Cb81
120

YALE UNlVERSrry
LIBRARY

CliERGY OF TME SOU'riSEKW §'2'A^IS8.

BY S.^RAH M. GRIMKfi.

*' And when he was come near, he beheld the city and wept over it, sayiao-— .
If thou hadst known, even thoii, at least in this thy day, tha thinjjs which be.
long unto thy peace." Luke xix, 41 — i'2.

Brethhen beloved in Tne Lord;
It is because I feel a portici of that love gloviring in my heart to.
-wards you, which is infused into every bosom l)y the cordial rcceptiori
of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that I am induced to address you as let-
low professors of his holy religion. To my dear native land, to the be
loved relatives who are still breathing her tainted air, to the ministers of
Christ,' from some of whom I have received the Ciiiblerns of a Saviour's
love; my heart turns with feeling.s of intense solicitude, even wiili such
feelings, may I presume to say, as broLight tiie gnahing tears of com-
passion from the Redeemer of the world, v.hen he wept over tiie city
^yhich he loved, when with ineffable parhos ho exchiinrod, " O Jerusa
lem ¦! Jerusalem ! thou that killest the prophets, and ston-vst them vAnch.
are sent unto thee, how ofen would I have gathered thy children to
gether, even as a hen gn-thereth her chickens under her wings, and ye
would nol." Nay, these are the fl-elings which fill tiia lie;uts of Nonh-
ern Abolitionists towards Sou:liern slave-holders. Yes. my breliiren,
notwithstanding the bon fire at Charleston — the oiUrage.s at Nashvilie
on the person of Dresser^— tu-j bunislmn-nt of Birney and Nel
son — the 'arrest and imprisonmeiv. of otir'-coloiod citizens — we cun
still weep over 5-0LI with unfeigned tenderness and anxiety, and exclaim,
O that ye would even now listen to the chiistian remonstrance's of
those who feel that the pi^inciple they advocate" is not a vain lliing for
Tou, because it is voaa lifk." For you the midnight tear is slied", ibr
you the daily and the nightly prayer ascends, that God-in his unbounded
mercy mav open your hearts to believe his awful denunf^iaiions ag.tinst
those who "rob the poor because lie is |)0"r." And will you still diare.ijard
the supplications of those, w-ho are lilting np their vo ces like thepi-oph-
etsof old, and raiterating the soul-touc'-ing enquiry, - Why will ye die,
O house of Israeli" Oh that I could clothe my feelings in einquence
that would be irre.s'stible, in tones of melting tenderness that v/ould
¦ §of;en the heaits of all, who hold their fellow men in boiidage.

A solemn sense of the duty which I owe as a Southerner to every
class of the community of which / was once a part, likewise impels me
to address you, especially, who are filling the important and-iresponsible
station of ministers of Jehovah, e.xpounders of the lively oracles of God.
It is because you sway the minds of a vast proportion of the Christian
community, who regard you as the channel through vyhich divine know
ledge must flow. Nor does the fact that you are voluntarily invested
by the people with this high prerogative, lessen the fearful weight of re
sponsibility which attaches to you as watchmen on the -walls of Zion.
It adds rather a tenfold weight of guilt, because the very first duty
which devolves upon you is to teach them not to trust in man. — Oh my
brethren, is this duty faithfully performed ? Is not the idea inculcated
that to you they must look for the right understanding of the sacred
volume, and has not your interpretation of the Word of God induced
thousands and tens of thousands to receive as truth, sanctioned by the
authority of Heaven, the oft repeated declaration that slavery, Ameri
can slavery, stamped as it ia with all its infinity of horrors, bears upon
it the signet of that God whose name is Love ?
Let" us contemplate the magnificent scene of creation,^ when
God looked upon chaos and said, " Let there be light, and there was
hgfat." The dark abyss was instantaneously illuminated, and a
flood of splendor poured upon the face of the deep, and " God saw the
light that it was good." Behold the work of creation carried on and
perfected — the azure sky and verdant grass, the trees, the beasts, the
fowls of the air, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea,
' the greater light to ru'e the day, the lesser light to rule the night, and
aU the starry host of heaven, brought into existence by the simple com-
mand, Let them be.
' But was man, the lord of this creation, thus ushered into being 1 No,
the Almighty, clothed as he is with all power in heaven and in earth,
paused when he had thus far completed his glorious work — " Omnipo
tence retired, if I may so speak, and held a counsel when he was about
to place upon the earth the sceptered monarch of the universe." He
did not say let man be, but " Let us make man in onR image, after our
Jikeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over
every creeping thing, that creepeth upon the earth." Here is written
m characters of fire continually blazing before the eyes of every man
¦who holds his fellow man in bondage — In the image of God created he
man. Here is marked a distinction which can never be effaced be
tween a man and a thing, and we are fighting against God's unchaB<Te.
able decree by depriving this rational and immortal being of those ma-
henable rights which have been conferred upon him. He was created
a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor, and de
signed to be God's vicegerent upon earth— but slavery has wrested the
sceptre of dominion from his hand, slavery has seized with an iron grasp
this God-hke being, and torn the crown from his head. Slavery has dis
robed him of royalty, put on him the collar and the chain, and tram-
pled the image of God in the dust.

" Eternal God ! when from thy giant hand.
Thou heaved the floods, and fixed the trembling land :
When life sprung startling at thy plastic call ;
Endless her forms, and^^raan the Lord of all-
Say, was that lordly form, inspired by thee.
To wear eternal chains and bow the knee ?
Was man ordained the slave of man to toil.
Yoked with the brutes and fettered to the soil ?"
TTiisTmy^rethren, is slavery — this is what sublimates the atrocity of that
act, which virtually says, I will as far as I am able destroy the fmage of
God, blot him from creation us a man, and convert him into a thing — "a
chattel pei-sonal." Can any crime, tremendous as is the history of hu
man wickedness, compare in turpitude with this ? — No, the immutable
difference, the heaven-wide dislinclion which God has established be
tween that being, whom he has made a little lower than the angels, atid
all the other works of this wonderful creation, cannot be annihilated
without incurring a weight of guilt beyond expression terrible.
And after God had destroyed the world by a flood because of the -
wickedness of man, every imagination of whose heart -was evil, and had
preserved Noah because he was righteous before him. He renewed man's
delegated authority over the whole animate and inanimate creation, and
again delivered into his hand every beast of the earth and every fowl of
the air, and added to his former grant of power, " Every moving thing
- that liveth shall be meat for you, even as the green herb have I given
you all thing.s." Then, as if to impress indelibly upon the mind of man
the eternal distinction between his rational and immortal creatures and
the lower orders of beings, he guards the life of this most precious
jewel, with a decree which would have proved all-sufficient to protect
it, had not Satan infused into man his own reckless spirit.
Permission ample was given to shed the blood of all inferior crea
tures, but of this being, bearing the impress of divinity, God said, " And
surely your blood of your lives will I require, at the hand of every beast
will I require it, and at the hand of mem, at the hand of every man's
brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood,
by man shall his blood be shed, for in the iivrAGE of God made he man."
Let us pause and examine this passage'. — Man may shed the blood of
the inferior animals, he may use them as mere means — ^he may convert
them into food to ¦ sustain e.xistence — but if the top-stone of creation,
the image of God had his blood shed by a beast, that blood was re
quired even of this irrational brute : as if Deity had said, over my like
ness 1 will spread a panoply divine that all creation' may instinctively
feel that he is precious to his Maker — so precious, that if his life be
taken by his fellow man — if man degrades himself to the level of a
beast by destroying his brother — " by man shall his blood be shed."
.- This distinction between men and things is marked jvith equal care
and solemnity under the Jewish dispensation. " If a man steal an ox,
or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it, he shall restore five o-ten for an ox, and
four sheep for a sheep." But " he that stealeth a man and selleth him

4
or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death." If this
law were carried into effect now, what must be the inevitable doom or
all those who now hold. man as property ? If Jehovah were to exact
the execution of this penalty upon the more enlightened and more spir-.
itualty minded men who live under the Christian dispensation, would he
not instantly commission his most tremendous thunderbolts to strike from
existence those who are thus trampling upon his laws, thus defacing his
image ?
I pass now to the eighth Psalm, which is a Sublime anthem of praise
to our Almighty Father for his unbounded goodness to the children of
men. This Psalm alone affords irrefragable proof that Grod never gave
to man dominion over his own image, that he never commissioned- the
Israelites to enslave their fellow men. This was ¦
" Authority usurped from God not given —
. .  Man over men
He made not Lord, such title to himself
Reserving, human left, from human free."
This beautiful song of glory to God was composed three thousand
years afler the creation, and David who says of himself, "The spirit
of the Lord spake by. me, and his word was in my tongue," gives us the
following exquisite description of the creation of man and of the power
with which he was intrusted. " Thou hast made him a little lower than
the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him
to have dominion over the works of thy hands : thou hast put all things
under his feet : all sheep and oxen, yea, and all the beasts of the field,
the fowl of tbe air and the fish ot the sea, and whatsoever passeth through
the paihs of the sea.^* - ¦,,; - " ¦ , .¦ -
. David was living under that dispensation to which sla-vB-holders tri
umphantly point as the charter of their right to hold men as propertt ;
but he does not-even intimate that any extension of prerogative had been
granted. He specifies precisely the same things which are specified at
the creation and after the flood. He had been eminently instrumental in
bringing into captivity the nations round about, but he does not so much
as hint that Jehovah had transferred the sceptre of dominion over his
immortal creatures to the hand of man. How could God create man
in his own image and then invest his fellow worms with power to blot
him from the world of spirits and place him on a level with the brutes
that perish! - . - - . , . , r •.
The same Psalm is quoted by the Apostle Paul, as if our heavenly
Father designed to teach us through all the dispensations of his mercy
to a fallen world, that man was but a little lower than the angels, God's
vicegerent upon earth over the inferior creatures. St. Paul quotes it
in connection .with that stiipendous event whereby we are saved from
eternal death. " But We see Jesus who was made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor ;
Ujat he by th& grace of Gfod should taste death for every man." Hera

Side by side the apostle places " God manifest in the flesh" and
his accredited representative man. He calls us to view the master
piece of God's creation, and then the master-piece of his mercy— Christ
Jesus, wearing our form and dying for our sins, thus conferring ever
lasting honor upon man by declaring " both he that sanctifieth and
they who are sanctified are all of one : for which cause he is not
ashamed to call them brethren." It is then, the Lord's brethren whom
we have enslaved ; the Lord's brethren of whom we say "slaves
shall be deemed, taken, reputed, and adjudged, chattels personal in the
hands of theil- owners and possessors to all intents and purposes what
ever."— Lotos of South Carolina.
And here I cannot but advert to a most important distinction which
God has made between immortal beings and thebeasts that perish. — No
one can doubt that by the fall of man the whole creation underwent a
change. The apostle says, '' We know that the whole creation groan-
eth and travaileth in pain together." But it was for man alone that the
'Lord Jesus " made himself of no reputation and took upon him the
form of a servant." When he came before his incarnation to cheer his
servants with his blessed presence, when he visited Abraham and Ma-
noah, he took upon himself a human form. Manoah's wife says, " a
man of God came unto me." And when he came and exhibited on
the theatre of our world, that miracle of grace " God in Christ reconci
ling the world unto himself," what form did he wear ? " Verily," says
the apostle, " he took not on him the nature of angels ; but he took on
him the seedof Abraham :" Oh, my brethren, he has stamped with
high and holy dignity the form we wear, he has forever exalted our na
ture by condescending to assume it,' and by investing man with the
high and holy privilege of being " the temple of_the holy Ghost." Where -
then is our title deed for enslaving our equal brother ?
Mr. Chandler of Norfolk, in a speech in the House of Delegates of
' Virginia, on the subject of negro slavery in 1832, speaking of our right
to hold our colored brethren in bondage, says : /
•' As a -Virginian, I do not question the master's title to his slave ; but I put
it to that gentleman, as a man, as a moral man, as a Christian man, whether
he has not some doubts of his claim to his slaves, being as absolute and unqual.
ified as that to other property. Let us in the investigation of this title go back -
to its origin— Whence came slaves' into this country ? — From Africa. Were
they free men there ? At one time they were. How came they to be convert
ed into slaves ? — By the stratagem of war and the strong arm of the conqueror ;
they were vanquished in battle, sold by the victorious party to the slave trader ;
who brought them to our shores, and disposed of them to the planters of Vir
ginia.....  The truth is, our ancestors had no title to thi3„property, and we
have acquired it only by legislative enactments." • '
.'But can " legislative enactments" annul the laws of Jehovah, or
sanctify the crimes of theft and oppression ? " Wo unto them that de
cree unrighteous decrees  to take away the right from the
poor of my people." Suppose the Saviour of the iivorld -were to

6
visit our guilty country and behold the Christianity of our slave holding
states, would not his language be, " Ye have heard that it hath been
said by them of old time, enslave your fellow men, but I say unto you
"Do unto others as ye would they should do unto you," and set- your
captives free !
The sentiment — " Man over man
He made not lord" —
is the sentiment of human nature. It is written, by the Almighty, on
the soul, as a part of its very being. So that, urge on the work of death
as we may, in the mad attempt to convert a free agent into a machine, a
man into a thing, and nature will still cry out for freedom. Hear the
testimony of James McDowell, in the House of Delegates, in Virginia
in 1832. . ¦ , . ,
" As to the idea that the slave in any considerable number of cases can be so
attached to his master and his servitude, as to be indiSerent to freedom, it is
wholly unnatural, rejected by the conscious testimony of every man's heart, and
the written testimony of the world's experience  .You may place the
slave where you please, you may oppress him as you please, you may dry up to
the uttermost the fountain of his feelings, the- springs of his thought, you may
close upon his mind every avenue of knowledge, and cloud it over with artifi
cial night, you may yoke him to your labors as the ox which liveth only to
work, you may put him under any proaess, which without destroying his value
as a slave, will debase and crush him as a rational being, and the idea that he
tvas b<)ra to be free will survive it all. It is allied to his hope. of immortality — '¦
itis the ethereal part of his being, which oppression cannot reach ; it is a torch
lit up in his soul by the hand of Deity, and never meant to be extinguished by
Ihe hand of man." . — , - , _
•-¦ I need not enter into an elaborate proof that Jewish servitude, as per
mitted by God, was as different from American slavery, as Christianity
is from heathenism. The limitation laws respecting strangers and ser
vants, entirely prohibited cruelty and oppre'ssion, whereas in our slave
states, " The ihaster mat, at his discretion, inflict any species of
PUNISHMENT UPON THE PERSON OF HIS SLAVE ,"-* and the law throws
her protecting agis over the master, by refusing to receive under any
circumstances, the testimony of a colored man against a white, except
to subserve the intere-sts of the owner  " It is manifest," says the au
thor (a Christian Minister) of '.'A calm enquiry into the countenance
afforded by the Scriptures to the system of British Colonial Slavery"
" that the Hebrews had no vvord in their language equivalent to slave
in the West Indian use of that term. The vvord fj^l o^'ed, is applied
to both bond servants and hired, to kings and prophets, and even to the
Saviour of the world. It was a general designation for any pei-soa who
rendered service of any kind to God or man. But the term slave, in
the Colonial sense, could not be at all applied to a freeman." The
'Sketch of the Laws relating to slavery, in the United States of America.
by George M. Stroud.

same word in the Septuagint which is translated servant, is also trans
lated child, and as the Hebrew language is remarkable for its minute
shades of distinction in things, had there been, as is asserted, slaves in
Judea, there would undoubtedly have been some term to designate
such a condition. Our language recognizis the difference between a
slave and a servant, because those two classes actually exist in our
country. The Burmese language hsis no word to express eternity,
hence a missionary remarked that it was almost impossible . to convey
to them any conception of it. So likewise among the ancient Greeks
and Romans there was no word equivalent to humility, because they
acknowledged no such virtue; The want of any term therefore in
the Hebrew, to mark the distinction between a slave in the proper
sense of the term and other servants, is proof presumptive to say the
least, that no such condition as that of slave was known among the
Jews of that day. .. -., -
To assert that Abraham held slaves is a mere slander. The phrase,
translated "souls that they had goUen in Haran," Gen. 12 : 5, has no
possible reference to slaves, and was never supposed to have any allu--
sion to slavery until the commencement of the slave trade in England,
in 156-3. From that time commentators endeavored to cast upon
Abraham the obloquy of holding his fellow creatures in bondage, in or.
der to excuse this nefarious trafiic. The Targum of Onkelos thus
paraphrases this passage " souls gotten, i. e. those whom they had caused
to obey the law." The Tat:gum of Jonathan calls them " Proselytes."
Jarchi, " Those whom they had brought under the wings of Sheki-
nah." Menochius, " Those whom they converted from idolatry." Luke
Franke, a Latin commentator, "Those whom they subjected to the law."
Jerome calls them " Proselytes." Here is a mass of evidence which
is incontrovertible. Abraham's business as "the friend of God '.was
to get souls as the seals of his ministry. Would he have been called
from a heal hen- land to be the father of the faithful in all generations,
that he mi<Tht enslave the converts he made from idolatry ? As soon
might we suspect our missionaries of riveting the chains of servitude on
souls that they may have gotten; as seals of their ministry, from among
those to whom thev proclaim the unsearchaWe riches of Christ. VVould
heathen then, any more than now, be attracted to a standard which bora
on it the inscription Slavery ? No, my brethren ; and >[ «"' down.
trodden slaves did not distinguish between Chnstianity, and the Christ
ians who hold them in bondage, they could never embrace a religion.
which is exhibited to them from the pulpit, in the prayer-meetmg. and
at the domestic altar, embodied in the form of masters, utterly regard
less of the divine command, "Render unto your servants that which
isiust." From the confidence which Abraham reposed m his ser-
van" we cannot avoid the inference that they <= "«'«f !f,"°'^"£
around him as the benefactor of their souls, the patriarch of that httle
community which 'his ministry had gathered.

Again, it is often peremptorily asserted that " the Africans are a di
vinely condemned and proscribed race." If they are, has God consti
tuted the slave holders the ministers of his vengeance ? This question
can only bo answered in the negative, and until it can be otherwise an
swered,' it is vain to appeal to the curse on Canaan, or to Hebrew ser
vitude, in support of American slavery. As well might the blood
stained Emperor of France appeal to the conquest of Canaan by the Is
raelites, and challenge the Almighty to reward him for the work of
death which he wrought on the fields of Marengo and Leipsic, because
God invested his peculiar people, with authority to destroy the nations
which had filled up the measure of their iniquity. The expre^ grant
to the Jews lo reduce to subjection some of the Canaanitish nations and
to e.xterminate others,- at once condemns American slavery, because
those who derive their sanction to hold their fellow men in bondalgefrom
tbe Bible, admit that a specific grant was necessary to empower the Is
raelites lo make bond-men of the heathen ; and unless this permission
had been given, they would not have been justif:ed in doing it.- It is
- therefore self-evident that as we have never been commanded to enslave
the Africans, we can derive no sanction for our slavo system from the
history of the Jews, . ' , . -
*t. Another plea hy which we endeavor to silence the voice of conscience
is, " that the child is invariably born to the condition of the parent."
Hence the law of South Carolina, says " All their (the slaves) issue
AND OFFSPrtING, BORN, OR TO BE BORN, SHALL BE, AND THEY ARE HEREBY
DECLARED TO BE, AND REMAIN FOREVER HEREAFTER ABSOLUTE SLAVES,
AND SHALL FOREVER FOLLOW THE CONDITION OF THE MOTHER." To SUp-
port this assumption, recourse is had to liie page of inspiration. Our
colored brethren are said to be the descendants of Ham who was
cursed with all his posterity, and their condition only in accordance with
the declai-ation of Jehovah, that he visits the iniquities of tl e fathers upon
the children. — I need only remark that Canaan, not Ham, was the object
of Noah's prophecy, and that upon his descendants it has been amply '
fulfilled. But we appeal to prophecy in order to e.xcuse or palliate the sin of
slavery, and we regard ourselves as guiltless because we are fulfilling the
¦designs of Omnipotence. .Let us read our .sentence in the word of
God : " And he said unto Abraham, Know of a surety that thy seed
shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them, and
I will afflict them four hundred years, and also that nation whom they
shall serve, I WILL JUDGE." That nation literally drank the blood of
the wrath of Almighty God. The whole land of Egypt was a house
of mourning, a scene of con.sternation and horror. What did it avail
the E^ptians that they had been the instruments permitted in the in
scrutable counsels of Jehovah to aaccmplish every iota of the prophecy
concerning the seed of Abraham ? ^,r ,-
• Appeal to prophecy ! As well ml^ht'the Jews who bv wicked hands '
crucified the Messiah claim to themselves the sanction of prophecy. A3

Well might they shield themselves from the scathing lightning of the
Almighty under the plea that the tragedy they acted on Calvary's
mount, had been foretold by the inspired penman a thousand years
before. Read in the 22d Psalm an exact description of the crucifi.x-
ion of Christ. Hear the words of the dying Redeemer from the lipa
of the Psalmist : " My God ! my God ! why hast thou forsaken me?"
At that awful day wljen the dead, small and great, stand before God,
and the hooks are opened, and another book is opened, which is tho
book of life, and the dead ate judged out of. those* things which are
written in the book according- to their -works — ^think you, ray breth
ren, that the betrayer and the crucifiers of the Son of God will find
their names inscribed in the book of life " because they fulfilled prophe
cy in killing the Prince of Peace*? Think you that they will claim, or
receive on this ground, exemption from the torments of the damned 1
WiU it not add to their guilt and woe that " To Him bare all the proph
ets witness," and render more intense the anguish aad horror wth which
_ they will call upon "the rocks and the mountains to fall upon them and
hide them from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne and from
the wrath of the Lamb ?" - "
Contemplate the history of the Jews since the crucifixion of Christ !
Behold even in this world the awfully retributive justice which is so ac-
curately pourtrayed by the pen of Moses., " And the Lord shall scatter
thee among all people from the one end of the earth even unto the oth
er, and among those nations shalt thou find no ease." And can we
believe that those nations who with satanic ingenuity have fulfilled to
a tittle these prophecies agaiixst this gui'ty people, wiU stand acquitted
at the bar of God for ' their own cruelty and injustice, in the matter ?
Prophecy is a mirror on whose surface is inscribed in characters of light, •
that sentence of deep, immitigable woe which the Almighty hajs pro-
nounced and executed on transgressors. Let me beseech you then, my
dear, though guilty brethren, to pause, and learn from the tremendour
past what must be the inevitable destiny of those who are adding yea
after year, to the amount of crime which is treasuring up " wrath -
against the day of wrath," "A wonderful and horrible thing is com
mitted in the land ! The prophets prophecy falsely, and the priests bear
rule by their means, and my people love to have ii so, and what will ye
do in the end thereof?" " Thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning
the prophets, Behold, I -will feed them with wormwood, and make them
drink the water of gall."
The present position of niy country and of the church is one of
deep and solemn interest. The-times of our ignorance" on the^ubject
of slavery which God may ha.ve winked ai, have passed away. We are no
longer standing unconsciously and carelessly onthe brink of a burning
volcano. The strong arm of Almighty power has rolled back the
dense cloud, which hung over tiie terrific crater, and has exposed it to
our view, and although no human eye can penetrate the abyss, yet
enough is seen to warn us of the consequences of trifling v«th Omnip
otence. Jehovah is calling to us as he did to Job out of the whirlwind,
2

10
and every blast bears on its wings the sound. Repent ! Repent ! God,
if I may so speak, is waiting to see whether we will hearken unto his
voice. Ha has sent out his light and his truth, and as regards us it
may perhaps be said — there is now silence in heaven. The comrnis-
sioned messengers of grace to this guilty nation are rapidly traversing
our country, through the medium of the Anti-Slavery Society, through
. its agents and its presses, whilst the " ministering spirits" Eire marking
with breathless interest the influence produced by these means of know
ledge thus mercifully furnished to our land. Oh! if there be joy in
heaven over one sinner that repenteth, what hallelujahs of angehc
praise wiU arise, when the slave-holder and the defender of slavery
bow before the footstool of mercy, and with broken spirits and contrite -
hearts surrender unto God that dominion over his immortal creatures
which he alone can rightly exercise. ¦ . -
What an' appalling spectacle do we now present ! With one hand
we clasp the cross of Christ, and with the other grasp the neck of the
down-trodden slave ! With one eye we are gazing imploringly on the
bleeding sacrifice of Calvary, as if we expected redemption though the
blood which was shed there, and with the other we cast the glance of
mdignation and contempt at the representative of Him who there made
his soul an ofiering for sin ! My Christian -brethren, if there is euiy
truth in the Bible, and irt the God of the Bible, our hearts bear tis wit.
ties's that he can no more acknowledge us eis bis disciples, if we wil
fully persist in this sin, than he did the Pharisees formerly,, who were
strict and punctilious in the observance of the ceremonial law, and yet
devoured widows' houses. We have added^ a deeper sliade to their
guilt, we make widows by tearing from the victims of a cruel bondage,
the husbands of their bosoms, and then devour the widow herself by-
robbing her of her freedom, and reducing her to the level of a brute.
I solemnly appeal to your own consciences. Does not the rebuke of
Christ to the Pharisees apply to some of those who are exercising the
office of Gospel ministe>-s, "Wo unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypo
crites ! for ye devour widow's houses, and for a pretence make long
prayers, thereforeye sheill receive the greater damnadon."
. How long the space now granted for repentamce may continue, is
among the secret things, which belong unto God, and my soul ardently
desires that all those -who are enlisted in the ranks of abolition may re
gard every day as possibly the last, and may pray without ceasing to
God, to grant this nation repentance and forgiveness of the sin of sla.
Very. The time is preciousj unspeakably precious, and every eneoiir.
agement is offered to us to supplicate the God of the master and of the
slave to make a " right way " " for' us, and for our little ones,
and for all our substance." Ezra says, " so we fasted and'besought the
Lord, and he was entreated for us." Look at the marvellous effects of
prayer when Peter was imprisoned. What did the church ki that crisis 1 '
She felt that her weapons were not carnal, but spiritual, and " prayer
was made without ceasing." These petidous oSered in humble faith
were mighty through God to the emancipation of Peter. " Is the

11
Lord's arm shortened that it cannot save, or his ear grown heavy that
it cannot hear ?" If he condescended to work a miracle in answer to pray
er when one of his servants was imprisoned.will he not graciously hear our
supplications when two millions of his immortal creatures are in "bondage 1
We entreat the Christian .ministry toco-operate with us to unite
in our petitions to Almighty God to deliver our land from blood
guiltiness ; to enable us to see the abominations^ of American sla-
-very by the light of the gospel. "This is the condemnation, that
light is come into the worid, but men loved darkness rather than light,
because their deeds were evil." Then may we expect a glorious consum.
mation to our united labors of love. Then may the Lord Jesus
unto whom belongeth all power in heaven and in earth condescend to
answer our prayers, and by the softening influence of his holy spirit
induce our brethren and sistersof the South "to undo the heavy bur
dens, to break every yoke and let the oppressed go free."-
• My mind has been deeply impressed whilst reading the account of the
anniversaries held last" spring in the city of New York, withthe belief
that there is in America a degree of light, knowledge and intelligence
which leaves us without excuse before God for upholding the system of
slavery. Nay, we not only sustain this temple of Moloch ; but with
impious lips consecrate it to the Most High God ; and call upon Jeho
vah himself to sanctify our sins by the presence of his Shekinah. Now
mark, the unholy combination that has been entered into between the
North and the South to shut out the light on- this all important subject.
I copy fram a speech before the " General Assembly's Board of Edu
cation." As an illustraHon of his position. Dr. Breckenridge refeiTed
to the influence of the Education Board in the Southern States.
" Jealous as those States -were, and not without reason, of all that came to
them in the shape of benevolent enterp.'-ise from the North, and ready
as they were to take fire in a moment at whatever threatened their own
peculiar institutions, the plans of this Board had conciliated their ful
lest confidence : in proof of which they had placed nearly two hundred
of their sons under its care, that they might be trained and Jilted to
preach to their oion population." The inference is unavoidable that
the " peculiar institution'^ spoken of is domestic slavery in all its
bearings and relations ; and it is equally clear that the ministry educated-
for the South are to be thoroughly imbued with the slave-holding spirit,
that they may be ^^ fitted to preach to their own population," not the
gospel of Jesus Christ, which proclaims libekty to the captive, but a
religion which grants -to man the > privilege- of sinning with impunity,
and stamps with the signet of the King of heaven a system thatembra-
. ces every possible enormity. - Surely if ye are ambassadors for Christ,
ye are bound to promulgate the whole counsel of God. But can ye
preach from the language of James, " Behold the hire of your laborers
which is of you kept back by fraud crieth, and the cries of them which-
have reaped, are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." Mul-
titudes of other texts must be virtudly expunged from the Bible of the
slave holding minister ; every denunciation against oppression strikes

12
at the root of slavery. God is in a peculiar manner Ihe God of the
poorand the needy, the despised and the oppressed. . "The Lord said
I have surely seen the affliction of my people, and have heard their
f;ry by reason of their task-masters, for I knovy their sorrows." And
he knows the sorrows of the American slave, and he will come down
in mercy, or in judgment to deliver them.
In a speech before the " American Seamen's Friend Society," by
Rev. William S. Plumer of Virginia, it is said, " The resolution spoke
of weighty considerations, why we should care for seamen, and one of
these certainly was, because as a class, they had been long and crimi-
nally neglected. , Another weighty consideration was that seamen
were a suffering race."  "And who was the cause of this ? Was
it not the Church who withheld ftom these her suffering brethren, those
blessed truths of God, so -well calculated to comfort those who suffer ?"
Ob my brother ! while drawing to the life a picture of a elass of our
fellow beings, who have been " long and criminally neglected," of " a
sufiering race," was there no cord of sympathy in thy heart to vibrate
to the groans of the slave 1 Did no seraph's voice whisper in thine ear
; 'Remember them which are in bonds ?" Did memory present no scenes
¦ of cruelty and~ oppression ? And did not conscience say, thou art one
who withholds from thy suffering colored brethren those blessed truths of
God so well calculated to comfort those who suffer ? Can we believe that
the God of Christianity will bless the people who are thus dispensing
"-their gifbs to all, save to those by whose unrequited toil, we and our an
cestors for generations past have subsisted?- -. • '
Let us examine the testimony of Charles C. Jones, Professor in the
Theological Seminary, Columbia, S. C. relative to the condition of our
slaves, and then judge whether they have not at least as great a claim
as seamen to the sympathy and benevolent effort of Chiistian
Ministers. In a sermon preached before t-wo associations of plan
ters in Georgia in 1831, he says : » Generally speaking, they (the
slaves) appear to us to be without God and without hope in the world,
a nation of hea,then in our very midst. We cannot cry out against
the Papists for withholding the scriptures from the common people, and
keeping them in ignorance of the way of life, for we ¦withhold the Bible
from our servants, and keep them in ignorance of it, while we wiU not
use the means to have it read and explained to them. The cry
of our perishing servants comes up to us from the sultry plains as they
bend at their toil ; it comes up to us from their humble cottages when
tHey return at evening, to rest their weary limbs ; it comes up to us
from the midst of their ignorance and superstition, and adultery and
lewdness. Wis have manifested no emotions of horror at abandoning
the souls of our servants to the adversary, the "roaring lion, that walk-
eth about, seeking whom he may devour."
On the 5th of December, 1833, a committee.of the synod of South
Carolina and Georgia, to whom was referred the'subject of the religious
instruction of the colored population, made a report in which this lan
guage \yas gsed, .

13
" Who would credit it that in these years of revival and benevolent sffert, in
this Christian republic, there are over two milijoxs of human beintrs in the
condition of heathen, and in some respects in a worse condition. From lone
continued and close observation, we beljeve that their moral and religious con.
didou is such that they may be justly considered the -heathes of this Chris.
tiau country, and will bear comparison with heathens in any country in the
world. . The negroes are destitute of. the gospel, aad ever will be under the pres
ent state of things."
In a number of the Charleston Observer (in 1834,) a correspondent
remarked : " Let us establish missionaries among our own negroes,
who, in view of religious knowledge, are cis debasingly ignorant as any
one on the coast of Africa ; for I hazard the assertion that throughout
the bounds of our Synod, there are at least one hundred thousand
SLAVES, speaking the same language as ourselves, who never heard of
the plan of salvation by a Redeemer."
The Editor, Rev. Benjamin Gildersleeve, who has resided at least
ten years at the South, so far firom contradicting this broad assertion, adds, -
" We fully concur -with what our correspondent has said, respecting the
benighted heathen among ourselves."
Aa Southerners, can we deny these things ? As Christians, can we
ask the blessing of the Redeemer of men on the system of American
slavery ? Can we carry it to the footstool of a God whose " compas-
sions fail not," and pray for holy help to rivet the chains of intermina
ble bondage on two bullions of our fellow men, the accredited repre
sentatives of Jesus Christ ? If we cannot ask in faith that the blessing
of God may rest on this work of cruelty to the bodies, and destruction
of the souls of men, we may be assured that his controversy is against
it. Try it, my brethren, when you are kneeling around the family
altar with the wife of your bosom, with the children of your love,
when you are supplicating Him who hath made of one blood all na
tions, to sanctify these precious souls and prepare them for an inherit
ance -with Jesus — then pray, if you can that God will grant you power
to degrade to the level of brutes your colored brethren. Try it,
when your little ones are twining their arms around your necks, and
lisping the first fond accents of affection in your ears ; when the peti
tion arises from the fiilness of a parent's heart for a blessing on your
children. At such a moment, look in upon yourslave. He too is a father,
and we know that he is susceptible of all the tender sensibilities of a fa
ther's love. He folds his cherished mfant in his arms, he feels its life-
pulse throb against his own, and he rejoices that he is a parent ; but
soon the withering thought rushes to his mind— 1 am a slave, and to-
moiTow my master may tear my darhng from my arms._ Contemplate
liis scene, while your cheeks are yet warm with the kisses of your chil
dren, and then try if you can mingle with a parent's prayer and a pa.
rent's blessing, the petition that God may enable you and your posterity
to perpetuate a system which to the slave denies—
"To live together, or together die.
By felon hands at one relentless stroke
See the fond links of feeling nature broke ;
The fibres twisting roused a parent's heart,
Tom from their grasp and bleeding as they part."

14
A southern minister. Rev. Mr. Atkinson of Virginia, in a speech be
fore the Bible society last spring, says : " The facts which have been
told respecting the destitution of some portions of our country are but
samples of thousands more. Could we but feel what we owed to hirn
who gave the Bible, we would at the same time feel that we owed it
to a fallen and perishing worid not merely to pass^ne resolutions, or
listen to eloquent speeclies, but to exhibitit a life devoted to the conver
sion of the world." '
Let us now turn to the heart-sickening picture of the " desritiition "
of our slaves drawn by those who had the living original continually
before their eyes. I extract from the report of the Synod of South Car-
olina and Georgia before referred to. -,-:
" We may now enquire if they (the slaves) enjoy the privileges of the gospel
in their own houses, and on our plantations ? Again we return a negative an.
swer — They have no Bibles to read by their own fire-sides — they have no fami.
ly altars ; and when in affliction, sickness, or death, they have no minister to
address to them the consolations of the. gospel, nor to bury them with solemn
and appropriate services."
This state of things, is the result of laws enacted in a free and enlight.
ened republic. In North Carolina, to teach'a slave to read or write, orto
sell or give him any book, (the Bible not excepted) or pamphlet, is pun
ished with thirty-nine lashes, ot imprisonment, if the offender be a free
fiegro.butif a white then with a fine of two hundred dollars. The
reason for this law assigned in the preamble is, that "teaching slaves to
read and write tends to excite dissatisfaction in their minds, and to pro-,
duce insurrection and rebellion." -'';- ' _
.In Georgia, if a white teach a free negro, or slave, to read or write,
he is fined $500, and imprisoned at the discretion of the court. If the
offender be a colored man, bond or free, he is to be fined, or whipt at
the discretion of the coifrt. - By this barbarous law, which -weis enacted
in 1829, a white man may be fined and imprisoned for teaching his own
child if he happens to be colored, and if colored. Whether bond or free,
he may be lined or whipped.
"We have," saya Mr. Beny, in a speech in the House of Delegates of Vir
ginia in 1832, "as far as possible closed every avenue by which light might en
ter their (the slaves) minds. If we could extinguish the capacity to see the
light, our work would be completed ; they would then be on a level with the
beasts of the field, and we should be safe. I am not certain that we would not
do it, if we could find out the necessary procegs, and that on the plea of neces
sity." Oh, my brethren ! when you are telling to an admiring audience that
through your insfi-umentality neariy two millions of Bibles and Testa-
meats have been disseminated throughout the world, does not the voice.
of the slave vibrate oh your ear, as it floats over the sultry plains of
the -South, and utters forth his lamentation, " Hast thou but one blessing, .
my father IJbless me, even me also, O my father !" Does no wail of tor
ment interrupt the eloquent harrangue ?^And from the bottomless pit

15
does no accusing voice arise to charge you with the perdition of those
souls from whom you wrested, as far as you were able, the power of
working out their own salvation ?
Our country, I believe, has arrived at an awful crisis. God has ia
infinite mercy, raised up those who have moral courage and religion
enough to obey the divine command, " Cry aloud and spare not, lift up
thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions." —
Our sins are set in order before us, and we are now hesitating whether
we shall choose the curse pronounced by Jehovah, " Cursed be he that
perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatheriess and widow," or
the blessing recorded in the 41st Psl. " Blessed is the man that consid-
ereth the poor (or the weak,) the Lord will deliver him in the time of
trouble." . ,
And is there no help ? Shall we be dismayed because our mLstaken
countrymen burned our messengers of Truth in Charleston, S. C. ?
No, my brethren, I am not dismayed 1 I do not intend to stamp the an-
ti-slavery publications as inspired writings, but the principles they pro
mulgate are the principles of the holy Scriptures, and I derive encour
agement from the recollection that Tindal suffered martyrdom for trans
lating and printing the New Testament — and that Tonstal, Archbishop
of London, purchased every copy which he could obtain, and had them
burnt by the common hangman. Now Great Britain is doing more
than any other people to scatter the Bible to every nation under heav
en. Shall we be alarrried as though soma new thing had happened un
to, us because our printing press has been destroyed at Cincinnati, Ohio I
The devoted Carey was compelled to place his establishment for the-
translation of the sacred volume beyond the boundary hne of the Brit
ish authorities. And" now England would gladly have the Bible trans
lated into every tongue.
If then there be, as I humbly trust there are among my Christian
brethren some who like the prophet of old are- ready to exclaim ! "Wo
is me ! for I am undone ; because I am a man of unclean lips ; for
mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts" — If to some of you
Jehovah has unvailed the abominations of American Slavery, tbe guilt
of yourselves and of your brethren ! Oh remember the prophet of Is
rael and be encouraged. Your lips like his will be touched with, a live
coal fi-om off the altar. The Lord will be your light and your salva
tion I He will go before you and the God of Israel will be your reward.
If ever thero was a time when the Church of Christ was called upon
to make an aggressive movement on the kingdom of darkness, this is the
time. The subject of slavery is fairly before the American public. —
The consciences of the slave-holders at die South and of their coadju
tors at the No.rth are aroused, notwithstanding all the opiates which are
so abundantly administered under the plea of necessity, and expediency,
and the duty of obedieifce to man, rather than to God.. In regard to
slavery, Satan has transformed himself into an angel of light, and un-
der the false pretence of consulting the good of the slaves, pleads for
retaining them in bondage, until they are prepared to enjoy the blessings

18
of liberty. Full well he knows that if he can but gain time, he gams
every thing* When he stood beside Felix and saw that he trembled
before his fettered captive, as Paul reasoned of righteousness, temper
ance, aad judgment to come, he summoned to his aid this masterpiece
of Satanic ingenuity, and whispered, say to this Apostle, " Go thy way
for this time, at a more convenient season, 1 will call for thee." The
heart of Felix responded to this intimation, and his lips uttered the fatal
words — fatal, because, for aught that appears, they sealed his death
warrant for eternity. Let me appeal to every Christian minister,
who has known what it is to repent and forsake his sins : Have
you not all found that prospective repentance and future amendment are
destruction to the soul ? The truth is, to postpone present duty, to get
ready for the discharge of future, is just putting yourselves into the
hands of Satan to prepare you for the service of God. Just so, gradu
alism puts the- slave into the hands of his master, whose interest it is to
keep him enslaved, to prepare him for freedom, because that master
says at a convenient season I will liberate my captive. So says the ad
versary of all good, serve me to-diy and to-morrow thou mayest serve
Godi' Ohlay not this flattering unction- to your souls, ye that are
teachers in Israel..: God is not mocked, and ye may as well expect in-
¦ dulgence in sin to purify the heart and prepare the soul for an inherit
ance with the saints in light, as to suppose that slavery can fit men for
freedom. ¦ That which debases and brutualizes can never fit for free-
*dom. The chains of the slave must - be sundered ; he must be taught
-that he is "heaven-born and destined to the skies again;" he must be
restored to his dignified station in the scale of creation, he must be
crowned again with the diadem of glory, again ranked amongst th©
sons of God and invested with lordly prerogative over every living- crea
ture. If you would aid. in this mighty, this glorious achievement—
I' Preach the word" of Immedlate Emancipation. "Be instant
in season> and out of season." " If. they persecute you in one
city, flee ye unto another," that your sound may go out through all our
land ; and vou may not incur the awful charge, •
"-iTE KNEW YODR DtTY,, BUT YE DID IT NOT. "
. It is now twenty years since a. beloved friend. with whom lofleh
mingled my tears, related to me the following circumstance, when help
less and hopeless we deplored the horrors of slavery, and I believe many
are now doing what we did then, weeping and praying and interced-
ing, " but secretly, for fear of the Jews.". On the plantation adjoining
her husband's, there was a slave of pre-eminent piety. His master waa'
not a professor of religion, but the superior excellence of this disciple
of Christ was not unmarked by him, and I believe he was so sensible
of the good influence of his piety that he did not deprive him of the
few religious privileges within his reach. A planter was one day dinin^
with the own^r of this slave, and in the courae of conversation observ!
ed that all profession of religion among slaves was mere hypocricy:
The other asserted a contrary opinion, adding, I have a slave who I be-

17
ieve would rather die than deny his Saviour. This was ridiculed, and
tlie niastt-r urged to prove his assertion. He iiccordingly sent for this
man of God, and peremptorily ordered him to deny h:s belief in tha
Lord Jfsus Clirist. The slave pleaded to be fxcu-sed, consiaiilly af
firming thiit ho- would rather die than deny the Redeemer, vvho-se MooJ
was shed for him. His master, after vamly trying to induce obedienco
by ihreats, had him severely whippetl. The f'ortnude of the .sufferer
was not to be shaken ; he nobly rejected ihc olfor of i-xemption from
further chastibcment at the expense of destroying his soul, and this
blessed martyr died in consequence of this severe infliction. On, i'.o-vw
blight a gem will this victim of irresponsible power be, in that crown
which sp;irk!es oh the Redeemer's brow; andthat many rsuch will
-cljster thert», I have not the shadow of aduubt.*
Bi-i:thren, you are invested with imniense power over those to whom
you minister in holy things — commensmate wi h your power is your re
sponsibility, and if you abuse, or ni'glecl to use it aright, great will be you?
condemnation. Mr. Moore, in a speech in the House of Delegates in
Virginia, in 1832, says :
" It is utterly impossible to avoid the consideration of the subject of slavery.
As well miglit the Apostle hava attempted ti> clo^o his t-yes against the light
which shone upon hiin from heaven, or to turn a deaf ear in the name which reach.
eH him from on highl as for us to try to stifle the spirit of enquiry which is abroad
' in the land......The MoNSTROua coNSEauE.NCES which arise from the existence of
slavery have been exposed to open day ; the dangehs arising from it stare ua ia
the face, and it-becomes us as man to meet an J overcome them, rather than at
tempt to escape by evading them. S!av.;ry, as it exists among us, may be regard
ed as the heaviest calamity which has ever befallen any portion of the human
race. (If we look back at the long course of Hime which has elapsed from the
creation to the present moment, we shall scarcely be abla to point out a people
whose situation was nol in many respects preferable to our own, and that of tha
ether states in which slavery exists. True, we shall see nations which have groan
ed under the yoke of despotism for hundreds and thousands of years, but tbe indif
viduals composing thosu natioris have enjoyed a degree o£ happiness, peace an'il
freedom from apprehension which tho holders of slaves in this country can
never know.")
The daughters of Virginia have borne their testimony-to the evils of
slavery, ar.d have pleaded for its extinction. Will this nation continue «leaf
to tha voice of reason, humanity, and religion? In the memorial of tha
female citizens of Fluvanna Co.', Va. to the General Assembly of that
Commonwealth in 1832, they say : ,
"We cannot conceal from oursflves that an e-vil (slavery) is amongst na;
which threatens to outgrow the growth, and dim tlie brightness of onr national
blessings. A shadow (ieepens o/er the land and easts its thickest gloom upon
the sacred shrine of domestic bliss, darkening over us as time-advances.^- _
•'We can only aid by ardent outpourings of the spirit of supplication at a
throne of grace  We conjure you by the sacred charities of kindred, by th»
lolemn obligations of justice, by eveiy consrderation of domestic affectioo and
"^ince writin- the above, t btive received ii>rrin.ali..n that " the permtralon of the foul «eea
were in a .lat«°,r inebrin ion," .tml Ihut lh.» nii.n.r ws» a« agw^ slave. Dm iki-nneM .nslenrt ol
palli.tin- crune ags'a. a e« it p-/eM acci.iiling to homan Ia»fc But sucb ate lie men la wlKW
Ea_Ud iiiavBryofieu places abaolutapowei. _

IS
Jiatriotlc duty, to nerve every faculty of your minds to the investigation of thi»
important subject, and let not the united voices of your mothers, wives, daugh-
tcrs anUkindi'ed have sounded in your ears in vain."
We are cheered with the belief that many knees at the South
are bent in prayer for the success of the Abolitionists. We believe, and
we rejoice in the belief that the statement made by a Southern Minister
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, at the session of the New York
Annual Conference, in June of this year, is true : " Don't give up Aboli
tionism — don't bow down to slavery. You have thousands at the
South who are secretly praying for you." — In a subsequent conversation
with the same individual, he staled. That the South is not that unit of
which the pro-slavery party boast — there is a diversity of opinion ainong
them in reference to slavery, and the keign of terror alone suppress
es the free expression of sentiment. That there are thousemds who be
lieve slaveholding to be sinful, who secretly wish the aboUlioiiists sus-
cess, and believe God will bless their efforts. That the ministers of the_
gospel and ucclesiasticaL bodies who indiscriminately denounce the abo
litionists, without doing any thing themselyes to remove slavery, have
not the thanks of thousands at the South, but on the contrary are
viewed as taking sides with slaveholder* and recreant to the principles
of their own profession. Zion^s Watchman, NoveTnber, 1836.
"'• The system of slavery is necessarily cruel. The lust of dominioli.
inevitably produces hardness of heart, because the state of mind which
craves unlimited power, such as slavery confers, involves a desire to
upe that power, and although I know there are exceptions to the exer
cise of barbarity on the bodies of slaves, I maintain that there can be no
exceptions to the exercise of the most soul-withering cruelty on the
minds of the enslaved. All around is the mighty ruin of intellect, the
appalling spectacle of thedown-trodden image of God. What has caus
ed this mighty wreck ? A voice deep as hell and loud aa the thunders of
heaven replies, slavery ! Both worlds of spirits echo and re-echo, sla-
-vteky! And yet American- slavery is palliated, is defended by slave-
holding ministei-s at the South and their coadjutors at the North. Per
haps all of you would shrink with horror from a proposal to revive the
Inquisition and give to Catholic superstition the power to enforce in this
country its wicked system of bigotry and despodsm. But I believe if
all the horrors of the Inquisition and all the cruelty and oppression exer.
cised by the Church of Rome, could be fully and fairly brought to view
and compared with the detai's of slavery in the United States, the
abominations of Catholicism would not surpass those of slavery, while
the victims of the latter are ten fold more numerous. -^ :.
But it is urged again-and again, that slavery has been entailed upon us
by our ancestors. We speak" of this with a degree of self-complacency,
which seems to intimate that we would not do the deeds of our fathers."
So to speak, argues an utter want of principle, as well as an utter igno
rance of duty, because as soon as we perceive 'the iniquity of that act by
\ which we inherit property in man, we should surrender to the rightful
owner, viz. the slave himself, a right which although legally vested in us,
hy the " unrighteous decrees " of our country, is vested in the slave

Sif^ll

himself hy the laws of God. We talk as if the guilt of slavery from
its first introduction to the present time, rested on our progenitors, and
as ii we were innocent because we had not imported slaves orioinally
from Africa. The prophet Ezckiel furnishes a clear and comprehen
sive answer to this sophistry. « What msan ye, that ye use this proverb
saying : The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth
are set on edge  Behold all souls are mine, as the soul of the fa
ther, so also the soul of the son is mine. The sodi, that sinneth it
SHALi, die. If a man be just and doeth that which is lawful and right,
he shall surely Uve. If he beget a son that hath opprest the poor and
needy, he shall surely die ; his blood shall be upon him. Now, lo ! if
he beget a son that seeth all his father's sins which he hath done, and
doeth not such like, that hath not opprest any, neither hath spoiled by
violence ; that hath taken off his hand from die poor, he shall not die
for the iniquity of his father. The soul that sinneth rr shall die.
The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father
bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall
be upon him — and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."
Upon the present generation, rests, I believe, an accumulated weight
of guilt- They have the experience of more than two centuries to
profit by — they have witnessed the evils and the crimes of slavery, and
' they know that sm and. misery are its legitimate fruits. They behold
every where, inscribed upon the face of nature, the withering curse of
slavery, as if the land mourned over the iniquity and wretchedness of
its inhabitan\s. They contemplate in their domestic circles the living
. . examples of that description given by Jefierson, in his ." Notes on Vir
ginia," of the influence of Savery, on the temper and morals of the
meisler, and they know that there is not one redeeming quality, in the
system of American slavery. ^ ' - " .
-And now we have the most undeniable evidence of the safety of Immedi
ate Emancipation, in the British West Indies. Every official account
firom these colonies, especially such as have rejected the apprenticeship
system, comes fraught with encouragement to this country to deliver the
poor and needy out of the hand of the oppressor.
To my brethren of the Methodist connection, -with some of whom
1 have taken sweet counsel, and whose influence is probably more ex
tensive than that of any other class of ministers at the South, it may
a-yail something to the cause of humemity, which I am pleading, to quote
the sentiments of John Wesley and Adam Clarke. Speaking of slavery
the former says, " The btodd of tJiy broths crieth against thee from the
earth : oh, whate-ver it costs, put a stop to its cry before it is too late—^
• instantly, at any price, were it the half of thy goods, deliver thyself frem
blood guiltiness. Thy hands, thy bed, thy furnimre, thy house and thy
lands, at present are stained with blood. Surely it is enough — accumu-
; late no more guUt, spill no more blood of the innocent. Whether thou
art a Christian or not, show thyself a man." Adam Clarke says, " In
heathen countries, slavery was in some sort excusable. Among Chiis-
tians it is an enormity and crime, for wjiich perdition has scarcely an
adequate punishment,'

20
Yet this is the crime of which the Synod of Virginia, convened fci^'»
tha purpose of deliheratimj o'\ the state of the Church in November
last, speaks thus : " Tne Synod solemnly affirm, that the General As
sembly of the Presbyterian Church have no righlXa declare that rela
tion (viz. the rel.ition beiweeii master and slave) sinful, which Christ
and his apostles teach to be consistent wiih the most unquestionable pie
ty. And that any act of the General Assembly which would impeach
the CArw/zan character of any man because he ia a s'ave holder, would
be a palpable violation of the just principles on which the union of our
Church was foirnded — as well asa daring usurpation of authority grant
ed by the Lord Jesus." • ' ' ' -"
And this is the- sin w'fiich the' Church is fostering in her bosom—
This is the leprosy over which she is casting the mantle of charity, to
hide, if possiblo. the "putrefying sores"-— This is the monster around
which she is twining her maternal arms, and before which she is pla
cing her anointed shie d inscribed '• holiness to the Lord" — Oh, ye min--
kters of Him who so loved the slave that. he gave his precious blood
to redeem him from sib, can ye any longer with your eyes fixed upon
the Cross of Christ, pbiit your foot on his injured representative, and
sanction and sanctify this heart-breaking, this soul destroying system 1
" Wo to those whose hire is with the price of blood
:¦ ¦ ', Perverting, darkening, changing as they go ,
The sacred truths of the .E ternal God."
¦; Brethrehi'Tarewefl ! I have written under a solemn sense of my re
sponsibility to God for tlia truths Ihave uttered :¦ I know that all who
nobly- dare to speak the truth vfill come up to the help of the Lord,
and add.testimony to testimony until time would fail to hear them. "» To-
Him who lias promised that " the expectation of the needy shall not"
perish forever"— who; "hath chosen the weak . things of tlie world to
confound the things that are mighty, and the foolish things of the world'
to conlbund the wise, and base things of the world, and things which are
despised, hath -God chosen, yea and things -which are not, lo bring to
nought , things that are^ that no flesh should glory in his presence," I
co-mmend this offering of Christian affection, humbly beseeching him so
io influence the ministers of his sanctuary, and the people committed to
their charge by his Holy Spirit, that from every Christian temple may
arise tlie glorious anthem, f' Blow ye the trumpet blow,
r~ The gladly solemn sound !
I/st all the nations know,
. To earth's remotest bound.
The year of jubilee is come."
Yours in gospel love,
SARAH M. GRIMKE*
JVfiM. Yori-, 12th Mo. 1836.

YALE UNIVERSITY

a39002 001918375b

MM

HnHHsBHii

iflfSBIiiMM

iiiiiiiiiii
^^H
^^H
PmifftUffiifMIK
^JPPI
mMM
HBiibiiiiM
BB
|iSw|Sir{'j'jfS;jjji|
lUiiiMiliimMi
¦H
S IJ'^jjWKjffif )f)flJB'
Sigi»
ffimll'^"''^
Vi^M
^^
'«
jll^