UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

244 KEY TO UNCLE TOMS CABIN.
as the writer has been able to trace out what
CHAPTER IX.
IS THE SYSTEM OF KELIGION WHICH IS
TAUGHT THE SLAVE THE GOSPEL ?
extent of the enactment of slave-law, is recognized
The ladiesof England, in theirletterto
and sustained by the tremendous
the ladiesof America,spokein particular of authority of God himself. He is told that
the denialof the gospelto the slave. This his master isGod's overseer ; that he owes
has been indignantly resentedin this him
country, a blind,unconditional, unlimitedsubmission
; that he must not allow himself to
grumble,or fret,or murmur, at anything
in his conduct ; and,in case he does so, that
Whoever reads Mr. Charles C. Jones' his murmuring is not againsthis master,
book on the r'eligious instructionof the negroes
but againstGod. He is taughtthat it is
will have no doubt of the following God's will that he should have nothingbut
facts :
labor and poverty in this world ; and that,
.1. That from year to year, since the introduction
if he fretsand grumblesat this,he willget
of the negroes into this country, nothingby it in this life, and be sent to hell
various piousand benevolent individualsforeverin the next.
have made effortsfor their spiritual welfare. of hell, with its torments, its worms ever
2. That these effortshave increased, from feeding and never dying, are held up before
year to him
year.
; and he is told that thiseternity of torture
3. That the most extensiveand important will be the result of insubordination
one came into beingabout the time that here. It is no wonder that a slave-holder
Mr. Jones' book was written,in the year
once saidto Dr. Brisbane,of Cincinnati, that
1842, and extended to some degreethroughreligion
had been worth more to him,on his
the United States. The fairestdevelopment plantation, than a wagon-load of cowskins.
of it was probably in the State of Georgia, Furthermore,
slave is taughtthat to
the sphere of Mr. Jones' immediate labor, endeavor to evade his master by running
where the most gratifying results were witnessed,
away, or to shelter or harbor a slave who
and much very amiable and commendable
has run away,
are sins which will expose
Christian feelingelicited on the him to the wrath of that omniscient Being,
partof masters.
whose eyes are in every place.
4. From time to time,there have been As the slaveis a movable and merchantable
prepared, for the use of the slave,catechisms, being,liable, as Mr. Jones calmlyremarks,
hymns, short sermons, "c. "c, designed
to " allthe vicissitudesof property,"
to be read to them by their masters, or
this system of instruction, one would think,
taugh them orally.
would be in something of a dilemma,when it
5. It will' appear to any
one who reads comes to inculcatethe Christianduties of the
Mr. Jones' book that,though written by a familystate.
man who believed the system of slavery When Mr. Jones takes a
survey
of the
sanctionedby God, it manifests a spirit of field, previousto commencing his system of
sincere and earnest benevolence, and of devotednessto
the cause he has undertaken, every rational person must have foreseen,
operations, he tells us, what we
suppose
which cannot be too highlyappreciated. that he finds among the negroes
an utter
It is a very painful and unpleasant task demoralization upon this subject ; that polygamy
to express any qualification or dissentwith
is commonlypractised, and that the
regardto effortswhich have been undertaken marriage-covenant has become a mere temporary
in a goodspirit, and which have produced, union of interest, profitor pleasure,
in many respects,goodresults ; but,in the formed without reflection, and dissolved
reading of Mr. Jones' book, in the studyof his without the slightest idea of guilt.
catechism, and of various other catechisms That this state of things is the necessary
and sermons which givean idea of the religious
and legitimate resultof the system of laws
instruction of the slavesțhe writer which these Christian men have made and
has often been painfully impressed with the are stillkeepingup over their slaves, any
idea that,however imbued and mingledwith sensible person will perceive ; and any one
good,it is not the true and pure gospelwould think it an indispensable step to any
system which is given to the slave. As far svstem of religiousinstructionhere țhat the
and it has been claimed that the slaves do
have the gospelcommunicated to them very
extensively.
is communicated to him,it amounts in substance
to this ; that his master's authority
over him,and property in him, to the full
Most vivid descriptions