New Title, i.e. New Testament Gone.

A Dialogue, Spiritual vs. Literal,

Between an Episcopal Minister, or Priest, and a slave, the Priest being hired by the British Government to undertake a mission to the slave States, in order to abrogate slavery in the United States of America. Unfortunately he was one of those mistaken men who only hold the truth in the abstract; that is, that all truth was first Spiritually fulfilled, before ever it had taken place Literally. Having "no call" nor "Living," as a minister in his own country, he engaged to take a voyage in the Southern States, in order to enlighten the poor benighted slaves. In his great burning zeal and in the plenitude of his philanthropy, immediately, upon his arrival, he enters one of the Negro Huts and salutes a slave as follows:--

Minister. Good morning, sir; I hope you and your family are in good health.

Slave. Thank you, massa, my family and myself are all well.

Minister. Well, sir, I will tell you my errand. I have been appointed by the British Government to endeavor to break the galling chains of your cruel Slavery and Bondage.

Slave. Oh, massa, I be a Free man.

Minister. How is that, sir? I have been assured that you are a slave for life.

Slave. It is true indeed that I am a slave for life to my master, but for all that I am a Free man Spiritually, for you know the Poet says, "He is a free man whom the truth makes free, and all are slaves beside."

Minister. Most fully do I understand that, sir, for I have been an Evangelical or Spiritual minister for above forty years; but I am not talking of the Slavery of your soul, but of your Body.

Slave. Oh, massa, We poor Slaves heard of your appointment and of your coming, and have read your Tract No. 1, that you sent us, and we see that you are one of those mistaken men (please excuse me, massa) who believe that all Truth must first be taken and accomplished Spiritually, and will never have any literal fulfillment TILL AFTERWARD.

Minister. That is all true as to the Gospel of Jesus, but what has that to do with the abominable curse of Slavery?

Slave. Oh, massa, I think all and everything, for if the Kingdom of God was set up, or even any one prophetical truth be accomplished or fulfilled FIRST in a SPIRITUAL SENSE, so if you follow out this principle, is all Truth, and I am a Free Man, according to your own rule, I am no Slave; you have set up your own principle as a Precedent.

The Minister at a stand, seeing his whole Mission undermined by his own Spiritual rule of accomplishment, and his Salary in danger, says to the slave--

Minister. Please explain yourself, sir.

Slave. I will try, massa. You say in your little Tract, page 6, that the kingdom of God was SPIRITUALLY set up above 1800 years ago, and that the True Messiah was only Spiritually Anointed, and that all the promises must first be all Spiritually fulfilled, as follows, 'That "Mount Zion" and "Jerusalem" only means "Our Church," and that "Christians have nothing to do with PLACE," and that "Jerusalem only means a Quiet Habitation," or state of the mind, as you so often say, and that these things have had their accomplishment.

Minister. That is all true, that I do so say and believe; but what has that to do with your slavery?

Slave. Oh, massa, a great deal, or, as I have just said before, all and everything; for if all these things were first Spiritually fulfilled, above 1800 years ago, and will never have any other accomplishment, then according to your own rule, (let me repeat it,) I am no Slave, but a Free man.

Minister. (Much excited, and his whole body agitated, and his voice assuming an angry tone, thinking again of his mission and his living, says,) Explain yourself more fully, sir; perhaps I do not yet understand you.

Slave. I will try again, massa. In your tract, page 8, you say "That Daniel's 'fifth Kingdom of the Stone' (see Dan. 2:34) is the KINGDOM OF God," which is the GOSPEL that was set up above 1800 years since, consisting of "Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost." (See Rom. 14:17.) This is your own Testimony, why must I repeat it again?

You say the "Wolf will never dwell with the Lamb, nor the Leopard with the Kid, literally, nor the Calf and the young Lion and the fatling together, and that a little child shall never lead them, literally; nor the weaned Child play upon the hole of the Asp, &c. &c., literally, as the Prophet Isaiah plainly declares in his 11th chap. 6th and 8th. v.; that Jesus was the True Messiah, although he was never literally Anointed, and all know, Messiah, in the Hebrew, is 'Anointed,' as Christos is in the Greek, that all the promises must first be fulfilled Spiritually, or only in the spiritual sense; that the Jew, the 'Carnal Jew,' will never be literally restored; that Mount Zion means your Evangelical Church, and Jerusalem a quiet state of the mind only; and that Mount Zion and Jerusalem will never be redeemed as a literal place." Now, according to all this spiritual abstract reasoning, slavery is only a state of slavery, belonging to mind, and not to the body--I am, therefore, no Slave.

Minister. (All on the stand and completely posed both in body and mind, after some time, says,) Indeed, sir, I have not time to prolong this conversation at present, but I may probably call to see you again, if time and opportunity permit, (but at the same time murmuring within himself, saying, Oh, who would ever have thought that these poor miserable, ignorant slaves would have been able to detect us, in discerning our flimsy and ungrounded arguments. We are most certainly in error,* and must have been so from the very first start, in endeavoring to palm upon them, that all the Scripture prophecies were first fulfilled in the abstract only, that is, merely spiritually, before they were ever fulfilled literally, that is, in FACT and ACT. My mission is all discovered and forever up here; we must therefore try some other scheme or Humbug, for what shall I do for a living? "To Dig, I can't; and to Beg, I am ashamed." We must turn our attention towards converting the poor Jews and "promoting Christianity amongst them. See Appendix D.

* How awful, then, to have been nearly 2000 years persecuting the poor Jews, and Preaching to them, and telling them that unless they Believed all "this stuff, and were baptized, they all would be damned."

When I [Cresson] reached Jerusalem in the year 1844, the missionaries of the Church of England and those of the American Presbyterian Church had quarreled and left Jerusalem, owing to the former calling the latter "Unauthorized Teachers and Schoolmasters," and the latter moved to Beirut and left the American mission establishment entirely empty, which I occupied.

Second Interview.

The minister very unexpectedly and unwillingly meets the poor slave again and salutes him as follows:--

Minister or Master. Why, is that you? You are the very man I did not expect to meet, or see. Why, how came you here? Are you will?

Slave. I am. Did you wish to see me for anything PARTICULAR? I thought we settled all up pretty fair the last time.

Minister. Why, yes, we did. But--but--but I wished particularly to warn you to be careful, very careful, and never, never, make public our last conversation; no, never talk about it to any of the other slaves--nor to any person or persons whatever.

Slave. Why do, massa? Was not what I said true?

Minister. Well; I will not say now that it was or was not true; but you well know and must remember that the truth must not always be told, because if you were to do that, and make public all that we said, the whole FOUNDATION of the Christian Religion would be exposed as false, and then the Jews, the "Carnal Jews," would come into power and bring all our Christian Ministers and our adherents into subjection to them.

Slave . Master, I know all that, and don't you know that Isaiah 14:1, 2 declares all this, and you also well know "Truth will out." And the Jews all know, that it is by this very absurd principle and position of the Christians that the Spiritual is and was first, before the LITERAL, and that many hundred years before ever the literal could have possibly taken place. I say it is all owing to the most absurd idea of the Church of Rome, that they the first Christians set up, and that brought us and our most holy religion in bondage to them. This is Priestcraft. Good bye, master. I hope we will ever remember that the "LITERAL is First, and AFTERWARD the Spiritual."