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Show 148 CONDITION OF 1'1IE SLAVE. ties, such as characterize men generally. In proof of the statement, that slaves have these qualities, it is only necessary to refer to the many fugitives who, by their great thoughts, tl1eir masterly logic, and their captivating cloq ucncc, arc astonishing both the Old and the New World. Education is what the white man needs for the development of his intellectual energies. And it is what the black man needs for the development of his. Educate him, and his mind proves itself at once as profound and masterly in its conceptions, and as brisk and irresiStible in its decisions, as the mi~d of any other man. But, in addition to his intellectual, the slave pos· sessos a moral nature, capable of the highest develop· mcnt and the most refined culture. A conscience tender and acute, the voice of God in his soul bidiling him to choose the right and avoid the wrong, is his lawful inheritance bestowed upon him by his llcavenly Father. This no one can deny who knows aught of the love of moral truth manifested by the slaves of this country. God has not left the slaves without moral sense. Nor has he denied him the spiritual faculty which, when cultivated, enables him to recog· nize God in his spiritual manifestations, to discern and CoNDITION OF TIIE SLAVE. 149 appreciate spiritual truths, and to feel and relish the gentle distillations of the spirit of divine love as .they fall upon his heart like dew upon the grateful earth. The moral and spiritual nature of the slav.e, however, like his intellectual, goes uneducated and untrained. Deep, dark, and impenetrable is the gloom which en· shrouds the mind and soul of the slave. No ray of light cheers him in his midnight darkness. No one is allowed to fetch him the blessings of education, and no preacher of righteousness is suffered to illumine his dark mind hy the presentation of sacred truth. It is indeed true that slavery is a political, a civil, and a commercial evil. It is true that it is most excruciating and frightful in its effects upon the phys· ical nature of its victim. But slavery is seen in its more aw-ful wickedness and terrible heinousness, when we contemplate the vast waste of intellect, the vast waste of moral and spiritual energy, which has been caused by its poisonous touch. And yet the power of the State, and the influence of the Church, are given to its support. Many of our leading statesmen arc engaged in devising and furthering plans fo1· the extension of its territorial area, thereby hoping to perpetuate and eternize its |
