prison doors to them that are bound. There are Pauls who are saying,
in reference to this subject, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"
There are Marys sitting in the house now, who are ready to arise and
go forth in this work as soon as the message is brought, "the master
is come and calleth for thee." And there are Marthas, too, who have
already gone out to meet Jesus, as he bends his footsteps to their
brother's grave, and weeps, _not_ over the lifeless body of Lazarus
bound hand and foot in grave-clothes, but over the politically and
intellectually lifeless slave, bound hand and foot in the iron chains
of oppression and ignorance. Some may be ready to say, as Martha did,
who seemed to expect nothing but sympathy from Jesus, "Lord, by this
time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days." She thought it
useless to remove the stone and expose the loathsome body of her
brother; she could not believe that so great a miracle could be
wrought, as to raise _that putrefied body_ into life; but "Jesus said,
take _ye_ away too stone;" and when _they_ had taken away the stone
where the dead was laid, and uncovered the body of Lazarus, then it
was that "Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that
thou hast heard me," &c. "And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a
loud voice, Lazarus, come forth." Yes, some may be ready to say of
the colored race, how can _they_ ever be raised politically and
intellectually, they have been dead four hundred years? But _we_ have
_nothing_ to do with _how_ this is to be done; _our business_ is to
take away the stone which has covered up the dead body of our brother,
to expose the putrid carcass, to show _how_ that body has been bound
with the grave-clothes of heathen ignorance, and his face with the
napkin of prejudice, and having done all it was our duty to do, to
stand by the negro's grave, in humble faith and holy hope, waiting to
hear the life-giving command of "Lazarus, come forth." This is just
what Anti-Slavery Societies are doing; they are taking away the stone