Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1859-12-03

DeiCDRlnR 20 thclf STATE; Il 6nOut0 Do con-
scious that in doing this } was lifting them
up higher and higher. should feel that
was carrying them further and further to-
ward their emancipation. There is 10 dis
agreement between the true spirit Of eman-
tipatioR and the enforcement of every single
one Of the precepts Of the New Testament
respecting servants.
5. The things which shall lead to emanci-
patton lnre not so complicated as many
people bliHdly think. A few virtues estab-
lished, a few usages maintained, a few rights
guaranteed to the slaves, and the system is
tiSHlly wounded. The right of chastity in
woman, the unblemished household love,
the right Of parents In their ehildren--on
these three elements stands the whole weight
Of society. Corrupt or enfeeble these, and
there caunot be superincumbent strength
withhold these rights from savage people,
and they can never be carried up. They
are the integral elements of associated hu-
man life We demand, aud have a right to
demand, of the Christian men of the South,
that they shall revolutionize the moral con.
ditiOuof the slaves in this regard.
I stand up in behalf of two million women
who are without voice, TO declare that
there ought to be found in Christianity,
somewhere, an influence that shall protect
their rights to their own persons; and that
their purity shall stand on some other
ground than the caprice of their masters
] demand that the Christian Church, both
North and South shall bear testimony in
behalf Of marriage among the slaves, which
shall make it as inviolable as marriage
among the whites. 1t is not to be denied
thet another code of morals prevails upon
The plantation than that which prevails in
the plantation house. So long as husband
audwife are manageable commodities, and
to be sold spart, to form new connections,
there can be no such thing as sanctity in
wedlock.
Let it be known in New York that man
has two wives, and there is no church so
feeble of conscience that they will rot in
stantly eject him and the civil law will in
stantly visit him with penalty. But the
communicants of slave churches not only
live, with a second, while their first compan-
ion is yet alive, but with third and fourth;
nor is it any disqualification for church
membership. The church and the State
wink at it. 1t is a part of the commercial
necessity of the system. If you aciU sell
men, you must not be too nice about their
moral virtues.
A aeedding among this unhappy people is
but a name-a mere form, to content their
conscience or their love of initiating their
superiors. Aud every auctioueer in their
community has the power to put asunder
whom God has joined. And marriage is as
moyeable as misfortune itself The bank
ruptcy of their owner is the bankruptcy of
the marriage relation, in half the slaves Oh
his plantation.
Neither is there any Gospel that has been
permitted to re5uke these things There is
no church that have ever known in the
South that bears testimony against them
Neither will the churches of the North, as
a body, take upon themselves the response
biliiy of bearing witness against them.
] 60 further; declare that there must
be Christian public sentiment which shall
make the family nViolate. Men sometimes
say, at is rarely the case that families are
separated" 1t is false! 1t is false! There
is not slave mart that does not bear tes-
timony, ten thousand times over, against
such an assertion. Children are bred like
colts and calves, and are dispersed like
them.
The moment q woman stands self-poised
in her own purity; the moment man and
woman are united tOgethed by bonds which
cannot be sundered during their earthly life;
the moment the right Of parents to their
children is recognized, that moment there
will be certain sanctity and protection of
the eternal and divine government resting
upon father and mother aud children; and
slavery will have had its death blow struck
You cannot make slavery profitable after
these three conditions are secured! The
moment you make slaves serfs they become
q dificult legal tender, and are under-cur-
rent in the market and families are 20 cum.
bFoas, SO difficult to support, so expensive,
that owners are compelled from reasons of
pecuniary interest, to drop the system.
Therefore, if you will only disseminate the
truths ofthe Gospel, if getting timid priests
cut Of the way, the lying societies, whose
cowardice ISLANDERS the Gospel which they
pretend to diffuSe, you bring a whole solar
flood of revelation to bear upon the virtues
and practieed morals of the slave, You will
begin to administer a remedy which will in
evitably heal tie evil, if God designs to cure
it by moral means.
6. Among the means to be employed for
promoting the liberty of the slave, we must
not fail TO include the power of true Christ
ian prayer. When slavery shall cease, it
will be by such instruments and influences
as shall exhibit Gods hand and heart 10 the
work. Its downfall will have been achieved
so largely through natural causes, so large
ly throug reasons as broad as nations, that
it will be apparent to all men that God led
on the emancipation; man being only one
element among the many. Therefore, we
have every encouragement to direct our
prayers without eeasiRg to God, that he
will restrain the wrath Of man, inspire men
with wisdom, override all laws, and control
the commerce of the globe, SO that the poor
may become rich, that the bond may become
free, that the ignorant may become wise,
that the master and slave may respect each
ether, and that at lergth we may be an
evangelical and Christian. peop pie. May
God, in. his own way and time, speed the
dayl
E6T A. New York baper saws that