Chapter 6

One point more. God has set a line of demarcation so ineffaceable, so indelible besides color, and so _plain_, between the children of Adam and Eve whom he endowed with immortality, and the negro who is of this earth only, that none can efface, and none so blind as not to see it. And this line of demarcation is, that Adam and his race being endowed by God _with souls_, that a _sense of immortality_ ever inspires them and sets them to work; and the one race builds what he hopes is to last for ages, his houses, his palaces, his temples, his towers, his monuments, and from the earliest ages after the flood. Not so the other, the negro; as left to himself, as Mizraim was, he builds nothing for ages to come; but like any other beast or animal of earth, his building is _only for the day_. The one starts his building on earth, and builds for immortality, reaching toward Heaven, the abode of his God; the other also starting his building on earth, builds nothing durable, nothing permanent--_only_ for present _necessity_, and which goes down, _down_, as everything merely animal must forever do. Such are the actions of the two races, when left to themselves, as all their works attest. Subdue the negro as we do the other animals, and like them, teach them all we can; then turn them loose, free them entirely from the restraints and control of the white race, and, just like all other animals or beasts so treated, back to his native nature and wildness and barbarism and the worship of dæmons, he _will go_. Not so with Adam's children: Starting from the flood, they began to build for Eternity. Ham, the slandered Ham, settled on the Nile, in the person of his son Mizraim, and built cities, monuments, temples and towers of surpassing magnificence and _endurance_; and here, too, with them, he started all the arts and sciences that have since covered Europe and America with grandeur and glory. Even Solomon, whose name is a synonym for wisdom, when about to build the Temple, instructed as he was by his father David, as to how God had told him the Temple was to be built; yet he, notwithstanding his wisdom, was warned of God, and he sent to Hiram, King of Tyre, for a workman skilled in all the science of architecture and cunning in all its devices and ornaments, to raise and build that structure designed for the visible glory of God on earth. And Hiram, King of Tyre, sent him a widow's son, named Hiram Abiff; and who was Grand Master of the workmen. He built the Temple and adorned it, and was killed a few months before Solomon consecrated it. This Hiram, King of Tyre, and this Hiram Abiff, although the mother of the latter was a Jewess, were descendants of _this slandered Ham_. Now, we ask, is it reasonable to suppose that God would call, or would suffer to be called, a descendant of Ham to superintend and build his Temple, and erect therein his altar, if Hiram Abiff had been a negro?--a _flat-nosed negro_, whom he had expressly forbidden to approach his altar? The idea is entirely inconsistent with God's dealings with men. God thus, then, testifying in calling this son of Ham to build his Temple, his appreciation of Ham and his race.

Now, let us sum up what is written in this paper: We have shown, (1.) That Ham was not made a negro, neither by his name, nor the curse (or the supposed curse) of his father Noah. (2.) We have shown that the people of India, China, Turkey, Egypt (Copts), now have long, straight hair, high foreheads, high noses and every lineament of the white race; and that these are the descendants of Ham. (3.) That, therefore, it is _impossible_ that Ham could be the father of the present race of Negroes. (4.) That this is sustained by God himself causing Mizraim to embalm his dead, from directly after the flood and to continue it for twenty-three centuries; and that these mummies now show Ham's children to have long, straight hair, etc., and the lineaments alone of the white race. (5.) That Shem, Ham and Japheth being white, proves that their father and mother were white. (6.) That Noah and his wife being white and perfect in their genealogy, proves that Adam and Eve were white, and therefore _impossible_ that _they_ could be the progenitors of the kinky-headed, black-skinned negroes of this day. (7.) That, therefore, as neither Adam nor Ham was the progenitor of the negro, and the negro being now on earth, consequently we _know_ that he was created before Adam, as _certainly_ and as _positively_ as we _know_ that the horse and every other animal were created before him; as Adam and Eve were the last beings created by God. (8.) That the negro being created before Adam, consequently he is a _beast_ in God's nomenclature; and being a beast, was under Adam's rule and dominion, and, like all other beasts or animals, has no soul. (9.) That God destroyed the world by a flood, for the crime of the amalgamation, or miscegenation of the white race (whom he had endowed with souls and immortality), with negroes, mere beasts without souls and without immortality, and producing thereby a _class_ (not race), but a _class_ of beings that were neither _human_ nor _beasts_. (10.) That this was a crime against God that could not be expiated, and consequently could not be forgiven by God, and never would be; and that its punishment in the progeny is on earth, and by death. (11.) That this was shown at Babel, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the extermination of the nations of the Canaanites, and by God's law to Moses. (12.) That God will not accept religious worship from the negro, as he has expressly ordered that no man having a _flat nose_, shall approach his altar; and the negroes have flat noses. (13.) That the negro has no soul, is shown by express authority of God, speaking through the Apostle Peter by divine inspiration.

The intelligent can not fail to discover who was the tempter in the garden of Eden. It was a _beast_, a _talking_ beast--a beast that talked _naturally_--if it required a _miracle_ to make it talk (as our _learned_ men suppose, and as no one could then perform a miracle but God only and if he performed _this_ miracle to make a snake, a serpent, talk, and to talk only with Eve, and that as soon as the serpent (?) seduced Eve into eating the forbidden fruit, God then performed another miracle to stop his speaking afterward, that if this be true), then it follows beyond contradiction, _that God is the immediate and direct author_ or cause _of sin_: an idea that can not be admitted for one moment, by _any_ believer in the Bible. _God called it a beast--"more subtile than all the beasts the Lord God had made."_ As Adam was the federal head of all his posterity, as well as the real head, so was this beast, the negro, the federal head of all beasts and cattle, etc., down to creeping things--to things that go upon the belly and eat dust all the days of their life. If all the beasts, cattle, etc., were not involved in the sin of their federal head, why did God destroy them at the flood? If the crime that brought destruction on the world was the sin of Adam's race alone, why destroy the _innocent_ beasts, cattle, etc.? When all things were created, God not only pronounced them good, but "very good;" then why destroy these innocent (?) beasts, cattle, etc., for Adam's sin or wrong-doing? But, that these beasts, etc., were involved in the _same_ sin with Adam, is positively plain, from _one fact alone_, among others, and that fact is: That before the fall of Adam in the garden, all was peace and harmony among and between all created beings and things. After the fall, strife, contention and war ensued, as much among the beasts, cattle, etc., as with the posterity of Adam; and continues so to the present time. Why should God thus afflict _them_ for another's crime, if they were free and innocent of that crime? God told Adam, on the day of his creation, "to have dominion over everything living that moveth upon the earth:" but to Noah, after the flood, he uses _very_ different language; for, while he told Noah to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, the same as he said to Adam, yet he adds, "and the fear of _you_ and the _dread_ of you _shall_ be upon every beast of the earth, etc., and all that moveth upon the earth, etc.; into _thy_ hands are they delivered". If these had continued in their "_primeval_ goodness," wholly unconnected with Adam's sin, is it reasonable to suppose that God would have used the language toward _them_, that he did in his _instructions_ to Noah? It is impossible! The intelligent can also see the judgments of God on this "_unforgivable_" sin, at the flood, at Babel, at Sodom and Gomorrah, and on the Canaanites, and in his law; and they may profit by the example. They can see the exact time (A.M. 235), _when men_--the negro--erected the _first_ altar on earth; _they_ had seen Adam, Cain, Abel, and Seth, erect altars and call on the name of the Lord. They, too, could _imitate_ them; they _did_ then _imitate_; they then built _their_ altars; they _then_ called an the name of the Lord; they are yet _imitating_; they are _yet profaning_ the name of the Lord, by calling on his name. And _you_, the people of the United States, are upholding _this profanity_. Who was it that caused God to repent and to be grieved at his heart, that he had made _man_? Will _you_ place yourselves alongside of that being, and against God? All analogy says _you will_! But remember, that the righteous will escape--the hardened alone will perish.

The ways of God are _always consistent, when understood_, and always just and reasonable. It is a curious fact, but a fact, nevertheless, and fully sustained by the Bible; and that fact is this; That God _never conferred_, and never _designed_ to _confer_, any great _blessing_ on the human family, but what he _always_ selects or selected a white _slaveholder_ or one of a white _slaveholding nation_, as the _medium_, by or through which _that blessing_ should reach them. Why he has done so, is not material to discuss now; but the _fact_, that he _always_ did so, the Bible abundantly proves. Abraham, the father of the faithful, and in whom and his seed all the families of the earth were to be blessed, is a notable instance of this truth. For Abraham owned three hundred and eighteen _slaves_. And the Saviour of the world was of a white _slaveholding nation_; and they held slaves by God's own laws, and not by theirs. And how has it been in respect of our own nation and government, the United States? A government now declared by thousands of lips, latterly, to be the best, the very best, that has ever been in the world. Who made this government? Who established it and its _noble principles_? Let us appeal to history. The first attack on British power, and the aggressions of its parliament, ever made on this continent, was made by a slaveholder, from a slave state, Patrick Henry, May 30, 1765. The first president of the first congress, that ever assembled on this continent, to consider of the affairs of the thirteen colonies, and which met in Philadelphia, September 5, 1774, was a slave owner from a slave state, Peyton Randolph. The only secretary that congress ever had, was a slave owner from a slave state, Charles Thompson. The gentleman who was chairman of the committee of the whole, on Saturday, the 8th of June, 1776, and who, on the morning of the 10th reported the resolutions, that the thirteen colonies, of right ought to be free and independent _states_, was a slaveholder from a slave state, Benjamin Harrison. The same gentlemen again, as chairman of the committee of the whole, reported the Declaration of Independence in form; and to which he affixed his signature, on Thursday, July 4, 1776. The gentleman who wrote the Declaration of Independence, was a slave owner, from a slave state, Thomas Jefferson. The gentleman who was selected to lead their armies, as commander-in-chief, and who did lead them successfully, to victory and the independence of the country, was a slave owner, from a slave state, George Washington. The gentleman who was president of the convention, to form the constitution of the United States, was a slave holder, from a slave state, George Washington. The gentleman who wrote the constitution of the United States (making it the best government ever formed on earth), was a slave owner, from a slave state, James Madison. The first president of the United States, under that constitution, and who, under God gave it strength, consistency and power before the world, was a slave owner, from a slave state, George Washington; and these were all white men and slave owners; and whatever of peace, prosperity, happiness and glory, the people of the United States have enjoyed under it, have been from the administration of the government, by presidents elected by the people, of _slave holders_, from _slave states_. Whenever the people have elected a president from a non-slaveholding state, commencing with the elder Adams, and down to Mr. Lincoln, confusion, wrangling and strife have been the order of the day, until it culminated in the greatest civil war the world has ever beheld, under the last named gentleman. Why this has been so is not in the line of our subject. We mention it as a matter of history, to confirm the Bible fact, _that God always_ selects _slaveholders_, or from a _slaveholding_ nation, the media through which he confers his blessings on mankind. Would it not be wisdom to heed it now?

One reflection and then we are done. The people of the United States have now thrust upon them, the question of negro equality, social, political and religious. How will they decide it? If they decide it one way, then they will make the _sixth_ cause of invoking God's wrath, once again on the earth. They will begin to discover this approaching wrath: (1.) By God bringing confusion. (2.) By his breaking the government into pieces, or fragments, in which the negro will go and settle with those that favor this equality. (3.) In God pouring out the fire of his wrath, on this portion of them; but in what way, or in what form, none can tell until it comes, only that in severity it will equal in intensity and torture, the destruction of fire burning them up. (4.) The states or people that favor this equality and amalgamation of the white and black races, _God will exterminate_. To make the negro, the political, social and religious equal of the white race by _law_, by _statute_ and by _constitutions_, can easily be effected in _words_; but so to elevate the negro _jure divino_, is simply _impossible_. You can not elevate a _beast_ to the level of a son of God--a son of Adam and Eve--but you may depress the sons of Adam and Eve, with their _impress_ of the Almighty, _down to the level of a beast_. God has made one for immortality, and the other to perish with the animals of the earth. The antediluvians once made this depression. Will the people of the United States make another, _and the last_? Yes, they will, for a large majority of the North are unbelievers in the Bible; and this paper will make a large number of their clergy deists and atheists. A man can not commit so great an offense against his race, against his country, against his God, in any other way, as to give his daughter in marriage to a negro--a _beast_--or to take one of their females for his wife. As well might he in the sight of God, wed his child to any other beast of forest or of field. This crime _can not_ be expiated--it never has been expiated on earth--and from its nature never can be, and, consequently, _never was forgiven by God, and never will be_. The negro is now free. There are but two things on earth, that may be done with him now, and the people and government of this country escape destruction. One or the other _God will make you do_, or _make you accept his punishment_, as he made Babel, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Canaanites, before you. You _must send him back to Africa_ or _re-enslave him_. The former is the best, _far the best_. Now, which will my countrymen do? I do not say _fellow-citizens_, as I regard myself but as a sojourner in the land, whose every political duty is now performed by obeying _your_ laws, be they good or bad--not voting, nor assisting others in making _your_ laws. Will my countrymen, in deciding for themselves these questions, _remember--will they remember_, that the first law of liberty is obedience to God. Without this obedience to the great and noble principles of God, truth, righteousness and justice, there can be no liberty, no peace, no prosperity, no happiness in any earthly government--if these are sacrificed or ignored, God will overturn and keep overturning, until mankind learn his truth, justice and mercy, and conform to them.

To the people of the South, we say, _obedience_ to God is better than all sacrifices. You have sacrificed all your negroes. It was _your ancestors_, that God made use of to form this noblest of all human governments--no others could do it. Do not be cast down at what has happened, and what is _yet to happen_--God will yet use you to reinstate and remodel this government, on its just and noble principles and at the _proper time_. The North _can never do it_. These are perilous times--the _impending decisions will be against you, and against God_. But keep yourselves free from _this sin--do not by your acts, nor by your votes, invite the negro equality--if it is forced upon you_, as it will be--obey the laws--remembering _that God will protect the righteous_; and that his truth, like itself, will always be consistent, and like its Author, will be always and _forever triumphant. The finger of God is in this. Trust him._ The Bible is true.

_July_, 1840.

_December_, 1866. ARIEL.

NOTE 1. Any candid scholar, wishing to address the writer, is informed, that any letter addressed to "Ariel," care of Messrs. Payne, James & Co., Nashville, Tennessee, during this summer and fall (1867), will reach him and command his attention.

NOTE 2. Some few kinky-headed negroes, have been found embalmed on the Nile, but the inscriptions on their sarcophagii, fully explain who they were, and how they came to be there. They were generally _negro traders_ from the interior of the country, and of much later dates.