, which secures to him the unalienable right of life, liberty, +and the pursuit of happiness. It is impossible for the most ultra +advocate of "human rights" to paraphrase these words, or give them a +rendering so as to make them support his dogmas more strongly than they +now do. On the contrary, he would only weaken their force by the +attempt.</p> + +<p>Now, my dear brother, I would candidly, seriously ask you—I would ask +all your southern friends—I would ask everybody, Can the sentiment of +that Declaration be consistent with American slavery? Are not slaves +men? Do color and degradation change a creature of God from a human +being to a soulless brute? No; our southern brethren would as +indignantly repudiate this infidel view as we at the North.<a name="page_059" id="page_059"></a> Now if a +slave is a man, he has received from his Creator an unalienable right to +liberty if he chooses to avail himself of it, or else the first +principle laid down in our revered Declaration of Independence, so far +from being "self evident," is in fact untrue, and ought at once to be +taken from its honored position in the archives of these United States, +and consigned to the heaps of rubbish of the dark ages.</p> + +<p>But does the slave enjoy this liberty? or is it within his reach? It +will not be pretended. The very name by which his class is designated +forbids it. The term free slave is a solecism. His liberty consists in +the freedom to do as he is told to do, or suffer punishment for his +disobedience, and he can pursue happiness only in accordance with the +will of his master.</p> + +<p>There is the same incongruity between slavery and that clause in our +constitution which stipulates that "no person shall be deprived of life, +liberty, or property, without due process of law." Now, my brother, does +it not require considerable ingenuity and special pleading to avoid +conclusions to which unbiased common sense would arrive in an instant, +in the application of these declared rights to persons held as slaves? I +am not going to inflict upon you a dissertation, or a series of +syllogisms on this hackneyed<a name="page_060" id="page_060"></a> subject, but I beg that you and your +friends will calmly look again at what, I doubt not, you have seen +before,—the palpable incongruity between the system of holding persons +perpetually in slavery without their consent, and those declared, +self-evident, heaven bestowed, unalienable rights professedly secured to +all men in these United States by our glorious constitution. Said that +great statesman and patriot, Henry Clay: "We present to the world the +sorry spectacle of a nation that worships Slavery as a household +goddess, after having constituted Liberty the presiding divinity over +church and state."</p> + +<p>Surely something must be out of joint here. I have looked again and +again at this matter, I think with perfect candor, and I have tried to +the utmost of my ability to reconcile these apparent inconsistencies, +but I cannot do it. Can you?</p> + +<p>Believe me, as ever, your sincere friend and</p> + +<p class="r smcap">Christian Brother.</p> + +<h3 class="top15"><a name="LETTER_IV" id="LETTER_IV"></a>LETTER IV.</h3> + +<p class="chapcontents">S<span class="sml">LAVERY TRANSFORMS MEN TO CHATTELS.—SOUTHERN +LAWS.—SLAVE-AUCTIONS.—MEN PLACED ON A LEVEL WITH BRUTES.—NO +REDRESS FOR WRONGS.—IGNORANCE PERPETUATED BY LAW.</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Christian Friend</span>,—A second characteristic of American slavery +is, It regards human beings, declared to be in the "image of God," as +"chattels,"—things or articles of merchandise. "Slaves," say the laws +of South Carolina and Georgia, "shall be deemed, sold, taken, reputed, +and adjudged in law to be chattels personal in the hands of their owners +and possessors, and their executors, administrators and assigns, to all +intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever."<a name="FNanchor_D_4" id="FNanchor_D_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_4" class="fnanchor">[D]</a> "A slave," says the +code of Louisiana, "is one who is in the power of his master, to whom he +belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his<a name="page_062" id="page_062"></a> industry, +and his labor; he can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire any +thing, but what must belong to his master."<a name="FNanchor_E_5" id="FNanchor_E_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_5" class="fnanchor">[E]</a></p> + +<p>Thus, rational, immortal beings, children of our common Father in +heaven, are taken from the exalted scale in which God placed them, and +degraded to that of the brute creation. They are, as you know, +advertised, mortgaged, attached, inherited, leased, bought, and sold +like horses and cattle. Like them they are brought to the auction block, +and like them subjected to a rigid examination as to their age, and +soundness of wind, chest, and limb. Said a gentleman to me: "When I was +at——, I visited the slave mart; and as I saw one and another and +another of my fellow-beings brought forward to the block, and rudely +exposed and minutely examined, in order to ascertain their marketable +value in dollars and cents, and then struck off to the highest bidder, +amid the gibes and jeers of the vulgar, my heart was nigh unto bursting, +and I was obliged to turn away my eyes and weep, exclaiming, O God! can +it be! thy children! my brothers and sisters of humanity,—perhaps my +fellow-heirs of heaven,—precious souls for whom the Saviour died, whose +names<a name="page_063" id="page_063"></a> may be written in the Book of Life, and over whose repentance +angels may have rejoiced! Can it be?"</p> + +<p>For myself, I never witnessed any such scenes, and heaven grant I never +may. It is enough, and too much for me to know, that they exist. I +allude to them in this connection, not to awaken and pain your +sensibilities, but simply to illustrate the fact, that American slavery +sanctions them, and by its operation brings down the noblest work of God +to a level of the beasts that perish. As far as it can do so, it +dehumanizes man, and treats him as a thing without a soul. It may be +remarked, however, in passing, "A man's a man, for a' that."</p> + +<p>I might speak in this connection of the obstacles which are thrown in +the way of the slave's obtaining redress for his wrongs should he +unfortunately get into the hands of a cruel and unreasonable master, +being forbidden to defend himself, and not allowed the testimony of his +brethren to be given in his behalf; but there are other features of this +system which more urgently demand our attention.</p> + +<p>Neither will I dwell upon the ignorance and mental degradation which are +an essential part of the system. You need not be informed, that, in ten +States, knowledge is kept from the slave<a name="page_064" id="page_064"></a> by legal enactments,—that +teaching him to read is regarded a crime, to be severely "punished by +the judges." I was happy to find that you and a great many others +totally disregard that law, and, in spite of legislators and penal +statutes, you teach your slaves to read, and in some cases to write. For +this <i>crime</i>, I doubt not but heaven, at least, will forgive you. I +shall allude to this latter topic again in a future letter.</p> + +<p class="r">Most truly and affectionately, yours, etc.</p> + +<h3 class="top15"><a name="LETTER_V" id="LETTER_V"></a>LETTER V.</h3> + +<p class="chapcontents">D<span class="sml">OMESTIC LIFE.—THE MARRIAGE RELATION.—DOMESTIC HAPPINESS A RELIC +OF PARADISE.—ITS ENDEARMENTS.—ITS VALUE.—THE BARBARISM OF +INVADING THE DOMESTIC SANCTUARY.—AN ILLUSTRATION.</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Brother</span>,—I come now, in the third place, to speak of slavery as +it is related to the endearments and duties of domestic life. On this +subject my heart is full. I am almost afraid to speak, lest I say what I +ought not; and yet I cannot keep silence. I can, in a good measure, +sympathize with Elihu when he said,—</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span style="margin-left: 2.2em;">"For I am full of words,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The spirit within me doth constrain me,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Behold I am as wine which hath no vent,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">I am ready to burst like new bottles,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">I will speak that I may breathe more freely,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">I will open my lips and reply."<a name="FNanchor_F_6" id="FNanchor_F_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_6" class="fnanchor">[F]</a></span><br /> +</p> + +<p>We now approach a topic more intimately<a name="page_066" id="page_066"></a> connected with the present and +future happiness of the human race than almost any other. Man was not +completely blest, even in Eden, until God instituted the marriage +relation. His Creator gave him a companion to participate in his joys, +binding them together by ties which no human power might sunder. +Paradise was lost by sin, but as our first parents were exiled thence, +God in infinite kindness permitted them to take one of its purest, +sweetest sources of joy with them to this world of sorrows.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Domestic happiness! thou only bliss</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.2em;">Of Paradise that has survived the fall!"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>You, my dear brother, are a husband and father, and can appreciate my +meaning, when I speak of the richness, the tenderness, the depth, of +connubial and paternal love; how it lights up this dark world with +smiles,—how it stimulates us to manly exertion,—how it lightens the +burdens of human life, and enables us cheerfully to sustain its ills, +while it almost restores to us Eden itself. To understand what is meant +by the term domestic happiness, it is necessary for you and me only to +look at the circles around our own firesides, and listen to the musical +accents of the loved ones who dwell there, as they pronounce the words +husband, father, mother,<a name="page_067" id="page_067"></a> brother, sister, and exchange with them kind +looks and the affectionate embrace. What earthly joys can be compared +with those of home? What would tempt us to part with them? All the gold +in California and Australia would be spurned in contempt, if offered in +exchange. What should we say, and what should we do, were any power on +earth to interfere with our fireside delights, and attempt to wrest them +from us?</p> + +<p>Suppose Providence had cast our lot under a despotic government, which +we will suppose to be for the most part kind and paternal, but having +this peculiarity,—every now and then, finding its finances embarrassed, +it should be in the habit of selling some of its subjects to a foreign +power to strengthen its exchequer, and should arbitrarily select its +victims from this family and that;—how should you feel were the doomed +family your own? What would have been your emotions this morning, had +some one come to your room and told you that that bright-eyed boy, +"Willie," who last night sat upon your knee and amused you with his +innocent prattle, showed you his toys, examined your pockets, played +with your hair and features, and finally clasped his little arms around +your neck and impressed the "good-night" kiss upon your lips,<a name="page_068" id="page_068"></a> had been +seized by an officer, and sold from your sight forever to you know not +whom, and to be carried you know not whither? Nay, more;—suppose that +while he was yet speaking, there came also another with the tidings that +the same fate had befallen your first-born,—your daughter, just budding +into womanhood,—the affectionate, joyous, light-hearted "Kate," whose +voice to your ear is sweeter than the music of flowing waters, whose +feet are swifter than those of the light gazelle, as with open arms she +bounds to meet you on your return from a temporary absence, to welcome +you home with a tear of joy in her eye and a kiss upon her lips,—that +she too had been by the officials of the government clandestinely +abducted from your dwelling, and sold, literally sold, for a valuation +put upon her person in dollars and cents, to a hopeless captivity, to +spend her days in unrequited toil, or, not unlikely, in ministering to +the caprices and brutal passions of a stranger?</p> + +<p>And while he was yet speaking, and as your <i>wife</i>, half frantic with +grief and terror, was entwining her arms around you, and you were +striving to ease your bursting heart, to crown the whole, suppose +another official and his posse had entered your apartment, and by force +of arms had torn her from your embrace, and with<a name="page_069" id="page_069"></a> thongs upon her hands, +and a bandage over her mouth, hurried her away to greet your sight no +more? What a scene! There go in one direction the children of your body, +"bone of your bone, and flesh of your flesh," to an unknown but fearful +destiny! In another is ruthlessly borne the object dearer to you than +all the world beside,—one whom you had solemnly sworn to love, cherish, +and protect until death,—the light of your dwelling,—the mother of +your children,—the mutual sharer of all your joys and sorrows,—the +richest and most precious treasure heaven ever gave you!—there she goes +in an agony of wo, to toil under a burning sun, compelled to call +another man her husband, or, it may be, to grace her master's seraglio! +Merciful God! what meaneth this? What horde of barbarians from the dark +corners of the earth have found their way hither to lay waste all that +is beautiful and lovely! What fiend from the pit has been let loose to +enter this little Paradise to destroy and bear away all the good that +was left of the primitive Eden!</p> + +<p>No ruthless band of barbarians from benighted lands have found their way +to this Christian domestic sanctuary,—no malignant spirit from below +has been here to snatch the only type of Heaven that escaped his grasp +six thousand<a name="page_070" id="page_070"></a> years ago. "Think it not strange," brother, "concerning +this fiery trial as though some strange thing had happened to you." This +is only the legitimate working of the patriarchal system of government +under which we live. Be calm,—this is all done according to law, and +with as much kindness as the circumstances will permit. No stripes are +inflicted, and no more force is exerted than is absolutely necessary to +secure the object, and prevent a useless outcry; no ill-will is +entertained toward the victims of these outrages,—it is only because +the finances of the government are low, and must be replenished, and +this is the most convenient, and perhaps at present the only practical, +way of raising the money!</p> + +<p>Now, my brother, what should you and I think of living under a +government where such things were permitted by the laws? It would not +reconcile us to the administration to be told, that such proceedings as +I have supposed are of rare occurrence, and that the general character +of the government is kind, that it dislikes exceedingly to sell its +subjects, and especially that it has a great repugnance to separating +husbands and wives, and breaking up of families, and does it only when +severely pressed by pecuniary necessity. To your and my mind this would +be altogether unsatisfactory; it would not change our opinion of<a name="page_071" id="page_071"></a> the +system. No matter if the heart-rending scene I have supposed were +witnessed only once a year, or once in ten years,—I think we should +loudly protest against a system which allowed the occurrence of it at +all.</p> + +<p>You will please, my dear sir, apply the foregoing illustration to the +liabilities and actual workings of the slave system at the South, just +so far as it is applicable, and no further. If there are any points in +which the analogy fails, I will thank you to point them out to me in +your next.</p> + +<p class="r">With much love and esteem, <br /> +I remain yours, most truly.</p> + +<h3 class="top15"><a name="LETTER_VI" id="LETTER_VI"></a>LETTER VI.</h3> + +<p class="chapcontents">S<span class="sml">ACREDNESS OF THE MARRIAGE RELATION.—GOD ALONE CAN DISSOLVE +IT.—THE "HIGHER LAW."—SLAVERY SANCTIONS POLYGAMY AND +ADULTERY.—RELATION OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN.—FEARFUL +RESPONSIBILITY ASSUMED.</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Christian Brother</span>,—My objections to any system of government +that interferes at will with the family relation, and forcibly separates +husbands and wives, parents and children, do not arise chiefly from the +personal wrongs and bitter woes inflicted upon its victims. A +contemplation of these is calculated to affect our sensibilities, and +excite the tender sympathies of our nature; but there is a more enlarged +Christian view which forces itself upon us. If we could by some magic +process allay the anguish of the stricken heart, and heal its wounds +when the strongest ties of nature are rent asunder,—could we even +obliterate the susceptibilities of the soul, destroy natural affection, +and render man more callous than the brutes, so<a name="page_073" id="page_073"></a> that he could be torn +from his home and kindred with less pain than they,—in a <i>moral</i> point +of view the case would be altered but little. As I have remarked in a +previous letter, the <i>marriage relation</i> was instituted by God, and he +made it indissoluble. "What God hath joined together let not man put +asunder," is the language of "holy writ;" and whoever, for any cause +which God himself has not specified, breaks up this relation, encroaches +upon God's prerogative, and goes directly in face of his positive +commands. Much has been said of late, seriously, sarcastically, and +contemptuously, about a "higher law;" but notwithstanding the improper +use often made of that term, there is an important sense in which you, +and I, and every Christian recognize what that term implies. If, on any +subject whatever, human enactments do obviously conflict with the +enactments of God, then God's law is the "<i>higher</i>," and must be obeyed. +To deny this is worse than infidelity.</p> + +<p>Now, brother, does not the system of slavery in the United States +tolerate, and even authorize, the forcible rending asunder of the +marriage tie? Are not husbands, not seldom, but often, sold from their +wives, and wives from their husbands, and new matrimonial alliances +formed by them, with consent and encouragement of<a name="page_074" id="page_074"></a> their masters? Thus +is flagrant adultery sanctioned in nearly one half of the States of this +Christian Republic, and in some cases the crime is almost, if not quite, +forced upon the wretched perpetrators of it. When God's law is +disregarded, and an ordinance on which depends all we hold dear in +social and Christian life is trampled in the dust by an institution +existing in the midst of us, what shall we say? If slavery were a +question merely of expediency, political economy, or even personal wrong +and suffering, it would be easier to keep silence; but when God is +dishonored, and gross sin sanctioned by law, is it not the duty of his +children, North and South, to enter their solemn, earnest, decided +protestations? You will agree with me, that no Christian can or ought to +acquiesce in what, either directly or indirectly, violates a positive +divine precept; and against what shall he remonstrate, if not against a +system that encourages polygamy and legalizes adultery?<a name="FNanchor_G_7" id="FNanchor_G_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_7" class="fnanchor">[G]</a><a name="page_075" id="page_075"></a></p> + +<p>There is another view in which the operation of the system of slavery; +in breaking up families, has affected my mind powerfully and painfully. +Parents sustain most important relations to their children, as well as +to each other. Who can be so much interested in the temporal and eternal +well-being of the child as those by whose instrumentality he had his +existence? Who has so much influence over him, or who could direct his +feet in the way he should go, so well? God has imposed upon all parents +most important duties, which they may not neglect. These duties are as +truly incumbent on the slave-parent as on the master who sustains the +same relation. It may be, indeed, extensively true that he does not +understand them, and is in a great measure incompetent to discharge +them; and that often the child suffers nothing morally or intellectually +by being removed from his influence. But this results in a great measure +from the hopeless ignorance in which the parent is involved. There are, +however, as you can bear witness,<a name="page_076" id="page_076"></a> multitudes of exceptions. In how many +cases are slave-parents truly pious and intelligent, and feel as much +solicitude for the eternal interests of their children, as you do for +yours, and pray with them as frequently and as fervently. With how much +pleasure did you and I listen to your "Jamie," one time when we were +taking an evening stroll past his cabin, and overheard his family +prayer. With what simplicity and earnestness did he pour out his soul to +God for the salvation of his "dear children." And do you not remember, +too, how with equal importunity he prayed God to "bless dear kind Massa +and Missus, and dere precious children, and also Massa's friend, and dat +all may meet to praise Jesus togedder in heaven," and how we found it +difficult to speak for a minute or two, and how the big tear-drops stood +in our eyes, and we couldn't help it?</p> + +<p>You told me there were a great many "Jamies" at the South, and I have no +doubt of it; they love their little ones as well, and who so competent +to train them up for Christ? Who will presume to step in between these +parents and their children and say, this family altar shall be broken +down, and those who have bowed around it shall be separated, to meet no +more till they meet at the judgment? Who will peril his<a name="page_077" id="page_077"></a> own soul by +taking those children away from such an influence, and for a pecuniary +consideration cast them upon the wide world with none to instruct them, +and none to care or pray for them, except their heart-broken parents +whom they have left behind? I would not do it, neither would you, for +the wealth of the world; and yet, is it not often done? In speaking of +this subject, one of the most eminent southern divines<a name="FNanchor_H_8" id="FNanchor_H_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_H_8" class="fnanchor">[H]</a> uses the +following language: "Slavery, as it exists among us, sets up between +parents and their children an authority higher than the impulse of +nature and the laws of God; breaks up the authority of the father over +his own offspring, and at pleasure separates the mother at a returnless +distance from her child, thus outraging all decency and justice." I +shall refer to the sentiments of this brother again.</p> + +<p class="r">I remain as ever, + <br /> +Affectionately yours, etc.</p> + +<h3 class="top15"><a name="LETTER_VII" id="LETTER_VII"></a>LETTER VII.</h3> + +<p class="chapcontents">T<span class="sml">HE CROWNING EVIL OF SLAVERY.—PRECIOUSNESS OF THE BIBLE.—OUR +CHART AND COMPASS ON LIFE'S VOYAGE INDISPENSABLE.—ORAL +INSTRUCTIONS INSUFFICIENT.—DANGERS.—SHIPWRECK ALMOST +INEVITABLE.—WITHHELD FROM THE SLAVE.—SHUTS MULTITUDES OUT OF +HEAVEN.—AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY.—TESTIMONY OF GENERAL +ASSEMBLY.—OF SYNOD OF KENTUCKY.—OF DR. BRECKENRIDGE.</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Brother</span>,—There is one feature of slavery, fourthly, which gives +me more pain by far than any other, and I may say more than all others +put together, and that is, it imperils the immortal souls of millions of +our fellow-beings by keeping from them the Word of God.</p> + +<p>Next to the Saviour, and the Holy Spirit, the most precious gift God has +bestowed on man is the Bible. This volume contains our only perfect rule +of life, and is our only guide to heaven. It teaches us our character +and our destiny; it alone raises the curtain between time and eternity, +and dissipates the darkness that otherwise would forever enshroud the +grave; it reveals to<a name="page_079" id="page_079"></a> us another state of being, in which we shall be +happy or miserable, ages without end. On this Book alone do we depend +for our knowledge of the way of salvation by Christ. It is here we read +the story of the manger and the cross, and the wonderful plan of +redemption through atoning blood. What could we do without the Bible? It +is of infinitely greater value than houses and lands, silver and gold, +and every earthly good beside. To take from us the Bible, would be like +blotting out the sun in the heavens, and enveloping the universe in the +gloom and darkness of eternal night. Take from me riches, honors, +pleasures, comforts, and even liberty itself; and give me instead +thereof poverty, disgrace, pains, affliction, hunger, cold, nakedness, +and a dungeon; tear me from my friends, bind me with chains, scourge me +with the lash, brand my flesh with hot irons, deprive me of every source +of earthly good, and inflict upon me every kind of bodily and mental +anguish which the utmost refinement of cruelty can invent;—but give me +my Bible—leave me this precious treasure, which is the gift of my +heavenly Father, to teach me his will and guide me to himself. Torture +and destroy my body, if you will, but O! give me facilities for saving +my soul. Turn me not adrift on life's troubled ocean to seek<a name="page_080" id="page_080"></a> alone a +far distant shore, exposed continually to storms, breakers, hidden +reefs, whirlpools, and shoals, with nothing but a few verbal +instructions to direct my way. If I am to make this fearful voyage, (and +make it I must,) take not from me my chart and compass. Your verbal +directions I shall be likely to forget when I most need them. The +polestar, which you tell me may be my guide, is often for a long time +concealed by impenetrable clouds. There are fearful maelstroms, near the +verge of whose deceptive and destructive circles my course lies, and ere +I am aware of it I shall have passed the fatal line, from which no +voyager returns. Between me and my desired haven there is a "hell-gate," +where are sunken rocks and conflicting currents, and amid all these +complicated dangers my frail bark will make shipwreck, without my chart +and compass. Deprived of these, I cannot keep my reckoning, I cannot +shape my course, I cannot find my haven.</p> + +<p>I need not tell you, my dear brother, that it is a part of the +slaveholding policy to take from thousands and millions of immortal +beings in our nominally Christian land, this precious chart and +compass,—the Bible, the only safe guide to heaven. I have often heard +you speak of it,<a name="page_081" id="page_081"></a> and deplore it. Those severe laws which forbid +teaching the slave to read, do virtually take from him the Bible,—his +directory to the New Jerusalem. You may, indeed, give him oral +instruction, and in many instances, no doubt, they are blessed to his +conversion; but how utterly inadequate are they to his spiritual wants, +how imperfect are they at best, and in how many thousands of cases are +even these entirely wanting. Every enlightened and intelligent Christian +knows, from his own experience, how hard it is to enter the "strait +gate," and to keep in the "narrow way," and how needful to him are all +the helps within his reach, and then he is but "scarcely saved." What +hope is there, then, for the poor slave, who is deprived, not only of +most of the ordinary and extraordinary means of grace which we enjoy, +but is forbidden the printed Word of God? Is not a fearful +responsibility incurred by those who, for any reason, stand between God +and his children, and intercept those messages of grace and mercy which +are contained in the Holy Scriptures?</p> + +<p>That noble institution, the American Bible Society, is multiplying +copies of the sacred Word by thousands and hundreds of thousands, and +scattering them over the land and the world; it hesitates not to thrust +them into the hands of the followers<a name="page_082" id="page_082"></a> of the false prophet,—the deluded +followers of the man of sin,—the disciples of Confucius and +Zoroaster,—the worshippers of Juggernaut and Vishnoo, and the degraded +inhabitants of the South Seas and Caffraria;—it benevolently resolves +to put a copy of the Bible into the dwelling of every white family in +these United States; but it is obliged by law to pass by the cabin of +the slave, and leave more than three millions of immortal beings to find +the road to heaven the best way they can.</p> + +<p>My brother, I cannot think of these things without the deepest grief, +and I know that you fully sympathize with me; but it is some consolation +to believe that the great mass of evangelical Christians take the same +views of the wrongs inflicted upon the slave that we do, for it is to +the Christian sentiment of this country that we must look for the +removal of them.</p> + +<p>Our brethren of the Presbyterian church have borne their testimony most +fully and pointedly against the evils of slavery which we have been +considering. You doubtless recollect the action of the General Assembly +on this subject in 1818. A committee was appointed, to whom was referred +certain resolutions on the subject of selling a slave,—a member of the +church,—and which was directed to prepare a report to be adopted<a name="page_083" id="page_083"></a> by +the Assembly, expressing their opinion in general on the subject of +slavery. The report of this committee was unanimously adopted, and +ordered to be published. It is, in part, as follows:—</p> + +<p>"The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, having taken into +consideration the subject of slavery, think proper to make known their +sentiments upon it to the churches.</p> + +<p>"We consider the voluntary enslaving of the one part of the human race +by another, as a gross violation of the most precious and sacred rights +of human nature; as utterly inconsistent with the law of God, which +requires us to love our neighbors as ourselves; and as totally +irreconcilable with the spirit and principles of the gospel of Christ, +which enjoins that all things 'whatsoever ye would that men should do to +you, do ye even so to them.' Slavery creates a paradox in the moral +system; it exhibits rational, accountable, and immortal beings in such +circumstances as scarcely to leave them the power of moral action. It +exhibits them as dependent on the will of others, whether they shall +receive religious instruction; whether they shall know and worship the +true God; whether they shall enjoy the ordinances of the gospel; whether +they shall perform the duties and cherish the endearments<a name="page_084" id="page_084"></a> of husbands +and wives, parents and children, neighbors and friends; whether they +shall preserve their chastity and purity, or regard the dictates of +justice and humanity.</p> + +<p>"Such are some of the consequences of slavery,—consequences, not +imaginary, but which connect themselves with its very existence. The +evils to which the slave is always exposed often take place in fact, and +in their very worst degree and form, and where all of them do not take +place, as we rejoice to say that in many instances, through the +influence of the principles of humanity and religion on the minds of +masters, they do not, still the slave is deprived of his natural right, +degraded as a human being, and exposed to the danger of passing into the +hands of a master who may inflict upon him all the hardships which +inhumanity and avarice may suggest."</p> + +<p>An Address from the Synod of Kentucky, in 1835, to the Presbyterians of +that State, is much more specific in its delineations of the evils of +slavery, and in its denunciations of the system, and adopts language far +more severe than many northern Christians would think it expedient to +use. It presents a picture of its actual workings which could be drawn +only by one who had seen the original. If you have not read this +address, I beg that you will do so. It is altogether a<a name="page_085" id="page_085"></a> southern +document. I have room only for a short extract.</p> + +<p>Slavery is characterized as "a demoralizing and cruel system, which it +would be an insult to God to imagine that he does not abhor; a system +which exhibits power without responsibility, toil without recompense, +life without liberty, law without justice, wrongs without redress, +infamy without crime, punishment without guilt, and families without +marriage; a system which will not only make victims of the present +unhappy generation, inflicting upon them the degradation, the contempt, +the lassitude, and the anguish of hopeless oppression; but which even +aims at transmitting this heritage of injury and woe to their children +and their children's children, down to their latest posterity. Can any +Christian contemplate, without trembling, his own agency in the +perpetuation of such a system?"</p> + +<p>Coincident with the judgment of these two most respectable and revered +ecclesiastical bodies is the testimony of one of the most prominent and +honored sons of the southern church, the Rev. Dr. R. L Breckenridge. +Says he:—</p> + +<p>"What then is slavery? for the question relates to the action of certain +principles of it, and to its probable and proper results; what is +slavery as it<a name="page_086" id="page_086"></a> exists among us? We reply, it is that condition enforced +by the laws of one half of the States of this confederacy, in which one +portion of the community, called masters, are allowed such power over +another portion called slaves, as——</p> + +<p>"1. To deprive them of the entire earnings of their own labor, except so +much as is necessary to continue labor itself by continuing healthful +existence: thus committing clear robbery.</p> + +<p>"2. To reduce them to the necessity of universal concubinage, by denying +to them the civil rights of marriage, thus breaking up the dearest +relations of life, and encouraging universal prostitution.</p> + +<p>"3. To deprive them of the means and opportunities of moral and +intellectual culture, in many States making it a high penal offence to +teach them to read, thus perpetuating whatever of evil there is that +proceeds from ignorance.</p> + +<p>"4. To set up between parents and their children an authority higher +than the impulse of nature and the laws of God, which breaks up the +authority of the father over his own offspring, and at pleasure +separates the mother at a returnless distance from her child, thus +abrogating the clearest laws of nature, thus outraging all decency and +justice, and degrading and oppressing thousands<a name="page_087" id="page_087"></a> upon thousands of +beings, created like themselves in the image of the most high God! This +is slavery as it is daily exhibited in every slave State."</p> + +<p>Yes, such is the nature and character of an institution in this +enlightened Christian republic, claiming to be the freest nation on +earth, calling itself "an asylum for the oppressed," inviting the +downtrodden subjects of all the despots of the old world to come to this +happy land, and place themselves under the protection of the American +eagle, and in this "eyrie of the free" taste and enjoy the sweets of +liberty!</p> + +<p>The views presented in the above extracts may be taken, it is to be +presumed, as an exponent of the southern Christian sentiment on domestic +slavery. There are, indeed, exceptions. It is painful to notice that +within a few years some men of reputed piety and worth have been +attempting to maintain that American slavery is a "divine and +patriarchal institution," "sanctioned by the Bible,"—is "necessary to +the highest state of society," and is "to be perpetuated;" but I am +happy to believe that the number of those who hold such views, +repudiating those of the Presbyterian church, and at the same time call +themselves disciples of Him who said, "whatsoever<a name="page_088" id="page_088"></a> ye would that men +should do to you, do ye even so to them," is comparatively small.</p> + +<p>I close this long letter by subscribing myself, as ever,</p> + +<p class="r">Your affectionate <br /> +Friend and Brother.</p> + +<h3 class="top15"><a name="LETTER_VIII" id="LETTER_VIII"></a>LETTER VIII.</h3> + +<p class="chapcontents">T<span class="sml">HREE QUESTIONS SUGGESTED.—1. MUST SLAVERY BE PERPETUAL?—2. DOES +THE CHURCH OF CHRIST SUSTAIN ANY RESPONSIBILITY IN THIS MATTER?—3. +WHAT SHALL WE DO?</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Christian Friend</span>,—I fear I shall make myself tedious to you by +dwelling so long upon this, to me, painful subject,—slavery. I will, +therefore, in the present letter, finish what I have to say for the +present, hoping that our future correspondence may be on more grateful +themes.</p> + +<p>There are a few questions which are suggested to us by the brief view we +have taken of this most important subject. The first is, Must slavery, +with all its attendant evils, be perpetuated? Must this blot rest upon +our beloved country, and tarnish its escutcheon forever? I am persuaded +that the spontaneous answer from the Christian heart of this nation is, +<i>No!</i> It was never contemplated by Washington nor Jefferson nor Adams, +nor by the framers of our Constitution, nor by the great mass of noble +patriots who<a name="page_090" id="page_090"></a> perilled their all for the independence of their country, +that slavery was to be handed down to posterity. If you will look at the +writings of the leading public men of the last century, you will find, +that, almost without exception, they looked upon slavery in the United +States as a temporary evil, to be removed as soon as circumstances would +permit. They regarded it not only a wrong inflicted upon the slave, but +an incubus upon the nation, soon to pass away.</p> + +<p>The great body of Christians in our land have been looking forward to +the time, and praying for its arrival, when all the oppressed within our +borders shall go free. That the time will come when slavery shall cease +in our land, I as fully believe as I believe that there is a God who +presides over and directs the destinies of men. You and I may not live +to see the day; but it will come.</p> + +<p>Another question suggested is, Does the church of Christ in this country +sustain any responsibility in regard to slavery, and has she any duty to +discharge in relation to it? By the church of Christ, I mean the great +mass of Christians of every name who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity, +both North and South.</p> + +<p>This question is easily answered. There are no evils existing in the +Christian's field of labor—<a name="page_091" id="page_091"></a>the world—in regard to which he has not +some responsibility, and for the removal of which he is not bound to do +something. As a general truth, the nearer the evils come to our own +firesides and bosoms, the weightier those responsibilities become. The +hundreds of millions of heathens in foreign lands lying in sin and +degradation appeal to our sympathy and efforts, and that appeal we may +not disregard. But the heathen in our own land have on us much stronger +claims, and our obligations to put forth efforts in their behalf are +more imperious.</p> + +<p>Slavery is a great evil and sin, which affects not only individuals, but +our country; and, both as Christians and patriots, we ought to be +sensibly alive to every thing that affects our common weal. You who live +at the South, it may be, have more responsibility in this matter than we +at the North; but none of us can say, "because I am not personally +implicated in inflicting wrongs upon the slave, therefore I have nothing +to do for their removal." Should this become the universal sentiment of +the church, Satan's kingdom in our world would never come to an end, and +wickedness would prevail forever. The spirit of Christianity, although +preëminently mild, gentle, patient, and long-suffering, is nevertheless, +in an important<a name="page_092" id="page_092"></a> sense, aggressive. It has ever claimed the right of +interesting itself in the welfare of every human creature—to exert its +influence to check the progress of sin in every form—to attack error in +principle and in practice—to "loose the bands of wickedness,"—"undo +heavy burdens,"—"break every yoke,"—"deliver the poor and needy,"—and +to "remember them that are in bonds as bound with them." This, by some, +may be called officiousness, but we cannot help it; it is a part of the +Christian's legitimate business to volunteer his influence and his +services (in every proper way) in opposing wrong, and to stand up and +plead the cause of those who suffer it the world over. He cannot refrain +from doing so, without proving himself false to his Master and his +Master's cause.</p> + +<p>Admitting, then, that all Christians have some kind of responsibility +and duty devolving on them, a most important question comes up. Thirdly, +what shall they do? There are certainly some things which it is +perfectly evident we should not do,—though we should rebuke this and +every sin, we should not give vent to our hatred of the system in +ebullitions of wrath, invective, and abuse toward slaveholders. Thus did +not<a name="page_093" id="page_093"></a> Christ nor his apostles. This is not in accordance with the +Christian spirit, and could be productive only of evil.</p> + +<p>Neither should we endeavor to exert an influence over the slaves to make +them restive and disobedient; none but an enemy to the true interests, +both of the slave and his country, would do that, unless under some +hallucination.</p> + +<p>Neither should we interfere politically with slavery beyond the +boundaries of our own State, in States where it now exists by the laws +of the land. I might go on indefinitely, and specify what we should not +do; but this does not meet the case;—what shall we do? It would be +arrogance in me to attempt a full answer to a question that has engaged +the attention of many abler heads and better hearts than mine, but there +are some things which have already been said by others, that cannot be +too frequently repeated.</p> + +<p>In the first place, we can commit this whole matter to God in humble, +earnest prayer. Here is something which we can all do, North and South, +and in which we shall all be agreed. However much we may differ in +regard to the safety and expediency of other measures to moderate the +condition of the slave and bring about his ultimate emancipation, we are +of one mind in regard to the safety and efficacy of<a name="page_094" id="page_094"></a> prayer. One effect +of this will be to unite our own hearts more closely in sympathy and +love. There will be no danger of calling each other hard names, bandying +unchristian epithets, and biting and devouring one another, if we are in +the habit of meeting daily at the throne of grace to pray for a cause in +which we take a mutual interest.</p> + +<p>By prayer we may hope to be enlightened more fully in regard to our +duty. "If any man lack wisdom," and surely we all do on this subject, +"let him ask of God."</p> + +<p>In answer to prayer, we have reason to hope that God will open the eyes +to teach the hearts of all slaveholders, and lead them to "do justly and +love mercy," and also that he will, in his holy and wise Providence, +redress the wrongs of his oppressed children, and prepare the way for +their ultimate emancipation.</p> + +<p>Prayer is the Christian's first and last resort. Let us, then, my dear +brother, pray over this subject continuously, and with an earnestness +commensurate with its importance, and then, I doubt not, we shall +ourselves be more enlightened than we now are as to our future course.</p> + +<p>A second duty, hardly less obvious than prayer, is to use all the +influence we possess to prevent the extension of the domain of slavery. +To this<a name="page_095" id="page_095"></a> end, we should utter our voices long and loud in remonstrance +against any such measure. If we and our legislators may not politically +interfere with slavery in States where it now exists, we may interfere +to prevent it from exerting its baleful influence over territory now +free. We should do many things for the sake of peace and conciliation. +We have heretofore made concessions and compromises—perhaps too +many—on this subject; but here is where the people of God, North and +South, should make a stand, and declare before heaven and earth, and +with an emphasis which cannot be misunderstood, that not another inch of +our public domain shall be cursed with slavery for any consideration +whatever, if our influence can prevent it. In our remonstrances, we will +be respectful, but firm. Let our politicians know that all persons who +are governed by Christian principle, through the length and breadth of +the land, have taken their position, and that the mountains shall be +removed out of their places, ere they will swerve from it, and there +will be but little danger of slave extension.</p> + +<p>In the third place, we should use every endeavor to disseminate the +gospel of Christ, and bring its principles to bear upon all classes of +persons, North and South. If we can do this<a name="page_096" id="page_096"></a> effectually, it is all +sufficient. The Gospel, if faithfully applied, is a sure remedy for +every social and moral evil that ever existed. We at the North should +demonstrate to our slave-holding friends whom we wish to influence, that +we ourselves are governed by its spirit, and actuated by its principle, +in all that we do in relation to this subject. It is not ambition, a +lust for power, sectional jealousy, a spirit of censoriousness or +ill-will, that prompts us to what they have been in the habit of +regarding as intermeddling with their affairs, in which we have no +concern, but a spirit of love,—love not less to them than to their +slaves. And then, in the temper of Christ, we will bring the Gospel to +bear on the slaveholder's conscience and sense of justice. We will hold +up and keep before his mind the great rule of life given by Him who +spake as never man spake,—"Whatsoever ye would that men should do to +you, do you even so to them." Let this rule be once adopted and carried +out, and it is enough. Human beings would no more be sold as beasts in +the market, and driven to unrequited toil; the minds of men would no +longer be kept in ignorance; the domestic circle would never again be +invaded by the hand of sordid avarice separating husbands and wives, +parents and children, doing savage violence<a name="page_097" id="page_097"></a> to the noblest affections +of our nature; the Bible would be put into the hands of every slave, and +he would be taught to read it; common schools and Sabbath schools would +be everywhere established and maintained, as well for the slave as for +the white child; the master would regard those whom he now holds as +property as his own brethren, going with him to the same judgment, and +destined finally to dwell with him as his equals, in the same heaven, +and to wear as bright crowns and sing as rapturous a song as he. He +would immediately set himself about preparing his slaves for +emancipation, and for the enjoyment of those natural rights, of which +they have for so long a time been most unjustly deprived. In short, +slavery, as the term is now understood, would cease instantly, and a +kind, parental guardianship would take its place, and every southern +plantation would be transformed into a moral garden of beauty and +happiness, and universal and entire emancipation would follow with the +least possible delay. And, finally, we should if possible bring the +Gospel to bear upon the great body politic, upon our presidents, our +governors, our National and State legislators. It would seem that some +of our lawmakers are much better acquainted with Blackstone and Vattel, +than they are with the Lord<a name="page_098" id="page_098"></a> Jesus Christ, or they would not disgrace +our statute-books with laws which ignore the "higher laws" of God. We +should often remind them that this is a Christian, and not a heathen or +infidel republic; and that every enactment, not consistent with the +gospel of Christ and inalienable human rights, does violence to the +Christian sentiment and Christian conscience of the nation, and must be +repealed. If they will not hear us, we have only to appoint more +faithful servants, who will do as they are told. We have no idea of +"uniting church and state," but to infuse as much of the Gospel into the +state as possible is both a privilege and duty; and when all our affairs +and institutions, public, domestic, and private, are administered on +gospel principles, we shall become a free, prosperous, and happy people, +and not till then.</p> + +<p>And now, may God bless you, my dear brother, and guide you, and guide us +all, to pursue such a course in regard to the three and a half millions +of slaves in our professedly free republic as will afford us the most +satisfaction when we meet them as our equals at the judgment-seat of +Christ.</p> + +<p class="r"> +With high esteem and much affection, + <br /> +I remain your Christian brother, <br /> +<span class="smcap">A. C. Baldwin</span>.</p> + +<p><a name="page_099" id="page_099"></a></p> + +<h3 class="top15"><a name="III" id="III"></a>AN ESSAY,</h3> + +<p class="c">BY</p> + +<p class="c">REV. TIMOTHY WILLISTON.</p> + +<p class="c top5"> +IS AMERICAN SLAVERY AN INSTITUTION WHICH CHRISTIANITY<br /> +SANCTIONS, AND WILL PERPETUATE? AND, IN VIEW<br /> +OF THIS SUBJECT, WHAT OUGHT AMERICAN<br /> +CHRISTIANS TO DO, AND REFRAIN<br /> +FROM DOING?</p> + +<hr style="width:5%;" /> + +<p class="poem sml"> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto.—<span class="smcap">Terence.</span></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Bear ye one another's burdens.—<span class="smcap">Paul.</span></span><br /> +</p> + +<h3 class="top15">ESSAY.</h3> + +<hr style="width:5%;" /> + +<p>A <span class="smcap">great</span> moral question is, in this nineteenth century, being tried +before the church of Christ, and at the bar of public sentiment. It is, +Whether the system of servitude known as American slavery be a system +whose perpetuity is compatible with pure Christianity? Whether, with the +Bible in her hand, the church may lawfully indorse, participate in, and +help perpetuate, this system? Or whether, on the other hand, the system +be, in its origin, nature, and workings, intrinsically evil; a thing +which, if, like concubinage and polygamy, God has indeed tolerated in +his church, he never approved of; and which, in the progress of a pure +Christianity, must inevitably become extinct? I feel assured that the +latter of these propositions will, without argument, command the assent +of the mass of living<a name="page_102" id="page_102"></a> Christians. But there are those in the church who +array themselves on the other side. While they would not justify the +least inhumanity in the treatment of slaves, they profess to believe +that slavery itself has the approbation of Jehovah, and may with +propriety be perpetuated in the church and the world. At their hands I +would respectfully solicit a patient hearing, while I proceed to assign +several reasons for differing with them in opinion.</p> + +<p>First. Slavery is a condition of society not founded in nature. When +God, in his Word, demands that children shall be in subordination to +their parents, and citizens to the constituted civil authorities, we +need no why and wherefore to enable us to see the reasonableness of +these requirements. We feel that they are no arbitrary enactments, but +indispensable to the best interests of families and of society, and +therefore founded in nature. We are prepared, too, from their obvious +necessity and utility, to rank them among the permanent statutes of the +Divine Legislator. But can as much be said of slavery? Is there such an +obvious fitness and utility in one man's being, against his will, owned +and controlled by another, as to prepare us to say that such an +ownership is founded in the very constitution of things? None will +pretend that<a name="page_103" id="page_103"></a> there is. Not only is slavery not founded in nature, but,</p> + +<p>Second. It is condemned by the very instincts of our moral constitution. +These instincts seem to whisper that "all men are born free and equal;" +equal, not in intellect, or in the petty distinctions of parentage, +property, or power; but having, as the creatures of one God, an equal +right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Job's moral +instincts taught him, that the fact of all men's having one and the same +Creator gave his servants a right to contend with him, when wronged; and +that, if he "despised their cause," he must answer it to his God and +theirs. That men of all races and grades are essentially equal before +God; that every man has a right to himself, to the fruits of his toil, +and to the unmolested pursuit of happiness, in all lawful ways; and +hence, that slavery, as existing in these States, is a gigantic system +of evil and wrong,—are truths which the moral sense of men is +everywhere proclaiming with much emphasis and distinctness. If it be not +so, what means this note of remonstrance, long and loud, that comes to +our ears over the Atlantic wave? Why else did a Mohammedan prince,<a name="FNanchor_I_9" id="FNanchor_I_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_I_9" class="fnanchor">[I]</a> +(to say nothing of what nearly all Christian<a name="page_104" id="page_104"></a> governments have done,) +put an end to slavery in his dominions before he died? And how else +shall we account for that moral earthquake which has for years been +rocking this great republic to its very centre? One cannot thoughtfully +observe the signs of the times,—no, nor the workings of his own heart, +methinks,—without perceiving that slavery is at war with the moral +sense of mankind. If there be any conscience that approves, it must be a +conscience perverted by wrong instruction, or by a vicious practice. And +can that be a good institution, and worthy of perpetuity, which an +unperverted conscience instinctively condemns?</p> + +<p>Third. The bad character of slavery becomes yet more apparent, if we +consider the manner in which it has chiefly originated and been +sustained. Did God institute the relation of master and slave, as he did +the conjugal and parental relations? It is not pretended. In what, then, +did slavery have its beginning? Doubtless the first slaves were +captives, taken in war. In primitive ages, the victors in war were +considered as having a right to do what they pleased with their +captives; and so it sometimes happened that they were put to death, and +sometimes that they were made to serve their captors as bondmen. Thus +slavery was at first the incidental result of war.<a name="page_105" id="page_105"></a> But as time rolled +on, the love of power and of gain prompted men to make aggressions on +their weaker neighbors, for the very purpose of enslaving them; and, +eventually, man-stealing and the slave-trade became familiar facts in +the world's history. Upon these has slavery, for centuries past, +depended mainly for its continuance. And, although these feeders of +slavery are now by Christian nations branded as piracy and strictly +vetoed, they are far from being exterminated. Indeed, it seems to be +well understood, that, if all commerce in slaves, foreign and domestic, +ceases, slavery itself must soon become extinct.</p> + +<p>Now if man-stealing be an act which the Word of God and the moral +instincts of men do most pointedly condemn,—and I will attempt no +demonstration of this here,—what shall we say of that which is its +legitimate offspring and dependant? Far be it from me to affirm, that, +circumstanced as our southern brethren are, it is just as criminal for +them to hold slaves as it would be to go now to Africa and forcibly +seize them. But, in the spirit of love, I would ask my slave-holding +brother, Can that be a justifiable institution, and deserving to be +upheld, which has so bad a parentage? "Do men gather grapes of thorns?" +"Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?"<a name="page_106" id="page_106"></a></p> + +<p>Fourth. There are, in the Scriptures, many clear indications that +slavery has not the approbation of God, and hence has not the stamp of +perpetuity upon it. Under this head, let us notice several distinct +particulars.</p> + +<p>1. Had God regarded servitude as a good thing, he would not, in +authoritatively predicting its existence, have said, "Cursed be Canaan; +a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." What God visits +men with as a curse cannot be intrinsically good and beneficial.</p> + +<p>2. The judgments with which God visited Egypt and her proud monarch, for +refusing to emancipate the Israelites, and for essaying to recapture +them, when let go, and the wages which he caused his people, when +released, to receive for their hitherto unrequited tolls, clearly evince +that he has no complacency in compulsory, unrewarded servitude.</p> + +<p>3. The same thing is indicated by the fact that God has, by statute, +provided expressly for the protection and freedom of an escaped slave; +but not for the recovery of such a fugitive by his master. "Thou shalt +not deliver unto his master, the servant which is escaped from his +master unto thee: he shall dwell with thee, even among you in that place +which he shall choose.... Thou shalt not oppress him."<a name="page_107" id="page_107"></a> Now be it, if +you will, that this statute had reference only to servants who should +escape into the land of Israel from Gentile masters; does it not +indicate a strong bias, in the mind of God, to the side of freedom, +rather than that of slavery? And does it not establish the point, that, +in God's estimation, one man cannot rightfully be deemed the property of +another man? Were it otherwise, would not the Jew have been required to +restore a runaway to his pursuing master, just as he was to restore any +other lost thing which its owner should come in search of? Or, to say +the least, would not the Israelites have been allowed to reduce to +servitude among themselves the escaped slave of a heathen master? But +how unlike all this are the actual requirements of the statute. God's +people must neither deliver up the fugitive nor enslave him themselves; +but allow him to dwell among them as a <span class="smcap">FREEMAN</span>, just "where it liketh +him best." And, in this connection, how significant a fact is it, that +the Bible nowhere empowers the master from whom a slave had escaped to +pursue, seize, and drag back to bondage that escaped slave.</p> + +<p>4. That which constitutes the grand fountain of slavery,—the forcible, +stealthy seizure of a man, for the purpose of holding or selling him as +a slave,—was, under the Mosaic dispensation,<a name="page_108" id="page_108"></a> punishable with death; +and is, in the New Testament, named in connection with the most heinous +crimes. "He that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in +his hand, he shall surely be put to death." What could more forcibly +exhibit God's disapprobation of one of the distinctive features of +slavery,—compulsion? What more impressively show the value that he puts +upon a man's personal independence,—his right to himself? Now if God +doomed that man to die a felon's death who should steal and sell a +fellow man, can it be that he would hold him guiltless who should buy +the stolen man, knowing him to have been stolen? God's people were, +indeed, allowed to "buy bondmen and bondmaids" of the strangers that +dwelt among them, and of the surrounding heathen. But were they ever +allowed to buy persons whom they knew to have been unlawfully obtained, +and offered for sale in manifest opposition to their own wishes? If they +were not,—and, from the statute just referred to, it seems certain that +they were not,—does American slavery derive countenance from that which +was tolerated in the Jewish church and nation? True, the slaves now held +as such among us were not themselves feloniously seized on a foreign +soil, torn away from kindred, homes, and country, and sold into hopeless +bondage in a<a name="page_109" id="page_109"></a> strange land; but their sires and grandsires were. +Man-stealing is confessedly the stock out of which has sprung, and grown +to its present dimensions, the vast and overshadowing Upas of American +slavery; and if the Bible brands that stock as pestiferous, must not the +entire tree partake of the noxious influence? Again: if, as competent +critics assert, the popular sense of the word rendered "men-stealers," +in 1 Tim. i. 10, be "those who deal in men—literally, slave-traders," +then trafficking in slaves for mercenary ends is, by Paul, ranked among +vices the most abominable; and American slavery is, if possible, more +pointedly condemned by that passage than by the statute found in Ex. +xxi. 16. For who does not know that trading in "the persons of men" has +ever been, and yet is, a main pillar in the fabric of slavery? Indeed, +man-stealing and slave-trading are to slave-holding precisely what the +business of the distiller and of the vendor is to the vice of +intemperance. There is, in either case, a trio of associated evils; and +it is difficult to say which member of either trio is the most repulsive +and harmful.</p> + +<p>If, now, it be objected to this argument from the Bible, that the Mosaic +institutes expressly recognize such a thing as involuntary servitude, +and prescribe rules for its regulation, I answer:<a name="page_110" id="page_110"></a> true, but the +servitude thus recognized and regulated by statute was of a far milder +type than that which is legalized in these American States. For, 1. It +allowed the bondman a large amount of leisure, or time which he need not +devote to his master's service; 2. It made it possible for him to +accumulate a considerable amount of property; 3. It placed him on a +perfect level with his master, in regard to religious privileges; 4. It +gave him his freedom whenever he should be so chastised as to result in +permanent injury to his person: thus operating as a powerful preventive +of inhumanity in chastising; 5. It respected the sanctity of the +conjugal and parental relations, when existing among bondmen, and did +not authorize a compulsory severing of family ties; 6. It made no +provision for the sale of a servant by his Jewish master, nor for any +such domestic commerce in the persons of men as is practised in the +southern States of this Union; 7. It provided for the periodical +emancipation of all that were in bondage; thus aiming a fatal blow at +the very existence of servitude in the Hebrew commonwealth. I may not, +consistently with the necessary brevity of a tract designed for popular +perusal, go into any demonstration of the facts above asserted. For +proof that they are facts, let my readers studiously examine<a name="page_111" id="page_111"></a> the Mosaic +books, and the Rev. A. Barnes's "Inquiry into the Scriptural Views of +Slavery." I see not how any candid and discriminating investigator can +help being convinced that the servitude which was temporarily tolerated +in the Jewish church, was, in numerous respects, very unlike to that +which exists among us, and far less repulsive.</p> + +<p>But suppose, for argument's sake, it had been just as repulsive a system +as ours, would the fact of its having been tolerated under the Jewish +economy prove it to be intrinsically good, and worthy of being +perpetuated? Then, by parity of reasoning, the good men of ancient times +might safely have concluded that certain other practices were good and +would endure, which we know were not good, and were not to last. Had the +question been propounded in Abraham's or in David's day, whether +polygamy and concubinage were approved of God, and would be perpetuated +in the church, it is probable that even the saints of those periods +would have responded affirmatively. The fact that God had so long +allowed his people to practise these things unrebuked, might, to them, +have seemed sufficient proof that these practices were intrinsically +proper, and were to rank among the permanent fixtures of human society. +But were Abraham<a name="page_112" id="page_112"></a> and David now on the earth, with what changed feelings +would they regard the cast-off system of concubinage and a plurality of +wives. Again: suppose the conjecture had been hazarded, three thousand +years ago, that woman, from being a menial drudge, or a mere medium of +bestial indulgence, would one day occupy the dignified position to which +Christianity has actually lifted her, would not incredulity have lurked +in every heart, and found expression on every tongue? Now there are +plain indications, not only in the Word, but the providences of God, +that he never regarded slavery with complacency, any more than he did +polygamy, concubinage, or the serfdom of woman; and that he never +designed its perpetuity. Scrutinizing that Word and those providences, +one needs no prophetic ken to enable him to predict with certainty, +that, when Christ's millennial reign is ushered in, contraband will be +inscribed on slavery, as it already has been on some other evils that +were once tolerated, not only in society, but in the church of God.</p> + +<p>But I shall be reminded here, that, when the apostles were disseminating +Christianity in the Roman empire, there prevailed throughout that empire +a system of slavery more odious and oppressive than ours; and yet that +both slaveholders and slaves were converted and admitted<a name="page_113" id="page_113"></a> to the church, +without its affecting the relation of master and slave; that the New +Testament instructs the parties how to demean themselves in that +relation, but nowhere enjoins emancipation on the master, or encourages +absconding or non-submission in the slave; in short, that it nowhere +expressly condemns slavery, or intimates that its extermination was to +be expected or desired. In reply to this, I would say,—</p> + +<p>(1.) To infer, because the New Testament enjoins obedience on slaves, +and makes no direct attack on the institution of slavery, that it +therefore sanctions the institution, and would have it perpetuated, is +as much a <i>non sequitur</i> as to infer, because God enjoins on men +subjection to existing civil authorities, whatever may be their +character, that he as much approves of a despotic as of a constitutional +government,—of the government of Ferdinand of Naples as of that of +Victoria of England. Nor is it more difficult to comprehend why God has, +in the Scriptures, made no direct assault on slavery, than it is to see +why He has not directly assailed governmental despotisms, or expressed +any preference for one form of government over another. An obvious and +far-seeing wisdom is discernible in this, which it behooves us to +admire, and not unfrequently to imitate. Had the apostles or<a name="page_114" id="page_114"></a> the +Scriptures openly denounced all absolutism, whether civil or domestic, +it would have aroused unnecessary prejudice and opposition, and diverted +the attention of men from the grand object aimed at in giving the world +a written and preached gospel. God deemed it wiser to reach these evils +through the slow but sure progress of certain great principles laid down +in his Word, than through the medium of specific prohibitions.</p> + +<p>(2.) The fact that the apostles received into the church converts who +not only held slaves, but held them under a slave-system that was +awfully despotic, was no indorsement on their part of that odious +system, nor even of the slightest inhumanity on the part of a master +towards his slaves. It does, indeed, prove that a man may be a +Christian, without ceasing to be a slaveholder in form; but not that a +master may indulge in all the legal barbarities of the system, and yet +be a Christian. Merely to sustain the relation of a Christian master for +the good of the slave, or from the necessity of the case, is one thing, +while to advocate and defend this chattel system, and hold in bondage +fellow human beings for personal and selfish ends, is quite another +thing. Nowhere do the Scriptures countenance, or even wink at, the least +degree<a name="page_115" id="page_115"></a> of inhumanity or injustice in the treatment of servants. So far +from this, they expressly enjoin it on masters to "give unto their +servants that which is just and equal," all the law of disinterested +love would require; accompanying the injunction with the significant +hint, that they themselves have a Master, and that with him there is "no +respect of persons."</p> + +<p>(3.) Though the Scriptures do not directly assail the system of slavery, +they indirectly and obviously condemn it, and that very abundantly. +Slavery is indirectly and yet strongly rebuked in such passages of +Scripture as the following: "Wo unto him that ... useth his neighbor's +service without wages." "Is not this the fast that I have chosen, ... to +undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye +break every yoke?" "What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do +justly, and to love mercy?" ... "Have we not all one Father? Hath not +one God created us?" ... "And hath made of one blood all nations of men, +for to dwell on all the face of the earth; ... that they should seek the +Lord." ... "God is no respecter of persons." "The people of the land +have used oppression, ... therefore have I poured out mine indignation +<a name="page_116" id="page_116"></a>upon them." ... "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." "Therefore, +all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so +to them." It needs no unusual acuteness to see, that, were the spirit of +these and kindred passages (for numerous others of the sort might have +been cited) everywhere acted out, slavery would as readily vanish, as do +the icebergs of the North, if perchance they float away into milder +latitudes.</p> + +<p>Fifth. To the four reasons already assigned for thinking that slavery +has not God's approbation, and ought not to be perpetuated, I will add +but one more,—its baleful effects. (1). As it respects worldly thrift, +or pecuniary prosperity. It is a fact, that slavery exerts a depressing +influence on the business welfare of any community where it prevails; +and that, other things being equal, slaveholding States can never +compete with free ones in the item of financial prosperity. A necessary +brevity forbids my pointing out the causes of this fact; but my readers +will, without my aid, readily ascertain what they are. Suffice it to +say, it has become a settled maxim of political economy, that there +exists an antagonism between slavery and the highest business prosperity +of any people that tolerates it; and the southern States of this Union +furnish abundant confirmation of its truth. (2.) I will name but one +other thing,—its<a name="page_117" id="page_117"></a> baneful influence on character and morals. That +slavery tends to debase the character and morals of the slaves will +scarcely be questioned. Apart from the ignorance naturally resulting +from their condition, that condition powerfully tends to render them +sensual, indolent, artful, mendacious, stealthful, and revengeful. But +is the bad moral tendency of the institution limited to the bondmen? +Exerts it no corrupting influence on the hearts, the habits, and morals +of the masters? Is it not its legitimate tendency to foster in them such +vices as indolence, effeminacy, licentiousness, covetousness, +inhumanity, haughtiness, and a supreme regard for self? Of course, I do +not affirm that it uniformly produces these sad effects on the character +of masters. So far from this, there may doubtless be found slaveholders, +who, in all that adorns and ennobles human character, will compare +favorably with the very best men at the North. I think it will be +conceded, however, that the legitimate tendency is to evil, and that the +effects of slavery on the character of its sustainers are, in the main, +disastrous; and that the depreciated state of morals prevailing where +slavery exists is mainly attributable to this as its source. I need not +here enter into detail. Facts are too well known to make this +necessary.<a name="page_118" id="page_118"></a></p> + +<p>Thus have we contemplated several distinct reasons for believing that +slavery is no good thing,—has not the sanction of Jehovah,—and cannot +with propriety be perpetuated. Its contrariety to nature,—its +antagonism to the moral sense of mankind,—its disgraceful parentage and +manner of support,—its condemnation by the Bible,—and its disastrous +influence on financial prosperity, on character, and on public +morals,—all proclaim that slavery, so far from being a good thing, is a +tremendous curse; yea, more, that it is a stupendous wrong; and hence, +that it should be tolerated in the church of Christ no longer than the +best interests of all concerned may render necessary for a safe +termination.</p> + +<p>But it may be, after all, that I have failed to secure the assent of +some of my southern brethren to the justness of the foregoing positions +and inferences. It may be that they still regard the system of bondage +prevailing in their midst as in the main beneficial, defensible from the +Bible, and, with some modifications perhaps, worthy of perpetuity. Well, +brethren, suppose you do thus regard it; and for argument's sake +suppose, too, that you may possibly be right,—that slave-holding may be +in itself the harmless thing which you deem it; ought you not +cheerfully<a name="page_119" id="page_119"></a> to abandon it, in obedience to a great Bible +principle,—that of refraining from things which are in themselves +lawful, or which your conscience may not condemn, out of regard to the +conscience of aggrieved Christian brethren, or to the prejudices of +those whose salvation you would not obstruct? You are aware, brethren, +that this magnanimous principle Paul both inculcated and exemplified. +You are also aware that a large majority of the Christians now living +regard your cherished institution as unjustifiable, and at variance with +the spirit of Christianity; and, so regarding it, they long for its +extinction, and are grieved with you for cleaving to it so tenaciously, +and refusing to concert measures for its ultimate overthrow. Indeed, +they are more than grieved; they are profoundly agitated by the fresh +developments of the iniquitous system which you are helping to uphold; +and there seems no prospect, while that system endures, of their +becoming tranquillized. A tempest has sprung up and is raging in the +church of Christ,—to say nothing of the civilized world,—which seems +not likely to cease till its cause be removed; and slavery is that +cause. Now I put it to you, brethren, if here be not an opportunity of +exemplifying, on a broad scale, the self-denying and noble principle +which Paul<a name="page_120" id="page_120"></a> indicates in the words, "All things are lawful for me, but +all things are not expedient;" "Eat not for his sake that shewed it, and +for conscience' sake: ... conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the +other;" "Though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant +unto all, that I might gain the more." Have it, if you will, that the +brethren for whose sake you are asked to make this sacrifice are weak +brethren, and their consciences weak. Your obligation to make it is none +the less on that account; for the principle just adverted to +contemplates cases of this very sort. Since the practice which grieves +these weak brethren is one that you can probably abandon without +wounding your own conscience, are you at liberty to undervalue their +conscience by persisting in that which grieves them?</p> + +<p>But how much weightier does this argument become, when it is remembered +that the opposers of slavery, besides being exceedingly numerous, have, +many of them, been eminent,—not merely for a conscientious piety, but +for talent, for research, for scholarship, for broad and comprehensive +views of things;—and that the list embraces distinguished southern, as +well as northern men; and men of celebrity in both church and state. +There have been found<a name="page_121" id="page_121"></a> in the anti-slavery ranks, presidents and noble +men, jurists and legislators, statesmen and divines, scholars and +authors, poets and orators. And, still further to enhance the dignity of +the cause, it should be remembered that several General Assemblies of +the Presbyterian Church of the United States, together with numerous +lesser ecclesiastical bodies, have lifted up their voice in opposition +to slavery, and proclaimed substantially the same views which this +humble Essay has aimed to exhibit. Now if, as we have seen, a +deferential regard should be had to the conscience of aggrieved +Christian brethren, even when they are few and feeble-minded, how much +more, when the aggrieved ones are counted in hundreds of thousands? when +theirs is an intelligent piety and an enlightened conscience? and when, +too, their remonstrance is backed up by a public sentiment that is +wellnigh unanimous through all christendom?</p> + +<p>If now, in spite of all these considerations, I still have readers that +say in their hearts, slavery must be perpetuated, they will pardon me +for lingering no longer in the hope of changing their views. I would be +indulged, however, in one parting interrogation. Has it never occurred +to you, brethren, that yours is, on some accounts, a very unfavorable +stand-point from which to<a name="page_122" id="page_122"></a> form just and disinterested views of slavery; +and that your very position as slave-holders, and your long familiarity +with the system and its evils, may have blinded you to the magnitude of +those evils, and to the great desirableness of their being removed? May +it not be that long use, and self-interest, and the love of power and +ease, have conspired to warp your judgment, blunt your sensibilities, +and cause you to view slavery through a deceptive medium?</p> + +<p>Having, as I hope, the cordial assent of the great mass of my readers, +northern and southern, to the foregoing argument against slavery and its +perpetuity, we are now prepared to advance to the last great division of +our subject, and to inquire: What are the duties, positive and negative, +which this subject imposes on American Christians? What does it demand +that we, as Christians, should do, and refrain from doing? This question +subdivides itself thus: What ought we northern and professedly +anti-slavery Christians to do, and not do? And, next, What duties, +positive and negative, does the question devolve on professing +Christians in the slave-holding States?</p> + +<p>I. We are to consider what we, the northern and avowedly anti-slavery +section of the American church, ought, in view of this subject, both<a name="page_123" id="page_123"></a> to +do, and refrain from doing. In reply to the question, What ought we to +do? I would say,—</p> + +<p>1. It is not only our right, but duty, temperately and with Christian +courtesy to continue to discuss this great theme, both orally and with +the pen; and especially to endeavor to bring the truth into contact with +the mind and heart of our southern brethren,—if, peradventure, we may +thus persuade them soon to cease their connection with slavery. Freedom +of discussion is one important safeguard of the public weal; and that +must be regarded as a bad, untenable cause which will not bear the test +of a full and free discussion before the world. Free inquiry, too, has +not only preceded all great reformations, but has been an important +instrument in bringing them about. That great moral change known as the +temperance reformation is but one example among many that might be +adduced. If slavery is ever to be numbered in history among the things +that are past, it will be by having Bible light and truth made to +converge upon it, through the lens of free public discussion. Hence, +believing as we do that American slavery is an enormous evil and a +gigantic wrong,—a thing with which the church should cease to have +connection as speedily as may be,—as Christians we may, we must, employ +our tongues and our<a name="page_124" id="page_124"></a> pens in behalf of the enslaved, till our world +shall cease to contain such a class of men.</p> + +<p>2. We ought so to exercise the right of suffrage as to resist the +extension of slavery beyond its present limits. I say nothing here of +the political question of State rights, or of interfering with slavery +in States where it now exists. The question of authorizing by law the +extension of slavery into new States and Territories, or of admitting +new States with pro-slavery constitutions, is another and very different +thing from that of disturbing the compact in relation to slavery entered +into by the founders of this republic. The concessions in relation to +the slave interest which our fathers made by no means oblige us to make +further concessions, by consenting that slavery shall overstep her +present geographical limits. I know not what others may think; but, for +one, I feel constrained, by a sense of duty to God and my country, so to +vote as to have my votes tell against the spread of slavery. I must +carry my Christian principles of love and humanity to the ballot-box, as +well as elsewhere. Though long identified with one of the political +parties, I have of late felt myself bound, as a voter, to ignore the +ancient party lines, and even to ignore all other questions, compared +with the one great and absorbing one, Shall slavery be<a name="page_125" id="page_125"></a> allowed to have +more territory, in which to breed and expand itself? In my deliberate +judgment, all Christian patriots should, so far as their votes can +speak, say to the system of bondage existing in our midst, "Hitherto +shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall thy proud waves be +stayed." This becomes now a moral and a religious duty.</p> + +<p>3. In our visits to the throne of grace, we ought, with more frequency +and fervor, "to remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them." +Assured that all hearts and events are at God's disposal, that he abhors +oppression, and that prayer is the Christian's mode of taking hold of +God's strength, we must make full proof of this as a weapon with which +to effect the subversion of slavery. It may be that importunate, +persevering prayer will effect more in behalf of the enslaved than all +other instrumentalities. It is, at least, quite certain that other means +will prove inefficacious, if this be not superadded.</p> + +<p>But the question we are considering has a negative as well as positive +side; and we will next inquire, what we anti-slavery Christians ought to +refrain from doing.</p> + +<p>1. We must not, in our efforts to subvert slavery, indulge in an +unchristian spirit, or in language adapted needlessly to anger and +alienate<a name="page_126" id="page_126"></a> those whom it should be our aim to win. A cause that is +intrinsically good may be advocated in a bad spirit, or with improper +weapons; and such may have sometimes been the case with ours. Would that +all men had ever borne it in mind, that truth and love are the only +weapons with which to wage a successful conflict with this or any other +deep-seated moral evil.</p> + +<p>2. We must not, in our zeal for emancipation, allow mere feeling or +benevolent impulses partially to dethrone reason; and thus disqualify +ourselves for taking impartial views of the subject, or for accurately +discriminating between truth and error. There may have been men in the +anti-slavery ranks, with whom sympathy was every thing, and reason—and +even the Bible—comparatively nothing. In obeying the injunction to +"remember them that are in bonds," they may have neglected to remember +any thing else. Slavery seemed to occupy their entire field of vision. +Hence, not fully informed in regard to the actual condition of things at +the South, they have erroneously supposed that the slave codes +prevailing there were the standard by which to judge of the actual +condition of the slaves, and that all the Southern church was actually +practising the barbarities authorized by those codes. As there was no +just appreciation<a name="page_127" id="page_127"></a> of the actual conduct of masters towards their +servants, so there was no allowance made for the circumstances which +conspired to render them masters, nor for the obstacles which stand in +the way of their ceasing to be masters. It must be admitted, that +generally, where unrighteous laws are suffered to exist, the mass of the +community will not be better than the laws; but there are +exceptions,—men who intend to give heed to a higher law. So much for +allowing an amiable but blind sympathy to usurp that throne which reason +and revelation were designed conjointly to occupy. It scarcely need be +added, that these ultraisms have done much to prejudice the anti-slavery +cause, and bring it, in the eyes of some, into unmerited contempt. We +must wipe away that reproach, by so conducting our warfare with slavery +as to evince that we are neither men of one idea, nor men whose judgment +is led captive by their sensibilities.</p> + +<p>3. We must not, in opposing slavery, indorse the sentiment, that one +cannot in any conceivable circumstances give credible evidence of piety, +and yet continue in form to hold slaves; that being a master is, in any +and in all circumstances, a disciplinable offence in the church; or that +it should, without exception, constitute a barrier<a name="page_128" id="page_128"></a> to +church-membership, or to the communion of saints at Christ's sacramental +board. While we believe that all the great principles of God's Word go +to subvert slavery, and while we are constrained to regard the holding +of slaves as diminishing the evidence of a man's piety, and thus far +alienating his claims to a good standing in the Christian church, we may +nevertheless make exceptions, and not keep a man out of the church, or +discipline him when in it, merely because he sustains temporarily the +relation of master, not for selfish ends, but, as in rare cases, for +benevolent reasons. But if a man defends the system, and takes away from +a fellow man inalienable human rights, then we may and should refuse him +admission, or subject him to discipline, as the case may be. But, +obvious and important as is this distinction, it is one which some +anti-slavery men may have failed to make; and that failure may have +prejudiced or retarded the cause of emancipation. A good cause suffers +by having a single uncandid statement or untenable argument advanced in +its support; and the friends of the enslaved must afford their opponents +no room for saying, that their reasonings are illogical or +anti-scriptural.</p> + +<p>4. We must not, in seeking the extinction of<a name="page_129" id="page_129"></a> American slavery, so +insist on its immediate abolition as to repudiate the responsibility +which a master owes to this dependent and depressed class of his fellow +beings; but that that end be kept steadily in view, to be accomplished +as speedily as is consistent with the best good of the parties +concerned. The immediate and total extinction of southern slavery, if +not obviously impossible, is of questionable expediency. The upas of +American slavery has struck its roots so deep, and shot its branches so +far, and so interlaced itself with all surrounding objects, that, to +have it instantaneously and unreservedly uprooted, might prove, in many +cases, disastrous; and, at all events, is not to be expected. To say +nothing of other obstacles to the immediate abolition of Southern +slavery, the highest good of many of the slaves makes it inexpedient. +Some, probably many of them, need to pass through an educating +process,—a kind of mental and moral apprenticeship,—in order to their +profiting largely by the boon of emancipation.<a name="FNanchor_J_10" id="FNanchor_J_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_J_10" class="fnanchor">[J]</a><a name="page_130" id="page_130"></a></p> + +<p>II. We are now to inquire, lastly, what duties, positive and negative, +this great question devolves on those Christians among whom American +slavery has its seat, or who are personally identified with it. Hoping, +brethren, that the sentiments thus far advanced are your sentiments, I +shall have your further assent when I say,</p> + +<p>1. That the extinction, at the earliest consistent date, of the system +of servitude existing among you, is a result at which you ought steadily +and strenuously to aim. And, as you see, we base this obligation of +yours, not on the assumption of any sinfulness which you may sustain to +slavery, but on the acknowledged injustice and woes, past, present, and +prospective, of the system as a system,—its contrariety, as a system, +to the fundamental principles of Christianity. Did we regard you as +necessarily sinners,<a name="page_131" id="page_131"></a> if in any sense you hold slaves, then the least we +could ask of you would be, that with contrition of heart you should +instantaneously cease to indulge in this sin, for all sin should be +immediately abandoned. As it is, we only ask, that, just as fast as your +slaves can be prepared for freedom, and as the providence of God may put +it in your power to liberate them, you will do so. We are not so unwise +as to expect that the work of extinction can be accomplished in a day. +We know, too, that you are not, in your church capacity, the constituted +arbiters of the question as a question of State policy. And, so long as +your legislatures and their constituencies are resolved on maintaining +the system, perhaps you will be unable to effect as much as you desire +in the way of promoting its overthrow. And yet, brethren, there is a way +in which we think you can, with entire safety and manifest propriety, +contribute largely and directly to the extinction of American slavery. +Would the entire Southern church cease all personal participation in +slavery, and throw her whole weight and influence into the scale of +slavery's complete subversion, that "consummation devoutly to be wished" +would soon ensue. Slave-holding, no longer practised or justified by the +church, but discountenanced, could not long retain its foothold in the +State. Now if this be<a name="page_132" id="page_132"></a> so, our slaveholding brethren will confess that +they are imperiously bound, by motives of Christian duty, to liberate +their bondmen with all consistent speed. Meantime, and as one important +means of qualifying them for freedom, you ought,</p> + +<p>2. To see to it that not only your own, but all the bondmen among +you,—your entire slave population,—are furnished with the Bible, and +qualified to read and comprehend it; and also with stated preaching. +They need a written and preached gospel, were it only to fit them to +exchange, with advantage, a state of vassalage for the dignity of +freemen; for all experience proves that the Bible and the pulpit are of +all instruments the best to qualify men safely to exercise the right of +self-government. But there is a servitude more dreadful by far than any +domestic bondage that men have ever groaned under; and your slaves need +the Bible, and the Bible preached, to prove God's instruments of +breaking the chains imposed by Satan, and making them Christ's freemen. +Before God and in prospect of eternity, the distinctions between the +master and his slave dwindle into insignificance. Having souls that are +alike impure and alike precious, alike remembered by a dying Saviour and +alike in need of the<a name="page_133" id="page_133"></a> regenerating change, they stand alike in need of +God's Word, written and preached, as the Spirit's instrument in renewing +and sanctifying the soul. Hence the Bible and preaching are as much the +rightful inheritance of the slave as of the master. We rejoice that +these truths and the obligations resulting therefrom are, to some +extent, recognized by southern Christians; and that, in spite of certain +adverse statutes, so much is being done there for the spiritual +well-being of the slaves. Go on, brethren, in the good work of +evangelizing your slave population; in teaching them the art of reading +and the rudiments of knowledge; in putting the Bible into their hands, +and affording them stated opportunities to read it, and to hear it +expounded by you and by Christ's ministers. Go on, we say, till there be +not one southern slave, who, in point of religious privileges, is not on +a footing of equality with yourselves. Prosecuting this laudable work in +the spirit of love, you will probably encounter no serious opposition. +The adverse but dead statutes referred to will not, we hope, be +galvanized into life, in order to oppose you.</p> + +<p>It only remains that we name a few things, which we trust our Southern +brethren will unite with us in saying that they should refrain from<a name="page_134" id="page_134"></a> +doing. (1.) You ought not to, and we trust you will not, betray +impatience and irritation, whenever we of the North attempt to press the +claims of the enslaved on your attention. Your doing this,—as you +sometimes have,—seems to indicate, that, in your opinion, we Northern +Christians have no responsibility in regard to slavery and its evils; +and that when we discuss this theme we make ourselves "busybodies in +other men's matters." To the justness of this opinion we cannot +subscribe. While we disclaim all right or intention to break our compact +with you as States, we feel that American slavery is a question of too +great moment to ourselves and to unborn generations for us to have no +concern with or responsibility for; and as patriots, as philanthropists, +as Christians, we are constrained to do all that we rightfully may for +the downfall of this hoary system of wrong and woe. If any of you differ +with us in opinion on this theme, we trust you will allow us to discuss +it to our heart's content; and that you will listen to our reasonings +with Christian meekness and candor. Not to do so will be construed as an +evidence of intrinsic weakness in your cause. (2.) You will freely +admit, we presume, that certain practices are authorized by your slave +laws, in which you must not indulge even so<a name="page_135" id="page_135"></a> long as by any necessity +you hold slaves. Your slave codes, for example, do not recognize the +sanctity of family ties and the domestic affections as existing among +slaves; but, as Christian masters, you must. You doubtless believe, as +do we, that the marriage relation, with all its rights and immunities, +was as much designed for the negro as for the white man; that he, as +truly as the other, is entitled to "cleave unto his wife," unexposed to +the danger of man's putting asunder what God hath so closely joined, +that "they are no more twain, but one flesh." You believe, too, that God +united husband and wife thus indissolubly, not simply that they might be +a help and solace to each other in the toilsome pilgrimage of life, but +that the children with which God should bless them might grow up under +their supervision, and by them be qualified for a career of usefulness +and honor. Thus you believe, and believing thus, you will not, we trust, +counteract God's benevolent designs, by countenancing, in your own +practice, the separation of husbands and wives, or of parents and their +offspring. We feel assured, that, whatever your laws may allow, or +non-professing masters around you may do, you will never ignore the +conjugal or parental rights of your servants, or indulge in any thing +adapted to<a name="page_136" id="page_136"></a> mar their domestic enjoyment. Were you to do so, we confess +we could not extend to you "the right hand of fellowship" as brethren in +Christ. Were a church-member of ours to practise thus, we should regard +him as amenable to discipline. We should also regard it as disciplinable +for a master to overwork, or brutally chastise, or but half feed and +clothe his servants; or to hold slaves for mere purposes of gain, or to +traffic in them. None of these inhumanities could we reconcile with the +obligations of a Christian profession; and we confidently hope that in +these views you will heartily concur, and that with them your practice +will correspond.</p> + +<p>Christian brethren of the North and the South! The question we have been +considering is one of vast moment. Upon the right disposition of it are +suspended, under God, interests of immeasurable value, and which stretch +far out into the unseen future of our country and the world. Coming ages +and unborn generations are to be affected; favorably or otherwise, by +the decision of this vexed question; and, brethren, unless I misjudge, +its right decision is, to a very great extent, lodged in our hands. As +decides the American church, so, methinks, will decide the American +people. And now,—may I confess it?—I have dared to hope that the +sentiments<a name="page_137" id="page_137"></a> of this Essay are not only sound, but in unison with the +views of the great mass of American Christians. Are we not agreed in +this: that American slavery is a system of deep injustice and wrong, not +sanctioned by the Word or the providence of God; fraught with +incalculable mischief to the interests of both masters, and slaves, and +to the social and religious well-being of our whole country; a blot on +the escutcheon both of the nation and of the church; a weapon for +scepticism to wield, and an obstacle to the introduction of millennial +glory; and hence, a system which ought speedily to terminate, and which +all good men should unitedly oppose and seek to subvert? If we are thus +agreed, let us join hands as well as hearts, and, swerving neither to +the extreme of passive indifference on the one hand nor to that of +erratic fanaticism on the other, in the majesty of principle let us move +calmly onward, a phalanx of Christian philanthropists, attempting naught +but what they are assured God would have them attempt, and employing +only such means as are warranted by an enlightened conscience. Leaning +prayerfully on Him who hears the sighing of the oppressed, let us push +vigorously forward, and, though the year of jubilee has not yet fully +come, be assured it will come,—that proud day, when not only<a name="page_138" id="page_138"></a> +"throughout all the land," but throughout the civilized world, liberty +shall be proclaimed "unto all the inhabitants thereof." Hasten its +advent, "O Thou that hearest prayer," and that "delightest in mercy!" + Amen and Amen.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3><a name="FOOTNOTES" id="FOOTNOTES"></a>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> An extended passage containing the extract may be found +conveniently in Chambers' Cyclopædia of English Literature, vol. 2, p. +246.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> Genesis, 10th Chapter. Vide, Kitto's Cyclopædia, for views +in this connection.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> Col. 4:1; "Ye masters, give unto your servants that which +is just and equal." That is, act towards them on the principles of +justice and equity. Justice requires that all their rights, as men, as +husbands, and as parents, should be regarded. And these rights are not +to be determined by the civil law, but by the law of God.... But God +concedes nothing to the master beyond what the law of love allows. Paul +requires for servants not only what is strictly just, but τὴν ἰσότητα. What is that? Literally, it is <i>equality</i>. This is +not only its signification, but its meaning. Servants are to be treated +by their masters on the principles of equality. Not that they are to be +equal with their masters in authority or station or circumstances; but +that they are to be treated as having, as men, as husbands, and as +parents, equal rights with their masters. It is just as great a sin to +deprive a servant of the just recompense for his labor, or to keep him +in ignorance, or to take from him his wife or child, as it is to act +thus towards a free man. This is the equality which the law of God +demands, and on this principle the final judgment is to be administered. +Christ will punish the master for defrauding the servant as severely as +he will punish the servant for robbing his master. The same penalty will +be inflicted for the violation of the conjugal or parental rights of the +one as of the other. For, as the apostle adds, there is no respect of +persons with him. At his bar the question will be, "What was done?" not +"Who did it?" Paul carries this so far as to apply the principle not +only to the acts, but to the temper of masters. They are not only to act +towards their servants on the principles of justice and equity, but are +to <i>avoid threatening</i>. This includes all manifestation of contempt and +ill temper, or undue severity. All this is enforced by the consideration +that masters have a Master in heaven, to whom they are responsible for +their treatment of their servants.... Believers will act in conformity +with the Gospel in this. And the result of such obedience, if it could +become general, would be, that first the evils of slavery, and then +slavery itself, would pass away naturally, and as healthfully as +children cease to be minors. +</p> + +<p class="r"><i>Prof. Hodge's Commentary.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_4" id="Footnote_D_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_4"><span class="label">[D]</span></a> See 2 Brevard's Digest, 229; Prince's Digest, 446.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_5" id="Footnote_E_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_5"><span class="label">[E]</span></a> Civil Code, Art. 35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_6" id="Footnote_F_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_6"><span class="label">[F]</span></a> Job ch. 32, v. 17-20, Barnes's translation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_7" id="Footnote_G_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_7"><span class="label">[G]</span></a> It is sometimes said that the crime of adultery is neither +perpetrated nor encouraged by the breaking up of slave-families, +because, generally, the connections formed are not truly marriage, not +being solemnized according to forms of law, and hence the marriage +obligation <i>cannot</i> be violated. +</p><p> +It may be replied, if this be so, it presents slavery in a worse light +still, for it encourages and perpetuates a state of universal +concubinage. But it is <i>not</i> so. When a slave takes a companion, and +they consent and engage to live together as husband and wife until +death, and they thus declare their intentions before others, whether any +legal form is gone through or not, they are as truly "no more twain but +one flesh" as were Adam and Eve. It has been thus decided by our courts +in regard to white persons.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_H_8" id="Footnote_H_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_H_8"><span class="label">[H]</span></a> Rev. R. I. Breckenridge, D. D.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_I_9" id="Footnote_I_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_I_9"><span class="label">[I]</span></a> Mehemet Ali.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_J_10" id="Footnote_J_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_J_10"><span class="label">[J]</span></a> The publishers understand the writer to mean, that the +working of them without wages,—the withholding that which is just and +equal,—should be immediately and universally abandoned, and that +emancipation should be granted as speedily as the slaves can be prepared +to use and enjoy their freedom. The right should be acknowledged, and +the needful means for its security immediately used. The writer does not +say, that holding men in bondage is not generally sinful, nor that all +sin should not be immediately repented of and forsaken, but only that +there may be exceptions where for a time, and under very peculiar +circumstances, it may not be sinful, and cannot consistently with the +greatest good be abandoned, without some previous means of preparation.</p></div> + +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Three Prize Essays on American Slavery, by +R. B. Thurston and A.C. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Three Prize Essays on American Slavery + +Author: R. B. Thurston + A.C. Baldwin + Timothy Williston + +Release Date: May 19, 2010 [EBook #32422] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVERY *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + +Liberty or Slavery; the Great National Question. + +THREE PRIZE ESSAYS + +ON + +AMERICAN SLAVERY. + +"THE TRUTH IN LOVE." + +BOSTON: + +CONGREGATIONAL BOARD OF PUBLICATION. + +1857. + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by + +SEWALL HARDING, + +In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of +Massachusetts. + +CAMBRIDGE: + +ALLEN AND FARNHAM, STEREOTYPERS AND PRINTERS. + + + + +PREMIUM OFFERED. + + +A benevolent individual, who has numerous friends and acquaintances both +North and South, and who has had peculiar opportunities for learning the +state and condition of all sections of the nation, perceiving the danger +of our national Institutions, and deeply impressed with a sense of the +importance, in this time of peril, of harmonizing Christian men through +the country, by kind yet faithful exhibitions of truth on the subject +now agitating the whole community, offered a premium of $100 for the +best Essay on the subject of Slavery, fitted to influence the great body +of Christians through the land. + +The call was soon responded to by nearly fifty writers, whose +manuscripts were examined by the distinguished committee appointed by +the Donor, whose award has been made, as their certificate, here +annexed, will show. + + + + +PREMIUM AWARDED. + + +The undersigned, appointed a Committee to award a premium of one hundred +dollars, offered by a benevolent individual, for the best Essay on the +subject of Slavery, "adapted to receive the approbation of Evangelical +Christians generally," have had under examination more than forty +competing manuscripts, a large number of them written with much ability. +They have decided to award the prize to the author of the Essay +entitled, "_The Error and the Duty in regard to Slavery_," whom they +find, on opening the accompanying envelope, to be the Rev. R. B. +THURSTON, of Chicopee Falls, Mass. + +They would also commend to the attention of the public, two of the +remaining tracts, selected by the individual who offered the prize, and +for which he and others interested have given a prize of one hundred +dollars each. One of these is entitled, "_Friendly Letters to a +Christian Slave-holder_," by Rev. A. C. BALDWIN, of Durham, Conn.; the +other, "_Is American Slavery an Institution which Christianity sanctions +and will perpetuate?_" by Rev. TIMOTHY WILLISTON, of Strongsville, Ohio. + + ASA D. SMITH, + MARK HOPKINS, + THEODORE FRELINGHUYSEN. + +_May, 1857._ + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + +I. THE ERROR AND THE DUTY IN REGARD TO SLAVERY, 1 + +II. FRIENDLY LETTERS TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVE-HOLDER, 39 + +III. IS AMERICAN SLAVERY AN INSTITUTION WHICH CHRISTIANITY +SANCTIONS AND WILL PERPETUATE, 99 + +FOOTNOTES + + + + +THE ERROR AND THE DUTY + +IN + +REGARD TO SLAVERY. + +BY + +REV. R. B. THURSTON. + + +The great and agitating question of our country is that concerning +slavery. Beneath the whole subject there lies of course some simple +truth, for all fundamental truth is simple, which will be readily +accepted by patriotic and Christian minds, when it is clearly perceived +and discreetly applied. It is the design of these pages to exhibit this +truth, and to show that it is a foundation for a union of sentiment and +action on the part of good men, by which, under the divine blessing, our +threatening controversies, North and South, may be happily terminated. + +To avoid misapprehension, let it be noticed that we shall examine the +central claim of slavery, first, as a legal institution; afterwards, +the moral relations of individuals connected with it will be +considered. In that examination the term _property, as possessed in +men_, will be used in the specific sense which is given to it by the +slave laws and the practical operation of the system. No other sense is +relevant to the discussion. The property of the father in the services +of the son, of the master in the labor of the apprentice, of the State +in the forced toil of the convict, is not in question. None of these +relations creates slavery as such; and they should not be allowed, as +has sometimes been done, to obscure the argument. + +The limits of a brief tract on a great subject compel us to pass +unnoticed many questions which will occur to a thoughtful mind. It is +believed that they all find their solution in our fundamental positions; +and that all passages of the Bible relating to the general subject, when +faithfully interpreted in their real harmony, sustain these positions. +It is admitted that the following argument is unsound if it does not +provide for every logical and practical exigency. + +The primary truth which is now to be established may be thus stated: +_All men are invested by the Creator with a common right to hold +property in inferior things; but they have no such right to hold +property in men._ + +Christians agree that God as the Creator is the original proprietor of +all things, and that he has absolute right to dispose of all things +according to his pleasure. This right he never relinquishes, but asserts +in his word and exercises in his providence. The Bible speaks thus: "The +earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof, the world and they that +dwell therein, for he hath founded it. We are his people and the sheep +of his pasture"--ourselves, therefore, subject to his possession and +disposal as the feeble flock to us. Even irreligious men often testify +to this truth, confessing the hand of providence in natural events that +despoil them of their wealth. + +Now, under his own supreme control, God has given to all men equally a +dependent and limited right of property. _Given_ is the word repeatedly +chosen by inspiration in this connection. "The heavens are the Lord's, +but the earth hath he _given_ to the children of men." In Eden he +blessed the first human pair, and said to them, in behalf of the race, +"Replenish the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of +the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that +moveth upon the earth. Behold, I have _given_ you every herb bearing +seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in the +which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed." This, then, is the +original and permanent ground of man's title to property; and the +important fact to be observed is the _specific divine grant_. The right +of all men equally to own property is the positive institution of the +Creator. We all alike hold our possessions by his authentic warrant, his +deed of conveyance. + +Let us be understood here. We are not educing from the Bible a doctrine +which would level society, by giving to all men equal shares of +property; but a doctrine which extends equal divine protection over the +right of every man to hold that amount of property which he earns by his +own faculties, in consistency with all divine statutes. + +This right is indeed argued from nature; and justly; for God's +revelations in nature and in his word coincide. It is, however, a right +of so much consequence to the world, that, where nature leaves it, he +incorporates it, and gives it the force of a law; so that in the sequel +we can with propriety speak of it as a law, as well as an institution. +To the believer in the Bible, this law is the end of argument. + +It will have weight with some minds to state that this position is +supported by the highest legal authority. In his Commentaries on the +Laws of England, Blackstone quotes the primeval grant of God, and then +remarks, "This is the only true and solid foundation of man's dominion +over external things, whatever airy metaphysical notions may have been +started by fanciful writers upon this subject. The earth, therefore, and +all things therein, are the general property of all mankind, exclusive +of other beings, from the immediate gift of the Creator."[A] + +It will enhance the force of this argument to remember that this +universal right of property is one of what may be called a sacred +trinity of paradisaical institutions. These institutions are the +Sabbath, appointed in regard for our relations to God as moral beings; +marriage, ordained for our welfare as members of a successive race; and +the right of property, conferred to meet our necessities as dwellers on +this material globe. These three are the world's inheritance from lost +Eden. They were received by the first father in behalf of all his +posterity. They were designed for all men as men. It is demonstrable +that they are indispensable, that the world may become Paradise +Regained. "Property, marriage, and religion have been called the pillars +of society;" and the first is of equal importance with the other two; +for all progress in domestic felicity and in religious culture depends +on property, and also on the equitable distribution or possession of +property, as one of its essential conditions. Property lies in the +foundation of every happy home, however humble; and property gilds the +pinnacle of every consecrated temple. The wise and impartial Disposer, +therefore, makes the endowments of his creatures equal with their +responsibilities: to all those on whom he lays the obligations of +religion and of the family state, he gives the right of holding the +property on which the dwelling and the sanctuary must be founded. It is +a sacred right, a divine investiture, bearing the date of the creation +and the seal of the Creator. + +The blessing of this institution, like that of the Sabbath and of the +family, has indeed been shattered by the fall of man; but when God said +to Noah and his sons, concerning the inferior creatures, "Into your hand +are they delivered; even as the green herb have I given you all things," +it was reestablished and consecrated anew. The Psalmist repeated the +assurance to the world when he wrote, "Thou madest him to have dominion +over the works of thy hand; thou hast put all things under his feet." + +We now advance to the second part of our proposition. Men have no such +right to hold property in men. Since the right is from God, it follows +immediately that they can hold in ownership, by a divine title, only +what he has given. But he has not given to men, as men, a right of +ownership in men. No one will contend for a moment that the universal +grant above considered confers upon them mutual dominion, or rightful +property in their species. The idea is not in the terms; it is nowhere +in the Bible; it is not in nature; it is repugnant to common sense; it +would resolve the race into the absurd and terrific relation of +antagonists, struggling, each one for the mastery of his own estate in +another,--I, for the possession of my right in you; and you, for yours +in me. Nay, the very act of entitling all men to hold property proves +the exemption of all, by the divine will, from the condition of +property. The idea that a man can be an article of property and an owner +of property by the same supreme warrant is contradictory and absurd. + +We now have sure ground for objecting to the system of American slavery, +as such. It is directly opposed to the original, authoritative +institution of Jehovah. He gives men the right to hold property. Slavery +strips them of the divine investiture. He gives men dominion over +inferior creatures. Slavery makes them share the subjection of the +brute. That slavery does this, the laws of the States in which it exists +abundantly declare. Slaves are "chattels," "estate personal." +Slave-holders assembled in convention solemnly affirm in view of +northern agitation of the subject, that "masters have the same right to +their slaves which they have to any other property." + +This asserted and exercised right is the vital principle and substance +of the institution. It is the central delusion and transgression; and +the evils of the system to white and black are its legitimate +consequences. The legal and the leading idea concerning slaves is that +they are property: of course, the idea that they are men, invested with +the rights of men, practically sinks; and, from the premise that they +are property, the conclusion is logical that they may be treated as +property. Why should _property_, contrary to the interests of the +proprietor, be exempt from sale, receive instruction, give testimony in +court, hold estate, preserve family ties, be loved as the owner loves +himself, in fine, enjoy all or any of the "inalienable rights" of _man_? +It is because they are held as property, that slaves are sold; because +they are property, families are torn asunder; because they are +property, instruction is denied them; because they are property, the +law, and the public sentiment that makes the law, crush them as men. + +We do not here call in question the mitigations with which Christian +masters temper into mildness the hard working of an evil system. Those +mitigations do not, however, logically or morally defend slavery. Nay, +they condemn it; for they are practical tributes to the fact that the +laws of humanity, not of property, are binding in respect to the slaves. +Hence they really show the inherent inconsistency of the idea, and the +unrighteousness of the system which regards men as property. + +Notwithstanding those mitigations, the system itself, like every wrong +system, produces characteristic evils, which can be prevented only by +removing their cause, the false doctrine that men can be rightfully held +in ownership. Fallen as man is, no prophet was needed to foretell at the +first the dreadful facts that have been recorded in the bitter history +of man's claim of property in man. Such a history must always be a +scroll written within and without with lamentations and mourning and +woe. Man is not a safe depositary of such power. A human institution +which subverts a divine institution, and which carries with it the +assumption of a divine prerogative in constituting a new species of +property, naturally saps the foundations of every other divine +institution and law which stands in its way. Hence, for example, the +fall of the domestic institution before that of slavery. + +The inherent wrongfulness of American slavery as a legal and social +institution is therefore clearly demonstrated. It formally abolishes by +law and usage a divine institution. Hence, in its practical operation, +it sets aside other divine institutions and laws. Consequently it stands +in the same relations to the divine government with the abolition of the +Sabbath by infidel France, and with the perversion of the family +institution by the Mormon territory of Utah. + +Here the fundamental argument from the Bible rests. But slavery +justifies itself by the Bible. It becomes essential, therefore, to +examine the validness of this justification. + +There are but two possible ways of avoiding the conclusion that has been +reached. To vindicate slavery it must be proved, first, that God has +abolished the original institution, conferring on men universally the +right to hold property; or, secondly, it must be proved, that, while he +has by special enactments taken away from a portion of mankind the right +to hold property, he has given to other men the right to hold the +former as property. Further, to justify American slavery, it must be +shown that these special enactments include the African race and the +American States. + +In regard to the first point we simply remark, it is morally impossible +that God should permanently and generally abolish the original +institution concerning property; because, as in the case of its coevals, +the Sabbath and marriage, the reason for it is permanent and +unchangeable, and "lex stat dum ratio manet," the law stands while the +reason remains. Moreover, there is not a word of such repeal in the +Bible. That institution, therefore, is still a charter of rights for the +children of men. Till it is assailed, more need not be said. + +As to the second point, we believe that careful investigation will prove +conclusively, that no special enactments are now in force which arrest +or modify the institutions of Eden, in regard to any state or any +persons. It will, then, remain demonstrated, that the legal system of +slavery exists utterly without warrant of the Holy Scriptures, and in +defiance of the authority of the Creator. The word of God is throughout +consistent. + +It is here freely admitted, that God can arrest the operation of general +laws by special statutes. He can take away from men the right to hold +property which he has given, and, if he please, constitute them the +property of other men. It is, in this respect, as it is with life. God +can take what he gives. If, then, he has given authority to individuals +or to nations to hold others as property, they may do so. Nay, more; if +their commission is imperative, they must do so. But such an act of God +creates an exception to his own fundamental law, and, like all +_exceptions_, conveys its own restrictions, and _proves the rule_. It +imposes no yoke, save upon those appointed to subjugation. It confers no +authority, save upon those specifically invested with it. They are bound +to keep absolutely within the prescribed terms, and no others can +innocently seize their delegated dominion. Outside of the excepted +parties the universal law has sway unimpaired. It is in this instance as +it is in regard to marriage. God permitted the patriarchs to multiply +their wives; but monogamy is now a sacred institution for the world. So +the supreme Disposer can make a slave, or a nation of slaves; and the +world shall be even the more solemnly bound by the original institutes +concerning property. It follows, without a chasm in the argument, or a +doubtful step, that, when persons or States reduce men to the condition +of chattels, _without divine authorization_, they are guilty of +subverting a divine institution; and, since it is the prerogative of God +to determine what shall be property, they are chargeable with a +presumptuous usurpation of divine prerogative, in making property, so +far as human force and law can do it, of those whom Jehovah has created +in his own image, and invested with all the original rights of men. + +The soundness of the principle contained in these remarks, both in law +and in biblical interpretation, will not be questioned. In the light of +it, let us examine briefly the justifications of slavery as derived from +the Bible. Happily the principle itself saves the labor of minute and +protracted criticism. + +We first consider the curse pronounced upon Canaan by Noah. Admitting +all that is necessary to the support of slavery, namely, that that curse +constituted the descendants of _Canaan_ the property of some other tribe +or people, upon whom it conferred the right of holding them as property, +yet even so this passage does not justify but condemns American slavery; +for that curse does not touch the African race: _they are not +descendants of Canaan_;[B] and it gives no rights to American States. +In later times the Canaanites were devoted to destruction for their +sins. The Hebrews were the agents appointed by Jehovah to this work of +retribution. It was not, however, accomplished in their entire +extermination. In the case of the Gibeonites it was formally commuted to +servitude, and other nations occupying the promised land were made +tributary. Thus the curse upon Canaan was fulfilled by _authorized +executioners_ of divine justice. + +What light does the whole history now throw upon slavery? It is plain +the curse was a judicial act of God concerning Canaan. It follows that +conquest with extermination or servitude was a judgment of God, which he +appointed his chosen people to execute. It follows further, that those, +who, without his commission, reduce to bondage men who are not +descendants of Canaan, do inflict a curse on those whom he has not +cursed; and thus virtually assume his most awful prerogative as the +Judge of guilty nations. + +We then inquire whether the States of the South have received warrant +for enslaving any portion of mankind. Has God _given_ them the African +race as property? Where is the commission? The argument fails to justify +modern slavery for the same reason identically that it fails to justify +offensive war and conquest. God has not given the right--has neither +proclaimed the curse, nor commissioned the agent of the curse. Christian +States in America seize it, and lay it upon those whom he has not +cursed. The passage of his word which has been considered affords them +no sanction. + +We proceed to another passage. It is supposed by many to be an +incontrovertible defence of modern slavery, that the Hebrews were +authorized to buy bondmen and bondmaids of the heathen round about them. +Let us candidly examine this defence. + +Why were the Hebrews authorized by God in express terms to buy servants, +and possess them as their "money?" Evidently _because they did not +otherwise have this authority_. Human beings, as we have seen, were not +"given" in the grant of property. They do not, therefore, fall within +the scope of the general laws of property. If they had so fallen, the +special statutes, by which the Hebrews purchased them, would have been +as gratuitous as special enactments for buying animals, trees, and +minerals. _Of all nations they only have possessed this right; for they +only received it by special bestowment._ The rest of mankind have ever +been prohibited from assuming it by fundamental laws. If ever there was +a case in which the exception proves the rule, that case is before us; +and therefore a chasm yawns between the premise and the conclusion +defensive of slavery, which no exegesis and no logic can bridge over. + +To illustrate the strength of this argument, let the fact be observed, +that, if it could be set aside, it would follow, by parity of reasoning, +that the clergy of our country, regardless of fundamental laws, have +right to take possession of a tenth part of the estates and incomes of +their fellow-citizens, because the Levites in this manner received their +inheritance among their brethren. It is plain, however, that, as in +regard to other interests no less important than liberty or slavery, so +also in regard to slavery itself, the special laws of the Old Testament +are no longer in force; whence it follows that the vital doctrine of the +system, "masters have the same right to their slaves which they have to +any other property," is totally erroneous. The institution which claims +solid foundation here is built on nothing. + +We cannot forbear to adduce an instance of unexceptionable testimony to +the validity of this reasoning. In one or two famous articles on slavery +and abolitionism, the Princeton Repertory adopts it, with another +application, and says, "So far as polygamy and divorce were permitted +under the old dispensation they were lawful, and became so by that +permission; and they ceased to be lawful when that permission was +withdrawn, and a new law given. That Christ did give a new law is +abundantly evident." In the same manner, 'so far as' slavery 'was +permitted under the old dispensation it was lawful, and became so by +that permission; and it ceased to be lawful when that permission was +withdrawn, and a new law given.' It is true, however, only in a +qualified sense, that Christ gave "a new law" concerning polygamy and +divorce. His law restored the original institution of marriage, as in +Eden; and this was "new" to the Jews, because there had been departure +from it. In like manner the New Testament, if not the very words of +Christ, now gives a new law concerning slavery in the same sense; that +is, as will appear, in the sequel, the Christian precepts restore the +original institution concerning property as well as concerning marriage. +The laws which allowed polygamy and slavery, and therefore the right, +passed away together. + +Here we leave the Old Testament. No other passages need examination; for +all consist with these positions. So far as that sacred volume gives +light, the world are bound by the laws and have equal right to the full +blessings of three divine institutions, whose foundations were laid in +Paradise, and whose complete and glorious proportions will encompass the +universal, millennial felicity. + +The defence of slavery from the New Testament now demands brief notice. +We desire to allow it full force, while we ask the reader's candid +judgment of the conclusion. + +Of course, the New Testament sanctions now what it sanctioned in the +days of its authors. That must have been _Roman, not Hebrew_, slavery; +for they lived and wrote to men under Roman law. Besides, there is +reason to believe, as Kitto states, that the Jews at that time held no +slaves. In point of historic truth, it appears that the Mosaic law, +finding slavery in existence, practically operated as a system of +gradual emancipation for its extinction. "There is no evidence that +Christ ever came in contact with slavery." This sufficiently explains +why he did not give a "new law" concerning it in specific terms. The +occasion did not arise, as it did arise in regard to polygamy and +divorce, with which he did come in contact. Furthermore, there was no +need of new law, other than was actually given. + +The argument from the New Testament for the rightfulness of slavery is +twofold, being built on the instructions given to masters and servants. +It fails on both sides. + +For, first, the precepts addressed to servants convey no authority to +national rulers or to private individuals to set aside the institution +of Jehovah by reducing men to the condition of slaves. These precepts +simply enjoin the conduct which Christianity required in their actual +situation. They do not vindicate the law and usage by which they were +held as property. This is abundantly evident in the texts themselves, +and more emphatically, when they are compared with the parallel cases. + +Christ promulgated these rules. "I say unto you that ye resist not evil; +but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other +also. And if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, +let him have thy cloak also." Does this empower States to legalize fraud +and violence? Does it transmute all the _evil_ which Jesus' disciples +have endured into _righteousness_ of those who have inflicted the evil? +Does it wash the crimsoned hands of persecutors in innocency? Does it +justify the wilful smiter? All men know better. No one contends for such +exposition. Yet it is indispensable to the interpretation which finds a +justification of slavery in precepts which enjoin obedience on slaves. +That obedience is required on other grounds. + +Another example. The New Testament explicitly commands citizens to +submit to the civil power. Does this sanctify the tyranny of a Nero or a +Nicholas? In the enjoined submission of subjects, has the despot, or the +state, full license for edicts and acts of oppression and iniquity? Yet +they are logically compelled to admit this, and thus, in theory at +least, banish freedom from the whole earth, who find in commands +addressed to servants power conferred on legislators and masters to make +them slaves; that is, to hold them as property. Instead of this, the +rights and obligations of rulers, and of those who claim to be owners of +their fellow men, are defined in a very different class of instructions. + +Secondly, the instructions addressed to masters forbid the exercise of +the right which is assumed in slavery. To make this clear, we observe, +primarily, there is no passage in the New Testament which _institutes_ +the relation of men held in ownership by men. There is no direct +reference to the civil laws which constituted this relation. They are +passed by silently, as are the laws that established idolatry, and +kindled the fires of persecution. Their existence is tacitly +acknowledged in the use of the terms which designate masters and +servants; and that is all. Hence those who find here an apology for +slavery are obliged to refer to secular history for the facts and +definitions on which their argument rests. Accordingly, no passage in +the New Testament would be void of meaning, though slavery should cease. +In this respect the Constitution of the United States resembles the +sacred books; for not one word of that instrument, interpreted on just +principles as the palladium of liberty, needs to be obliterated in the +abolition of slavery. Furthermore, and this covers our position, the New +Testament, disregarding the Roman law, refers masters exclusively to the +law of God as their rule for the treatment of servants. A single +citation, with which all passages agree, is sufficient to show this. +"Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal, knowing +that ye also have a Master in heaven." Now, as none can find in such +precepts a right to destroy God's primary institution concerning the +family, no more can they find in them a right to destroy his primary and +universal institution concerning property. Stronger than this, the +conclusion is inevitable, that the very precepts which are relied upon +to support American slavery do condemn and destroy it; for the law of +God, by which they bind masters, ordaining from Eden what is just and +equal between men, abolishes the fundamental and central law of the +system.[C] + +It is argued, indeed, that slavery is right, because masters, as well as +fathers and rulers, may require obedience. The argument fails utterly; +for there is at the foundation no analogy in the cases. The family and +the State are divine institutions, having sanction in the Bible; but +slavery subverts a divine institution. Fathers and rulers, _as such_, +have duties and rights suitable to the relations they sustain by the +will of God. Masters, _as such_, have no _rights_; for their relation, +as holding property in men, is contrary to his will. Their duty, to +which they are bound by the solemn consideration that he is their +Master, is practically to restore to their servants the rights which he +confers upon all; for nothing less than this can be just and equal in +his sight. + +This view discloses the harmony of the whole Bible concerning slavery; +and, in the light of the two Testaments, the institution stands as a +legalized violation of the positive will of Jehovah. + +We now condense the whole argument into its briefest form, in the +following syllogisms. + +The entire right of men to hold property is given by the Creator. He +gives to American States and citizens no right to hold property in men. +Therefore they have no such right. + +Again. An institution is sinful, which, without divine warrant, holds +property in men, thus assuming a divine prerogative, and subverting a +divine institution. American slavery does this. Therefore it is a sinful +institution. + +The purpose of this tract now introduces a new series of topics. The +argument demands its application; and the exigencies of the times +present momentous questions, which it must answer. + +Hitherto we have spoken of the system of slavery. We come now to persons +connected with it. Because the system is sinful, the question +immediately occurs, who are chargeable with the sin; for there is no sin +without sinners. The answer is obvious. They are chargeable who founded +it, and all who wilfully implicate themselves with it. Practically, they +are always chargeable who adopt it as their own in theory and practice, +who support it in the State, consecrate it in the Church, and labor for +its extension. They are chargeable, for they bring heresy into creeds, +unrighteousness into legislation, and crime into popular usage. If they +are masters, they stand in the same moral relations with persecutors and +tyrannical rulers, guilty for all personal injuries they inflict under +color of unjust laws; and, whether masters or not, they are guilty for +exerting their influence to sustain laws which set aside the authority +of God, and withhold the rights he has given. Such men are accountable +to God and to society for deliberate, organised, aggressive iniquity. +The "organic sin" of the State is their sin, the sin of each in his own +measure; for they are the individuals who determine the acts and the +character of the slave-holding State as such. + +But are there no exceptions among slave-holders? We trust there are +many. There is a plain distinction between wicked laws and the personal +acts of men who live under those laws. Some may approve them, and use or +abuse them to the injury of their fellow men. Others may disapprove +them, and refuse, by means of them, to do or justify a wrong. Christians +may become in a legal sense owners of slaves, while they heartily +deprecate the system of oppression, while they are ready to unite with +good men in feasible and wise measures for its removal, and while they +obey the Christian precepts towards their servants, rendering unto them +what is just and equal to men and brethren in Christ. Such Christians +and such men do not hold slaves in the sense which God forbids; and they +cannot be charged with the wickedness of laws by which they, as well as +the slaves, are oppressed. On their estates a higher law than that of +slavery has sway. To them their slaves, though legally property, are +morally and actually men. The Bible sustains their position. They are +the Philemons to whom Paul gives fellowship, and Onesimus returns, not +as a slave, but a brother beloved. In the trials of their situation they +should receive the cordial sympathy of Christians everywhere. It is, +indeed, to their sound convictions and their political influence the +world must look, in part at least, for the ultimate, peaceful extinction +of American slavery. Without them, what would the South become? With the +Scriptures in our hand we earnestly say to them, "Throw the weight of +your influence against unrighteous laws, fulfil to servants the law of +God, and you shall have the sympathy and confidence of good men +everywhere. Nay, more; you, with their help, and they with your help, +will confine the spreading curse, till, with God's blessing, it shall +cease; and Christian and civilized man shall have no more communion with +it." + +These discriminations answer certain ecclesiastical questions, which +have occasioned much perplexity and discord. When properly applied, they +take away whatever support a wicked institution has found by leaning +upon the Church; at the same time they award to consistent Christians +what is due to them by the religion of Jesus. If it shall be said, there +will be practical difficulty in applying these discriminations, it is +sufficient to answer, it will be less than the difficulty of +disregarding them. + +The question now arises, what can be done for the restriction and +ultimate extinction of slavery as it is; for, since it is sinful, +Christianity and patriotism declare it should be restrained and +abolished. + +First. The extension of slavery can and should be prevented by the +Federal Government. The Scriptures have shown us, that the people in +their sovereignty have not the right to create a slave State or a slave. +Of course, the legislators and presidents; who receive in trust the +power which emanates from the people, have no such right. If the +Constitution assumed to confer this power, it would be the first +national duly to amend that instrument in this particular. There is no +power on earth competent to set aside either of the Creator's original +institutions for man. But, according to the sound and established +principle of strict construction, the Constitution as it is does not +create slavery, or even acknowledge its existence, except by inference. +Hence there is no legal objection to the measure which religion herself +ordains. The religious and the political obligations of all citizens and +all legislators coincide to protect, under the jurisdiction of Congress, +the right of every man to be exempt from the condition of property, and +to enjoy the property which he honestly earns. Thus the question +concerning slavery and the territories is morally settled by divine +authority; and to this no real objection can be made, except by that +great interest, whose existence is inherently unrighteous and +irreligious. + +Secondly. In the slave States, legislation should restore to the +enslaved population the primitive rights which God has given to all men, +establishing for them, on humane and Christian principles, such +relations as are suitable to their condition of poverty, ignorance, and +dependence, and are adapted to secure at once their improvement and the +general welfare. + +This is the logical conclusion to be derived from the premises. As the +central wrong of slavery consists in making men articles of property by +law, the rectification is to lift from them by law the curse of the +false and irreligious doctrine, that they can be rightfully held as +property. Thus the axe is laid to the root of the tree. + +This is also the conclusion to which we are forced by other moral +principles bearing on the case. For men to receive services of men is +right. Accordingly, the New Testament allows masters to receive services +of those who are slaves in the sense of human law; but at the same time +the sacred book requires masters, with all who employ labor, to make the +recompenses which are just and equal towards men; for slavery is not +right; and legislators, on their responsibility to the Ruler of nations, +are bound to adjust the laws in harmony with the first principles of +individual and moral obligation. + +Furthermore, this is the only practical conclusion. By inevitable +necessity, the slaves, as a body, must remain on the soil of their +bondage. Only exceptional cases of removal can occur. They are the +laborers of the South; and no State will, or can, or is bound, to remove +its laborers. It is simply bound to protect and treat them with +Christian equity and kindness. Banishment of them would be injustice and +cruelty, violating perhaps no less than restoring divine rights. +Moreover, no practicable means of removing them have ever been seriously +proposed; and, till they shall be, the point needs no discussion. + +But the question may be raised, "Are the slaves to endure their present +wrongs until the laws shall be thus renewed, or perhaps forever?" We +reply, in showing how slave-holders can cease from guilty connection +with slavery; we have also shown how the situation of the slaves becomes +one of practical righteousness, before the laws can be readjusted; and +for this great obligation of the body politic, sufficient time most be +allowed. Moral principles do not exact natural impossibilities. The +elevation of oppressed millions can be accomplished only in harmony with +great natural and social, as well as ethical laws, which the wisdom of +God has ordained. + +It remains therefore, that, for a period of which no man can see the +end, the slaves must, in most cases, dwell within the present +boundaries; but it is incumbent on the citizens and legislators of the +South to institute _immediate_ measures for restoring to them the +inviolable rights of men. So long as they continue, by the _necessities_ +of the case, in the relation of servants and laborers, masters should +deal with them according to the rules of humane and Christian equity, +paying to them in suitable ways their just earnings, holding sacred +their family ties, and securing to them the privileges of education and +religion. Meanwhile, the legislatures of the several States, by wise +enactments, should cooeperate with masters in training their servile +population for the position which the Creator designed for men. + +When these things shall come to pass, a consideration, in which many +good men have sought relief in regard to slavery, will have multiplied +force. The providential wisdom of God, in bringing millions of the +children of Africa from a land of pagan darkness and violence to a land +of freedom and Christianity, will shine with new lustre, when they shall +receive from American hands, together with true religion, every divine +right, and shall thus be qualified and enabled to convey to the dark +habitations of their fathers the infinite blessings of enlightened +liberty and of the gospel of eternal salvation. + +These things are practicable. So long as "righteousness exalteth a +nation," a great, free, and Christian people can do what they should do; +and thus only can they secure, under the divine blessing, their own +highest prosperity and glory. To prove this would be simply to repeat +the familiar facts which exhibit the legitimate effects of slavery on +general intelligence, enterprise, and virtue. + +But what shall produce the true and wide spread public sentiment, which +is indispensable to usher in so radical a change in the laws and +institutions of proud and powerful States? Truth must accomplish this +great work--THE TRUTH that our Creator does not place those who bear his +image in bondage to their fellow men as property, but invests them with +a common and inviolable right of dominion over inferior things. The +vivid light which this truth sheds on the social relations of men has +been extinguished at the South; and it has been dimmed at the North. In +every right way and in every place, therefore, it should be made to +shine again unobscured. Expounders should bring it forth from the Holy +Oracles; for Jehovah has hallowed it there, and made it equal in +authority with the Sabbath. The press should publish it; for it is the +function of the press to convey unceasingly to the public mind whatever +will establish and crown the public integrity and welfare. All men +should seal it in their hearts; for it is the divine rule and bond of +brotherhood in the universal dominion. It surrounds them with protected +families, and builds their safe firesides and their altars of worship. + +The question arises here, can general agreement be expected in regard to +this primary truth, and measures which legitimately proceed from it? It +is to be supposed there are men in whose hearts there is no fear of God +or love of their fellow beings. With such men these views may be +powerless; but for men of Christian principle, we are confident they +show a common foundation for united sentiments and efforts. + +There is now a general, practical, vital consent that government and +society should respect the divine institutions of the family and the +Sabbath. Beneath all superficial strifes and irrelevant issues, there is +the same sure ground for a living and earnest agreement, that government +and society should respect the equal and coeval institution of the right +of property. + +Christian and conservative men can unite in the proposed measures and +the truth which appoints them; for they desire to preserve only what is +right. Christian and progressive men can unite in them; for they desire +to abolish only what is wrong. Politics can approve them; for they are +constitutional and patriotic. Philanthropy can be satisfied with them; +for they promise all that in the nature of the case can be promised for +the early relief of the slaves. Religion sanctions them; for they +restore her own institutions. Good men of the South can unite in them +with those of the North; for they have equal authority North and South. +They proffer only that moral aid which great communities, sharing common +interests and responsibilities, should render and receive with intimate +and cordial confidence. They honor the sovereignty of proud and jealous +States; for each of them, exercising the power which springs from its +own people in its own way, will discharge its political obligations to +all within its boundaries. + +A few years or even months of combined efforts will suffice to convey +this truth with vital energy to millions of minds and hearts. In due +time it will manifest its efficacy in the public sentiment and public +policy. We trust in its power. It is invincible; it will be victorious; +for it is from God. Its absence from the popular and legislative mind +well explains many of the evils that have been precipitated upon the +nation. Its future prevalence, under divine mercy, will arrest the +progress of events which would be, as we judge, not remedy, but +retributive destruction, on account of slavery. + +This leads us to the final question. Are the principles and measures +advocated in this tract or their equivalents, with the contemplated +result, essential to the welfare of our country? We are compelled to +believe so. + +We present, for the consideration of citizens and statesmen, this fact. +In harmony with that law of fitness which pervades the Creator's works, +all men are constituted with a nature corresponding with the dominion +they have received. They feel that they have a right to hold property, +and should not be held as property. Slaves feel this. Masters often show +that they feel it. They who make laws for slavery, North and South, show +that they feel it. The little property which slaves are often allowed to +possess, so far from furnishing apology for slavery, is an unwitting +tribute to the living principle that destroys the system. Here is a +philosophical demonstration that slavery cannot stand in perpetuity. +This vital element in human nature, to which a divine institution itself +is but an index, is subterranean fire beneath the pyramid of oppression. +Though long crushed and silent, it will not always sleep. Do men expect +to control forever, by law and force, that sense of rights which burns +inextinguishable in every human breast, which God himself kindled in +Eden? As well pile rocks on volcanoes to suppress earthquakes. + + "Vital in every part, + It can but by annihilating die." + +In this light, it is no prediction to say, if slavery survives to +consummate its own results it will destroy our country. + +The great political and religious problem of the slave-holding States, +on which their welfare really depends, is not, how shall we extend +slavery? but, how shall we lay legal foundation for the rights of our +servile population as men? Unless it shall be anticipated and prevented, +by restoring to them the dominion which the Creator bestowed, a day is +as sure to come on natural principles as the sun to rise, when the +masses of human property will assert for themselves the indestructible +rights of their being. Generations may not see it; but woe betides the +States implicated in this oppression, when that day shall dawn; and the +longer it tarries the greater the woe. + +To our mind, the statesmen are infatuated who do not in their policy +regard this universal sense of rights. It is this which is now making so +bitter conflict on the prairies of Kansas. It will always make conflict, +till slavery expires. + +In connection with the general welfare, there is another consideration, +which we solemnly urge upon every man who respects the Bible. It is the +displeasure of God for slavery. He gave the rights which it denies; and +he will assuredly vindicate his own institutions. It would contradict +his word and history, which is but the story of his providence, to +suppose that he will perpetually allow myriads of men, in this land of +light, to hold as property other myriads and even millions of their +fellow men and fellow Christians, whom he has endowed, as bearing his +own image, with equal rights. With Jefferson we have reason to tremble +for our country, when we behold her support of slavery and remember that +God is just. France abolished the Sabbath; and thrones have gone down in +blood. America may abolish another divine institution; and for this her +proud States may be convulsed. The previous topic shows, indeed, that +God has so constituted the social elements of this world, that a great +wrong, like slavery, ultimately provides for its own retribution. The +oppressor himself treasures up the vials of wrath for Him who taketh +vengeance. + +In view of all the considerations which have now passed before our +minds, is it too much to believe, that the diffusion of kindly and +scriptural sentiments, with the blessing of heaven producing general +agreement in principles and measures, must be the means of our country's +salvation from the guilt and perils of slavery? If it is not extended, +misguided, infatuated men may, indeed, threaten to dissolve the Union. +Still we fear that extension most; for religion teaches us to fear God +more than man. It allows us but this alternative, to keep his +commandments, and trust that he will make the wrath of man to praise +him. We hold that national righteousness in his sight, "first pure, +then peaceable," is better and safer than union and slavery with his +frown. Let justice be done, and the heavens will not fall. + +Whatever purposes God may conceal in the cloudy future, present duties +are ours. He seals them in his word. Notwithstanding all the heats and +perversions of parties and interests, we trust there will yet be a +single voice of our nation's good men. Citizens will speak the truth, +legislators will enact the truth, churches will hallow the truth, vital +to civilization and Christianity, that, by Jehovah's will, man is not +the property of man. Then, under the benediction of our Father in +heaven, all his children in mutual protection and benevolence will enjoy +their property, their homes, and their Sabbath; and he will more richly +bless the land of the free and the just. + + + + +FRIENDLY LETTERS + +TO + +A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. + +BY + +REV. A. C. BALDWIN. + + + + +LETTER I. + +INTRODUCTION.--SOUTHERN COURTESY AND HOSPITALITY.--CHARACTERISTICS +OF THE SOUTH AND NORTH.--NO ESSENTIAL DIFFERENCE AT HEART.--THEY +SHOULD UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER BETTER.--A FREE INTERCHANGE OF +SENTIMENT DESIRABLE.--SINCERE PATRIOTISM AND PIETY COMMON TO +BOTH.--THESE AN EFFECTUAL SAFEGUARD TO OUR UNION AND +GOOD-FELLOWSHIP. + + +MY DEAR CHRISTIAN BROTHER,--I embrace the first moment at my command +since leaving your pleasant home, to express the gratification afforded +me by my recent visit to the "Sunny South." The kind hospitality and +polite attentions shown me by yourself and other Christian friends, +during my recent interesting sojourn with you, will ever be gratefully +remembered. I had previously heard "by the hearing of the ear" of the +open, frank warm-heartedness and generous impulses of southern people, +but now I can fully appreciate them. The lessons taught us by +experience, whether they be pleasant or painful, are the most +profitable, and are most deeply engraven upon the memory. If there are +any persons who think or speak lightly of the reputed complaisance and +Christian courtesy of those who live south of "Mason and Dixon's line," +I have only to say to them,--go and make the acquaintance of those +families which give the tone and character to society there, and enjoy +the hospitalities which they almost force upon you with so much +politeness and delicacy as to make you feel that by sharing them you are +conferring rather than receiving a favor, and your skepticism on this +point will be happily and effectually removed. + +You will not understand me, my dear sir, as implying that our southern +brethren have really more heart than we at the North, although there +seems to be "_prima facie_" evidence in your favor; at least, so far as +polite and generous attention to strangers is concerned. In this last +particular, you are constantly teaching us important lessons. Still, I +contend that the Northerner has as large and generous a soul, when you +get at it, as anybody. We have hearts which beat warm and true, but our +cautious habits and constitutional temperament (phlegmatic sometimes) +conceal them from view; whereas you carry yours throbbing with generous +emotions in your hands, exposed to the gaze of everybody. The Southron +is artless and impulsive, as well as noble; the Northerner is no less +noble, but having been taught more frequently the doctrine of +"expediency" than his southern brother, he stops and "calculates" when, +and in what circumstances, it is best to exhibit his whole character. In +both cases, the pure gold is there; but in the former it lies upon the +surface or in the alluvial, while in the latter it is often imbedded +deep in the quartz-rock;--it requires some labor to get it out, but the +ultimate yield is most rich and abundant. + +It is very desirable that a greater degree of social intercourse be kept +up between the North and South. We are brethren of one great family, and +there is no good reason why this family should not be a united and happy +one. To a considerable extent it is so. It is true we do not all think +alike on every subject, and some of these subjects are of vast +importance, and intimately connected with our prosperity and happiness. +We need to understand each other better, and to this end there should be +more intimacy, and a frequent and free interchange of views;--not for +strife and debate, but for mutual edification and enlightenment. There +was probably never a family of brothers, however strong their love for +each other, whose views of domestic policy were exactly alike; but +there need be no lack of fraternal confidence and harmony for all that. +There are certain great fundamental principles which underlie every +thing else, and form the basis of the family compact. These principles +are filial reverence, fraternal affection, love for home, and a watchful +jealousy of aught that can in the least interfere with the happiness or +reputation of their beloved family circle. Falling back upon these +principles to preserve good-will and harmony, they are not in the least +afraid to discuss those topics on which there is an honest difference of +opinion; on the contrary, they take pleasure in doing so, for the result +is a strengthening of the ties which bind them to each other, and a +modification and partial blending of opinions that seemed antagonistic. + +Thus it should be in our great political and religious brotherhood. The +North and South have each their peculiar views of what pertains to their +own interests, and the interests of the great family of the Republic. +But do not let us stand at a distance and look at each other with an eye +of jealousy because of these differences. Surely we can meet as +fellow-citizens, and discuss matters of common interest, and the +interests of common humanity, without losing our temper or engendering +any ill feeling or family discord. + +It is affirmed by some, that there are certain subjects, at least one, +of so peculiar and delicate a nature as to forbid discussion, lest the +result should be heart-burnings, alienation, and perhaps disunion in our +happy fraternity. I cannot for a moment admit the sentiment. It is an +ungenerous reflection upon the courtesy, Christian candor, piety, and +good-sense, both of the North and South. I hold that good citizens and +good Christians can, if they will, discuss any subject without giving +the least occasion for offence, or endangering that compact which so +happily binds us together. As it is in the family circle, there are +certain great principles most dear to us all, on which we can fall back, +and which, if we are true to ourselves and to them, will prove efficient +safeguards to our temper and good-fellowship. The first of these is +Patriotism. We have a common country, and we love it, and we love each +other for our country's sake. We are children of a common mother, whose +kind arms have encircled us, and whose bosom has nourished us +bounteously and with impartiality, and God forbid, that, as wayward, +ungrateful children, we should wring her maternal heart with anguish by +our unfraternal conduct toward each other. We shall not do it,--either +at the North or at the South. We are true patriots, and in our very +differences, love of country comes in as an important element to shape +and modify our opinions; and while we may be adopting different +theories, we are conscientiously seeking the same end, namely, the +greatest good of our beloved country. + +The second is piety. We love our country well, but we love our Saviour +more, and for his sake we will love and treat each other as brethren, +and not fall out by the way because we may not see through the same +optic-glasses. We will cheerfully hear what each has to say on whatever +pertains to Christian morals and practice. There are thousands of +sincere, warm-hearted Christians, whose love to Christ raises them +immeasurably above sectionalism and prejudice, and who daily inquire, +"what is truth?" and "what is duty?" and they entertain that "charity" +which "suffereth long and is kind; is not easily provoked, thinketh no +evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all +things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things;" +and "never faileth." When this love is in exercise, Christian brethren +may open their hearts freely to each other on any subject, whether it +be "for doctrine, or reproof, or for instruction in righteousness." + +Whatever may be true of others, I hope that you and I will be able to +demonstrate to the world, that, although one of us lives at the North +and the other at the South, yet we can communicate with each other +unreservedly on an almost interdicted topic, with mutual kind feelings, +if not to edification. + +Respectfully and fraternally, + +Yours, &c. + + + + +LETTER II. + +A DIFFICULT AND DELICATE SUBJECT PROPOSED.--AGITATION OF IT +UNAVOIDABLE.--CHRISTIANS NORTH AND SOUTH SHOULD GIVE THE DISCUSSION +OF IT A RIGHT DIRECTION.--WE ARE ALL INTERESTED IN THE +ISSUE.--NORTHERN DISCLAIMERS. + + +MY DEAR CHRISTIAN BROTHER,--In my last I intimated that I hoped you and +I, by our correspondence, would be able to furnish the world a practical +illustration of good-nature and kind feeling in the discussion of a +subject that has been a fruitful source of trouble and unchristian +invective. You have already anticipated my theme--it is DOMESTIC +SLAVERY. It must be confessed that this is the most difficult and +delicate of all topics to be agitated by a Northerner and a Southerner, +and yet I have the fullest confidence that neither of us will give or +take offence. I need offer you no apology for calling your attention to +this subject at the present time. Not only is it a theme of vast +importance in itself, involving, either directly or indirectly, +interests most dear to you and to me, and to every one who has at heart +the welfare of his country and his race, but it is a subject that must +be discussed,--there is no avoiding it, however much you or I or other +individuals may desire it. It has come before the public mind in such a +manner as peremptorily to demand the attention of every Christian and +every patriot. Whether we approve or deprecate the peculiar causes that +have made this topic so prominent in our country, both North and South, +we have to take things as they are, and turn them to the best possible +account. Politicians and demagogues are all discussing American slavery, +and will continue to do so for the purpose of forwarding their own +favorite schemes; and any attempt to silence them would be as futile as +an effort to arrest the gulf-stream in its course. It remains only for +brethren, both at the South and North, to take up the subject as we find +it brought to our hands in the inscrutable providence of God, and, under +the guidance of his Spirit, given in answer to our prayers, take a truly +Christian view of some of its leading features, and then inquire, What +is duty? I think you will not claim, with some of your southern friends, +that slavery is a subject with which we at the North "have nothing to +do." As patriots, we have something to do with every thing that affects +the interests of our common country; and as Christians, we sustain +responsibilities which we cannot shake off toward all our brethren of +the human family, whether it be at the North or South--whether they be +bound or free. "Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created +us?" "We are many members, but one body, and whether one member suffer +all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the +members rejoice with it." + +Your candor will not impute to me any unkind or improper motive in +entering upon this discussion; and you will permit me, in the outset, to +enter a few disclaimers, in order that you may be the better able to +appreciate what I have to say. + +In the first place, it is not my design to throw down the glove for the +purpose of enlisting you, or any of your friends, in a controversy; this +would be an unpleasant and profitless undertaking. + +Nor is it to advocate the doctrine, that sustaining the legal relation +of master to a slave for a longer or shorter time is in all possible +cases sin. I will admit that there may be circumstances in which the +relation may subsist without any moral delinquency whatever; as, for +instance, persons may become slaveholders in the eye of the law without +their own consent, as by heirship; they sometimes become so voluntarily +to befriend a fellow-creature in distress, to prevent his being sold +away from his wife and family; persons sometimes purchase slaves for the +sole purpose of emancipating them. In these, and other circumstances +which might be mentioned, no reasonable man either North or South would +ever think of pronouncing the relation a sinful one. + +Nor is it my design to question the conscientiousness or piety of all +slaveholders at the South, both among the laity and clergy. Whoever +makes the sweeping assertion, that "no slaveholder can be a child of +God," gives fearful evidence that he himself is deficient in that +"charity" which "hopeth all things." There is an obvious distinction +between those who hold slaves for merely selfish purposes and regard +them as chattels, and those who repudiate this system, and regard them +as men having in common with themselves human rights, and would gladly +emancipate them were there not legal obstacles, and could they do it +consistently with their welfare, temporal and eternal. + +Nor is it my purpose to advocate immediate, universal, unconditional +emancipation without regard to circumstances. This doctrine is not held +by the great mass of northern Christians. There are, no doubt, some +cases where immediate emancipation would inflict sad calamities, both +upon the slaves themselves and the community. The opinions of northern +men have often been misunderstood and misrepresented on this subject. +The ground that calm, reflecting opponents of slavery take, is, that +slaveholders should at once cease in their own minds to regard their +slaves as chattels to be bought and sold and worked for mere profit, and +that they should take immediate measures for the full emancipation of +every one, as soon as may be consistent with his greatest good, and that +of the community in which he lives. + +This, it is true, is virtually immediate emancipation; for it is at once +giving up the chattel principle, and no longer regarding servants as +property to be bought and sold. It is to act on the Christian principle +of impartial love, doing to them and with them, as, in a change of +circumstances, we would have them do to and with us. This does +immediately abolish, as it should do, the main thing in slavery, and +brings those who are now bondmen into the common brotherhood of human +beings, to be treated, not as chattels and brutes, but on Christian +principles, according to the exigencies of their condition as ignorant, +degraded, and dependent human beings, "endowed, however, by their +Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, +and the pursuit of happiness," which rights should be acknowledged, and +with the least possible delay be granted. + +Nor is it my design to reproach my southern brethren as being to blame +for the origin of slavery in these United States. Slavery was introduced +into this country by our fathers, who have long been sleeping in their +graves, and the North, if they did not as extensively, yet did as truly, +and in many cases did as heartily, participate in it, as the South; so +that, in respect to the origin of American slavery, we have not a word +to say, nor a stone to cast. And besides, our mother country must come +in and share with our fathers to no small extent in the wrong of +introducing domestic slavery to these colonies. Happily, as we think, +slavery was virtually abolished at the North by our ancestors of a +preceding generation; but for their act we are entitled to no credit. +Your ancestors omitted to do this; but for their omission you are +deserving of no blame. We would never forget, that slavery was entailed +upon our southern brethren, and for this entailment they are no more +responsible than for the blood that circulates in their veins. + +If you will be so kind as to keep these disclaimers in mind, I think you +will better understand and appreciate what I shall hereafter say on the +subject. With the kindest wishes for you and yours, I remain, in the +best of bonds, + +YOUR CHRISTIAN BROTHER. + + + + +LETTER III. + +THE REAL SUBJECT.--NOT TO BE CONFOUNDED WITH ANCIENT +SERVITUDE.--NOR TO BE JUDGED OF BY ISOLATED CASES.--NORTHERN MEN +COMPETENT AS OTHERS TO DETERMINE ITS TRUE CHARACTER.--SLAVERY +IGNORES OUR DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.--IS INCONSISTENT WITH OUR +CONSTITUTION. + + +MY DEAR FRIEND AND BROTHER,--I propose in this and subsequent letters to +take a brief, candid view of some of the prominent characteristics of +American slavery. I speak of servitude, not as it existed in patriarchal +times, for that is essentially a distinct matter. While it had some +things in common with American slavery, there was so much that was +dissimilar in the relation of master and servant, that analogy is in a +great measure destroyed. + +Neither do I speak of slavery as I saw it developed on your plantation, +and on those of your immediate neighbors. When I went to the South, I +confess I went with strong prepossessions, (prejudices if you choose so +to call them,) against the "peculiar institution." I regarded it an +evil, and only an evil. But while my general views of the legitimate +workings of the system remain unchanged, candor compels me to admit, +that, if all slaves were as well cared for, as kindly treated, as well +instructed, and were they all as contented and happy as yours; and, +especially, were there no evils incident to the system greater than I +saw with you, I would simply divest slavery of its odious name, and it +would virtually be slavery no longer. The plantations at the South would +then, perhaps, with some propriety he denominated communities of +intelligent, happy, Christian peasants. And yet it is slavery, as it +really takes away inalienable rights. Would to God that slavery as it +exists with you were a fair illustration of the system. But alas! it is +not. Perhaps you may say that "it is impossible for a northern man to +speak of slavery so as to do the subject justice." You may indeed know +more and better than we do about the state and condition of the slaves. +But in some respects, where great principles are involved, we at the +North are more competent than you, for our judgment is less liable to be +biased by self-interest; and in my remarks I shall confine myself +chiefly to those points on which a northern man is at least as well +qualified to speak as a slaveholder. + +What, then, are some of the prominent characteristics of American +slavery as a system? + +FIRST, Slavery ignores and repudiates the foundation-stone on which +rests our renowned Declaration of Independence. That document, for more +than three fourths of a century, has been the boast and glory of +America. It is the platform on which our noble ancestors planted their +feet, with a consciousness that they stood on the eternal principles of +truth and justice. To maintain these principles, relying on God for aid, +they pledged to each other "their lives, their fortunes, and their +sacred honor." Our fathers knew that they were right, and, to carry out +the principles embodied in this Declaration, many of them cheerfully +poured out their heart's blood to defend the "unalienable rights" of +humanity. + +Now let us turn our attention to the foundation paragraph of this +memorable Declaration;--I do not mean in that general way in which it is +often read, but minutely and particularly;--let us calmly look at it in +its full import, and not shrink back and avert our eyes on account of a +foreboding that we shall be led to conclusions which we would be glad to +avoid. + +"We hold these truths to be self-evident;--that all men are created +equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable +rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of +happiness." + +These significant words are inscribed upon the scroll of our nation's +history, and there they will remain till time shall be no longer. They +need no glossary or explanation. He who runs may read them, and he who +reads can understand them. The sentiment they embody it is impossible to +mistake; it stands out in bold relief, like the sun in the heavens. It +is, that every man has received, from a higher than earthly power, a +charter, which secures to him the unalienable right of life, liberty, +and the pursuit of happiness. It is impossible for the most ultra +advocate of "human rights" to paraphrase these words, or give them a +rendering so as to make them support his dogmas more strongly than they +now do. On the contrary, he would only weaken their force by the +attempt. + +Now, my dear brother, I would candidly, seriously ask you--I would ask +all your southern friends--I would ask everybody, Can the sentiment of +that Declaration be consistent with American slavery? Are not slaves +men? Do color and degradation change a creature of God from a human +being to a soulless brute? No; our southern brethren would as +indignantly repudiate this infidel view as we at the North. Now if a +slave is a man, he has received from his Creator an unalienable right to +liberty if he chooses to avail himself of it, or else the first +principle laid down in our revered Declaration of Independence, so far +from being "self evident," is in fact untrue, and ought at once to be +taken from its honored position in the archives of these United States, +and consigned to the heaps of rubbish of the dark ages. + +But does the slave enjoy this liberty? or is it within his reach? It +will not be pretended. The very name by which his class is designated +forbids it. The term free slave is a solecism. His liberty consists in +the freedom to do as he is told to do, or suffer punishment for his +disobedience, and he can pursue happiness only in accordance with the +will of his master. + +There is the same incongruity between slavery and that clause in our +constitution which stipulates that "no person shall be deprived of life, +liberty, or property, without due process of law." Now, my brother, does +it not require considerable ingenuity and special pleading to avoid +conclusions to which unbiased common sense would arrive in an instant, +in the application of these declared rights to persons held as slaves? I +am not going to inflict upon you a dissertation, or a series of +syllogisms on this hackneyed subject, but I beg that you and your +friends will calmly look again at what, I doubt not, you have seen +before,--the palpable incongruity between the system of holding persons +perpetually in slavery without their consent, and those declared, +self-evident, heaven bestowed, unalienable rights professedly secured to +all men in these United States by our glorious constitution. Said that +great statesman and patriot, Henry Clay: "We present to the world the +sorry spectacle of a nation that worships Slavery as a household +goddess, after having constituted Liberty the presiding divinity over +church and state." + +Surely something must be out of joint here. I have looked again and +again at this matter, I think with perfect candor, and I have tried to +the utmost of my ability to reconcile these apparent inconsistencies, +but I cannot do it. Can you? + +Believe me, as ever, your sincere friend and + +CHRISTIAN BROTHER. + + + + +LETTER IV. + +SLAVERY TRANSFORMS MEN TO CHATTELS.--SOUTHERN +LAWS.--SLAVE-AUCTIONS.--MEN PLACED ON A LEVEL WITH BRUTES.--NO +REDRESS FOR WRONGS.--IGNORANCE PERPETUATED BY LAW. + + +MY DEAR CHRISTIAN FRIEND,--A second characteristic of American slavery +is, It regards human beings, declared to be in the "image of God," as +"chattels,"--things or articles of merchandise. "Slaves," say the laws +of South Carolina and Georgia, "shall be deemed, sold, taken, reputed, +and adjudged in law to be chattels personal in the hands of their owners +and possessors, and their executors, administrators and assigns, to all +intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever."[D] "A slave," says the +code of Louisiana, "is one who is in the power of his master, to whom he +belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry, +and his labor; he can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire any +thing, but what must belong to his master."[E] + +Thus, rational, immortal beings, children of our common Father in +heaven, are taken from the exalted scale in which God placed them, and +degraded to that of the brute creation. They are, as you know, +advertised, mortgaged, attached, inherited, leased, bought, and sold +like horses and cattle. Like them they are brought to the auction block, +and like them subjected to a rigid examination as to their age, and +soundness of wind, chest, and limb. Said a gentleman to me: "When I was +at----, I visited the slave mart; and as I saw one and another and +another of my fellow-beings brought forward to the block, and rudely +exposed and minutely examined, in order to ascertain their marketable +value in dollars and cents, and then struck off to the highest bidder, +amid the gibes and jeers of the vulgar, my heart was nigh unto bursting, +and I was obliged to turn away my eyes and weep, exclaiming, O God! can +it be! thy children! my brothers and sisters of humanity,--perhaps my +fellow-heirs of heaven,--precious souls for whom the Saviour died, whose +names may be written in the Book of Life, and over whose repentance +angels may have rejoiced! Can it be?" + +For myself, I never witnessed any such scenes, and heaven grant I never +may. It is enough, and too much for me to know, that they exist. I +allude to them in this connection, not to awaken and pain your +sensibilities, but simply to illustrate the fact, that American slavery +sanctions them, and by its operation brings down the noblest work of God +to a level of the beasts that perish. As far as it can do so, it +dehumanizes man, and treats him as a thing without a soul. It may be +remarked, however, in passing, "A man's a man, for a' that." + +I might speak in this connection of the obstacles which are thrown in +the way of the slave's obtaining redress for his wrongs should he +unfortunately get into the hands of a cruel and unreasonable master, +being forbidden to defend himself, and not allowed the testimony of his +brethren to be given in his behalf; but there are other features of this +system which more urgently demand our attention. + +Neither will I dwell upon the ignorance and mental degradation which are +an essential part of the system. You need not be informed, that, in ten +States, knowledge is kept from the slave by legal enactments,--that +teaching him to read is regarded a crime, to be severely "punished by +the judges." I was happy to find that you and a great many others +totally disregard that law, and, in spite of legislators and penal +statutes, you teach your slaves to read, and in some cases to write. For +this _crime_, I doubt not but heaven, at least, will forgive you. I +shall allude to this latter topic again in a future letter. + +Most truly and affectionately, yours, etc. + + + + +LETTER V. + +DOMESTIC LIFE.--THE MARRIAGE RELATION.--DOMESTIC HAPPINESS A RELIC +OF PARADISE.--ITS ENDEARMENTS.--ITS VALUE.--THE BARBARISM OF +INVADING THE DOMESTIC SANCTUARY.--AN ILLUSTRATION. + + +MY DEAR BROTHER,--I come now, in the third place, to speak of slavery as +it is related to the endearments and duties of domestic life. On this +subject my heart is full. I am almost afraid to speak, lest I say what I +ought not; and yet I cannot keep silence. I can, in a good measure, +sympathize with Elihu when he said,-- + + "For I am full of words, + The spirit within me doth constrain me, + Behold I am as wine which hath no vent, + I am ready to burst like new bottles, + I will speak that I may breathe more freely, + I will open my lips and reply."[F] + +We now approach a topic more intimately connected with the present and +future happiness of the human race than almost any other. Man was not +completely blest, even in Eden, until God instituted the marriage +relation. His Creator gave him a companion to participate in his joys, +binding them together by ties which no human power might sunder. +Paradise was lost by sin, but as our first parents were exiled thence, +God in infinite kindness permitted them to take one of its purest, +sweetest sources of joy with them to this world of sorrows. + + "Domestic happiness! thou only bliss + Of Paradise that has survived the fall!" + +You, my dear brother, are a husband and father, and can appreciate my +meaning, when I speak of the richness, the tenderness, the depth, of +connubial and paternal love; how it lights up this dark world with +smiles,--how it stimulates us to manly exertion,--how it lightens the +burdens of human life, and enables us cheerfully to sustain its ills, +while it almost restores to us Eden itself. To understand what is meant +by the term domestic happiness, it is necessary for you and me only to +look at the circles around our own firesides, and listen to the musical +accents of the loved ones who dwell there, as they pronounce the words +husband, father, mother, brother, sister, and exchange with them kind +looks and the affectionate embrace. What earthly joys can be compared +with those of home? What would tempt us to part with them? All the gold +in California and Australia would be spurned in contempt, if offered in +exchange. What should we say, and what should we do, were any power on +earth to interfere with our fireside delights, and attempt to wrest them +from us? + +Suppose Providence had cast our lot under a despotic government, which +we will suppose to be for the most part kind and paternal, but having +this peculiarity,--every now and then, finding its finances embarrassed, +it should be in the habit of selling some of its subjects to a foreign +power to strengthen its exchequer, and should arbitrarily select its +victims from this family and that;--how should you feel were the doomed +family your own? What would have been your emotions this morning, had +some one come to your room and told you that that bright-eyed boy, +"Willie," who last night sat upon your knee and amused you with his +innocent prattle, showed you his toys, examined your pockets, played +with your hair and features, and finally clasped his little arms around +your neck and impressed the "good-night" kiss upon your lips, had been +seized by an officer, and sold from your sight forever to you know not +whom, and to be carried you know not whither? Nay, more;--suppose that +while he was yet speaking, there came also another with the tidings that +the same fate had befallen your first-born,--your daughter, just budding +into womanhood,--the affectionate, joyous, light-hearted "Kate," whose +voice to your ear is sweeter than the music of flowing waters, whose +feet are swifter than those of the light gazelle, as with open arms she +bounds to meet you on your return from a temporary absence, to welcome +you home with a tear of joy in her eye and a kiss upon her lips,--that +she too had been by the officials of the government clandestinely +abducted from your dwelling, and sold, literally sold, for a valuation +put upon her person in dollars and cents, to a hopeless captivity, to +spend her days in unrequited toil, or, not unlikely, in ministering to +the caprices and brutal passions of a stranger? + +And while he was yet speaking, and as your _wife_, half frantic with +grief and terror, was entwining her arms around you, and you were +striving to ease your bursting heart, to crown the whole, suppose +another official and his posse had entered your apartment, and by force +of arms had torn her from your embrace, and with thongs upon her hands, +and a bandage over her mouth, hurried her away to greet your sight no +more? What a scene! There go in one direction the children of your body, +"bone of your bone, and flesh of your flesh," to an unknown but fearful +destiny! In another is ruthlessly borne the object dearer to you than +all the world beside,--one whom you had solemnly sworn to love, cherish, +and protect until death,--the light of your dwelling,--the mother of +your children,--the mutual sharer of all your joys and sorrows,--the +richest and most precious treasure heaven ever gave you!--there she goes +in an agony of wo, to toil under a burning sun, compelled to call +another man her husband, or, it may be, to grace her master's seraglio! +Merciful God! what meaneth this? What horde of barbarians from the dark +corners of the earth have found their way hither to lay waste all that +is beautiful and lovely! What fiend from the pit has been let loose to +enter this little Paradise to destroy and bear away all the good that +was left of the primitive Eden! + +No ruthless band of barbarians from benighted lands have found their way +to this Christian domestic sanctuary,--no malignant spirit from below +has been here to snatch the only type of Heaven that escaped his grasp +six thousand years ago. "Think it not strange," brother, "concerning +this fiery trial as though some strange thing had happened to you." This +is only the legitimate working of the patriarchal system of government +under which we live. Be calm,--this is all done according to law, and +with as much kindness as the circumstances will permit. No stripes are +inflicted, and no more force is exerted than is absolutely necessary to +secure the object, and prevent a useless outcry; no ill-will is +entertained toward the victims of these outrages,--it is only because +the finances of the government are low, and must be replenished, and +this is the most convenient, and perhaps at present the only practical, +way of raising the money! + +Now, my brother, what should you and I think of living under a +government where such things were permitted by the laws? It would not +reconcile us to the administration to be told, that such proceedings as +I have supposed are of rare occurrence, and that the general character +of the government is kind, that it dislikes exceedingly to sell its +subjects, and especially that it has a great repugnance to separating +husbands and wives, and breaking up of families, and does it only when +severely pressed by pecuniary necessity. To your and my mind this would +be altogether unsatisfactory; it would not change our opinion of the +system. No matter if the heart-rending scene I have supposed were +witnessed only once a year, or once in ten years,--I think we should +loudly protest against a system which allowed the occurrence of it at +all. + +You will please, my dear sir, apply the foregoing illustration to the +liabilities and actual workings of the slave system at the South, just +so far as it is applicable, and no further. If there are any points in +which the analogy fails, I will thank you to point them out to me in +your next. + +With much love and esteem, + +I remain yours, most truly. + + + + +LETTER VI. + +SACREDNESS OF THE MARRIAGE RELATION.--GOD ALONE CAN DISSOLVE +IT.--THE "HIGHER LAW."--SLAVERY SANCTIONS POLYGAMY AND +ADULTERY.--RELATION OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN.--FEARFUL +RESPONSIBILITY ASSUMED. + + +MY DEAR CHRISTIAN BROTHER,--My objections to any system of government +that interferes at will with the family relation, and forcibly separates +husbands and wives, parents and children, do not arise chiefly from the +personal wrongs and bitter woes inflicted upon its victims. A +contemplation of these is calculated to affect our sensibilities, and +excite the tender sympathies of our nature; but there is a more enlarged +Christian view which forces itself upon us. If we could by some magic +process allay the anguish of the stricken heart, and heal its wounds +when the strongest ties of nature are rent asunder,--could we even +obliterate the susceptibilities of the soul, destroy natural affection, +and render man more callous than the brutes, so that he could be torn +from his home and kindred with less pain than they,--in a _moral_ point +of view the case would be altered but little. As I have remarked in a +previous letter, the _marriage relation_ was instituted by God, and he +made it indissoluble. "What God hath joined together let not man put +asunder," is the language of "holy writ;" and whoever, for any cause +which God himself has not specified, breaks up this relation, encroaches +upon God's prerogative, and goes directly in face of his positive +commands. Much has been said of late, seriously, sarcastically, and +contemptuously, about a "higher law;" but notwithstanding the improper +use often made of that term, there is an important sense in which you, +and I, and every Christian recognize what that term implies. If, on any +subject whatever, human enactments do obviously conflict with the +enactments of God, then God's law is the "_higher_," and must be obeyed. +To deny this is worse than infidelity. + +Now, brother, does not the system of slavery in the United States +tolerate, and even authorize, the forcible rending asunder of the +marriage tie? Are not husbands, not seldom, but often, sold from their +wives, and wives from their husbands, and new matrimonial alliances +formed by them, with consent and encouragement of their masters? Thus +is flagrant adultery sanctioned in nearly one half of the States of this +Christian Republic, and in some cases the crime is almost, if not quite, +forced upon the wretched perpetrators of it. When God's law is +disregarded, and an ordinance on which depends all we hold dear in +social and Christian life is trampled in the dust by an institution +existing in the midst of us, what shall we say? If slavery were a +question merely of expediency, political economy, or even personal wrong +and suffering, it would be easier to keep silence; but when God is +dishonored, and gross sin sanctioned by law, is it not the duty of his +children, North and South, to enter their solemn, earnest, decided +protestations? You will agree with me, that no Christian can or ought to +acquiesce in what, either directly or indirectly, violates a positive +divine precept; and against what shall he remonstrate, if not against a +system that encourages polygamy and legalizes adultery?[G] + +There is another view in which the operation of the system of slavery; +in breaking up families, has affected my mind powerfully and painfully. +Parents sustain most important relations to their children, as well as +to each other. Who can be so much interested in the temporal and eternal +well-being of the child as those by whose instrumentality he had his +existence? Who has so much influence over him, or who could direct his +feet in the way he should go, so well? God has imposed upon all parents +most important duties, which they may not neglect. These duties are as +truly incumbent on the slave-parent as on the master who sustains the +same relation. It may be, indeed, extensively true that he does not +understand them, and is in a great measure incompetent to discharge +them; and that often the child suffers nothing morally or intellectually +by being removed from his influence. But this results in a great measure +from the hopeless ignorance in which the parent is involved. There are, +however, as you can bear witness, multitudes of exceptions. In how many +cases are slave-parents truly pious and intelligent, and feel as much +solicitude for the eternal interests of their children, as you do for +yours, and pray with them as frequently and as fervently. With how much +pleasure did you and I listen to your "Jamie," one time when we were +taking an evening stroll past his cabin, and overheard his family +prayer. With what simplicity and earnestness did he pour out his soul to +God for the salvation of his "dear children." And do you not remember, +too, how with equal importunity he prayed God to "bless dear kind Massa +and Missus, and dere precious children, and also Massa's friend, and dat +all may meet to praise Jesus togedder in heaven," and how we found it +difficult to speak for a minute or two, and how the big tear-drops stood +in our eyes, and we couldn't help it? + +You told me there were a great many "Jamies" at the South, and I have no +doubt of it; they love their little ones as well, and who so competent +to train them up for Christ? Who will presume to step in between these +parents and their children and say, this family altar shall be broken +down, and those who have bowed around it shall be separated, to meet no +more till they meet at the judgment? Who will peril his own soul by +taking those children away from such an influence, and for a pecuniary +consideration cast them upon the wide world with none to instruct them, +and none to care or pray for them, except their heart-broken parents +whom they have left behind? I would not do it, neither would you, for +the wealth of the world; and yet, is it not often done? In speaking of +this subject, one of the most eminent southern divines[H] uses the +following language: "Slavery, as it exists among us, sets up between +parents and their children an authority higher than the impulse of +nature and the laws of God; breaks up the authority of the father over +his own offspring, and at pleasure separates the mother at a returnless +distance from her child, thus outraging all decency and justice." I +shall refer to the sentiments of this brother again. + +I remain as ever, + +Affectionately yours, etc. + + + + +LETTER VII. + +THE CROWNING EVIL OF SLAVERY.--PRECIOUSNESS OF THE BIBLE.--OUR +CHART AND COMPASS ON LIFE'S VOYAGE INDISPENSABLE.--ORAL +INSTRUCTIONS INSUFFICIENT.--DANGERS.--SHIPWRECK ALMOST +INEVITABLE.--WITHHELD FROM THE SLAVE.--SHUTS MULTITUDES OUT OF +HEAVEN.--AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY.--TESTIMONY OF GENERAL +ASSEMBLY.--OF SYNOD OF KENTUCKY.--OF DR. BRECKENRIDGE. + + +MY DEAR BROTHER,--There is one feature of slavery, fourthly, which gives +me more pain by far than any other, and I may say more than all others +put together, and that is, it imperils the immortal souls of millions of +our fellow-beings by keeping from them the Word of God. + +Next to the Saviour, and the Holy Spirit, the most precious gift God has +bestowed on man is the Bible. This volume contains our only perfect rule +of life, and is our only guide to heaven. It teaches us our character +and our destiny; it alone raises the curtain between time and eternity, +and dissipates the darkness that otherwise would forever enshroud the +grave; it reveals to us another state of being, in which we shall be +happy or miserable, ages without end. On this Book alone do we depend +for our knowledge of the way of salvation by Christ. It is here we read +the story of the manger and the cross, and the wonderful plan of +redemption through atoning blood. What could we do without the Bible? It +is of infinitely greater value than houses and lands, silver and gold, +and every earthly good beside. To take from us the Bible, would be like +blotting out the sun in the heavens, and enveloping the universe in the +gloom and darkness of eternal night. Take from me riches, honors, +pleasures, comforts, and even liberty itself; and give me instead +thereof poverty, disgrace, pains, affliction, hunger, cold, nakedness, +and a dungeon; tear me from my friends, bind me with chains, scourge me +with the lash, brand my flesh with hot irons, deprive me of every source +of earthly good, and inflict upon me every kind of bodily and mental +anguish which the utmost refinement of cruelty can invent;--but give me +my Bible--leave me this precious treasure, which is the gift of my +heavenly Father, to teach me his will and guide me to himself. Torture +and destroy my body, if you will, but O! give me facilities for saving +my soul. Turn me not adrift on life's troubled ocean to seek alone a +far distant shore, exposed continually to storms, breakers, hidden +reefs, whirlpools, and shoals, with nothing but a few verbal +instructions to direct my way. If I am to make this fearful voyage, (and +make it I must,) take not from me my chart and compass. Your verbal +directions I shall be likely to forget when I most need them. The +polestar, which you tell me may be my guide, is often for a long time +concealed by impenetrable clouds. There are fearful maelstroms, near the +verge of whose deceptive and destructive circles my course lies, and ere +I am aware of it I shall have passed the fatal line, from which no +voyager returns. Between me and my desired haven there is a "hell-gate," +where are sunken rocks and conflicting currents, and amid all these +complicated dangers my frail bark will make shipwreck, without my chart +and compass. Deprived of these, I cannot keep my reckoning, I cannot +shape my course, I cannot find my haven. + +I need not tell you, my dear brother, that it is a part of the +slaveholding policy to take from thousands and millions of immortal +beings in our nominally Christian land, this precious chart and +compass,--the Bible, the only safe guide to heaven. I have often heard +you speak of it, and deplore it. Those severe laws which forbid +teaching the slave to read, do virtually take from him the Bible,--his +directory to the New Jerusalem. You may, indeed, give him oral +instruction, and in many instances, no doubt, they are blessed to his +conversion; but how utterly inadequate are they to his spiritual wants, +how imperfect are they at best, and in how many thousands of cases are +even these entirely wanting. Every enlightened and intelligent Christian +knows, from his own experience, how hard it is to enter the "strait +gate," and to keep in the "narrow way," and how needful to him are all +the helps within his reach, and then he is but "scarcely saved." What +hope is there, then, for the poor slave, who is deprived, not only of +most of the ordinary and extraordinary means of grace which we enjoy, +but is forbidden the printed Word of God? Is not a fearful +responsibility incurred by those who, for any reason, stand between God +and his children, and intercept those messages of grace and mercy which +are contained in the Holy Scriptures? + +That noble institution, the American Bible Society, is multiplying +copies of the sacred Word by thousands and hundreds of thousands, and +scattering them over the land and the world; it hesitates not to thrust +them into the hands of the followers of the false prophet,--the deluded +followers of the man of sin,--the disciples of Confucius and +Zoroaster,--the worshippers of Juggernaut and Vishnoo, and the degraded +inhabitants of the South Seas and Caffraria;--it benevolently resolves +to put a copy of the Bible into the dwelling of every white family in +these United States; but it is obliged by law to pass by the cabin of +the slave, and leave more than three millions of immortal beings to find +the road to heaven the best way they can. + +My brother, I cannot think of these things without the deepest grief, +and I know that you fully sympathize with me; but it is some consolation +to believe that the great mass of evangelical Christians take the same +views of the wrongs inflicted upon the slave that we do, for it is to +the Christian sentiment of this country that we must look for the +removal of them. + +Our brethren of the Presbyterian church have borne their testimony most +fully and pointedly against the evils of slavery which we have been +considering. You doubtless recollect the action of the General Assembly +on this subject in 1818. A committee was appointed, to whom was referred +certain resolutions on the subject of selling a slave,--a member of the +church,--and which was directed to prepare a report to be adopted by +the Assembly, expressing their opinion in general on the subject of +slavery. The report of this committee was unanimously adopted, and +ordered to be published. It is, in part, as follows:-- + +"The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, having taken into +consideration the subject of slavery, think proper to make known their +sentiments upon it to the churches. + +"We consider the voluntary enslaving of the one part of the human race +by another, as a gross violation of the most precious and sacred rights +of human nature; as utterly inconsistent with the law of God, which +requires us to love our neighbors as ourselves; and as totally +irreconcilable with the spirit and principles of the gospel of Christ, +which enjoins that all things 'whatsoever ye would that men should do to +you, do ye even so to them.' Slavery creates a paradox in the moral +system; it exhibits rational, accountable, and immortal beings in such +circumstances as scarcely to leave them the power of moral action. It +exhibits them as dependent on the will of others, whether they shall +receive religious instruction; whether they shall know and worship the +true God; whether they shall enjoy the ordinances of the gospel; whether +they shall perform the duties and cherish the endearments of husbands +and wives, parents and children, neighbors and friends; whether they +shall preserve their chastity and purity, or regard the dictates of +justice and humanity. + +"Such are some of the consequences of slavery,--consequences, not +imaginary, but which connect themselves with its very existence. The +evils to which the slave is always exposed often take place in fact, and +in their very worst degree and form, and where all of them do not take +place, as we rejoice to say that in many instances, through the +influence of the principles of humanity and religion on the minds of +masters, they do not, still the slave is deprived of his natural right, +degraded as a human being, and exposed to the danger of passing into the +hands of a master who may inflict upon him all the hardships which +inhumanity and avarice may suggest." + +An Address from the Synod of Kentucky, in 1835, to the Presbyterians of +that State, is much more specific in its delineations of the evils of +slavery, and in its denunciations of the system, and adopts language far +more severe than many northern Christians would think it expedient to +use. It presents a picture of its actual workings which could be drawn +only by one who had seen the original. If you have not read this +address, I beg that you will do so. It is altogether a southern +document. I have room only for a short extract. + +Slavery is characterized as "a demoralizing and cruel system, which it +would be an insult to God to imagine that he does not abhor; a system +which exhibits power without responsibility, toil without recompense, +life without liberty, law without justice, wrongs without redress, +infamy without crime, punishment without guilt, and families without +marriage; a system which will not only make victims of the present +unhappy generation, inflicting upon them the degradation, the contempt, +the lassitude, and the anguish of hopeless oppression; but which even +aims at transmitting this heritage of injury and woe to their children +and their children's children, down to their latest posterity. Can any +Christian contemplate, without trembling, his own agency in the +perpetuation of such a system?" + +Coincident with the judgment of these two most respectable and revered +ecclesiastical bodies is the testimony of one of the most prominent and +honored sons of the southern church, the Rev. Dr. R. L Breckenridge. +Says he:-- + +"What then is slavery? for the question relates to the action of certain +principles of it, and to its probable and proper results; what is +slavery as it exists among us? We reply, it is that condition enforced +by the laws of one half of the States of this confederacy, in which one +portion of the community, called masters, are allowed such power over +another portion called slaves, as---- + +"1. To deprive them of the entire earnings of their own labor, except so +much as is necessary to continue labor itself by continuing healthful +existence: thus committing clear robbery. + +"2. To reduce them to the necessity of universal concubinage, by denying +to them the civil rights of marriage, thus breaking up the dearest +relations of life, and encouraging universal prostitution. + +"3. To deprive them of the means and opportunities of moral and +intellectual culture, in many States making it a high penal offence to +teach them to read, thus perpetuating whatever of evil there is that +proceeds from ignorance. + +"4. To set up between parents and their children an authority higher +than the impulse of nature and the laws of God, which breaks up the +authority of the father over his own offspring, and at pleasure +separates the mother at a returnless distance from her child, thus +abrogating the clearest laws of nature, thus outraging all decency and +justice, and degrading and oppressing thousands upon thousands of +beings, created like themselves in the image of the most high God! This +is slavery as it is daily exhibited in every slave State." + +Yes, such is the nature and character of an institution in this +enlightened Christian republic, claiming to be the freest nation on +earth, calling itself "an asylum for the oppressed," inviting the +downtrodden subjects of all the despots of the old world to come to this +happy land, and place themselves under the protection of the American +eagle, and in this "eyrie of the free" taste and enjoy the sweets of +liberty! + +The views presented in the above extracts may be taken, it is to be +presumed, as an exponent of the southern Christian sentiment on domestic +slavery. There are, indeed, exceptions. It is painful to notice that +within a few years some men of reputed piety and worth have been +attempting to maintain that American slavery is a "divine and +patriarchal institution," "sanctioned by the Bible,"--is "necessary to +the highest state of society," and is "to be perpetuated;" but I am +happy to believe that the number of those who hold such views, +repudiating those of the Presbyterian church, and at the same time call +themselves disciples of Him who said, "whatsoever ye would that men +should do to you, do ye even so to them," is comparatively small. + +I close this long letter by subscribing myself, as ever, + +Your affectionate + +Friend and Brother. + + + + +LETTER VIII. + +THREE QUESTIONS SUGGESTED.--1. MUST SLAVERY BE PERPETUAL?--2. DOES +THE CHURCH OF CHRIST SUSTAIN ANY RESPONSIBILITY IN THIS MATTER?--3. +WHAT SHALL WE DO? + + +MY DEAR CHRISTIAN FRIEND,--I fear I shall make myself tedious to you by +dwelling so long upon this, to me, painful subject,--slavery. I will, +therefore, in the present letter, finish what I have to say for the +present, hoping that our future correspondence may be on more grateful +themes. + +There are a few questions which are suggested to us by the brief view we +have taken of this most important subject. The first is, Must slavery, +with all its attendant evils, be perpetuated? Must this blot rest upon +our beloved country, and tarnish its escutcheon forever? I am persuaded +that the spontaneous answer from the Christian heart of this nation is, +_No!_ It was never contemplated by Washington nor Jefferson nor Adams, +nor by the framers of our Constitution, nor by the great mass of noble +patriots who perilled their all for the independence of their country, +that slavery was to be handed down to posterity. If you will look at the +writings of the leading public men of the last century, you will find, +that, almost without exception, they looked upon slavery in the United +States as a temporary evil, to be removed as soon as circumstances would +permit. They regarded it not only a wrong inflicted upon the slave, but +an incubus upon the nation, soon to pass away. + +The great body of Christians in our land have been looking forward to +the time, and praying for its arrival, when all the oppressed within our +borders shall go free. That the time will come when slavery shall cease +in our land, I as fully believe as I believe that there is a God who +presides over and directs the destinies of men. You and I may not live +to see the day; but it will come. + +Another question suggested is, Does the church of Christ in this country +sustain any responsibility in regard to slavery, and has she any duty to +discharge in relation to it? By the church of Christ, I mean the great +mass of Christians of every name who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity, +both North and South. + +This question is easily answered. There are no evils existing in the +Christian's field of labor--the world--in regard to which he has not +some responsibility, and for the removal of which he is not bound to do +something. As a general truth, the nearer the evils come to our own +firesides and bosoms, the weightier those responsibilities become. The +hundreds of millions of heathens in foreign lands lying in sin and +degradation appeal to our sympathy and efforts, and that appeal we may +not disregard. But the heathen in our own land have on us much stronger +claims, and our obligations to put forth efforts in their behalf are +more imperious. + +Slavery is a great evil and sin, which affects not only individuals, but +our country; and, both as Christians and patriots, we ought to be +sensibly alive to every thing that affects our common weal. You who live +at the South, it may be, have more responsibility in this matter than we +at the North; but none of us can say, "because I am not personally +implicated in inflicting wrongs upon the slave, therefore I have nothing +to do for their removal." Should this become the universal sentiment of +the church, Satan's kingdom in our world would never come to an end, and +wickedness would prevail forever. The spirit of Christianity, although +preeminently mild, gentle, patient, and long-suffering, is nevertheless, +in an important sense, aggressive. It has ever claimed the right of +interesting itself in the welfare of every human creature--to exert its +influence to check the progress of sin in every form--to attack error in +principle and in practice--to "loose the bands of wickedness,"--"undo +heavy burdens,"--"break every yoke,"--"deliver the poor and needy,"--and +to "remember them that are in bonds as bound with them." This, by some, +may be called officiousness, but we cannot help it; it is a part of the +Christian's legitimate business to volunteer his influence and his +services (in every proper way) in opposing wrong, and to stand up and +plead the cause of those who suffer it the world over. He cannot refrain +from doing so, without proving himself false to his Master and his +Master's cause. + +Admitting, then, that all Christians have some kind of responsibility +and duty devolving on them, a most important question comes up. Thirdly, +what shall they do? There are certainly some things which it is +perfectly evident we should not do,--though we should rebuke this and +every sin, we should not give vent to our hatred of the system in +ebullitions of wrath, invective, and abuse toward slaveholders. Thus did +not Christ nor his apostles. This is not in accordance with the +Christian spirit, and could be productive only of evil. + +Neither should we endeavor to exert an influence over the slaves to make +them restive and disobedient; none but an enemy to the true interests, +both of the slave and his country, would do that, unless under some +hallucination. + +Neither should we interfere politically with slavery beyond the +boundaries of our own State, in States where it now exists by the laws +of the land. I might go on indefinitely, and specify what we should not +do; but this does not meet the case;--what shall we do? It would be +arrogance in me to attempt a full answer to a question that has engaged +the attention of many abler heads and better hearts than mine, but there +are some things which have already been said by others, that cannot be +too frequently repeated. + +In the first place, we can commit this whole matter to God in humble, +earnest prayer. Here is something which we can all do, North and South, +and in which we shall all be agreed. However much we may differ in +regard to the safety and expediency of other measures to moderate the +condition of the slave and bring about his ultimate emancipation, we are +of one mind in regard to the safety and efficacy of prayer. One effect +of this will be to unite our own hearts more closely in sympathy and +love. There will be no danger of calling each other hard names, bandying +unchristian epithets, and biting and devouring one another, if we are in +the habit of meeting daily at the throne of grace to pray for a cause in +which we take a mutual interest. + +By prayer we may hope to be enlightened more fully in regard to our +duty. "If any man lack wisdom," and surely we all do on this subject, +"let him ask of God." + +In answer to prayer, we have reason to hope that God will open the eyes +to teach the hearts of all slaveholders, and lead them to "do justly and +love mercy," and also that he will, in his holy and wise Providence, +redress the wrongs of his oppressed children, and prepare the way for +their ultimate emancipation. + +Prayer is the Christian's first and last resort. Let us, then, my dear +brother, pray over this subject continuously, and with an earnestness +commensurate with its importance, and then, I doubt not, we shall +ourselves be more enlightened than we now are as to our future course. + +A second duty, hardly less obvious than prayer, is to use all the +influence we possess to prevent the extension of the domain of slavery. +To this end, we should utter our voices long and loud in remonstrance +against any such measure. If we and our legislators may not politically +interfere with slavery in States where it now exists, we may interfere +to prevent it from exerting its baleful influence over territory now +free. We should do many things for the sake of peace and conciliation. +We have heretofore made concessions and compromises--perhaps too +many--on this subject; but here is where the people of God, North and +South, should make a stand, and declare before heaven and earth, and +with an emphasis which cannot be misunderstood, that not another inch of +our public domain shall be cursed with slavery for any consideration +whatever, if our influence can prevent it. In our remonstrances, we will +be respectful, but firm. Let our politicians know that all persons who +are governed by Christian principle, through the length and breadth of +the land, have taken their position, and that the mountains shall be +removed out of their places, ere they will swerve from it, and there +will be but little danger of slave extension. + +In the third place, we should use every endeavor to disseminate the +gospel of Christ, and bring its principles to bear upon all classes of +persons, North and South. If we can do this effectually, it is all +sufficient. The Gospel, if faithfully applied, is a sure remedy for +every social and moral evil that ever existed. We at the North should +demonstrate to our slave-holding friends whom we wish to influence, that +we ourselves are governed by its spirit, and actuated by its principle, +in all that we do in relation to this subject. It is not ambition, a +lust for power, sectional jealousy, a spirit of censoriousness or +ill-will, that prompts us to what they have been in the habit of +regarding as intermeddling with their affairs, in which we have no +concern, but a spirit of love,--love not less to them than to their +slaves. And then, in the temper of Christ, we will bring the Gospel to +bear on the slaveholder's conscience and sense of justice. We will hold +up and keep before his mind the great rule of life given by Him who +spake as never man spake,--"Whatsoever ye would that men should do to +you, do you even so to them." Let this rule be once adopted and carried +out, and it is enough. Human beings would no more be sold as beasts in +the market, and driven to unrequited toil; the minds of men would no +longer be kept in ignorance; the domestic circle would never again be +invaded by the hand of sordid avarice separating husbands and wives, +parents and children, doing savage violence to the noblest affections +of our nature; the Bible would be put into the hands of every slave, and +he would be taught to read it; common schools and Sabbath schools would +be everywhere established and maintained, as well for the slave as for +the white child; the master would regard those whom he now holds as +property as his own brethren, going with him to the same judgment, and +destined finally to dwell with him as his equals, in the same heaven, +and to wear as bright crowns and sing as rapturous a song as he. He +would immediately set himself about preparing his slaves for +emancipation, and for the enjoyment of those natural rights, of which +they have for so long a time been most unjustly deprived. In short, +slavery, as the term is now understood, would cease instantly, and a +kind, parental guardianship would take its place, and every southern +plantation would be transformed into a moral garden of beauty and +happiness, and universal and entire emancipation would follow with the +least possible delay. And, finally, we should if possible bring the +Gospel to bear upon the great body politic, upon our presidents, our +governors, our National and State legislators. It would seem that some +of our lawmakers are much better acquainted with Blackstone and Vattel, +than they are with the Lord Jesus Christ, or they would not disgrace +our statute-books with laws which ignore the "higher laws" of God. We +should often remind them that this is a Christian, and not a heathen or +infidel republic; and that every enactment, not consistent with the +gospel of Christ and inalienable human rights, does violence to the +Christian sentiment and Christian conscience of the nation, and must be +repealed. If they will not hear us, we have only to appoint more +faithful servants, who will do as they are told. We have no idea of +"uniting church and state," but to infuse as much of the Gospel into the +state as possible is both a privilege and duty; and when all our affairs +and institutions, public, domestic, and private, are administered on +gospel principles, we shall become a free, prosperous, and happy people, +and not till then. + +And now, may God bless you, my dear brother, and guide you, and guide us +all, to pursue such a course in regard to the three and a half millions +of slaves in our professedly free republic as will afford us the most +satisfaction when we meet them as our equals at the judgment-seat of +Christ. + +With high esteem and much affection, + +I remain your Christian brother, + +A. C. BALDWIN. + + + + +AN ESSAY, + +BY + +REV. TIMOTHY WILLISTON. + + IS AMERICAN SLAVERY AN INSTITUTION WHICH CHRISTIANITY + SANCTIONS, AND WILL PERPETUATE? AND, IN VIEW + OF THIS SUBJECT, WHAT OUGHT AMERICAN + CHRISTIANS TO DO, AND REFRAIN + FROM DOING? + + Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto.--TERENCE. + Bear ye one another's burdens.--PAUL. + + + + +ESSAY. + + +A great moral question is, in this nineteenth century, being tried +before the church of Christ, and at the bar of public sentiment. It is, +Whether the system of servitude known as American slavery be a system +whose perpetuity is compatible with pure Christianity? Whether, with the +Bible in her hand, the church may lawfully indorse, participate in, and +help perpetuate, this system? Or whether, on the other hand, the system +be, in its origin, nature, and workings, intrinsically evil; a thing +which, if, like concubinage and polygamy, God has indeed tolerated in +his church, he never approved of; and which, in the progress of a pure +Christianity, must inevitably become extinct? I feel assured that the +latter of these propositions will, without argument, command the assent +of the mass of living Christians. But there are those in the church who +array themselves on the other side. While they would not justify the +least inhumanity in the treatment of slaves, they profess to believe +that slavery itself has the approbation of Jehovah, and may with +propriety be perpetuated in the church and the world. At their hands I +would respectfully solicit a patient hearing, while I proceed to assign +several reasons for differing with them in opinion. + +First. Slavery is a condition of society not founded in nature. When +God, in his Word, demands that children shall be in subordination to +their parents, and citizens to the constituted civil authorities, we +need no why and wherefore to enable us to see the reasonableness of +these requirements. We feel that they are no arbitrary enactments, but +indispensable to the best interests of families and of society, and +therefore founded in nature. We are prepared, too, from their obvious +necessity and utility, to rank them among the permanent statutes of the +Divine Legislator. But can as much be said of slavery? Is there such an +obvious fitness and utility in one man's being, against his will, owned +and controlled by another, as to prepare us to say that such an +ownership is founded in the very constitution of things? None will +pretend that there is. Not only is slavery not founded in nature, but, + +Second. It is condemned by the very instincts of our moral constitution. +These instincts seem to whisper that "all men are born free and equal;" +equal, not in intellect, or in the petty distinctions of parentage, +property, or power; but having, as the creatures of one God, an equal +right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Job's moral +instincts taught him, that the fact of all men's having one and the same +Creator gave his servants a right to contend with him, when wronged; and +that, if he "despised their cause," he must answer it to his God and +theirs. That men of all races and grades are essentially equal before +God; that every man has a right to himself, to the fruits of his toil, +and to the unmolested pursuit of happiness, in all lawful ways; and +hence, that slavery, as existing in these States, is a gigantic system +of evil and wrong,--are truths which the moral sense of men is +everywhere proclaiming with much emphasis and distinctness. If it be not +so, what means this note of remonstrance, long and loud, that comes to +our ears over the Atlantic wave? Why else did a Mohammedan prince,[I] +(to say nothing of what nearly all Christian governments have done,) +put an end to slavery in his dominions before he died? And how else +shall we account for that moral earthquake which has for years been +rocking this great republic to its very centre? One cannot thoughtfully +observe the signs of the times,--no, nor the workings of his own heart, +methinks,--without perceiving that slavery is at war with the moral +sense of mankind. If there be any conscience that approves, it must be a +conscience perverted by wrong instruction, or by a vicious practice. And +can that be a good institution, and worthy of perpetuity, which an +unperverted conscience instinctively condemns? + +Third. The bad character of slavery becomes yet more apparent, if we +consider the manner in which it has chiefly originated and been +sustained. Did God institute the relation of master and slave, as he did +the conjugal and parental relations? It is not pretended. In what, then, +did slavery have its beginning? Doubtless the first slaves were +captives, taken in war. In primitive ages, the victors in war were +considered as having a right to do what they pleased with their +captives; and so it sometimes happened that they were put to death, and +sometimes that they were made to serve their captors as bondmen. Thus +slavery was at first the incidental result of war. But as time rolled +on, the love of power and of gain prompted men to make aggressions on +their weaker neighbors, for the very purpose of enslaving them; and, +eventually, man-stealing and the slave-trade became familiar facts in +the world's history. Upon these has slavery, for centuries past, +depended mainly for its continuance. And, although these feeders of +slavery are now by Christian nations branded as piracy and strictly +vetoed, they are far from being exterminated. Indeed, it seems to be +well understood, that, if all commerce in slaves, foreign and domestic, +ceases, slavery itself must soon become extinct. + +Now if man-stealing be an act which the Word of God and the moral +instincts of men do most pointedly condemn,--and I will attempt no +demonstration of this here,--what shall we say of that which is its +legitimate offspring and dependant? Far be it from me to affirm, that, +circumstanced as our southern brethren are, it is just as criminal for +them to hold slaves as it would be to go now to Africa and forcibly +seize them. But, in the spirit of love, I would ask my slave-holding +brother, Can that be a justifiable institution, and deserving to be +upheld, which has so bad a parentage? "Do men gather grapes of thorns?" +"Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" + +Fourth. There are, in the Scriptures, many clear indications that +slavery has not the approbation of God, and hence has not the stamp of +perpetuity upon it. Under this head, let us notice several distinct +particulars. + +1. Had God regarded servitude as a good thing, he would not, in +authoritatively predicting its existence, have said, "Cursed be Canaan; +a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." What God visits +men with as a curse cannot be intrinsically good and beneficial. + +2. The judgments with which God visited Egypt and her proud monarch, for +refusing to emancipate the Israelites, and for essaying to recapture +them, when let go, and the wages which he caused his people, when +released, to receive for their hitherto unrequited tolls, clearly evince +that he has no complacency in compulsory, unrewarded servitude. + +3. The same thing is indicated by the fact that God has, by statute, +provided expressly for the protection and freedom of an escaped slave; +but not for the recovery of such a fugitive by his master. "Thou shalt +not deliver unto his master, the servant which is escaped from his +master unto thee: he shall dwell with thee, even among you in that place +which he shall choose.... Thou shalt not oppress him." Now be it, if +you will, that this statute had reference only to servants who should +escape into the land of Israel from Gentile masters; does it not +indicate a strong bias, in the mind of God, to the side of freedom, +rather than that of slavery? And does it not establish the point, that, +in God's estimation, one man cannot rightfully be deemed the property of +another man? Were it otherwise, would not the Jew have been required to +restore a runaway to his pursuing master, just as he was to restore any +other lost thing which its owner should come in search of? Or, to say +the least, would not the Israelites have been allowed to reduce to +servitude among themselves the escaped slave of a heathen master? But +how unlike all this are the actual requirements of the statute. God's +people must neither deliver up the fugitive nor enslave him themselves; +but allow him to dwell among them as a FREEMAN, just "where it liketh +him best." And, in this connection, how significant a fact is it, that +the Bible nowhere empowers the master from whom a slave had escaped to +pursue, seize, and drag back to bondage that escaped slave. + +4. That which constitutes the grand fountain of slavery,--the forcible, +stealthy seizure of a man, for the purpose of holding or selling him as +a slave,--was, under the Mosaic dispensation, punishable with death; +and is, in the New Testament, named in connection with the most heinous +crimes. "He that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in +his hand, he shall surely be put to death." What could more forcibly +exhibit God's disapprobation of one of the distinctive features of +slavery,--compulsion? What more impressively show the value that he puts +upon a man's personal independence,--his right to himself? Now if God +doomed that man to die a felon's death who should steal and sell a +fellow man, can it be that he would hold him guiltless who should buy +the stolen man, knowing him to have been stolen? God's people were, +indeed, allowed to "buy bondmen and bondmaids" of the strangers that +dwelt among them, and of the surrounding heathen. But were they ever +allowed to buy persons whom they knew to have been unlawfully obtained, +and offered for sale in manifest opposition to their own wishes? If they +were not,--and, from the statute just referred to, it seems certain that +they were not,--does American slavery derive countenance from that which +was tolerated in the Jewish church and nation? True, the slaves now held +as such among us were not themselves feloniously seized on a foreign +soil, torn away from kindred, homes, and country, and sold into hopeless +bondage in a strange land; but their sires and grandsires were. +Man-stealing is confessedly the stock out of which has sprung, and grown +to its present dimensions, the vast and overshadowing Upas of American +slavery; and if the Bible brands that stock as pestiferous, must not the +entire tree partake of the noxious influence? Again: if, as competent +critics assert, the popular sense of the word rendered "men-stealers," +in 1 Tim. i. 10, be "those who deal in men--literally, slave-traders," +then trafficking in slaves for mercenary ends is, by Paul, ranked among +vices the most abominable; and American slavery is, if possible, more +pointedly condemned by that passage than by the statute found in Ex. +xxi. 16. For who does not know that trading in "the persons of men" has +ever been, and yet is, a main pillar in the fabric of slavery? Indeed, +man-stealing and slave-trading are to slave-holding precisely what the +business of the distiller and of the vendor is to the vice of +intemperance. There is, in either case, a trio of associated evils; and +it is difficult to say which member of either trio is the most repulsive +and harmful. + +If, now, it be objected to this argument from the Bible, that the Mosaic +institutes expressly recognize such a thing as involuntary servitude, +and prescribe rules for its regulation, I answer: true, but the +servitude thus recognized and regulated by statute was of a far milder +type than that which is legalized in these American States. For, 1. It +allowed the bondman a large amount of leisure, or time which he need not +devote to his master's service; 2. It made it possible for him to +accumulate a considerable amount of property; 3. It placed him on a +perfect level with his master, in regard to religious privileges; 4. It +gave him his freedom whenever he should be so chastised as to result in +permanent injury to his person: thus operating as a powerful preventive +of inhumanity in chastising; 5. It respected the sanctity of the +conjugal and parental relations, when existing among bondmen, and did +not authorize a compulsory severing of family ties; 6. It made no +provision for the sale of a servant by his Jewish master, nor for any +such domestic commerce in the persons of men as is practised in the +southern States of this Union; 7. It provided for the periodical +emancipation of all that were in bondage; thus aiming a fatal blow at +the very existence of servitude in the Hebrew commonwealth. I may not, +consistently with the necessary brevity of a tract designed for popular +perusal, go into any demonstration of the facts above asserted. For +proof that they are facts, let my readers studiously examine the Mosaic +books, and the Rev. A. Barnes's "Inquiry into the Scriptural Views of +Slavery." I see not how any candid and discriminating investigator can +help being convinced that the servitude which was temporarily tolerated +in the Jewish church, was, in numerous respects, very unlike to that +which exists among us, and far less repulsive. + +But suppose, for argument's sake, it had been just as repulsive a system +as ours, would the fact of its having been tolerated under the Jewish +economy prove it to be intrinsically good, and worthy of being +perpetuated? Then, by parity of reasoning, the good men of ancient times +might safely have concluded that certain other practices were good and +would endure, which we know were not good, and were not to last. Had the +question been propounded in Abraham's or in David's day, whether +polygamy and concubinage were approved of God, and would be perpetuated +in the church, it is probable that even the saints of those periods +would have responded affirmatively. The fact that God had so long +allowed his people to practise these things unrebuked, might, to them, +have seemed sufficient proof that these practices were intrinsically +proper, and were to rank among the permanent fixtures of human society. +But were Abraham and David now on the earth, with what changed feelings +would they regard the cast-off system of concubinage and a plurality of +wives. Again: suppose the conjecture had been hazarded, three thousand +years ago, that woman, from being a menial drudge, or a mere medium of +bestial indulgence, would one day occupy the dignified position to which +Christianity has actually lifted her, would not incredulity have lurked +in every heart, and found expression on every tongue? Now there are +plain indications, not only in the Word, but the providences of God, +that he never regarded slavery with complacency, any more than he did +polygamy, concubinage, or the serfdom of woman; and that he never +designed its perpetuity. Scrutinizing that Word and those providences, +one needs no prophetic ken to enable him to predict with certainty, +that, when Christ's millennial reign is ushered in, contraband will be +inscribed on slavery, as it already has been on some other evils that +were once tolerated, not only in society, but in the church of God. + +But I shall be reminded here, that, when the apostles were disseminating +Christianity in the Roman empire, there prevailed throughout that empire +a system of slavery more odious and oppressive than ours; and yet that +both slaveholders and slaves were converted and admitted to the church, +without its affecting the relation of master and slave; that the New +Testament instructs the parties how to demean themselves in that +relation, but nowhere enjoins emancipation on the master, or encourages +absconding or non-submission in the slave; in short, that it nowhere +expressly condemns slavery, or intimates that its extermination was to +be expected or desired. In reply to this, I would say,-- + +(1.) To infer, because the New Testament enjoins obedience on slaves, +and makes no direct attack on the institution of slavery, that it +therefore sanctions the institution, and would have it perpetuated, is +as much a _non sequitur_ as to infer, because God enjoins on men +subjection to existing civil authorities, whatever may be their +character, that he as much approves of a despotic as of a constitutional +government,--of the government of Ferdinand of Naples as of that of +Victoria of England. Nor is it more difficult to comprehend why God has, +in the Scriptures, made no direct assault on slavery, than it is to see +why He has not directly assailed governmental despotisms, or expressed +any preference for one form of government over another. An obvious and +far-seeing wisdom is discernible in this, which it behooves us to +admire, and not unfrequently to imitate. Had the apostles or the +Scriptures openly denounced all absolutism, whether civil or domestic, +it would have aroused unnecessary prejudice and opposition, and diverted +the attention of men from the grand object aimed at in giving the world +a written and preached gospel. God deemed it wiser to reach these evils +through the slow but sure progress of certain great principles laid down +in his Word, than through the medium of specific prohibitions. + +(2.) The fact that the apostles received into the church converts who +not only held slaves, but held them under a slave-system that was +awfully despotic, was no indorsement on their part of that odious +system, nor even of the slightest inhumanity on the part of a master +towards his slaves. It does, indeed, prove that a man may be a +Christian, without ceasing to be a slaveholder in form; but not that a +master may indulge in all the legal barbarities of the system, and yet +be a Christian. Merely to sustain the relation of a Christian master for +the good of the slave, or from the necessity of the case, is one thing, +while to advocate and defend this chattel system, and hold in bondage +fellow human beings for personal and selfish ends, is quite another +thing. Nowhere do the Scriptures countenance, or even wink at, the least +degree of inhumanity or injustice in the treatment of servants. So far +from this, they expressly enjoin it on masters to "give unto their +servants that which is just and equal," all the law of disinterested +love would require; accompanying the injunction with the significant +hint, that they themselves have a Master, and that with him there is "no +respect of persons." + +(3.) Though the Scriptures do not directly assail the system of slavery, +they indirectly and obviously condemn it, and that very abundantly. +Slavery is indirectly and yet strongly rebuked in such passages of +Scripture as the following: "Wo unto him that ... useth his neighbor's +service without wages." "Is not this the fast that I have chosen, ... to +undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye +break every yoke?" "What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do +justly, and to love mercy?" ... "Have we not all one Father? Hath not +one God created us?" ... "And hath made of one blood all nations of men, +for to dwell on all the face of the earth; ... that they should seek the +Lord." ... "God is no respecter of persons." "The people of the land +have used oppression, ... therefore have I poured out mine indignation +upon them." ... "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." "Therefore, +all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so +to them." It needs no unusual acuteness to see, that, were the spirit of +these and kindred passages (for numerous others of the sort might have +been cited) everywhere acted out, slavery would as readily vanish, as do +the icebergs of the North, if perchance they float away into milder +latitudes. + +Fifth. To the four reasons already assigned for thinking that slavery +has not God's approbation, and ought not to be perpetuated, I will add +but one more,--its baleful effects. (1). As it respects worldly thrift, +or pecuniary prosperity. It is a fact, that slavery exerts a depressing +influence on the business welfare of any community where it prevails; +and that, other things being equal, slaveholding States can never +compete with free ones in the item of financial prosperity. A necessary +brevity forbids my pointing out the causes of this fact; but my readers +will, without my aid, readily ascertain what they are. Suffice it to +say, it has become a settled maxim of political economy, that there +exists an antagonism between slavery and the highest business prosperity +of any people that tolerates it; and the southern States of this Union +furnish abundant confirmation of its truth. (2.) I will name but one +other thing,--its baneful influence on character and morals. That +slavery tends to debase the character and morals of the slaves will +scarcely be questioned. Apart from the ignorance naturally resulting +from their condition, that condition powerfully tends to render them +sensual, indolent, artful, mendacious, stealthful, and revengeful. But +is the bad moral tendency of the institution limited to the bondmen? +Exerts it no corrupting influence on the hearts, the habits, and morals +of the masters? Is it not its legitimate tendency to foster in them such +vices as indolence, effeminacy, licentiousness, covetousness, +inhumanity, haughtiness, and a supreme regard for self? Of course, I do +not affirm that it uniformly produces these sad effects on the character +of masters. So far from this, there may doubtless be found slaveholders, +who, in all that adorns and ennobles human character, will compare +favorably with the very best men at the North. I think it will be +conceded, however, that the legitimate tendency is to evil, and that the +effects of slavery on the character of its sustainers are, in the main, +disastrous; and that the depreciated state of morals prevailing where +slavery exists is mainly attributable to this as its source. I need not +here enter into detail. Facts are too well known to make this +necessary. + +Thus have we contemplated several distinct reasons for believing that +slavery is no good thing,--has not the sanction of Jehovah,--and cannot +with propriety be perpetuated. Its contrariety to nature,--its +antagonism to the moral sense of mankind,--its disgraceful parentage and +manner of support,--its condemnation by the Bible,--and its disastrous +influence on financial prosperity, on character, and on public +morals,--all proclaim that slavery, so far from being a good thing, is a +tremendous curse; yea, more, that it is a stupendous wrong; and hence, +that it should be tolerated in the church of Christ no longer than the +best interests of all concerned may render necessary for a safe +termination. + +But it may be, after all, that I have failed to secure the assent of +some of my southern brethren to the justness of the foregoing positions +and inferences. It may be that they still regard the system of bondage +prevailing in their midst as in the main beneficial, defensible from the +Bible, and, with some modifications perhaps, worthy of perpetuity. Well, +brethren, suppose you do thus regard it; and for argument's sake +suppose, too, that you may possibly be right,--that slave-holding may be +in itself the harmless thing which you deem it; ought you not +cheerfully to abandon it, in obedience to a great Bible +principle,--that of refraining from things which are in themselves +lawful, or which your conscience may not condemn, out of regard to the +conscience of aggrieved Christian brethren, or to the prejudices of +those whose salvation you would not obstruct? You are aware, brethren, +that this magnanimous principle Paul both inculcated and exemplified. +You are also aware that a large majority of the Christians now living +regard your cherished institution as unjustifiable, and at variance with +the spirit of Christianity; and, so regarding it, they long for its +extinction, and are grieved with you for cleaving to it so tenaciously, +and refusing to concert measures for its ultimate overthrow. Indeed, +they are more than grieved; they are profoundly agitated by the fresh +developments of the iniquitous system which you are helping to uphold; +and there seems no prospect, while that system endures, of their +becoming tranquillized. A tempest has sprung up and is raging in the +church of Christ,--to say nothing of the civilized world,--which seems +not likely to cease till its cause be removed; and slavery is that +cause. Now I put it to you, brethren, if here be not an opportunity of +exemplifying, on a broad scale, the self-denying and noble principle +which Paul indicates in the words, "All things are lawful for me, but +all things are not expedient;" "Eat not for his sake that shewed it, and +for conscience' sake: ... conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the +other;" "Though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant +unto all, that I might gain the more." Have it, if you will, that the +brethren for whose sake you are asked to make this sacrifice are weak +brethren, and their consciences weak. Your obligation to make it is none +the less on that account; for the principle just adverted to +contemplates cases of this very sort. Since the practice which grieves +these weak brethren is one that you can probably abandon without +wounding your own conscience, are you at liberty to undervalue their +conscience by persisting in that which grieves them? + +But how much weightier does this argument become, when it is remembered +that the opposers of slavery, besides being exceedingly numerous, have, +many of them, been eminent,--not merely for a conscientious piety, but +for talent, for research, for scholarship, for broad and comprehensive +views of things;--and that the list embraces distinguished southern, as +well as northern men; and men of celebrity in both church and state. +There have been found in the anti-slavery ranks, presidents and noble +men, jurists and legislators, statesmen and divines, scholars and +authors, poets and orators. And, still further to enhance the dignity of +the cause, it should be remembered that several General Assemblies of +the Presbyterian Church of the United States, together with numerous +lesser ecclesiastical bodies, have lifted up their voice in opposition +to slavery, and proclaimed substantially the same views which this +humble Essay has aimed to exhibit. Now if, as we have seen, a +deferential regard should be had to the conscience of aggrieved +Christian brethren, even when they are few and feeble-minded, how much +more, when the aggrieved ones are counted in hundreds of thousands? when +theirs is an intelligent piety and an enlightened conscience? and when, +too, their remonstrance is backed up by a public sentiment that is +wellnigh unanimous through all christendom? + +If now, in spite of all these considerations, I still have readers that +say in their hearts, slavery must be perpetuated, they will pardon me +for lingering no longer in the hope of changing their views. I would be +indulged, however, in one parting interrogation. Has it never occurred +to you, brethren, that yours is, on some accounts, a very unfavorable +stand-point from which to form just and disinterested views of slavery; +and that your very position as slave-holders, and your long familiarity +with the system and its evils, may have blinded you to the magnitude of +those evils, and to the great desirableness of their being removed? May +it not be that long use, and self-interest, and the love of power and +ease, have conspired to warp your judgment, blunt your sensibilities, +and cause you to view slavery through a deceptive medium? + +Having, as I hope, the cordial assent of the great mass of my readers, +northern and southern, to the foregoing argument against slavery and its +perpetuity, we are now prepared to advance to the last great division of +our subject, and to inquire: What are the duties, positive and negative, +which this subject imposes on American Christians? What does it demand +that we, as Christians, should do, and refrain from doing? This question +subdivides itself thus: What ought we northern and professedly +anti-slavery Christians to do, and not do? And, next, What duties, +positive and negative, does the question devolve on professing +Christians in the slave-holding States? + +I. We are to consider what we, the northern and avowedly anti-slavery +section of the American church, ought, in view of this subject, both to +do, and refrain from doing. In reply to the question, What ought we to +do? I would say,-- + +1. It is not only our right, but duty, temperately and with Christian +courtesy to continue to discuss this great theme, both orally and with +the pen; and especially to endeavor to bring the truth into contact with +the mind and heart of our southern brethren,--if, peradventure, we may +thus persuade them soon to cease their connection with slavery. Freedom +of discussion is one important safeguard of the public weal; and that +must be regarded as a bad, untenable cause which will not bear the test +of a full and free discussion before the world. Free inquiry, too, has +not only preceded all great reformations, but has been an important +instrument in bringing them about. That great moral change known as the +temperance reformation is but one example among many that might be +adduced. If slavery is ever to be numbered in history among the things +that are past, it will be by having Bible light and truth made to +converge upon it, through the lens of free public discussion. Hence, +believing as we do that American slavery is an enormous evil and a +gigantic wrong,--a thing with which the church should cease to have +connection as speedily as may be,--as Christians we may, we must, employ +our tongues and our pens in behalf of the enslaved, till our world +shall cease to contain such a class of men. + +2. We ought so to exercise the right of suffrage as to resist the +extension of slavery beyond its present limits. I say nothing here of +the political question of State rights, or of interfering with slavery +in States where it now exists. The question of authorizing by law the +extension of slavery into new States and Territories, or of admitting +new States with pro-slavery constitutions, is another and very different +thing from that of disturbing the compact in relation to slavery entered +into by the founders of this republic. The concessions in relation to +the slave interest which our fathers made by no means oblige us to make +further concessions, by consenting that slavery shall overstep her +present geographical limits. I know not what others may think; but, for +one, I feel constrained, by a sense of duty to God and my country, so to +vote as to have my votes tell against the spread of slavery. I must +carry my Christian principles of love and humanity to the ballot-box, as +well as elsewhere. Though long identified with one of the political +parties, I have of late felt myself bound, as a voter, to ignore the +ancient party lines, and even to ignore all other questions, compared +with the one great and absorbing one, Shall slavery be allowed to have +more territory, in which to breed and expand itself? In my deliberate +judgment, all Christian patriots should, so far as their votes can +speak, say to the system of bondage existing in our midst, "Hitherto +shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall thy proud waves be +stayed." This becomes now a moral and a religious duty. + +3. In our visits to the throne of grace, we ought, with more frequency +and fervor, "to remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them." +Assured that all hearts and events are at God's disposal, that he abhors +oppression, and that prayer is the Christian's mode of taking hold of +God's strength, we must make full proof of this as a weapon with which +to effect the subversion of slavery. It may be that importunate, +persevering prayer will effect more in behalf of the enslaved than all +other instrumentalities. It is, at least, quite certain that other means +will prove inefficacious, if this be not superadded. + +But the question we are considering has a negative as well as positive +side; and we will next inquire, what we anti-slavery Christians ought to +refrain from doing. + +1. We must not, in our efforts to subvert slavery, indulge in an +unchristian spirit, or in language adapted needlessly to anger and +alienate those whom it should be our aim to win. A cause that is +intrinsically good may be advocated in a bad spirit, or with improper +weapons; and such may have sometimes been the case with ours. Would that +all men had ever borne it in mind, that truth and love are the only +weapons with which to wage a successful conflict with this or any other +deep-seated moral evil. + +2. We must not, in our zeal for emancipation, allow mere feeling or +benevolent impulses partially to dethrone reason; and thus disqualify +ourselves for taking impartial views of the subject, or for accurately +discriminating between truth and error. There may have been men in the +anti-slavery ranks, with whom sympathy was every thing, and reason--and +even the Bible--comparatively nothing. In obeying the injunction to +"remember them that are in bonds," they may have neglected to remember +any thing else. Slavery seemed to occupy their entire field of vision. +Hence, not fully informed in regard to the actual condition of things at +the South, they have erroneously supposed that the slave codes +prevailing there were the standard by which to judge of the actual +condition of the slaves, and that all the Southern church was actually +practising the barbarities authorized by those codes. As there was no +just appreciation of the actual conduct of masters towards their +servants, so there was no allowance made for the circumstances which +conspired to render them masters, nor for the obstacles which stand in +the way of their ceasing to be masters. It must be admitted, that +generally, where unrighteous laws are suffered to exist, the mass of the +community will not be better than the laws; but there are +exceptions,--men who intend to give heed to a higher law. So much for +allowing an amiable but blind sympathy to usurp that throne which reason +and revelation were designed conjointly to occupy. It scarcely need be +added, that these ultraisms have done much to prejudice the anti-slavery +cause, and bring it, in the eyes of some, into unmerited contempt. We +must wipe away that reproach, by so conducting our warfare with slavery +as to evince that we are neither men of one idea, nor men whose judgment +is led captive by their sensibilities. + +3. We must not, in opposing slavery, indorse the sentiment, that one +cannot in any conceivable circumstances give credible evidence of piety, +and yet continue in form to hold slaves; that being a master is, +in any and in all circumstances, a disciplinable offence in the +church; or that it should, without exception, constitute a barrier to +church-membership, or to the communion of saints at Christ's sacramental +board. While we believe that all the great principles of God's Word go +to subvert slavery, and while we are constrained to regard the holding +of slaves as diminishing the evidence of a man's piety, and thus far +alienating his claims to a good standing in the Christian church, we may +nevertheless make exceptions, and not keep a man out of the church, or +discipline him when in it, merely because he sustains temporarily the +relation of master, not for selfish ends, but, as in rare cases, for +benevolent reasons. But if a man defends the system, and takes away from +a fellow man inalienable human rights, then we may and should refuse him +admission, or subject him to discipline, as the case may be. But, +obvious and important as is this distinction, it is one which some +anti-slavery men may have failed to make; and that failure may have +prejudiced or retarded the cause of emancipation. A good cause suffers +by having a single uncandid statement or untenable argument advanced in +its support; and the friends of the enslaved must afford their opponents +no room for saying, that their reasonings are illogical or +anti-scriptural. + +4. We must not, in seeking the extinction of American slavery, so +insist on its immediate abolition as to repudiate the responsibility +which a master owes to this dependent and depressed class of his fellow +beings; but that that end be kept steadily in view, to be accomplished +as speedily as is consistent with the best good of the parties +concerned. The immediate and total extinction of southern slavery, if +not obviously impossible, is of questionable expediency. The upas of +American slavery has struck its roots so deep, and shot its branches so +far, and so interlaced itself with all surrounding objects, that, to +have it instantaneously and unreservedly uprooted, might prove, in many +cases, disastrous; and, at all events, is not to be expected. To say +nothing of other obstacles to the immediate abolition of Southern +slavery, the highest good of many of the slaves makes it inexpedient. +Some, probably many of them, need to pass through an educating +process,--a kind of mental and moral apprenticeship,--in order to their +profiting largely by the boon of emancipation.[J] + +II. We are now to inquire, lastly, what duties, positive and negative, +this great question devolves on those Christians among whom American +slavery has its seat, or who are personally identified with it. Hoping, +brethren, that the sentiments thus far advanced are your sentiments, I +shall have your further assent when I say, + +1. That the extinction, at the earliest consistent date, of the system +of servitude existing among you, is a result at which you ought steadily +and strenuously to aim. And, as you see, we base this obligation of +yours, not on the assumption of any sinfulness which you may sustain to +slavery, but on the acknowledged injustice and woes, past, present, and +prospective, of the system as a system,--its contrariety, as a system, +to the fundamental principles of Christianity. Did we regard you as +necessarily sinners, if in any sense you hold slaves, then the least we +could ask of you would be, that with contrition of heart you should +instantaneously cease to indulge in this sin, for all sin should be +immediately abandoned. As it is, we only ask, that, just as fast as your +slaves can be prepared for freedom, and as the providence of God may put +it in your power to liberate them, you will do so. We are not so unwise +as to expect that the work of extinction can be accomplished in a day. +We know, too, that you are not, in your church capacity, the constituted +arbiters of the question as a question of State policy. And, so long as +your legislatures and their constituencies are resolved on maintaining +the system, perhaps you will be unable to effect as much as you desire +in the way of promoting its overthrow. And yet, brethren, there is a way +in which we think you can, with entire safety and manifest propriety, +contribute largely and directly to the extinction of American slavery. +Would the entire Southern church cease all personal participation in +slavery, and throw her whole weight and influence into the scale of +slavery's complete subversion, that "consummation devoutly to be wished" +would soon ensue. Slave-holding, no longer practised or justified by the +church, but discountenanced, could not long retain its foothold in the +State. Now if this be so, our slaveholding brethren will confess that +they are imperiously bound, by motives of Christian duty, to liberate +their bondmen with all consistent speed. Meantime, and as one important +means of qualifying them for freedom, you ought, + +2. To see to it that not only your own, but all the bondmen among +you,--your entire slave population,--are furnished with the Bible, and +qualified to read and comprehend it; and also with stated preaching. +They need a written and preached gospel, were it only to fit them to +exchange, with advantage, a state of vassalage for the dignity of +freemen; for all experience proves that the Bible and the pulpit are of +all instruments the best to qualify men safely to exercise the right of +self-government. But there is a servitude more dreadful by far than any +domestic bondage that men have ever groaned under; and your slaves need +the Bible, and the Bible preached, to prove God's instruments of +breaking the chains imposed by Satan, and making them Christ's freemen. +Before God and in prospect of eternity, the distinctions between the +master and his slave dwindle into insignificance. Having souls that are +alike impure and alike precious, alike remembered by a dying Saviour and +alike in need of the regenerating change, they stand alike in need of +God's Word, written and preached, as the Spirit's instrument in renewing +and sanctifying the soul. Hence the Bible and preaching are as much the +rightful inheritance of the slave as of the master. We rejoice that +these truths and the obligations resulting therefrom are, to some +extent, recognized by southern Christians; and that, in spite of certain +adverse statutes, so much is being done there for the spiritual +well-being of the slaves. Go on, brethren, in the good work of +evangelizing your slave population; in teaching them the art of reading +and the rudiments of knowledge; in putting the Bible into their hands, +and affording them stated opportunities to read it, and to hear it +expounded by you and by Christ's ministers. Go on, we say, till there be +not one southern slave, who, in point of religious privileges, is not on +a footing of equality with yourselves. Prosecuting this laudable work in +the spirit of love, you will probably encounter no serious opposition. +The adverse but dead statutes referred to will not, we hope, be +galvanized into life, in order to oppose you. + +It only remains that we name a few things, which we trust our Southern +brethren will unite with us in saying that they should refrain from +doing. (1.) You ought not to, and we trust you will not, betray +impatience and irritation, whenever we of the North attempt to press the +claims of the enslaved on your attention. Your doing this,--as you +sometimes have,--seems to indicate, that, in your opinion, we Northern +Christians have no responsibility in regard to slavery and its evils; +and that when we discuss this theme we make ourselves "busybodies in +other men's matters." To the justness of this opinion we cannot +subscribe. While we disclaim all right or intention to break our compact +with you as States, we feel that American slavery is a question of too +great moment to ourselves and to unborn generations for us to have no +concern with or responsibility for; and as patriots, as philanthropists, +as Christians, we are constrained to do all that we rightfully may for +the downfall of this hoary system of wrong and woe. If any of you differ +with us in opinion on this theme, we trust you will allow us to discuss +it to our heart's content; and that you will listen to our reasonings +with Christian meekness and candor. Not to do so will be construed as an +evidence of intrinsic weakness in your cause. (2.) You will freely +admit, we presume, that certain practices are authorized by your slave +laws, in which you must not indulge even so long as by any necessity +you hold slaves. Your slave codes, for example, do not recognize the +sanctity of family ties and the domestic affections as existing among +slaves; but, as Christian masters, you must. You doubtless believe, as +do we, that the marriage relation, with all its rights and immunities, +was as much designed for the negro as for the white man; that he, as +truly as the other, is entitled to "cleave unto his wife," unexposed to +the danger of man's putting asunder what God hath so closely joined, +that "they are no more twain, but one flesh." You believe, too, that God +united husband and wife thus indissolubly, not simply that they might be +a help and solace to each other in the toilsome pilgrimage of life, but +that the children with which God should bless them might grow up under +their supervision, and by them be qualified for a career of usefulness +and honor. Thus you believe, and believing thus, you will not, we trust, +counteract God's benevolent designs, by countenancing, in your own +practice, the separation of husbands and wives, or of parents and their +offspring. We feel assured, that, whatever your laws may allow, or +non-professing masters around you may do, you will never ignore the +conjugal or parental rights of your servants, or indulge in any thing +adapted to mar their domestic enjoyment. Were you to do so, we confess +we could not extend to you "the right hand of fellowship" as brethren in +Christ. Were a church-member of ours to practise thus, we should regard +him as amenable to discipline. We should also regard it as disciplinable +for a master to overwork, or brutally chastise, or but half feed and +clothe his servants; or to hold slaves for mere purposes of gain, or to +traffic in them. None of these inhumanities could we reconcile with the +obligations of a Christian profession; and we confidently hope that in +these views you will heartily concur, and that with them your practice +will correspond. + +Christian brethren of the North and the South! The question we have been +considering is one of vast moment. Upon the right disposition of it are +suspended, under God, interests of immeasurable value, and which stretch +far out into the unseen future of our country and the world. Coming ages +and unborn generations are to be affected; favorably or otherwise, by +the decision of this vexed question; and, brethren, unless I misjudge, +its right decision is, to a very great extent, lodged in our hands. As +decides the American church, so, methinks, will decide the American +people. And now,--may I confess it?--I have dared to hope that the +sentiments of this Essay are not only sound, but in unison with the +views of the great mass of American Christians. Are we not agreed in +this: that American slavery is a system of deep injustice and wrong, not +sanctioned by the Word or the providence of God; fraught with +incalculable mischief to the interests of both masters, and slaves, and +to the social and religious well-being of our whole country; a blot on +the escutcheon both of the nation and of the church; a weapon for +scepticism to wield, and an obstacle to the introduction of millennial +glory; and hence, a system which ought speedily to terminate, and which +all good men should unitedly oppose and seek to subvert? If we are thus +agreed, let us join hands as well as hearts, and, swerving neither to +the extreme of passive indifference on the one hand nor to that of +erratic fanaticism on the other, in the majesty of principle let us move +calmly onward, a phalanx of Christian philanthropists, attempting naught +but what they are assured God would have them attempt, and employing +only such means as are warranted by an enlightened conscience. Leaning +prayerfully on Him who hears the sighing of the oppressed, let us push +vigorously forward, and, though the year of jubilee has not yet fully +come, be assured it will come,--that proud day, when not only +"throughout all the land," but throughout the civilized world, liberty +shall be proclaimed "unto all the inhabitants thereof." Hasten its +advent, "O Thou that hearest prayer," and that "delightest in mercy!" +Amen and Amen. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] An extended passage containing the extract may be found conveniently +in Chambers' Cyclopaedia of English Literature, vol. 2, p. 246. + +[B] Genesis, 10th Chapter. Vide, Kitto's Cyclopaedia, for views in this +connection. + +[C] Col. 4:1; "Ye masters, give unto your servants that which is just +and equal." That is, act towards them on the principles of justice and +equity. Justice requires that all their rights, as men, as husbands, and +as parents, should be regarded. And these rights are not to be +determined by the civil law, but by the law of God.... But God concedes +nothing to the master beyond what the law of love allows. Paul requires +for servants not only what is strictly just, but [Greek: ten isoteta]. +What is that? Literally, it is _equality_. This is not only its +signification, but its meaning. Servants are to be treated by their +masters on the principles of equality. Not that they are to be equal +with their masters in authority or station or circumstances; but that +they are to be treated as having, as men, as husbands, and as parents, +equal rights with their masters. It is just as great a sin to deprive a +servant of the just recompense for his labor, or to keep him in +ignorance, or to take from him his wife or child, as it is to act thus +towards a free man. This is the equality which the law of God demands, +and on this principle the final judgment is to be administered. Christ +will punish the master for defrauding the servant as severely as he will +punish the servant for robbing his master. The same penalty will be +inflicted for the violation of the conjugal or parental rights of the +one as of the other. For, as the apostle adds, there is no respect of +persons with him. At his bar the question will be, "What was done?" not +"Who did it?" Paul carries this so far as to apply the principle not +only to the acts, but to the temper of masters. They are not only to act +towards their servants on the principles of justice and equity, but are +to _avoid threatening_. This includes all manifestation of contempt and +ill temper, or undue severity. All this is enforced by the consideration +that masters have a Master in heaven, to whom they are responsible for +their treatment of their servants.... Believers will act in conformity +with the Gospel in this. And the result of such obedience, if it could +become general, would be, that first the evils of slavery, and then +slavery itself, would pass away naturally, and as healthfully as +children cease to be minors. + +_Prof. Hodge's Commentary._ + +[D] See 2 Brevard's Digest, 229; Prince's Digest, 446. + +[E] Civil Code, Art. 35. + +[F] Job ch. 32, v. 17-20, Barnes's translation. + +[G] It is sometimes said that the crime of adultery is neither +perpetrated nor encouraged by the breaking up of slave-families, +because, generally, the connections formed are not truly marriage, not +being solemnized according to forms of law, and hence the marriage +obligation _cannot_ be violated. + +It may be replied, if this be so, it presents slavery in a worse light +still, for it encourages and perpetuates a state of universal +concubinage. But it is _not_ so. When a slave takes a companion, and +they consent and engage to live together as husband and wife until +death, and they thus declare their intentions before others, whether any +legal form is gone through or not, they are as truly "no more twain but +one flesh" as were Adam and Eve. It has been thus decided by our courts +in regard to white persons. + +[H] Rev. R. I. Breckenridge, D. D. + +[I] Mehemet Ali. + +[J] The publishers understand the writer to mean, that the working of +them without wages,--the withholding that which is just and +equal,--should be immediately and universally abandoned, and that +emancipation should be granted as speedily as the slaves can be prepared +to use and enjoy their freedom. The right should be acknowledged, and +the needful means for its security immediately used. The writer does not +say, that holding men in bondage is not generally sinful, nor that all +sin should not be immediately repented of and forsaken, but only that +there may be exceptions where for a time, and under very peculiar +circumstances, it may not be sinful, and cannot consistently with the +greatest good be abandoned, without some previous means of preparation. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Three Prize Essays on American Slavery, by +R. B. Thurston and A.C. 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