That _one_ man is made for another's behoof! The Bible comes _not_ with its quickening light. Till conscience and reason interpret aright, And, vainly you moan o'er the infidel fruit While nourishing faith in the Slavery-root. The creed should be better than the man; but what if the man be better than the creed? Business relations with the South, or friends residing there, or political clanship, may so blind men to the hideous conjunction of the Gospel and Southern Slavery, that they may profess to believe in both; but religionists grieve the Holy Spirit and chiefly make Infidels, by fastening any inhuman institution or abominable theory on the Word of God. [Illustration: 0016] |J Stands for _Justice_. Whoe'er a man is, Proclaim and defend what is rightfully his. Content yourself _not_ with his lawful demands, Nor harden the links of his slavery-bands; For all institutions are born of the dust ' Which conscience declares to be wrong and unjust. --Will God in his majesty look to the hue In making award of the recompense due? Or will he in judgment be heedless or slack, For justice withheld from the ignorant black? Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire.... Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, 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. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton: ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.'"--James v. 1--3. [Illustration: 0017] |K Stands for _Kidnapped_. Whoso receives. "What others have stolen, is leagu'd with the thieves. But setting aside what this proverb reveals, The Slaveholder _breeds_ what the Kidnapper _steals?_ Distinction there is, and a difference too-- But _which_, if you chose, would be chosen by _you?_ To buy, or to sell, involves profit or waste-- To breed, or to steal, is a question of taste; And whoso does either, a business may claim That perfects in meanness the sin and the shame! What odds to the buyer whether the chattel has been kidnapped or bought by the Trader? In _one_ sense, there is something manly (because risk of life is incurred) in taking prisoners in war and making slaves of them; but kidnapping is unmitigated villainy. How then can we sufficiently express abhorrence of the men who make a business of breeding slaves for the market? Doubtless, they are all, _all_ honorable men, and, worthily accounted the chivalry of the land! [Illustration: 0018] |L Stands for _Liberty_, Know you the bell That '76 sounded so nobly and well? Or know you that soon was developed a flaw,