Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker Slavery volume 5 .djvu/95

Rh the African? I found him a barbarian. I have made him a beast. Lo, there Thou hast what is thine." That voice shall speak again: "America, why dost thou use him thus—thine equal, born with rights the same as thine?"

America may answer: "Lord, I knew not the negro had a right to freedom. I rejoiced to eat the labours of the slave; my great men. North and South, they told me slavery was no wrong; I knew no better, but believed their word, for they are great, Lord, and excellent."

That same voice may answer yet again, quoting the nation's earliest and most patriotic words: "All men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights—the right to life, to liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' America, what further falsehood wilt thou speak?"

The nation may reply again: "True, Lord, all that is written in the nation's creed, writ by my greatest spirits in their greatest hour. But since then, why, holy men have come and told me in Thy name that slavery was good; was right; that Thou thyself didst once establish it on earth, and He who spoke Thy words spoke nought against this thing. I have believed these men, for they are holy men, Lord, and excellent."

Then may that Judge of all the earth take down the Gospel from the pulpit's desk, and read these few plain words: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart; and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Whatsoever ye would that others should do to you, do also even so to them."

Further might He speak and say: "While the poor Mussulman, whom thou call'st pagan and shut'st out from heaven, sets free all men, how much more art thou thyself condemned; yea, by the Bible which thou sendest to the outcasts of the world?" Across the stage of time the nations pass in the solemn pomp of their historical procession; what kingly forms sweep by, leading the nations of the past, the present age! Let them pass—their mingled good and ill. A great people now comes forth, the newest born of nations, the latest hope of mankind, the heir of sixty centuries—the bridegroom of the virgin West. First come those Pilgrims, few and far between, who knelt on the sands of a wilder-