Slavery and the Constitution

by William I. Bowditch

But he is not content with telling them they must patiently endure their wrongs: he also declares to them, that, unless they love those who wrong them, they are "going along the broad road that leads to hell"! He says (pp. 115, 116):—

"That we may all understand how the case stands with us, whether we are in the broad road leading to destruction, or in the narrow road leading to heaven, let us see what our Lord says about his sheep, and the mark by which they are known."—Page 117: "Our Lord says, 'By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.' Do ye hear his voice in this? Are you trying to love your neighbor as yourselves? Are you trying to do to others as you would have them do to you? Do you, for Jesus Christ's sake, love your enemies? Do you bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you? In this way, again, you may try yourselves, and see whether you are the sheep of Jesus Christ."—Page 93: "If, in the great day, you would be placed on the right hand, you must, from love to Jesus, be kind to one another, and be ready to help any one as much as you can.... In your daily work, you should try and keep the Lord before you, and do it as to him, and not to man.... When any one offends you, you should, from love to Jesus, forgive him and pray for him."

Bishop Meade is equally explicit, pp. 131, 132 (Brooke's "Slavery," &c. pp. 33, 34). Senator Dickinson regrets that he was not born in a Slave State, so congenial is slavery to his soul! But the bishop, if he believes in his own argument, must be sorrowful that he is not himself a slave, so easy does he say is the slave's road to heaven!—

"Take care that you do not fret or murmur, grumble or repine at your condition; for this will not only make your life uneasy, but will greatly offend Almighty God. Consider that it is not yourselves, it is not the people that you belong to, it is not the men that have brought you to it, but it is the will of God, who hath, by his providence made you servants, because, no doubt, he knew that condition would be best for you in this world, and help you the better towards heaven, if you would but do your duty in it. So that any discontent at your not being free or rich or great, as you see some others, is quarrelling with your heavenly Master, and finding fault with God himself, who hath made you what you are, and hath promised you as large a share in the kingdom of heaven as the greatest man alive, if you will but behave yourself aright, and do the business he hath set you about in this world honestly and cheerfully. Riches and power have proved the ruin of many an unhappy soul, by drawing away the heart and affections from God, and fixing them on mean and sinful enjoyments; so that, when God, who knows our hearts better than we know them ourselves, sees that they would be hurtful to us, and therefore keeps them from us, it is the greatest mercy and kindness he could show us.

"You may perhaps fancy, that, if you had riches and freedom, you could do your duty to God and man with greater pleasure than you can now. But, pray, consider that, if you can but save your souls through the mercy of God, you will have spent your time to the best of purposes in this world; and he that at last can get to heaven has performed a noble journey, let the road be ever so rugged and difficult. Besides, you really have a great advantage over most white people, who have not only the care of their daily labor upon their hands, but the care of looking forward and providing necessaries for to-morrow and next day, and of clothing and bringing up their children, and of getting food and raiment for as many of you as belong to their families, which often puts them to great difficulties, and distracts their minds so as to break their rest, and take off their thoughts from the affairs of another world. Whereas you are quite eased from all these cares, and have nothing but your daily labor to look after, and, when that is done, take your needful rest. Neither is it necessary for you to think of laying up any thing against old age, as white people are obliged to do; for the laws of the country have provided, that you shall not be turned off when you are past labor, but shall be maintained, while you live, by those you belong to, whether you are able to work or not.[J] And these are great and real advantages, for which, if you consider things rightly, you cannot but thank Almighty God, who hath so wisely provided for your well-being here and your eternal happiness hereafter."

God has made some men slaves, in order the better to help them towards heaven! How admirably has the plan of the All-wise succeeded! The slaves are a nation of heathen in our very midst, daily and hourly (if we may believe their religious teachers) descending to everlasting perdition. From our very souls we are sick of the expression, "the providence of God," as thus cantingly used! Wherever a great wrong is committed by man, there the wrong is made part of God's mysterious providence! Are the poor oppressed,—it is a part of God's providence! Are bloody wars carried on for man's selfish ends,—they are part of God's providence! Nothing is too wicked, nothing too infamously mean, for that Being to do whose essence is love, whose law is just. We denounce the African slave-trader as a fiend, and, with appropriate religious ceremonies, hang him by the neck until he is dead, so deep is our detestation of a pirate; and yet, at the same time, we thank God, that, in his infinite wisdom, he has devised and executed the plan of negro-slavery, as the true way of Christianizing and elevating Africa! The slave-owner is said to have it in his power to shut up the kingdom of heaven against his slaves, and the power is said to have been exercised; and Mr. Jones seems to think that the race, taken as a whole, are thus shut out. And yet the slaves are called upon by right reverend bishops to fall on their knees, and devoutly thank God that he has made them slaves, in order the better to help them towards heaven! Truly wonderful is it, that ("Rel. Inst." p. 153) "they are living in manifold and gross sins; their iniquities are aggravated and great before the Lord, and not the least of them is their neglect and contempt of the spiritual mercies and privileges within their reach"!

We conclude our extracts from Bishop Meade's book with the following (Brooke's "Slavery," pp. 34, 35):—

"There is only one circumstance which may appear grievous, that I shall now take notice of, and that is correction.

"Now, when correction is given you, you either deserve it, or you do not deserve it. But whether you really deserve it or not, it is your duty, and Almighty God requires that you bear it patiently. You may perhaps think that this is hard doctrine; but, if you consider it right, you must needs think otherwise of it. Suppose, then, that you deserve correction, you cannot but say that it is just and right you should meet with it. Suppose you do not, or at least you do not deserve so much, or so severe a correction, for the fault you have committed, you perhaps have escaped a great many more, and are at last paid for all. Or suppose you are quite innocent of what is laid to your charge, and suffer wrongfully in that particular thing, is it not possible you may have done some other bad thing which was never discovered, and that Almighty God who saw you doing it would not let you escape without punishment one time or another? And ought you not, in such a case, to give glory to him, and be thankful that he would rather punish you in this life for your wickedness than destroy your souls for it in the next life? But, suppose even this was not the case (a case hardly to be imagined), and that you have by no means, known or unknown, deserved the correction you suffered, there is this great comfort in it, that, if you bear it patiently, and leave your cause in the hands of God, he will reward you for it in heaven, and the punishment you suffer unjustly here shall turn to your exceeding great glory hereafter."

Douglass's aunt Hester disobeyed God's commands, when she paid no heed to the orders of Capt. Anthony,—God's overseer. Accordingly, says Douglass ("Narrative," p. 7), who was an eye-witness of the transaction, the latter "took her into the kitchen, and stripped her from neck to waist, leaving her neck, shoulders, and back entirely naked. After crossing her hands, he tied them with a strong rope, and led her to a stool under a large hook in the joist, put in for the purpose. He made her get upon the stool, and tied her hands to the hook. She now stood fair for his infernal purpose. Her arms were stretched up at their full length, so that she stood upon the ends of her toes. He then said to her,—'Now, you d——d b——h! I'll learn you how to disobey my orders!' And, after rolling up his sleeves, he commenced to lay on the heavy cowskin; and soon the warm, red blood (amid heart-ending shrieks from her, and horrid oaths from him) came dripping to the floor."[K] Poor, ignorant, degraded aunt Hester! She little thought that God had ordered her not to visit her companion; and that, instead of shrieking, she ought rather to be giving glory to Him who was punishing her in this world, in order to save her soul in the next!