St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1861-06-20
Hardened His Heart"

LINUS salIA the LOfu. Let my people 60
that they may serve me. But Pharaoh har-
Co."
Let any one read over the history of the
labors Of Moses in Egypt and its result in
bringing dclivcrance to nation of slaves :;
and look back at the Anti-Slavery efforts
in this country since the Reformed Pres
byterions, in the year 1870, 81 years ago,
issued the call from her Synod, "Let the
people go! and the analogy is very stri-
king between our land and that of Egypt
Pharaoh held his slaves for his own
benefit, torbidding them to worship God
except as he chose to dictate. The Amer
lean slave power holds its slaves for it's
benefit, forbidding the use Of bibles, en-
forcing penal enactmcnts against all who
would instruct them in the art of reading,
and preventing them assembling to wor-
ship God except as their masters shall be
pleased to dictate. Pharaoh agreed that
his slaves should go "a little way into the
wilderness" to sacrifice to the God or a
part of them might go. He was disposed
to be indulgent and allow them all free
dom Of conscience not inconsistent with
his rights as master. Moreover, he was
humane. His slaves were we'll fed, for in
their carly trials Of freedom they regretted
the flesh pots of Egypt, and would fain
have returned to the task masters rather
than endure short allowance. No wonder
they wero despised by the warlikc people
Of Egypt. They who would prefer to work
under the taskmaster's lash and be we'll
fed to assuming the trouble of taking care
of themselves. The slavery Of Egypt had
degraded the children of Israel until they
were despiscd, and not without good rea-
son. They had lost their spirit, the sense
of self:reliance and self-respect. Their
deliverers had to think for them, to instil
into their minds love of Freedom and
sense Of Nationality. 1t took forty years
Of training in the wilderness to bring the
children of these degraded slaves up to
such standard that they could be intrus-
ted to set up Government. The old
stock, whose neck had been bound to the
yoke, had all to die of, and the children,
reared in the pure atmosphere Of the vii.
derness, were alone brought to the prom
ised land.
1t is urged now, and has long been, that
the slaves of this land are not fit for free
dom. Are shey any moro unfit than those
for whose deliverance God wrought so
many miracles? The negro is by no
means SO much despised in this land as
was the lsraelite in Egypt. The social
bar which excludes him from society is
much less rigid. They were hated and
desplsed that they could not occupy the
same dwelling with one of the ruling
class. Even Joseph was not suffered to
cat at the same table with an Egyptian
1t was On abomination to one of the haugh.
ty subjects OF Pharaoh to eat with an Isra-
elite. There was no mingling of blood
They were kept apart, owned and worked
like cattle, until as we have seen they
had lost the self-respcct of manhood and
cared only to be we'll fed like cattle.
Well, for the deliverance of this people,
degraded and despised, God pursued the
naughty empire Of Egypt with terrible
judgments, and up to the last step taken
on their behalf, appeared to involve them
in a deeper degradation and more cruel
bondage.
So it has been in this country. Since
that cry has rung in the ears Of American
Shareholders, "Let the people go that they
may learn to serve God according to the
dictates Of their own consciences. Let
them go, that thoy may learn to read his
word ). let them go, that they obey His
commands, the husband dwell with his
wife, the parents bring up the children in
fear, nurtprs and admonition Of the Lord,
and the children obey their parents. +, Let
my people 50 that they may servo me!"-
Since this cry has rung in the ears Of our
National oppressors they have done moth
ing but harden their hearts AMI cause tho