Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

place, is the fact, as we have been told, that a sacrifice of no less than three hundred human beings, of both sexes and all ages, is about to take place. We often hear the cries of these poor creatures; and the heart sickens with horror at the bare contemplation of such a scene as awaits us, should we remain here much longer." It is to be regretted that since the abolition of the slave-trade in Africa, slaves have become of little value in that country. That the Africans in many places have returned to sacrifice and cannibalism, is also true, and a cause of deep sorrow to the philanthropist; but, considering the state and condition of these savages, there is no alternative;-the slave there, if he cannot be sold, is at all times liable to be put to death.

Suppose you buy, and then turn them loose there; they will again and instantly be the subjects of slavery; and even there, slavery is some protection, for, so long as the savage master chooses or is able to keep his slave alive, he is more sure of the usual means of living. But, let us present this state of facts to the Christian, and ask him to apply the golden rule; and, in case the slave-trade with Africa had not now been abolished, what would he deem it his duty to do for the practical and lasting benefit of these poor victims, whom the sympathy of the world has thus consigned to sacrifice and death?

The people of the Slave States have determined not to countenance amalgamation with the slave race; they have determined not to set the slaves free, because they have previously resolved that they will not, cannot live under the government of the negro. In full view of these evils, they have resolved that they will not suffer the presence of that race in their community, on terms of political or social equality. They have, therefore, further resolved, in furtherance of its prevention, to oppose it while life shall last. Now, Dr. Wayland says―

P. 215. "The slaves were brought here without their own consent; they have been continued in their present state of degradation without their own consent, and they are not responsible for the consequences. If a man have done injustice to his neighbour, and have also placed impediments in the way of remedying that injustice, he is as much under obligations to remove the impediments in the way of justice as he is to do justice."

The ancestors of our slaves were brought from beyond sea by the people of Old England, and by the people of New England, and particularly by the people of Rhode Island, among the de

scendants of whom the reverend doctor resides. The ancestors of these slaves were sold to our ancestors for money, and guaranteed, by them, to be slaves for life, and their descendants after them, as they said, both by the laws of God and man. Whether this was false, whether they were stolen 'and cruelly torn from their homes, the reverend doctor has better means of determining than we. We may sell, we will not free them. Under this statement of facts, let the reverend doctor apply the golden rule and his own argument to himself. Let him then buy, and set them free in Rhode Island; or send them to Africa, if their ancestors "were unlawfully torn from thence."

"Wo unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we should not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore, ye be witness unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them that killed the prophets." Matt. xxiii. 29, 30, 31.

"For they bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers." Idem. 4.

Within the last year, our sympathies have been excited by an account now published to the world, of an African chieftain and slaveholder, who, during the year previous, finding himself cut off from a market on the Western coast, in consequence of the abolition of the slave-trade with Europe and America,-the trade with Arabia, Egypt, and the Barbary States not being sufficient to drain off the surplus number,-put to death three thousand!

The blood of these massacred negroes now cries from the ground unto Dr. Wayland and his disciples

"Apply, oh, apply to bleeding Africa the doctrine of the golden. rule, and relieve us, poor African slaves, from starvation, massacre, and death. Come, oh, come; buy us, that we may be your slaves, and have some chance to learn that religion under which you prosper. Then 'we shall build up the old wastes'—'raise up the former desolations,' and 'repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.' And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your ploughmen, and your vine-dressers.' Then ye shall be named the priests of the Lord; men shall call you the ministers of our God.' the ministers of our God."" Isa. lxi. 4, 5, 6. We shall here close our remarks on the Rev. Dr. Wayland's

6

book; and however feeble they may be, yet we can conscientiously say, we have no "doubt" about the truth of our doctrine.

"Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations; thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. They continue, this day, according to thine ordinances; for all are thy' servants," (

cxix. 89, 90, 91.

ebedeka, slaves.) Ps.

LESSON XI.

[ocr errors]

AMONG those who have advocated. views adverse to those of our present study, we are compelled to notice Dr. Paley, as one of the most influential, the most dignified, and the most learned. defines slavery to be "an obligation to labour for the benefit of the master, without the contract or consent of the servant.' He says "that this obligation may arise, consistently with the laws of nature, from three causes: 1st, from crimes; 2d, from captivity; and 3d, from debt." He says that, "in the first case, the continuance of the slavery, as of any other punishment, ought to be proportionate to the crime. In the second and third cases, it ought to cease as soon as the demand of the injured nation or private creditor is satisfied." He was among the first to oppose the African slave-trade. He says, "Because, when the slaves were brought to the African slave-market, no questions were asked as to the origin of the vendors' titles: Because the natives were incited to war for the sake of supplying the market with slaves: Because the slaves were torn away from their parents, wives, children, and friends, homes, companions, country, fields, and flocks, and their accommodation on shipboard not better than that provided for brutes : Because the system of laws by which they are governed is merciless and cruel, and is exercised, especially by their English masters, with rigour and brutality."

But he thinks the American Revolution, which had just then happened, will have a tendency to accelerate the fall of this most abominable tyranny, and indulges in the reflection whether, in the providence of God, the British legislature, which had so long assisted and supported it, was fit to have rule over so extensive an empire as the North American colonies.

Dr. Paley says that slavery was a part of the civil constitution of most countries when Christianity appeared; and that no passage is found in the Christian Scriptures by which it is condemned or prohibited. But he thinks the reason to be, because "Christianity, soliciting admission into all nations of the world, abstained, as behooved it, from intermeddling with the civil institutions of any; but," says he, "does it follow from the silence of Scripture concerning them, that all the civil institutions that then prevailed were right? or, that the bad should not be exchanged for better? Besides," he says, "the discharging the slaves from all obligations to their masters would have had no better effect than to let loose one half of mankind upon the other. Besides," he thinks "it would have produced a servile war, which would have ended in the reproach and extinction of the Christian name.".

Dr. Paley thinks that the emancipation of slaves should be carried on very gradually, by provision of law, under the protection of government; and that Christianity should operate as an alterative, in which way, he thinks, it has extinguished the Greek and Roman slavery, and also the feudal tyranny; and he trusts, "as Christianity advances in the world, it will banish what remains. of this odious institution.

[ocr errors]

In some of his other writings, Dr. Paley suggests that Great Britain, by way of atoning for the wrongs she has done Africa, ought to transport from America free negroes, the descendants of slaves, and give them location in various parts of Africa, to serve as models for the civilization of that country.

Dr. Paley's Treatise on Moral and Political Philosophy, from which the foregoing synopsis is taken, was published to the world in 1785; but it had been delivered in lectures, almost verbatim, before the University of Cambridge, several years previous; and it is now a class-book in almost every high literary institution where the English language is spoken. It is, therefore, a work of high authority and great influence.

But we think his definition of the term slavery is not correct. Let us repeat it: "An obligation to labour for the benefit of the master, without the contract or consent of the servant.'

Many, who purchase slaves to be retained in their own families, first examine and consult with the slave, and tell him-" My business is thus; I feed and clothe thus; are you willing that I should buy you? For I will buy no slave who is not willing."

To this, it is usual for the slave to say, "Yes, master! and I

hope you will buy me. I will be a good slave. You shall have no fault to find with me, or my work.'

[ocr errors]

By all the claims of morality, here is a contract and consent, and the statute might make it legal. But who will say that the condition of slavery is altered thereby? But, says one, this supposition does not reach the case, because all the obligations and conditions of slavery previously existed; and, therefore, the "contract" and "consent" here only amounted to a contract and consent to change masters.

Suppose then, from poverty or misfortune, or some peculiar affection of the mind, a freeman should solicit to place himself in the condition of slavery to one in whom he had sufficient confidence, (and we have known such a case,)—a freeman anxiously applying to his more fortunate friend to enter into such an engagement for life; suppose the law had sanctioned such voluntary slavery, and, when entered into, made it obligatory, binding, and final for ever. There would be nothing in such law contrary to the general powers of legislation, however impolitic it might be; and such a law did once exist among the Jews.

* *

“And if a sojourner or a stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family; after that he is sold, he may be redeemed again; and one of his brethren may redeem him. Either his uncle or his uncle's son may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto his family may redeem him; or, if he be able, he may redeem himself: * and if he be not redeemed in one of these years,—then he shall go out in the year of Jubilee, both he and his children with him." Lev. xxv. 47-54. "Now these are the judgments which ye shall set before them. If ye buy an Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve, and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master have given him a wife, and she have borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself; and if the servant shall plainly say, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,'—then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall bring him unto the door, or unto the door-post, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever." Ex. xxi. 1–6.

It is clear, then, that "to contract and consent," or the reverse,

« FöregåendeFortsätt »