The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1894-03-14

The line was drawn along parallel OF
latitude $50 30>, and was near to
Mason's and Dixon's line which
separated Pennsylvania from Maryland
and had been surveyed there to settle
a dispute between the owners OF
those two territories, the Lords Baltl.
more and Penn, and was thus called
from the fact that it was surveyed by
two men sent from England, named
Charles Mason aud Jeremiah Dixon.
Since that time. by some unaccounta-
bic means, Masons and Dixon's line
has been ruu further, and now divides
the kingdom of God on earth. SO that
those on one side. in many cases.
are virtual enemies to those on the
other
2. What does the Bible sag about
Slavery yg,..,.....s....,..,..,...>.s......a..--ss
Each one had better 60 to the book.
aud get an answer for. himself. The
best men in thesworld ahaveSsplit on this
question. Dr.. Barnes, who knew very
little about slavery. but believed it was
wrong, devotes goodly pars of bis
commentaries to prove that it is sinful.
Wendell Phillips said he would throw
the book away if it required him to
believe slavery was right. Others are
lust as determined on the other side of
the question, and it seems to depend a
good deal oD what the reader wants 1t
to mean when be comes to ask what it
does mean. No man can deny that
slavery vas fostered by the Old
Testament Law, nor that the New
Testament does not say anything that
seems to antagonize the custom. Yet,
the book was written in slavery. times,
among people who held slaves Paul
freely expresses himself about the
slave Ooesimus, in his letter to
Philemon, and seems to exhort the
master to- proper treatment of his
bondman. but says nothing calculated
to lead to the abolition of the practice.
I do not think we shall 6ud any profit
in spending longer time in the discus
sion. Of this aspect of the subject.
Slavery has been abolished in this
country, aud the real questions that
confront us concern things as they are,
and not things that we may think
ought to be.
3. The good resulting to the Negroes
from Slavery IS manifest to all aoho
read and think.
The Negroes in their native land
lived in tribes who were ruled by
despetic kings. Some of them are
still sunk in the lowest depths Of
barbarism, and are savages, ferocious,
sensual, stupid aod indolent, aud their
women are their slaves rather than
their wives They are said to express
their hopes aud fears in extemporized
songs. aud their religion is nothing but
a debased fetish worship, or witchcraft.
At the command of their fetish-man,
they make objects Of worship out of
serpeuts. elephants teeth, tiger claws,
and other things They also manu-
facture idols out Of wood and stone,
and worship them, and have the very
faintess idea Of Supreme Being.
They believe in evil spirits, aud are
perpetually practising iucaotatlous to
ward them off Some of the older
Negroes in this country do the same
thing, and wear what is called a
"hand" about the neck TO ward of evil
spirits. This shows how deep-seatsd a
habit becomes by virtue of long
training.
It is a little remarkable that the
Negro has so completely lost his
mother tongue With single excep-
ton, I do not know of any word
they have preserved, and brought with
them to add to our speech. It is said
Ludt lUo WUEU Duktd ulSdUS 0Cttt,
and was applied by them to their white
'captors, aud then afterwards applied to
all white men.
Compared with his ancestors, the
Negro in this country is far in the lead,
and he owes it to the fact that he was
once a slave to white men. He has
been civilized. and taught to know
right and wrong. In the days Of his
bondage, his master made it a point to
see that he learned the gospel. The
white children Of the South once spent
large part Of each Sunday reading
the Bible to the servants My earliest
recollections of hearing preaching 60
back to the time when old Urcle
Hansford Duncan used to preach to the
Negroes on Sunday afternoon in Barn
we'll. l remember the large and
seemingly happy crowds which cauc in
from the country around. Their tune
full songs are still pleasing memory,
and l can never forget the prayers Of
old Adam O'Baupon aud others who