Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom [30]
to go back. According to his showing, he ought rather to take my place. That would be practically carrying out his logic, as respects "suffering awhile --one for many."
In fact, so eager were they to prostrate them- selves before the great idol of slavery, and, like Balaam, to curse instead of blessing the people whom God had brought out of bondage, that they in bring up obsolete passages from the Old Tes- tament to justify their downward course, overlooked, or would not see, the following verses, which show very clearly, according to the Doctor's own text- book, that the slaves have a right to run away, and that it is unscriptural for any one to send them back.
In the 23rd chapter of Deuteronomy, 15th and 16th verses, it is thus written:--"Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is es- caped from his master unto thee. He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him."
"Hide the outcast. Bewray not him that wan- dereth. Let mine outcasts dwell with thee. Be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler." --(Isa. xvi. 3, 4.)
The great majority of the American ministers are not content with uttering sentences similar to the above, or remaining wholly indifferent to the cries of the poor bondman; but they do all they can to blast the reputation, and to muzzle the mouths, of the few good men who dare to beseech the God of mercy "to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and let the oppressed go free." These reverend gentlemen pour a terrible cannon- ade upon "Jonah," for refusing to carry God's message against Nineveh, and tell us about the whale in which he was entombed; while they utterly overlook the existence of the whales which trouble their republican waters, and know not that they themselves are the "Jonahs" who threaten to sink their ship of state, by steering in an unrighteous direction. We are told that the whale vomited up the runaway prophet. This would not have seemed so strange, had it been one of the above lukewarm Doctors of Divinity whom he had swallowed; for even a whale might find such a morsel difficult of digestion.
"I venerate the man whose heart is warm, Whose hands are pure; whose doctrines and whose life Coincident, exhibit lucid proof That he is honest in the sacred cause."
"But grace abused brings forth the foulest deeds, As richest soil the most luxuriant weeds."
I must now leave the reverend gentlemen in the hands of Him who knows best how to deal with a recreant ministry.
I do not wish it to be understood that all the ministers of the States are of the Balaam stamp. There are those who are as uncompromising with slaveholders as Moses was with Pharaoh, and, like Daniel, will never bow down before the great false God that has been set up.
On arriving at Portland, we found that the steamer we intended to take had run into a schooner the previous night, and was lying up for repairs; so we had to wait there, in fearful suspense, for two or three days. During this time, we had the honour of being the guest of the late and much lamented Daniel Oliver, Esq., one of the best and most hospi- table men in the State. By simply fulfilling the Scripture injunction, to take in the stranger, &c., he ran the risk of incurring a penalty of 2,000 dollars, and twelve months' imprisonment.
But neither the Fugitive Slave Law, nor any other Satanic enactment, can ever drive the spirit of liberty and humanity out of such noble and gene- rous-hearted men.
May God ever bless his dear widow, and eventu- ally unite them in His courts above!
We finally got off to St. John's, New Brunswick, where we had to wait two days for the steamer that conveyed us to Windsor, Nova Scotia.
On going into a hotel at St. John's, we met the butler in the hall, to whom I said, "We wish to stop here to-night." He turned round, scratching his head, evidently much put about. But think- ing that my wife was white, he replied, "We have plenty of
In fact, so eager were they to prostrate them- selves before the great idol of slavery, and, like Balaam, to curse instead of blessing the people whom God had brought out of bondage, that they in bring up obsolete passages from the Old Tes- tament to justify their downward course, overlooked, or would not see, the following verses, which show very clearly, according to the Doctor's own text- book, that the slaves have a right to run away, and that it is unscriptural for any one to send them back.
In the 23rd chapter of Deuteronomy, 15th and 16th verses, it is thus written:--"Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is es- caped from his master unto thee. He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him."
"Hide the outcast. Bewray not him that wan- dereth. Let mine outcasts dwell with thee. Be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler." --(Isa. xvi. 3, 4.)
The great majority of the American ministers are not content with uttering sentences similar to the above, or remaining wholly indifferent to the cries of the poor bondman; but they do all they can to blast the reputation, and to muzzle the mouths, of the few good men who dare to beseech the God of mercy "to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and let the oppressed go free." These reverend gentlemen pour a terrible cannon- ade upon "Jonah," for refusing to carry God's message against Nineveh, and tell us about the whale in which he was entombed; while they utterly overlook the existence of the whales which trouble their republican waters, and know not that they themselves are the "Jonahs" who threaten to sink their ship of state, by steering in an unrighteous direction. We are told that the whale vomited up the runaway prophet. This would not have seemed so strange, had it been one of the above lukewarm Doctors of Divinity whom he had swallowed; for even a whale might find such a morsel difficult of digestion.
"I venerate the man whose heart is warm, Whose hands are pure; whose doctrines and whose life Coincident, exhibit lucid proof That he is honest in the sacred cause."
"But grace abused brings forth the foulest deeds, As richest soil the most luxuriant weeds."
I must now leave the reverend gentlemen in the hands of Him who knows best how to deal with a recreant ministry.
I do not wish it to be understood that all the ministers of the States are of the Balaam stamp. There are those who are as uncompromising with slaveholders as Moses was with Pharaoh, and, like Daniel, will never bow down before the great false God that has been set up.
On arriving at Portland, we found that the steamer we intended to take had run into a schooner the previous night, and was lying up for repairs; so we had to wait there, in fearful suspense, for two or three days. During this time, we had the honour of being the guest of the late and much lamented Daniel Oliver, Esq., one of the best and most hospi- table men in the State. By simply fulfilling the Scripture injunction, to take in the stranger, &c., he ran the risk of incurring a penalty of 2,000 dollars, and twelve months' imprisonment.
But neither the Fugitive Slave Law, nor any other Satanic enactment, can ever drive the spirit of liberty and humanity out of such noble and gene- rous-hearted men.
May God ever bless his dear widow, and eventu- ally unite them in His courts above!
We finally got off to St. John's, New Brunswick, where we had to wait two days for the steamer that conveyed us to Windsor, Nova Scotia.
On going into a hotel at St. John's, we met the butler in the hall, to whom I said, "We wish to stop here to-night." He turned round, scratching his head, evidently much put about. But think- ing that my wife was white, he replied, "We have plenty of