Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1823-08-16

friends. But alas it Is an error of prac. |
tice, and one too, that includes the great
est crimes forbidden in scripture. Ifa
party of robbers would offer property
for sale, which they obtained by murder,
rapine, and stealth, every wise and good
man would say, that those, who bought
the property with an intention to keep it
from its right owners, were as bad as the
thieves. We know the negroes were
first brought into bondage by the means
above cited: and we also know that they
can only be kept in slavery by perpetu-
alton of the same injustice, that first tore
them from the shores of Africa. We
view every person, who is in the prac-
tice and spirit of slavery, as an open
robber, that daily takes, by force, from
his captive slave all he earns by labor.
Parting man and wife is forbidden in
scripture, yet slavery uniformly leads to
this crime; frequently have we known
the slave-holder TO be guilty of it by sell
ling his married slaves, or dividing them
among his heirs. Robbing parents Of
their children is certainly fragrant trans
erosion of the laws of nature, and of ma
lures God, but slavery frequently pro-
duces this crime. We have often known
innocent children torn from the arms of
their weeping mothers, and sold to deal
ers in human flesh, who7caried them
where their parents could never see
them again. And what is still more dis.
tressing, those infants, who never COM
mtted a crime, are doomed by these
iron-hearted monsters to toll all the days
of their lives under the yoke of oppres-
sion, while they see the same miseries
awaiting their posterity to endless gene
rations.
The holy scripture enjoins chastity,
but the dwellings Of slaves are generally
places of prostitution, where the wretch
ed Inhabitants, deprived Of education,
and denied the rights of marriage, COM
monty live in continual lewdness and
what is still worse, the oppressors and
the oppressed frequently unite in the
crime, by which hateful amalgamation
is produced, and then to crown all, these
unfortunate mulattoes, are, for no crime,
doomed to perpetual slavery by their own
farenss.
Slavery promotes idleness, and luxu-
ny in the master; meanness and stupidi-
ty in the slave, and cruelty and ignorance
| in both; and from these denominations
proceed most Of the vices that ruin the
souls Of men. We have always opposed
slavery, and uniformly excluded its ad-
vocates from our communion and now
we earnestly request the lovers Of Jesus
to oppose it's introduction into this state
by every lawful means in their power.
Were this question, that only respect.
ed the temporal interest Of our fellow
creatures, as citizens we would vote
against it, while as preachers we would
remain silent. But in our opinion il
concerns both the temporal and spiritual
welfare Of millions yet unborn and in
all probability if slavery be introduced
into this state, it will be the means ol
sending thousands Of precious SOULS to
hell. The supporters Of slavery tell JUS,
preachers have no business with politi-
cal disputes, but we hope these gentle
men will excuse US when we tell them,
that we view it question with which re-
ligion is intimately connected. To this
the advocates Of oppression reply, that il
is perfectly consistent with religion to
make this slave state, because, say
they, it will not increase the number oil
those in bondage, but tend to meliorate
their condition. To this we answer, that
whether it would increase the number oil
slaves or not, is doubtful /; but it is GER
tain that it would increase the number
| of eloue.ho Idere and xve ~arrn, c,,h