Slavery and the ConstitutionBowditch, William I. (William Ingersoll)
Religion
Slavery and the Constitution
Bowditch, William I. (William Ingersoll)
Enslaved persons -- United States -- Social conditions; Slavery -- United States
Q. Shall the righteous in heaven have any more hunger or thirst, or
nakedness or heat or cold? Shall they any more have sin or sorrow,
or crying or pain or death?--A. No.
Q. Repeat, 'And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.'--A.
'And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall
be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying; neither shall there be
any more pain; for the former things are passed away.'
Q. Will heaven be their everlasting home?--A. Yes.
Q. And shall the righteous grow in knowledge and holiness and
happiness for ever and ever?--A. Yes.
Q. To what place should we wish and strive to go, more than to all
other places?--A. Heaven.
Pp. 93, 94: Q. Into what place are the wicked to be cast?--A. Into
hell.
Q. Repeat, 'The wicked shall be turned.'--A. 'The wicked shall be
turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.'
Q. What kind of a place is hell?--A. A place of dreadful torments.
Q. What does it burn with?--A. Everlasting fire.
Q. Who are cast into hell besides wicked men?--A. The devil and his
angels.
Q. What will the torments of hell make the wicked do?--A. Weep and
wail, and gnash their teeth.
Q. What did the rich man beg for when he was tormented in the
flame?--A. A drop of water to cool his tongue.
Q. Will the wicked have any good thing in hell? the least comfort?
the least relief from torment?--A. No.
Q. Will they ever come out of hell?--A. No: never.
Q. Can any go from heaven to hell, or from hell to heaven?--A. No.
Q. What is fixed between heaven and hell?--A. A great gulf.
Q. What is the punishment of the wicked in hell called?--A.
Everlasting punishment.
Q. Will this punishment make them better?--A. No.
Q. Repeat, 'It is a fearful thing.'--A. 'It is a fearful thing to
fall into the hands of the living God.'
Q. What is God said to be to the wicked?--A. A consuming fire.
Q. What place should we strive to escape from above all others?--A.
Hell."
The slaves are taught that they must do what God requires of them, if
they would escape never-ending torments in hell. How strict an account
of their stewardship does God require at their hands! He, they are
taught, has made them slaves, and has given them nothing but labor and
poverty for their lot in this life. Will he require much, where he has
given little? Bishop Meade continues (Brooke's "Slavery," pp. 30, 31,
32):--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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