THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN
"Here we see God dealing in slaves; giving them to his own
favourite child [Abraham], a man of superlative worth, and as a
reward for his eminent goodness."--Rev. Theodore Clapp, of New
Orleans.
ON Carlton's return the next day from the farm, he was overwhelmed
with questions from Mr. Peck, as to what he thought of the
plantation, the condition of the Negroes, Huckelby and Snyder;
and especially how he liked the sermon of the latter. Mr. Peck was
a kind of a patriarch in his own way. To begin with, he was a man
of some talent. He not only had a good education, but was a man
of great eloquence, and had a wonderful command of language. He
too either had, or thought he had, poetical genius; and was often
sending contributions to the Natchez Free Trader, and other
periodicals. In the way of raising contributions for foreign
missions, he took the lead of all others in his neighbourhood.
Everything he did, he did for the "glory of God," as he said: he
quoted Scripture for almost everything he did. Being in good
circumstances, he was able to give to almost all benevolent
causes to which he took a fancy. He was a most loving father, and
his daughter exercised considerable influence over him, and owing
to her piety and judgment, that influence had a beneficial effect.
Carlton, though a schoolfellow of the parson's, was nevertheless
nearly ten years his junior; and though not an avowed infidel,
was, however, a freethinker, and one who took no note of
to-morrow. And for this reason Georgiana took peculiar interest
in the young man, for Carlton was but little above thirty and
unmarried. The young Christian felt that she would not be living
up to that faith that she professed and believed in, if she did
not exert herself to the utmost to save the thoughtless man from
his downward career; and in this she succeeded to her most
sanguine expectations. She not only converted him, but in placing
the Scriptures before him in their true light, she redeemed those
sacred writings from the charge of supporting the system of
slavery, which her father had cast upon them in the discussion
some days before.
Georgiana's first object, however, was to awaken in Carlton's
breast a love for the Lord Jesus Christ. The young man had often
sat under the sound of the gospel with perfect indifference. He
had heard men talk who had grown grey bending over the Scriptures,
and their conversation had passed by him unheeded; but when a
young girl, much younger than himself, reasoned with him in that
innocent and persuasive manner that woman is wont to use when she
has entered with her whole soul upon an object, it was too much
for his stout heart, and he yielded. Her next aim was to vindicate
the Bible from sustaining the monstrous institution of slavery.
She said, "God has created of one blood all the nations of men,
to dwell on all the face of the earth. To claim, hold, and treat a
human being as property is felony against God and man. The
Christian religion is opposed to slaveholding in its spirit and
its principles; it classes menstealers among murderers; and it is
the duty of all who wish to meet God in peace, to discharge that
duty in spreading these principles. Let us not deceive ourselves
into the idea that slavery is right, because it is profitable to
us. Slaveholding is the highest possible violation of
the eighth commandment. To take from a man his earnings, is theft;
but to take the earner is a compound, life-long theft; and we who
profess to follow in the footsteps of our Redeemer, should do our
utmost to extirpate slavery from the land. For my own part, I
shall do all I can. When the Redeemer was about to ascend to the
bosom of the Father, and resume the glory which he had with him
before the world was, he promised his disciples that the power of
the Holy Ghost should come upon them, and that they should be
witnesses for him to the uttermost parts of the earth. What was
the effect upon their minds? 'They all continued with one accord
in prayer and supplication with the women.' Stimulated by the
confident expectation that Jesus would fulfil his gracious
promise, they poured out their hearts in fervent supplications,
probably for strength to do the work which he had appointed them
unto, for they felt that without him they could do nothing, and
they consecrated themselves on the altar of God, to the great and
glorious enterprise of preaching the unsearchable riches of
Christ to a lost and perishing world. Have we less precious
promises in the Scriptures of truth? May we not claim of our God
the blessing promised unto those who consider the poor: the Lord
will preserve them and keep them alive, and they shall be blessed
upon the earth? Does not the language, 'Inasmuch as ye did it unto
one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me,'
belong to all who are rightly engaged in endeavouring to
unloose the bondman's fetters? Shall we not then do as the
apostles did? Shall we not, in view of the two millions of
heathen in our very midst, in view of the souls that are going
down in an almost unbroken phalanx to utter perdition, continue
in prayer and supplication, that God will grant us the
supplies of his Spirit to prepare us for that work which he has
given us to do? Shall not the wail of the mother as she
surrenders her only child to the grasp of the ruthless kidnapper,
or the trader in human blood, animate our devotions? Shall not the
manifold crimes and horrors of slavery excite more ardent
outpourings at the throne of grace to grant repentance to our
guilty country, and permit us to aid in preparing the way for the
glorious second advent of the Messiah, by preaching deliverance
to the captives, and the opening of the prison doors to those who
are bound?"
Georgiana had succeeded in riveting the attention of Carlton
during her conversation, and as she was finishing her last
sentence, she observed the silent tear stealing down the cheek of
the newly born child of God. At this juncture her father entered,
and Carlton left the room. "Dear papa," said Georgiana, "will you
grant me one favour; or, rather, make me a promise?" "I can't
tell, my dear, till I know what it is," replied Mr. Peck. "If it
is a reasonable request, I will comply with your wish," continued
he. "I hope, my dear," answered she, "that papa would not think
me capable of making an unreasonable request." "Well, well,"
returned he; "tell me what it is." "I hope," said she, "that in
your future conversation with Mr. Carlton, on the subject of
slavery, you will not speak of the Bible as sustaining it." "Why,
Georgiana, my dear, you are mad, ain't you?" exclaimed he, in an
excited tone. The poor girl remained silent; the father saw in a
moment that he had spoken too sharply; and taking her hand in his
he said, "Now, my child, why do you make that request?"
"Because," returned she, "I think he is on the stool of
repentance, if he has not already been received among the elect.
He, you know, was bordering upon infidelity, and if the
Bible sanctions slavery, then he will naturally enough say that
it is not from God; for the argument from internal evidence is
not only refuted, but actually turned against the Bible. If the
Bible sanctions slavery, then it misrepresents the character of
God. Nothing would be more dangerous to the soul of a young
convert than to satisfy him that the Scriptures favoured such a
system of sin." "Don't you suppose that I understand the
Scriptures better than you? I have been in the world longer."
"Yes," said she, "you have been in the world longer, and amongst
slaveholders so long that you do not regard it in the same light
that those do who have not become so familiar with its every-day
scenes as you. I once heard you say, that you were opposed to the
institution, when you first came to the South." "Yes," answered
he, "I did not know so much about it then." "With great deference
to you, papa," replied Georgiana, "I don't think that the Bible
sanctions slavery. The Old Testament contains this explicit
condemnation of it, 'He that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or
if he be found in his band, he shall surely be put to death'; and
'Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his
chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without
wages, and giveth him not for his work'; when also the New
Testament exhibits such words of rebuke as these, 'Behold the hire
of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of
you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them who have
reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.' 'The
law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and
disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and
profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for
manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves
with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured
persons.' A more scathing denunciation of the sin in question is
surely to be found on record in no other book. I am afraid,"
continued the daughter, "that the acts of the professed friends of
Christianity in the South do more to spread infidelity than the
writings of all the atheists which have ever been published. The
infidel watches the religious world. He surveys the church, and,
lo! thousands and tens of thousands of her accredited members
actually hold slaves. Members 'in good and regular standing,'
fellowshipped throughout Christendom except by a few anti-slavery
churches generally despised as ultra and radical, reduce their
fellow men to the condition of chattels, and by force keep them in
that state of degradation. Bishops, ministers, elders, and
deacons are engaged in this awful business, and do not consider
their conduct as at all inconsistent with the precepts of either
the Old or New Testaments. Moreover, those ministers and churches
who do not themselves hold slaves, very generally defend the
conduct of those who do, and accord to them a fair Christian
character, and in the way of business frequently take mortgages
and levy executions on the bodies of their fellow men, and in
some cases of their fellow Christians. "Now is it a wonder that
infidels, beholding the practice and listening to the theory of
professing Christians, should conclude that the Bible inculcates
a morality not inconsistent with chattelising human beings? And
must not this conclusion be strengthened, when they hear ministers
of talent and learning declare that the Bible does sanction
slaveholding, and that it ought not to be made a disciplinable
offence in churches? And must not all doubt be dissipated, when
one of the most learned professors in our theological seminaries
asserts that the Bible recognises that the relation may still
exist, salva fide et salva ecclesia' (without injury to
the Christian faith or church) and that only 'the abuse of it is
the essential and fundamental wrong?' Are not infidels bound to
believe that these professors, ministers, and churches understand
their own Bible, and that, consequently, notwithstanding solitary
passages which appear to condemn slaveholding, the Bible
sanctions it? When nothing can be further from the truth. And as
for Christ, his whole life was a living testimony against slavery
and all that it inculcates. When he designed to do us good, he
took upon himself the form of a servant. He took his station at
the bottom of society. He voluntarily identified himself with the
poor and the despised. The warning voices of Jeremiah and Ezekiel
were raised in olden time, against sin. Let us not forget what
followed. 'Therefore, thus saith the Lord--ye have not harkened
unto me in proclaiming liberty every one to his brother, and
every one to his neighbour--behold I proclaim a liberty for you,
saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the
famine.' Are we not virtually as a nation adopting the same
impious language, and are we not exposed to the same tremendous
judgments? Shall we not, in view of those things, use every
laudable means to awaken our beloved country from the slumbers of
death, and baptize all our efforts with tears and with prayers,
that God may bless them? Then, should our labour fail to
accomplish the end for which we pray, we shall stand acquitted at
the bar of Jehovah, and although we may share in the national
calamities which await unrepented sins, yet that blessed approval
will be ours--'Well done, good and faithful servants, enter ye into
the joy of your Lord.'"
"My dear Georgiana," said Mr. Peck, "I must be permitted to
entertain my own views on this subject, and to exercise my own
judgment."
"Believe me, dear papa," she replied, "I would not be understood
as wishing to teach you, or to dictate to you in the least; but
only grant my request, not to allude to the Bible as sanctioning
slavery, when speaking with Mr. Carlton."
"Well," returned he, "I will comply with your wish."
The young Christian had indeed accomplished a noble work; and
whether it was admitted by the father, or not, she was his
superior and his teacher. Georgiana had viewed the right to enjoy
perfect liberty as one of those inherent and inalienable rights
which pertain to the whole human race, and of which they can
never be divested, except by an act of gross injustice. And no
one was more able than herself to impress those views upon the
hearts of all with whom she came in contact. Modest and
self-possessed, with a voice of great sweetness, and a most
winning manner, she could, with the greatest ease to herself,
engage their attention.