entire Christian and forgiving spirit towards those
involved in it; and it is these two characteristics which, in my
opinion, have given it its great power. Till I read that book, I had
never seen any extensive work that satisfied me on those points. It does
show, in the most striking manner, the horrible wrongfulness of the
system, and, at the same time, it displays no bitterness, no unfairness,
no unkindness, to those involved in it. It is that which gives the work
the greater power, for where there is unfairness, those assailed take
refuge behind it; while here they have no such refuge. We should always
aim, in assailing the system of slavery, to awaken the consciences of
those involved in it; for among slaveholders there are all kinds of
moral development, as among every other class of people in the world.
There are men of tender conscience, as well as men of blunted
conscience; men with moral sense, and men with no moral sense whatever;
some who have come into the system involuntarily, born in it, and others
who have come into it voluntarily. There is a moral nature in every man,
more or less developed; and according as it is developed we can, by
showing the wrong of a thing, bring one to abhor it. We have the
testimony of Christian clergymen in slave holding states, that the
greater portion of the Christian people there, and even many
slaveholders, believe the system is wrong; and it is only a matter of
time, a question of delay, as to when they shall perform their whole
duty, and bring it to an end.[I] One would believe that when they saw a
thing to be wrong, they would at once do right; but prejudice, habit,
interest, education, and a variety of influences check their aspirations
to what is right; but let us keep on pressing it upon their consciences,
and I believe their consciences will at length respond. Public sentiment
is more powerful than force, and it may be excited in many ways.
Conversation, the press, the platform, and the pulpit may all be used to
awaken the feeling of the people, and bring it to bear on this question.
I refer especially to the pulpit; for, if the church and the ministry
are silent, who is to speak for the dumb and the oppressed? The thing
that has borne on my mind with the most melancholy weight, and caused me
most sorrow, is the apparent apathy, the comparative silence, of the
church on this subject for the last twenty or five and twenty years in
the United States. Previous to that p