Slavery Ordained of God | Page 8

Ross_.--You gave the challenge, and I accept it.
_Dr. Wisner_.--I said I would argue it at a proper time; but it is no
matter. Go ahead.
_Dr. Beman_ hoped the discussion would be ruled out. He did not think
it a legitimate subject to go into,--Moses and the prophets, Christ and
his apostles, and all intermediate authorities, on the subject of what the

General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America had done.
Judge Jessup considered the question had been opened by this report of
the majority: after which _Dr. Beman_ withdrew his objection, and _Dr.
Ross_ proceeded.
I am not a slave-holder. Nay, I have shown some self-denial in that
matter. I emancipated slaves whose money-value would now be
$40,000. In the providence of God, my riches have entirely passed from
me. I do not mean that, like the widow, I gave all the living I had. My
estate was then greater than that slave-property. I merely wish to show I
have no selfish motive in giving, as I shall, the true Southern defence of
slavery. (Applause.) I speak from Huntsville, Alabama, my present
home. That gem of the South, that beautiful city where the mountain
softens into the vale,--where the water gushes, a great fountain, from
the rock,--where around that living stream there are streets of roses, and
houses of intelligence and gracefulness and gentlest hospitality,--and,
withal, where so high honor is ever given to the ministers of God.
Speaking then from that region where "_Cotton is king_," I affirm,
contrary as my opinion is to that most common in the South, that the
slavery agitation has accomplished and will do great good. I said so, to
ministerial and political friends, twenty-five years ago. I have always
favored the agitation,--just as I have always countenanced discussion
upon all subjects. I felt that the slavery question needed examination. I
believed it was not understood in its relations to the Bible and human
liberty. Sir, the light is spreading North and South. 'Tis said, I know,
this agitation has increased the severity of slavery. True, but for a
moment only, in the days of the years of the life of this noble problem.
Farmers tell us that deep ploughing in poor ground will, for a year or
two, give you a worse crop than before you went so deep; but that that
deep ploughing will turn up the under-soil, and sun and air and rain will
give you harvests increasingly rich. So, this moral soil, North and
South, was unproductive. It needed deep ploughing. For a time the
harvest was worse. Now it is becoming more and more abundant. The
political controversy, however fierce and threatening, is only for power.
But the moral agitation is for the harmony of the Northern and
Southern mind, in the right interpretations of Scripture on this great

subject, and, of course, for the ultimate union of the hearts of all
sensible people, to fulfil God's intention,--to bless the white man and
the black man in America. I am sure of this. I take a wide view of the
progress of the destiny of this vast empire. I see God in America. I see
him in the North and in the South. I see him more honored in the South
to-day than he was twenty-five years ago; and that that higher regard is
due, mainly, to the agitation of the slavery question. Do you ask how?
Why, sir, this is the how. Twenty-five years ago the religious mind of
the South was leavened by wrong Northern training, on the great point
of the right and wrong of slavery. Meanwhile, powerful intellects in the
South, following the mere light of a healthy good sense, guided by the
common grace of God, reached the very truth of this great
matter,--namely, that the relation of the master and slave is not sin; and
that, notwithstanding its admitted evils, it is a connection between the
highest and the lowest races of man, revealing influences which may be,
and will be, most benevolent for the ultimate good of the master and
the slave,--conservative on the Union, by preserving the South from all
forms of Northern fanaticism, and thereby being a great balance-wheel
in the working of the tremendous machinery of our experiment of
self-government. This seen result of slavery was found to be in absolute
harmony with the word of God. These men, then, of highest grade of
thought, who had turned in scorn from Northern notions, now see, in
the Bible, that these notions are false and silly. They now read the
Bible, never examined before, with growing respect. God is honored,
and his glory will be more and more in their salvation. These are some
of the moral consummations of this agitation in the South. The
development has been twofold