Surely, if we are convinced that the institution of slavery is a great
wrong against humanity, and a heavy curse to Christianity, we shall
seek to abolish it without delay.
But how can we do it? By what means can we induce the slaveholders
in the South to give up their ‘property,’ their ‘wealth,’ their
‘merchandise,’ their ‘valuable goods?’ Shall we invade the Slave States
with a large army, and liberate the slaves by means of revolvers,
knives, swords, and Sharp’s or Minnie rifles? I know the Southerners
too well, not to be convinced that every one of them would fight to
the death--that they would lose every drop of their blood, rather than
consent to give up their slaves. The Southerner is no coward; he is
brave in battle, and faces death without fear. But, suppose that the
whole body of the oppressed slaves should rise as one man, and strike
for their liberty--would not their victory be certain? Yes, but what
a victory! Streams of blood would stain the ever-blooming soil of the
South, and legions of corpses would become a prey to the vultures. And
whose blood would flow? That only of mean and cruel slave-drivers?
Oh, no! Many thousand corpses of innocent babes would point up to
heaven for vengeance! Thousands of blooming young maidens would be
slaughtered, causing the blood-stained soil to remain a curse for many
centuries!
No, my friends! No revolver, no rifle, no knife, no bloodshed nor
slaughter shall be necessary to metamorphose slaves into freemen. No
war is able to abolish the institution of slavery. There is a standard
which is bound to be victorious in the hottest of battles--a standard,
before the glory of which, the most stubborn of slave-drivers shall
be forced to fall upon his knees, crying, ‘Lord! what shall I do to
be saved?’ That standard is the Cross of the Redeemer of mankind!
If the slaveholders will truly believe in the powerful supremacy of
that standard, it will be impossible for them to keep any longer
their colored brethren in so shameful a bondage as Slavery. If the
slaveholder of the South would call himself a Christian, without being
a hypocrite, he will be obliged to do away with Slave laws, Slave
markets, and Slave auctions--in fact, TO ABOLISH SLAVERY.
THE CHRISTIAN SLAVE.
BY J. G. WHITTIER.
[In a publication of L. F. TASISTRO, ‘Random Shots and Southern
Breezes,’ is a description of a slave auction at New Orleans, at
which the auctioneer recommended the woman on the stand as ‘A GOOD
CHRISTIAN!’]
A Christian! going, gone!
Who bids for God’s own image?--for His grace
Which that poor victim of the market-place
Hath in her suffering won?
My God! can such things be?
Hast thou not said that whatsoe’er is done
Unto Thy weakest and Thy humblest one,
Is even done to Thee?
In that sad victim, then,
Child of Thy pitying love, I see Thee stand,
Once more the jest-word of a mocking band,
Bound, sold, and scourged again!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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