Complete Works of Harriet Beecher Stowe

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Complete Works of Harriet Beecher Stowe Page 725

by Harriet Beecher Stowe


  If we suffer our negroes to be instructed, the tendency will be to change the civil relations of society as now constituted.

  To which let it be replied, that we 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 that laid down by the holy and just One: “Render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s, and unto God the things which are God’s.” And Christ and his apostles are our example. Did they deem it proper and consistent with the good order of society to preach the gospel to the servants? They did. In discharge of this duty did they interfere with their civil condition? They did not.

  With regard to the description of heaven, and the torments of hell, the following is from Mr. Jones’s catechism, p, 91, 92: —

  Q. Are there two places only spoken of in the Bible to which the souls of men go after death? — A. Only two.

  Q. What are they? — A. Heaven and hell.

  * * * * * * *

  Q. After the Judgment is over, into what place do the righteous go? — A. Into heaven.

  Q. What kind of a place is heaven? — A. A most glorious and happy place.

  * * * * * * *

  Q. Shall the righteous in heaven have any more hunger, or thirst, or nakedness, or heat, or cold? Shall they have any more sin, or sorrow, or crying, or pain, or death? — A. No.

  Q. Repeat “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” — A. “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.”

  Q. Will heaven be their everlasting home? — A. Yes.

  Q. And shall the righteous grow in knowledge, and holiness, and happiness for ever and ever? — A. Yes.

  Q. To what place should we wish and strive to go, more than to all other places? — A. Heaven.

  * * * * * *

  Q. Into what place are the wicked to be cast? — A. Into hell.

  Q. Repeat “The wicked shall be turned.” — A. “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”

  Q. What kind of a place is hell? — A. A place of dreadful torments.

  Q. What does it burn with? — A. Everlasting fire.

  Q. Who are cast into hell besides wicked men? — A. The devil and his angels.

  Q. What will the torments of hell make the wicked do? — A. Weep, and wail, and gnash their teeth.

  Q. What did the rich man beg for when he was tormented in the flame? — A. A drop of cold water to cool his tongue.

  Q. Will the wicked have any good thing in hell? the least comfort? the least relief from torment? — A. No.

  Q. Will they ever come out of hell? — A. No, never.

  Q. Can any go from heaven to hell, or from hell to heaven? — A. No.

  Q. What is fixed between heaven and hell? — A. A great gulf.

  Q. What is the punishment of the wicked in hell called? — A. Everlasting punishment.

  Q. Will this punishment make them better? — A. No.

  Q. Repeat “It is a fearful thing.” — A. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

  Q. What is God said to be to the wicked? — A. A consuming fire.

  Q. What place should we strive to escape from above all others? — A. Hell.

  The Rev. Alex. Glennie, rector of All-saints parish, Waccamaw, South Carolina, has for several years been in the habit of preaching with express reference to slaves. In 1844 he published in Charleston a selection of these sermons, under the title of “Sermons preached on Plantations to Congregations of Negroes.” This book contains twenty-six sermons; and in twenty-two of them there is either a more or less extended account, or a reference to eternal misery in hell as a motive to duty. He thus describes the day of judgment (Sermon 15, ): —

  When all people shall be gathered before him, “He shall separate them, one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on the right hand, but the goats on the left.” That, my brethren, will be an awful time, when this separation shall be going on; when the holy angels, at the command of the Great Judge, shall be gathering together all the obedient followers of Christ, and be setting them on the right hand of the judgment-seat, and shall place all the remainder on the left. Remember that each of you must be present; remember that the Great Judge can make no mistake; and that you shall be placed on one side or on the other, according as in this world you have believed in and obeyed him or not. How full of joy and thanksgiving will you be, if you shall find yourself placed on the right hand! but how full of misery and despair, if the left shall be appointed as your portion!

  * * * * * * *

  But what shall he say to the wicked on the left hand? To them he shall say, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” He will tell them to depart; they did not, while here, seek him by repentance and faith; they did not obey him, and now he will drive them from him. He will call them cursed.

  (Sermon 1, .) The death which is the wages of sin is this everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. It is a fire which shall last for ever; and the devil and his angels, and all people who will not love and serve God, shall there be punished for ever. The Bible says, “The smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever.” The fire is not quenched, it never goes out, “their worm dieth not;” their punishment is spoken of as a worm always feeding upon but never consuming them; it never can stop.

  Concerning the absolute authority of the master, take the following extract from Bishop Meade’s sermon. (Brooke’s Slavery, p, 31, 32.)

  Having thus shown you the chief duties you owe to your great Master in heaven, I now come to lay before you the duties you owe to your masters and mistresses here upon earth; and for this you have one general rule that you ought always to carry in your minds, and that is, to do all service for them as if you did it for God himself. Poor creatures! you little consider, when you are idle and neglectful of your masters’ business, when you steal and waste and hurt any of their substance, when you are saucy and impudent, when you are telling them lies and deceiving them, or when you prove stubborn and sullen and will not do the work you are set about without stripes and vexation — you do not consider, I say, that what faults you are guilty of towards your masters and mistresses are faults done against God himself, who hath set your masters and mistresses over you in his own stead, and expects that you will do for them just as you would do for him. And pray do not think that I want to deceive you when I tell you that your masters and mistresses are God’s overseers, and that, if you are faulty towards them, God himself will punish you severely for it in the next world, unless you repent of it, and strive to make amends by your faithfulness and diligence for the time to come; for God himself hath declared the same.

  Now, from this general rule — namely, that you are to do all service for your masters and mistresses as if you did it for God himself — there arise several other rules of duty towards your masters and mistresses, which I shall endeavour to lay out in order before you.

  And, in the first place, you are to be obedient and subject to your masters in all things. . . . And Christian ministers are commanded to “exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things, not answering them again, or gainsaying.” You see how strictly God requires this of you, that whatever your masters and mistresses order you to do, you must set about it immediately, and faithfully perform it, without any disputing or grumbling, and take care to please them well in all things. And for your encouragement he tells you that he will reward you for it in heaven; because, while you are honestly and faithfully doing your master’s business here, you are serving your Lord and Master in heaven. You see also that you are not to take any exceptions to the behaviour of your masters and mistresses; and that you are to be subject and obedient, not only to such as a
re good, and gentle, and mild towards you, but also to such as may be froward, peevish, and hard. For you are not at liberty to choose your own masters; but into whatever hands God hath been pleased to put you, you must do your duty, and God will reward you for it.

  * * * * *

  You are to be faithful and honest to your masters and mistresses, not purloining or wasting their goods or substance, but showing all good fidelity in all things. . . . Do not your masters, under God, provide for you? And how shall they be able to do this, to feed and to clothe you, unless you take honest care of everything that belongs to them? Remember that God requires this of you; and, if you are not afraid of suffering for it here, you cannot escape the vengeance of Almighty God, who will judge between you and your masters, and make you pay severely in the next world for all the injustice you do them here. And though you could manage so cunningly as to escape the eyes and hands of man, yet think what a dreadful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God, who is able to cast both soul and body into hell!

  You are to serve your masters with cheerfulness, reverence, and humility. You are to do your masters’ service with good will, doing it as the will of God from the heart, without any sauciness or answering again. How many of you do things quite otherwise, and, instead of going about your work with a good will and a good heart, dispute and grumble, give saucy answers, and behave in a surly manner! There is something so becoming and engaging in a modest, cheerful, good-natured behaviour, that a little work done in that manner seems better done, and gives far more satisfaction, than a great deal more, that must be done with fretting, vexation, and the lash always held over you. It also gains the good will and love of those you belong to, and makes your own life pass with more case and pleasure. Besides, you are to consider that this grumbling and ill-will does not affect your masters and mistresses only. They have ways and means in their hands of forcing you to do your work, whether you are willing or not. But your murmuring and grumbling is against God, who hath placed you in that service, who will punish you severely in the next world for despising his commands.

  A very awful query here occurs to the mind. If the poor, ignorant slave, who wastes his master’s temporal goods to answer some of his own present purposes, be exposed to this heavy retribution, what will become of those educated men who, for their temporal convenience, make and hold in force laws which rob generation after generation of men, not only of their daily earnings, but of all their rights and privileges as immortal beings?

  The Rev. Mr. Glennie, in one of his sermons, as quoted by Mr. Bowditch, page 137, assures his hearers that none of them will be able to say, in the day of judgment, “I had no way of hearing about my God and Saviour.”

  Bishop Meade, as quoted by Brooke, p, 35, thus expatiates to slaves on the advantages of their condition. One would really think, from reading this account, that everyone ought to make haste and get himself sold into slavery, as the nearest road to heaven.

  Take care that you do not fret or murmur, grumble or repine, at your condition; for this will not only make your life uneasy, but will greatly offend Almighty God. Consider that it is not yourselves, it is not the people that you belong to, it is not the men that have brought you to it, but it is the will of God, who hath, by his providence, made you servants, because, no doubt, he knew that condition would be best for you in this world, and help you the better towards heaven, if you would but do your duty in it. So that any discontent at your not being free, or rich, or great, as you see some others, is quarrelling with your heavenly Muster, and finding fault with God himself, who hath made you what you are, and hath promised you as large a share in the kingdom of heaven as the greatest man alive, if you will but behave yourself aright, and do the business he hath set you about in this world honestly and cheerfully. Riches and power have proved the ruin of many an unhappy soul, by drawing away the heart and affections from God, and fixing them on mean and sinful enjoyments; so that when God, who knows our hearts better than we know them ourselves, sees that they would be hurtful to us, and therefore keeps them from us, it is the greatest mercy and kindness he could show us.

  You may, perhaps, fancy that, if you had riches and freedom, you could do your duty to God and man with greater pleasure than you can now. But pray consider that, if you can but save your souls through the mercy of God, you will have spent your time to the best of purposes in this world; and he that at last can get to heaven has performed a noble journey, let the road be ever so rugged and difficult. Besides, you really have a great advantage over most white people, who have not only the care of their daily labour upon their hands, but the care of looking forward and providing necessaries for to-morrow and next day, and of clothing and bringing up their children, and of getting food and raiment for as many of you as belong to their families, which often puts them to great difficulties, and distracts their minds so as to break their rest, and take off their thoughts from the affairs of another world. Whereas, you are quite eased from all these cares, and have nothing but your daily labour to look after, and, when that is done, take your needful rest. Neither is it necessary for you to think of laying up anything against old age, as white people are obliged to do; for the laws of the country have provided that you shall not be turned off when you are past labour, but shall be maintained, while you live, by those you belong to, whether you are able to work or not.

  Bishop Meade further consoles slaves thus for certain incidents of their lot, for which they may think they have more reason to find fault than for most others. The reader must admit that he takes a very philosophical view of the subject.

  There is only one circumstance which may appear grievous, that I shall now take notice of, and that is correction.

  Now, when correction is given you, you either deserve it or you do not deserve it; but whether you really deserve it or not, it is your duty, and Almighty God requires, that you bear it patiently. You may, perhaps, think that this is hard doctrine; but if you consider it right, you must needs think otherwise of it. Suppose, then, that you deserve correction, you cannot but say that it is just and right you should meet with it. Suppose you do not, or at least you do not deserve so much, or so severe a correction, for the fault you have committed, you perhaps have escaped a great many more, and at last paid for all. Or, suppose you are quite innocent of what is laid to your charge, and suffer wrongfully in that particular thing; is it not possible you may have done some other bad thing which was never discovered, and that Almighty God, who saw you doing it, would not let you escape without punishment one time or another? And ought you not in such a case to give glory to Him, and be thankful that He would rather punish you in this life for your wickedness than destroy your souls for it in the next life? But suppose even this was not the case (a case hardly to be imagined), and that you have by no means, known or unknown, deserved the correction you suffered; there is this great comfort in it, that if you bear it patiently, and leave your cause in the hands of God, he will reward you for it in heaven, and the punishment you suffer unjustly here shall turn to your exceeding great glory hereafter.

  That Bishop Meade has no high opinion of the present comforts of a life of slavery, may be fairly inferred from the following remarks which he makes to slaves: —

  Your own poor circumstances in this life ought to put you particularly upon this, and taking care of your souls, for you cannot have the pleasures and enjoyments of this life like rich free people, who have estates and money to lay out as they think fit. If others will run the hazard of their souls, they have a chance of getting wealth and power, of heaping up riches, and enjoying all the ease, luxury, and pleasure their hearts should long after; but you can have none of these things, so that, if you sell your souls for the sake of what poor matters you can get in this world, you have made a very foolish bargain indeed.

  This information is certainly very explicit and to the point. He continues: —

  Almighty God hath been pleased to make you slaves here, and to give you nothing but labo
ur and poverty in this world, which you are obliged to submit to, as it is his will that it should be so. And think within yourselves what a terrible thing it would be, after all your labours and sufferings in this life, to be turned into hell in the next life, and, after wearing out your bodies in service here, to go into a far worse slavery when this is over, and your poor souls be delivered over into the possession of the devil, to become his slaves for ever in hell, without any hope of ever getting free from it. If, therefore, you would be God’s freemen in heaven, you must strive to be good and serve him here on earth. Your bodies, you know, are not your own — they are at the disposal of those you belong to; but your precious souls are still your own, which nothing can take from you if it be not your own fault. Consider well, then, that if you lose your souls by leading idle wicked lives here, you have got nothing by it in this world, and you have lost your all in the next. For your idleness and wickedness is generally found out, and your bodies suffer for it here; and, what is far worse, if you do not repent and amend, your unhappy souls will suffer for it hereafter.

  Mr. Jones, in that part of the work where he is obviating the objections of masters to the Christian instruction of their slaves, supposes the master to object thus: —

  You teach them that “God is no respecter of persons;” that “He hath made of one blood all nations of men,” “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself;” “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them;” what use, let me ask, would they make of these sentences from the gospel?

  Mr. Jones says: —

  Let it be replied that the effect urged in the objection might result from imperfect and injudicious religious instruction; indeed, religious instruction may be communicated with the express design, on the part of the instructor, to produce the effect referred to, instances of which have occurred.

  But you will say that neglect of duty and insubordination are legitimate effects of the gospel, purely and sincerely imparted to servants? Has it not in all ages been viewed as the greatest civiliser of the human race?

 

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