THE RESULT.
After the devotional services were over, Dr. Calker proceeded
immediately with the business that he had in his mind. "Now, brother
Cushing," he said, "there never was any instrumentality raised up by
Providence to bring in the latter day equal to the Presbyterian Church
in the United States of America. It is the great hope of the world; for
here, in this country, we are trying the great experiment for all ages;
and, undoubtedly, the Presbyterian Church comes the nearest perfection
of any form of organization possible to our frail humanity. It is the
ark of the covenant for this nation, and for all nations. Missionary
enterprises to foreign countries, tract societies, home missionary,
seamen's friend societies, Bible societies, Sunday-school unions, all
are embraced in its bosom; and it grows in a free country, planted by
God's own right hand, with such laws and institutions as never were
given to mortal man before. It is carrying us right on to the
millennium; and all we want is _union_. United, we stand the most
glorious, the most powerful institution in the world. Now, there was no
need for you southern brethren to be so restive as you were. We were
doing all we could to keep down the fire, and keep things quiet, and you
ought not to have bolted so. Since you have separated from us, what have
we done? I suppose you thought we were going to blaze out in a regular
abolition fury; but you see we haven't done it. We haven't done any more
than when we were united. Just look at our minutes, and you'll see it.
We have strong and determined abolitionists among us, and they are
constantly urging and pushing. There have been great public excitements
on the subject of slavery, and we have been plagued and teased to
declare ourselves, but we haven't done it in a single instance--not one.
You see that Ruskin and his clique have gone off from us, because we
would hold still. It is true that now and then we had to let some
anti-slavery man preach an opening sermon, or something of that sort;
but, then, opening sermons are nothing; they don't commit anybody; they
don't show the opinion of anybody but the speaker. In fact, they don't
express any more than that declaration of eighteen hundred and eighteen,
which stands unrepealed on _your_ records, as well as on ours. Of
course, we are all willing to say that slavery is an evil, 'entirely
inconsistent with the spirit of the Gospel,' and all that, because
that's on your own books; we only agree to say nothing about it,
nowadays, in our public capacity, because what was said in eighteen
hundred and eighteen is all-sufficient, and prevents the odium and
scandal of public controversy now. Now, for proof that what I have just
said is true, look at the facts. We had three presbyteries in
slave-holding states when we started, and now we have over twenty, with
from fifteen to twenty thousand members. That must show you what our
hearts are on this subject. And have we not always been making overtures
for reunion--really humbling ourselves to you, brethren? Now, I say you
ought to take these facts into account; our slave-holding members and
churches are left as perfectly undisturbed, to manage in their own way,
as yours. To be sure, some of those western men will fire off a
remonstrance once a year, or something of that sort. Just let them do
that; it keeps them easy and contented. And, so long as there is really
no interfering in the way of discipline or control, what harm is done?
You ought to bear some with the northern brethren, unreasonable as they
are; and we may well have a discussion every year, to let off the
steam."
"For my part," said father Bonnie, "I want union, I'm sure. I'd tar and
feather those northern abolitionists, if I could get at them!"
"_Figuratively_, I suppose," said Dr. Packthread, with a gentle smile.
"Yes, figuratively and literally too," said father Bonnie, laughing.
"Let them come down here, and see what they'll get! If they will set the
country in a blaze, they ought to be the first ones to be warmed at the
fire. For my part, brethren, I must say that you lose time and strength
by your admissions, all of you. You don't hit the buck in the eye. I
thank the Lord that I am delivered from the bondage of thinking slavery
a sin, or an evil, in any sense. Our abolitionist brethren have done one
good thing; they have driven us up to examine the Scriptures, and there
we find that slavery is not only permitted but appointed, enjoined. It
is a divine institution. If a northern abolitionist comes at me now, I
shake the Bible at him, and say, 'Nay, but, oh man, who art thou that
repliest against God?' Hath not the potter power over the clay, to make
one lump to honor, and another to dishonor? I tell you, brethren, it
blazes from every page of the Scriptures. You'll never do anything till
you get on to that ground. A man's conscience is always hanging on to
his skirts; he goes on just like a bear with a trap on his legs--can't
make any progress that way. You have got to get your feet on the rock of
ages, I can tell you, and get the trap off your leg. There's nothing
like the study of the Scriptures to clear a fellow's mind."
"Well, then," said Clayton, "would it not be well to repeal the laws
which forbid the slaves to learn to read, and put the Scriptures into
their hands? These laws are the cause of a great deal of misery and
immorality among the slaves, and they furnish abolitionists with some of
their strongest arguments."
"Oh," said father Bonnie, "that will never do, in the world! It will
expose them to whole floods of abolition and incendiary documents,
corrupt their minds, and make them discontented."
"Well," said Dr. Cushing, "I have read Dr. Carnes' book, and I must say
that the scriptural argument lies, in my mind, on the other side."
"Hang Dr. Carnes' book!" said father Bonnie.
"Figuratively, I suppose," said Dr. Packthread.
"Why, Dr. Carnes' much learning has made him mad!" said father Bonnie.
"I don't believe anything that can't be got out of a plain English
Bible. When a fellow goes shuffling off in a Hebrew fog, in a Latin fog,
in a Greek fog, I say, 'Ah, my boy, you are treed! you had better come
down!' Why, is it not plain enough to any reader of the Bible, how the
apostles talked to the slaves? They didn't fill their heads with stuff
about the rights of man. Now, see here, just at a venture," he said,
making a dive at a pocket-Bible that lay on the table,--"now, just let
me read you, '_Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and
equal_.' Sho! sho! that isn't the place I was thinking of. It's here,
'_Servants, obey your masters!_' There's into them, you see! 'Obey your
masters that are in the flesh.' Now, these abolitionists won't even
allow that we are masters!"
"Perhaps," said Clayton, quietly, "if the slaves could read, they'd pay
more attention to the first passage that you favored us with."
"Oh, likely," said father Bonnie, "because, you see, their interests
naturally would lead them to pervert Scripture. If it wasn't for that
perverting influence of self-love, I, for my part, would be willing
enough to put the Scriptures into their hands."
"I suppose," said Clayton, "there's no such danger in the case of us
masters, is there?"
"I say," said father Bonnie, not noticing the interruption, "Cushing,
you ought to read Fletcher's book. That book, sir, is a sweater, I can
tell you; I sweat over it, I know; but it does up this Greek and Hebrew
work thoroughly, I promise you. Though I can't read Greek or Hebrew, I
see there's heaps of it there. Why, he takes you clear back to the
creation of the world, and drags you through all the history and
literature of the old botherers of all ages, and he comes down on the
fathers like forty. There's Chrysostom and Tertullian, and all the rest
of those old cocks, and the old Greek philosophers, besides,--Plato and
Aristotle, and all the rest of them. If a fellow wants learning, there
he'll get it. I declare, I'd rather cut my way through the Dismal Swamp
in dog-days! But I was determined to be thorough; so I off coat, and
went at it. And, there's no mistake about it, Cushing, you must get the
book. You'll feel so much better, if you'll settle your mind on that
point. I never allow myself to go trailing along with anything hanging
by the gills. I am an out-and-outer. Walk up to the captain's office and
settle! That's what I say."
"We shall all have to do that, one of these days," said father Dickson,
"and maybe we shall find it one thing to settle with the clerk, and
another to settle with the captain!"
"Well, brother Dickson, you needn't look at me with any of your solemn
faces! I'm settled, now."
"For my part," said Dr. Packthread, "I think, instead of condemning
slavery in the abstract, we ought to direct our attention to its
abuses."
"And what do you consider its abuses?" said Clayton.
"Why, the separation of families, for instance," said Dr. Packthread,
"and the forbidding of education."
"You think, then," said Clayton, "that the slave ought to have a legal
right to his family?"
"Yes."
"Of course, he ought to have the legal means of maintaining it?"
"Yes."
"Then, of course, he ought to be able to enter suit when this right is
violated, and to bear testimony in a court of justice?"
"Yes."
"And do you think that the master ought to give him what is just and
equal, in the way of wages?"
"Certainly, in one shape or another," said Dr. Packthread.
"And ought the slave to have the means of enforcing this right?"
"Certainly."
"Then the slave ought to be able to hold property?"
"Yes."
"And he should have the legal right to secure education, if he desires
it?"
"Yes."
"Well," said Clayton, "when the slave has a legal existence and legal
rights, can hold property and defend it, acquire education and protect
his family relations, he ceases to be a slave; for slavery consists in
the fact of legal incapacity for any of these things. It consists in
making a man a dead, inert substance in the hands of another, holding
men _pro nullis, pro mortuis_. What you call reforming abuses is
abolishing slavery. It is in this very way that I wish to seek its
abolition, and I desire the aid of the church and ministry in doing it.
Now, Dr. Packthread, what efforts has the church as yet made to reform
these abuses of slavery?"
There was a silence of some minutes. At last Dr. Cushing replied,--
"There has been a good deal of effort made in oral religious
instruction."
"Oh, yes," said father Bonnie, "our people have been at it with great
zeal in our part of the country. I have a class, myself, that I have
been instructing in the Assembly's Catechism, in the oral way; and the
synods have taken it up, and they are preaching the Gospel to them, and
writing catechisms for them."
"But," said Clayton, "would it not be best to give them a legal ability
to obey the Gospel? Is there any use in teaching the sanctity of
marriage, unless you obtain for husbands and wives the legal right to
live faithful to each other? It seems to me only cruelty to awaken
conscience on that subject, without giving the protection and assistance
of law."
"What he says is very true," said Dr. Cushing, with emphasis. "We
ministers are called to feel the necessity of that with regard to our
slave church-members. You see, we are obliged to preach unlimited
obedience to masters; and yet,--why, it was only last week, a very
excellent pious mulatto woman in my church came to me to know what she
should do. Her master was determined she should live with him as a
mistress; yet she has a husband on the place. How am I to advise her?
The man is a very influential man, and capable of making a good deal of
commotion; besides which, she will gain nothing by resistance, but to be
sold away to some other master who will do worse. Now, this is a very
trying case to a minister. I'm sure, if anything could be done, I'd be
glad; but the fact is, the moment a person begins to move in the least
to reform these abuses, he is called an abolitionist, and the whole
community is down on him at once. That's the state these northern
fanatics have got us into."
"Oh, yes," said Dr. Baskum, a leading minister, who had recently come
in. "Besides, a man can't do everything! We've got as much as we can
stagger under on our shoulders, now. We've got the building up of the
church to attend to. That's the great instrumentality which at last will
set everything straight. We must do as the apostles did,--confine
ourselves to preaching the Gospel, and the Gospel will bring everything
else in its train. The world can't be made over in a day. We must do one
thing at a time. We can't afford, just at present, to tackle in with all
our other difficulties the odium and misrepresentation of such a
movement. The minute we begin to do anything which looks like
restraining the rights of masters, the cry of church and state and
abolition will be raised, and we shall be swamped!"
"But," said father Dickson, "isn't it the right way first to find out
our duty and do it, and then leave the result with God? Ought we to take
counsel of flesh and blood in matters like these?"
"Of course not," said Dr. Packthread. "But there is a wise way and an
unwise way of doing things. We are to consider the times, and only
undertake such works as the movements of Divine Providence seem to
indicate. I don't wish to judge for brethren. A time may come when it
will be their duty to show themselves openly on this subject; but, in
order to obtain a foothold for the influences of the Gospel to work on,
it may be necessary to bear and forbear with many evils. Under the
present state of things, I hope many of the slaves are becoming
hopefully pious. Brethren seem to feel that education will be attended
with dangers. Probably it might. It would seem desirable to secure the
family relations of the slaves, if it could be done without too much
sacrifice of more important things. After all, the kingdom of our Lord
Jesus Christ is not of this world. The apostles entered no public
protest against the abuses of slavery, that we read of."
"It strikes me," said Clayton, "that there is a difference between our
position under a republican government,--in which we vote for our
legislators, and, in fact, make the laws ourselves, and have the
admitted right to seek their repeal,--and that of the apostles, who were
themselves slaves, and could do nothing about the laws. We make our own
laws, and every one of us is responsible for any unjust law which we do
not do our best to alter. We have the right to agitate, write, print,
and speak, and bring up the public mind to the point of reform; and,
therefore, we are responsible if unjust laws are not repealed."
"Well," said father Dickson, "God forgive me that I have been so remiss
in times past! Henceforth, whatever others may do, I will not confer
with flesh and blood; but I will go forth and declare the word of the
Lord plainly to this people, and show unto the house of Judah their
transgressions. And now I have one thing to say to our dear northern
brethren. I mourn over the undecided course which they take. Brethren in
slave states are beset with many temptations. The whole course of public
opinion is against them. They need that their northern brethren should
stand firm, and hold up their hands. Alas! how different has been their
course! Their apologies for this mighty sin have weakened us more than
all things put together. Public opinion is going back. The church is
becoming corrupted. Ministers are drawn into connivance with deadly sin.
Children and youth are being ruined by habits of early tyranny. Our land
is full of slave-prisons; and the poor trader--no man careth for his
soul! Our poor whites are given up to ignorance and licentiousness; and
our ministers, like our brother Bonnie, here, begin to defend this evil
from the Bible. Brother Calker, here, talks of the Presbyterian Church.
Alas! in her skirts is found the blood of poor innocents, and she is
willing, for the sake of union, to destroy them for whom Christ died.
Brethren, you know not what you do. You enjoy the blessings of living in
a land uncursed by any such evils. Your churches, your schools, and all
your industrial institutions, are going forward, while ours are going
backward; and you do not feel it, because you do not live among us. But
take care! One part of the country cannot become demoralized without, at
last, affecting the other. The sin you cherish and strengthen by your
indifference may at last come back in judgments that may visit even you.
I pray God to avert it! But, as God is just, I tremble for you and for
us! Well, good-by, brethren; I must be on my way. You will not listen to
me, and my soul cannot come into your counsels."
And father Dickson rose to depart.
"Oh, come, come, now, brother, don't take it so seriously!" said Dr.
Cushing. "Stay, at least, and spend the day with us, and let us have a
little Christian talk."
"I must go," said father Dickson. "I have an appointment to preach,
which I must keep, for this evening, and so I must bid you farewell. I
hoped to do something by coming here; but I see that it is all in vain.
Farewell, brethren; I shall pray for you."
"Well, father Dickson, I should like to talk more with you on this
subject," said Dr. Cushing. "Do come again. It is very difficult to see
the path of duty in these matters."
Poor Dr. Cushing was one of those who are destined, like stationary
ships, forever to float up and down in one spot, only useful in marking
the ebb and flood of the tide. Affection, generosity, devotion, he
had--everything but the power to move on.
Clayton, who had seen at once that nothing was to be done or gained,
rose, and said that his business was also pressing, and that he would
accompany father Dickson on his way.
"What a good fellow Dickson is!" said Cushing, after he returned to the
room.
"He exhibits a very excellent spirit," said Dr. Packthread.
"Oh, Dickson would do well enough," said Dr. Calker, "if he wasn't a
monomaniac. That's what's the matter with him! But when he gets to going
on this subject, I never hear what he says. I know it's no use to reason
with him--entirely time lost. I have heard all these things over and
over again."
"But I wish," said Dr. Cushing, "something could be done."
"Well, who doesn't?" said Dr. Calker. "We all wish something could be
done; but, if it can't, it can't; there's the end of it. So now let us
proceed, and look into business a little more particularly."
"After all," said Dr. Packthread, "you old school brethren have greatly
the advantage of us. Although you have a few poor good souls, like this
Dickson, they are in so insignificant a minority that they can do
nothing--can't even get into the general assembly, or send in a
remonstrance, or petition, or anything else; so that you are never
plagued as we are. We cannot even choose a moderator from the
slave-holding states, for fear of an explosion; but you can have
slave-holding moderators, or anything else that will promote harmony and
union."