Slaveholding Weighed in the Balance of Truth, and Its Comparative Guilt Illustrated

by Charles Fitch

But perhaps it will be asked; admitting that slavery is everything that you claim it to be, what right have you to interfere? I claim no right of interference, based on the existing laws of our country, for these, as we have seen, are so abominably wicked and oppressive, as fully to sanction all the evils and crimes which we have been considering. Still, I claim, that I have a right to interfere,[3] and to do all in my power, by every possible means, for the extinction of slavery. Do any ask, on what that right is based? I answer, on the statute book of Almighty God—on the pillars of heaven's eternal throne, and better authority than this, to sanction my interference, I do not ask. 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' 'Who is my neighbor?' Let Jesus Christ answer. 'A certain man, no matter who, went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounding him, departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance, there came down a certain priest that way; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.' How exactly like the conduct of many ministers of the gospel, toward the slave. They just look on his sufferings, and pass by, making no effort to give him relief. 'And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.' Just so multitudes of professing Christians conduct toward the slave. They look on him, pass on, and leave him alone in his woes. 'But, a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence and gave them to the host, and said unto him, take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again I will repay thee.' Here our Saviour has shown us what it is to act the part of a neighbor. This Samaritan found a fellow being in distress. He stopped not to inquire who he was, but proceeded at once to do as he would like to have others do to him in like circumstances. And now the command of Christ is, 'Go thou and do likewise.' Wherever, therefore, we find a fellow being in distress, we find in him a neighbor, one whom we are bound to love as we love ourselves. We are to identify ourselves with him, and feel for his wrongs and his woes, as we would for our own in like circumstances, and are to do for him, so far as lies in our power, everything, which, in like circumstances, we could wish others to do for us. Tell me not then, that I have no right to interfere, when I see more than two millions of my neighbors, yes, of my brethren, my own fellow countrymen, groaning and toiling, and dying, under the unparalleled wrongs of slavery. I have no right not to interfere. I am a traitor to my neighbor, and a rebel against my God, if I forbear to interfere; if I fail to use the last power which my Maker has given me, in pleading for the immediate deliverance of my fellow men from their sufferings and their chains. I trample on the universal law of the infinite Jehovah, if I leave undone anything in my power, which I would wish to have done for me, if all the miseries of slavery were mine.

But it is not merely by looking at the general principles of God's government, that I learn my duty toward the toil-worn, agonized, suffering slave. I find positive direction for this specific case. Jer. 21 : 12.—'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 forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.' Who is spoiled, if it be not the slave? Is he not spoiled of everything? Spoiled of all his earnings—spoiled of the child whom he loves—spoiled of the wife that is bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh—spoiled even of the ownership of himself, and spoiled of his immortal soul, by being robbed of the light that would guide his feet to heaven? And the poor suffering female slave—of what is she not spoiled? Spoiled of all that protection, which the innocent and helpless, have a right to claim, even of the savage. Spoiled of all the affectionate tenderness, which woman everywhere, has a right to expect; spoiled even of her virtue, and that by law, for we have seen, that the laws have placed her, where she cannot preserve it, if she would.

Who then, I ask again, is spoiled, if it be not the slave? And who is an oppressor, if it be not the man who holds him in bondage, and inflicts all these wrongs upon him? While, therefore, I hear the God of heaven saying, 'Deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go forth like fire, and burn, that none can quench it,' can I expect to escape the fury of that fire, if I shut my ears against the mandate, which thunders upon me from the presence chamber, and from the lips of Him, who declares himself King of kings, and Lord of lords? Tell me not, that I have no right to interfere—no right to plead for the deliverance 'of the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor.' I may not fail to do it—lest the fire of God's fury kindle upon me, for my disregard of his high command. And the same, is true of all my readers. Unless you have a right to disobey Almighty God, you have no right to leave anything undone, which you might do, for the deliverance of the slave.

But who is the slave? He is a man—made in the image of God—and bears as much of God's image, remember, as though he had the complexion, and the features, and the limbs, of the white man. Where is the man with a pale face, even among slaveholders, who will stand up, before the face of heaven, and claim that he bears more of God's image than his slave? He would show the image of the devil, large as life, had he the pride, and effrontery, to do such a deed of daring impiety. The slave is made in the image of his God, and to him God gave dominion over the works of his hand, as much as to the white man. For him God lighted up the sun and moon, and made the heavens resplendent with stars, as much as for us. For him God made the breath of morning, and the calm stillness of the summer eve—for him the deep blue sky was spread a canopy, and for him puts on alternate tints of purple and of gold. For him the landscape smiles in green, and flowers spring up to beautify his path, and trees hang out their foliage, and bend beneath their burdens of delicious fruit. For him the fields wave with their ripening grain—for him the valleys yield their corn—for him the flocks and herds lay down their treasures, and the sea sends up its inexhaustible supplies. For him the limpid stream, the clear pure fountain were provided, and for him the balmy air, echoing with melody of birds. Ah, and for him, remember it ye who dare withhold it from him—for him the Bible was given. Who dare say, that God provided these things for the master, more than for the man whom he enslaves.

But what is more than all, for him the Son of God came down and died. The blood gushed from his heart as freely, and in streams as pure, for the oppressed and broken hearted slave, as for us, or for the man who dares enslave God's image—for him the river of water of life, proceedeth clear as crystal from the throne of God and the Lamb—for him the streets of the New Jerusalem are paved with gold, and for him, the glory of God and the Lamb, shall pour forth its light, in beams that shall forever hide the brightness of the noonday sun—and for him are made ready the joys of an eternal heaven. Yes, this is the being whom slavery binds in chains, and robs of all the richest gifts of heaven, and sinks in ignorance and pollution down to hell. Oh, if the whole arch of heaven above us, ever echoed with the loud threatenings of an indignant God—it may now be heard to echo with the fearful interrogation—'Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord? Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?'

And now will you look on, and seal your lips in silence, and say that you have no right to interfere for the deliverance of the slave? Do you not hear the God of heaven saying, 'Deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go forth like fire and burn that none can quench it;' and dare you disobey? Do you ask what shall be done for his deliverance? I answer, let every pulpit thunder forth this mandate of the most high God—let every minister at the altar cry aloud and spare not and lift up his voice like a trumpet—and show this people their transgressions; this guilty people their sins. Let every press groan to be delivered of its obligation, to make known the Almighty's will—and let such as can pray, pray now, that God will break every yoke, and let the oppressed go free. Especially, let woman—woman, the last to linger around the cross, and the first to find the sepulchre of God's crucified Son; linger long at the altar of prayer, and be found early upon her knees, wrestling at the throne of grace; and let all who fear God or love man, resolve before high Heaven, that they will not rest, till every chain is broken, every yoke buried, every scourge and fetter burned.

But I seem to hear some one ask—must we think only of the slave—must we not regard the master's rights? Rights! What rights? Right to hold his fellow man in bondage for one hour? He might as well claim a right to sit on the throne of God. He has no such right. But must he relinquish all the property he now holds in slaves? He has no such property. He has no more right to call them his property, than he has to call the angels in heaven his property. God gave man dominion over the beasts of the field—but over God's own image he never gave him dominion. The wicked, heaven-daring laws of men, confer the power of enslaving man—but the right they never gave, for it was never theirs to give. There is no such thing as property in man—there never can be. We do not ask the slaveholder to relinquish any right. We call upon him, on the authority of God, to break every yoke and let the oppressed go free. We do not ask them to give up their property. We tell them that God declares them to be 'like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain; and that the prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity and divining lies unto them, saying thus saith the Lord, when the Lord hath not spoken. That the people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy, and have oppressed the stranger wrongfully—and that God now threatens to pour out his indignation upon them, and to consume them with the fire of his wrath, and to recompense their way upon their own heads.' No—we do not ask the slaveholder to give up his property—we ask them 'to cease beating God's people to pieces—to cease grinding the face of the poor;' and when the slaveholder has done that, the lost slave will have his freedom.

But you say it would make great changes in society, to free every slave at once, and many a man, who now lives in affluence, would instantly become poor. We doubt it not. We doubt not that many a wretch, who has rolled in profusion, by robbing his fellow men of their earnings, would be obliged to go to work with his own hands to earn his bread; and this is just what he ought to have done long ago. He is made of no better clay than the lowliest of all God's creatures whom he enslaves; and there is no more reason why he should be exempted from eating his bread in the sweat of his brow. Let us arise then with one heart, and with united voice, and with ready hands, do our utmost, to deliver the oppressed from their wrongs.

But it may still be asked, what do you expect to accomplish? We expect to make the slaveholder feel, that when he crushes an immortal soul down to the depths of hell, to gratify his own abominable selfishness, God will hold him accountable for that soul at the judgment day. We expect to make him see, that the short-lived gratification, which he can have derived from enslaving his fellow man, will but poorly compensate him, for the eternal damnation which he must hereafter endure, if he does not repent of his abominable sin. We expect to open to him the broad claims of the infinite God, and to make him see that in his present course of conduct, he is holding himself in open exposure to the Almighty's wrath; and having thus bared his conscience to the arrows of truth, we expect to call down the Holy Spirit by our prayers, to fix these arrows deep in his heart; to reprove him of sin, of righteousness and of judgment, and thus to bring him to unfeigned repentance before God. We expect not to accomplish what we aim at with our unaided strength—but we believe that the Lord of hosts is with us, and trusting in his strength we cannot fail. Christians of every name, shall we not have your aid? Lovers of your fellow men, look at the wrongs of the slave, and weep and toil for him, that he may go free. Open your hearts and your hands to him, and remember that 'He that hath pity on the poor, lendeth to the Lord, and that which he hath given he will pay him again.'