Had these zealous people made new discoveries,
or, were the subject of slavery new, we might give them credit for being
on the hill-tops, while we were in the vales. This passionate sympathy,
on the part of some, for "the down-trodden," as they call the negroes,
is not like zeal for a theological, or a political, or a scientific,
doctrine, which would justify its adherents in rebuking the error and
indifference of others; for if slavery be as they represent it, the
proofs of it must be as self-evident as starvation. What if a class of
men among us should rage against those who do not contribute largely to
the Syrian sufferers, as the zealous anti-slavery people reproach and
even revile those who do not see slavery with their eyes? We should then
say, "Friends, who are you, that you should claim to have all the
virtuous sensibility?"
But more than this,--I doubt, I venture to deny, and that on
philosophical grounds, the true philanthropy of these people. For true
love and kindness always create something of their own kind where they
have full power. Are there any words or acts of love, kindness,
gentleness, mercy, toward others, in the speeches and doings of the
zealous anti-slavery people?
I wish that you had been with me, one evening, in a corner of the
Methodist meeting-house, where I sat and enjoyed the slaves'
prayer-meeting.
Pages:
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129