Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1858-06-04


gospel, the benevolent missionary agency of
Heaven. This false Christianity is reviylng even
the slave trade, and striking down the barriers
against il, and raising up a noxious, frghtful
public sentiment, in admission, tolerance, and
Justification Of it. Now then, it is a re vived and
true Christianity, fresh from the word and spirit
Of God, that must resuscitate the early fire and
power of adherence against this infinite abomi-
nation. 1t is revIving Christianity that through
the word and the spirit must cur uD and abolish
this horrible traffic at the roots, by sbhoutng de.
nouncing, and casting out slavery itself, as for
hidden and accursed of the Almighty.
You object to being called pro slavery; but il
you keep silence, when this mighty and solemn
conflict against oppression is waging in the land.
your silence gives consent. If you do not take
Gods part in behalf Of the oppressed, and speak
out as Gods word bids you, If you forbear to de.
liver them that drawn into this death, you are
not only pro slavery, but God sets you down as
such. " He that is not tor me is against me-"
Refusing to rebuke the oppressor for this sin, you
take part against The oppressed, you confirm his
bondage, you help riyet his chains you make his
deliverance more hopeless, you are partaker of
the guilt of all the cruelties enacted and prac-
tIced against the enslaved. BY the word Of God,
by the common law Of the land, by all the princ-
Piles of common sense aud evidence, standing in
the presence Of this enormity, aad not Iebuking
it. you give cOuntenance to it. and so doing, you
are pJo.slaveTy. You see this vast wickeduess
spreading through the land its affairs in every
high place, its priests in every city, its hOrrid
form glaTing from the tribunals of Jus tice, the
seats of judgment in the gate possessed by it,
its pledged and sworn commissioners and mar
shals sitting in your jures, your merchants strik
ing hands with il, its oribts Insulting you, and its
snares entanglfng you at every step.
You see millions Of your fellow beings tram
pied under 1t, prescribed by it, and even where
not enslaved, free only 10 be by the whole com.
munity degraded and insulted, under the Su-
preme Justice OF the United States, which pro-
claims them the p roper subjects Of such insult,
and Freedoms them TO 1t denied their citizen.
ship. their rights of representation, Of pToprie-
torshlp, and OF common manhood, by land and
You see them in the character and attitude
Of helpless strangers refused that benevolence of
hospitality which God has commanded, under
penalty of his wrath TO be exercised towards be-
. lngs in such a position, and apart for the ex-
ercise, in lis extreme cruelty, of that opinion
which God has forbidden; declared to be strang-
ers and foreigners, of another and blood than
yours, Just for the purpose of excluding them
from the protection and rights of native citizen
ship, and yet citizens so far to make them
amenabe to your wicked laws, framed for the
purpose of condemning and degrading them !;
strangers, yet beaten, chained, aud hanged, as
citizen criminals; natives, yet accused, Judged
punished, msltreated, as strangers, invaders, and
enemies; of American blood, yet of the African
cross, and for being guilty of a skin that Ameri
cans have bleached, declared to have no rights
IeSGeCLs
brethren, for whom~Christ has died. vet common
humanity forbidden to them, their children sto.
len from them aGd branded as chattels from the
5rth, their affections brutazed, their race ostra
cised and morally assassnated, to be made mere
property from generation to generation, and
branded as eternal merchandise.
You see all this and with must pious and con
versatlona restraint or incapacity Of every feel.
ing becoming and Christian, you keep
silence, or pour out your invectives only against
those who denounce this wickt dness as sin You
have nothing to say against slavery, but much
against the fanatcism and impIudence Of those
who pronounce slavery to be nothing but sin
against God and man. You have beheld all these
injuries and cruelties, knowing the Judgment of
God against those who commit such crimes; you
nave watched the repetition, the rapid accumu-
latlon oil outrages, Heaven defying and internal ;
yet you lift no voice Of warning, none of reproba
ton or rebuk1 You accessory to the vlllainy
II you intend to shield it, you could hardly, in
your position. do more. BY nottestifyinR against
It, YOU are held to intend it, as truly as Frank
Knapp intended murder, when he stood in the
street and watched, while Dick Crowninshield
perpeIated the midnight crime.
Within two years the progress of the slave
despotism has been appalling. For while it
was somewhat slow and Doubtful now it PUSHES
piunges, and sweeps all before II. like a ground.
wave driven by an earthquake. ALI the dykes of
justice. all the tribunals connecting earth with
Heaven, every enshrinement aud retrenchment Of
righteousness and truth, all the barriers of con.
sututional law, all the sentiments and axions Of
freedom and humanity, are flung down and rolled
into the cataract. Every defence of liberty and
right has been torn away, and with a clean sweep
the tide OF this wickedness pours down like an
| avalanche from the top Of the Jungfrau Alps
The Constitution itself, in spite Of the Declare
ton of Independence, impressed into this terri.
bic service, goes crashing over our consciences,
liberties, and rights, instead OF protecting and
| defending them. The Constitution is like a
strong locomotive that has been used to drag a
| heavily loaded train up an inclined plane; but
the summit being reached, the obstacles con-
| quered. the train itself takes the supremacy on
the other side, and instead OF being drawn drives
the locomotive before it. Just sosthe Constitu
ton being fettered to the slave despotism has
dragged the whole train slowly and with difficult
ty up the inclined plane of compromises, con.
science, and the peoples unwlIingness; but the
moment 1t has reached the summit. which it has
done, when the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, with
the flag Of the bred Scott decision, steps on
board, then there is more difficulty or DELAY :
then the train governs, crowds dive the Consti.
tuition before it, and it rushes down headlonp
The Judges themselves remove the brakes, and
SIT ehthroned upon the Constitution, governing
It, not governed by it, at the whistle of the Presi.
dent whose sole magnificent business, as Chief
Magistrate of the Unted States, has dwindled
down to that Of engineering for the slaveocracy