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No. 32.
EXPERIMENTAL KNOWLEDGE.
A DIALOGUE
BETWEEN
An Abolition Croaker, A Citizen of Breton,
AND THE
PRINCE OF DARKNESS.
“I got me men-servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that ye also hive a Master in heaven; if thou art called, being a servant, care not for it, but if thou canst be made free use it rather.”—BIBLE.
STEREOTYPE EDITION.
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR,
AT NO. 9 FAYETTE COURT, UP STAIRS, A FEW RODS NORTH OF BOYLSTON MARKET.
1851.
Please lend this to every person that will read it.
Abolition Croaker.
Mr. Citizen, I think you were very indiscreet, in publishing, the other day, in the form of a dialogue, the conversation you had with my
brother Freesoiler.
Citizen.
Why so? is it not all the truth—every word of it?
A. C.
No: and you certainly carried things quite too far?
Citizen.
In what particular case do you think I went too far?
A. C.
Why, when you said you had faith to believe that what we
abolitionists and freesoilers
were saying and doing, generally speaking, was altogether
gratuitous on our part, and was a work of supererogation, not called for by
100God, nor demanded by Christ,
neither required by the new dispensation, on which we rely so much for the support of our “
higher law;
” this I think is carrying things quite too far.
Citizen.
Very well; let us see as to that; you consider servitude or slavery to be a
sin,
I suppose.
A. C.
Yes, we do; and one of the most odious sins of the times: yes, one of the greatest
curses and calamities
that ever came upon our country or on mankind.
Citizen.
Will you please to give me chapter and verse in the Bible that calls
servitude, bondage or slavery a sin?
Now I insist upon your answering this question fairly; do not try to evade it; but give me the language of the Bible on that subject.
A. C.
l admit you have taken me by surprise on this point; and I confess I am not prepared at this moment to do it; yet I am not disposed to give up the contest with you so easily as did my
brother Freesoiler;
I shall contend that
slavery,
yes, the
cursed slavery
of the colored population in our country, is one of the greatest and most
crying sins
among us; that it is the cause of nearly all the social, political, commercial and moral troubles, in different parts of our country; and that it
must and
shall be abolished;
or God will continue to pour down his curses upon us until we are all ruined as a nation, both politically, commercially and morally; therefore I intend to adhere to the principles of
abolitionism and freesoilism
to the very death of my body and political life.
Citizen.
Really, I was not aware that I had got a man of so much
courage
to contend with; but do tell me where you get your authority for saying
slavery is a sin,
and one of such a horrid character too? The Bible—the only book that informs us what
sin really is,
says nothing—no, not a word—about slavery being
a sin;
and I do not find that the word
slavery
is defined in our dictionaries as a sin, and especially one of that class of
sins
which you have just named.
A. C.
If my Bible does not say that slavery is one of the most aggravated of all
sins,
then you may have my head for a foot-ball.
Citizen.
I thank you; and I have no doubt but the kicks of the foot will make it bound and rebound as well as any foot-ball prepared from a
bladder with wind;
for I am inclined to believe that there is little else in your head than
wind and windy matter;
but to return to the word slavery. The Bible does not say it
is a sin;
therefore the mistake undergot the cart before the horse,
” and have mistaken the
punishment
for the
sin itself;
for the Bible informs us, in the case of
Canaan
and his posterity, that their
punishment
or condition ever afterwards should be that of
servants of servants,
the lowest grade of all; and this phrase, in the modern acceptation of the words, means
slaves;
and this condition was to be their
punishment;
yet their owners or masters may make
themselves
very guilty and odious in the sight of God, by their cruel and abusive treatment of their slaves; but in this matter those
owners and masters
are answerable to God for this
their sin,
and not to us.
I understand from the reading of my Bible that the
decalogue
does not call
slavery a sin,
although it was in existence at the time that
ordinance
was given to Moses, and promulgated among the Israelites; neither do I find it recorded as
a sin
by Moses, or either of the phrophets, or the writers of the Old Testament afterwards; neither did the Lord Jesus when on the earth, or either of his Apostles, give any account or make any record of it as
a sin;
and the Bible nowhere, as I can find, says servitude, or
slavery,
is
a sin;
but it doespunishment
for sin; yes, one of the most
loathsome of all sins,
which began in the
unclean curiosity of Canaan,
and in which his father Ham also participated; and which grew worse and worse in the successive generations, down to the days of
Sodom and Gomorrah,
when a pure and holy God could endure it no longer; then, as the Bible says, he
rained brimstone and fire out of heaven, and overthrew all the cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
Servitude, or slavery, in the days of
Abraham,
was not considered to be
a sin;
for God commanded him to circumcise every manchild in his family, and in their generations that should be born in his house,
or bought with his money,
of any stranger which was not of his seed; “he that is born in thy house, or he that is
bought with thy money,
must needs be circumcised.” Now where is the man that can for one moment suppose that
Abraham, yes Abraham, father of the faithful,
a man that God delighted to honor, and to whom he was frequently making communications on subjects of the greatest importance, both to himself and to the world after him,—I say where is the man that has the hardihood to say or suppose he was
100*abolitionists
now call one of the most
aggravated of all the sins
in our country,—namely, that of
owning slaves purchased with his own money,
—yes, living in such a
cursed sin,
when God was making and completing one of the most important covenants with this
faithful servant of his?
I repeat it, where is the man that would be guilty of such impiety? I venture to say there is not one, except he be found among the
abolitionists and freesoilers of your stamp and character;
and I believe that all this folly and iniquity on your part is really a stratagem of the
Prince of Darkness
to bring about
a civil war in our country;
and as he has been waiting several minutes to say a word or two, in order to set us both right on this perplexing subject, if you please, I will ask him to tell us what he knows about it; and I hope you will give attention to what he has to say; for he is an
old and experienced hand
in things of this kind; and I think he will entertain us a few minutes very well.
Prince of Darkness.
Gentlemen, I thank you for the opportunity now given me of saying a few words on this occasion;my privilege has always been to
rule in darkness;
to make men blind to their own best interests, and to thelying vanitics,
make them wise in their own conceits, proud of their own acquirements, full of self-esteem, and full of vain glory; get them to take evil for good, and good for evil, and always to “
put the cart before the horse,
” in everything they do; this I always contrive to do with the
abolitionists and freesoilers,
which are some of my
best friends,
and have been so for many years. They have rendered me very important service in several particular cases; such as trying to make null and void some of God's
decrees and ordinances
concerning slavery and other things; and in order to have them continue to do thus, it is my policy to keep them, as much as possible,
in darkness,
on all subjects of this kind, and then to tickle and please their imagination with the idea that they are going to produce a
wonderful revolution
in our country in regard to the subject of
slavery;
afterwards I make them wise in their own conceits and very ambitious to accomplish the work of emancipating all the slaves in our states and territories; having done this, I feel as if I had got them all well harnessed and ready for the great work; and then I have only to give them the
watch word,
and place in the distance, and at theguide-boards
to be seen in the country at the corners of the roads; on these boards I shall write, in large capital letters, the words—
political capital,
preferment and popularity,
offices and their emoluments,
places of power and trust,
large salaries with a good share of the spoils;
political influence and an increase of popularity, with an increased patronage and a much larger
income from our daily newspaper,
which is the organ of communication to our party. Thus when I have got their eyes, minds and hearts well fixed on these very desirable objects, they will be so intent upon securing them that they cannot see or notice anything else, generally speaking; and those besotted people, some of whom have been
well educated,
are wise in their own esteem, and highly opinionated in their own notions; yet while in company and associated with the lower grades of abolitionists and freesoilers, they “
go heels over head,
” and “
with the cart before the horse,
” against the law of God, the gospel of Christ, and the laws of their country; and they serve me and my cause “
like good fellows.
”
My motto is very much as I find it written in the Bible: “
behold darkness shall cover the
earth and gross darkness the people.
” So while I can keep the
abolitionists and freesoilers in this kind of darkness,
I can lead them with the
blue light of slavery
just as easily as you can decoy a little child with a
stick of candy
into mischief of any kind. In this way I lead those bewildered and blinded men into all manner of iniquity connected with the
emancipation of the slaves,
and also to
amalgamation them by marriage;
but it was not so with Abraham; I could not so easily control him; for he would not allow his
son Isaac
to take a
black wife
from the Canaanites; but I have got some friends
among you abolitionists,
who approve of their own children intermarrying with the negroes, and thus becoming part and parcel of that
unhappy and degraded people.
In thus doing they manifest a peculiar kind of
commiseration and perverted sympathy for suffering humanity,
which helps me very much to keep these my devoted friends in
gross darkness,
and thus make the characters of the white people as black as the skin of the negro slave; and by this process of
amalgamation
l obtain the purest and most perfect kind of
abolitionists
the world ever saw. Now, Mr. Citizen, I appeal to your judgment, to say whether my plans, contrivances and reasonings, are not very good.
Citizen.
I think you are pretty well skilled in this business, and have drawn the picture to the very life; I have for many years thought you had much to do with them in their mischievous works of
darkness and misrule,
or they never would so far have run counter to the laws of God and the Gospel of Christ. Your influence, I believe, is what makes most of them
love darkness rather than light,
and to continue so ignorant on the subject of negro slavery, and so unacquainted as to its origin, or the procuring cause of it; and in regard to the length of time for which that people were
doomed to be in servitude,
—the punishment which no doubt was intended to be a
standing memento
to all the world, that no one could be guilty of that act of which
Canaan
was guilty, or any other act of
uncleanness,
without suffering severely for it.
And now, Mr.
Abolitionist,
as I was saying, slavery is nowhere denounced in the Bible as
a sin,
but is represented as a punishment
for sin,
I will just call your attention to the days of Ezekiel, about four hundred and eighty years before Christ, where it is stated as a fact, that
Javan, Tubal, and Mesheck, sons of Japheth,
“were merchants and traded in the
persons of men
and vessels of brass in the city of Tyrus.” Here theslavery being a sin,
any more than the trading in
vessels of brass was a sin.
And one of the commentators on the same portion of Scripture informs us that at that time the
price of slaves was four drachms each.
So you must see, I think, that you are working with the
cart before the horse
in this business, by taking slavery to be one of the
most cursed and crying sins of the day,
when in fact it is only the
punishment for sin,
and not the
sin itself.
A. C.
I think you are one of the greatest advocates for slavery I ever met with.
Citizen.
How so, my friend?
A. C.
Why because every thing you say is in favor of it.
Citizen.
I say nothing in favor of it but what the Bible says; I take my stand on the truths and declarations of that
holy book;
and it would be well if you and all other
abolitionists and freesoilers
had done the same; but no, it appears you had much rather flounder about in the
darkness
created by the
Prince of Darkness,
than accept of the plain Scriptural manner authorized by Christ and his Apostles for mitigating the sufferings of the poor degraded slaves; but these means are, in your opinion, so
contemptible and childish
that they do not meetYou
would give freedom to the
persons
of the slaves
only,
and take them-body, mind and soul—into the same
darkness
in which most of you
abolitionists
have been enshrouded by your
dear Prince
for many years past.
Now just compare this which you are doing with what the Lord Jesus did while on the earth, when a poor
“Canaanitish woman,” a servant of servants,
and whom you would call a
slave in the person of a negro,
—I say compare it with what the Lord did in her case, when she applied to him, “
and cried unto him, saying, have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil; but he answered her not a word;
” yet afterwards, as she continued crying, “
he answered and said, it is not meet to take the children's bread and east it to dogs; and she saith, truth Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from their master's table.
” On this exhibition of her faith and humility, and thus taking her place where she belonged, in accordance with the curse pronounced upon her progenitors, “Jesus then answered and said unto her,
woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee as
thou wilt;
and her daughter was made whole from that very hour.”
Now suppose either of you
abolitionists
had a daughter like that of the Canaanitish woman, “
grievously vexed with a devil.
” It is very doubtful whether Christ would hear
your cries for relief
any sooner than he did those of that woman; and certainly not until you were really as
humble, and as penitent, and as full of faith as she was,
and could to all intents and purposes, feel as if you would be glad to
eat of the crumbs
that should fall from the heaping measures of God's goodness, which he pours into the laps of his own dear children. Ah, little, very little, do many of you abolitionists and freseoilers of the present day, know about such
humility, faith, and patience as that woman possessed!
A. C.
I think you are as unfeeling as the worst of
slave-holders,
for you are treating me with more abuse than you treated
my brother Freesoiler,
in your conversation with him.
Citizen.
I know the truth
cuts like a knife
whenever there is a guilty heart to act upon; but do bear with me a moment longer, while I make one more quotation from the New Testament. I find on reading the account of our Lords selection of his twelve Apostles, that
101Simon, a Canaanite,
and of course educated him with the rest of the Apostles in the doctrines of his religion, and undoubtedly, when his education was completed, directed him to go and preach that gospel to his brethren, the
Canaanites.
Here is an example of the Lord Jesus. He educated a
servant of servants;
yes, most likely a
black man and a slave,
to preach the pure gospel of Christ to his own countrymen, and to any other people who would hear it; but you
abolitionists
sooner than do anything of this kind from pure and holy motives, and in the spirit of Christ, would much rather hide yourselves in the
blackness of darkness,
and behind the shadow of your
dear Prince;
yet I well remember in years that are past, and thousands of others, no doubt, remember it too,—that you and some of your ancestors sent men to the southern slave states, in the
garb of christian missionaries,
to instruct the slaves in the religion of Christ; but some of them manifested little or none of his
spirit,
but much of the
spirit of the Prince of Darkness,
who is now present to correct me if I am in an error. These pretended preachers of righteousness, peace and holiness, soon began to tell the slaves that they were held in bondage
contrary to Scripture,
and that their own
inalienable
rights
made them free from all servitude; in this way they made the slaves discontented with their condition, unfaithful and dishonest to their owners, and so gave them to understand that they had a right to massacre their masters if they would not give them their freedom without; and to escape from bondage the best way they could; this, if I mistake not, was the way which the
Prince of Darkness
taught them do this business. What say,
Mr. Prince,
am I mistaken or not?
Prince.
You are right in all you have said about me and my influence. I remember the time very well; and that the doings of those
moral incendiaries
were published and sent by the newspapers through the whole length and breadth of the country; and it afforded me, as the
Prince of Darkness,
an opportunity to “
lengthen my cords, and strengthen my stakes
” very much in the cause of
abolitionism;
but the
southern slave-holders
would not endure such outrageous hypocrisy any longer; and so they drove all these teachers out of the slave states, and it spoiled the
business
from which I expected a great
harvest;
but I never relax my hold upon an
abolitionist
which I have bought with the money at my own hands, or at the hands of my agents, without a pretty severemy tearing the man from whom Christ cast me out, so that he fell on the ground wallowing and foaming;
and in another case where I was cast out,
I cried and rent the man very sore, and came out of him, and he was as one dead, insomuch that many said he was dead.
This is the manner in which I generally deal with all my servants, or slaves, when they seek to obtain their freedom from my service by going to Christ or teaching others to go to him for that purpose; but those hypocritical teachers that were sent to the
slave states
were faithful to me, and l rewarded them well for their services.
Citizen.
Now,
Mr. Prince,
I consider the sin of
Adam add Eve
in eating the forbidden fruit, was very far from being a sin so heinous in itself as that of
Canaan's;
and I think the difference in turpitude between the
two sins
is to be seen in the difference of the punishments awarded to
each;
the sin of uncleanness, in all its different forms, is often of the most
loathsome character;
I suppose you understand all about these things.
Prince.
Yes; I have been studying human nature for a number of centuries; and I know every
sympathy,
every
feeling,
and every
desire
human heart,
both as an
animal and spiritual being;
I know every spring to touch in the whole machinery to give character to the
motive,
wake up the thoughts, stimulate the desires, and give action to the whole of man's
animal and spiritual nature;
and if a man or woman once surrenders himself or herself to me, especially in the matter of
uncleanness,
in any of its various forms, I always make use of the
first act
as a stepping stone to
many others
of much greater
magnitude.
I was with
Canaan,
and excited his
unclean curiosity,
when he committed the
odious act
now in question; and I make it a point to be with and stimulate every person, both
male and female,
to acts of this kind; I very well knew the turpitude of
Canaan's sin,
and think
his punishment was none too severe, considering the magnitude of the offence.
Citizen.
There,
Mr. Abolitionist,
what do you think of emancipating the three millions and a half of negro slaves now in our country, and taking them out of the hands of God, and from the condition in which he has placed them; as though he was using
too much severity with them,
and punishing them beyond
their deserts?
I think if you were to investigate this business a little more, and much deeper, and not be
101*darkness
which the
Prince
has kept you in for so many years. Now in order to understand this subject more thoroughly, you had better read your Bible oftener, with more prayerful attention, and with such humility of soul, and strength of desire, as God will be pleased to accept and bless, to your real and everlasting good; and not be playing at random and blindfold in the dominions of the
Prince of Darkness
any longer; the Bible says something like this of such people as you
abolitionists: “they treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render unto every one according to their deeds.
”
A. C.
I think, Mr. Citizen, you are carrying things quite too far; I do not
believe
either the
Prince of Darkness, you,
or the
Bible,
are correct in what you say on the subject of
slavery.
I have a mind of my own, yes
a mind of my own, in matters of this kind;
and I shall act independently of either of you.
Prince.
I suppose you think so; but when you were a little dirty-nosed boy, and often employed yourself in pulling the cat's tail, tothis mind of yours,
which you so boastingly call
your own,
and in the enjoyment of which you seem to be so independent
of God, man, and the devil;
but should I take from you every
emotion, thought, habit, and acquirement,
which have been formed under my influence and control, you would be “
like and old fish barrel with both heads knocked out,
” and whether you stood on your head or your feet, you would be just as useless for all morally good and practical purposes; and you would only be a shell, after I had taken from you what in fact belongs to me as a part and parcel of my nature and character.
When you grew up from childhood to youth, and at the age of twelve years lost your father by death, which caused a change in your disposition, from an unfeeling and boisterous one, to one more pensive and tender, which gave you a taste for the reading of novels and works of romance, and those books which were full of
sentimentality and visionary notions,
Ifalse ideas about benevolence and good works;
and in order to make a servant of you that could assist me in keeping your friends, acquaintance and even the country in
darkness and false ideas,
as to the true meaning and intention of the laws of God and the religion of Christ,—I say in order to do this, I flattered and encouraged you in all your
false notions and visionary ideas,
until you had arrived to the state of manhood, and were thus prepared to make a first rate
abolitionist.
As to the
Bible,
or the greater part of it, for all practical purposes, you have
laid it aside,
and are now settled down on your
favorite sentimentality and visionary plans of benefiting your fellow men;
therefore you make for me one of the best of
servants as an abolitionist.
Among the habits and notions which I have assisted you to form, there is not a single one which is in accordance with the instructions and principles of the Bible, the laws of God, and the means of grace, and they will not mix with the rules laid down in that holy book any more than
oil will mix with water,
or than a stone will gravitate from, as it does towards the centre of the earth,
or than fire and water will harmonize
when thrown together;
and I am inclined to believe all this, from what I find written in the Bible, where it says, “what concord hath
Belial with Christ or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
” and that you and many of your confederates are infidels I know for a certainty, for I have taught you to be so,
from childhood; and I have trained you up in the way I would have you go,
in order to make you and all other
abolitionists good servants to me.
Now because I have always kept you in my dominions, which are
darkness, and as you can not see me when I exert my influence over you, therefore you think you act independently of me, and proudly call your mind your own;
nevertheless, you are as much a servant of mine as was
Judas Iscariot
at the time he sold the Lord Jesus to the Scribes and Pharisees.
Citizen.
There,
Mr. Abolitionist,
I think from what the
Prince
has now said you are greatly mistaken as to the
Scriptural correctness
of your ideas about the emancipation of the slaves now in our country, and that too under the direction of the
Prince of Darkness.
A. C.
One thing is certain; I do not believe that the negroes of Africa and those of America ever were the descendants of
Canaan
Citizen.
Why not? The Bible gives no account of any other
family, people or nation,
that were doomed to
perpetual servitude or slavery
to their brethren, and through them to all other people and nations who chose to possess them; now whoever endeavors to make them a
free people,
undertakes to
counteract one of God's decrees and ordinances,
just as much as he would if he undertook to change the color of their skin from
black to white.
Bush,
the commentator on the Bible, says, “Shem signifies
name.
Ham,
heat, burnt, or black.
Japheth,
persuasion, enlargement.
Canaan,
extreme humiliation.
And as to further evidence that the descendants of
Canaan
were to be
servants or slaves
to the descendants of Shem and Japheth, and through them to other people and nations, it is recorded in the book of Ezekiel, to which I have already alluded. Here we have a Scriptural account of dealers in slaves, yes,
black slaves,
and we learn their prices at that time, and without the least doubt they were the descendants of
Canaan,
and were then inhabiting the country now called
Africa,
and are the
same people
which were spoken of as being in bondage to their
brethren;
andbought and sold as servants or slaves
by the children of Israel, as recorded in the 25th chapter of Leviticus, where it is said that they, the children of Israel, were
allowed
to have bondmen and bondmaids, and to
buy them of the heathen round about them and of the children of the strangers that did sojourn among them, of them shall ye buy;
and of their families that are with you which they begat in your land; and they shall be your
possession,
and ye shall take them as an
inheritance
for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession;
they shall be your bondmen forever.
From the time of Abraham, already Minded to, down to the time of
Joshua,
1,444 years before Christ, we find nothing particular in the Bible concerning the Canaanites; but when he entered their land with the Israelites, according to the promise of God,—the Ephraimites, for want of courage, or for some other cause, “drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt among the Ephraimites unto this day,
and serve under tribute.
”
Now as further evidence that bondage or slavery was known to the Jews, in some form or other, when the Lord Jesus was on the earth,
The Bible gives us an account of no other black people being under the
curse of servitude,
but those who were descendants of
Canaan.
Cush, the elder son of Ham, no doubt, was a black man; and the Ethiopians, in all probability, were among his descendants; so of Mizam and Put, sons of Ham; they in all probability, were black people, and never were implicated in the sin of
Canaan,
and of course were never in bondage to other nations.
There is no other way of really
benefiting or mitigating the condition and suffering of the slaves in our country,
as far as I can learn from my Bible, but the way which Christ and Paul have pointed out, and shown us by their
example,
and which is the
most perfect of all ways
that have been taught us in the word of God; yet you
abolitionists and freesoilers
will not accept and follow such
examples,
because the
Prince of Darkness
will not allow it; but you will most readily accept a lie, which yourdear Prince
hath put into your right hands, and from it manufacture your boasted “
higher law,
” and then base it on the everlasting truths of the Bible, as you say, when there is not even a shadow of truth in all your
abolition principles
that is to be found in the sacred word of God.
Mr. Abolitionist,
I fear you are dreadfully in the dark and most fatally mistaken on the subject of
emancipating the slaves of our country,
and that you are under the power of
the Prince of Darkness
while you are trying to accomplish it; and that you are also under his influence when you call
slavery
one of the most
cursed and crying sins of the country,
when in fact it is nothing but a punishment for a
sin
of the most loathsome kind. Have you any reply to make to me on this subject?
A. C.
You need not trouble yourself, in the least, about our plans and
abolition priciples;
we are able to take care of them ourselves; and as to the
Prince of Darkness, he may take care of himself,
for we have no notion of having it understood by the world, that we are doing anything under the influence of the Devil, and are dependent on him for success.
Prince.
That is right, my friend Abolitionist;
keep dark
on this business, and let no one know where
your strength lieth;
and then I will
102
Citizen.
There, my friend
Abolitionist,
is not all this very encouraging to people of your
inclinations?
How can you do otherwise than be faithful to the
Prince of Darkness
for all his kindness to you?
A. C.
How you talk! I can't tell what to make of you; I think there is no harm in living in
darkness,
especially if we are to have all our wants supplied, and thus be provided with the good things of this life.
Prince.
Just so, my
friend Abolitionist;
and in addition to all this, I intend to give you full liberty to indulge “
in the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and in the pride of life,
” and I wish you to understand that I generally approve of all you say and do; and I would not have you act differently; I heartily approve of your trying to break up, and make null and void, one of the
decrees or ordinances of God,
as some people call it; I mean, more particularly that of the perpetual servitude ofapprove
of the rash and violent means you have taken to bring about this event; I
approve
of the misrepresentation and hypocrisy which you pracrise in this business; I
approve
of your spirit of rebellion against the laws of your country, and the advising and encouraging the
negroes and fugitive slaves to arm themselves with deadly weapons, and resist the officers of government, when enforcing the fugitive slave law, so called.
I also
approve
of forcibly setting free all the slaves now in our country, that they may riot upon, and destroy all the property and provisions of their owners and masters, as was agreed upon in times past by the
abolitionists,
when they sent
hypocrites,
instead of men that were
renewed in the spirit of their minds and had become the children of God,
to preach and instruct the slaves in the religion of Christ; I
approve
of those
moral incendiaries,
who while teaching, or pretending to teach the gospel of Jesus, did at the same time tell the slaves that they are held in cruel bondage and servitude, contrary to the laws of God, and their own legitimate rights; that they have a right to assume their liberty at any time, and recommend to them a plan of associating together in companies, to rise and take their liberty, and even to
I heartily
approved
of your former plans and inclinations and desires, for the
amalgamation of the black population with the white, and the white with the black, in the sacred bands of marriage;
and that the sexes of different colors should mingle together, as my
friend Citizen
has already mentioned in my hearing. I did formerly, and do even now
approve
of your giving a preference to articles of every description which are the production of
free labor,
whenever they can be had, rather than use those that are, in part or wholly, the produce of slave labor; and now I
approve
of the
retaliation
which the slave states are able to make in return, upon you and other portions of the people in Boston, Lynn, and other cities and towns,
who are antislavery to the backbone;
by withholding their purchases of goods in those places, and in any part of Massachusetts; and by this means to decrease very considerably the number of inhabitants of such places, by
encouraging
their merchants, manufacturers and workmen to go to other states andnot so noted for anti-slavery principles,
for business and employment, and where the southern portion of our countrymen will prefer trading in future.
I
approve
of everything you do, that will create sectional difficulties and prejudices between the north and the south, the east and the west, and through your whole country, in regard to
negro slavery;
I heartily
approve
of your introducing your abolition principles into the different
churches in Boston and elsewhere,
to agitate these churches to their very centre; and that you finally made a rule or condition in
several churches
that no new members should be received unless they will declaim against and abominate every thing that concerns
slavery,
or is in any way connected with it; I approve of the practice of the abolitionists and all
clerical demagogues
refusing to exchange pulpits with those that think differently from them on the subject of slavery, thus creating prejudice and hardness of feeling between those who are called
ministers of the gospel of the Lord Jesus.
As the
Prince of Darkness
I
approve
of all this and a great deal more that you have done and are now doing, and, my dear fellows, I love you for it; for it is perfectly in keeping
102*Christ and his religion.
To illustrate this, I appeal to the words of Saint Paul, when he asks the Corinthians this question: “
what communion hath light with darkness, and what concord hath Christ with Belial, or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel, or what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
” showing, clearly enough, that you, as
abolitionists,
are
with me, both body and soul.
I acknowledge that I have no part with Christ, neither do my faithful servants receive any instruction from him, or have any thing to do with him; for he himself says, “
no servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other; ye cannot serve God and mammon.
”
Citizen.
There,
Mr. Abolitionist,
I conclude, as the proverb says,
that every tub must stand on its own bottom.
The
Prince
has defined your own standing and character most
perfectly,
and I only want to show you how ridiculous you must appear in the eyes and opinions of all honest and well-disposed men, by having undertaken to
manage your abolition affairs and political intrigues in the buccaneering
manner the Prince has described,
and, as I have already told you,
putting the cart before the horse,
like a wheelbarrow
before
the man who is transporting a load of gravel to its place of destination.
Now just go with me to the place of rendesvous, and see what your
abolition and freesoil brethren are now doing,
in order to commemorate one of their
annual festivals;
look here, my friend, and see this
mongrel animal with a pair of long ears,
alias hobby-horse, alias abolition principles, on which you and other
abolitionists and freesoilers
are to ride into popularity and power, and also to move the
cart of state
on all public occasions and in all your processions; now see one of your associates lead this
mongrel animal
to the cart before him, and take up its shafts and put them into the iron ring of the harness, and fasten them in with their pins; now having thus harnessed the animal in order to push the
cart of state
forward,
tail foremost,
you perceive that it will not go straight ahead, but will turn either to the right or left, in proportion as the power of the animal varies from the line of action, from the right line or angle of the axletree of the cart; he cannot push it straight ahead without often shifting the position of hiswise freesoiler,
and one
learned abolitionist,
are sent by the
marshal of the day,
to walk each side of the
animal,
for the purpose of pushing his hindmost parts either to the right or the left, as occasion may require, so as, if possible, to keep the
cart of state
in the middle of the street; but all this does not answer the purpose; therefore two more of the knowing and more experienced of the brethren, are stationed at each wheel, to help roll onwards the
cart of state;
and now they make such a zigzag course that they come in collision with almost every other vehicle in the street; nevertheless they huzza and shout,
onward, onward,
and thus are they striving to go ahead; until the
Brigadier General,
who is seated on his
brave steed
some distance ahead, and occupying the high ground, gracefully waves his hat with one hand to encourage them to advance with more speed, for he has his pockets rifled with hundreds of
printed ready to be filled out for various kinds of offices and with good salaries for those who are faithful in the cause;
and in the other hand he holds a
half-peck measure
with a handful or two of corn in it, which he shakes mightily at the
mongrel animal
and thosecart of state,
that they may all hear it, and be encouraged to force their way up the hill; so they continue to tug, and sweat, and move on in their zigzag motion, while the rabble of all colors, on either side of the street, continue to huzza and shout,
onward, onward,
with the expectation of carrying all before them, so they place the abolition banner of
higher law and free trade on the cart of state;
and the
General
puts a broad belt around his waist, having on it this inscription—
for Congress;
thus they all continue to shout
onward, and success to the glorious enterprise.
Into this
cart of state
they intend to place all the
spoils
taken from their opponents, in this their buccaneering mode of warfare.
Now the
Brigadier General
appears on the highlands in the distance, sitting on his brave steed, having around him
senators and representatives of Congress, senators and representatives of different State Legislatures, and a few strangers of distinction, several judges,
councillors and lawyers, a few
clerical demagogues,
speakers, exciters, and sympathisers for the occasion; and of this numerous class of attendants, many of them are in the constant habit of
dirtying their own nests, both morally and politically.
The General halloos again to thosecart of state,
and says,
come on, come on, my brave boys,
and share the
spoils,
at the same time shaking his
half-peck measure
with the little corn in it, until the
poor hungry animal hears it,
and stretches up his neck and head and becomes almost frantic with the expectation that he is soon to have something to
eat,
and rears up his hindmost parts, and kicks violently with his heels, until those men whose business it is to push the hindmost parts of the
animal
to the right or left, as occasion requires, in order to keep the
cart
in the middle of the street: I say, until those men are trampled on by the furious animal, so that their toes are broken, and their feet bruised in such a manner that they cry out most bitterly to the men at the wheels of the
cart of state,
saying,
roll on, roll on,
or we must, in this condition, either fight or die; victory, victory or death, is therefore the general cry among all classes of
abolitionists and freesoilers;
then the negroes and the fugititive slaves draw their knives and dirks; load their pistols and prepare for battle. In this state of things, the
mongrel animal
breaks loose from the
cart of state,
and the men are unable to roll it any further; so they all gather about it for a
division of the spoils,
which onskeleton of a Bible
in which the leaders had begun to transcribe a few texts from the common version of the word of God, such as would answer the purpose of supporting their
abolition and freesoil principles;
there are in the
cart of state,
scores of copies of abolition circulars, addresses and speeches, and many bundles of abolition and freesoil newspapers, over which the banner of their
higher law
is waving; but the
rabble and the negroes
are greatly disappointed in not finding something in the
cart of state,
that would pay them for contending so long for the principles of
freesoil, free-trade, and free-booty;
therefore they take the liberty to run the
cart of state
over the wharf into the dock; the
mongrel animal,
or rather
hobby-horse,
they put into the pound, and then turn their backs upon the
General and the great and mighty men standing on the hill of observation,
until the
Prince of Darkness
has compassion on them, and takes them to other parts of his dominions, where he employs them in a different kind of business; thus the
great abolition and political farce is ended.
Now if you think me unwise, in having drawn this picture for your
future consideration,
Ianswer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.
Now, my friend
Abolitionist,
what do you think of
your party,
as I have now represented them, and who have always had the
cart before the horse
in all their plans for abolishing slavery in our country?
A. C.
What do I think of it? Well, I think that cart ought to be hauled out of the mud in the dock, and you tied into it, and then drawn the whole length of Washington street for the boys and negroes to hoot at.
Citizen.
Well, that would undoubtedly be a matter of rejoicing among you
abolitionists;
but before that is done, I want to tell you what would in all probability be the consequence of emancipating all the slaves now in our country, at some
given time,
which many of your associates have contemplated, and are still desirous to accomplish; if you please, fix upon the first day of January, in 1852 or 3, and let it be understood, by all parties concerned, that all the
negro slaves
now in our states and territories are to have their
freedom
on that day, and are ever afterwards to be
free,
and that the planters are to cultivate their plantations and raise their produce with
free hired laborers
in future.
Now if these planters were
wise and discreet men, and studied economy,
they would of course hire those
negroes who are healthy, able bodied and faithful, and could earn the wages given them;
in order to sell their produce and other articles at prices that purchasers would be willing to pay; leaving the aged and infirm, the sick and the lazy, the children and their mothers, and hundreds of those who are unwilling, or in some way incapacitated for earning their own living, to take care of and provide for themselves in the best way they could; thus you must see that you are opening the way to an immense amount of suffering among the
colored population,
by throwing
three and a half millions
of them upon their own resources, (which would be little or no better than the resources of so many
cattle
left to take care of themselves,) after having been well provided for, a great many years, by their owners.
If I am rightly informed, the owners of slaves are at the present time under
obligations,
by the laws of the slaveholding states, to support their own slaves, whether they be aged, infirm, sick, or too young to labor, and they have no claim on the states for any part of their living; of course there would be no
103slaves
after becoming free, as you propose. Now what a vast difference there must be in their circumstances and condition on being made free! Many of you
freesoilers and abolitionists, with all your civilization, knowledge of business, and experience in providing for your families,
find it very difficult to support yourselves and them without contracting debts, more or less, in the course of every year, with little or no prospect of payment; now for such people as
you are,
to be so unwise and inconsiderate, yes, so rash and even wicked as to undertake to throw
three and a half millions
of ignorant and pennyless slaves upon their own resources, to provide for and take care of themselves, under such circumstances, must, I think, prove to the world that you are really the subjects and servants of the
Prince of Darkness,
and have been tempted and encouraged by him to do it.
Just look at it, in its most favorable aspect; consider
three and a half millions
of ignorant slaves let loose from bondage, with little or no knowledge of any kind of business that will, generally speaking, enable them to get their living, while many of them, as I have already told you, are aged, infirm, sick and indolent,hungry beings,
and that they have appetites for food much like you
abolitionists and freesoilers,
such as must be attended to, and that daily and constantly, or
starvation
must soon follow. Now this great multitude of human being, as soon as they are freemen and clear of their owners, have no claim
on them
for a single meal of victuals, and before one day is past they will want bread;
and where shall they get it?
There are thousands and thousands of them that nobody will hire; and one reason is, because they have little or nothing for them to do; therefore they will be under the necessity of strolling away in order to find some inhabitants from whom they can
beg some bread;
and then in their strolling, they will ask
alms
of every one they chance to meet; very soon, hunger prompts them to steal, and then from necessity they will pillage everything they can lay hands upon, in the fields, in the barns, and store houses, and even in the dwelling houses, where they will compel the inmates to give them, something to eat, or perhaps fight for food to satisfy their
extreme hunger;
thus theywhich came forth abundantly from the river, and went up into the houses of the Egyptians, and into their bed-chambers, and into their beds; into their ovens, and into their kneading-troughs;
much so will it be with the
millions of negro slaves,
who from necessity, will pillage everything they can eat and use to cover their nakedness, and secure them from the frosts of winter.
Thus every road in our country, and every street in our cities, will have hundreds of these poor hungry and suffering beings in them; which you
abolitionists and freesoilers
will have principally caused, and that, too, at the instigation of the
Prince of Darkness;
by setting at liberty such a multitude of people with no means to provide for and to support themselves, as individuals or families. In this state of things, you will find hundreds on the roads, in the farmers' barns, stables, and outhouses; in the poor houses and jails; many of them sick, dying and dead, from
destitution and starvation;
and all this for the want of proper food, clothing and attention, which they now receive from their owners and masters,friend Abolitionist,
what do you think of this state of things? Is it not all probable, yes, almost certain, to take place, on a full and simultaneous emancipation of the slaves, which you have been trying to accomplish so long?
A. C.
I cannot say I ever saw its consequences as you have now described them, in such a light before; what you have just said certainly commends itself to the consideration of every
abolitionist and freesoiler.
Citizen.
I thank you for this concession; and now let me show you what we may learn from the Bible concerning slavery, and our treatment to slaves, and the regulation of our
feelings and sympathies
for them. We will begin with the principles and example of
Saint Paul,
which I have already and repeatedly alluded to. He shows us, most clearly, that nothing but their
conversion to Christianity
in connection with that of their masters and owners, will in any way mitigate their sufferings or make them a contented and tolerably happy people, in the condition which the providence of God has, as I have already told you, found it necessary to place them.
I wish you to
remember
that the principles and conduct of Christ, and the religion which
108*hard masters to their servants,
or abusive to them at any time; and none of them were dishonest or unfaithful to him, except one—
Judas Iscariot;
therefore the nearer we can bring the slaves and their owners and masters to the principles of Christianity, the happier will both parties be; and this is the only remedy which Christ and his apostles have left on record;
and it is a most perfect one, one which Saint Paul fairly tried in the case of Philemon and Onesimus, and found to be successful, so as to receive the blessing of God;
and it stands on record in the Bible, as a
perpetual example
for every
abolitionist and freesoiler
to regard and duly consider; and I find by reading that
sacred book,
that there is no other way which will reach their case
like this;
but you and nearly all
abolitionists and freesoilers
say that
slavery is a cursed thing,
one of the most odious and
crying sins
of the day, and must be dealt with accordingly.
Now I contend that
slavery, in itself, is not a sin,
but the
punishment for a sin;
and as I have already told you, one the most
loathsome of all sins;
I have already informed you that the Lord Jesus, when on the earth, said nothingslavery,
or about its being
a sin;
the apostles have left nothing on record in the New Testament as to its being
a sin;
therefore I contend that the
slavery
of the black population in our country and elsewhere, as a general thing, is a
punishment for sin,
and not a
sin of itself,
—one which commenced in the person of
Canaan,
and has continued to rest on most of his descendants down to the present time; but you
abolitionists, by putting the cart before the horse,
have perverted the meaning of these words, and by education and habit, under the direction of the
Prince of Darkness,
have got so confirmed in the idea that
slavery is a sin,
that you have been laboring to hasten the abolition of slavery, as the only means of removing this
cursed thing
from among the people of our country.
Now do let me try to enlighten your minds mad understandings on this subject, by one simple illustration; suppose you find a man, (which is no uncommon case,) suffering most intolerably with the
venereal disease,
and on examination into his condition and the character of the disease you call it
a most odious and cursed sin,
which certainly is nothing more nor less, physically and morally speaking, than the
punishment,
yes, a real
punishment,
for the sinuncleanness.
Just so is it with
slavery;
it is a
punishment
for a similar
sin of uncleanness,
both physically and morally, so long as the descendants of Canaan are in the land of the living. Much so is it with the disease called
delirium tremens;
and to use your kind of reasoning, we must call it a most
fearful and deadly sin,
whereas almost everybody knows that it is the legitimate consequence and
physical punishment
for the
sin of drunkenness.
Many of you
abolitionists
are for abrogating the
ordinance of God
which inflicts
capital punishment for the crime of murder;
and lessening or mitigating that punishment by imprisonment of the murderer in the State prison as long as he lives. Now let us see how your principles of
nullification and abolition
will apply in that case; you go against depriving men of their liberty and making them slaves for life; now with your kind of logic it would be proper to say, O what a
cursed and crying sin it is,
to shut men up in the State Prison, and
make slaves of them for life,
when every school boy knows that being kept in that prison is not
a sin,
but is the
punishment
for sin, or the violation of law, which constitutes or makes an act
sinful.
Now what can you say in reply to this argument of mine?
A. C.
I am not prepared at this moment to make any reply to it.
Citizen.
So I supposed; and as you are so involved in the darkness of your
dear Prince
that you cannot
comprehend
these things, I think you had better throw your Bibles into the dock along with your
cart of state,
and no longer try to bolster up your sinking cause with any portion of that
sacred book;
and then like men come out before the world under the
true colors and banners of the Prince of Darkness,
and let the public know that he is
your leader
in all your
plans for the abolition of slavery, and the making of political capital.
My dear friend, if there be anything so
awfully cursed in slavery,
much of it is certainly to be found on the skirts of the
abolitionists;
for they are
rash, inconsiderate, unwise, and unchristian,
in the manner in which they have managed their
abolition affairs;
and have made more trouble among the slave population and their owners and masters than ever was known before, and they have nearly brought about
a civil war in our country
—the worst of all wars; notwithstanding I have often tried to show you and others, your
mistakes and errors;
but it is of little use; for you seem to be unaccountably blind, and firmly wedded todear Prince,
who has just now given you quite a long catalogue of those things which you have done and are now doing, and which he
highly approves,
and
plainly tells you
that all which you have done is
very offensive to Christ
and adverse to what he and all his apostles have
recommended and required you to do.
But your minds have been so blinded, and your hearts so hardened, and your
sympathies so perverted,
that I fear no
good impressions
with the truths of the Bible can be made on your
consciences;
therefore, as that book says, “
your hearts are fully set in you to do evil.
” Now do tell me what you can find in the Bible that will justify you in
abolishing slavery,
and in the manner too in which you are endeavoring to do it.
A. C.
Christ said,
as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise;
therefore we would give all the slaves in our country their
freedom,
so that if we should ever be
slaves ourselves,
we should have some claim on others, and some reason to hope that they would, in some way or other, obtain our freedom.
Citizen.
Very well; and do you think that you have a right to resort to
rash, unchristian, unrighteous
and even to rebellious measures tospirit and meekness of Christ, and the principles of his religion,
and thus treat him and his precepts with
dishonor,
by construing his admonitions so as to answer your
base and selfish purposes and vain inclinations.
I wish you to remember that you cannot serve Christ and your fellow men acceptably, by the observing and performing any one of his precepts, without
supreme love to him,
and a desire to promote
his honor and glory
before that of giving
freedom to the slaves.
It seems to me, that you
abolitionists
are a very unfortunate set of men, and that you will continue to be so, while you are in the
employment and under the influence of the Prince of Darkness,
and I fear will ever be putting the
cart before the horse
in every thing you do.
A. C.
When we
abolitionists
thought of emancipating all the slaves in our country,
at once,
we did expect that Congress would make a law that would appropriate a sum of money sufficient to support these
poor slaves,
until such times as they could find employment; in such case we thought there could be little or no suffering among them.
Citizen.
Yes; and did you think that money could be raised for such a purpose bygovernment?
I am sure that measure would not be satisfactory to the people of the free states; it would impose a
tax
that no man or class of men would endure for one month, no, not even the
abolitionists and freesoilers
themselves.
Now suppose you had to pay your proportion of such a
tax
as would support nearly
two and a half millions of slaves that could not get work, in idleness.
At twenty cents each, it would amount to $500,000 per day; $3,500,000 for each week; $14,000,000 for each mouth, and $168,000,000 per annum. I rather think when you and your confederates had each to pay his proportion of that sum, you would all rue the day that such a multitude of poor
ignorant slaves
were set free, and at liberty through your
short-sighted, rash, and wicked instigation,
to which you have been prompted by the
Prince of Darkness.
Legislating or making laws concerning slavery expressly or separately from all other laws, is to me a very
blind business;
and I hardly know what to say about it; for I take the Bible to be a
code of laws,
in a certain sense, for the whole human family; therefore, what God hath decreed, ordained and made, is not to be altered by
man;
and there is such asecular, moral and religious duty and conduct;
and there is no one action in a man's life, but the Bible gives some rule that will reach it; it will help every
sincere, pious, inquiring mind,
to determine whether an act be
good or evil;
yes, some commandment, statute, or law, is made to govern us in every individual action, for the Bible tells us
that the very hairs of our heads are all numbered, and that not a sparrow falls to the ground without the knowledge of God.
But as to
negro slavery,
from its commencement down to the present time, the Bible says little about it, and has no
law in particular concerning it,
except that the servitude shall be
perpetual;
therefore, in my humble opinion, if we legislate upon it, and make laws concerning it, we assume a
prerogative
that does not belong to us, and which God never gave us, and of course the laws that may be enacted will probably tend to make the condition of the slaves
worse
rather than
better.
Yet there is one thing
pretty certain;
and that is, if we make laws to regulate their
moral conduct
like those made in reference to the
free population of our country,
such as will protect their persons from
violent and abusive treatment,
104inviolate their marriage connections, and the purity of the sexes,
and make provision for
educating their children, and for public religious service on the Sabbath;
and to punish them for committing such crimes as are punishable in free white people;—now if you do all this, no doubt the Bible will sanction it, and God will accept and bless such laws.
And here, I think, I should stop
law making,
and adopt the example of Christ when he educated a Canaanite (and who in all probability was a servant or a slave) in the doctrines of his religion; and then directed him to preach the unsearchable riches of his gospel to his
brethren the Canaanites, then in servitude round about Jerusalem;
I would also recommend the example of
Saint Paul
in the case of
Philemon and Onesimus;
and in this way convert both master and slave from sin unto holiness; I would then join with him in saying to the slave, “
art thou called being a servant, care not for it; but if thou canst be made free use it rather.
”
A. C.
Your manner of treating the subject of slavery is altogether different from what I ever heard of before; I cannot suppose you
Citizen.
The
Prince of Darkness is a fearful spirit;
and he rules with almost unbounded power among his friends, the
abolitionists.
I have already informed you that the Bible says nothing about slavery being
a sin,
and has not a single verse in it, that I can find, from which you have a right to infer that it
is a sin;
therefore, I really wish you to tell me where you have obtained the authority to call it
a sin,
and such a
cursed sin
as you say it is; we know nothing what sin is, in
theory or practically,
but what we learn from the
Bible
—the word of God; and that sacred book defines it to be the act of
provoking him to anger,
by violating some of his holy laws, either by
omission or commission;
now a man, a community of men, or a nation, are not
sinners
because they are
slaves;
but they are frequently slaves because they have been
sinners,
as the word of God fully testifies. Much like this was it with the
Gibeonites,
who in making
a league
with Joshua,
deceived him
as to what people they were; and for which he afterwards said to them in reference to the commandmentsbe free from being bondmen,
and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.”
Again, the Bible informs us concerning the Israelites, and of their being made
servants
to the Egyptians for
their sins;
and so of the Jews in their Babylonish
captivity,
which was a
punishment
for some of
their sins.
In all these cases, people were made
servants or slaves,
as a
punishment
for different kinds of
sins.
Now God and the Bible never taught you to call slavery a
sin;
but the
devil has; for whatever
of a moral and religious character is not done through the influence of God, is done by men as counterfeit, and at the
instigation
of the
devil,
to profane some of God's laws; and thus every thing is done in a manner
adverse
to his commandments. Therefore the Bible calls him “your adversary, the devil, who as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour;” he is
an unclean and evil spirit,
and hath no doubt
tempted you
and other
abolitionists
to consider and treat slavery as a
sin,
in order to promote some
political
or selfish purpose, and thus provoke a mischievous contention about it; such as will involve society in some deadly strife and our country in a civil war.
A. C.
I must confess I never saw things in this light before. You appear to be reversing matters and things in regard to slavery, and for aught I know, you are
about putting the horse into the cart right end first.
I think it would not be amiss for some of our clergymen to look after you and inquire into the correctness of some of your ideas and statements, which you say you have taken from the Bible.
Citizen.
So do I; but many of them suppose that the truth uttered by my lips is beneath all the
college learned theories,
both new and old, and the
sayings of great men,
which are only based on the
sayings and writings of other great and renowned men,
who lived before them, from generation to generation, down to the times when scholastic lore was at its zenith.
A. C.
Now do tell me if you would consent to be a
slave holder,
if some one or more persons would give you a
plantation and all the slaves upon it.
Citizen.
As for myself I would no sooner be a
slaveholder,
nor espouse the
principles of the abolitionists,
as a general thing, than I would make my residence near the
crater of a burning volcano,
or locate myself on the
waters of Hurlgate;
for in my opinion, both the
owners
104*and masters of slaves,
and all the
abolitionists
that have directly or indirectly been the cause of increased cruelty and abusive treatment to the
poor defenceless slaves,
as the
Prince of Darkness
has already informed us, will certainly receive a punishment equally as severe and fatal as did the “Egyptians, who made the children of Israel to serve with rigor and thus cause their lives to be bitter with hard bondage in mortar and brick, and in all manner of service in the field.” Your punishment may not be just like that which multitudes of Egyptians were subjected to, yet it will be of such a character as to make life most miserable and unhappy to all the
guilty parties;
for the Bible says, “cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them; therefore I would on no account hazard my peace and happiness by espousing the
principles of abolitionism,
nor become the
holder of slaves,
under the present excited state of affairs in our country.
A. C.
It appears that you do not approve of slavery.
Citizen.
I cannot say that I
approve of slavery,
any more than I should approve of God's laws, or those of my country, that would
punish
me for the crime of
adultery,
should Iprinciples for punishment
would be the same, namely, for the
violation of law;
and my
approving or disapproving
of such punishment would not affect those
principles of justice
at all; and the only relief worth having, either for
myself
or the
slave,
would be found in the exercise of that “godly sorrow, which worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of;” and then only in the possession of that faith and humility which the
Canaanitish woman
exhibited, and also the faith of Philemon and Onesimus, could I ever have any reason to hope for the forgiveness of my sin or deliverance at the hands of the Lord.
The putting forth and the exercise of our
animal feelings, commiseration and sympathies
for the poor degraded slaves, or indeed for any other class of suffering humanity, will be productive of very little
real and permanent good,
to them or ourselves, unless they are strictly under the direction and spirit of the Lord, for Christ expressly says, “
without me ye can do nothing.
”
A. C.
Do you think if we
exercise
and give
relief
to our
animal feelings and sympathies,
in trying to relieve and benefit our fellow-men, when we find them suffering underslavery,
we shall fail to receive the reward we expect, or the approbation of the Lord.
Citizen.
We cannot, as a general thing, use our
animal feelings, sympathies and commiseration,
for promoting the
real and best good
of our fellow-men, and be sure that our efforts for so doing are acceptable to God, and thus have reason to hope for any
higher reward
than that of the beasts that perish,
for their kind feelings to each other;
neither can we hope for any greater reward than the Pharisees were to receive for their
alms deeds,
and which was to end with this life, unless our
motives, feelings and sympathies
are controlled and governed by the
commandments and precepts of the Bible,
and the
Spirit of Christ
rules in our hearts, when those acts of kindness are performed.
Our
unsanctified feelings and sympathies,
in the sight of a holy God, are of no more value than would be our
unsanctified firmness, valor, decision and courage in the field of battle, and at the cannon's mouth;
many profane and ungodly people have an idea that there is no such state of things in the human heart
as perverted sympathy and unholy commiseration
for our fellow-men; but this a most
fatal mistake.
Itthemselves;
thousands of
acts of kindness,
and such as the world think are
acceptable to God,
and worthy of reward, are being done by many people without
God or Christ being in all their thoughts;
for the Bible saith, “the wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God;
God is not in all his thoughts;
” and our acts of benevolence, performed without special reference to his
name and honor,
are of no higher character than are those
sympathies
of the
lower class of animals
whose existence ends with their bodies; and yet there are a great many people who cannot
understand all this,
any better than they can so much
Greek and Latin,
having never learned those languages.
We often see two
intemperate and hard drinking men;
one of them is out of money, and both “
very dry;
” and the one that has got the
coppers
invites his friend, out of pure
sympathy and kindness,
to take a glass with him; they enter the grogshop and the man with the money treats his friend to as much he wants to drink. No doubt the man who does this act of generosity feels that he hashastening
him on to the
drunkard's grave.
Such
perverted sympathy
cannot be acceptable to the Lord, for it is
unsanctified, and leadeth to death.
Much so is it with a
gambler,
who having money in his pocket lends some of it to a
brother gambler,
that has just lost his last dollar at a game of cards. The gambler, because his
sympathies
are powerfully wrought upon by seeing his brother in a
pennyless condition,
lends his unfortunate friend a sum of money sufficient to try his luck again; but who will suppose that
God was in all the gambler's thoughts
while thus assisting his destitute friend?
So the
highwayman
has just murdered and robbed a traveller of his money, and meets a fellow
murderer,
who is pennyless, and in want of food and clothing; and thus having his
feelings and sympathies highly excited
by the destitute state of his friend, he gives him a sum of money sufficient to supply his immediate wants, both as regards his food and clothing, and thus enables him to pursue the work of death; but we have no authority to suppose that the name of
God, his honor and glory, occupied the robber's thoughts while doing this act of kindness.
Now as it regards these
ungoverned
and
unrenewed
impulses, feelings, sympathies
and
commiseration,
in the hearts of those men to whom I have alluded,—I say if it can be shown iron the
Bible
that their tendency is
immoral and sinful,
then it can most easily be proved iron that
sacred book,
that those
unsanctified principles
lay at the very
foundation of all abolitionism, freesoilism, freebooting,
and
freetrading,
and induce men to become
California gold seekers, filibusters, and mercenary slaves to the Prince of Darkness,
—who is ever ready to keep them all at work with the
cart before the horse.
A. C.
Now, friend
Citizen,
what I regret most is, that I am found to be in such
company
as you have been describing; and I begin to feel the force of the old proverb, “
that a man is known by the company he keeps;
” therefore my first object shall be to clear myself of this kind of
society,
and in time to come I shall take the
Prince of Peace
for my leader, rather than the
Prince of Darkness.
Citizen.
I approve of your decision; and ever after this, and before you adopt the
moral and religious opinions of others,
I advise you to go to the Bible, and
read, study and investigate that sacred book
for yourself, with serious and prayerful attention, and not receive for thepolitical notoriety,
without closely comparing their views with the precepts, admonitions and commandments of that holy book. The
Spirit of God
and nothing else, can
truly, effectually and savingly instruct you in its truths,
and lead you in the way of duty, peace and salvation.
People generally do not read their
Bibles
enough, and with that interest which their truths demand; they trust quite too much to the
preaching and teaching of others,
who they are in the habit of thinking know more, or ought to know more, than they do themselves about these things, and thus are they cheated out of a fund of the
best of all knowledge,
and that, too, by the
Prince of Darkness,
who is ever ready to
bewilder and deceive all of us,
as it regards our best good and the salvation of our souls.
Societies or individuals who think this little work will throw light on the subject of
Slavery and its abolition,
and who may be disposed to aid in the circulation of the work beyond the means which the author possesses for this purpose, are informed that they can have the use of the plates on which the tract is printed, without expense.
The cost will not exceed $25 per thousand.
[???] Apply at No. 9
Fayette Court,
up stairs.
Boston, July,
1851.