The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1859-03-24
sTRoUDsBURG, MONROE COUNTY, PA. MARCH "a, 1859.


till death shall separate them. The vii
OF the master is their fate. The Bibl
says: "Wbat God hath Joined together
let no man put assunder.' The slav
! system says: Who cares for God!
will separate them when | please 4
slave who is church member is taugh
BY his religious teachers, that it is hi
duty. on being sold from one plantation
to another, leaving so.called wife behint
tostake another mate; and the reason as
signed by these pious instructors is, thai
in this way be can be most profitable tc
his master, which is bis fret aud para.
mount duty. Thus be may, as good
sSYhristlan, take up with new woman on
every plantation to which he is Sold
This has been formally SO decided by On
ecclesiastical council. And yet these
blasphemers seek to make God partner
in this revolving practice.
The Bible everywhere requires an e.
quivalent to be given for services render.
ed. "Wo unto him that buildeth bis
house by unri ghteousness and his cham.
bers by wrong; that useth his neighbor's
service without wages, and giveth him not
for his work" "Behold, the hire of the
laborers who have reaped down your
fields which by you is kept back by fraud,
crieth; and the cries of them that have
reaped are entered into the ears of the
Lord of Sabaoth." Slavery never allows
any wages at at all to those who garner
in its haryests. To say that the clothing
and the food that the slave receives are
wages, is to say that the hay, grain, and
stabling of the horse, are wages. These
constitute the keeping of the horse and OF
the slave; wages they are not.
1t is frequently said, that although in
dividuals may do wrong, yet the system
is right. Now, it is against the system
that speak. The truth is. the indisidu,
ais are better than the system. The hu-
manity-and in my charity, perhaps, |
ought to say the Christianity-of the
master often triumphs to a great extent
over the system. Ifevery master exem-
pli6ed the extreme capability of the sys-
tenn, for outrage and diabolism, an indig-
nant world would rise and wipe it out.
Suppose, now, this system. all reekiDg
with lust, incest, crime, and cruelty, is
brought out and placed under the blaze
of Christianity. Whatsoever ye would
that men should do unto you, do ye esen
SO unto them; for this is the law and the
prophets. This is the condensed summa-
mary of the whole Bible. Who has the
hardihood to say that the practice of
slaveholdiug is consistent with this injunc-
ton! What. in the New Testament. is
the class feation Of Shareholders! 1t pla-
cos them with murderers of fathers and
murdercrs of mothers.
Everywhere the Bible inculcates spir-
it of generous magnanimity. eye that
are strong ought to bear the infrmities of
the weak, and not to please yourselves"
Slavery, | know, claims this attribute
and talks about its chTalry and magua-
nimity. And is it not magnanimous to
cheat poor, ignorant, degraded man,
out of the entire earnings of bis whole
life-rob him Of his wife and children,
and then justify it by saying that they
are an inferior racei Admit the fact of
inferiority-does it therefore follow that it
is right to oppress theml Every page Of
the Biblefashes its anathemas against the
oppression of the poor and helpless. The
chivalry of the Bible is to help the weak,
to protectthe defenceless, and rescue those
in peril. This, indeed, is the idea of the
olden cbivslry. Witness the incident in
romance of Iyanhoe. The true knight
enfeebled by sickness, rides into the lists
to meet a powerful antagonist-and in
whose defence! For one belonging to
race as despised and degraded then as
that of the African now is. This chival.
~ we recognise as having something man
ly aud noble in it. But, from the chiv-
airy that robs mothers of their children;
that applies the scourge to helpless wo-
men, to secure their labor or make them
surrender their chastity; which sells boy
for harlot and girl for apair of shoes;
which by superior knowledge, coubina-
ton, and legal enactment, reduces mil
lions of human beings to the condition of
brutism, and then by false te aching seeks
to delude their conscience, and cause
them to believe that their enslavement Is
in accordance with the will of God-from
all such chivalry | ask to be delivered.
The Bible sanctions Slavery, and, if
the Bible. then God. What kind of an j.
deal of Deity has that religionist who
holds this doctrine! The ancients divi-
ded their vices, and m ade one of their gods
the divinity of each. The advocate Of
Bible Slavery takes a system that con-
centrates in itself all crime, and makes
Jehovah its patron Deity. | do wish
that Slavery would leave US an ideal OF
the Supreme Being that is not polluted
with its Shiny touch. 1t is said of Gold
smith, as a writer, that there was nothing
that he did not touch, and nothing that
he did not beautify. And itcan truly be
said of Slavery, that there is nothing that
it does not touch, aud nothing that it
touches that it does not defie. 1t has
perverted the Government, violated the
national faith, muzz!ed the press, de-
bauched the church, corrupted Christian