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LIFE AMONG THE LOWLY 561
connived at the extension of slavery, in our national body; the sons of the free States would not, as they do, trade the souls and bodies of men as an equivalent to money, in their mercantile dealings. There are multitudes of slaves temporarily owned, and sold again, by merchants in Northern cities; and shall the whole guilt or obloquy of slavery fall only on the South ?
Northern men, Northern mothers, Northern Christians, have something more to do than denounce their brethren at the South; they have to look to the evil among themselves.
But, what can any individual do ? Of that, every individual can judge. There is one thing that every individual can do, — they can see to it that they feel right. An atmosphere of sympathetic influence encircles every human being; and the man or woman who feels strongly, healthily, and justly on the great interests of humanity, is a constant benefactor to the human race. See, then, to your sympathies in this matter ! Are they in harmony with the sympathies of Christ ? or are they swayed and perverted by the sophistries of worldly policy ?
Christian men and women of the North ! still further, — you have another power ; you can pray ! Do you believe in prayer ? or has it become an indistinct apostolic tradition ? You pray for the heathen abroad ; pray also for the heathen at home. And pray for those distressed Christians whose whole chance of religious improvement is an accident of trade and sale; from whom any adherence to the morals of Christianity is, in many cases, an impossibility, unless they have given them, from above, the courage and grace of martyrdom.
But, still more. On the shores of our free States are emerging the poor, shattered, broken remnants of families, — men and women, escaped, by miraculous providences, from the surges of slavery, — feeble in knowledge, and, in many cases, infirm in moral constitution, from a system which confounds and confuses every principle of Christian- |
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