University of Virginia Library

19. CHAPTER XIX.
THE RESULT.

After the devotional services were over, Dr. Calker proceeded
immediately with the business that he had in his
mind. “Now, brother Cushing,” he said, “there never
was any instrumentality raised up by Providence to bring
in the latter day equal to the Presbyterian church in the
United States of America. It is the great hope of the world;
for here, in this country, we are trying the great experiment
for all ages; and, undoubtedly, the Presbyterian church
comes the nearest perfection of any form of organization
possible to our frail humanity. It is the ark of the covenant
for this nation, and for all nations. Missionary enterprises
to foreign countries, tract societies, home missionary, seamen's
friend societies, Bible societies, Sunday-school
unions, all are embraced in its bosom; and it grows in a
free country, planted by God's own right hand, with such
laws and institutions as never were given to mortal man
before. It is carrying us right on to the millennium; and all
we want is union. United, we stand the most glorious, the
most powerful institution in the world. Now, there was no
need for you Southern brethren to be so restive as you
were. We were doing all we could to keep down the fire,
and keep things quiet, and you ought not to have bolted
so. Since you have separated from us, what have we done?
I suppose you thought we were going to blaze out in a
regular abolition fury; but you see we have n't done it.
We have n't done any more than when we were united.
Just look at our minutes, and you 'll see it. We have

strong and determined abolitionists among us, and they are
constantly urging and pushing. There have been great
public excitements on the subject of slavery, and we have
been plagued and teased to declare ourselves; but we
have n't done it in a single instance — not one. You see
that Ruskin and his clique have gone off from us, because
we would hold still. It is true that now and then we had
to let some anti-slavery man preach an opening sermon, or
something of that sort; but, then, opening sermons are
nothing; they don't commit anybody; they don't show the
opinion of anybody but the speaker. In fact, they don't
express any more than that declaration of eighteen hundred
and eighteen, which stands unrepealed on your records, as
well as on ours. Of course, we are all willing to say that
slavery is an evil, `entirely inconsistent with the spirit of
the Gospel,' and all that, because that 's on your own books;
we only agree to say nothing about it, nowadays, in our
public capacity, because what was said in eighteen hundred
and eighteen is all-sufficient, and prevents the odium and
scandal of public controversy now. Now, for proof that
what I have just said is true, look at the facts. We had
three presbyteries in slaveholding states when we started,
and now we have over twenty, with from fifteen to twenty
thousand members. That must show you what our hearts
are on this subject. And, have we not always been making
overtures for reünion — really humbling ourselves to you,
brethren? Now, I say you ought to take these facts into
account; our slaveholding members and churches are left
as perfectly undisturbed, to manage in their own way, as
yours. To be sure, some of those Western men will fire
off a remonstrance once a year, or something of that sort.
Just let them do that; it keeps them easy and contented.
And, so long as there is really no interfering in the way of
discipline or control, what harm is done? You ought to
bear some with the Northern brethren, unreasonable as they
are; and we may well have a discussion every year, to let
off the steam.”

“For my part,” said father Bonnie, “I want union, I 'm
sure. I 'd tar and feather those Northern abolitionists, if
I could get at them!”

“Figuratively, I suppose,” said Dr. Packthread, with a
gentle smile.

“Yes, figuratively and literally too,” said father Bonnie,
laughing. “Let them come down here, and see what they 'll
get! If they will set the country in a blaze, they ought to
be the first ones to be warmed at the fire. For my part,
brethren, I must say that you lose time and strength by
your admissions, all of you. You don't hit the buck in the
eye. I thank the Lord that I am delivered from the bondage
of thinking slavery a sin, or an evil, in any sense. Our abolitionist
brethren have done one good thing; they have
driven us up to examine the Scriptures, and there we find
that slavery is not only permitted, but appointed, enjoined.
It is a divine institution. If a Northern abolitionist comes
at me now, I shake the Bible at him, and say, `Nay, but, O
man, who art thou that repliest against God?' Hath not
the potter power over the clay, to make one lump to honor,
and another to dishonor? I tell you brethren, it blazes from
every page of the Scriptures. You 'll never do anything
till you get on to that ground. A man's conscience is
always hanging on to his skirts; he goes on just like a bear
with a trap on his legs — can't make any progress that
way. You have got to get your feet on the rock of ages, I
can tell you, and get the trap off your leg. There 's nothing
like the study of the Scriptures to clear a fellow's
mind.”

“Well, then,” said Clayton, “would it not be well to
repeal the laws which forbid the slaves to learn to read, and
put the Scriptures into their hands? These laws are the
cause of a great deal of misery and immorality among the
slaves, and they furnish abolitionists with some of their
strongest arguments.”

“O,” said father Bonnie, “that will never do, in the
world! It will expose them to whole floods of abolition

and incendiary documents, corrupt their minds, and make
them discontented.”

“Well,” said Dr. Cushing, “I have read Dr. Carnes'
book, and I must say that the scriptural argument lies, in
my mind, on the other side.”

“Hang Dr. Carnes' book!” said father Bonnie.

“Figuratively, I suppose,” said Dr. Packthread.

“Why, Dr. Carnes' much learning has made him mad!”
said father Bonnie. “I don't believe anything that can't
be got out of a plain English Bible. When a fellow goes
shuffling off in a Hebrew fog, in a Latin fog, in a Greek fog,
I say, `Ah, my boy, you are treed! you had better come
down!' Why, is it not plain enough to any reader of the
Bible, how the apostles talked to the slaves? They did n't
fill their heads with stuff about the rights of man. Now,
see here, just at a venture,” he said, making a dive at a
pocket-Bible that lay on the table, — “now, just let me read
you, `Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and
equal.' Sho! sho! that is n't the place I was thinking of.
It 's here, `Servants, obey your masters!' There 's into
them, you see! `Obey your masters that are in the flesh.'
Now, these abolitionists won't even allow that we are
masters!”

“Perhaps,” said Clayton, quietly, “if the slaves could
read, they 'd pay more attention to the first passage that
you favored us with.”

“O, likely,” said father Bonnie, “because, you see, their
interests naturally would lead them to pervert Scripture.
If it was n't for that perverting influence of self-love, I, for
my part, would be willing enough to put the Scriptures into
their hands.”

“I suppose,” said Clayton, “there 's no such danger in
the case of us masters, is there?”

“I say,” said father Bonnie, not noticing the interruption,
“Cushing, you ought to read Fletcher's book. That
book, sir, is a sweater, I can tell you; I sweat over it, I
know; but it does up this Greek and Hebrew work

thoroughly, I promise you. Though I can't read Greek or
Hebrew, I see there 's heaps of it there. Why, he takes
you clear back to the creation of the world, and drags you
through all the history and literature of the old botherers
of all ages, and he comes down on the fathers like forty.
There 's Chrysostom and Tertullian, and all the rest of those
old cocks, and the old Greek philosophers, besides, — Plato,
and Aristotle, and all the rest of them. If a fellow wants
learning, there he 'll get it. I declare, I 'd rather cut my
way through the Dismal Swamp in dog-days! But I was
determined to be thorough; so I off coat, and went at it.
And, there 's no mistake about it, Cushing, you must get
the book. You 'll feel so much better, if you 'll settle your
mind on that point. I never allow myself to go trailing
along with anything hanging by the gills. I am an out-and-outer.
Walk up to the captain's office, and settle! That 's
what I say.”

“We shall all have to do that, one of these days,” said
father Dickson, “and maybe we shall find it one thing to
settle with the clerk, and another to settle with the captain!”

“Well, brother Dickson, you need n't look at me with
any of your solemn faces! I 'm settled, now.”

“For my part,” said Dr. Packthread, “I think, instead
of condemning slavery in the abstract, we ought to direct
our attention to its abuses.”

“And what do you consider its abuses?” said Clayton.

“Why, the separation of families, for instance,” said Dr.
Packthread, “and the forbidding of education.”

“You think, then,” said Clayton, “that the slave ought
to have a legal right to his family?”

“Yes.”

“Of course, he ought to have the legal means of maintaining
it?”

“Yes.”

“Then, of course, he ought to be able to enter suit

when this right is violated, and to bear testimony in a court
of justice?”

“Yes.”

“And do you think that the master ought to give him
what is just and equal, in the way of wages?”

“Certainly, in one shape or another,” said Dr. Packthread.

“And ought the slave to have the means of enforcing this
right?”

“Certainly.”

“Then the slave ought to be able to hold property?”

“Yes.”

“And he should have the legal right to secure education,
if he desires it?”

“Yes.”

“Well,” said Clayton, “when the slave has a legal existence
and legal rights, can hold property and defend it,
acquire education and protect his family relations, he ceases
to be a slave; for, slavery consists in the fact of legal
incapacity for any of these things. It consists in making
a man a dead, inert substance in the hands of another,
holding men pro nullis, pro mortuis. What you call reforming
abuses, is abolishing slavery. It is in this very way
that I wish to seek its abolition, and I desire the aid of
the church and ministry in doing it. Now, Dr. Packthread,
what efforts has the church as yet made to reform
these abuses of slavery?”

There was a silence of some minutes. At last Dr. Cushing
replied,

“There has been a good deal of effort made in oral religious
instruction.”

“O, yes,” said father Bonnie, “our people have been at
it with great zeal in our part of the country. I have a class,
myself, that I have been instructing in the Assembly's Catechism,
in the oral way; and the synods have taken it up,
and they are preaching the Gospel to them, and writing
catechisms for them.”

“But,” said Clayton, “would it not be best to give them
a legal ability to obey the Gospel? Is there any use in
teaching the sanctity of marriage, unless you obtain for
husbands and wives the legal right to live faithful to each
other? It seems to me only cruelty to awaken conscience
on that subject, without giving the protection and assistance
of law.”

“What he says is very true,” said Dr. Cushing, with
emphasis. “We ministers are called to feel the necessity
of that with regard to our slave church-members. You
see, we are obliged to preach unlimited obedience to masters;
and yet, — why, it was only last week, a very excellent
pious mulatto woman in my church came to me to know
what she should do. Her master was determined she
should live with him as a mistress; yet she has a husband
on the place. How am I to advise her? The man is a
very influential man, and capable of making a good deal of
commotion; besides which, she will gain nothing by resistance,
but to be sold away to some other master, who will do
worse. Now, this is a very trying case to a minister.
I 'm sure, if anything could be done, I 'd be glad; but the
fact is, the moment a person begins to move in the least to
reform these abuses, he is called an abolitionist, and the
whole community is down on him at once. That 's the state
these northern fanatics have got us into.”

“O, yes,” said Dr. Baskum, a leading minister, who had
recently come in. “Besides, a man can't do everything!
We 've got as much as we can stagger under on our shoulders,
now. We 've got the building up of the church to
attend to. That 's the great instrumentality which at last
will set everything straight. We must do as the apostles
did, — confine ourselves to preaching the Gospel, and the
Gospel will bring everything else in its train. The world
can't be made over in a day. We must do one thing at a
time. We can't afford, just at present, to tackle in with all
our other difficulties the odium and misrepresentation of
such a movement. The minute we begin to do anything

which looks like restraining the rights of masters, the cry
of church and state and abolition will be raised, and we
shall be swamped!”

“But,” said father Dickson, “is n't it the right way first
to find out our duty and do it, and then leave the result with
God? Ought we to take counsel of flesh and blood in matters
like these?”

“Of course not,” said Dr. Packthread. “But there is
a wise way and an unwise way of doing things. We are
to consider the times, and only undertake such works as the
movements of Divine Providence seem to indicate. I don't
wish to judge for brethren. A time may come when it will
be their duty to show themselves openly on this subject;
but, in order to obtain a foothold for the influences of the
Gospel to work on, it may be necessary to bear and forbear
with many evils. Under the present state of things, I hope
many of the slaves are becoming hopefully pious. Brethren
seem to feel that education will be attended with dangers.
Probably it might. It would seem desirable to secure the
family relations of the slaves, if it could be done without
too much sacrifice of more important things. After all, the
kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ is not of this world. The
apostles entered no public protest against the abuses of
slavery, that we read of.”

“It strikes me,” said Clayton, “that there is a difference
between our position under a republican government, — in
which we vote for our legislators, and, in fact, make the
laws ourselves, and have the admitted right to seek their
repeal, — and that of the apostles, who were themselves
slaves, and could do nothing about the laws. We make
our own laws, and every one of us is responsible for any
unjust law which we do not do our best to alter. We have
the right to agitate, write, print, and speak, and bring up
the public mind to the point of reform; and, therefore, we
are responsible if unjust laws are not repealed.”

“Well,” said father Dickson, “God forgive me that I
have been so remiss in times past! Henceforth, whatever

others may do, I will not confer with flesh and blood; but I
will go forth and declare the word of the Lord plainly to
this people, and show unto the house of Judah their transgressions.
And now I have one thing to say to our dear
Northern brethren. I mourn over the undecided course
which they take. Brethren in slave states are beset with
many temptations. The whole course of public opinion is
against them. They need that their Northern brethren
should stand firm, and hold up their hands. Alas! how different
has been their course! Their apologies for this
mighty sin have weakened us more than all things put
together. Public opinion is going back. The church is becoming
corrupted. Ministers are drawn into connivance
with deadly sin. Children and youth are being ruined by
habits of early tyranny. Our land is full of slave-prisons;
and the poor trader — no man careth for his soul! Our
poor whites are given up to ignorance and licentiousness;
and our ministers, like our brother Bonnie, here, begin to
defend this evil from the Bible. Brother Calker, here, talks
of the Presbyterian church. Alas! in her skirts is found
the blood of poor innocents, and she is willing, for the sake
of union, to destroy them for whom Christ died. Brethren,
you know not what you do. You enjoy the blessing of living
in a land uncursed by any such evils. Your churches,
your schools, and all your industrial institutions, are going
forward, while ours are going backward; and you do not
feel it, because you do not live among us. But take care!
One part of the country cannot become demoralized, without,
at last, affecting the other. The sin you cherish and
strengthen by your indifference, may at last come back in
judgments that may visit even you. I pray God to avert it!
But, as God is just, I tremble for you and for us! Well,
good-by, brethren; I must be on my way. You will not
listen to me, and my soul cannot come into your counsels.”

And father Dickson rose to depart.

“O, come, come, now, brother, don't take it so seriously!”

said Dr. Cushing. “Stay, at least, and spend the day with
us, and let us have a little Christian talk.”

“I must go,” said father Dickson. “I have an appointment
to preach, which I must keep, for this evening, and so
I must bid you farewell. I hoped to do something by coming
here; but I see that it is all in vain. Farewell, brethren;
I shall pray for you.”

“Well, father Dickson, I should like to talk more with
you on this subject,” said Dr. Cushing. “Do come again.
It is very difficult to see the path of duty in these matters.”

Poor Dr. Cushing was one of those who are destined, like
stationary ships, forever to float up and down in one spot,
only useful in marking the ebb and flood of the tide. Affection,
generosity, devotion, he had — everything but the
power to move on.

Clayton, who had seen at once that nothing was to be
done or gained, rose, and said that his business was also
pressing, and that he would accompany father Dickson on
his way.

“What a good fellow Dickson is!” said Cushing, after
he returned to the room.

“He exhibits a very excellent spirit,” said Dr. Packthread.

“O, Dickson would do well enough,” said Dr. Calker,
“if he was n't a monomaniac. That 's what 's the matter
with him! But when he gets to going on this subject, I
never hear what he says. I know it 's no use to reason
with him — entirely time lost. I have heard all these
things over and over again.”

“But I wish,” said Dr. Cushing, “something could be
done.”

“Well, who does n't?” said Dr. Calker. “We all wish
something could be done; but, if it can't, it can't; there 's
the end of it. So now let us proceed, and look into business
a little more particularly.”

“After all,” said Dr. Packthread, “you old school brethren

have greatly the advantage of us. Although you have
a few poor good souls, like this Dickson, they are in so insignificant
a minority that they can do nothing — can't even
get into the general assembly, or send in a remonstrance,
or petition, or anything else; so that you are never plagued
as we are. We cannot even choose a moderator from the
slaveholding states, for fear of an explosion; but you can
have slaveholding moderators, or anything else that will
promote harmony and union.”