UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

204 KEY TO UNCLE TOM S CABIN.
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the middle ages,
as to civiland religious been united in ecclesiastical relationswith
toleration, prevailing.
Christiansof the northern and free states,
However much we may reprobate and deplore
meetingwith them,by theirrepresentatives
those unworthyviews of God and religion
yearly, in theirvariousecclesiastical assemblies.
which are impliedin such declarations One mighthope, in case of such a
as are here recorded, however blasphemous union țhat those debasing of Christianity,
still, itis apparent
and thatdeadnessof public sentiment,
sincerity ; and this is the most melancholy under the slave system,mighthave been
feature of the case. They are as sincere as qualified by intercoursewith Christiansin
Paul when he breathed out threatenings and free states,who,havingrown up under free
slaughter, and when he thoughtwithin himself
institutions, would naturally be supposedto
thathe ought to do many thingscontraryfeeltheutmost
abhorrenceof such sentiments.
to the name of Jesus. They are as sincere One would have supposedthat the church
as the Brahmin or Hindoo,conscientiously and clergy of the freestates would naturally
supporting a religion of cruelty and blood. have used the most strenuous endeavors, by
They are as sincere as many enlightened, all the means in their power,
to convince
scholarlikeand Christianmen in modern Europe,
theirbrethren of errors so dishonorableto
who,born and bred under systems of Christianity, and tendingto such dreadful
civiland religious despotism, and havingthem practical results. One would have supposed
entwined with all their dearest associations alsoțhat,failing to convince their brethren,
of home and country, and havingall their
to
habitsof thought and feeling biased bythem, clear themselves from all complicity with
do most conscientiously defend them.
thesesentiments, bythe most solemn,earnest
There is somethingin conscientiousconviction,
and reiteratedprotests.
even in. case of the worst kind of Let us now inquire what has,in fact,been
which is not without a certain degreethe
course of the Northern church on this
influences will deny. That there may be
ful
very sincere Christiansunder this system of relation, as much as that of parent and
religion, with all its falseprinciples and all child,husband and wife,or any other lawful
itsdisadvantageous influences, liberality must relationof society.(HarmonyPres. Ș. C.)
concede. The Church of Rome has had its 2. That it is consistent with the most
Fenelon,its Thomas a. Kempis; and the fraternal regard for the goodof the slave.
Southern Church,which has adoptedthese (Charleston Union Pres. Ș. C.)
principles, has had men who have risen 3. That masters oughtnot to be disciplined
above the level of their system. At the
for selling slaves without their consent.
time of the Reformation,and now, the (New-schoolPres. Church,Petersburg,
Church of Rome had in its bosom thousands
Va.)
of praying, devoted, humble Christians, 4. That the righ to buy,sell,and hold
which,like flowers in the clefts of rocks, men for purposes
of gain, was givenby
could be countedby no eye,
save God's alone.
expresspermission of God. (JamesSmylie
And so, amid the riftsand glaciers of this and his Presbyteries.)
horriblespiritual and temporaldespotism, we 5. That the laws which forbid the education
hope are blooming flowers of Paradise, patient,
of the slave are right, and meet the
prayerful, and self-denying Christians ; approbationof the reflecting part of the
and itis the deepestgrief, in attacking the Christiancommunity.(Ibid.)
dreadfulsystem under which theyhave been 6. That the fact of slavery is not a question
born and broughtup, that violence must be of morals at all,but is purelyone of
done to their cherishedfeelings and associations.
political economy. (Charleston Baptist Associatio
In another and betterworld,perhaps,
they may appreciate the motives of those
who do this.
But now another consideration comes to
the mind. These Southern Christianshave
and absurd theymay appear,
that theirauthors utteredthem with which were the inevitableresultof an education
theywould have feltitdue to Christianity
opinions,
of respectability. That the religion subject.
expressed by the declarationswhich we have Previous to makingthis inquiry, let us
quoted is as truly Antichrist as the religion review the declarationsthat have been made
of the Church of Rome, it ispresumedno in the Southern church, and see what principles
sensible person out of thesphereof American have been establishedby them.
1. That slaveryis an innocent and law-
7. The rightof masters to dispose of the
time of their slaves has been distinctly
recognizedby the Creator of all things.
|(Ibid.)