Part 3

We deeply deplore the situation of our free colored citizens in the slaveholding states, we sympathize in their trials, we know that the oppressive laws enacted against them are to use the language of a writer in the Richmond Whig of March 21, 1832, "A code of penal laws in many respects worthy the temper of Draco, written indeed in blood.... By this code information to them is proscribed, social intercourse interdicted, religious worship in most of its forms prohibited." We know that these unrighteous decrees have driven many of our Southern brethren to a foreign land in the hope of finding on the shores of heathen Africa, a degree of liberty, independence and happiness which they saw no human probability of enjoying in Christian America, but while we sympathize with them in their sufferings, of which the free people of color in the non-slaveholding States largely participate, yet we believe that patient submission to these cruel inflictions, would have identified their interests more with that portion of our countrymen who are toiling in bonds, and would have advanced the cause of emancipation. The cruel policy of the slaveholder to separate as much as possible the free people of color from the slaves, to prevent all coalition between them, to destroy all sympathy of feeling and oneness of interest, has succeeded but too well--the free colored people of the South stand by themselves, unacknowledged as men by their haughty superiors, unknown as brethren by their down-trodden "countrymen in chains," a few of them have even been tempted to join hands with the oppressor and rivet bonds on those for whose deliverance they should have toiled and wept and prayed. One of the results of this crafty policy has been, that many have been seduced to abandon their country and their enslaved brethren, to seek for themselves and their families an asylum from the _oppression_ of Christian, Republican, America. These, however unintentionally, have, we believe, fully answered the designs of the subtle politicians of the South and have bound more firmly around the quivering limbs of their kindred the manacles of slavery.--The desertion of such has added strength to the Colonization interest, and cherished the insane hope that all our valuable free colored citizens might in time be transported to Africa. We, therefore, deprecate the departure of every free colored American, _unless impelled by a sense of duty_, because it is injurious to the interests of the slave and contributes to foster in the bosoms of their white fellow-citizens that prejudice which Satan created and which he is now using as one of the most powerful engines to prevent the elevation of the free and the enfranchisement of the enslaved.

Our brethren and sisters in bondage have their eyes fixed with the deepest intensity of interest upon their friends in the Northern States, they are looking unto us as unto "Saviours who shall come up on Mount Zion" to deliver them out of the hand of the spoiler. Jehovah has entrusted us with a high and holy commission he has commanded us to "Defend the poor and fatherless, to do justice to the afflicted and needy, to deliver the poor and needy; to rid them out of the hand of the wicked" and we believe God will bless our efforts in this righteous cause, if we are willing to endure the reproach, the calumny, the self-denial which is involved in this Reformation, but beloved friends let us keep ever in mind, that unless we are men and women of prayer, we shall not be able to effect what we profess so earnestly to desire, viz., that God would melt the hearts of the slaveholders thro' the powerful influence of his Holy Spirit that they may "let their captives go," "not for price nor reward," but for their own peace sake and because the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts. When the Redeemer of men 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 enterprize 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 endeavoring 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.

But not alone for the down-trodden slave should we be engaged to labor, our country from Maine to Florida is more or less connected with, and involved in, the awful sin of slavery, "the blood of the poor innocents is found in our skirts," the free states are partakers with those who rob God of his creatures, for although most of them have nominally no slaves on their soil, they do deliver unto slaveholders the servant that is escaped from his master, in direct violation of the command of Jehovah "Hide the outcasts: bewray not him that wandereth.--Let mine outcasts dwell with thee; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler."--The unhappy fugitive goaded almost to madness by oppression finds no resting place for the sole of his foot until he reaches the icy shores of Canada. An exile from his native land, because his soul cannot bow down to the unbridled passions of his fellow-worm; because he nobly dares to take the freedom which Jehovah gave him with the first inspiration of his vital breath, because rather than be a slave he braves the storm and plunges through the flood and suffers hunger and thirst and nakedness and cold. For thus magnanimously recoiling from unjust usurpation he is branded as a fugitive, and hunted through our free states with all the fierceness of savage barbarity, while no measures are adopted to procure the repeal of these unrighteous decrees. Oh when in this proud republic God maketh inquisition for blood, when he remembereth the cry of the humble--where shall we appear? will not the language be uttered against us "the land is full of blood; the iniquity is exceeding great, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head."

Nor is the church less corrupt than the state, she exhibits now just such a departure from primitive purity as is described by the prophet Ezekiel in speaking of the Jewish Church.--"Thou didst trust in thine own beauty, because of thy renown. Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and my silver which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them. And tookest thy broidered garments and covered them, and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them." Is it not the fear and the _idolatry of man_ which makes so many of those who fill the sacred office of ministers of Jesus Christ stand dumb on the watch-tower; so many unclose their sacrilegious lips to stigmatize the God of Love as the founder of the system of American slavery--what but the deep corruption of the church could tempt her to cast over this bloody moloch her broidered garment, and try by snatching a few jewels to adorn her diadem from Ceylon and the Sandwich Islands, from Burmah, and from the Rocky Mountains, to turn away the public gaze from the leprosy which consumes her vitals.

Let us not be deceived by the seeming prosperity of our country. Babylon was filled with gold and with silver, and Belshazzars impious feast was crowned with wine and luxurious delicacies, yet even then the hand-writing on the wall was appointed, the doom of that great empire was decided in the court of heaven, and the irreversible sentence was soon pronounced upon her haughty monarch, "Thou hast lifted up thyself, God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it." Let us not be deceived by the fair appearances of the church, her efforts, and her revivals. Slavery is the master sin of our country; it is twined around the horns of the altar--it is couched beneath the table on which are laid the sacramental elements--it rises rampant in our pulpits--its spirit may be seen stalking with unblushing effrontery through almost every temple of benevolence, every seminary of learning,[2] every Church of God where the white and the colored are as carefully separated as though the one was washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb, and the other was an unclean thing, whose very touch was contamination. We feel constrained to enter our solemn protest against this unrighteous practice in all its forms.--"God has created of ONE BLOOD all the nations to dwell on all the face of the earth," and whoever interposes a barrier to their living as brethren, breaks the harmony which He has established. Let the Church in America deck herself as she may with the Lord's jewels, so long as she cherishes the Hydra-headed monster slavery in her bosom, so long will her oblations on heathen shores be vain, her incense an abomination, her solemn meetings a mockery. Our souls are drawn out in tender sympathy to our dear brothers and sisters who are the victims of this cruel prejudice, may you experience that peace which the world can neither give nor take away, and rejoice in the promise that the last shall be first.

[2] We mention as an example worthy of imitation the noble individuals who took the lead at Lane Seminary in contending for the rights of our colored citizens, and when their work there was accomplished, went among their colored brethren and sisters, and met them as equals bearing the impress of that God who stampt his image on his creature man. If each of our seminaries could boast of such champions of Human Rights, our colleges and schools might soon be regenerated, and our temples of science be thrown open to all our citizens irrespective of color or condition.

Let us turn our eyes on God's chosen people and learn a lesson fraught with fearful instruction.--As the time of their downfall approached, when for their manifold transgressions they were to be blotted out for a season, as a nation, God multiplied the number of his witnesses among them. Most of the prophets whose writings have come down to us, lived either a short time before, or were cotemporary with the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar; the warning voices of Jeremiah and Ezekiel were raised at this juncture, to save if possible their guilty nation--with the women as well as the men they expostulated, and admonished them of impending judgments, but the people scornfully replied to Jeremiah--"As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee, but we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our mouth." "Therefore, thus saith the Lord--ye have not hearkened unto me in proclaiming liberty every one to his brother, and every one to his neighbor--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 labor 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."

We are aware that few of our colored brethren and sisters are actively, or directly promoting the continuation of slavery; we mourn indeed that a single instance can be adduced, of one colored person betraying another into the fangs of those merciless wretches who go about seeking whom they may devour; we mourn, not because the act is more diabolical on account of the complexion, but because our enemies seize every such instance of moral delinquency, to prove that the people of color are lost to the feelings of humanity for each other.

Our hearts have been filled with sorrow at the transactions which have lately disgraced the city of New York; the forcible seizure and consigning to cruel bondage native American citizens. In the emporium of our commerce, in a city filled with Bibles and with churches, we behold the revolting spectacle of rational and immortal beings, arraigned before their fellow men, not for any crimes which they have committed, but because they dare to call their vital breath their own, and to take possession of that body, soul, and mind, which their Creator gave them. We behold them manacled and guarded by officers armed with weapons of death--guiltless of crime and accused of none, but forced to prove that they are men and not beasts. We marvel, as we behold these reproachful scenes, that the God of Justice has held back his avenging sword.--"Thus saith the Lord--execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings."

But although we believe that the accumulated wrongs of our colored friends are had in remembrance before God, and that he will assuredly visit this nation in judgment unless she repent, yet we entreat you in the name of the Lord Jesus, to forbear any attempts violently to rescue your brethren. Such attempts can only end in disappointment; they infuriate public sentiment still more against you, and furnish your blood-thirsty adversaries with a plausible pretext, to treat you with cruelty. They bring upon all your brethren unmerited odium, and render doubly difficult the duties of those who have been called by Jehovah to assert the colored man's right to freedom, and to vindicate his character from those calumnies which have been heaped upon him. Independent, however, of all these reasons, we beseech you to possess your souls in patience, because present duty is unresisting submission, in accordance with the apostolic precepts.--"Be subject not only for wrath, but for conscience sake." "For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully." "For even hereunto are we called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow his steps."

Let us keep in mind, that Jesus Christ was arraigned before an earthly judge, that he endured indignity, violence and contempt. Every innocent man who is brought before a human tribunal, and condemned to perpetual bondage, when his judge can find no fault in him, may be regarded as the representative of Him, who replied to Pilate, "Thou couldst have no power against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin." Suffer us to mingle our sighs, and our tears with yours over these heart-rending scenes, these ruthless inflictions of nameless and unutterable woes; but let us remember, that when the Redeemer of men was taken by a band of armed ruffians, he acted out his own sublime precept--"Resist not evil;" and when Peter with intemperate zeal cut off the servant's ear, Jesus healed the wound, and commanded his disciple to put up his sword again into its place.

If we recur to the history of God's chosen people, whom he permitted to be in bondage in the land of Egypt, we shall find that it was not when Moses killed the Egyptian because he smote an Israelite, that the God of the oppressed arose for their deliverance. No, dear friends, it was when "the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant." Shall we distrust him now that his covenant of mercy has been sealed with the blood of his only begotten son--shall we resort to weapons forged by Satan, and used by our enemies, when the Lord God omnipotent is our king, and it behoveth his subjects to be "shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, praying always with all prayer, and supplication in the Spirit."

The eyes of the community are fixed upon you with an intensity of interest; many watch for your halting, saying, "peradventure they will be enticed and we shall prevail against them." Many while they have a kind of sentimental desire for your welfare, are anxious to keep you as they term it, in your proper place, or in other words, are so much under the dominion of prejudice, that they shrink at the thought of receiving you as brethren beloved; they try to persuade themselves that God has created us with an instinctive alienation from each other, and excuse their own sin, by casting a reproach on the character of Jehovah; they repel the idea that you are in every respect our equals, and pertinaciously deny you the privileges of social, religious, and domestic intercourse. We can feel for them, for most, if not all of us have had to combat these feelings, and such of us as have overcome them, have abundant cause to sing hallelujah to our God, and bless his holy name for our abolition principles; they have opened a source of heavenly joy in our bosoms, which we would not exchange for all the gold of Ophir. Let us then cherish the apostolic precept, "Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness." There is another class beloved friends, who are watching you with the most tender solicitude, whose daily petitions for themselves are mingled with supplications for you, who feel poignantly the indignities which are heaped upon you, who ardently desire your elevation in every way, who rejoice that they are found worthy to suffer with you, who feel that their interests are one with yours as Christians, and as Americans, and who supplicate the Father of Mercies for an increase of that hallowed feeling, which receives and welcomes you with joy as brethren and sisters dearly beloved, and loses in the sense of your manhood, in the remembrance that we are all one in Christ Jesus, those unhallowed and factitious distinctions which are eating out the very vitals of Christianity. This class long for that blessed and glorious era, when the brother of low degree will rejoice in that he is exalted, and the brother of high degree in that he is made low; because then and not till then the command may go forth to the Church of Christ in our land "Arise, shine for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee."

In contemplating the abolition of slavery, we feel that you are equally concerned with ourselves, and we entreat your co-operation, believing that you can and will labor in it as efficiently as any portion of the community. We ask you in the name of Him whose precious blood was shed for us, to come up to the help of the Lord, in whose work we are engaged. We ask you, in the name of bleeding humanity, to assist in this labor of love. We ask you, for the sake of the down-trodden and defiled image of God, to arise for the help of the poor, and aid in restoring our brother and our sister to that exalted station, only a little lower than the angels, which their gracious Creator assigned them. True--obloquy, reproach, and peril, must be encountered by all who stem the torrent of popular iniquity, the tide of supercilious prejudice, and the arrogant pretensions of unfounded superiority; but these we can endure, and count it joy. We are sensible that our brethren of color have a more difficult and delicate part to act in this reformation, than their white fellow-citizens; but we confidently believe, that as their day is, so their strength will be; and we commend them and the cause of human rights, in which we are engaged, to Him who is able to save unto the uttermost all who come unto God by Him. May he strengthen us to pursue our holy purposes with the zeal of the Apostles and the spirit of the Martyrs, consecrating ourselves to this work of faith, and labor of love, "that we may be found in Christ, not having our own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ--the righteousness which is of God by Faith."

Transcriber Notes:

Passages in italics were indicated by _underscores_.

Small caps were replaced with ALL CAPS.

Errors in punctuation and inconsistent hyphenation were not corrected unless otherwise noted.

Specifically, inconsistencies in the use of quotation marks were not corrected, primarily because it wasn't always clear where quotation marks should be added.

On page 5, "salvo" was replaced with "salve".

On page 20, "useles" was replaced with "useless".

On page 30, "uo" was replaced with "no".

On page 30, "begotton" was replaced with "begotten".

On page 30, a period after "Satan" was replaced with a comma.