Negro Slavery Unjustifiable by Alexander McLeod
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Title:Negro slavery unjustifiable. A discourse by the late Rev.

Alexander McLeod, 1802.

Author:M’Leod, Alexander

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Print Source:Negro slavery unjustifiable. A discourse by the late Rev. Alexander McLeod, 1802.

M’Leod, Alexander

10th ed.: 46 p. 19 cm.

New York,

A. McLeod,

1860.

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NEGRO SLAVERY UNJUSTIFIABLE. A DISCOURSE BY THE LATE REV. ALEXANDER

-MIcLEOD, D.D., PASTOR OF THE FIRST REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEW

YORK. “Whosoever looketh unto the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein; he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work; this man shall be blessed in his deed.” JON s i. 25. I 180 2. TENTH EDITION. NEW

YORK: P?U3LISHED BY ALEXANDERB McLEOD, 85 BRIoAD AND 4.SOI;,I WILLU4

STr.FZT, CLO o6).  l *. 4. w L NV1t .: .’,, ~.-,A ..::’= -, 0 - ” 4 , %,1 ;o O i’d; EIx +’,; 11t

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4I&G ‘MJo I gGG Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S60, by ALEXANDER McLEOD, In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the U1nited States for the Southern District of New York. 0 2 0w I V% t 4w

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.JNIVERSrrY Cl.,….CUG.N [Cu-IGA.k’ GEEAL LIBRARY ANN ARBOR, MIcmOAN ‘ 2

,3 - PUBLISHER’S PREFACE. The first edition of this Discourse was printed iii this city just fifty-eight years ago. It has been often published since, both in this country and in Europe; and as often it has received the commendation of the philosopher, and patriotic statesman, as well as the christian to whom its demonstrations are more immediately addressed. A copy of the first edition was sent to Thomas Jefferson, and was the occasion of a correspondence between him and its author, on the whole subject of the colored race in the United States, and the best means of doing it good. Another copy found its way into the hands of that celebrated philanthropist, Henry, Count Gregoire of France. He speaks of it in highly complimentary terms, and “couples its author with Mr.

Jefferson, as a defender of the rights of humanity.” Dr. Alexander McLeod was well known in ttf city of New York for many years, as an eloquent preeacher, able theologian, and clear and earnest writer on the morals of politics. As a true patriot he reproved the faults of his adopted country, while he defended her rights. But he never wrote a line for faction. or to encourage the mere party politician. Carrying out the creed of his church, he tried all things by the Bible, and proclaimed its supremacy as well over social institutions, as over personal character. There were but few, in the day when he wrote, to vindicate slavery in America as right and beneficial in itself, much less as approved In divine revelation. It was then, 0 I 9 0 ” i’ At,t’ ,. 6 ‘k I.

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4 rather viewed, even by its apologists, as an admitted evil of which it was difficult to dispose, than a good deserving perpetuation. Now it is extensively proclaimned to be a political necessity, a moral institution, a Bible appointment. Against such deceptive error, the Discourse brings to bear its strong batteries of Scripture logic, sustained by historical fact, and economical deduction. And it shows that “the practice of buying, holding, or selling our unoffending fellow creatures as slaves is immoral,” and of course dangerous to the individual, and the community in which it exists. Referring to the remedy, the Discourse advises no violence, no insurrection, no sudden disruptions of the bonds of society, but the influence of humanity and justice, pursuasions of the gospel, and the power of prayer to Him who rules the nations, and can bring the greatest good out of the greatest evil. In the notes, which are valuable, the opinions of such well known statesmen and divines as Thomas Jefferson, Dr. Jedediahli Morse, and Dr. Samuel Miller are presented. These deserve to be pondered now. 0 #1.

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ADVERTISEMENT. The Author of this Discourse had a call presented to him, in November, 1800, to take the pastoral charge of a congregation in the county of Orange, in the State of New York. He perceived among the subscribers the names of some whom he knew to be holders of slaves. He doubted the consistency of enslaving the negroes with the Christian system, and was unwilling to enter into a full ecclesiastic communion with those who continued the practice. He hesitated to accept the call, but took an early opportunity of writing to the Elders of the Church, and of intimating to the Presbytery his sentiments respecting slavery. Tle Reformed Presbyterian Church has judicially condemned the practice, and warned their connections against it. This produced an additional evidence of the force of Christian principle. It triumphed over self-interest; and, in several parts of the United States have men sacrificed, on the altar of religion, the property which the civil law gave them in their fellow men.

There is not a slaveholder now in the communion of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. A sense of duty determined the author to commit this Discourse to the press. IIn The publication of it he has particularly in view the instruction and establishment of those inhabitants of Orange who have placed themselves under his pastoral care. Through them he addresses all into whose hands the Discourse may come. If the Redeemer shall be pleased to bless it, and render it the means of ameliorating the bondage, or of procuring the liberty of any miserable African, the Author shall receive more thanl a recompense. p,;- -t <,~, ,,… *.. I I I 4

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A

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THiE PRACTICE OP IHOLDING MEN IN PER PETUAL SLAVERY CONDEMNED. ‘ He that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.”-ExoD. xxL 16. GOD is omnipotent. His omnipotence is necessary, and independent of every other being. Hie is the source from which all power flows. Whatever phllysical force can be exerted by man, is derived from his Maker. In the exercise of natural power, man is under a law to God. Hie is indeed a free agent; but the divine law circumscribes his sphere of action, and marks out boundaries which he cannot pass with impunity. To exert his natural powers under the direction of law is right: to exercise any powers derived from God, contrary to his declared will, is wrong. Whatever is included in the grant God has made to the human family, is one of the right8 of nian; and b)eyond this grant, contrary to God’s law, man cannot claim a right, until he shakes off his dependency, and elevates his own authority until it become paramount to that which is exercised by Jehovah. Whosoever attempts to deprive any of the human family of the former, or put him in possession of the latter, is guilty of treason against HIeaven, unless he is expressly com & _ 9 - N

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8 lnissioned, in this particular instance, to contradict the general principles of law, by the same great authority from which the law derives its. binding force. He whio, without this authority, breaks over the barriers of law, and, with physical force, deprives his neig]ibor of liberty or property, is an enemy to God and to man; much more so he who commences an unprovoked attack on any of his fellow men, and, with lawless power, steals him from his connections, barters him for some other commodity, or forces him to labor for the benefit of another, and that other an enemy, who has committed, or countenanced the commission of the theft. The divine law declares this a crime, and prescribes the punishment. He who stealeth a man, and selleth hinz, or f he be found in ti8 hand, he shall surely be put to death. This law was given to the Hebrews as a body politic; but it proceeds on a moral ground, and is, consequently, obligatory still on every subject of moral government. -He who acknowledges the morality of the eighth precept of the decalogue, will not require another proof of the morality of the conduct recommended in the text. If he who steals my purse, my coat, or my horise, be guilty of an immorality, he cannot be innocent who robs me of my father, my brother, mny wife, or my child. Against this principle an inspired apostle directs his argument, in’his Epistle to Timiothly. 1 Tim. i. 9. Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, butfor the lawless and disobedi,-gt  for MAN sTEALERs-and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine. Man stealing is classed with the most detestable crimes. It is considered not only reprehensible among, the ancient He. . 4

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brews, but a moral evil in every age, and in every nation. From the text, I consider myself authorised to lay before you the following proposition: The practice of buying, holding, or selling our unoqfending fellow creatures as slaves i8 immoral. The text will certainly support this proposition. According to the common principles of law, the receiver of stolen goods, if he know them to be such, is esteemed guilty as well as the thief. The slaveholder never had a right to force a man into his service, or to retain him, without an equivalent. To sell him, therefore, is to tempt another to sin, and to dispose of that for money, to which he never had a right. The proposition does not militate against slavery under every form. By no means. A man, by the abuse of his powers, to the injury of society, may forfeit liberty, and even life: he may deserve slavery in the fullest sense of the word, in order that his punishment may be a sanction to the law-may be an example to others-and may compensate, as much as possible, for the injuries done to society. By “innocent fellow creatures,” in the proposition, it is not designed to teach that any of the human race is so in relation to the divine law: it is not to be understood in a moral, but in a political sense. As the subjects of Jehovah’s government, we are all guilty, and deserve to perish. We have merited eternal imprisonment from Him. But, in relation to civil society, men are deemed innocent unless they have violated its laws. These are assuredly entitled to personal freedom. It is intended, in this Discourse, to con,firm the doctrine of the propo.sgition-to anwer objectio itand make some improvement of it. .9^

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10 1. To hold any of our fellow men in _perpetu’al 8la ery iS 8inyful. 1, This appears from the inconsistency of the practice of holding slaves with the natural rights of man. This is a term which has been much abused. It is proper that accurate ideas should be annexed to it, otherwise its force, in the present argument, will not be perceptible. If man were a being, owing his existence to accident, and not a creature of God, his rights would indeed be negative. If he stood in a state of independency of his Maker, and not a subject of law, his rights could be determined only by the will of society. But he is neither the son of chance nor the po8ss8essor of independency. His life and his faculties are the gift of God. From heaven he derives positive rights, defined by positive precepts.* Considering man as a free agent, by the constitution of na *

The author of “Political Justice” maintains that the rights of man are all negative-that man ms no rights. His reasoning is ingenious, and is certainly less absurd than that which would introduce blasphemy and vice among the rights of man. Both sentiments are, however, absurd, and the absurdity proceeds from the same source. Man is considered in relation to man only. The interest of truth requires this error to be detected and exposed. Before man is considered in relation to man, his relation to God must be understood. This is the primary one. It is that by which all others must be regulated. Consider man as a creature of God, and depending upon his bounty, and you see him receiving certain privileges from that Lord who has a necessary and absolute property in all things. These are thie rigts of man. They are not inherent, but derived. Consider man as a creature, and you see him under a law to God. His possessions are completely circumscribed. Beyond this he has no right. All the rghts of mai are derived from God, and agreeabk to Hi8 law. By punctual attention to this principle, the friends of truth may consistently and successfully combat those who would rob man of his rights, or would unduly extend them.

From this double battery, by maintaining a well-directed fire, they may defeat the supporters of civil and religious usurpation on the one side, and the propagators of licentiousness in politics and religion on the other.

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ii ture he has a right to the exercise of freedom, in eotifoinity to the precepts of that law by which the Author of nature has ordered him to regulate his actions. A delegated power hle has from God, and no creature has a right to restrict him in its rightful exercise. To oppose the force of an individual, or of a s6ciety, to this, is to wage war against the Supreme Ruler; it is an attempt to reduce a moral agent to a mere machine, whose motions are to be regulated by external force; ald, consequently, a denial of his right to the person enslaved, and an arrogant assumption of lawless authority by the usurper. Is it necessary to pursue this argument before an American audience? It is generally, if not universally admitted.

The principle is stated and maintained in that instrument which lies at the foundation of your national existence. In defence of it you have fought-you have appealed to the Lord of Hosts; and in its support He has led on your armies to victory. 2. If an opposite principle of action were universally. admitted, it would lead to absolute absurdity. A demonstration of this will confirm the proposition. If one man have a right to the services of another, without an equivalent, right stands opposite and contrary to right. This confounds the distinction between right and wrong. It destroys morality and justice between man and man, between nation and nation. I have a right to enslave and sell you. You have an equal right to enslave and sell me. The British have a right to enslave the French, and the French the British-the Americans the Africans, and the Africans the Americans. This would be to expel right from the human family-to resolve law into force, and justice into cunning. In the struggle of contending rights, violence would be the only arbiter. The do A

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12 ielsions of reason would be perverted, and the-sense of morality extirpated from the breast.: Such absurdity will meet with few advocates to plead its cause in theory. Is it not, therefore, lamentable, that any should indulge a principle, or countenance a practice, the justification of which would necessarily lead to it? But, 3. The practice of enslaving our fellow men stands equally opposed to the general tenor of the Sacred -

Scriptures. It’. The Bible is the criterion of doctrine and conduct. It represents the European and the A siatic, the African iI rp e and the Ame ric an as different members of the same great family-thlie different children of the same benign , and universal parent. God has made of one blood all the nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, ,, i; and hath determined the bounds of their habitation. Acts xvii. 26. In relation to one another, they are ~-‘ equally bound to the exercise of benevolence, and are V. respected as naturally having no inequality of rights. Every man is bound to respect his fellow man as his neighbor, and is commanded to love him as himself.* Our reciprocal duties the divine Jesus summarily comprehends in that direction commonly called the golden rule: Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to term; for ttis is the law and the prophet8.t This is the sum of the duties in -bulcated in the law of Moses, and in the writings of : the inspired prophets. How opposite the spirit of ;‘71i’ i these precepts and doctrines to the practice of the ~< - slaveholder! If hlie is consistent with himself, hlie will reason thus: “These slaves are not of one blood with -….;-. me. They are not entitled to the love I give to my * Mark xi. 31. I I ,. f,. OfIs I-, al k’ Ir t It 4f-I’, ||? -zu Yl ” l;ip ir7( -
il 4 t t {-I .%$, i };t r fi,t,! i I ei”C, O.,, a~0.,,J! t;- -I, _0’,1 $

Mat,. vii. 12.

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13 neighbor. The conduct which I should pursue, were I enslaved by another, I would not recommend to them. I shall feed and clothe them from the same principle that I feed and stable my cattle. They are myproperty as much as these; and when they do not serve my purpose agreeably to my wishes, I shall dis pose of them for money to another trafficker in human flesh. I acknowledge, if any person was to enslave me, I should endeavor to embrace the first opportuni ty of making my escape. But if my negro offers to run away, I shall pursue and severely chastise him. He has no right to leave his master; the rule, What soever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye also so to them, notwithstanding.”-I need not add, brethren, that such sentiments are opposite to the principles of the Christian Religion. 4. The practice which I am opposing is a manifest violation of four precepts of the decalogue. If this can be shown, it will be an additional con firmation of the doctrine of the proposition. Revela tion informs us, that whosoever offends in one point is guilty of all.

James ii. 10. And the reason is’added, because the same authority is wantonly opposed in that one point which gives sanction to the whole of divine revelation. By inference, therefore, the whole decalogue is violated; but there is a direct breach of the fifth, the sixth, the eighth and the tenth command ments. The fitk requires the performance of those duties which respect the several relations in which we stand to one another; and particularly enforces obedience to our natural parents. The Christian’s duty to the wretched African, brought providentially under his care, is to afford him the necessaries of life-to bring him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord 

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14 to instruct him in the knowledge of his duty and his rights-to habituate him to honest industry-to help him to some business for himself; and set him at lib erty from his control. But the slaveholder exercises often a cruel, always an illegitimate, authority over his slave. He destroys, to a great degree, natural re-‘ lationship. He sets aside the authority of the iinme-‘ diate parent; and, in opposition to the divine law, , t ~which commands each to honor his father and motlhier, A’ i-.t the child is taught, from the cradle, that his duty con sists in implicit obedience to the command of his master. The sixth requires the use of all lawful means to } preserve the lives of men. But ah! Slavery, how many hast thou murdered? Thou hast kindled wars , among the miserable Africans.

Thou hast carried the bl s tcaptive, who e scaped death, into a s till mor e misera ble state. Thou hast torn fro m th e bosom of the grieved mother her beloved daughter, and hast brought!” down the gray hairs of an aged parent, with sorrow, to the grave. Thou hast hurried them on board thy floating prisons, and hast chained them in holds, {(t’N which have soon extinguished the remaining spark of \J ” X; life. The few who have escaped thou hast deprived of liberty, dearer itself than life. The eighth forbids the unlawful hindrance of our neighbor’s wealth. The whole life of the slaveholder v is an infringement upon it. The labor of a man is worth more than his food and clothing; but the slave receives no more. His master robs him of the fruits of industry. He steals him from his relations. He robs him of his liberty of action. He steals him from himself. The tenth commandment forbids all inordi nate desires after worldly property. The practice of the slaveholder is an evidence of his avarice. He

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15 ” employs servants without wages.. He sells to a hard master, for money, the manl and the woman whose se vere services have already done more than make him compensation for any trouble or expense to which they had subjected him. Not only the avaricious merchant who sails to the coast of Africa with his ship fitted out with the implements of cruelty, in order to import and expose to sale our sable brethren; but the Amer ican slaveholder also, is convicted of a breach of the tenth precept of the moral law. 5. The system against which’ I contend is also inim ical to that benevolent spirit which is produced and cherished by the gospel of free grace. In the system of grace all men are represented as proceeding from one pair-as fallen from a state of in tegrity and happiness, into a situation that is sinful and miserable. God is revealed as beiholding man in this condition with an eye of benevolence having pity for the distressed, mercy for the miserable, and grace for the unworthy. Jesus, God in our nature, appointed as the Saviour of sinners, and without re spect of persons, gathers from the North and from the South, from the East and from the West, out of every kindred, tongue, and people, and nation, an innumer able multitude, to be introduced, through His divine mediation, into a state of unspotted purity and un speakable happiness. The influence which the grace of the gospel has up on the heart, is to cultivate, increase, and perfect eve ry benevolent affection, and suppress all malevolence, extirpating the principles of sinful selfishness from the soul-to produce a spirit of meekness and self-denial, of readiness to forgive real injuries, and of prayer for the good of our enemies. Yes, the spirit of the gospel is love to God and to man, evidencing its existence by “. a R

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le 3uitable exertions for the glory of our Creator, and the happiness of all our’ brethren, here and hereafter. How does this system, Christian, correspond with the slave trade? You behold your African brethren in the same miserable state in which you are yourself by nature.* Do you not sympathize with them? Your Maker has not excluded them from a share in His love, nor has the blessed Redeemer interdicted them from claiming a share in His salvation. How can you degrade them, therefore, from that rank which their Maker has assig’nd to them, and endeavor to assimilate them to the beasts that perish? By divine grace you are taught not to love this world, nor to be conformed to its sinful practices. Rom. xii. 2. Look at your slave! How came you by him? Who had a right to tear his father from the bosom of his friends, in order to enslave him and his offspring, and sell this wretched victim to you? How long will religion suffer you to retain him in bondage? For life? Ah! hardhearted Christian! is it thus you imitate His example who died for your sins? who voluntarily descended from His heavenly glory, and humbled Himself into the death, in order to deliver you from slavery? On Him rested the Spirit of the Lord, for He preached glad tidings unto the meek. He proclaimed liberty to the captive and the opening of the prison doors to them who were bound. Isa. lxi. 1.

Does the same spirit rest on you? does it produce a similar disposition?

Consider the contrast: consider it attentively. You have pronounced heavy tidings in the ear of your slave. You have proclaimed bondag,e for life to the captive. You have even closed upon him the door of hope in his prison.

You have purposed to enslave his off Eph. ii 8. go’i:ti.~~~~’:. ~!!!c l:’

~? ~ I ““i? f’:M’;;F! -a-sI.

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spring. Merciful God! how unmerciful do Thy creatures act towards one another? 6. The last argument I shall use for confirming the doctrine of the proposition, shall be taken from the pernicious consequences of the system of slavery. To this manner of reasoning there can be no valid objection, if it be kept within proper boundaries. That evil consequences follow a certain practice is not always a decisive evidence that the practice is wrong; but it is a sufficient reason for us to pause, and examine it in the light of truth. If we be required, in the divine law, to pursue this path, we must obey, leaving the consequences to His management who commands us. If it be in itself lawful, but not requisite, evil consequences presenting themselves would teach us not to proceed. But if it really be a forbidden path, the pernicious effects of travelling it are additional warnings against continuing in it any longer. Ministers are commanded to preach the gospel, though it should prove the occasion of submitting many to tribulation in this life, and be to many a savor of,-eath unto death it the next. It was lawful fQr the apostle to the Gentiles to eat whatsoever meat was sold in the shambles; but if his using this liberty would have been prodictive of evil consequences, he would have instantly desisted from the practice. 1 Cor. viii. 13. If, then, from a lawful practice, it be expedient to desist, because, although to ourselves useful, it is detrinmcntal to others, it is certainly our duty to relinquisli a system which is dubious in its nature. When we have presumptive evidence that we are funda, mer:tally wrong, evil consequences are decisive against, us; and, as in the case before us, when other evidences condemn the practice, its pernicious consequences 17

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ouitdy dmamd that from it we should immediately desist. 1. Ths: praetice has a tendency to destroy the finer feel’i anal render the heart of mall more obdurate. The butcher, long inured to slaughter, is not hurt at the.

lQwj of the oxen, or the bleating of the lambs which he is about to kill.*

Nor is the common execu: tioner much agitated in his work of blood, whether the victim be innocent or guilty. The slave may roar un der the lash of his master, without commanding the least sympathy. The slaveholder views all the Ethi opian race as born to serve. His heart is steeled ‘gainst them. Nor is the transition great to become :hardhearted to all en.’” The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the nmost boisterous passions the most unremitting des-pot.ism on the one part, and degrading submission on the other. The parent storms-the child looks on, eatehs the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, gives loose to the worst ,of his passions; and, thus nursed, educated, and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but be stamped by it with odiouspeculiarities. The man must be a prodigy who can retain his manners and morals undepraved by such circumstances.“t 2. It debases a part of the human race, and tends to destroy their intellectual and active powers. The slave, from his infucy, is abliged implicitly to obey the will of another. There is no circumstance which can stimulate him to exercise his own intellectual *
reuat asttda in the s]ughter-house is supposed colelated to blunt the feelings of humanity. By the laws of England, a butcher ‘is not admnitted to -it on a jury, le.t he should not be suffoiently delicate i ae-of life and dea, +t Joem’a, Notes, Query. VIIL’ I$ t. f L ” I,- I I -, , I il I (.,-, i-t I,, - I I ,,” I, Ij e i’l’ t! i 0 i -.., I N, ,’ l . i . i “IL
il i; - i ;.4 “If I..11 I

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:~. ~e -is” uh to: d6t high 6f #th,V* eie. If he think or plan,hiso thughts and plaits mut give way to those of his maser. -He. tti hase les .epravity of heart than his’white brethren, lotlerwise he must, under this treatment, become thougntles atid -sullen. The energies of his mind are left to sluimber. Every attempt is made to smother them. It -s -not surprising that such creatures should sappear deficient in intellect.

Their moral principles also suffer. They ae never cultivated. They are early suppressed. While young, ‘the little tyrants of their master’s family rule over them with rigor. No benevolent:tie can exist between them. The slave, as soon as he call exercise his judgment, observes laws to protect the life, the liberty and the property of his master; but no law to procure these for him. He is-private property. His masters will is his rule of duty. We have no right to expe morality or virtue from such an education and suah examples. 3. Another evil consequence is the encouragement of licentiousness and debauchery. The situation of the blacks. is: such as to afford every encouragement to a criminal intercourse. This is not confined to the blacks themselves, but frequently and shamefully exists between them and their nmsters. The lust of the master may be gratified and strenigthened by intercourse with the slave, without fear of prosecution for the support of the offspring, or the character of the mother. The situation of these women admits of few guards to their chastity. Their ednucation does not strengthen it. In the Southern States, illicit connection with a negro or mulatto woman is spoken of as quite a common thing. No reluctance, delicacy or shame appear about the matter. The aum -.10 il I ., I ; i\, .’ 4 ..’ \_ . it.’.

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ber of mulattoes in the Northern States prove that this evil is.also prevalent among their inhabitants. It is usually a concomitant of slavery.

4. This leads to a fourth lamentable consequencethe destruction of natural affection. An irregular intercourse renders it difficult for the father to ascertain his proper offspring. Among the slaves themselves marriage is a slender tie. The master sells the husband to a distance from his wife, and the mother is separated from her infant children. This is a colnmon thing.

It must destroy, in a great measure, natural affection. Nor is the evil confined to the slaves. Their master, in this instance, exceeds them in hardness of heart. He sees his slave nursing an infant resembling himself in color and in features. Probably it is his child, his nephew, or his grand-child. He beholds such, however, not as relatives, but as slaves, and rejoices in the same manner that he does in viewing the increase of his cows or hi~ horses.* 5. Domestic tyranny, which exists as a correlative to domestic slavery, is a nursery for civil tyrants. Powerful must be the force of other principles, and singular the combination of circumstances, which can render an advocate for domestic slavery a sincere * “It is far from being uncommon to see a Southern gentleman at dinner, and his reputed offspring, a slave, waiting at the table.’ I::iyself,’

says a gentleman of observation,’ saw two instances of this kind; an.l the company would very facetiously trace the features of the father and mother in the child, and very accurately point out their more characteristic resemblances. The fathers, neither of them, blushed, nor seemed disconcerted. They were called mnen of worth, politeness an I hinmanity.’

ThILe Africans are said to be inferior, in point of sentiment and feeling, to white people. The African labors night and day to collect a small pittance to purchase the freedom of his child. The white man begets his likeness, and, with much indifference, sees his offspring in bondage and misery, and makes not one effort to redeem his own blood.”-Motss’s nUivet’al seography, p. 66. 20 ,, (X‘6 “,e -t .’-,ts

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I.4 I, I -; I’F N friend of civil liberty. Is it possible? If he ean buy, sell, and enslave for life, any individual of the human race, for no reason but self-interest, I should be un’ willing to trust him with the affairs of a nation. Had he it-in his power to do it with impunity, and did it appear conducive to his interest, or gratifying to his ambition, he would become as really a despot as the most arbitrary monarch. 6. This practice is calculated to bring down the judgments of God on societies and individuals. The toleration of slavery is a national evil. It is the worst of robberies sanctioned by law. It is treason against Heaven-a conspiracy against the liberties of His subjects. If the Judge of all the earth shall do right, He cannot but punish the guilty. - Nations, as such, have no existence in a future state: they must expect national judgments in the present. Distributive justice will measure their pun ishment according to their criminality. O America, what hast thou to account for on the head of slavery I Thou alone, of all the nations now on the earth, didst commission thy delegates, in peace, and in security from the over-awing menaces of a tyrant, or of factions, to form thy Constitution. Thou didst possess, in a pe culiar sense, the light of reason, of science, of revela tion, of past argumentation, and of past experience. Thou hadst thyself formerly condemned the principle, and, in the most solemn manner, made an appeal to Heaven for the justice of thy cause. Heaven heard, and answered agreeably to thy wishes. Yet thou didst’ contradict a principle so solemnly asserted. Thou hast made provision for increasing the num’ ber and continuing the bondage of thy slaves. Thy judgments may tarry, but they will assuredly $ -I; t. ,(,’> a” -, ”’”’ e ” 1”. do e-,) ,1 g: sk.

21 ,’ 11 ) i’ 11’ 1 t 4 t, -n r,(, a IP, Is,,I,, ~.,,, ” /

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-‘Ind’ivi’Alial8s -ir;etso in danet.I Those’-“o live “W thttt -od in’ the world’” may have temporal judg,iments inflicted upon them for the’pat they have a~ted in the ceou’raogement of shlvery; but the tite of retribution is ih the world to come. Even rf1 Chrititanis, thee guilt of Whoe sins -is’tdbod through thb ato1~ent’of.:tis,:bft“‘h-o hqve leasted the way of the heathen so far as to contrm’ to’theWcked practiee of buyiig, selling -nd retaining lsaves, hav~ a right to texpeetsevevreotiens. oPtlm lxxxiX.

30 * The Declaration of IndependenCe has these words: “EWe hold these “truths to be’ self-evideAt-that all’nbn’are’rratt’d’equa that they’te \, in’ / endowed by their Crtetrwith,ereain umet able rights that among Vi these are life, liberty, and the pursuit -of happiness-that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men?’ The negroes are crea,- td equal with the witi6s’,rding to this i’tuMiit. Their liberty is an unalienable right. But this nation has taken away this unalienable right from’them. And’alth6ugh’the -hation decltres lit’gove nrment is iistitatld: to’. preserve this’right; thee’gov,nenfiit ill continues’ to de. prive them of it. The Unhed States, according to the late census, taken “, < i: 1801, hnld 875,626 of the human race in slavery. They have, even in t1 f~,2)~ i,: the Constitutidn of the-genera gover”im nt,’

twelve’ years after the De a’clarntion of Independence, made provision for the increase of the number. Art. I. Sect. 9. “The migration or imortao’of such persons as any’of 3 the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohib 41~ 1 ~ ited by the (6ong s pri to-the’year i88.“‘Theyh’avethus, ineoenst i i ently, constitutionally authorized a eontn’ance. of the! worst of-robber ies. Very few of the Stabes have ma-le any adequate provision for the emancipation of their slaves. But the State of South Carolina has ex ceedled herm-sistrf Statos. int’endtv*r to perpetuate’thiis impious patie. What language can express the political inc, nsistency of a people who st have inserted in a republican constitution of government the following , {-. section I Con’stitution of’SoUth Car)liha,’ Ait. i. Sect. 6. “No’person shall be eligible’to; a seat in the iHouse of Represe’ives unless he,‘ar s, a free white man. If a resident in the election district, he shall not be eli’ “I gible to a seat in the House of Representatives unless he be legally seized and possessed, in his o*n right, of a settled freehold estate of five:hun iredacres-of land,.and TENW ERoEs.” To tolerate slavery is.i a evil of } a’-”no small magnitude; to give it a national recommendation is still more v/
inexcusable; but to renderlt a cbndition without which no’ han can”re -present’ in the legislature, thaiditrict in whioh’he lifes,6xceeds anything -on record in the-annals of*tioC. - Constitution was adopted’as late as the year 1790. 4, l2 I

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-32. In proportion as they have an opportunity of ascertaining duty, will their danger increase, unless they cheerfully sacrifice interest to it. He who knows his master’s will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten withqnany stripes. Luke xii. 47. I speak to you who parley with this temptation-you who, in defi ance of conviction, are determined to go on in the paths of selinterest. In this very path you may meet correction. Your treasures are not secure. There is a God; and while godliness continues to have the p se of the life which now i8, as well as that which i8 to comne,* those who continue to practise on the system of slavery may expect to suffer loss.

Watch them close: they may one day elude your vigi lance, and escape with your treasure. The enslaved Hebrews were allowed to escape with the jewels of the Egyptians. You may lose, in a similar manner, as much of your property as you have withheld from them of their earnings whom you retain in bondage. If not, God has it in his power to send mildew and blasting upon your cropsmurrain and pestilence among your herds-until you sustain a greater loss than you would have suffered by giving liberty to your slaves. I should think it a favorable evidence, though not a conclusive argument, that God has a re gard for you, if you are thus chastised for your oppression of your brethren. But if ye be without chktisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. t I have now finished what I designed to say in confirmation of the doctrine of the proposition, and shall proceed, II. To refute objections offered to the principle I have been defending. t Hebrews xii. 8. 93 * I Ti-M, iv, 8,

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24 It is not to be expected that every objection shall now occur. Some that are made probably I never heard; and some which I have heard may have es caped my recollection. I shall not, however, design edly evade any that has the appearance of argument. I shall examine each in order to ascertain its full value. OBJECTION I. “Nature has made a distinction between man and man. One has stronger intellectual powers than another. As physical strength prevails in the subordinate ranks of creation, let superiority of intellect preside among intelligent creatures. The Europeans and their descendants are superior in this respect to the Africans. These latter are, moreover, in their own country, miserable. Their state is not rendered worse by being enslaved. It is just for the more intelligent to rule over the more ignorant, and to make use of their services.” ANswER.

The distinctions which nature makes between man and man are probably not so great as those which owe their existence to adventitious circumstances.

The inferiority of the blacks to the’whites has been greatly exaggerated.*

Let the fact, however, be grant * There is no reason to suppose the blacks destitute of mental powers. In some settlements in this State, particularly along the Mohawk, and in Scoharie, the negroes, although slaves, are admitted to the privilege of consultation with their masters about the manner of conducting their labor. They live, comparatively, at ease and in plenty. They con sult about the management of the farm, and frequently convey the pro duce to the markets. The negroes, in these places, are as intelligent and active as their masters, unless the latter have had signal advantages from educ;t’on, and associating with superior company. The courage and skill of the negroes in war will no longer be disputed, after their transactions in St. Domingo and Guadaloupe are known. And great must be his prejudice who can deny to the black Toussaint the qualifications of a warrior and a statesman. The writings of Phillis Wheatly evince that negroes are not destitute ‘ f !, I t 11I -N I 1:I I

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25 ed, and yet the inference which is the principle of the objection will not follow. It is the essence of tyran nv. It is founded in false notions concernlig, the na ture of man. You say, “a greater proportion of in tellect gives a right to rule over the less intelligent.” But you are to observe that man is not only a creature capable of intellectual exertion, but also one who pos sesses moral sentiments, and a free agent. He has a rilght, from the constiution given him by the Author of Nature, to dispose of himself, and be his own master in all respects, except in violating the will of IHea ven. I-e naturally acts agreeably to the motives presented to him, with a liberty of choice respecting them. He who argues a right to rule from natural endowsments must have more than a superior understacnding to show. Ie must evidence a superiority of moral excellence, and an investiture with authority; otllerwise he can have no right to set aside the principle of self-government, and act in opposition to that freedom which is necessarily implied in personal responsibility to the Supreme Moral Governor. Consider the consequences which the objection, if granted, would involve. Hie who could, by cunning contrivance, reduce his innocent and more simple neighbor under his power, would be justifiable in enslaving him and his offspring for ever. All the usurpation of men of genius without virtue, from the days of Pharaoh to .’

I It-t’ of poetic genius; and the letters of Ignatius Sanchw discover their po session of talents for prose composition. The observations of the Rce Samuel Miller, of New York, on the negro school of that city, and tho of Anthony Benezet on the school in Philadelphia, confirm this truth But if any person desires more documents to corroborate the positio ‘, that the talents of the negroes are not inferior to those of the whites, .

refer him to Clarkson’s Essay, and to Dr. Beattie’s refutation of Hume’

assertions with respect to African capacity. There he will find satisfa tion. C t.:, 1 i I. ~ c I +,, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~il.~ I’I….,. I PIt’ll r, i.’.’ i,~ t “f ,..’ a \ .:, }.. (I . el,,^ ”’ LA, S li. I - f f,.-. .A t I 6 4, (i, \, :

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26 those of Bonaparte, would be justifiable on this principle. As for the circumstance of the Africans being wretched while at their own disposal, you are not accountable for it. Friendship for them is not well shown in the slave trade. Your wicked traffic has already rendered them more wicked and wretched even in Africa. If you have ameliorated the condition of one, you have rendered more painful the condition of thousands.* OBJECTION II.

“The negroes are a different race of people fromn us. Their capacities, their shape, their color, and their smell, indicate their procedure originally from a different pair. They are inferior to the white people in all these respects. This gives a right to the superior race to rule over them as really as nature * The nations called civilized, upon accurate calculation, are found to export annually from Africa one hundred thouisand slaves. Fifty thousand of these are obtained by kidnapping. In order to supply the other half, whole villages are at once depopulated, by order of the Princes under European influence, and wars entered into expressly for the purpose of making slaves of the prisoners. These causes produce constant quarrels, and render the country miserable. It is supposed that 60,000 lives perish annually in these wars. Of the number shipped from Africa, 25-),000 perish:n the passage, by pestilence, insurrection, shipwreck, despair, &c. 25,000 more perish in seasoning to the climate of the West In(lies. The remaining 50.000 linger out a life of wretched existence. Another fact wvill ascertain the havoc which famine, fatigue and cruelty make among those who arc seasoned to the climate. Ten thousand people, under fair advantages, should produce, in r. century, 150,000. In one of the colonies 650,000 slaves were imported in one century. The offspring of these, at the expiration of a hundred years, amounted to 14t o0o. According to this estimate, population was impeded in the proportion of seventy-four to one. In their own country they would have produced ten millions in that time. Thus it appears that upwards of 100,000 lives are annually sacrificed. This estimate is founded upon the testimony of witnesses by no means partial to the Africans-the testimonies of Smyth, Bosman, and Moore, agents to the factories established in Africa-and the records of Jamaica and St. Domingo. In Part III. of Clarkson’s Essay, a history of the slave trade is given, and many tale.-
of woe related. If the accuracy of this estimate is doubted, that excellent work may be consulted. I. i 9,,. I,. I, t ‘. i, , I:.. .,,C,I’r; I” t f (; -4 (-,, 7 A VI il, i I I - “, -,4 t .. 41, -11-,

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gives a rightl to the iise of the other subordinate rank of aniliated being.” ANSWER. This goes upon the footing of discrediting Scripture authority. In a discourse to professed Clijistians I might reject it without consideration There may, however, be in my hearing a slave-holdei who is an unbeliever of revelation. I would reasor even with him, that, if possible, I may serve the cause of justice, of liberty, and of man. The use of sound reason and philosophy Christianity by no means dis cards. Tle principle of your argument is inadmissible; and. if it were not, it would not serve your purpose. 1. It is inadmissible. Among the individuals of every species there is a difference. No more causes than are sufficient to account for any phenomenon are required by the rules of plilosophising.

Tle action of the eleiments on the human body, the diet and the manners of men, are causes sufficient to account for that change in the organization of bodies which gives them a tendency to absorb the rays of light, to perspire more fieely, and to put on that shape which is peculiar to the inhabitants of Guinea and their descendants. A single century will make a forcible distinction be tween the inhabitants of a northern and a southern climate, when the diet and manners are similar. A difference in these can make a distinction in the same latitude. It is impossible to prove that twenty or thirty centuries, during which successive generations did not mingle with a foreign race, could not give to the African negro that peculiarity of bodily appearance which so stubbornly adheres to him when translated into another clime. A few years of a hot sun may produce a swarthiness of complexion which the mnildest climate cannot, for years, exchange for a rosy cheek. .9

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28 According to the laws for propagating the species, the offspring resembles the parent. It is not to be expected that a very apparent change should be wrought on the complexion of the offspring of negroes already in this country. Ten times the number of years which have passed over the heads of the successive generations on the coast of Guinea, may be necessary, before the negroes can retrace the steps by which they have proceeded firom a fair countenance to their present shilling black. The causes of bodily variety in the human species which I have stated are known to exist.* It is highly unphilosophical to have recourse to others which are only conjectural. Enmity to revelation makes many one think himself a philosopher. ‘o;;, But, 2. If the principle were just it would be invalid: it would not answer your purpose. If you adopt the hypothesis of several original and distinct pairs, by whom the earth was peopled, you cannot determine where to stop. The different nations of Europe and of Asia, and the different tribes of America, may have had different original parents, all upon the footing of subordination one to the other.t If the principle of * The author embraces this opportunity of recommending “An inquiry into the Causes of Variety in the Human Complexions,” by Dr.

Smith, President of the College of New-Jersey. His admirable criticisms on Lord Kaimes, by far the most able advocate of the doctrine of a plurality of distinct original pairs, deserve the perusal of the philosophic inquirer. + Mr. Miller eloquently expresses himself on this stbject:-“

Pride, indeed, may contend that these unhappy subjects of our oppression are anl inferior race of beings; and are, therefore, assigned, by the strictest justice, to a depressed and servile station in society. But in what do(s thl-is inferiority consist? In a difference of comnplexion and figvre? Let the narrow and illiberal mind, who can advance such an argumanit, recollect whither it will carry him. In traversing the various regions of the earth, from the equator to the pole, we find an infinite diversity of shades in the e-.mplexion of men, from the darkest to the fairest hues. If, then, the I I ” ,,,,; t,,- - 1. I” I L. i I c; t .I i,

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your objection were admissible, it would pi’ove too much, lead to absurdity, and is therefore capable of proving nothing. Each nation might claim a superiority of rank over the other. Right would be opposed to right, and cunning and violence would be tlhe only umpires. Involve not yourself in such inextricable difficulties in advocating a practice truly indefensible. OBJECTION III. “I firmly believe the Scriptures. All the families of the earth are brethren. They are originally descended from Adam, and secondarily from Noah. But the blacks are the descendants of Ham. They are under a curse, and a right is given to their brethren to rule over them. We have a divine grant, in Gen. ix. 25-27, to enslave the negroes.” ANSWER. This threatening may have extended to all the descendants of Ham. It is, however, to be noticed, that it is directed to Canaan, the son of Ham. In order to justify negro slavery from this prophecy, it will be necessary to prove four things. 1. That all the posterity of Canaan were devoted to suffer slavery. 2. That African negroes are really descended of Canaan. 3. That each of the descendants of Shem and Japhleth has a moral right to reduce any of them to servitude. 4.

That every slaveholder is really descended from Shem or Japheth. Want of proof in any one of these particulars will invalidate the whole objection.

In a proper station of the African is that of servitude and depression, we must also contend that every Portuguese and Spaniard is, though in a less degree, inferior to us, and should be subject to a measure of the same degradation, Nay, if the tints of colour be considered the test of human dignity, we may justly assume a haughty superiority over our southern brethren of this continent, and devise their subjugation. In short upon this principle, where shall liberty end? or where shall slavery begin? at what grade is it that the ties of blood are to cease I and how many shades must we descend still lower in the scale, before mercy is to vanish with th u.”-Discourse to the Manumission Society of Arew-York, p. 12, 13. s9

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practice so contrary to the general principles of the divine law, a very express grant from the supreme anthority is the only sanction to us. But not one of the four facts specified as necessary can be supported with unquestionable documents. On each of them, however, we may spend a thought. 1. The threatening is general. It does not imply particular personal servitude as much as political inferiority and national degradation. It does not imply that every individual of that race should of right be kept in a state of slavery. - 2. It is possible the negroes are descended from Hfam. It is even probable. But is almost certain that they are not the offspring of Canaan. The boundaries of their habitation are defined. Gen. x. 19. The Canaanitish territory is generally known from subsequent history. 3. The supposition, however, that the curse fell on the negroes, may be granted with safety to the cause of those who are opposed to the system by which they are enslaved. It will not serve as a warrant for this practice. It is not to be considered as a rule of duty, but as the prediction of a ftitureevent. God has, in his providence, given many men over to slavery, to hardships, and to death. But this does not justify the tyrant and the murderer. Had it been predicted, in so many words, that the Americans should, in the beginning of the nineteenth century, be in possession of African slaves, we might argue from the fact the truth of the prophecy, but not the propriety of the slaveholder’s conduct. It was foretold that Israel should be in bondage in Egypt. Gen.

xv. 13. This did not jnstify the cruelty of Pharaoh. He was a vessel of wrath. Jesus, our God and Redeemer, was the subject of many predictions.

According to ancient prophecy, and to satisfy divine justice, he was put to death. s0

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31 The characters who fulfilled this prediction were wicked to an extreme.

Acts ii. 23. 4. Slaveholders are probably the descendants of Japhleth, although it cannot be legally ascertained. And tliey-may be fulfilling the threatening on Canaan, al though they are not innocent. Be not afraid, niy friends; prophecy shall be fulfilled, although you should liberate your slaves. This prediction has liad its accomplishment three thousand years ago. Tlle descendants of Shem did, by divine direction, under the conduct of Joshua, subjugate the offspring, of ~ Canaan, when they took possession of the promised land. This naturally leads to consider another objection the most plausible argument that can possibly be offered in defence of the unhallowed practice of holding onr fellow men in perpetual bondage.

OBJECTION IV. ” God permitted the ancient Israelites to hold their fellow creatures in servitude. MIen and women were bought and sold among them.

The bond servant is called his master’s money. Exod. xxi. 21. Had it been wrong in its nature to enslave any human being, God could not have granted the Hebrews a i)er mission to do it. Negro slavery, stripped of some ac cidental cruelties, it is not necessarily wicked.” ANswER. This objection requires minute attention. The fact is granted. Heaven did permit the I-Icbrews to purchase some of the human race for servitude. The general principle deduced from this fact is also granted. It is, in certain eases, lawful to enslave our fellow creatures. The application of it to justify the practice of modern nations is by no means admissible. God is the Lord of the universe. As the Supreme Governor, hle does what is right. His subjects have violated his law, abused their liberty, and rebelled A-.;&, -

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32 ag,ainst the majesty of Heaven. They have forfeited to his justice the liberty and the life he gave them. These they must yield. They. will, at the timne appointed by the Judge, be enclosed in the grave. Tile soverei; has also a right to the use of whatever instriiinment he chooses in the execution of the sentence. I,I miay choose the famine or the pestilence, the winds or the waves, wild beasts or human beings, to be the executioners Again: Civil society has certain laws, to which its members, voluntarily claiming its privileges, have assented. A violation of these is a violation of a contract, and the penalty stipulated must be paid by the offender. When, by a person’s licentiousness, justice is violated, or society endangered, it isjust and necessary to enslave the crimninal, and make his services, if possible, useful to society. This much I cheerfully grant; and shall now proceed to show that the objection does not apply to the doctrine which I have been endeavouring to establish. You cannot argue conclusively, in defence of negro slavery, from the practice of the ancient Hiebrews, unless you can prove, 1st. That the slavery into which they were permitted to reduce their fellow creatures was similar to that in which the negroes are held and, 2dly. That you have, the same permission whlichl they had, extended to you. If proof fails in eitlier of these, the objection is invalid, and I undertake to show that both are without proof. I. The servitude into which the Hebrews were permitted to reduce their fellow men was attended with such restrictions as rendered it essentially different firom the negro slave trade. It may be considered, 1. With reference to their brethren; 2. As it respected strangers

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83 1. A natural descendant of Abraham might, ii< X.! eases, be sold by the nmagistrates into servitude. Tllc c were theft and insolvency. And so great was the re gard for freedom which their code of laws discovered, thlateven the thief could not be enslaved while he had property sufficient to answer the demands of the law for the theft, Exod. xxii. 1-4. If a man shall tsteal an ox or a sheep, andi kill it, or sell it, he shall restore fve oxein for the ox, and fou?r sheep for the sheep. If a thief have nothing, then he shall be soldfor his theft. The servitude into which the debtor was sold for the benefit of the creditor was not severe. Lev. xxv.

3943. If thy brother that dclwelleth with the be waxens poor, and be sold unto thee, thou shalt not comnpel himb to serve as a bonrd servant, but as an hired servacnt and as a sojourner he shall be with thee. Thou shalt not rule over him with jigour, but shalt fear thy God. In both cases the duration of this species of slavery was limited to six years. On the seventh he shalt yo out free for nothiyng. Exod. xxi. 2. And it was required, in the case of the debtor, that his master should give him some stock on which he might again begin business for the support of his family. Deut. xv. 12-15. JVF7t(n thou sendest him out f’ee, thou shalt furnish him liberally of thy flock, thy ftour, and thy wine’ess. Both these laws evidence the greatest care of the liberties of individuals which is consistent with the real interest of the nation. They are strong motives to industry, and guard against burdensome taxation for the support of prisons. 2. There were two classes of aliens with respect to which the Israelitish law gave directions-those who belonged to any of the neighboring Camaanitishl tribes in particular, and such as belonged to other nations in general. With respect to the latter, the law was ex

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34 -actly the same as to the Hebrews themselves. Lev. xxiv. 22. Ye shall have one manner of law as wuellfor the s8tranger as for one of your own country. Verse 35, next chapter. If thy brother be wvaxen poor, then thou shalt relieve him-yea, though ie a strapger or a sojotrner. But there are particular exceptions from this general law, which guaranteed from invasion the life, the liberty, and the property of aliens. These exceptions refer to the remains of the conquered tribes living among the Israelites, or to such of the nations of Canaan as were around them. Lev.

xxv. 44,45. Of the heathen t/hat are round about you, shall ye buy bondrmen and bondmaids. Of the children of the strangers that 80sojourn among you, shall ye buy, and of the families which they begat in your land. This permission was merciful. The descendants of Abraham were expressly appointed the executioners of the divine sentence against the tribes of Canaan. Extermination was the command; but on their voluntary subjection they were only reduced into a state of servitude. The Israelites were forbidden to use them harshly. Exod. xxi. 26. Accordingly, the G)ebeonites, when they craftily obtained the safebty of their lives, were reduced into the situation of bond servants. Joshua ix. When Saul treated them with cruelty, God was offended, and even punished David because he did not avenge that cruelty on the house of Saul, at an early part of his reign. 2 Sam. xxi. 1, I proceed, II. To prove that this example is not for our imnitation. The Israelites themselves had no right to fit out their ships with their implements of cruelty, in order to steal, buy, stow away, and chain men of other nations, living, without injury to them, at a distance from their shores. Had they done so, no filture traffic.

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could have rendered their prizes legitimate. lThey were officially employed by Heaven to punish the iniquLity of the nations which they vanquished. Tlhey were ordcred to subdue, destroy or enslave the descendanfs of Canaan, and take possession of the land covenanted to their father Abraham. As a peculiar people, they were to be kept distinct until Messiah should come. The remains of foreign nations could not, therefore, be admitted to the rights of citizenship. The wall of partition is now broken down. All manlkijid are our brethren. There is no similarity of circumstances between us and the ancient Hebrews-no divine permission that can justify us in holding slaves. Although the slavery were exactly the same with that into which the blacks are reduced, the practice of modern nations would remain unjustifiable. The decendants of Sliem have, in the Hebrew nation, reduced Canaan into a state of servitude; and the offspring of Japheth have surplanted those of Shlem in both spiritual and temporal privileges. OBJECTION V. “Slavery was tolerated, in primitive ages of Chlristianity, by the Romian laws. It is not condemned by Christ or his Apostles. They have given directions for the conduct of master and slave.

1 Tim. vi. 1. They have not intimated that the practice of keeping men in slavery was siinful.” ANsWER. VWhat you have asserted is not correct, and, if it had been, it would be no objection to the principles for which I contend. The New Testamcent does condemn the slave-trade. 1 Tim. i. 10.

-Jla,, stealing is here reprobated, together with every practice which is contrary to sound doctrine and the spirit of the glorious go,pel. 1 Cor.

vii. 21. If thou mctyest be made free, use it lather. It is recommended to the slave, if he is able, to procure his liberty. If lie 35

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86 has no fair means of obtaining it, it is his duty patiently to continue in bondage.* The gospel hope comforts him. The New Testament says (Col.

iv. 1.), Jfaster8, * Commerce in the human species is of a very early date. Moses informs us that Joseph was sold as a slave, and disposed of in Egypt as such by the purchasers. Gen. xxxvii. 30, 36. Homer informs us, that in the time of the Trojan war Egypt and Cyprus were markets for slaves. Antinous threatens to send Ulysses to one of those places. Odys.

lib. XVII. v. 448. MN raXa rixgqv Aiyutrrov xat Kurgov i6tai. Tyre and Sidon were notorious for prosecuting the slave trade. This custom travelled over all Asia; spread through the Grecian and Roman world; and was practised among the barbarious nations which overturned the Roman Empire. The abolition of the slave-trade among the European nations has been falsely attributed to the feudal system. The prevalence of Christianity was the real cause of it. The charters which were granted, in those days, for the freedom of slaves, were expressly, pro amore Dei, pro mercede animo; ” that they might procure the favour of the Deity, which they conceived themselves to have forfeited by the subjugationl of those whom they found to be the objects of divine benevolence.” These effects were produced as the natiens were converted, and procured a general liberty through Europe before the close of the twelfth century. In the commencement of this century slaves were a capital article in the domestic and foreign trade of England. When any person had more children than he could maintain, he sold them to a merchant. In the council held at St.

Peters, Westminster, A. D. 1102, this practice was prohibited. In the great Council of Arinagh, A.D. 1171, the clergy of Ireland decreed that all the English slaves should be immediately emancipated. (ienry’s England, vol. vi. p. 267, 8vo. edit.) It had not yet been discovered that the New Testament authorised slavery. No. Wherever this religion prevails, it will be found to be the‘“perfect law of liberty.” The instance of Onesimus has been very unhappily selected by the advocates of slavery to sutpport their system. It does not appear certainly that hlie had been a slave to Philemon. He had been, indeed, a servant. But, if a slave, he was to be so no longer. Phil. 16. Paul had a right to demand his liberty.

Phil. 8. Hle knows, however, that to request it would be sufficient. Phil.

9. It appears Onesirmnts had wronged his nlmaster. Phil. 18.

Notwithstanding, Paul might lawfully have retained him without a recompence. Phil. 13. But, confiding in Philemon’s integrity, leaves the matter to his own option, qnd becomes security for Onesimus. Phil. 15. It appears that this Onesimus was no loner slave or servant. lie was more probably afterwards a minister of the gospel, ani colleague with Tychicus in Collosse. He is said to have been afterwards pastor at Ephesus.

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87 give unto your servants that which is just and equal. Treat them justly; use them mercifully; pay them lawftil wages; give them an epuivalent for their-services. But, supposing the Scriptures had been silent on this subject, the objector could not justify negro slavery firom that silence. If it prove anything it will prove too much. It will prove the justice of the worst of tyranny, the most dreadful cruelty, because Nero is not specified as an infamous tyrant in the New Testament. It will prove that you have a right to sell your own children as slaves*-to kidnap your neighbor, your countryman and your friend. You need not, therefore, confine your traffic in human flesh to tilhe African race. You may extend it even to your own children. But if such practices are not formally mentioned and condeinned in the New Testament, the principles from which they proceed are reprobated in the strongest terms. The whole system of slavery is opposite to the spirit of that rel;.gion which is righteousness and peace. True religion cheers the heart both of the subject of a tyrant and the slave of a master. It teaches them their duty as men, as social beings, as citizens of the world; while it reprobates the character who holds them in durance, and condemns the tenor upon which he holds his authority. It does not alter the external condition of the believer, unless it teaches the heart of those who are in power. It teaches him faithfulness and sobriety, patience and resignation, until God, in his providence, affords him an opportunity of being more usefully active in the restoration of moral order to society. * The immoralities practised in the Roman Empire, under the sanction of law, were numerous and aggravated.

It would be an unreasonable mnode of compiling a system of ethics, to sustain as moral every ancient usage of the Grecians and Romans wlen are not expressly c.ndemned in the New Testament.

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OP CTION VI. ” I abhor the principle. The practice of importing and selling men is detestable. But here they are. We found them slaves. We are not obliged, at the expense of our property, to set them at liberty. The community in general will not consent to it. They will therefore be slaves. I want a servant. I may purchase and hold a slave. His condition will not be rendered worse by serving me. I am bound to treat him mercifully: but, as matters are now situated, there can be no evil in my keeping him in bondage.” ANSWER. If men were not strongly influenced by interested motives, they could not impose so far on their own understandings as to give indulgence to the principle contained in this objection. A long continuance of evil doing will change the nature of wrong into right. If so, there is an end to the distinction between virtue and vice. Your fathers left the negroes in bondage, as an inheritance to you. Does this justify you in retaining them? No. If the first stealer and the first buyer acted contrary to justice, the constant retainer cannot be guiltless. You condemn the principle, but justify the practice. Act consistently, I beseech you. Touch not, taste not, handle not the unclean thing. Let me call your attention to another fact. You have a slave of thirty years of age in your possession. He was boin in your house. Iy natural laws, and according to the first principles of civil liberty, he was born equally free with your son. Who has, upon him, committed the robbery by wvhich he has been deprived of his natural rig]hts? Yourself.

Lay not the blame on your parents, for you imitate their example. The text applies to you directly. You have stolen from his connections, from himself, a man born in your house. Have you purchased him?

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89 You have contenanced an impious commerce; the best reparation you can make is to set your slave at liberty. You cannot afford to perform acts of such extensive benevolence. Do justice, however. Deal mercifully with your servant. Wlhen the wages which he might have annually earned shall have amounted to the purchase money, and lawful interest, set him immediately at liberty from your controul. If you are a worthy character, he shall afterwards voluntarily serve you, unless he be ungrateful indeed, provided you give him due wages. After confessing the system to be indefensible, it is to be hoped you will not give your suffrages to render it permnanent..-I shall proceed, III. To make some improvement. In his walk of faith, the Christian considers himself bound to the practice of every known duty. By the test of obedience, the nature of his love to God is tried. This is the love of God, that ye keep his commandments, and( his commandments are not grievoms.* This disposition inclines and fits him for making a practical improvement of just theory. And the view we have now had of the evils of the slave-trade may be improved for several uses. 1.

We should lament over the distressing sufferings of our brethren in bondage. True piety does not blunt the feelings of benevolence.

Commiseration with the wretched is strongly inculcated. Wfeep with those that weep. Evangelic principle forms the soul to it. For these things I weep: mine eye, ninne eye, runneth down with tears.t The situation of the African is miserable. In his native country he is in darkness. He has no vision, no well grounded hope-the inhabi t Lament. i, 16. Rom. xii.

1I.

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40 tant of a waste wilderness, without God in the world. I-Ie becomes acquainted with foreigners on whom a Chliiistian education has been bestowed. They profess the religion which breathes peace and good will to wards nmen. He knows them to his sorrow. New occasions for war are afforded, and new and terrible instruments for prosecuting war provided, for the already ferocious tribes of the wilderness. Ie is taken captive, and is sold for a bauble. He is chained in the suffocating dungeon of a floating prison. Hie is brought into a strange country. The whip is brandished over his head. With its lash his back is furrowed. In a land boasting of civilization, and enlightened by the gospel luminary, he is doomed to ignorance, to rudeness and wretchedness. There is povower on the side of the oppressor, but on his side there is no power.* iis genius is cramped; the energy of his mind are suppressed; his moral feelings are eradicated; his soul, his immortal soul, is left to perish without the knowledge of Jesus. “-Oh, slavery, thou art a bitter draught!” Miserable African, we lament over your condition. We are sensible of your sufferings. We sympathise with you. We recogn.ise you as a brother. We recommend you to the protection of our HIeavenily Father. We consign you to the arms of our dear Redeemer. God of mercy! Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee: according to the greatness of thy power, preserve thou those that are appointed to die.t 2. We may improve the view we have taken of the neg,ro slave-trade, in order to stimulate us to present duty. The benevolence of the Christian is not like the sen t Psa..

lxxix. ii. 0 * Eccles. iv.;

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41 sibility of a writer of romance, ready to be exercised onl inmaginary objects, but blind to objects of reality. While we drop the tear of compassion over the slave, let us enquiire whether or not we can do anything to alleviate his sorrows. Cannot your agency diminish the number of slaves, and your behavior be an ex amnple to others to contribute their influence to the same desirable end? I cannot demand of you, my brethren, to sacrifice your property imprudently in purchasing the liberty of your neig,hbour’s slaves; but justice, your religion, requires that you should cease to be slaveholders yourselves. With respect to the young, arrangements may be made, to defray, by their services, the expense of their Support and their education, before they are emancipated. To this you have a right, and to no more. Thie middle-aged has already repaid your expeiiditures. If he has been purchased, charity would recommend it to you, nevertheless, to set him at liberty: and justice demands that you should retain him in bondage no longer than is sufficient to recompence you for your trouble and expense. With reference to the old, the inactive and the infirm, Godly wisdom will direct the conscientious to such measures as may be best calculated to secure their advantage, and enable you to maintain an honourable testimony against this abominable usurpation. Be merciful to them. Cultivate their understandings. Make them feel themselves to be men. Raise them to the rank which God has assigned them. Teach them the doctrines of the gospel. Give them hlabits of industry. Pray for them. Sacrifice the property which the civil law gives you in them, on the altar of religion. Seek for a recompense from on hi,ghl. Heaven can reward you. Godline8

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42 s powfietable unto all things. It has tpe promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come.* 3. The preceding discussion may be improved for discovering the duty of gospel ministers. These occupy an important office in the house of God. They are embassadors for Jesus Christ. They are commissioned not so much to please as to teach. The volume of revelation contains their instructions. In negociating a treaty between heaven and earth, they are not to neglect its directions. It contains no useless articles to be expunged or neglected. Much prudence, much prayer, and large communications of the divine spirit, are indeed necessary to constitute fallible man a wise steward of the manifold grace of God. This is promised; and he isfaithful whopromr ised, and able to perform.t Mankind have no right to be offended at ministers for directing them on the head of slavery. My text is in the Bible. I have an undoubted right to discuss it. Is the discussion scriptural, and is it well timed?

are the only questions men have a right to ask. My brethren in the ministry, if you lament over this evil, let your voice be raised aloud against it. lThle subject is important. To handle it rashly may be dangerous. Offence may be undesignedly given, and unjustly taken, which may mar the peace of the church, and hinder the propagation of the of the gospel. Offences must come. Woe to him by whom they are introduced. This should make you vigilant, but not silent. Some, indeed, have pushed their opposition to political evils too far. This may have had an influence in deterring others from going as far as duty directed. There is a timidity natural to some characters, which detains tbemn from prosecuting * Heb. x.

2, 3. I.Lo. iv. 21. I * 1 Tim. iv. 8.

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43 public subjects. Some, who are traitors to their Master’s cause, neglect some articles in their instructions, while negotiating in his name; and there is a meekniess and diffidence cherished by true piety, which render ministers more disposed to evangelic discussions than to inveigh against public immoralities. But remenmber, brethren, that in preaching the gospel you are not to neglect the law. It is to be uyed as a schoolmna.ster to lead men to Christ, who is the end of the lawfor righteousness to even7y one who believeth. And you are also to teachl, that the gospel is designed to establish the law, and dispose men to obey its dictates. You may comfort yourselves, probably, while neglecting your duty upon such subjects, by classing yourselves with an apostle, in desiring to know nothing bitt Jesus, aid himn crucijed. Be assured, however, that the resolution of that inspired writer with a viewv to militate against the express precept of our arisen Lord. He commanded his ambassadors not only to preach the gospel to all nations, but also to teach them all things whatsoever he commnanded.* Considering the guilt and the danger accompaning the practice of holding our brethren in perpetual slavery, it will be serving God in your generation prudently to exercise the right of giving public warning against it. Let us do our duty, leaving the consequences to God. 4. The view we have taken of this subject also affords a practical lesson to our legislators and statesmen. To you belongs the maintenance of justice and order in society. Your influence, your authority, your wisdom, can be of signal service to the nation, if they are all exerted in the cause of righteousness. Engage yourself speedily in rectifying this evil practice of holding * Matt. xxviil 19, 20.

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‘ t 44 7 - your brethren in slavery. It is inconsistent with the natural rights of man; it is condemned by the Scrip tures; it is at war with your republican institutions; it ruins the minds and the morals of thousands; and it leaves you exposed to the wrath of heaven. It is -easy to see that, although it supports indolence and the pride of families, it is truly detrimental to the -wvealth, the industry, the population, and the safety :bf the commonwealth.* It may be difficult to point out a safe mode of redressing the evil. Every plan is ,- accompanied with difficulties. To export them to Africa would be cruel. To establish them in a separ:-ate colony would be dangerous. To give them their liberty, and incorporate them with the whites, would * “, From repeated and accurate calculations, it has been found that the expense of maintaining a slave, if we include the purchase-money, is much greater than that of maintaining a free man; and the labor of the free man, influenced by the powerful motive of gain, is at least twice as profitable to the employer as that of the slave.

Besides, slavery is the bane of industry. It renders labor among the whites not only unfashionable, but disreputable. Industry is the offspring of necessity rather than of choice. Slavery precludes this necessity, and indolence, which strikes at the root of all social and political happiness, is the consequence.” Morse’s Geograp]y, p. 65. If these observations be just, it appears that slavery is impolitic as weil as immoral; and they will hold true except in cases in which the negroes are treated in some degree as men, and in which they enjoy a considerable portion of freedom: and even where this is the case, there is a great disadvantage accompanying negro slavery. It renders service of any kind disreputable. All the white people cannot be masters, and yet even the poor are very unwilling to serve. When they do engage in service it is difficult to deal with them. If you assume an authority over thenm they resent it; if you have work to do which is disagreeable, your hired man or woman spurn at the thought of being more meanly employed than yourself; nay, they will not be called servants, for this would be reducing the-a to a level with the blacks. This is Ilrevalent throughout the country, except in those places in which different cnstoms have introduced different ideas. The want of Subordination and faithfulness in the white servants in America, has long been a subject of remark to Europeans. In the slavery of the blacks we see the cause of it-a cause more p cwerful thanu even mistaken notions f liberty. I i 1. I’ t-‘ I’ ‘Y’ k . I I I “, , I c “: ” !

i, ‘, i,

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be more so. Tle sins of the fathliers, it is to be feared, will l)e visited on their children. But it is more safe to adopt ally one of those plans than continue the evil. By a national repenting and forsaking, we may find ll’eey. Providence can dispose of all things in our favor. We have a right to expect that He will ward off or mitigate the threatening consequences, if the nation would venture upon Hiis kindness to do their duty. It must appear rediculous to Europeans ” to hear of an American patriot signing with one hand de:la. rations of independency, and with the other brand isliiIg, a whlip over an affrighlted slave.” Can you be sincere fi’iends to liberty and order, and tolerate this dreadful traffic.

From repeated and accurate calculations, it has been found that slavery is unfavorable to the wealth of niations. Listen to the remarks of a writer of observation and eminence. “With what execration should the statesman be loaded, who, permitting one half of the citizens thus to trample on the rights of the other, transforms those into despots, and these into enemies -destroys the morals of the one part, and the avor patrice of the other!

With the morals of the people, their industry also is destroyed. Of the proprietors of slaves a small proportion is ever seen to labor. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure, when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the public that their liberties are the gift of God? that they are not to be violated blut with his wrath? Ildeed, I tremble for my coutntry when I reflect that God is just-that his justice cannot sleep for ever-that an exchange of situation is’among possible events-that it may become pro 45 Ir !7?’. - 1. |i,I I At, !,,I 1 2 I,\; i

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46 v bable by supernatural interference.”* You will find it true, that rig,teous?ness exalteth a nation, and that ain is a reproach to any people.t In concluding this discourse, let me warn my hear ers to consider the evil hand they may have in the system of slavery, and especially that they are by nature in the worst of slavery themselves. Come for deliverance from the bondage of sin unto the Son of God: for, whom the Son makes free, shall be free indeed. Standing fast in this liberty, use it in the service of God and of man. You are no more your own; ye are bought with a price. Glorify God in your bodies and spirits which are his. AI. *

Jefferson’s Notes. t Prov. xiv. 84.

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