UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

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KEY TO UNCLE TOM S CABIN.
Allow me to relate a fact which occurred in the the styleof instruction, we will givesome
spring of this year, illustrativeof the character
extracts from various sermons and discourses.
and knowledge of the negroes at this time. I was
preaching to a largecongregation
the In the
Epistle
firstplace, to show how explicitly
to Philemon ; and when I insisted upon fidelity religious teachers disclaim any intention of
and obedience as Christianvirtuesin servants,and, interfering
the legal relation (seeMr.
the authority of Paul, condemned the practice Jones' work, p. 157):
upon
of runningaway, one-half of my
audience deliberately
walked off with themselves,and those that
By law or custom, they are excluded from the
remained looked anythingbut satisfied,either advantages of education
with the preacheror his doctrine. After dismission,
; and, by consequence,
from the readingof the word of God ; and this
there was no small stir among them : some immense mass of immortal beings is thrown, for
solemnly declared that there was no such epistle religious instruction, upon oral communications
in the Bible ; others, " that it was not the gospel;"
entirely Ạnd upon whom ? Upon their owners.
others, " that I preached to pleasemasters ;" And their owners, especially of late years, claim
others, " that they did not care if they ever to be the exclusive guardians of their religious instruction,
"
heard me preachagain." pp. 24,25.
and the almoners of divine mercy towards
them, thus assumingthe responsibility of
Lundy Lane,an intelligent fugitive who their entire Christianization!
has published his memoirs, says
that on one All approachesto them from abroad are rigidly
occasion tliey(theslaves) were greatly delighted
guardedagainst, and no ministers are allowed to
break to them the bread of
with a certain preacher, untilhe told
life,except such as
have commended themselves to the affection and confidence
them that God had ordained and created
of their owners. I do not condemn this
them expressly to make slaves of. He says course of self-preservation
the part of our citizens
that after that they all left him, and went
; I merelymention it to show their entire
away, because theythought, with the Jews, dependence upon ourselves.
"
This is a hard saying; who can hear it'?" In answeringobjections of masters to allowing
In these remarks on the perversion of the
the religious instruction of the negroes,
gospel as presented to the slave,we do not
he supposes the following objection,
mean to implythat much that is excellentand gives the following answer :
and valuable is not taughthim. We mean
simplyto assert that,in so far as the system
taughtjustifies the slave-system, so far
necessarily it vitiatesthe fundamental ideas
of justice and morality;and,so far as the
obligations of the gospel are inculcated on
the slave in their purity,theybring him
to
be justified and
tolerated, because
undertaken in the most amiable spiritby
amiable men. Our admiration of some of
the laborers who have conducted this system
is very great; so also is our admiration of
many of the Jesuit missionaries who have
spreadthe Roman Catholic religion among
our aboriginal tribes. Devotion and disinterestedness
could be carried no further than
some of both these classesof men have carried
them.
Q. After the Judgment is over, into what place
But,while our respect for these goodmen do the righteous
A. Into heaven.
go?"
must not seduce us as Protestants into an Q. What kind of a placeis heaven? " A
admiration of the system which
most glorious
theytaught,
and happy place.
#
* # * #
so our esteem for our Southern brethren
Q. Shall the righteous
must not lead us to admit that in heaven have any
a system more hunger, or thirst, or nakedness,or heat,or
which fullyjustifies the worst kind of spiritualcold?
Shall they have any
more sin,or sorrow,
and or
temporaldespotism can properly crying, or pain, or death "
? No.
represent the gospelof him who Q.
came to
Repeat " And God shall wipe away all
tears from their
"
eyes. "And God shall wipe
preachdeliverance to the captives,
To prove
that we have not misrepresented
If we suffer our negroes to be instructedțhe
tendency will be to change the civilrelations of
societyas now constituted.
To which let it be repliedțhat Ave separate
entirely their religious and their civil condition,
and contend that the one may be attended to
without interfering with the other. Our principle
is
necessarily in conflictwith the authority of
that laid down by the holy and just One :
"
Render unto Ctesar the things which are Ca3sar's,
the system. As we have said before,it is and unto God the things which are God's." And
an attempt to harmonize light with Christ and his
darkness,
apostles are our example. Did they
deem it
and Christ with Belial. Nor is such an attempt
proper
and consistent with the good order
of societyto preach the gospelto the servants ?
They did. In discharge of this duty, did they interfere
with their civilcondition ? Theydid not.
With regardto the description of heaven
and the torments of hell țhe following is
from Mr. Jones' catechism, pp. 83, 91, 92 :
Q. Are there two placesonlyspokenof in the
Bible to which the souls of men go
after death 1 "
A. Only two.
Q. Which are they?" A. Heaven and hell.
* # # # #
away all tears from their eyes,
and there shall
be no more 'death,neither sorrow nor crying;