tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65451562224414964742024-03-13T22:03:30.352-07:00Redemptive ThoughtsWESLEYAN IN THEOLOGY, EVANGELICAL TO THE CORE,CONSERVATIVE IN OUTLOOK,PROLIFE, AND UNEVOLVED.
YOU CAN FOLLOW THIS BLOG ON TWITTER AT @JohnGuthrie18Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.comBlogger462125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-81893071817595459512023-12-07T14:22:00.000-08:002023-12-07T14:22:30.555-08:00CHURCH SIGNS I HAVE SEENFrom a church sign I saw in my home town:
"When fleeing temptation, don't give in to the temptation to leave a forwarding address."Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-53224192072136610792022-07-06T03:00:00.001-07:002022-07-06T03:00:00.157-07:00THIS POST HAS AGED WELLThis post from 12/2007 surfaced to my conscious memory the other day. Written when this blog was just a year old, #VladimirPutin 's war in #Ukraine has proved my point as to how to deal with the Russian leader. Obama didn't understand this when <a href="">he negotiated arms treaties with him. </a> He especially didn't understand this when he allowed Putin to invade Ukraine and then<a href=""> not supply the Ukrainians any leathal weapons to defend themselves.</a> And of course, #PresidentBiden and the entire #BidenFamily have received much in profit from #HunterBiden 's business dealings.
https://www.redemptivethoughts.com/2007/12/who-you-invite-to-dinner-speaks-volumes.htmlMr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-60494881820373429722022-01-10T15:08:00.000-08:002022-01-10T15:08:28.725-08:00THE AGE WE LIVE INWe live in an age that demands we accept the notion that a man can have a baby, but scoffs at the idea that God Himself through the Holy Spirit can cause a young girl to give birth to God's own Son. Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-81768973629790877652021-12-28T15:33:00.002-08:002021-12-28T15:33:34.508-08:00ART CRITICS"Art criticism is never really about the art itself. It is about the critics." (John Guthrie) Hey, that's me!Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-88761220379296372752021-12-18T11:08:00.005-08:002021-12-18T11:08:50.543-08:00I'M STILL HEREI hope to resume blogging in the near future.Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-12539503215242556552020-07-16T06:00:00.000-07:002020-07-16T06:00:00.304-07:00THE GOD WHO SEES USA Jewish legend. One day, a skeptical man sets out to test the first-century sage Rabban Gamaliel II. Where, he asks Gamaliel, does your God reside?
“I do not know,” Gamaliel replies.
“Is this your wisdom,” the man scoffs, “the wisdom of the people who pray to God every day yet do not know where his place is?” Wouldn’t it make more sense, he goes on, “to bow down to the work of our own hands, since we can always see it?”
“You see the work of your own hands,” an irate Gamaliel retorts, “but it cannot see you.”
From a Commentary Magazine article by Sohran Ahmari entitled They Blinded Us With Science. Here is the link (for some reason, I can't provide the links in the usual way):
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/sohrab-ahmari/they-blinded-us-with-science/
Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-55402746441930304712020-07-08T03:00:00.000-07:002020-07-08T16:53:57.987-07:00JOHN ADAMS' ADVICE TO TWITTERERS, BLOGGERS, AND FACEBOOK USERSJohn Adams, Founding Father, this nations first Vice-President (1789-1797) and second President (1797-1801), wrote the following to his useless excuse for a son in law. Of course, Adams never sent a tweet or updated a Facebook page, but what he wrote is still good advice for those who like to share their whole lives with a global audience:
"Tell not of your prosperity, because it will make two men mad to one man glad; nor tell of your adversity, for it will make two men glad to one sad." From John Adams (vol. ii) by Page Smith Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-70635590125667327162020-06-05T06:00:00.000-07:002020-06-05T07:36:27.230-07:00HARD TO BELIEVE: THE FORCED ORGAN HARVESTING AMONG THE FALUN GONG<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/03/world/europe/backlash-china-coronavirus.html">There has been a great shift in global public opinion concerning China.</a> Up to a few months ago, China was viewed favorably. Its products were available everywhere and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2020/04/07/new-data-shows-us-companies-are-definitely-leaving-china/#7ed4c1b140fe">many countries moved their manufacturing base to China</a> to capitalize on its lower cost of production and less stringent labor laws. In the name of growth, <a href="http://www.redemptivethoughts.com/2017/12/christian-persecution-around-world.html">China's human rights record </a>has been papered over by Federal, State, and local politicians and business leaders. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/01/world/asia/china-coronavirus.html">That has changed due to China's handling of the Corona,or Wuhan Virus</a>. We know now that China kept the world in the dark concerning the virus, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/disaster-motion-flights-coronavirus-ravaged-countries-landed-us/story?id=70025470">allowing international flights out of China</a>. This constituted an intentional act to spread the virus world-wide. We also know that China's Communist Party (CCP) <a href="https://www.jpost.com/international/the-who-sick-with-the-uns-corruption-virus-627012">corrupted the World Health Organization (WHO) </a>so that the WHO's response served the CCP's interests. Americans have woken up to the fact that our politicians and business leaders have allowed us to become dependent upon China for vital goods, such as most of our drugs and medical supplies.<br />
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As the world's opinion of China changes, it would be a good time for me to bring to your attention a 2016 documentary, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR5o43zZSiA&feature=youtu.be">Hard to Believe</a>. This well made documentary exposes China's evil practice of forced organ harvesting by the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/the-world-is-waking-up-to-the-character-of-the-chinese-communist-party/2020/05/14/e6205c1e-9615-11ea-91d7-cf4423d47683_story.html">CCP</a>, mainly on those who follow the religion called <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2018/09/05/what-is-falun-gong">Falun Gong</a> , but also among the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-50511063">Uighur Muslims </a>and <a href="https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/stories/fourth-large-house-church-in-china-shut-down-banned/">House Church Evangelical Christians</a>. <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-faith-column/2008/08/falun-gong-party-chinese">The CCP has a particular fear of the Falun Gong movement. </a>According to journalist <a href="https://ethan-gutmann.com/">Ethan Guttman</a> who is featured in Hard to Believe, at any one time, there are always around 1/2 to 1 million Falun Gong in Chinese labor camps. The CCP removes organs from these prisoners and sells them to foreigners willing to pay large sums to save themselves or loved ones. One former doctor, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/06/17/british-government-ignored-chinese-organ-harvesting-tribunal/">Enver Tohti</a>, described how he and a medical team were directed to remove the organs of a prisoner who was to be executed. The prisoner was shot so as to avoid the heart. Canadian human rights lawyer <a href="https://endtransplantabuse.org/founders/">David Matas</a> states that people have paid up to $30,000 for corneas, $62,000 for kidneys, $130,000 for livers, and $160,000 for hearts. Matas estimates that 40,000 Chinese prisoners have been killed for their organs in a six year period. Israeli doctor <a href="https://www.healtheuropa.eu/forced-organ-harvesting-this-is-beyond-understanding/96933/">Jacob Lavee</a> discovered that these black market transplants were covered by medical insurance in Israel. Lavee and others led a successful campaign to end that practice. But in the United States, little has been done to end this barbaric behavior. How did this behavior become accepted? Money, money, and more money. Various western interests have sacrificed the moral duty to speak out against China's atrocities to the almighty dollar, or pound, or euro.<br />
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Hard to Believe runs 54:45. HT: I don't remember; I saved the link to Hard to Believe some time back. It could have been <a href="https://www.youtube.com/chinauncensored">China Uncensored</a>, or <a href="https://www.helenraleighspeaks.com/">Helen Raleigh. </a>A website on the CCP's horrific practices is Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting. My computer cannot connect to its website, so I'll provide its twitter address, <a href="https://twitter.com/DAFOH_org">@DAFOH_org</a>Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-58350108089498733872020-05-26T06:00:00.000-07:002020-05-26T06:36:24.050-07:00ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: A QUICK PRIMER ON THE TACTICS OF CHRISTIAN PERSECUTIONIn February, Rep. <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/faith-values/was-aoc-correct-when-she-suggested-all-religions-worship-the-same-god-experts-weigh-in">Alexandria</a> <a href="https://onenewsnow.com/church/2019/05/22/land-aocs-anti-christian-tweets-reflect-arrogance-and-ignorance">Ocasio</a>-Cortez (D-NY) gave a short speech proscribing how people of faith should conduct themselves. She delivered this speech at a House of Representatives' hearing on the Trump Administration's policies on same-sex and transgender issues. She brought up the case of Evan Minton, a transgender person, who unsuccessfully applied to a <a href="https://www.dignityhealth.org/ourlocations">Catholic hospital in California</a> to have a hysterectomy. Even though Evan Minton was successful in having one at another hospital, Evan Minton sued the Catholic hospital for discrimination. A trial court sided with the hospital,<a href="http://www.usccb.org/about/doctrine/ethical-and-religious-directives/"> which stated that it does not perform sterilization procedures and this policy is protected by its First Amendment rights</a>. The First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco overturned the trial court decision, ruling that Minton was illegally denied medical care. The Court of Appeal stated that it made no difference if the hospital was motivated by religious conviction. <a href="https://www.cmadocs.org/newsroom/news/view/ArticleID/28169/t/Appeals-court-rules-that-transgender-man-denied-hysterectomy-can-sue-hospital-for-discrimination">Here is a link</a> to the background of the case. The source is actually a site supportive of Minton's legal argument.<br />
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In her <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuvEzMybwus&feature=emb_title">3:44 second speech</a>, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez begins by stating she doesn't know whether to speak as a legislator or as a women of faith (1st 18 seconds). I'll let that pass with a question: are the two mutually exclusive?<br />
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From 19-53 seconds, she introduces the theme by which she hopes to suppress Evangelical belief in the innate differences between men and women. She declares that scripture is being used to "weaponize" bigotry. She correctly points out that slave holders, white supremacists, and those who opposed integrating schools claimed the Bible supported their bigoted views on race. But then she engages in the progressive canard that links the Church's traditional views on sexuality and gender differences with racial discrimination. Her aim is to shame Evangelicals into silence on these issues as well as justify government harassment of those Evangelicals who dare to oppose her viewpoint. Later on, she will use the Minton case to further her objectives. <br />
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From 54 seconds to 1:30, the Congresswoman speaks of Christ's message: loving our neighbor and our enemy, welcoming strangers into our midst. She quotes Jesus telling the Disciples that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. She then declares that if Jesus proclaimed this message in the halls of Congress, he would be maligned as a radical and would not be welcome. Lets us suppose for a second that Jesus' message and Rep. Ocasio-Cortez's progressive economics are one and the same. If that is the case, how did she manage to become a member of Congress? But her message and Jesus' are not one and the same, and I digress. From 1:31 to 2:04, Ocasio-Cortez declares that all people are holy, all people are sacred. Unconditionally. It is this belief, she claims, that transforms us. I know these were only opening remarks, but she gives us no grounds to agree that all men and women are holy. She doesn't define what a holy or sacred person is.<br />
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All people are sacred in that we are all created in the image of the triune God (Gen 1: 26-28). But a person is not to be considered holy irregardless of how that person lives. A holy person is one who lives out holiness in their own bodies, their own conduct. "Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy.' " (1Pet. 1: 13-16, NKJV) All Christ followers are transformed, but not because of their beliefs concerning others. In Gal. 2:20, Paul reveals the source of our transformation: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." (NKJV)<br />
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From 2:05-2:30, the Congresswoman speaks in general terms in her attempt to stigmatize the Catholic hospital for not performing a hysterectomy on Evan Minton. She states that there is nothing holy about a hospital refusing to give medical care to those in need. Then from 2:31-3:20, she goes in for the rhetorical kill. She specifically links the Catholic hospital's course of action to religious bigotry and sexual discrimination. She states that Evan Minton should receive the same treatment she would be entitled to. According to her, the hospital refused treatment because Evan Minton is transgender, not because of any Christian convictions. And when any Christian institution, or individual Christian, defends religious liberty, it is only to support bigotry. So says Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. When a Christian institution defends its First Amendment rights, it is because that institution has been weaponized. And she is tired of this. In other words: Christians, don't dare defend your right to practice your beliefs because the Congresswoman has declared her intention to shame you into submission. And if shame fails to produce the desired outcome, government power will be employed to coerce conformity to progressive ideals. She even confers upon herself the power to decide what is a true community of faith, and what is a corrupted, or weaponized Christian institution. Religious convictions are nothing more than excuses to discriminate. So much for considering traditional Christians 'holy and sacred.." <br />
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Some Christians might object to my use of the term "Christian Persecution" to describe Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's use of her office to shame traditional Christianity into silence and submission. They might accuse me of trivializing the trials of our brothers and sisters overseas. I understand that. I used to agree with them. My position concerning the use of the term has changed. I will address why I changed my position in a future post. Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-28073668107741442202020-05-05T13:11:00.001-07:002020-05-05T13:11:25.260-07:00A.W. TOZER CONFRONTS "THE OPENNESS OF GOD THEOLOGY"No. <a href="https://awtozer.com/">A.W. Tozer</a> never commented on <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/thomas-odens-charge-of-heresy-concerning-the-denial-of-gods-foreknowledge">"The Openness of God" theology, or "Openness theology."</a> This theology developed long after <a href="http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/viewcat.php?cid=6">A.W. Tozer</a> went to heaven. Openness theology claims that God is not omniscient in knowledge concerning the future, therefore the future contains several contingencies. While <a href="https://www.awtozerclassics.com/page/page/4891818.htm">Tozer</a> did not have any contact with openness theology, he certainly had a theological response to it, as well as the notion that God could not determine the future. Writing about God's infinitude, Tozer states:<br />
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If there were a point where God stopped, then God wouldn't be perfect. For instance, if God knew almost everything, but not quite everything, then God wouldn't be perfect in knowledge. His understanding wouldn't be infinite, as it says in Psalm 147:5. <br />
Let us take all that can be known--past, present and future, spiritual, psychic and physical--everywhere throughout the universe. And let us say God knows all of it except one percent--He knows ninety-nine percent of all that can be known. I'd be embarrassed to go to Heaven and look into the face of a God that didn't know everything. He has to know it all, or I can't worship Him. I cant worship that which is not perfect.<br />
What about power? If God had all the power there is except a little bit, and if somebody else had a little bit of power hoarded that God couldn't get to, then we couldn't worship God. We couldn't say this God is of infinite power because He wouldn't be of infinite power; He'd just be close to it. While He would be more powerful than any other being and perhaps even more powerful than all the beings of the universe lumped together, He still would have a defect, and therefore He couldn't be God. Our God is perfect--perfect in knowledge and power. <br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Attributes-God-Study-Guide-Journey/dp/1600661297">Attributes of God, vol. 1.</a>Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-32390715394637185712020-04-23T03:00:00.000-07:002020-04-23T07:22:06.124-07:00A WORD FROM JOHN WESLEY AND OSWALD CHAMBERS CONCERNING "SINLESS" PERFECTIONFrom <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Conformed-His-Image-Servant-Lord/dp/1572930209">Conformed to His Image</a> by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswald_Chambers">Oswald Chambers</a>:<br />
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"The doctrine of sinless perfection and consequent freedom from temptation runs on the line that because I am sanctified, I cannot now do wrong. If that is so, you cease to be a man. If God put us in such a condition that we could not disobey, our obedience would be of no value to Him. But blessed be His name when by His redemption the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, He gives us something to do to manifest it. Just as human nature is put to the test in the actual circumstances of life, so the love of God in us is put to the test. 'Keep yourselves in the love of God,' says Jude, that is keep your soul open not only to the fact that God loves you, but that He is <i>in </i>you, in you sufficiently to manifest His perfect love in every condition in which you can find yourself as you rely upon Him."<br />
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Critics of <a href="https://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley">John Wesley'</a>s doctrine of Sanctification, or Perfect Love, maintain that the doctrine claims that those who have been sanctified have reached a state of "sinless" perfection. Unfortunately, that misconception has mislead many in Wesleyan holiness fellowships. When I was in seminary, another student spoke in class concerning a person in his congregation who claimed to have been sanctified twenty years before and had not sinned since. This quote from Chambers serves as an adequate rebuke to such foolish thinking. I don't know if Chambers' views on sanctification matched Wesley's, or if he attributed to Wesley the erroneous notion of "sinless" perfection. But if you believe that Wesley taught such a notion, read these quotes from John Wesley's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Plain-Account-Christian-Perfection/dp/1494793350">A Plain Account of Christian Perfection</a>, and decide for yourself if Chamber's quote would have been approved by Wesley:<br />
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“We...believe that there is no such perfection in this life, as implies an entire deliverance, either from ignorance, or mistake, in things not essential to salvation, or from manifold temptations, or from numberless infirmities, which the corruptible body more or less presses down on the soul. We cannot find any ground in Scripture to suppose, that any inhabitant of a house of clay is wholly exempt from bodily infirmities, or from ignorance of many things; or to imagine any is incapable of mistake, or falling into many temptations.”<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“In one sense we do not, while all our tempers, and thoughts, and words, and works, spring from love. But in another we do, and shall do, more or less, as long as we remain in the body. For neither love nor the ‘unction of the Holy One’ makes us infallible: therefore, through unavoidable defect of understanding, we cannot but mistake in many things. And these mistakes will frequently occasion something wrong, both in our temper, and words, and actions. From mistaking his character, we may love a person less than he really deserves. And by the same mistake we are unavoidably led to speak or act, with regard to that person, in such a manner as is contrary to this law in some or other of the preceding instances.” </span></div>
Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-18398517171648340682020-04-21T03:00:00.000-07:002020-04-21T03:00:00.657-07:00A WORD FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS ON THE IMPUTATION OF RIGHTEOUSNESSFrom <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Conformed-His-Image-Servant-Lord/dp/1572930209">Conformed to His Image</a> by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswald_Chambers">Oswald Chambers:</a><br />
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" '<i>...unto whom God imputed righteousness without works. Romans iv, 6.'</i><br />
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To impute means 'to attribute vicariously' ; it is a theological word.The revelation made by the Apostle Paul, viz, that God imputes righteousness to us, is the great truth at the basis of all our Protestant theology; we are apt to forget this today. Righteousness means living and acting in accordance with right and justice, that is, it must express itself in a man's bodily life. 'Little children, let no man deceive you: he that <i>doeth </i>righteousness is righteous' (1 John iii, 7). Imputed righteousness must never be made to mean that God puts the robe of His righteousness over our moral wrong, like a snow drift over a rubbish heap; that He pretends we are all right when we are not. The revelation is that 'Christ Jesus is made unto us, righteousness' ; it is the distinct impartation of the very life of Jesus on the ground of the Atonement, enabling me to walk in the light, as God is in the light, and as long as I remain in the light God sees only the perfections of His Son. We are ' accepted in the Beloved.' " <br />
<br />Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-77754732683587309642020-04-02T10:25:00.001-07:002020-04-02T10:32:47.474-07:00WESLEY BIBLICAL SEMINARY HAS A NEW PRESIDENTAs a 2004 graduate of <a href="https://wbs.edu/">Wesley Biblical Seminary</a>, I like to stay informed about whats going on in the life of the seminary. WBS has just announced the selection of a new President. He is <a href="https://wbs.edu/president/?fbclid=IwAR0NkD0XwHdrlu63YJ_9Z8eN8LeWu-n-qBFkpkIQwsoMM0YI4y66PFulCLw">Dr. Matt Ayers</a>. He has degrees from <a href="https://www.asbury.edu/">Asbury University</a>, WBS, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_John%27s_College,_Nottingham">St. Johns College in Nottingham.</a> He has served the past eight years as President of <a href="https://emmaus.edu.ht/">Emmaus University of Haiti</a>. He has written extensively on holiness and other aspects of Wesleyan theology. He has also published articles on the Old Testament in numerous academic journals. Dr. Ayers follows Dr. John Neihof as President. Dr. Neihof passed away suddenly last year. My prayers go out to Dr. Ayers and WBS as they embark on a new chapter in WBS's history. Thanks to <a href="https://asburyseminary.edu/">Asbury Seminary </a>professor and former WBS professor, <a href="http://www.francisasburysociety.com/speakers/oswalt/">Dr. John N. Oswalt</a>, who served as interim President this past year.<br />
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Also, WBS has partnered with other institutions to form the <a href="https://jcwcenter.org/">John and Charles Wesley Center</a>, a site dedicated to promoting Wesleyan theology in a 21st century context. The center has produced an outstanding series of devotions for Lent. They can be found at the website's link provided above.Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-27240461933430999032019-04-30T03:00:00.026-07:002022-07-05T15:27:36.334-07:00HUM AUR TUM, OR, IS 'OLD' BOLLYWOOD SMARTER THAN UNIVERSITY PROGRESSIVES? As I return to blogging, I never thought I would illustrate a point with a link to a Bollywood musical number.<br />
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Hum Aur Tum is a romantic song from the film <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daag_(1973_film)">Daag </a>(1973) starring <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajesh_Khanna">Rajesh Khanna</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharmila_Tagore">Sharmila Tagore</a>. From the little information I could find, the title beginning the song and the second line could be translated as "I am the man, you are the woman," "You are the woman, I am the man," or, "I am the man, you are my woman." If the song expresses sexist stereotypes, I wouldn't know, since I don't know the words to the whole song. However, I can say that the song does contain one assumption that should be evident to all. That assumption being that there are innate differences between men and women. Furthermore, declaring oneself to be the biological opposite of the gender you are born with cannot make you become someone of the opposite sex. This should not be a controversial statement. But it is in some quarters. Especially among progressives who have taken over our universities and social media.<br />
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If you doubt me on this, let me bring the trials of <a href="https://www.carolinefarrow.net/">Caroline Farrow</a> , to your attention. She is a British Catholic who debated a mother whose son now claims to be a female. During the debate, Caroline Farrow referred to the woman's son as him or his. The mother threatened legal action against Farrow and a vicious social media campaign has made Farrow's life and that of her family miserable. She has even been contacted by the police. After several weeks, the police informed her that she would not be prosecuted.<br />
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<a href="https://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/blog-details/allianceedge/2019/02/13/read-what-two-former-students-wrote-to-a-professor-punished-for-refusing-to-call-a-man-a-woman">Or take the example of the American professor, Dr. Nicholas Meriwether</a>. Here is how the <a href="https://www.adflegal.org/">Alliance Defending Freedom</a>, which is representing him, described his circumstances:<br />
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"Dr. Nicholas Meriwether has served as a philosophy professor at <a href="http://www.shawnee.edu/">Shawnee State University </a>for over 20 years.</div>
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And until recently, he did so without a blemish on his record. Last fall, however, Shawnee State launched an investigation into Dr. Meriwether, formally punished him, and placed a warning in his file – claiming he “created a hostile environment.”</div>
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So what changed?</div>
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Dr. Meriwether refers to his students as “sir” or “ma’am” or by a title (Mr. or Miss, for example) followed by their last name. He does this to create a respectful environment in the classroom.</div>
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But this considerate practice is exactly what landed him in trouble with university officials.</div>
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One day after class, a male student approached Dr. Meriwether and demanded to be referred to by female pronouns because the student identifies as a woman. When Dr. Meriwether did not immediately agree to do so, the student became aggressive, circling around him, getting in his face, and threatening to get Dr. Meriwether fired. The student then filed a complaint with the university.</div>
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As a Christian, Dr. Meriwether believes that God has created humans in his image, as male or female. So, he offered a compromise. He would refer to the student by first or last name only – respecting his own convictions as well as the student’s.</div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "merriweather" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">But that was not enough for Shawnee State officials. They demanded that Dr. Meriwether refer to this student as a woman or risk losing his job."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "merriweather" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">So we see that the Christian expression of what is evident to the overwhelming majority of humanity is under attack in the United States, the United Kingdom, and in Europe. And the time will come when those targeting any expression of the differences between men and women will target other cultures. Even "new" Bollywood may be forced to change its tune. (For all I know, it already has. I don't watch anything Bollywood has produced after 1980.) So, enjoy Hum Aur Tum, even if you don't know the words, and other songs with similar themes, while you can. (I particularly enjoy the part starting at 31 seconds to 36 seconds; Sharmila Tagore has a killer smile. I always get a kick out of the ending, 3:23 - 3:40.) These songs not only celebrate the differences between men and women, they would not exist without the acknowledgement of those differences. While many progressives can't accept something so obvious, at least Bollywood gets it. At least "Old" Bollywood does. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "merriweather" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Here is the link to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FVg7iwaxNI">Hum Aur Tum</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "merriweather" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><b>Update: </b>Dr. Meriwether , represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, filed a suit against Shawnee State. Unfortunately, the judge in the case sided with the University, ruling that Dr. Meriwether can be compelled to express beliefs he does not hold. Dr. Meriwether and his legal team plan to appeal. See here for a <a href="https://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/blog-details/allianceedge/2020/03/12/this-philosophy-professor-won-t-be-used-as-a-mouthpiece-for-his-university-s-favored-ideology">link</a> to a post from ADF. 3/14/20.</span><br />
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Update: The Alliance Defense Fund appealed the judge's ruling on behalf of Dr. Meriwether. In March, the U.S. Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit, reversed the lower court ruling, stating that a University cannot compell a professor to expouse ideas they themselves do not agree with. I don't know if Shawnee State plans to appeal.<br />
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Update, 07/22 : Shawnee State has decided to settle with Dr. Meriwether, agreeing to pay him $400,000 in damages and legal fees. Also, the university administration has removed the note critisizing his actions from his personal file. Praise the Lord for giving Dr. Meriwether this victory! Here is a link concerning this cases' outcome: <https://www.npr.org/2022/04/20/1093601721/shawnee-state-university-lawsuit-pronounsbr />
<br />Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-26827948616935375582018-12-17T19:03:00.002-08:002018-12-17T19:03:12.629-08:00BEEN GONE AWHILEIt's been almost a year since I have posted on this blog. I am about to return soon.Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-86420855302241500212017-12-19T03:00:00.000-08:002017-12-19T03:00:15.899-08:00CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION AROUND THE WORLD, WINTER 2017The Chinese Communist Party has ordered Christians residing in Yugan county of Jiangxi province to <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2017/november/china-christians-jesus-communist-president-xi-jinping-yugan.html">remove all pictures of Jesus Christ </a>from their homes and replace them with pictures of China's leader, President Xi Jinping. The Communists claim that people in this region are relying too much on Jesus to solve their problems and not trusting the government. This is just more evidence that China is cracking down on Christians and followers of other religions. In the past couple of years, Christian churches have been forced <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2015/may/after-removing-400-crosses-china-proposes-zhejiang-wenzhou.html">to remove crosses</a> from their buildings. Recently, a Chinese pastor, her daughter, and <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2017/october/china-house-church-leaders-toddler-arrest-ministry-new-law.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+christianitytoday%2Fctmag+%28Christianity+Today+Magazine%29">three year old grandson were arrested for singing worship songs in a park</a>. They stand accused of violating new religious laws restricting all religious expression to government approved locations. Earlier this year, <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2017/march/china-kicks-out-korean-missionaries-south-north-thaad-jilin.html">China expelled South Korean missionaries.</a> Even when the Church wins a victory from the Chinese legal system, that victory can prove costly. When pastor Li Jiangong and his wife Ding Cuimei tried to stop bulldozers from destroying their church because a business claimed the land, <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2016/april/after-pastors-wife-buried-alive-chinese-church-wins-land.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+christianitytoday%2Fctmag+%28Christianity+Today+Magazine%29">they were shoved into a ditch and buried</a>. Pastor Li managed to dig himself out, but his wife suffocated before he could rescue her. After this, the government ruled the church had clear title to the land. All links to these articles are from <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/">Christianity Today</a>. Here is a story from the <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/">Daily Beast</a> concerning <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/chinas-crackdown-on-christian-churches">the recent crackdown on Chinese churches</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2017/august/north-korea-frees-ailing-canadian-pastor-serving-life-sente.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+christianitytoday%2Fctmag+%28Christianity+Today+Magazine%29">North Korea released a Korean pastor from Canada</a> who had been sentenced to life in prison on charges of attempting to establish a religious state. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyeon_Soo_Lim">Hyeon Soo-Lim</a> had visited North Korea many times in connection with an orphanage and a nursing home his church founded. He spent two and a half years in prison and his health deteriorated during that time. Most other foreign nationals detained in North Korea in recent years are connected with his church. One surprise from this story is that while North Korea prevents most outsiders from entering the country, some who engage in humanitarian work can gain entry. Let's pray that this policy allows Christians to spread the Gospel so that the current government falls without the U.S. taking military action against it. HT: Christianity Today.<br />
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<a href="http://frcblog.com/2017/08/iran-heightens-its-crackdown-christians/">Persecution of Christians in Iran is increasing. </a>Read this post by <a href="http://www.frc.org/biography/dan-hart-managing-editor-for-publications">Daniel Hart </a>at the <a href="https://www.frc.org/">Family Research Council</a> blog. For background on Iran's 1 to 2 million Christians, s<a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/july-august/evangelism-iranian-style.html">ee this post f</a>rom Christianity Today.<br />
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<a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2017/july/caste-aside-india-new-dalit-president-kovind-no-christians.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+christianitytoday%2Fctmag+%28Christianity+Today+Magazine%29">The new President of India is a cause of concern for India's 25 to 60 million Christians</a>. The new President, Ram Nath Kovind, is from one of India's lower castes, the Dalits. Dalit's make up a majority of India's Christians. But Christians fear that Kovind may be more loyal to Hindu Nationalists who want to use the government to persecute Christians and Muslims. Hindu Nationalists are pushing legislation outlawing Christians from converting others to Christ. HT: Christianity Today, article by <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/news/search?type=author&key=Kate%20Shellnutt&db=true&searchall=on">Kate Shellnutt</a>Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-66544295935193331462017-12-14T03:00:00.000-08:002017-12-14T03:00:26.371-08:00RELIGIOUS FREEDOM UNDER ATTACK, WINTER 2017<a href="http://www.breakpoint.org/2017/07/breakpoint-religious-freedoms-roe-v-wade/">The Supreme Court conducted oral arguments in the case</a> concerning the owner of a Colorado bakery who claims his Christian faith forbids him from using his business to celebrate same-sex weddings. The Colorado Civil Rights Commission fined the baker, Jack Phillips, and <span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.6px;"> </span><span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.6px;">“ordered Jack and his staff to design cakes for same-sex wedding celebrations, go through a ‘re-education’ program, implement new policies to comply with the commission’s order, and file quarterly ‘compliance’ reports for two years to show that Jack has completely eliminated his religious beliefs from his business.” Jack Phillips <a href="http://www.redemptivethoughts.com/2017/05/neil-gorsuch-kim-davis-and-religious.html">should have a sympathetic hearing</a> from President Trump's nominee, <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/2017/01/potential-nominee-profile-neil-gorsuch/">Neil Gorsuch.</a> What justice Phillips can expect from Justice Anthony Kennedy is anyone's guess. While Kennedy has ruled in favor of religious institutions recently, he has voted against Christian principles concerning same-sex marriage. HT: <a href="http://www.breakpoint.org/">BreakPoint</a> Some conservatives were encouraged by Kennedy's questions during oral arguments. At least one conservative writer, <a href="http://frcblog.com/authors/peter-sprigg/">Peter Sprigg</a>, of the <a href="http://frcblog.com/">Family Research Council</a> (FRC), <a href="http://frcblog.com/2017/12/three-dimensional-case-masterpiece-cakeshop-justice-kagan-no-less/">was pleasantly surprised</a> by a line of questioning by Justice Elena Kagin. <a href="https://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/blog-details/allianceedge/2017/08/31/4-key-arguments-we-are-making-to-defend-jack-phillips-at-the-supreme-court">Here are the four main points </a>made by Jack Phillip's lawyers to the Justices of the Supreme Court. His lawyers are affiliated with Alliance Defending Freedom.</span><br />
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<a href="https://www.adflegal.org/">Alliance Defending Freedom</a> (ADF) successfully defended a client in a case similar to Jack Phillips'. <a href="http://amylynnphotoblog.com/">Amy Lawson</a> is a photographer living in Wisconsin, providing photographic and video services for individuals and organizations. Amy is a Christian. The stated purpose for her business is to <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "merriweather" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">“capture and convey beautiful, pure, and true moments in ways that help us stop, see, and savor the light God has given us.” </span> Many of her projects celebrate the biblical view of marriage as well as the right to life for those yet to be born. Her website stated that she would not photograph same-sex marriages. She removed the statement for fear of being sued for violating the law. But it was too late. Someone brought suit against her based on laws forbidding discrimination in public accommodations, even though her business doesn't have a physical location. Had she lost, she would have faced severe penalties from both the city of Madison and the state. "<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "merriweather" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">If Amy violates the Madison law, she can be punished with an injunction, out of pocket expenses, economic and noneconomic damages, costs, attorney’s fees, and a civil fine up to $500 per day...</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "merriweather" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">If Amy violates the Wisconsin law, she can be punished with out-of-pocket expenses, costs, attorney fees, cease and desist orders, re-education training, revocation of her business license, and a fine up to $1000 for first time violators, and up to $10,000 for repeat violators. Also, if she violates the Wisconsin law, anyone can sue her and obtain injunctive relief, damages (including punitive damages), costs, and attorney’s fees." (<a href="https://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/case-details/amy-lynn-photography-studio-v.-city-of-madison">ADF post</a>) However, justice was done in her case. <a href="https://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/press-release-details/huge-victory-for-photographer-other-wisconsin-creative-professionals">A state court sided with her</a>. ADF's senior counsel commented on the decision: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "merriweather" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">“The court’s announcement has important implications for everyone in Wisconsin who values artistic freedom. It means that government officials must allow creative professionals without storefronts anywhere in the city and state the freedom to make their own decisions about which ideas they will use their artistic expression to promote. The court found—and the city and state have now agreed—that such professionals cannot be punished under public accommodation laws for exercising their artistic freedom because those laws simply don’t apply to them. No one should be threatened with punishment for having views that the government doesn’t favor.” (ADF)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "merriweather" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Let's pray that <a href="https://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/case-details/state-of-washington-v.-arlene-s-flowers-inc.-and-barronelle-stutzman">Barronelle Stutzman i</a>s as successful as Amy Lawson <a href="https://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/blog-details/allianceedge/2017/07/14/barronelle-takes-her-last-stand-at-the-supreme-court">in defending her right to conduct her business according to her Christian beliefs.</a> Barronelle is a floral designer in Washington state who informed a long time customer that she couldn't contribute her services to his same-sex wedding. The State Attorney General heard about it on social media and brought suit against her. The Attorney General admits that her services fall under the umbrella of free speech. Yet he claims that the state has the power to compel her to proclaim a message she doesn't believe in. Her case will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. If she loses there, her four year legal battle will claim everything she has since she is being sued not only in her professional capacity, but also in her personal capacity. ADF is defending her as well. Be sure to see the short video about her at the first link in this paragraph.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "merriweather" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">ADF is also defending a Wyoming judge who because of <a href="http://religionclause.blogspot.com/2017/08/cert-filed-in-wyomings-disciplining-of.html">her Christian beliefs will not perform same-sex marriages</a>. The judge is charged with violating the Wyoming Code of Judicial Conduct. (HT: <a href="http://religionclause.blogspot.com/">Religion Clause blog)</a></span><br />
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Last October, the Trump administration issued a memo highlighting its policies on Church/State issues. Here is a <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/">Christianity Today</a> article <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2017/october/what-trump-religious-liberty-guidance-does-sessions-doj.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+christianitytoday%2Fctmag+%28Christianity+Today+Magazine%29">clarifying what these policies are</a>. Christian conservatives can be optimistic about some Trump policies concerning religious freedom. But as this article demonstrates, not all the President's policies are in line with theirs. Here is <a href="http://frcblog.com/2017/10/new-religious-exemptions-hhs-contraceptive-mandate-are-victory-personal-freedom-and-responsibility-over-state-coercion">another article</a> from Peter Sprigg, this one on the administration's exemption of religious employers from the Obamacare mandate requiring employers to provide free birth control to their employees. Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-83538421559442866992017-10-26T03:00:00.000-07:002017-10-26T03:00:03.716-07:00LINCOLN'S LEGACY: PART VI, CONCLUSION. "WOULDN'T IT HAVE BEEN A CATASTROPHE...?"(Originally published on 03/12/09. I have made editorial changes and updated the links.)<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">On February 12, 1809, two men were born whose lives forever changed this world, one for the good, one for the worse. </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/books/review/Safire-t.html?_r=1&ref=review" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Abraham Lincoln's</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> preservation of the Union and abolition of slavery </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">guaranteed</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> that the truths contained in the Declaration of Independence, that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, would remain the rationale for this country's existence. In his time Democracy was not the standard by which people were governed. If the Union had been </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">dissolved</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, Democracy would probably still be on the defensive as a viable form of government. (For a fuller discussion of these issues, see Part V of this series.) If the Union had been </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">dissolved</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, the world would have been under the control of one or a few world powers. Germany, possibly in its Nazi incarnation, would certainly have ruled much of this hemisphere. Without the United States becoming a world power, much of the world would be under the domination of distant empires. (For a discussion of this last point, see </span><a href="http://therighthandoffellowship.blogspot.com/2007/04/american-power.html" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">here</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> and especially </span><a href="http://www.redemptivethoughts.com/2007/09/american-power-revisited.html?m=1" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">here</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> for information on German designs on U.S. territory as late as the 20</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">th</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> century.)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Also born on this day, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Darwin" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Charles Darwin</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, whose theory of evolution has to this day challenged the Biblical doctrines of both creation and the special creation of man in the image of God. While the 20</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">th</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> century might still have been the most violent century in man's history, Darwinism played a major part in how many of the 20</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">th</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> century's worst totalitarian </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">regimes </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">treated mankind. No, Darwin was not a Nazi and he would probably have been horrified by the atrocities committed by the Nazi's and Communists. Yet by denying man's place as the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">pinnacle</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> of God's creation, he made it possible for tyrants and their scientific supporters to declare that man was just an animal. This led to the specific treatment of the Jews that culminated in the Holocaust. For a full discussion of </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Darwin's</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> impact on history, see </span><a href="http://therighthandoffellowship.blogspot.com/2008/10/exposing-expelledexposed-part-v-bad.html" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">here</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> and </span><a href="http://therighthandoffellowship.blogspot.com/2008/10/exposing-expelledexposed-part-vi-ben.html" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">here</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">So we have in one day the birth of one man whose life affirmed the whole human race's dignity as being created in the image of God with inalienable rights, and the birth of another whose life's work denied that special creation and which caused man to be seen as an animal, and to be treated as such.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Wouldn't it have been a </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">catastrophe</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> if Darwin had been born fifty years earlier, publishing "On The Origin Of Species" in 1809, instead of 1859. Had this happened, evolutionary theories would have already been entrenched in the scientific world, and would have been seen as a further bulwark in the defense of slavery. Slaves, such as </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Frederick Douglass</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, would have been seen as those who were lower on the evolutionary scale. The defenders of slavery would have contended that slaves were therefore not fully human and incapable of governing themselves as the fully evolved white race, therefore slaves had no rights as they were a lower form of animal. Evolution would have been used to defend the "permanent necessity" of slavery. It would also have been a </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">catastrophe</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> had Lincoln not transformed the war into a fight to end slavery. If slavery remained in existence after his Presidency, then as Evolution became more accepted, it would have been used as a justification to the continue the institution of slavery. That would have guaranteed that not only slaves in America would remain in bondage after 1865, it would have guaranteed that many overseas would remain in chains as well.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">(The belief that all men were created equal was was rejected by the spokesmen for the Old South. <a href="http://www.redemptivethoughts.com/2017/10/lincolns-legacy-part-v-defense-against.html">See Part V of this series</a>.)</span>Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-56741337831723104882017-10-10T03:00:00.000-07:002017-10-10T12:33:53.572-07:00LINCOLN'S LEGACY: PART V. A CONSERVATIVE DEFENSE AGAINST HIS CONSERVATIVE CRITICS(This article was first published on 3/6/09. I have revised it, updated the links, and changed the title. There is an audio portion on the original post concerning my background and views on the South, old and new. For technical reasons, I am unable to transfer that portion to this post. If you wish to listen to it, <a href="http://www.redemptivethoughts.com/2009/03/audio-moblog.html">here</a> is a link to the original posted article.)<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">As this year (2009) marks the bicentennial of </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/books/review/Safire-t.html?_r=1&ref=review" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Abraham Lincoln's </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">birth, I would have liked to have memorialized the occasion with lofty prose. Yet others are better equipped for such a purpose. Instead, I thought I would illustrate Lincoln's greatness through the testimony of ex-slaves as to the evil of slavery, which Lincoln and the North overthrew. Having done that, I would like to address why some fellow conservatives and fellow Christian conservatives view Lincoln negatively, and then challenge these views by citing the historical record.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">One reason for negative views of Lincoln among conservatives concerns the present-day designation of the South as the Bible belt. This has led some conservatives to view the Old South as this nation's bastion of true Christianity fighting to protect its heritage against the "Godless" North, which was seeking to overthrow Southern Christianity. This issue has been dealt with at length in the first four articles in this series.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Other criticisms of Lincoln concern the rise of an ever-expanding Federal government. These Conservatives blame the Northern victory for this current unwelcome development. For the most part, this linkage is a wrong view of history. The victory of the North may have played a part in the chain of events that led to today's expansive government, but it is not the primary reason. The roots of big government lie in the unprecedented immigration to America that took place after the Civil War. These immigrants congregated in big cities such as Chicago and New York City. The country was not prepared for so many coming to its shores. Taking advantage of the situation, political machines came into being to organize the new arrivals into powerful voting blocks. Politicians promised services for political loyalty. It was mainly the Democrat Party that practiced this kind of politics which resulted in the rise of powerful big city political bosses that ruled their cities and delivered votes to the candidate that promised rewards for them and their cities. The immigrants came from lands that discouraged individual effort and encouraged relying on the state for assistance.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Added to this influence is the rise of p</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">rogressiveism</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, a radical, socialistic political movement that demanded the government side with the poor against the rich. This movement was especially strong in the West among farmers. The </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">chaos</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> we see in California </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">politics</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> today stems from the progressive state constitution enacted one hundred years ago. One of our most economically progressive Presidents, Woodrow Wilson, who created the Federal Reserve Board and helped enact the nation's first income tax in 1913, was Southern by birth, a Virginian.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Preference for expansive government received further aid from philosophical trends in Europe which found adherents in American Universities. The movement to co-opt charitable activities in the U.S. is chronicled most ably in conservative </span><a href="http://www.nndb.com/people/325/000058151" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Marvin<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Olasky's</span> </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"</span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-American-Compassion-Marvin-Olasky/dp/089526725X" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">The Tragedy of American </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Compassion." In this book, </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Olasky</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> documents the capacity for private charities and individuals to deal with society's down and out. The takeover of this function by the government was a subtle process. The forces that brought this about WERE PRESENT BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR BEGAN AND OPERATED INDEPENDENTLY OF WHOEVER PREVAILED IN THAT CONFLICT. (When I first posted this, I probably did not know that capital letters signified that the writer is yelling at his readers in print. That was not my intent. The capital letters were merely for emphasis.)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">In most Civil Wars, the losing general is either shot, hanged, burned, beheaded, or maybe even eaten. The Confederate Commander expected to at least be imprisoned. Instead, he became the President of what is now Washington and Lee. The Confederate President spent two years in prison, was released, and held several jobs, including selling insurance. He was even able to publish a multi-volume memoir justifying both his actions and those of the South. Many Southern </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">generals</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> and </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">politicians</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> were elected to Congress one year after the war, including the Confederate Vice-President. After a twelve year military occupation by the North, the South was allowed to govern itself as it pleased. Some conservatives believe the slaves were better off under slavery. They certainly suffered inequality in various forms for over the next century, after the North withdrew. Yet at the same time, no black man ever had to fear again that his master would sell his wife or children. Nor did they have to stand idly by while their masters violated their wives and daughters. They also had the freedom to move where they pleased. Before the advent of big government, black families stayed intact and advanced economically every generation. This is documented in "</span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Black-Rednecks-Liberals-Thomas-Sowell/dp/1594030863" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Black Rednecks and White </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Liberals" by Conservative African American Scholar </span><a href="http://www.tsowell.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Thomas <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Sowell</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. There is a hundred year gap between the end of slavery and the effects of the welfare state on the black family. You cannot blame these effects on Lincoln or the Northern victory.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">I </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">subscribe</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> to </span><a href="http://patriotpost.us/" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">The Patriot Post: The Journal of Conservative Record</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. While I generally agree with the editorial viewpoint, I was disappointed that it ran an editorial debunking Lincoln (2/13/09). Like many who do so, the editor cited no independent historical sources when making his case.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">One of the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">arguments</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> the editor made is that Lincoln's Constitutional </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">arguments</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> are the root of the liberal Constitutional doctrine, "The Living Constitution." The doctrine of the "Living Constitution" states that the meaning of the Constitution changes over time as circumstances change. Lincoln stated that the Union was perpetual and was understood to be such at the country's founding. Lincoln stated that this principal was eternal, not a doctrine that was changeable with the changing of historical circumstances. In fact, Lincoln made his Constitutional case as to the perpetual nature of the Union in his </span><a href="https://www.loc.gov/teachers/newsevents/events/lincoln/pdf/avalonFirst.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">First Inaugural Address</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, which should be on the list of American historical documents contained on the Patriot Post's website. Lincoln stated his case as follows:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"I hold that in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments. It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination...</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"Again: If the United States be not a government proper, but an association of States in the nature of a contract merely, can it, as a contract, be peacefully unmade by less than all the parties who made it? One party to a contract may violate it--break it, so to speak--but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"Descending from these principles, we find the proposition that in the legal contemplation the Union is perpetual confirmed by the history of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen states</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">expressingly</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the articles of Confederation in 1778. And finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was 'to form a more perfect Union.' "</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">No. One cannot find the roots for the "Living Constitution" in Lincoln's </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">argument</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, even if he used the word "implied." Even the doctrine of Judicial Review ( in which the Supreme Court is empowered to rule on the Constitutionality of the acts of the Legislative and Executive Branches) is implied, not expressly stated, in the Constitution. Surely that doctrine cannot be the root of current liberal j</span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">udicial </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">theory, even though it is implied and not stated.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">The South had no rational reason to fear a Lincoln Presidency. The previous three Presidents, Fillmore, Pierce and </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Buchanan</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, though Northerners, favored the South. Their cabinets were made up primarily of Southerners. Congress was dominated by Southern politicians. Ditto the Supreme Court. In 1850, the South forced the North to accept the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugitive_Slave_Law_of_1850" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Fugitive Slave Act</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, which subjected Northerners who gave aid to escaped slaves to fines and imprisonment. Lincoln was elected with less than 50% of the vote. While a resident of Illinois, </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Lincoln</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> was by birth a Southerner and his wife's family was Southern. He made it clear he wished to be generous in dealing with the South. "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." (Lincoln's First Inaugural Address) But he was </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">adamant</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> that he would not allow slavery to spread to the western territories. It was the South that commenced hostilities by seizing Fort </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Sumter</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. If the North did not contest the seizure of forts by the South, European powers, still possessing designs on American territory and hoping to end America's experiment in Democracy, would have exploited the situation and seized territory the U.S. needed to possess to defend the territorial integrity of the North American Continent.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Some conservatives believe that the war was not fought over slavery at all. They believe that the only motivation of the Confederacy was to defend States Rights. Yes, Southern secession documents mention States Rights, but only in the context of upholding the institution of slavery. In speaking of the matter of fugitive slaves, the South Carolina Declaration of </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Secession</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> complained that the North was not enforcing laws mandating their return. This was stated as the justification for South Carolina's </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">secession</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"We affirm that these ends which this government was instituted have been defeated and the Government itself has been made destructive of them by the action of the non-</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">slaveholding</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> States. These states have assumed the right of deciding upon the propriety of our domestic institutions; and have denied the rights of property established in the fifteen states and recognized by the Constitution; they have denounced as sinful the institution of slavery; they have permitted open establishment among them societies whose avowed object is to disturb the peace...the property of citizens of the other States. They have encouraged and assisted thousands of our slaves to leave their homes; and those who remain, have been incited by emissaries, books and pictures to servile insurrection."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Other declarations of succession, such as from Texas and Georgia, which are in the Patriot Post's list of historic documents (which exclude both of Lincoln's inaugural addresses!) make </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">similar</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> declarations. It sure sounds to me that the South was motivated by preserving States Rights only in the context of preserving slavery. </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Stephens" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Alexander Stevens</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, the Confederate Vice-President, describes the basis of the Confederate Government as follows "Our new government is founded on the opposite idea of the equality of the races...Its cornerstone rests upon the great truth that the Negro is not the equal to the white man. This government is the first in the history of the world based upon this great physical and moral truth." (</span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Civil-War-Illustrated-History/dp/0394562852" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">The Civil War: An Illustrated History </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">by Geoffrey Ward, Ric Burns, Ken Burns, P. 30) The Patriot Post states that some historians claim that the South would have ended slavery and rejoined the Union if allowed to leave the Union. Who are these historians? In fact, many in the South wanted to extend their borders into Mexico and Central America for the purpose of forming a vast empire based on slavery. Article 4, section 3 (3), of the </span><a href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_csa.asp" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Confederate Constitution</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> had this provision concerning newly acquired territory: "In all such territory the institution of negro slavery, as it now exists in the Confederate States, shall be recognized and protected by Congress and by the Territorial government."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">It is true that Lincoln shared some of the prejudices his fellow citizens felt toward blacks. The Patriot Post cites his comments from the </span><a href="http://www.illinoiscivilwar.org/debates.html" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Lincoln/Douglass debates </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">stating that he did not seek political equality for the black race, that he opposed intermarriage and that the white race should maintain its "superiority." He made this statement because his opponent in a race for the Senate, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_A._Douglas" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Stephan Douglass</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, charged Lincoln with holding views of black equality. The Illinois electorate, as racist as any Southern state, would have forever rejected Lincoln politically if Lincoln allowed </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Douglass's</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> to define him. But it is also true that Lincoln said this in his debates with Douglass:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"All the powers of earth rapidly are combining against [the slave.] Mammon is after him, ambition follows, philosophy follows, and the theology of the day is fast joining the cry. They have him in his prison house; they have searched his person, and left no prying instrument with him. One after another they have closed the heavy door upon him; and now they have him...bolted in with a lock of a hundred keys, which can never be unlocked without the concurrence of every key, the keys in the hands of a hundred different men, and they scattered to a hundred different places." (Ward, p.24)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Lincoln </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">publicly</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">condemned</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> slavery on the following dates: 3/3/1837, 10/4/1854, 10/16/1854, 3/1/1859, 9/17/1859, 9/11/1858, 7/10/1858, 12/1857, 8/27/1856, 10/15/1858, 5/18/1858, 10/16/1854, 3/5/1860, 3/6/1860. One of Lincolns greatest statements on slavery: if slavery is not wrong, then nothing is wrong. (</span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lincolns-Virtues-William-Lee-Miller/dp/037540158X" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Lincoln's Virtues: An Ethical Biography </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">by William Lee Miller, p. 285)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">In going to war, Lincoln's stated war aim was to preserve the Union, not to end slavery. It was two years into the war that he issued the </span><a href="https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation/transcript.html" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Emancipation Proclamation</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. The Patriot Post claims Lincoln issued the Proclamation to prevent the migration of blacks northward to compete for jobs with whites. Again, it cites no historical evidence of this extraordinary claim. And it never will. Because the Proclamation freed only those slaves in states in rebellion against the Union, it is claimed that Lincoln failed to free a single slave. Again, the logic of Lincoln's critics does not line up with the facts. The Emancipation Proclamation changed the war aims of the North, thereby altering the basis of the North's actions from preserving the Union to freeing the slaves. This placed the Union on the moral high ground in world opinion, preventing hostile powers from intervening on the behalf of the South. Everywhere the North captured Southern territory, slaves obtained their freedom, never to be enslaved again. Lincoln and his allies knew that if the South had its slaves freed, the border states, such as Tennessee and Maryland, would not be able to maintain slavery within its borders. The Patriot Post quotes Lincoln's famous reply to </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">abolitionists</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> who wanted slaves freed immediately:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that..."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">The problem with citing this quote to prove that Lincoln did not care about slavery and therefore the war did not concern itself with it, is the context in which he said it. When Lincoln made this statement, the Emancipation proclamation was already drafted. (</span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-David-Herbert-Donald/dp/068482535X" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Lincoln</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, by David Donald, p 368, 417-418)) Lincoln had wanted to make it public sooner, but </span><a href="https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/short-history/seward" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">William Seward</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, his Secretary of State, convinced him to wait until the North had won a major victory on the battlefield. Seward convinced Lincoln that to issue the Proclamation earlier would appear to be a desperate attempt by the North to </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">forestall</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> European intervention.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">It is true that </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Frederick Douglass </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">was impatient with Lincoln and the North on the issue of Emancipation, and he made statements critical of Lincoln which are in the public record. But time caused him to view Lincoln's actions in a more positive light, as well as a consideration the pressures Lincoln operated under as well as a comparison between him and the rest of the whites of the North. He came to say that once blacks considered Lincoln to be tardy, cold, indifferent toward freeing the slaves. Later they had to admit that he was swift, zealous, radical and determined in their cause. (</span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Douglass-Lincoln-Revolutionary-Reluctant-Liberator/dp/0802716857" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Douglass and Lincoln: How A Revolutionary Black Leader And A</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> Reluctant Liberator Struggled To end Slavery And Save The Union by Paul Kendrick and Stephen Kendrick, p. 245)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Lincoln's Proclamation was not popular with many Northerners. There was political pressure on Lincoln to either rescind it or to declare that slaves would be returned to their masters after the war. The controversy caused many in the South to be certain they would win the war in the end. (For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought In The Civil War by James McPherson, p. 63-76) But Lincoln would not go back on his word, even if his reelection was imperiled. "How could anybody propose to return to slavery the black warriors of Port Hudson and Olustee to their masters to conciliate the South? I should be damned in time and eternity for so doing,...The world shall know that I keep my faith to friends and enemies, come what will." (Douglass and Lincoln, p. 527)</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">As for the reasons why the North fought, I refer the reader to "</span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cause-Comrades-Why-Fought-Civil/dp/0195124995" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">For Cause and Comrade</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">: Why Men Fought In The Civil War" by James McPherson, p. 117-130. That a great number of Northerners fought out of Christian conviction is demonstrated by this book. True, many Northern soldiers fought only to preserve the Union without any reference in their mind to slavery. Yet even among these, as McPherson demonstrates, many came to see that the conflict between the two sections would never be resolved without </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">settling</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> the question of slavery. Even though many in the North were as prejudiced against blacks as Southerners, many of these were motivated by a desire to end slavery. Like Lincoln, they realized that the U.S. could not remain half slave and half free. These Northerners witnessed the South limit press freedoms to </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">stifle</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> criticism of slavery. Many Northerners feared that they would have their own rights of free speech infringed upon to placate the South. Note the earlier quote from the South Carolina Declaration of </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Succession</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, how it complained that anti-slavery groups were allowed to exist in the North. The South sought to have editors of anti-slavery publications arrested and brought trial in the South. Many Northerners objected to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 subjecting Northerners to imprisonment for aiding escaped slaves. Yes, there were other issues between North and South, but it</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">was</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> the issue of slavery that prevented any settlement between them and what what motivated Southerners to seceed, as their secession declarations, available on the Patriot post website, demonstrate.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Just in passing, it is interesting to note that while Lincoln's critics condemn him for suspending the right of habeas corpus, the Confederate Constitution, available on the Patriot Post's website, contains this clause: "The priviledge of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it." (Article 2, Section 9, clause 3.) Apparently it was wrong for Lincoln to to suspend habeas corpus, but if the South thought it necessary if a state rebeled, it would be fine. By the way, states in the Confederacy had no right to secceed.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">All conservatives highly value the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, which states that all powers not exclusively granted to the Federal Government are reserved to the States. Yet this amendment must be seen not as the most valuable of our principles, but as a means to an end to defend what is our greatest principle, expressed in the Declaration of Independence, that all men were created equal and endowed by our Creator with the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In fact, the denial of this highest of principles was a cornerstone in the thought of the Old South. This denial was a justification for slavery and seccession. Even the historical documents available on the Patriot Post's website make this clear. Read how </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Davis" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Jefferson Davis</a> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">interpreted these rights in his farewell to Congress:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"It has been a conviction of pressing necessity--it has been a belief that we are to be deprived in the Union of the rights which our fathers bequeathed to us--which has brought Mississippi to her present decision. She has heard proclaimed the theory that all men were created free and equal, and this made the basis of an attack upon her social instritutions (in other words, slavery);and the sacred Declaration of Independence has been invoked to maintain the position of the equality of the races. The Declaration is to be construed by the circumstances and purposes for which it is made. The communities were declaring their independence, the people of those communities were asserting that no man was born --to use the language of Mr. Jefferson--booted and spurred, to ride over the rest of mankind; that men were created equal meaning of the men of the political community; that there was no divine right to rule; that stations were equally in the grasp of each member of the body politic...They had no reference to the slave."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Again, it sounds to me that the preservation of the institution of slavery was the major factor in causing the South to seceed. And also the South rejected the belief that all men were created equal, that these rights did not apply to the slave.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">It was this argument that drove Lincoln to reenter politics in the 1850s. Here are some of his comments on the rights mentioned in the Declaration of Independence:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"...what I do say is that no man is good enough to govern another man, without that other's consent. I say this is the leading principle--the sheet anchor of American republicanism." From the Lincoln/Douglass debates. (Miller, p.243)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"Nearly eighty years ago...we began by declaring that all men were created equal, but now,...we have run down to the other declaration, that for SOME men to enslave others is a 'sacred right of self government.' These principles cannot stand together. They are as opposite as God and Mammon, and whoever holds to the one, must despise the other." (Miller, p.247)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">The next two quotes are from the Lincoln/Douglass debates:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"But if the negro is a man, is it not to that extent, a total destruction of self-government, to say that he too shall not govern himself? When the white man governs himself that is self-government; but when he governs himself, and also governs another man, that is more than self-government--that is despotism. If the negro is a man, why then my ancient faith teaches me that "all men were created equal"; and that there can be no moral right in one man's making a slave of another." (Miller, p. 261-262)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"I have quoted so much at this time merely to show that according to our ancient faith, the just powers of governments are derived from the consent of the governed. Now the relation of masters and slaves is, pro tanto [just so far], a violation of this principle. The master not only governs the slave without his consent; but he governs him by a set of rules altogether different from those which he prescribes for himself. Allow ALL the governed an equal voice in the government, and that, and that only is self government." (Miller, p. 262)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">The issue as to whether or not the United States would allow all men of all races to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was the real issue of the Civil War. The South stated unequivocally that these rights were not available to their slaves, and that this principle was the cornerstone of their political thought and of the Confederacy. The victory of the North over the South guarenteed that all men and women, not without struggle, would be able to live their lives as they saw fit. It was Lincoln who we have to thank for framing the issue in this matter and preserving these rights for all of us. It is a pity that because the President Obama is attempting to co-opt Lincoln's legacy for his own purposes should cause conservatives, Christian and secular, from embracing Lincoln's true legacy. Without Lincoln's legacy, we would not even be able to understand that the principles in the Declaration of Independence extended not only to those already born, but to the unborn as well.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">There will be one more article in this series.</span>Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-18559007063591188042017-09-29T03:00:00.000-07:002017-10-07T16:47:58.808-07:00LINCOLN'S LEGACY: PART IV. "ARE DOCTORS OF DIVINITY BLIND, OR ARE THEY HYPOCRITES?"(First published 2/27/09. Some links were updated and a few typos corrected.)<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">February 12</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">th</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> marked the bicentennial of </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/books/review/Safire-t.html?_r=1&ref=review" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Abraham Lincoln's </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">birth. While most Americans are proud to have such a figure as their own, and many across the world wish to produce statesmen of his caliber, Lincoln does have his detractors. These detractors include some of my fellow conservatives and some of my fellow conservative Christians. The next post will deal with the nature of their negative view towards Lincoln. In the meantime, I have tried to highlight Lincoln's greatness by providing eyewitness testimony to the evil that American slavery was and which Lincoln and the Northern army overthrew. We have been hearing from Frederick Douglass, who wrote </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Narrative-Life-Frederick-Douglass/dp/0486284999" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, a chronicle of his life as a slave before he escaped. The last excerpt detailed his experiences being under the control of a master who professed to follow Christ. In this excerpt, he contrasts true </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Christianity</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> with the false Christianity many slave masters professed and practiced:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"I find, since reading the foregoing Narrative that I have, in several instances, spoken in such a tone and manner, respecting religion, as may possibly lead those </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">unacquainted</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> with my religious views to suppose me an opponent of all religion. To remove the liability of such misapprehension, I deem it proper to append the following brief explanation. What I have said respecting and against religion, I mean strictly to apply to the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">slave holding</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> religion of this land, and with no possible reference to Christianity proper; for, between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference--so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy, is of necessity to be the enemy of the other. I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">slave holding</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, woman-whipping, cradle plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity. I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels. Never was there a clearer case of 'stealing the livery of the court of heaven to serve the devil in.' I am filled with unutterable loathing when I contemplate the religious pomp and show, together with the horrible </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">inconsistencies</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> , which everywhere surround me. We have man </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">stealer's</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> as ministers, women-whippers for missionaries, and cradle plunderers for church members. The man who </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">wields</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> the blood-clotted </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">cow skin</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> during the week fills the pulpit Sunday, and claims to be a minister of the meek and lowly Jesus. The man who robs me of my earnings at the end of each week meets me as class leader on Sunday morning, to show me the way of life, and the path of salvation. He who sells my sister, for purposes of prostitution, stands forth as the pious advocate of purity. He who claims it a religious duty to read the Bible denies me the right of learning to read the name of God who made me. He who is the religious advocate of marriage robs whole millions of its sacred influence, and leaves them to the ravages of wholesale pollution. The warm defender of the sacredness of the family relation is the same who scatters whole families, --sundering husbands and wives, parents and children, sisters and brother,--leaving the hut vacant, and the hearth desolate. We see the thief preaching against theft, and the adulterer against </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">adultery</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. We have men sold to build churches, women sold to support the gospel, and babes sold to purchase Bibles for the poor heathen! all for the glory of God and the good of souls!...The dealer gives his blood-stained gold to support the pulpit, and the pulpit, in return, covers his infernal business with the garb of Christianity. Here we have religion and robbery the allies of each other--devils dressed in angel's robes, and hell presenting the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">semblance</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> of paradise...</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"Such is, very briefly, my view of the religion of this land; and to avoid any misunderstanding, growing out of the use of general terms, I mean, by the religion of this land, this is revealed in the words, deeds, and actions, of those bodies, north and south, calling themselves Christian churches, yet in union with slaveholders. It is against religion, as presented by these bodies, that I have felt it my duty to testify."</span><br />
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Frederick Douglass </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">was not the only former slave to contrast the religion of America that sanctioned slavery with the true Gospel. Another one to do so was </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Ann_Jacobs" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Linda Brent</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. Linda Brent hid herself from her master and the law for years before she escaped to the North. She wrote of her experiences in </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Incidents-Slave-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486419312" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Her real name was Harriet Jacobs, but because she escaped in the 1850's, the "</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugitive_Slave_Law_of_1850" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Fugitive Slave Act</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">" made it a crime for a Northerner to give aid and shelter to escaped slaves, she had to write under a pseudonym. Like Douglass, Brent was able to distinguish the true Gospel from what her masters proclaimed. Here is a portion of her observations contrasting the two:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"There are thousands, who...for the water of life, but the law forbids it, and the churches withhold it. They send the Bible to the heathen abroad, and neglect the heathen at home. I am glad that the missionaries go out to the dark corners of the earth; but I ask them not to overlook the dark corners of home. Talk to American slaveholders, as you talk to savages in Africa. Tell them it was wrong to traffic in men. Tell them it is sinful to sell their own children, and atrocious to violate their own daughters. Tell them that all men are </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">brethren</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, and that man has no right to shut out the light of knowledge from his brother. Tell them they are answerable to God for sealing up the Fountain of Life from souls that are thirsting for it.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"There are men who would gladly undertake such missionary work as this; but, alas! their number is small. They are hated by the south, and would be driven from its soil, or dragged to prison to die, as others have been before them. The field is ripe for the harvest, and awaits the reapers...</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"Are doctors of divinity blind, or are they hypocrites? I suppose some are the one, and some the other; but I think if they felt the interest in the poor and the lowly, that they ought to feel, they would not be so easily blinded. A clergyman who goes to the south, for the first time, has usually some feeling, however vague, that slavery is wrong. The slaveholder suspects this, and plays his game accordingly. He makes himself as agreeable as possible; talks on theology, and other kindred topics. The reverend gentleman is asked to invoke a blessing on a table loaded with luxuries. After dinner he walks around the premises, and sees the beautiful groves and flowering vines, and the comfortable huts of favored household slaves. The southerner invites him to talk with those slaves. He asks them if they want to be free, and they say, 'O, no </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">massa</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">.' This is sufficient to satisfy him. He comes home to publish a 'South Side View of Slavery,' and to complain of the exaggerations of abolitionists. He assures people that he has been to the south, and seen slavery for himself; that it is a beautiful 'patriarchal institution;' that the slaves don't want their freedom; that they have hallelujah meetings, and other religious </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">privileges</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"What does he know of the half-starved wretches toiling from dawn till dark on the plantation? of mothers shrieking for their children, torn from their arms by slave traders? of young girls dragged down into moral filth? of pools of blood around the whipping post? of hounds trained to tear human flesh? of men screwed into cotton gins to die? The slaveholder showed him none of these things, and the slaves dared not tell of them if he had asked them.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"There is a great difference between Christianity and the religion of the south. If a man goes to the communion table, and pays money into the treasury of the church, no matter if it be the price of blood, he is called religious. If a pastor has offspring by a woman not his wife, the church dismisses him, if she is a white woman; but if she is colored, it does not hinder his continuing to be their good shepherd."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">This closes our examination of the personal testimony of former slaves regarding their own experiences and their contrast of true Christianity with what passed for it , North and South. Again, this examination was necessary because there are Christians who have a benign view of slavery because of the current status of the South as the Bible belt. This misapprehension causes them to view Lincoln in a negative light. In the next post, I will examine the case against Lincoln as advocated by some conservatives and some conservative Christians.</span>Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-87416310769660724712017-09-21T03:00:00.000-07:002017-09-21T03:00:08.199-07:00LINCOLN'S LEGACY: PART III. THE OVERTHROW OF A FALSE CHRISTIANITY(This Post originally appeared on 2/20/09 when the U.S. was observing the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. Some links have been updated and a few typos corrected.)<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">No doubt there were slaveholders in the Old South who were genuine Christians. This was acknowledged by </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Frederick Douglass </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">who mentioned a few in his memoir, </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Narrative-Life-Frederick-Douglass/dp/0486284999" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. However, some Christians today have been led to believe that because the modern South is the location of America's "Bible Belt", that the Old South was predominantly a Christian land fighting to preserve its religious heritage of true Christianity from the dominance of the "Godless" North. Many Christians view American slavery in a benign light because many slaveholders claimed to be disciples of Christ. Yet the testimony of former slaves, many of them who were Christians themselves, paints a far different picture. The main purpose behind most religious instruction given to slaves was to make them accept their slave status, to do their assigned tasks without complaining (even though their labor and living conditions reduced a male slave's lifespan to 29 years), and to think that to disobey an order or to desire freedom was sin. It is interesting that when slaves were allowed to marry, the charge by the preacher that "...those whom God has joined together, let no man split asunder..." was </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">omitted</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. This made it more convenient for masters to split families apart to make a profit. When the slaves wished to worship as they felt led, they had to do so secretly, often in wooded areas surrounding the plantations. It was in these secret worship meetings where many of the African American Spirituals came to be.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">The following is an </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">excerpt</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> from </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Douglas's</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> "Narrative" which paints a more accurate picture of religion in the Old South:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"In August, 1832, my master attended a Methodist camp-meeting held in the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Bayside</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, Talbot county, and there experienced religion. I indulged in a faint hope that his conversion would lead him to emancipate his slaves, and that, if he did not do this, it would at any rate, make him more kind and humane. I was disappointed in both these respects. It neither made him humane to his slaves, nor to emancipate them. If it had any effect on his character, it made him more cruel and hateful in all his ways; for I believe him to have been a much worse man after his conversion than before. Prior to his conversion, he relied on his own depravity to shield and sustain him in his savage barbarity; but after his conversion, he found religious sanction and support for his </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">slave holding</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> cruelty. He made the greatest pretensions to piety. His house was the house of prayer. He prayed morning, noon, and night. He very soon distinguished himself among his </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">brethren</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, and was soon made a class-leader and </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">exhorter</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. His activity in revivals was great, and he proved himself an instrument in the hands of the church in converting many souls. His house was the preachers' home. They used to take great pleasure in coming there to put up; for while he starved us, he stuffed them. We have had three or four preachers there at a time. The names of those who used to come most frequently while I lived there, were Mr. Storks, Mr. </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Ewery</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, Mr. Humphrey, and Mr. Hickey. I have also seen Mr. George </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Cookman</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> at our house. We slaves loved Mr. </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Cookman</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. We believed him to be a good man. We thought him </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">instrumental</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> in getting Mr. Samuel Harrison, a very rich slaveholder, to emancipate his slaves; and by some means got the impression that he was laboring to effect the emancipation of all slaves. When he was at our house, we were called into prayers. When the others were there, we were sometimes called in and sometimes not. Mr. </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Cookman</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> took more notice of us than either of the other ministers. He could not come among us without betraying his sympathy for us, and stupid as we were, we had the sagacity to see it.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">While I lived with my master in St. Michael's, there was a white young man, a Mr. Wilson, who proposed to keep a Sabbath school for the instruction of such slaves as might be disposed to learn to read the New Testament. We met but three times, when Mr. West and Mr. Fairbanks, both class-leaders, with many others, came upon us with sticks and other </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">missiles</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, drove us off, and forbade us to meet again. Thus ended our little Sabbath school in the pious town of St. Michael's.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">I have said my Master found religious sanction for his cruelty. As an example, I will state one of many facts going to prove the charge. I have seen him tie up a lame young woman, and whip her with a heavy </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">cow skin</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> upon her naked shoulders, causing the warm blood to drip; and in justification of the bloody deed, he would quote this passage of Scripture--"He that </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">knoweth</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> his master's will, and does it not, shall be beaten with many stripes."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Master would keep this lacerated young woman tied up in this horrid situation, four or five hours at a time. I have known him to tie her up early in the morning, and whip her before breakfast; leave her, go to his store, return at dinner, and whip her again, cutting her in the places already made raw with his cruel lash. The secret of the master's cruelty toward '</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Henny</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">' is found in the fact of her being almost helpless. When quite a child, she fell into the fire, and burned herself horribly. Her hands were so burnt that she never got the use of them. She could do very little but bear heavy burdens. She was to the master a bill of expense; and as he was a mean man, she was a constant offense to him. He seemed desirous of getting the poor girl out of existence. He gave her away once to his sister; but, being a poor gift, she was not disposed to keep her. Finally, my benevolent master, to use his own words, 'set her adrift to take care of herself.' here was a recently converted man, holding on upon the mother, and at the same time turning out her helpless child, to starve and die! Master Thomas was one of the many pious slaveholders who hold slaves for the very charitable purpose of taking care of them."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Douglass had escaped slavery nearly thirty years before it ended. During this time, if his old master, or a bounty hunter, had captured him, he could have been returned to slavery. After 1850, it was the law of the land that any northerner who gave shelter to an escaped slave was subject to fines and imprisonment. Douglass has already been quoted asking whether or not God will visit a land (judge it) for these things. The fact that </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/books/review/Safire-t.html?_r=1&ref=review" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Abraham Lincoln</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> was not orthodox in his religious views, or the fact that many in the North were racist, does not alter the fact that they were used as divine instruments of </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">deliverance</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. The Christianity of the old South was by in large a false one, an institution used as a pillar supporting the South's "Peculiar Institution." Most slaves were not treated any better because a master claimed to follow Christ. Here is more of Frederick Douglass on the subject:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"...Another advantage I gained in my new master was, he made no pretensions to, or profession of, religion; and this, in my opinion, was truly a great advantage. I assert most unhesitatingly, that the religion of the South is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes,--a </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">justifier</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> of the most appalling barbarity,--a </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">sanctifier</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> of the most hateful frauds,--and a dark shelter under which the darkest, foulest, grossest, and most infernal deeds of slaveholders find the strongest protection. Were I to be again reduced to the chains of slavery, next to that enslavement, I should regard being the slave of a religious master the greatest calamity that could befall me. For all the slaveholders with whom I have ever met, religious slaveholders are the worst. I have even found the meanest and basest, the most cruel and cowardly, of all others. It was my unhappy lot not only to belong to a religious slaveholder, but to live in a community of such </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">religionists</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. Very near Mr. Freeland lived the Rev. Daniel </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Weeden</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, and in the same neighborhood lived the Rev. </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Rigby</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> Hopkins. They were members and ministers in the Reformed Methodist Church. Mr. </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Weeden</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> owned, among others, a woman slave, whose name I have forgotten. This woman's back, for weeks, was kept literally raw, made so by the lash of this merciless, religious wretch. He used to hire hands. His maxim was, Behave well or </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">behave</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> ill, it is the duty of a master occasionally to whip a slave, to remind him of his master's authority. Such was his theory, and such was his practice."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">It is my purpose in sharing this testimony with you to highlight the greatness of Lincoln by examining the evil institution which he and those under his authority overthrew. Yes, Lincoln was slow in realizing that the North must act to free the slaves; it was two years into the war when he issued </span><a href="https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation/transcript.html" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">The Emancipation Proclamation</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. But once Lincoln decided on this course, he never wavered, even in the face of vehement opposition from some sections of the North. He imperiled his own reelection by standing firm on the issue of Emancipation.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">To me, it is a miracle that these slaves who had an impossible task of learning the entire Word of God from masters who did not want them to know the whole Gospel, who were forbidden from learning to read God's Word, who had to worship in secret to worship freely, who underwent unspeakable cruelty in the name of the Gospel, these same slaves knew that their masters were not telling them what the Bible really said, and that their masters did not really live up to its commands. For them to be able to know there was a true Gospel, and a God that would hear and one day deliver them, is truly a miracle. In Part IV, Frederick Douglass contrasts real Christianity with the false one their master's proclaimed.</span>Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-19368184487387895002017-09-05T03:00:00.000-07:002017-09-05T03:00:16.903-07:00LINCOLN'S LEGACY: PART II. DEATH, BONDAGE AND THE PURSUIT OF THE MASTER(First published on 2/13/09 during the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. Some links have been updated and a few typos were edited.)<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">While it is true that </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/books/review/Safire-t.html?_r=1&ref=review" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Abraham Lincoln </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">always was morally opposed to slavery, he was slow to come to the realization that political action was required to bring about its demise. (It was two years into his presidency that he issued the </span><a href="https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation/transcript.html" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Emancipation Proclamation</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">.) He was convinced that if slavery was limited to the territory </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">allotted</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> to it by the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Compromise" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Missouri<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Compromise</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> (below the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason-Dixon_Line" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Mason Dixon Line</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">), then the institution would slowly die out. This was the view of many of the original Founding Fathers such as</span><a href="http://www.pbs.org/jefferson" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Thomas Jefferson</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. In the early days of this country, slavery was on the defensive. Many of those who held slaves </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">publicly</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> declared that slavery was not to be actively defended and hoped for its demise. However, the terms of the debate changed so that by the 1850's, the South and its defenders argued that slavery was a positive good. Southern </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">politicians</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> and writers made an all-out assault on the Declaration of Independence which declared that all were created in the image of God and therefore possessed the inalienable rights of "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Southerners denied this proposition, stating that black people were not as equal as whites and therefore had no such rights the Declaration declared as belonging to all men. The Chief Justice of the United States, </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/08/16/removing-a-slavery-defenders-statue-roger-b-taney-wrote-one-of-supreme-courts-worst-rulings/?utm_term=.ed188bfdf52c" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Roger B. Tanney</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, expressed these sentiments in his opinion in the </span><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2933.html" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Dred</span> Scott case</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. This case involved a slaveholder moving to a free territory with his slave, Scott, who soon died. Scott contended that as his master was dead and he was a resident of a free-soil state, he was free. The Supreme Court, under Tanney, declared otherwise, that as a slave he was considered to be property and his fate was to be decided by the laws of property. This assault on the Declaration is what drove Lincoln back into politics. By his actions, and the actions of his supporters, the rights spoken of in the Declaration were preserved in this nation and have been won in other parts of the world. Without Lincoln and company fighting to </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">preserve</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> them, modern day Christians would not have these rights to refer to when fighting for the unborn.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">The following is one man's view, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick%20Douglass" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Frederick <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Doulass's</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, of daily life endured by American slaves in the Old South. His view is by no means unique, as there is abundant supporting testimony from former slaves available. In fact, according to </span><a href="http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/civil-war/" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Ken <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Burn's</span> "The Civil War</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">," the average lifespan for a male slave was 29 years. The following is from </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Narrative-Life-Frederick-Douglass/dp/0486284999" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"Mr. Gore was a grave man, and, though a young man, he indulged in no jokes, and said no funny words, </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">seldomed</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> smiled. His words were in perfect keeping with his looks, and his looks were in perfect keeping with his words. Overseers will sometimes indulge in a witty word, even with the slaves; not so with Mr. Gore. He spoke but to command, and commanded but to be obeyed; he dealt sparingly with his words, and bountifully with his whip, never using the former where the later would answer as well. When he whipped, he seemed to do so from a sense of duty, and feared no consequences. He did nothing reluctantly, no matter how disagreeable; always at his post, never </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">inconsistent</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. He never promised but to fulfill. He was, in a word, a man of the most inflexible firmness and stone-like coolness.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"His savage barbarity was equaled only by the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">consummate</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> coolness with which he committed the grossest and most savage deeds upon the slaves under his charge. Mr. Gore once undertook to whip one of Colonel </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Lloyd's</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> slaves, by the name of </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Demby</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. He had given </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Denby</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> but few stripes, when, to get rid of the scourging, he ran and plunged himself into a creek, and stood there at the depth of his shoulders, refusing to come out. Mr. Gore told him he would give him three calls, and that, if he did not come out at the end of the third call, he would shoot him. The first call was given. </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Demby</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> made no response, but stood his ground. The second and third calls were given with the same result. Mr. Gore then, without consultation or deliberation with anyone, not even giving </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Demby</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> an additional call, raised his musket to his face, taking deadly aim at his standing victim, and in an instant </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Demby</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> was no more. His mangled body sank out of sight, and blood and brains marked the water where he had stood.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"A thrill of horror flashed through every soul upon the plantation, excepting Mr. Gore. He alone seemed cool and collected. He was asked by Colonel Lloyd and my old master, why he resorted to this extraordinary expedient. His reply was, (as well as I can remember,) that </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Demby</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> had become </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">unmanageable</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. He was setting a dangerous example to the other slaves,--one which, if suffered to pass without some demonstration on his part, would finally lead to the subversion of all rule and order on the plantation. He argued that if one slave refused to be corrected, and escaped with his life, the other slaves would soon copy his example; the result of which would be, the freedom of the slaves, and the enslavement of the whites. Mr. Gore's defense was satisfactory. He continued in his </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">status</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> as overseer upon the home plantation. His fame as an overseer went abroad. His horrid crime was not even submitted to judicial investigation. It was committed in the presence of slaves, and they of course could neither institute a suit, nor testify against him; and thus the guilty perpetrator of one of the bloodiest and most foul murders goes </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">unwhipped</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> of justice, and uncensored by the community in which he lives. Mr. Gore lived in St. Michael's, Talbot County, Maryland, when I left there; and if he is still alive, he probably lives there now; and if so, he is now, as he was then, as highly esteemed and as much respected as though his guilty soul had not been stained with his brother's blood.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"I speak advisedly when I say this,--that killing a slave, or any colored person, in Talbot County, Maryland, is not treated as a crime, either by the Courts or the Community. Mr. Thomas </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Lanman</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, of St.</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Michael's</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, killed two slaves, one of whom he killed with a hatchet by knocking his brains out. He used to boast of the commission of the awful and bloody deed. I have heard him do so laughingly, saying among other things, that he was the only benefactor of his country in the company, and that when others would do as much as he had done, we should be relieved of the 'd---d n-----s.' "</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">We need not just take the word of former slaves concerning the cruelty of everyday slavery. There is plenty of evidence from the pens of slaveholders themselves. This quote is from Francis </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"><a href="http://www.evangelicaloutpost.com/archives/000891.html" style="color: #cc6633;">Schaeffer's</a></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"></span><a href="http://www.crossway.org/product/1581345364" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">How Should We Then Live?:</a><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"Anyone with a tendency to minimize the brutality of slavery which existed in the United States should read </span><a href="http://www.charlesdickensinfo.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Charles Dickens's</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> (1812-1870) </span><a href="http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/americannotes" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">American Notes</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">(1842). He begins this portion of the book saying 'The upholders of slavery in America--of the atrocities of which system I shall not write one word for which I have not ample proof or </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">warrant</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">....' He goes on to quote pages of newspaper ads which speak profoundly for themselves. Here are four examples out of the dozens which </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Dicken's</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> quotes: 'Ran away, a negro boy about 12 years old. Had round his neck a chain dog-collar with De </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Lampert</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> on it.' 'Detained at the police jail, the negro wretch, Myra. Has several marks of lashing, and has irons on her feet.' 'One hundred dollar reward for a negro fellow, </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Pompoy</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, 40 years old. He was branded on the left jaw.' 'Ran away, a negro woman and two children. A few days before she went off, I burned her with a hot iron, on the left side of her face. I tried to make the letter M.' "</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">If a slave survived to old age, this is the fate they could look forward to, according to Frederick Douglass:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"...my grandmother, who was now very old, having outlived my old master and all of his children, having seen the beginning and end of all of them, and her present owners she was of but little value, her frame already racked with the pains of old age, and complete helplessness stealing over her once active limbs, they took her to the woods, built her a little hut, put up a mud chimney, and made her welcome to the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">privilege</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> of supporting herself there in perfect </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">loneliness</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">; she lives to remember and mourn over the loss of children, the loss of grandchildren, and the loss of great grandchildren...</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"The hearth is desolate. The children, the unconscious children, who once sang and danced in her presence, are gone. She gropes her way, in the darkness of age, for a drink of water...She stands--she sits--she staggers--she falls--she groans--she dies--and there are none of her children or grandchildren present, to wipe from her wrinkled brow the cold sweat of death, or to place beneath the sod her fallen remains. Will not a righteous God visit for these things?"</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">It matters not that </span><a href="https://millercenter.org/president/lincoln" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Abraham Lincoln</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> was not an orthodox believer in Christianity when one argues that he was a righteous God's instrument for ending "these things." Even the unorthodox Thomas Jefferson, when speaking about a possible Civil War over slavery, said "I tremble when I remember that God is just." It appears that on this point Douglass was a better theologian then those slaveholders who claimed to follow Christ. In Part III, Douglass describes what passed for Christianity in the Old South. It is not a history the Church should be proud to acknowledge.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;" />Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-83102766821423490372017-08-29T03:00:00.000-07:002017-08-29T03:00:08.263-07:00LINCOLN'S LEGACY: PART 1. WHAT NO CHILD SHOULD EVER SEEThis series was first published in 2/2009 to mark the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. This is not meant to be a commentary on the events in Charlottesville. It is not an endorsement of the left's narrative on race; I reject that narrative. Nor is is a commentary on President Trump or the controversy surrounding the removal of Confederate statues. I re-post these articles because the pressure of the culture on conservatives, Christian and non-Christian, can cause conservatives to lose perspective and forget just how bad slavery really was, or <a href="https://townhall.com/columnists/edbonekemper/2015/10/03/why-the-civil-war-remains-relevant-today-n2060442">why the North was justified in keeping the South in the Union</a>. I have made some edits to the original articles as well as updated and added links. <br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Today marks the 200</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">th</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. I will not attempt to write an article praising his greatness; </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/books/review/Safire-t.html?_r=1&ref=review" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">other writers </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">can do that better than myself. However, a particular group of people need to be addressed as to why Lincoln is considered our greatest President: conservatives and conservative Christians who believe that Lincoln and the North were wrong and that the South was right. I had some spirited discussions on this topic in the m</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">ens</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">' dorm in seminary. As to why some of these people have a negative opinion toward Lincoln and think the South was right, that will be addressed in a future column to appear in this series. For now I will express my astonishment that some consider the effort to abolish slavery and subdue the South to be on the wrong side of the theological debate. Some believe that because the South is now designated as the "Bible Belt", that the Old South was a bastion of true Christianity fighting a doomed battle to prevent the godless modernist North from wiping out the last </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">vestiges</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> of the true faith in this nation. Because some plantation owners professed to follow Christ, some have a benign view of what slavery was like. They don't understand slavery's soul-destroying effects upon those held in bondage. The slaves were denied every </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">vestige</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> of human dignity and the effects of slavery caused Southern whites to live in the grossest of sins. One of the best ways to understand Lincoln's greatness is to understand just how evil the system he was </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">instrumental</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> in destroying actually was. For that purpose, we need to hear the testimony of slaves who actually survived the hell that was slavery in the United States. In the following articles we will hear from two former slaves. Both comment not only on the evil deeds they witnessed, but also on the hypocritical religion that called itself Christianity that made their plight even worse. Both were believers in God and were able to distinguish between the true Gospel and the planter's religion that was used as a further pillar to </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">buttress</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> such an evil system. It signifies nothing that many in the North were racists as well; to read the personal testimony of these former slaves shows the justice of its forceful abolition and just who's side God favored in the conflict. God was on the side of the slaves, and any theology that seeks to argue otherwise is at odds with the heart of God.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">The first former slave we shall hear from is </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Frederick Douglass </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">who escaped from slavery in Maryland in the 1830's and wrote </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Narrative-Life-Frederick-Douglass/dp/0486284999" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6633; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> in 1845. It is from this work that I will quote from. We will begin by reading some of his earliest childhood memories, and how slave owners did all in their power to </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">destroy</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> all the bonds of family among the slaves:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"I was born in </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Tuckahoe</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, near </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Hillsbourough</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, and about twelve miles from </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Easton</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">, in Talbot county, Maryland. I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it. By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant. I do not remember ever to have met a slave who could tell of his birthday...A want of information concerning my own was a source of </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">unhappiness</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> to me even during childhood. The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">privilege</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. I was not allowed to make any inquiries of my master concerning it. He deemed all such inquiries on the part of a slave improper and impertinent, and the evidence of a restless spirit...</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"My mother was named Harriet Bailey...My father was a white man. He was admitted to be such by all I ever heard speak of my parentage. The opinion was also whispered that my master was my father; but of the correctness of this opinion, I know nothing; the means of knowing was withheld from me . My mother and I were </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">separated</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> when I was but an infant--before I knew her as my mother. It is a common custom, in the part of Maryland from which I ran away, to part children from their mothers at an early age. Frequently, before the child has reached its twelfth month, its mother is taken from it, and hired out on some farm a considerable distance off, and the child is placed under the care of an old woman too old for field labor. For what this </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">separation</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> is done, I do not know, unless it be to hinder the development of the child's affection towards its mother, and to blunt and destroy the natural affection of the mother for the child. This is the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">inevitable</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> result.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"I never saw my mother, to know her as such, more than four or five times in my life; and each of these times was very short in duration, and at night. She was hired by Mr. Stewart, who lived about twelve miles from my home. She made her journeys to see me at night, travelling the whole distance on foot, after the performance of the day's work. She was a field hand, and a whipping is the penalty of not being in the field at sunrise...I do not recollect ever seeing my mother by the light of day. She was with me in the night. She would lie down with me, and get me to sleep, but before long I waked and she was gone...She died when I was about seven years old...I was not allowed to be present during her illness , at her death, or burial. She was gone long before I knew anything about it. Never having enjoyed, to any considerable extent, her soothing presence, her tender and watchful care, I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"...slave holders have ordained, and by law established, that the children of slave women follow the condition of their mothers, and this is done too obviously to administer to their own lusts, and make a gratification of their wicked desires profitable as well as pleasurable, for by this cunning arrangement, the slave holders, in cases not a few, sustains to his slaves the double relation of master and father.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">"My first master's name was Anthony. I do not remember his first name...His farms and slaves were under the care of an overseer. The overseer's name was </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Plummer</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. Mr. </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Plummer</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> was a miserable drunkard, a profane swearer, and a savage monster. He always went armed with a </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">cowskin</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;"> and a very heavy cudgel. I have known him to cut and slash the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">womens</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">' heads so horribly, that even the master would be enraged at his cruelty, and would threaten to whip him if he did not mind himself. It required extraordinary barbarity on the part of an overseer to affect him. He was a cruel man, hardened by a long life of </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">slave holding</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. He would at times seem to take great pleasure in whipping a slave. I have often been awakened at the dawn of the day by the most heart-rending shrieks of an aunt of mine, whom he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood. No words, no tears, no prayers, from his gory victim, seemed to move his iron heart from its bloody purpose. The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest. He would whip to make her scream, and whip to make her hush; and not until overcome with fatigue, would he cease to swing the blood clotted </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">cowskin</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">. I remember the first time I ever witnessed this horrible exhibition. I was quite a child, but remember it well. It was the first of a long series of outrages, of which I was doomed to be a witness and a participant. It struck me with awful force. It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery, through which I was about to pass. It was the most terrible spectacle, I wish I could commit to paper the feelings, with which I beheld it...I was so terrified and horror stricken at the sight, that I hid myself in a closet...I had never seen anything like it before...I had therefore been, until now, out of the way of the bloody scenes that often occurred on the plantation."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">I heard a theologian say recently that if Christians disobeyed all the verses in the Bible commanding us to protect the most vulnerable, then Christians would be disobeying 60% of the whole Bible. What kind of theology condemns the Civil War fought by the North which would never have occurred but for slavery and which resulted in the destruction of that institution that so brutalized its victims such as Frederick Douglass and his family? Any one care to reply?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Part II will cover more of Frederick </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">Douglass's </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5191px; line-height: 24.7787px;">testimony.</span>Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-9531556369089971772017-08-10T03:00:00.000-07:002017-08-10T03:00:30.262-07:00THOMAS AQUINAS ON BALANCING THE ACTIVE LIFE AND THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE "The active life may be considered from two points of view. First, as regards the attention to and practice of external works...it is evident that the active life hinders the contemplative, insofar as it is impossible for one to be busy with external action, and at the same time give oneself to Divine contemplation. Secondly, active life may be considered as quieting and directing the internal passions of the soul; and from this point of view the active life is a help to the contemplative, since the latter is hindered by the inordinateness of the internal passions...<br />
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"Hence [Pope Gregory I] says...'Those who wish to hold the fortress of contemplation must first of all train in the camp of action. Thus after careful study they will learn whether they no longer wrong their neighbor, whether they bear with equanimity the wrongs their neighbors do to them, whether their soul is neither overcome with joy in the presence of temporal goods, nor cast down with too great a sorrow when those goods are withdrawn." <a href="https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/summa.html">Summa Theologiae</a>, question 182.a.2) HT: <a href="https://www.christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/">Christian History Magazine</a>, <a href="https://www.christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/issue/vocation/">Issue 110</a>, p. 1.Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6545156222441496474.post-44861993886116166882017-08-02T03:00:00.000-07:002017-08-02T03:00:30.165-07:00CHARLIE GARD HAS DIEDCharlie Gard, the British infant and subject of a court case in the UK, has died. Charlie was born with a fatal medical condition which his doctors said was incurable. His parents wanted to take him to the United States in the hope that experimental treatment would prevent the inevitable. A European Court refused, stating that the hospital and the state were better suited to act in their son's best interest. For more background, r<a href="http://www.redemptivethoughts.com/2017/07/pro-life-stories-of-interest-summer-2017.html">ead this previous post.</a><br />
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For an account of the battle to save Charlie's life, and the underhanded tactics of those determined that they and not his parents would decide his fate,<a href="http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2017/07/little-charlie-gard-has-died/#.WYEQitQrJkg"> see this article</a> from <a href="http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/#.WYERNtQrJkh">Dave Andrusko of the National Right to Life.</a><br />
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As to the claim that the state, not the parents, have ultimate custody of children, <a href="https://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/blog-details/allianceedge/2017/07/28/if-children-don-t-belong-to-their-parents-who-do-they-belong-to">see this article</a> by <a href="https://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/biography-details/marissa-poulson">Marissa Mayer</a> of the <a href="https://www.adflegal.org/">Alliance Defending Freedom</a>.Mr. Guthriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789464810788711789noreply@blogger.com0