We do not know anything about Mr. Matthews, or his mode of promulgating his views. The laws in Kentucky for the protection of what is called “slave property” are stringent enough, and nobody can doubt the readiness of public sentiment to enforce their heaviest penalties against offenders. If Mr. Matthews violated the law, he should have been tried by the law; and he would have been, had he committed an illegal act. No charge of the kind is made against him.
He was, then, the victim of Lynch law, administered in a ruffianly manner, and without provocation; and the parties concerned in the transaction, whatever their position in society, were guilty of conduct as cowardly as it was brutal.
As to the manner in which Mr. Matthews has conducted himself in Kentucky we know nothing. We transfer to our columns the following extract from an editorial in the “Journal and Messenger” of Cincinnati, a Baptist paper, and which, it may be presumed, speaks intelligently on the subject:
“Mr. Matthews is likewise a Baptist minister, whose ostensible mission is one of love. If he has violated that mission, or any law, he is amenable to God and law, and not to LAWLESS VIOLENCE. His going to Kentucky is a matter of conscience to him, in which he has a right to indulge. Many good anti-slavery men would question the wisdom of such a step. None would doubt his RIGHT. Many, as a matter of taste and propriety, cannot admire the way in which he is reputed to do his work. But they believe he is conscientious, and they know that ‘oppression maketh even a wise man mad.’ We do not think, in obedience to Christ’s commands, he sufficiently counted the cost. For no one in his position should go to Kentucky to agitate the question of slavery, unless he EXPECTS TO DIE. No man in this position, which Mr. Matthews occupies, can do it, without falling a martyr. Liberty of speech and thought is not, cannot be, enjoyed in slave States. Slavery could not exist for a moment, if it did. It is, doubtless, the duty of the Christian not to surrender his life cheaply, for the sake of being a martyr. This would be an unholy motive. It is his duty to preserve it until the last moment; so Christ enjoins. It is no mark of cowardice to flee. ‘When they persecute you in one city, flee into another,’ said the Saviour. But he did not say, Give a pledge that you will not exercise your rights. Hence, he nor his disciples never did it. But it is a question, after one has deliberated, and conscientiously entered a community in the exercise of his constitutional and religious rights, whether he should give a pledge, under the influence of a love of life, never to return. If he does, he has not counted the cost. A Christian should be as conscientious in pledging solemnly not to do what he has an undoubted right to do, as he is in labouring for the emancipation of the slave.”
The following is from the National Era, July 10, 1851.
Mr. McBride wished to form a church of non-slaveholders.
CASE OF REV. JESSE McBRIDE.
This missionary, it will be remembered, was expelled lately from the State of North Carolina.
We give below his letter detailing the conduct of the mob. His letter is dated Guilford, May 6. After writing that he is suffering from temporary illness, he proceeds:
“I would have kept within doors this day, but for the fact that I mistrusted a mob would be out to disturb my congregation, though such a hint had not been given me by a human being. About six o’clock this morning I crawled into my carriage and drove eighteen miles, which brought me to my meeting-place, eight miles east of Greensboro’ — the place I gave an account of a few weeks since — where some seven or eight persons gave their names to go into the organisation of a Wesleyan Methodist church. Well, sure enough, just before meeting time (twelve o’clock), I was informed that a pack of rioters were on hand, and that they had sworn I should not fulfil my appointment this day. As they had heard nothing of this before, the news came upon some of my friends like a clap of thunder from a clear sky; they scarcely knew what to do. I told them I should go to meeting or die in the attempt, and, like ‘good soldiers,’ they followed. Just before I got to the arbour, I saw a man leave the crowd and approach me at the left of my path. As I was about to pass, he said —
“ ‘Mr. McBride, here is a letter for you.’
“I took the letter, put it into my pocket, and said, ‘I have not time to read it until after meeting.’
“ ‘No, you must read it now.’
“Seeing that I did not stop, he said, ‘I want to speak to you,’ beckoning with his hand and turning, expecting me to follow.
“ ‘I will talk to you after meeting,’ said I, pulling out my watch; ‘you see I have no time to spare — it is just twelve.
“As I went to go in at the door of the stand, a man who had taken his seat on the step rose up, placed his hand on me, and said, in a very excited tone —
“ ‘Mr. McBride, you can’t go in here!’
“Without offering any resistance, or saying a word, I knelt down outside the stand, on the ground, and prayed to my ‘Father;’ pled his promises, such as, ‘When the enemy comes in like a flood, I will rear up a standard against him;’ ‘I am a present help in trouble;’ I will fight all your battles for you; prayed for grace, victory, my enemies, &c. Rose perfectly calm. Meantime my enemies cursed and swore some, but most of the time they were rather quiet. Mr. Hiatt, a slave-holder and merchant from Greensboro’, said —
“ ‘You can’t preach here to-day; we have come to prevent you. We think you are doing harm — violating our laws,’ &c.
“ ‘From what authority do you thus command and prevent me from preaching? Are you authorised by the civil authority to prevent me?’
“ ‘No, sir.’
“ ‘Has God sent you, and does he enjoin it on you as a duty to stop me?’
“ ‘I am unacquainted with Him.’
“ ‘Well, ‘acquaint thyself now with Him, and be at peace,’ and he will give you a more honourable business than stopping men from preaching his gospel. The judgment-day is coming on, and I summon you there, to give an account of this day’s conduct. And now, gentlemen, if I have violated the laws of North Carolina, by them I am willing to be judged, condemned, and punished — to go to the whipping-post, pillory, or jail, or even to hug the stake. But, gentlemen, you are not generally a pack of ignoramuses; your good sense teaches you the impropriety of your course; you know that you are doing wrong; you know that it is not right to trample all law, both human and divine, in the dust, out of professed love for it. You must see that your course will lead to perfect anarchy and confusion. The time may come when Jacob Hiatt may be in the minority, when his principles may be as unpopular as Jesse McBride’s are now. What then? Why, if your course prevails, he must be lynched — whipped, stoned, tarred and feathered, dragged from his own house, or his house burned over his head, and he perish in the ruins. The persons became food for the beasts they threw Daniel to: the same fire that was kindled for the ‘Hebrew children’ consumed those who kindled it; Haman stretched the same rope he prepared for Mordecai. Yours is a dangerous course, and you must reap a retribution, either here or hereafter. We will sing a hymn,’ said I.
“ ‘O yes,’ said H., ‘you may sing.’
“ ‘The congregation will please assist me, as I am quite unwell;’ and I lined off the hymn, ‘Father, I stretch my hands to thee,’ &c., rioters and all helping to sing. All seemed in good humour, and I almost forgot their errand. When we closed I said, ‘Let us pray.’
“ ‘G — d d —— n it, that’s not singing!’ said one of the company, who stood back pretty well.
“While we invoked the divine blessing, I think many could say, ‘It is good for us to be here.’ Before I rose from my knees, after the friends rose, I delivered an exhortation of some ten or fifteen minutes, in which I urged the brethren to stedfastness, prayer, &c., some of the mob crying ‘Lay hold of him!’ ‘Drag him out!’ ‘Stop him!’ &c.
“My voice being nearly drowned by the tumult, I left off. I was then called to have some conversation with H., who repeated some of the charges he preferred at first — said I was bringing on insurrection, caus
ing disturbance, &c.; wishing me to leave the State; said he had some slaves, and he himself was the most of a slave of any of them, had harder times than they had, and he would like to be shut of them, and that he was my true friend.
“ ‘As to your friendship, Mr. H., you have acted quite friendly, remarkably so — fully as much so as Judas when he kissed the Saviour. As to your having to be so much of a slave, I am sorry for you; you ought to be freed. As to insurrection, I am decidedly opposed to it, have no sympathy with it whatever. As to raising disturbance and leaving the State, I left a little motherless daughter in Ohio, over whom I wished to have an oversight and care. When I left, I only expected to remain in North Carolina one year; but the people dragged me up before the Court under the charge of felony, put me in bonds, and kept me; and now would you have me leave my securities to suffer — have me lie and deceive the Court?’
“ ‘O! if you will leave, your bail will not have to suffer; that can, I think, be settled without much trouble,’ said Mr. H.
“ ‘They shall not have trouble on my account,’ said I.
“After talking with Mr. H. and one or two more on personal piety, &c. I went to the arbour, took my seat in the door of the stand for a minute; then rose, and, after referring to a few texts of Scripture, to show that all those who will live godly shall suffer persecution, I inquired, 1st, What is persecution? 2ndly, noticed the fact, ‘shall suffer;’ gave a synoptical history of persecution, by showing that Abel was the first martyr for the right — the Israelites’ sufferings. The prophets were stoned, were sawn usunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword, had to wander in deserts, mountains, dens, and caves of the earth, were driven from their houses, given to ferocious beasts, lashed to the stake, and destroyed in different ways. Spoke of John the Baptist; showed how he was persecuted, and what the charge. Christ was persecuted for doing what John was persecuted for not doing. Spoke of the sufferings of the apostles, and their final death; of Luther and his coadjutors; of the Wesleys and early Methodists; of Fox and the early Quakers; of the early settlers in the colonies of the United States. Noticed why the righteous were persecuted, the advantages thereof to the righteous themselves, and how they should treat their persecutors — with kindness, &c. Spoke, I suppose, some half an hour, and dismissed. Towards the close some of the rioters got quite angry, and yelled, ‘Stop him!’ ‘Pull him out!’ ‘The righteous were never persecuted for d — d abolitionism,’ &c. Some of them paid good attention to what I said. And thus we spent the time from twelve to three o’clock, and thus the meeting passed by.
“Brother dear, I am more and more confirmed in the righteousness of our cause. I would rather, much rather, die for good principles, than to have applause and honour for propagating false theories and abominations. You perhaps would like to know how I feel. Happy, most of the time. A religion that will not stand persecution will not take us to heaven. Blessed be God that I have not thus far been suffered to deny Him! Sometimes I have thought that I was nearly home. I generally feel a calmness of soul, but sometimes my enjoyments are rapturous. I have had a great burden of prayer for the dear flock; help me pray for them. Thank God, I have not heard of one of them giving up or turning; and I believe, some, if not most of them, would go to the stake rather than give back. I forgot to say I read a part of the fifth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles to the rioters, commencing at the 17th verse. I told them, if their institutions were of God, I could not harm them; that if our cause was of God, they could not stop it — that they could kill me, but they could not kill the truth. Though I talked plainly, I talked and felt kindly to them.
“I have had to write in such haste, and being fatigued and unwell, my letter is disconnected. I meant to give you a copy of the letter of the mob. Here it is:
“ ‘Mr. MC BRIDE:
“ ‘We, the subscribers, very and most respectfully request you not to attempt to fulfil your appointment at this place. If you do, you will surely be interrupted.’
“ ‘May 6, 1851.’ (Signed by 32 persons.)
“Some were professors of religion — Presbyterians, Episcopal Methodists, and Methodist Protestants. One of the latter was an ‘exhorter.’ I understand some of the crowd were negro-traders.
“Farewell, J. MC BRIDE.’
PART IV.
CHAPTER I.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE AMERICAN CHURCH ON SLAVERY.
THERE is no country in the world where the religious influence has a greater ascendancy than in America. There is no country where the clergy are more powerful. This is the more remarkable, because in America religion is entirely divorced from the State, and the clergy have none of those artificial means for supporting their influence which result from rank and wealth. Taken as a body of men, the American clergy are generally poor. The salaries given to them afford only a bare support, and yield them no means of acquiring property. Their style of living can be barely decent and respectable, and no more. The fact that, under these circumstances, the American clergy are probably the most powerful body of men in the country, is of itself a strong presumptive argument in their favour. It certainly argues in them, as a class, both intellectual and moral superiority.
It is a well-known fact that the influence of the clergy is looked upon by our statesmen as a most serious element in making up their political combinations; and that that influence is so great, that no statesman would ever undertake to carry a measure against which all the clergy of the country should unite. Such a degree of power, though it be only a power of opinion, argument, and example, is not without its dangers to the purity of any body of men. To be courted by political partisans is always a dangerous thing for the integrity and spirituality of men who profess to be governed by principles which are not of this world. The possession, too, of so great a power as we have described, involves a most weighty responsibility; since, if the clergy do possess the power to rectify any great national immorality, the fact of its not being done seems in some sort to bring the sin of the omission to their door.
We have spoken, thus far, of the clergy alone; but in America, where the clergyman is, in most denominations, elected by the church, and supported by its voluntary contributions, the influence of the church and that of the clergy are, to a very great extent, identical. The clergyman is the very ideal and expression of the church. They choose him, and retain him, because he expresses more perfectly than any other man they can obtain their ideas of truth and right. The clergyman is supported, in all cases, by his church, or else he cannot retain his position in it. The fact of his remaining there is generally proof of identity of opinion, since, if he differed very materially from them, they have the power to withdraw from him, and choose another.
The influence of a clergyman, thus retained by the free consent of the understanding and heart of his church, is in some respects greater even than that of a papal priest. The priest can control only by a blind spiritual authority, to which, very often, the reason demurs, while it yields an outward assent; but the successful free minister takes captive the affections of the heart by his affections, overrules the reasoning powers by superior strength of reason, and thus, availing himself of affection, reason, conscience, and the entire man, possesses a power, from the very freedom of the organisation, greater than can ever result from blind spiritual despotism. If a minister cannot succeed in doing this to some good extent in a church, he is called unsuccessful; and he who realises this description most perfectly has the highest and most perfect kind of power, and expresses the idea of a successful American minister.
In speaking, therefore, of this subject, we shall speak of the church and the clergy as identical, using the word church in the American sense of the word, for that class of men, of all denominations, who are organised in bodies distinct from nominal Christians, as professing to be actually controlled by the precepts of Christ.
What, then, is the influence of the church on this great question of slavery?
Certain things are evident on the very face of the matter
.
1. It has not put an end to it.
2. It has not prevented the increase of it.
3. It has not occasioned the repeal of the laws which forbid education to the slave.
4. It has not attempted to have laws passed forbidding the separation of families and legalising the marriage of slaves.
5. Is has not stopped the internal slave-trade.
6. It has not prevented the extension of this system, with all its wrongs, over new territories.
With regard to these assertions it is presumed there can be no difference of opinion.
What, then, have they done?
In reply to this, it can be stated —
1. That almost every one of the leading denominations have, at some time, in their collective capacity, expressed a decided disapprobation of the system, and recommended that something should be done with a view to its abolition.
2. One denomination of Christians has pursued such a course as entirely, and in fact, to free every one of its members from any participation in slave-holding. We refer to the Quakers. The course by which this result has been effected will be shown by a pamphlet soon to be issued by the poet J. G. Whittier, one of their own body.
3. Individual members, in all denominations, animated by the spirit of Christianity, have in various ways entered their protest against it.
Complete Works of Harriet Beecher Stowe Page 710