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Show Henry Ward Beecher. not because he does not love liberty, bnt because he doc:; love Christ enough to how forth his spirit under grieYous wrong. Poor slave, will never breed respect, sympathy, and ·mancipation. Truth, honor, fidelity, manhood,- thc~c thing:-; in the laYe will prepare him for freedom. It is the low an irnal condition of the African that enslave· him. It is moral enfranchisement that will break his bond~. The Pauline treatment is the mo ·t direct road to liberty. No part of the wisdom of the New T c tament sccnv to me more divinely wise than Paul's direction to tho ·c in t)}avcry. They arc the food that servant need, now, at the South, eycry where, the world over! If 1 lived in the outh, I should preach thc:c things to slaves, while preaching on masters' duties to those who holu them. I hou Id do it with a firm conviction that so I should adYancc the day of their liberty! In order to labor the mo t effectually for tltc emancipation of the slave , I would not nc('d to ~ay one word, ex ·ept to preach Chri ~ t, and purity, and rnanhood, and to <·ttjoin upon them faithfulne·s in every duty belonging to their tat·. I should be con. cious that in doing thi, I was lifting them up higher and higher. I should feel that I wa. carrying them farther and farther toward their emancipation. There is no di agreement between the true spirit of emancipation and the enforcciO.cnt of every single one of the precepts of the New Te tamcnt r e2pccting servants. 5. The things which shall lead to emancipation are not so comp1icated or many a many people blindly think. A few virtues establi 'hcd, a few us:.1gcs maintained., a few rights guaranteed to the . lave, and the sy tern i vitally wounded. The right of cha ~ tity in the woman, the unblemi ·hc<l t.ou ehold love, the right of parents in their children,- on these three clements stands the whole wcigl1t of society. Corrupt or enfeeble these, and there cannot be np rin cumhcnt strength. Withhold these rights from savage people, and • Henry Ward Beecher . they can never be carried up. TIH'Y are the integral elcmrnts of as ociatcd human ]if•. ~Vc demand, and h:t\'(' a right to demand, of the Chri. tian m 'n of the South, tlwt tiH·y shall revolutionize the moral condition of the slave in th i::; regard. I stand up in behalf of two million women who nrc without a voice, to declare that there ought to be found in Chris I i:lnity, somewhere, an influence that ·hall protect thcit· ri •rht lo I . 0 t 1en· own per ons; and that their purity ball , tand 0 11 sonw othct· ground than the caprice of' their ma;o;tcrs. I dcm:~nd that the Christian Church, both North and South, slt:dl h<·ar a testimony in behalf of marriage among tlte sla n•;-;, wlti('lt shall make it a ' inviolable as nHtrri:1ge among the whit ·s. Tt is not to be denied that :motlt r code of moral5 prevails upon the plantation than that which pt·evail.' in tbe plantalion house. So long as llllsband and wife arc maningcable con1- moditie., and to be olc.l ap[l.rt, to form new connection , there can be no . uch thing- a . :met ity in wedlock. Let it be known in N cw York tha t a man has two wiY<·~, and there i , no church ,o feeble of con:-;ciencc that they will n?t in :tantly eject him; and the ·ivil law will in, tantly vi~it h1m WJth penalty. Hut the communicant · of E:lavc cl1urehe not only live with a second, while 1heir fir t compauion is ~ct ~liYc, but with a third, and fourth; nor is it any di~qnalifJCatlOn for church member l1ip. The Church an(l the ' tate wink at it. It is a part of the comm rcial nccc . . ity of the system. If you will ,ell men, you mu. t not be too nice about their moral virtues. A weddiug, among thi · uuhnppy people, is but a name_ a mere form, to content their con ·ci 'nee, or their love of imitating their su pcriorc::. And c\'ny auct ionccr in their community 1m~ the. power to put a.·undcr whom GoLl has joined. And marrmge 1s as movable a ~ misfortune itself. The bankrll ptcy of their owner i · the bankruptcy of the mania go relation, in half the sla vc. on hi , plantation. 24 |
