Prayer for the oppressed

by James A. Thome

4. That prayer for this object should be made without longer delay, is proved by the extreme dangers of the continuance of slavery, and of the strife it occasions.

Do we apprehend the evils of sudden abolition? We had better consider the perils of prolonging chattel slavery in this land of liberty. “Oppression maketh the wise man mad.” Only the brutish man will long endure brutal treatment himself, or tolerate its infliction upon another. If despotism breeds disaffections, slavery begets insurrections, as light enters the house of bondage. And the light is advancing—fearfully. Appalling dangers are just ahead. The mixed race is rapidly increasing. The hottest blood of the South flows in the veins of slaves, who are often scarcely distinguishable in complexion from their oppressors. Abolition deferred may come too late. Provocations, slight compared with those of slavery, drove our fathers to rebellion. The worst passions are inflamed by the atrocities of the chattel system. The revolting scenes of the inter-State slave trade, the abominations of slave breeding, the barbarities of the cotton field and rice swamps, the ferocities of the slave hunt with blood-hounds in the South, and with more savage men in the free States, the imprisonments and lynchings of Northern men found in the slave States and suspected of holding abolition sentiments, the many collisions between slavery and freedom, which have in some instances proceeded to bloodshed and death, have caused much irritation and deep indignation throughout the country. Freemen are exasperated; good people are aroused; the moral sense of the nation is shocked and tried to the utmost. The sentiments of patriotism, devotion to the Union, and respect for federal law, are lowered in the public mind. Faith in free institutions, and hope of their perpetuity are seriously shaken. Sectional animosities are rife. The republic is no longer a unit, for the hearts of the people are sundered. Issues the most radical divide us: freedom and slavery! There is determination on either side, and strong feeling. There can be no reconciliation and no respite in this fraternal strife. Nothing can end it but the removal of slavery. Only this can avert the evils that now threaten the republic. Emancipation or ruin is the alternative which the tide of events is forcing on us. It is now a time of trial, a crisis. The elements are fraught with trouble. Peacemakers are abroad, but agitators are stronger than they. This is no time to cry peace. Men behold the oppressions that are done under the sun, done under “the stars and stripes,” and they are stirred. There is no leisure for speculation and conjecture. Let no time be wasted in idle fears, or in useless efforts at pacification. The conflict must continue; God wills it! Let his people commit the cause to him. Let them betake themselves to prayer.

And what shall be the burden of their supplications? Shall they pray for peace, for a calming of the waters, for a putting out of the fires of freedom which burn against oppression? No, no! Let them pray for the abolition of slavery. Let them not mock God by calling upon him to stay the work which his providences have so manifestly been pushing forward. Where are the intercessors who, in God’s light, see light on this subject, who are prepared to enter into the divine plans, and who will please the Lord by asking him boldly, in faith, to put an end to slavery? Where are the wise and discerning men, in whom is the Spirit of the Lord, who clearly see that this is the only salvation to all the interests of American liberty? Let them speak out, and summon the saints to repair without delay to the throne of grace, in this time of need.

By the several considerations foregoing we would urge the duty and importance of praying for the abolition of slavery in America. We would lay this solemn duty on the hearts of Christians; we would earnestly entreat them to stir themselves to take hold on God for this great blessing to the nation and the world. We would humbly say,—Brethren, quench not the Spirit, which may now be moving you to pray, and may be waiting to work in your hearts the fervent and effectual prayer which, poured forth by the help of his intercessions and unutterable groanings, will avail much. Make full proof, beloved, of the power of prayer. A better test there could not be. Let it be seen that prayer can overcome slavery. Make it manifest that what the literature, the moral suasion, and the political action of one generation has not done, the prayers of God’s people can do. Important interests await this result—the nation rescued from ruin, Christianity saved from apostasy. Emancipation gained by prayer will avert emancipation wrought by violence.

Slavery done away in righteousness, oppression in its other forms will be meliorated and will gradually disappear. The apprentice, the clerk, the sailor, the soldier, the pupil, the child, the laborer, the hired girl, the wife, will be more secure from the abuses of power, when the spirit of oppression, driven from its stronghold, is shorn of its strength. The abolition of slavery in this country will go far to drive the spirit of oppression out of Christendom, and to liberate the nations of Europe.

Such results, rationally to be anticipated, should certainly impel Christians to pray. The purity, the peace, and the prosperity of Zion are so implicated, that to pray for the abolition of slavery is to pray for these. The power of revivals, the success of home and foreign missions, the operations of tract and Bible societies would be increased immeasurably by the overthrow of slavery, and by the augmented strength this victory would practically give to prayer. The available energies of the American Zion would be multiplied many fold. The Bible would be vindicated, Christianity would have the trophies of the triumph, and God would gain great glory.

Oh! then, who among the saints will restrain prayer?—Who will come not up to the help of the Lord against the mighty? Who will incur the bitter curse of Meroz? Rather, who will not bear some part in this faith-struggle at the throne of grace? Who will not share in the rewards which God will bestow on his people, when he comes to avenge them speedily by the overthrow of slavery? What praying circle, what pulpit, what concert or closet, will be found wanting in this crisis?

Prayer for the abolition of slavery involves prayer for the oppressed. Ungodly men may oppose slavery, and yet have little sympathy for the enslaved; but the Christian can not bear the sin of slavery to the throne of God without bearing thither the wrongs and woes of the oppressed. Moralists may condemn chattelism in the abstract; but they who are moved to pray by the Holy Ghost will “remember them that are in bonds as bound with them.”

“Who are the oppressed?” we asked at the outset, and answered, The enslaved. Again we ask, Who are the oppressed? Who are these victims of slavery? Who are they that we should pray for them? We answer:

They are men. They belong to the human family. They are of one blood with ourselves. They have the same rights with us, the same interests, the same desires, the same wants, the same love of liberty, the same sense of right and wrong, the same deathless spirits. The negro in his chains appealingly interrogates us,—“Am I not a man and a brother?” What can the Christian do but own the relationship? Is he indeed a man—a brother? Then does not to him the golden rule apply—“Do unto others as ye would they should do unto you?” Can we exclude them from our prayers?