The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1859-04-26

not hers against tho unlversef Is tbere
any being, this sido the throne Of God,
that has the right to take it from heri-
Has the master the right to come and tear
it away from her embrace, and claim il as
his prope,tyi And is this robbery sane
toned by the Bible, and that Bible, the
word of God? know the people are
taught this by ministry that l dislike to
characterize as ] thing they deserve.
wealth. lust and fashion, bic them still to bleed,
And holy mon quote Scripture for the deed.
But these men do not truly interpret
the Bible. They teach for doctrines the
commandments of men, and Take the
word of God Of none effect through their
traditions. How daro these men make
the Bible lend its sanction to a system that
abrogates parental authority aud filial
duty2
So, also, with the conjugal relation
The Bible everywhere represents this as
the most sacred, inviolate, and indssoluble
Of all human relations. Father and moth
or are to be forsaken, in obedience to the
claims of this still higher and holier rela-
ton. Now, what does Slavery do with
this domestic institution? Leave God and
the parties free to regulate it in their own
wayl No; with impious and brazen front
it step. in and annihilates the marriage re.
laton, so far as its victims are concerned
There is no mere any legal marriage a
mong the three millions of slaves in the
United States, than there is among so
many cattle. Slaves in the eye oflaw are
cattle, and their union is that of brutes.
They arc declared to be goods, chattes
personal, to all intents, constructions, and
purposes, whatever. The civil law which
prevails in some of the States takes them
pro nullis, pro mor'ias, pro quadrupedi-
5m.
Would it not be an interesting spectcle
to one Of these cergymen, who teach that
the Bible sanctions Slavery, called in
to attend the wedding of bureau and
chest of drawersl The chair, and shovel,
and tongs, were invited as guests. After
a fervent prayer for the divine blessing,
the clergyman says:
"By the old Leviticai laws,
join the bureau and the drawers"
Quid Rids1 mStato nomine, dc to Jabula ~ayraisr.
Absolutely there can he no more legal
marriage between to slaves, than between
two articles, of furniture, or between two
brutcs. They stake up together" they do
not marry. No clergyman dare pronounce
two slaves husband and wife till death
shall seperate them. The will of the mas
ter .e. is their fate. The Bible says; "What
God hath joined together, let no man nut
assunder." The slave system says: Who
cares for God9 will seperato them when
l please. A slave who is church mem
Der is taught by bis religious teachers, that
it is his duty, on being sold from one plan
tation to another, leaving so.called wife
behind, TO take another mate; and the
reason assigned by these pious instructors
a., -,-.-- a.. .'.'~ -..-- - r--n-
able to his master, which is hi, first and
paramount duty. Thus he may, as good
Christian, take up with new woman on
every plantation to which he is sold. This
has been formerly so decided by an ecces-
iastical council. And yet these blasphe-
mers seek to make God partner in this
revotir g practice.
The Bible everywhere requires an equiv
alent to be given for services rendered. |
"Wo unto him that Luildeth his house
by unrighteousness and his chambers by |
wrong; that useth his neighbours service
without wages, and giveth him not for his
work." "Beho'd, the hire of the laborers
who have reapel down your fields, which
by you is kept back by fraud, crieth; and
the cries of them that have reaped are en-
tered into the ears Of the Lord Of Sabaoth."
Slavery never allows wages at all to those
who garner in its harvests. To say that
The clothing and food that the slave re-
ceives are wages, is to say that the hay,
grain, and stabling of the horse, are wages.
These constitute the keeping Of the horse
aud of the slave; wages they are not.
1t is frequently said, that although in
iividualS may do wrong, yet the system
IS right. Now, it is against the system
that speak. The truth is, tho individu
ais are better than the system. The hu-
nanity-and in my charity, perhaps, l
ought to say the Christianity of the mas
ter often triumphs to great extent over
he system. If ever master exemplified
he extreme capability of the system for
outrage and diabolsm, an Indignant world
Use and wipe it out,
Suppose, row, this system, all reeking
With lust, incest, crime and cruelty, is bro't
,ut and placed under the blaze of Christian.
ty. Whatsoever yo would that men
hould do unto you, do ye even SO unto
hem; for this is the law and the prophets.
This is the condensed summary Of the
whole Bible. Who has the hardihood to
ay that the practice of slaveholding is con-
istent with this injunction? What, in
he New Testament, is the classifi alton Of
laveholdersi 1t places them with muir
lerers Of fathers and murderers of moth
'rs.
Everywhere the Bible incuicates spir-
t of generous magnanimity. aye that
re strong ought TO bear the infirmities cf
Inc weak, and not to please yourselves."-
Slavery, know, claims this attribute, and
alks about its cbiyalry and magnanimity.
And is it not magnanimous to cheat poor
gnorant, degraded man, out Of the entire
arnings Of his whole lifs-rob him of his
wife and children, and then justify it by
aging that they are an inferior raceY-
Admit the fact Of inferiority-does it there
ore follow that it is right to oppose them 7