The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-05-27
From the Springfield (Massachuseiis) Republic,
EMAsCULATED CHRISTIANITY.

Inc Lecompt0n triumph IN Congress was q
doubtful one; the Lecompton triumph in the
Tract Society, achieved on Wednesday, was not
doubtful. 1t will be remembered, that last year
the Society instructed the publishing commit
tee to publish tracts upon the subject of Slave
ry; and that they persistently refused to obey
| their instructions. The course was utterly dis
honorable on their part. They had no legiti.
mate atern alive but to obey or resign. At the
present anniversary, there gathered, of course,
a great deal of interest about the decision of
| the question, and it has been decided. The
publishing committee have been sustained by
the Society, whose will they had condemned.
whose confidence they had betrayed, whose
! judgment they had insulted. This reversal of
the position Of the Society ia a momentous
event. and full of significance 1t involves
| very grave decisions, and its effects will be
seen in the future, not, we fear and most hon.
estly believe, in the advancement of Christian
morals. The Office of the Society is the dis.
semination of Christian truth, and the denun.
citation, which shall lead to the remuneration, of
all wrong that initiates against the progress of
that truth and its incorporation into life The
decision of the Society now is, that there is one
! thing in this land, generally held to be wrong,
which is not to be spoken against.
The holding of human beings in bondage is
a Sin, or it is not. Slavery is Christian insti
tuition, or an institution of the devil. The
Tract Society, in its decision, says either that
Slavery is Christian institution, involving
neither sin nor wrong, or that, being an off.
spring of Satan, and necessarily foil of sin and
wrong, it is to be ignored for truths sake, for
Christ's sake, for mans sake, for the Tract So
ciety's sake. We doubt whether the men who
favor the Tract Society, unless they be those
who come from the South, will admit that Sla-
very is a Christian institution. They would
not rise in public assembly and defend it as
such. No; they consider it wrong which, for
certain reasons, very powerful in their own
minds, they may not denounce.
Now let Us lock at this matter of Slavery
moment, and see what it is, In our Southern
States, there are more than three millions of
men, women, and children, equal to three
times the population of the State of Massachu-
sets, who are bought and sold and worked like
cattle. They are denied the privileges of edu.
cation. They are whipped and abused at
pleasure. Their family relations are no more
sacred in the eye of the law than the family re.
atious of the hogs that litter in the pens and
run in the streets. Christian marriage has 70
sacredness, and parental love no claims, under
this system. The bodies-the virtue-of the
women are not In their own keeping, but are
subject to the wills Of owners and overseers.
If, through the grace of God, a slave become
real CHRISTIAN. it enhances bis price in the
market, and love and charity aud heavenly dis.
positions are set c IF sgaint 30 much silver.
The labor of these millions is taken without re-
ward. They are watched and disciplined like
convicts. They are in the hands of an irrespon-
sole power. Light is shut cat from them,
Taere IS no free Bible among them. What.
ever good they may receive is by grace of their
masters, for they have not single right The
system which enslaves them reacts upon cir
enslavers-demoralze and debauches them.
1t curses the very coil they tread upon. II
poisons the fountains of political power, 80 that
rs black Influences flow through all the streams
Of national legislation. 1t threatens virgin
Territories with its foul blight. 1t comes up
annually and thunders madly against the
chains that bind the union of these s ates 1t
makes cur free Republic byword and hiss.
ing among the nations. 1t perver.s the national
conscience. 1t is so much broader in its sweep
of sir than any other form of evil that it EN-.
braces in itself unbridled RIGHTEOUSNESS, polyg-
amy, theft, swindling, oppression, and so on,
through the catalogue. In short, it is "the
sum of all villainies"
1t is this great system of inquity, this terrible
blotch of sin, this conglomeration of all possible
evil and wrong, which the American Tract So.
ciety, in this latter half of the nineteenth cen.
fury, refuses to denounee. On the subject of
Slavery, it consents to be silent. 1t proposes
to sit like a cowardly dog at the gate of the
temple of truth, and bark Justify at all the little
sins that go by with their tails bel ween their
legs, but when great sin comes along, owned
by dangerous master, with cane in his hand,
they shut their eyes, close their mouths, and
become dumb. 1t ID not good policy to touch
o. L. e III
man Who owns it will abide no interference, and
if the society would do him any good it must
let his pet sin alone.
Now, we are outsiders in this thing, and only
speak as those who are in the habit of looking
at such matters IN com mon sense, business
way. We dec clare, therefore, that in view
like this, the Tract Society has taken a long
step towards the absolute emasculation of
American Christianity. Slavery is let alone bv
this Society, simply and only because it is q
great sin, prevalent sin. 1t is let alone be-
cause it will not tolerate the truth 1t ia let
alone because 1t will not receive the whole
Gospel. We declare that no Christian society
can take a position like this without shame and
-dishonor, Bishop McIlvanes and Rev. John
Lords to the contrary notwithstanding. 1t is a
cowardly and unchristian thing. The Society
absolutely refuses to repeat the words by which
Christ denounced a woe upon those who Law
grievous burdens upon mems, shoulders The
precedent Ia terrible cue. Polygamy is only
to become q prevalent, powerful, and respect
able sin, to be let alone in the same way. The
slave trade must be let,alone when the South
shall accomplish its wishes to re-establish it.
Ard if there were no religious agencies and
Influences in the world except the Tract Society.
that organization might, in time, find its field