Book: Autographs for Freedom, Volume 2 (of 2) (1854)

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"I do not know," replied the Captain, "what might be the conclusions
of abstract reasoning upon the subject outside of the Bible, for I
have never thought very profoundly about it. But I feel satisfied so
long as I have the assurance that the revealed Word is on my side."

"But, Captain," said Mary, "I am not willing to allow that the Bible
is on your side. It shocks me to hear you say so."

"Well, Miss St. Clair, I must turn you over to brother Gracelius, who
is well posted up in Bible matters. He will be able to show you that
piracy is a Bible institution."

"Yes, my young sister," said Mr. Gracelius, who had not been
inattentive to the conversation, while he was enjoying an excellent
cup of coffee. "The Scriptures do most certainly sanction the
institution of piracy."

Here Mr. Gracelius took from his pocket a small Bible, and proceeded
to say: "On such a question, I am strongly disposed to pass by all
ethical and metaphysical dissertation, and appeal at once to the only
standard of right and wrong which can prove decisive. It is the
responses of the sacred oracles to which we must after all appeal."

"I could wish, Mr. Gracelius," said Albert, "that you would discuss
this question rather upon the foundation principles of morality, than
by arguments from a volume which sanctions war, slavery, death
penalties, and a host of other evils, by the very confessions of
Christians themselves."

"I perceive," said Mr. Gracelius, "that you, sir, have never yet
learned the true grace of God through regeneration, or you too would
bow submissively to the teachings of the sacred Scriptures, and
acknowledge them as the highest standard of right and morality. I
cannot, therefore, hope to seriously affect your mind by an appeal to
the Bible. But Miss St. Clair, being a Christian, will feel the force
of such high authority."

"Truly, Mr. Gracelius," said Mary, "I do take the Bible as my highest
standard of truth; and it is from the principles taught by the Bible
that I have the assurance that piracy is awfully criminal. And I am
utterly astonished that a man of your apparent piety, and who so well
understands the doctrines of Christianity, can for a moment think that
the Bible justifies such crimes."

"My dear young sister," said the minister, "you are begging the
question when you call piracy a crime, for that is the very thing you
are to prove. But let us see what piracy is:

"In order to clear away rubbish, and to arrive at once at the point,
let me remind you that it is simply the _essential_ character of
piracy which we are discussing. Piracy itself is nothing more than the
appropriating of the products of another's labor and skill, without
his consent or contract. The absence of the contract, or the consent
of the producer, does not alter the nature and extent of the pirates'
right. The case is analogous to that of parents and children. A father
has a right to the productions of his child's labor during his
minority, without the contract or consent of the child, and he may
even transfer that right. But I grant that this does not justify the
father in doing anything to the detriment of the child, either
morally, intellectually, or physically. And, beyond doubt, this is the
true light in which Christianity would have pirates regard their
relations. The capture of a vessel, and the treatment of prisoners,
involve a great responsibility. Nothing more should be done than is
absolutely essential to the maintenance of the peculiar institutions
of piracy. It is not the relation of the pirate to the producer or
prisoner which is sinful, but infidelity to the solemn trust which
that relation creates. It does not follow, because he has a right to
the produce of another's labor or skill, that he has also a right to
inflict unnecessary violence on his person, or take from him all means
of livelihood. Whenever it can be done, without jeopardizing the
well-being and interests of our society and institutions, we ought to
spare the prisoner's life, make him comfortable while in our hands,
place him as soon as possible where he can return to his home, and
leave him means enough to keep him from starving or absolute
destitution.

"To include in the idea of piracy, that also of robbery and murder, is
to confound two things entirely distinct, and which really have no
sort of connection. If I take from another that which I have no right
to by the laws of the society or government under which I live, then I
am a robber; for that alone is property which the law makes property,
as one of your own great statesmen has very properly said; and if I
take life, when not essential to maintain my own rights under the laws
of that government which I recognize in my social obligations, I am a
murderer. I therefore insist upon it, that, in discussing this
subject, we regard as appropriate to the question only the _essential_
elements of piracy, and not its abuses; for piracy may exist without
inflicting these aggravated wrongs.

"Christian pirates have great regard for the welfare, temporal and
spiritual, of their fellow-beings, and oftentimes exercise the spirit
of the most self-denying missionaries. Such men and women do honor to
human nature. They are the true friends of their race.

"Now, here is piracy--a system of society and government which gives
opportunity to inculcate among graceless men who fall into our hands
the principles of the Gospel of Christ; and many an ungodly man has
had the opportunity in our cabin of hearing the doctrines of the
cross, who, whilst immersed in the business, and cares, and pleasures
of life, never darkened the door of a meeting-house on land. And many
of them have been converted to the Christian faith, and have become
excellent and worthy Christian pirates.

"Those of our captains who have Christian sailors under them have the
best-managed vessels; and really their crews do more of effective
work, both in battle and in ship duties, than any ungodly crew that
can be found.

"No, Sister Mary, depend upon it, you have imbibed a prejudice against
piracy, and you suppose it to involve all sorts of crime. But the true
question of issue between us is pruned to this:--Is it necessarily a
crime in the sight of God to control the property, or curtail the
personal liberty, or take the life of a human being in any case?

"Every government has necessarily a right to pass laws indispensable
to its existence; and it has a right, also, to establish those
regulations which shall best promote the good of the whole population.
Now, what political organization is most desirable for a particular
people, depends on circumstances; but, whatever be that adopted,
whether democracy, or despotism, or piratical confederation, the
rights of man, as a human being, are trenched upon; and visionary have
proved and will prove all projects of constructing and fashioning
society according to philosophical notions and theories of abstract
unalienable rights. That piracy or any civil institution interferes
with the property of a man, or a class of men (as, for instance,
merchants), does not then make it necessarily, and, amid all
circumstances, a crime."

Mr. Gracelius here paused, and gave Mary an opportunity to put in a
word.

"But," said she, "after taking off what you call the rubbish, Mr.
Gracelius, and pruning the question down as much as you please, I
cannot possibly admit that the Bible anywhere justifies piracy under
any circumstances whatsoever, either abstractly or practically. I call
upon you for anything in all the Bible that gives the slightest
countenance to such a mode of life, or such a government, as you are
pleased to term it."

"I should rather require of you," replied the learned divine, "to make
out from the Bible your charge that piracy is a crime. I know not a
word from the first of Genesis to the end of Revelation where piracy
is once condemned. But I pass this, and, waiving my clear logical
rights, undertake to prove the negative, and to show that the Bible
does, most explicitly, both by precept and example, bear me out in my
assertion, that piracy is not necessarily, and always, and amidst all
circumstances, a sin. WHAT GOD SANCTIONED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, AND
PERMITTED IN THE NEW, CANNOT BE SIN.

"I begin with the patriarch Jacob, whose name Israel has been
appropriated from his day to this time to the true church. How did
Jacob acquire his great riches? Was it not by appropriating the
property of Laban to himself? And did not God bless him in thus doing?
There is not a word of condemnation; but, on the contrary, Jacob, in
telling his brother that he had much property, remarked, that God had
dealt graciously with him. Here, you see, is a marked case of an
appropriation of another's property by a very adroit stratagem, which
is fully justified by the Old Testament, and uncondemned by the New.

"Had Jacob not represented in his person a different community from
Laban's, of which he was to be the Patriarch, his mode of acquiring
wealth out of Laban would have been censurable. But his conduct
towards Laban was consistent with what was subsequently allowed under
the Mosaic laws on the part of the Jews towards other nations. They
could, for instance, make slaves of the nations round about;--they
could take usury of them;--they could despoil them by war, and they
could do a variety of things in relation to the people of other
nations which would have been robbery, fraud, murder, and so on, if
done by Jews to Jews. Thus the idea that that is property which the
law makes property, is of divine origin.

"Take now the case of the Israelites in their exodus from Egypt; they
were positively enjoined by the Divine command to borrow of their
Egyptian neighbors their various costly jewelries, not with the idea
of returning them, but of appropriating them permanently to their own
benefit.

"David, who was a man after God's own heart, did not regard it robbery
to obtain from the Priest the shew-bread itself, although to do so he
deceived the Priest by telling that which, under other circumstances,
would be called a lie. It was essential to his life--to his support.
It was not therefore criminal to tell the falsehood in order to obtain
the bread. Now, it is upon this very principle that your government
and all civil governments employ diplomatic agents, in order to secure
by adroitness and craftiness commercial and other advantages; and it
is upon the same principle that we pirates justify our proceedings. It
is essential to the support and maintenance of our people; and there
is as much in the Scriptures to warrant our stratagems to decoy
vessels and get the benefit of their cargoes, as for your government
to obtain advantages by diplomatic adroitness. We must have a living.

"But you say we not only rob but murder. But as all appropriations of
others' possessions are not essentially robbery, so all killing is not
essentially murder. If you will look into the Book of Judges, xiv. 19,
you will find that the taking of spoil even by violence and bloodshed,
is not necessarily a crime--is not necessarily robbery and murder. It
is the case of Samson when he had to give thirty changes of raiment to
those who had expounded his riddle. It is said: "And the Spirit of the
Lord came upon him, and he went down to Askelon and slew thirty men of
them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them
which expounded the riddle." Now, notice this particularly, that
Samson did all this under the influence of God's Spirit. And you will
remember that Paul in Hebrews mentions Samson with special
commendation.

"Now, if Samson, and David, and Jacob did such things, we feel
justified in proceeding accordingly.

"But as I have not time to go into very minute detail, I pass at once
to two very important points in the New Testament. The first occurs
in Christ's parable of the unjust steward. There the steward is
commended for making an arrangement by which he secured his permanent
interest by adroitly subtracting from what was due his Lord by his
debtors. He had acted unjustly in the office of steward, being bound
by honor to fulfil its duties and his obligations to his employer, but
so soon as his obligations to his employer ceased on being ordered out
of the stewardship, and his very living cut off, then it was no longer
unjust, but commendable to do that which before would have been fraud
or robbery.

"The other case is that of our blessed Lord himself. He sent his
disciples to take away from the place where they were tied an ass and
her colt; and he told them how to escape should they be caught at it,
by saying: 'The Lord hath need of them.' Now, when we take away the
property of others, we may reply to those who question us, 'The Lord
hath need of them,' for every good pirate will endeavor so to use what
he obtains as to promote the best interests of religion, and to
glorify our blessed Redeemer.

"And now, my dear young sister, what more need I say to establish the
point that piracy is not essentially sinful--that it is not _malum in
se_? Indeed, it stands upon the same footing that slavery does, and is
vindicated by the same process of reasoning. The argument for slavery
is identically the same in principle as for piracy. And you know it is
upon the ground that slavery is not under all circumstances a sin,
that Christians in the Northern States hold communion with you of the
South. And I admire that charitable spirit which induces them to
believe that Southern Christians do not uphold the barbarous features
which wicked and cruel masters impress upon the system of slavery.
They give you, therefore, very properly, the right hand of Christian
fellowship, which they could not do if slaveholding were sin in
itself. And I doubt not they would as readily commune with Christian
pirates, since it is evident that piracy is not, any more than
slavery, _malum in se_."

Mary made no reply, but sat musing with a countenance overwhelmed with
sadness.

Mr. Gracelius looked as though he had accomplished a decided victory;
and Captain Templeton smiled with approbation.

Albert after a short silence exclaimed with great emphasis: "I thank
God _my_ Bible is my _reason_, my _conscience_, and my _heart_. I
this day glory in being an infidel."

"Oh! Albert, Albert!" cried Mary, and burst into tears.

Albert seeing he had wounded the feelings of one he loved so dearly,
tried to soothe her by remarking that he had met at the North with
some persons who maintained that the Bible was misunderstood and
misinterpreted by the most of the commentators and theologians, and
that when rightly explained and received, would be found to be
perfectly in harmony with the sympathies and philanthropic emotions of
the human heart, and with the principles of enlightened reason. But as
these persons were generally called fanatical and visionary, he had
not paid much attention to their strictures. "I intend, however," he
added, "to take an early opportunity to investigate the Bible for
myself, and if it prove itself to be better than its commentators and
expounders, perhaps I shall become a Christian. But I cannot be a
Christian if Christianity props up slaveholding and piracy."

Here the conversation was interrupted by the entrance of a messenger,
who announced that every preparation had been made, and that Mr.
Gillon and Miss St. Clair could now go on board the merchant vessel.
On rising to depart, Albert with much feeling addressed the Captain:

"Captain Templeton, we are much indebted to you for saving our lives,
and for the hospitality and very kind attentions we have received. I
would that I could repay you in some way. But you will pardon me, so
young a man, for expressing the profound wish of my heart, that you
would abandon this horrible life, and no longer delude yourself with
the idea that the Bible is the highest authority for the regulation of
man's life. Recognize every man, everywhere, as your brother, and
treat all as you have treated Mary and myself,--treat all as your own
heart, left to its most benevolent promptings, would dictate, and (the
Bible to the contrary notwithstanding) you will please God better than
you can do by any adherence to theological dogmas, that make the
Almighty the author of piracy, slavery, war, death-penalties, and such
like institutions and practices."

"And I, too, hope," replied Captain Templeton, "that you will look
into this matter with care, and come to the conclusion to follow that
good book rather than the _ignis fatuus_ of mere human reason and
natural conscience. I admire your honesty and candor, Mr. Gillon, and,
although I cannot but regard your views as fanatical, I trust that
when the ardor of youth shall give place to the reflections of maturer
years, you will be as firm a believer in the Bible as I am."

"Ah!" said Mr. Gracelius, "that will depend upon the grace of God.
Farewell, young man, and may the Lord convert your soul and give us a
happy meeting again, where we shall sing the song of the Lamb forever
and ever."

Mary, still in tears, took Mr. Gracelius by the hand and said:

"Mr. Gracelius, I am not at all convinced that the Scriptures favor
your views, although I am not prepared to meet your arguments. But I
fear you have so confirmed Albert in his infidelity, that it will be
exceedingly hard to get him hereafter even to listen to Christian
instruction."

"Oh! my young sister," replied the minister, "the grace of God can
conquer the worst of infidels, and I hope your friend will yet become
an ambassador of Christ."

By this time the party were standing on deck, ready to bid the last
adieu. Our young friends were soon on board the merchant vessel and
out of sight of their strange benefactors.

They found that the pirates had liberated the crew and passengers, and
returned them to their vessel, retaining only the rich cargo.

Having been well supplied with funds, in gold, when they left home,
which Albert had about his person when taken up by the pirates, they
found no difficulty, on reaching France, in making their way to
England, and thence to the United States.

On the voyages Albert perused the Scriptures with great attention, not
only because Mary had urged him to do so, but because he felt that he
needed to be informed of the true nature and character of what was
claimed to be sacred writings. He was careful to avoid conversation on
the subject during the progress of his investigations; and Mary
herself was not, after her last interview with Mr. Gracelius,
sufficiently quieted in her own mind to give expression to her
thoughts.

It was in November, when an Indian summer was augmenting the beauty of
the scenery about the harbor of New York, that our young friends were
sitting together in Mary's spacious state-room on board the noble
vessel which was just passing Staten Island.

"Albert," said Mary, with deep emotion, and the tear in her eye, "I
have become an Abolitionist."

"And I," said Albert, with yet deeper emphasis, "have become a
Christian."

"Thank God--thank God!" exclaimed Mary. "O, Albert, I cannot tell you
how happy I am to hear you say so. But I do not need any explanation,
for I see through it all. The pirates have made me an Abolitionist,
and the Bible has made you a Christian. I have now learned how to
understand its teachings, and you have learned that the precious
volume has been grievously tortured to uphold the evil instead of the
good."

"It is even so, Mary," replied Albert. "I have been reading and
studying with an earnest desire for truth. I find much, in the Old
Testament, calculated to bewilder, and much that requires the New
Testament to explain. I find, scattered through the Old Testament,
holy principles that are brought into full relief by Jesus Christ, who
has, by his example, and in his instructions to his disciples,
elucidated what was obscure and rejected from the claims of divine
authority what was only Jewish misconception. I am satisfied that it
does not uphold violence, oppression, and wrong, and throw around
these things the sanction of the divine mind. I find that everything
taught by Jesus Christ is in full harmony with the most benevolent and
honorable feelings of the human heart, and with the highest sense of
justice and consciousness of right, and is diametrically opposed to
all base carnal passions and affections, and to all that is violative
of human equality and brotherhood.

"I believe in Jesus Christ. And I had the ideal of such a Saviour for
man before I saw that the Jesus of the New Testament is the true
Captain of Salvation. And now I find that such a Saviour really
exists, I am willing to follow his leadings, although I know it will
require self-denials and sacrifices. I tell you, Mary, I found out
from reading the Bible that I was an unregenerated man, and needed
God's spirit to purify and sanctify my heart; and I have learned this
from studying carefully the life and doctrines of Christ, who, in the
flesh, gave a full manifestation of the godhead, and by _his
righteousness_ brought to my own view _my unrighteousness_.

"I read of Jesus dying on the cross rather than not carry out every
jot and every tittle of the divine morality, and every principle of
pure and undefiled religion. I stand in admiration of this divine
heroism. I learn farther that his great mission was to induce sinful
man to abandon his sins and become reconciled to God; and that it was
in carrying out this mission that he subjected himself to the tortures
of the cross. Under the influence of God's Spirit, this brings me to
true repentance, and I determine to reform by taking Jesus as my
exemplar and the captain of my salvation. I am thus made reconciled to
God's law, and feel pardoned for the past and hopeful for the future.
My faith in Christ gives me strength to live the life of a Christian,
and thus I am saved. Jesus Christ's death has in this way reconciled
me to God, and being thereby brought into harmony with God, God is
reconciled to me. Jesus Christ therefore making atonement or
reconciliation for me, has truly suffered in my stead. That is to say,
his suffering in order to impress me with my obligations to God and
his law, has by reconciling me to God's law, kept me from suffering
the penalty of law. And when I think that God made this provision for
this fallen world--that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life, and I
realize it all with trust and confidence, I feel that the kingdom of
heaven is within me. I am truly happy."

"My dear Albert," responded Mary, "you make me to see all this in a
new light. I confess I never before properly understood the doctrine
of the atonement. I did not before understand that atonement for man,
and reconciliation between God and man, were one and the same thing.
But I now perceive that there is no atonement unless we become
Christ-like; and that just in proportion as we are Christ-like, we are
in harmony with God, and are thus far saved. God converts the soul
from the love of sin to the love of Christ, and that love of Christ
insures obedience to his commandments to the full measure of our
knowledge. To be clothed upon then with the righteousness of Christ,
and to have Christ's righteousness imputed to us, are not terms
signifying a righteousness extraneous from ourselves, and only
regarded in place of righteousness in us, but really and truly to
manifest a righteousness which will be seen and recognized by our
ownselves and others as a righteousness derived from Christ, because
we live as Christ would have us to live. O how pleasant it is to see
the matter in so clear a light!"

"And now," said Albert, "I wish to know how it is you a little while
ago called yourself an Abolitionist. Did you really mean what you said
in its full import?"

"Yes I did," replied Mary. "That argument made by Mr. Gracelius was so
exactly similar to the mode of interpreting the Scriptures in behalf
of slavery, that I at once saw if it were good for slavery, it was
just as good in defence of piracy; and that I must give up the Bible
under such a mode of interpretation, or admit that piracy itself is
sanctioned by the Bible. I could not give up my precious Bible, for I
have felt so much of its hallowed influences upon my soul, that I
could not think of parting from it. I have, like yourself, spent this
voyage studying it with great care, and whatever may be the criticisms
of the learned upon words, I am certain that the whole spirit of
Christianity, as developed before and since Christ, utterly condemns
any and every system, or practice, or principle which does not
recognize all men as brethren. And I also perceive that many things
have been wrested from their original meaning to subserve the
purposes of oppression and tyranny. I now so read that good book, that
I discriminate between the erroneous ideas and practices of the Jews
and the divine law--between historical facts and traditional
inferences--between man's misconceptions and the true principles of
religion. I now can and do see from the Bible itself that slavery is
all wrong; and being so, I am obliged to be an Abolitionist; for I
know that no Christian ought to continue the practice of what is wrong
in itself on any consideration. But, Albert, how was it that you who
did not believe in the Bible, became an Abolitionist?"

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