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Page 47
The laws in conferring the right to hold slaves as property, did not
invest any one with the right to act the tyrant. Every father is
invested with the right to control his family; but he has no right to
treat any member of his family harshly or unkindly. It is the duty of
the father so to demean himself, and so to govern his family as to
secure the good order, and promote the peace and happiness of every
member of his household. A man's slaves are members of his household;
and the same rules, laws and great cardinal principles, which regulate
his conduct as a husband, father and guardian, should regulate his
conduct as a master. He has a right to control every member of his
family; it is a Divine right, conferred on him for the good of the
whole; but in the exercise of this delegated authority, meekness,
patience and forbearance should characterize every act of his life;
and in his intercourse with every member of his family, white or
black, his countenance in their presence, should be as the revivifying
influence of the sun on the down-trodden vegetation of the earth,
infusing hope, life and animation into all around him; and his words,
yea, his commands, should descend as the gentle and genial showers on
a parched and thirsty soil, and not in torrents of wrath, anger and
indignation. Anger, clamor and strife should be banished from his
household. His commands should be mild but firm; and unconditional
submission and prompt obedience should be strictly enjoined on his
children, dependants and slaves. Beloved by all, he would then move in
the midst of his family with that dignity and grace which becometh the
true Christian gentleman. Beloved, respected and venerated by every
member of his family, he would find it no difficult task to enforce
obedience, and thus to govern them according to the requisitions of
God's word.
Masters, I conceive, by pursuing the course indicated in the preceding
pages, would discharge their duty to their slaves, and stand guiltless
in the sight of God. The condition of the slaves would be ameliorated;
their minds expanded and their manners improved; and thus, at some
future period, if in the providence of God it should be their happy
lot to attain the rights of freemen, then would they be qualified to
appreciate the blessings of freedom, and not sink again into their
original barbarism. Thus would they, as freemen, be competent to
exercise the rights and privileges of free citizens; and, while rising
in the scale of nations, they would point to our government as their
great benefactor, who raised them from the lowest depths of savage
barbarism and brutality, and conferred on them light, liberty and
science, and inducted them into the doctrines of the Christian
religion. Then would they view our nation as their great donor, from
whom they received light, science and religion, and not as their
oppressor.
It is incumbent on me to state, in conclusion, that the clergy of the
slave States have done all that was practicable, under the
circumstances, to confer on the slaves the benefits and advantages of
religious instruction. I doubt whether the poorer class of people,
white or black, have had superior religious advantages in any part of
Christendom, at least so far as it relates to the preaching of the
gospel, and the ordinances of the church. The clergy of the different
denominations have been untiring in their efforts to Christianize the
African population. And it is a little remarkable that, in many
instances, irreligious men,--men who make no pretentious to religion,
men who rarely attend the preaching of the gospel themselves, should
encourage their slaves to attend divine service, and, in some
instances build churches and employ ministers for the benefit of their
own slaves. Strange as it may appear, it is nevertheless true. But
admitting the fact, and I cheerfully admit it, that all has been done
that was practicable, under the circumstances, to Christianize the
African race in the Southern States, yet the principles of
Christianity have exerted on them but a partial influence, in
consequence of their ignorance. No people can be brought fully under
the influence of the Christian religion, unless their minds are at the
same time enlightened and expanded by literature. Religion and
literature are twin sisters; bound together by indissoluble ties, and
the Divine Being never intended that they should be separated.
Religious instruction without literary culture, can produce but a
partial and superficial effect on the human mind; it can produce no
strong, permanent and abiding influence. When the gospel is preached
to an ignorant, illiterate, semi-savage people, the seed is sown in an
incongenial soil, and the product will be in accordance with the soil
in which the seed is sown. This accounts for a fact stated in the
preceding pages, that slaves apparently pious, when liberated and
exposed to certain temptations, were very likely to fall into their
former habits and vices. It also accounts for the fact, that but few
Africans can bear flattery and attention from the white race, it
matters not how virtuous and pious they may be; it is certain to elate
them, and to excite them to acts of indiscretion, and sometimes to
acts grossly vicious. It is so common for Southern slaves who arc
apparently pious, when exposed to temptation to fall into acts of
gross immorality, that many unthinking persons in the South have come
to the conclusion that there is no sincere piety among them; that they
are insincere and hypocritical in their professions and pretentious. A
gentleman once remarked to me, that he had never seen an African in
whose piety he had entire confidence. It was a remark, I believe of
Doctor Nelson, (the author of the celebrated work on infidelity,) that
he had never seen but one or two consistently pious slaves. The doctor
was long a resident of Tennessee, a practitioner of medicine and a
minister of the gospel, and certainly had good opportunities for
forming correct opinions on the subject; but it appears to me that
such views are not only uncharitable, but also unphilosophical.
Professors of the Christian religion of the African race are not less
sincere than are the same class of persons among the white race. On
the contrary a slave is more likely than his master to attach himself
to a church from pure motives. Many considerations may induce a white
man to make a profession of religion, which have no bearing, force, or
influence whatever, on an African. But the slave is ignorant and
degraded; and consequently he lacks moral stamina. He lacks that
firmness and stability of character which result from mental culture.
And moreover, his views of the Divine Being, of his attributes and his
works are erroneous. He knows but little of his Creator or his works;
but little about himself and his relations to his fellow creatures. He
desires to do right, but he is too often unable to distinguish between
right and wrong. But this is not all; for slaves are, to a great
extent, devoid of what, (in ordinary parlance,) is called a sense of
honor and shame; and too many white Christians, as well as black ones,
require all the restraining motives and influences, that can be
brought to bear on them, to keep them in the paths of rectitude. What
is called the moral sense alone, would fail in a large majority of
cases. The above remarks are as applicable to an ignorant, depraved
and vicious class of white persons, which may be found every where, as
they are to the Southern slaves and free negroes. I will here remark
that all that is indispensably necessary to enable an individual to
cultivate his mind, is a tolerable knowledge of his mother tongue, so
far at least, as to be able to read and write it; and a few well
selected books. It is neither necessary nor advisable to read many
books; for most of reading men have read too many books, and have
studied none. It is a little remarkable that Christians know so little
about the Bible. I do not suppose that there is one in a hundred among
them who ever read the sacred volume through; and a large majority of
them know very little about it, except some very incorrect notions
which they have gathered from sermons. It seems that some people
imagine that attending church, and hearing sermons comprises the
"whole duty of man." This is all very well so far as it goes; but I
beg leave to remind such persons that our Saviour preached a sermon on
the mount, near two thousand years ago, which is far superior to any
sermon that has been preached from that day to the present time; and
that they would do well to read it at least once a month.
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