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they were vagrants, and wished to become slaves that they might be provided with the necessaries of life." Clarke's Commentary. The markets were overstocked with them, says Josephus : ** "They were sold with their wives and children at the lowest price, there being many to be sold, and few purchasers."

Hegesippus also says "There were many captives offered for sale, but few buyers, because the Romans disdained to take the Jews for slaves, and there were not Jews remaining to redeem their countrymen."

"When Jerusalem was taken by Titus, of the captives who were sent into Egypt, those under seventeen were sold; but so little care was taken of them, that 11,000 of them perished for want." Bishop Newton.

St. Jerome says "After their last overthrow by Adrian, many thousands of them were sold, and those who could not be sold were transported into Egypt, and perished by shipwreck and famine, or were massacred by the inhabitants."

A similar condition happened to the Jews in Spain, when, under the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, they were driven out of that kingdom, concerning which, Abarbinel, a Jewish writer says"Three hundred thousand, young and old, women and children, (of whom he was one,) not knowing where to go, left on foot in one day some became a prey, some perished by famine, some by pestilence, some committed themselves to the sea, but were sold for slaves when they came to any coast; many were drowned and burned in the ships which were set on fire. In short, all suffered the punishment of God the Avenger."

Benson, in his Commentary, says "How these instances may affect others, I know not, but for myself I must acknowledge, they not only convince, but astonish me beyond expression. They are truly, as Moses foretold they would be, a sign and a wonder for ever."

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Scott says " Numbers of captives were sent by sea into Egypt, (as well as into other countries,) and sold for slaves at a vile price, and for the meanest offices; and many thousands were left to perish from want; for the multitude was so great that purchasers could not be found for them all at any price. * To such wretchedness is every one exposed, who lives in disobedience to God's commands. * * * None will suffer any misery above his deserts: but, indeed, we are all exposed to this woful curse, for breaking the law of God."

Henry says "I have heard of a wicked man, who, on reading these threatenings, was so enraged that he tore the leaf out of his Bible."

Upon a review of all this evidence, to what conclusion is the mind inclined? Are there no circumstances under which man may become a slave-" property, in the sight of God and justice?"

Dr. Channing says, vol. ii. page 28-" Such a being (man) was plainly made to obey a law within himself. This is the essence of a moral being. He possesses, as part of his nature, and the most essential part, a cause of duty, which he is to reverence and follow."

This is in accordance with his idea of conscience-" the Divine monitor within us." But we are forced to differ from Dr. Channing. To obey the law of God, not some creature of man's, or our own judgment, is the creed we inculcate; and we further teach that "such a being was plainly made" "to reverence and follow" the law of God, not his own opinion or the feelings of his own. heart.

If this doctrine is not true in theology, can it be so in regard to slavery, or any thing else?

Page 29, he says "Every thing else may be owned in the universe; but a moral, rational being cannot be property. Suns and stars may be owned, but not the lowest spirit. Touch any thing but this. Lay not your hand upon God's rational offspring. The whole spiritual world cries out, FORBEAR!"

We do not quote this as an argument. If his postulate be true concerning the "law within himself," he needs no argument; his opinion is enough his feeling, his "sense of duty" governs the matter. But, while his disciples "reverence and follow" their "sense of duty," by obeying a law within themselves, and, according to their conscience, "own the sun and stars," may not those who believe the Bible to be the word of God, who "reverence and follow" it, as their "sense of duty," and obey it as a law within themselves, according to their conscience, own slaves?

But Dr. Channing continues-"The highest intelligences recognise their own nature, their own rights, in the humblest human being. By that priceless, immortal spirit which dwells in him, by that likeness of God which he wears, tread him not in the dust, confound him not with the brute." And he then gravely adds"We have thus seen that a human being cannot rightfully be held and used as property. No legislation, not that of all countries or

worlds, could make him so. Let this be laid down as a first, fundamental truth."

Such were his opinions. We view them, if not the ravings, at least the impressions, of fanaticism. When counsellor Quibble saw his client Stultus going to the stocks, he cried out, "It is contrary to my sense of justice; to the laws of God and man; no power can make it right!" Yet Stultus is in the stocks!

But what shall we say of him who makes the sanction of his own feelings the foundation of his creed, of his standard of right? What of him, who, in his search for truth, scarcely or never alludes to the Bible as the voice of God, as the Divine basis of his reasons, as the pillar on which argument may find rest? Has some new revelation inspired him? Has he heard a voice louder and more clear than the thunder, the trumpet from the mount of God? Has he beheld truth by a light more lucid than the flaming garments of Jehovah? Or has he only seen a cloud, not from the top of Sinai, but from the dismal pit of human frailty?

LESSON V.

DR. CHANNING's second proposition is: "Man has sacred rights, the gifts of God, and inseparable from human nature, of which slavery is the infraction;" in proof of which he says, vol. ii. p. 23-"Man's rights belong to him as a moral being, as capable of perceiving moral distinctions, a subject of moral obligation. As soon as he becomes conscious of a duty, a kindred consciousness springs up, that he has a right to do what the sense of duty enjoins, and that no foreign will or power can obstruct his moral action without crime."

Suppose man has rights as described; suppose he feels conscious, as he says; does that give him a right to do wrong, because his sense of duty enjoins him to do so? And may he not be prevented from so doing? Was it indeed a crime in God to turn the counsels of Ahithophel into foolishness?

Page 33. "That some inward principle which teaches a man what he is bound to do to others, teaches equally, and at the same instant, what others are bound to do to him!" Suppose a few Africans, on an excursion to capture slaves, find that this "inward

principle" teaches them that they are bound to make a slave of Dr. Channing, if they can; does he mean that, therefore, he is bound to make slaves of them?

Idem, p. 33. "The sense of duty is the fountain of human rights. In other words, the same inward principle which teaches the former, bears witness to the latter."

If the African's sense of duty gives the right to make Dr. Channing a slave, we do not see why he should complain; since, by his own rule, the African's sense of duty proves him to possess the right which his sense of duty covets.

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Page 34. "Having shown the foundation of human rights in human nature, it may be asked, what they are. They may all be comprised in the right, which belongs to every rational being, to exercise his powers for the promotion of his own and others' happiness and virtue. His ability for this work is a sacred trust from God, the greatest of all trusts. answer for the waste or abuse of it. He consequently suffers an unspeakable wrong when stripped of it by others, or forbidden to employ it for the ends for which it is given."

He must

We regret to say that we feel an objection to Channing's argument and mode of reasoning, for its want of definiteness and precision. If what he says on the subject of slavery were merely intended as eloquent declamations, addressed to the sympathies and impulses of his party, we should not have been disposed to have named such an objection. But his works are urged on the world as sound logic, and of sufficient force to open the eyes of every slaveholder to the wickedness of the act, and to force him, through the medium of his "moral sense," to set the slaves instantly free.

A moral action must not only be the voluntary offspring of the actor, but must also be performed, to be judged by laws which shall determine it to be good or bad. These laws, man being the moral agent, we say, are the laws of God; by them man is to measure his conduct.

Locke says, "Moral good and evil are the conformity or disagreement of our voluntary actions to some law, whereby good or evil is drawn upon us from the will or power of the lawmaker."

But the doctrine of Dr. Channing seems to be that this law is each man's conscience, moral sense, sense of duty, or the inward principle. If the proposition of Mr. Locke be sound logic, what becomes of these harangues of Dr. Channing?

We say, that the law, rule, or power that decides good or evil, must be from a source far above ourselves; for, if otherwise, the contradictory and confused notions of men must necessarily banish all idea of good and evil from the earth. In fact, the denial of the elevated, the Divine source of such law, is also a denial that God governs; for government without law is a contradiction.

But, "The

If the conscience, as Dr. Channing thinks, is the guide between right and wrong according to the law of God; then the law of God must be quite changeable, because the minds of men differ. Each makes his own deduction; therefore, in that case, the law of God must be what each one may severally think it to be; which is only other language to say there is no law at all. "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes." Prov. xxi. 2. statutes of the Lord are right." Ps. xix. 8. The laws of God touching the subject of slavery are spread through every part of the Scriptures. Human reason may do battle, but the only result will be the manifestation of its weakness. The institution of slavery must, of necessity, continue in some form, so long as sin shall have a tendency to lead to death; so long as Jehovah shall rule, and exercise the attributes of mercy to fallen, degraded man.

But let us for a moment view the facts accompanying the slavery of the African race, and compare them with the assertion, p. 35, that every slave "suffers a grievous wrong;" and, p. 49, that every slave-owner is a "robber," however unconscious he may be of the fact.

So far as history gives us any knowledge of the African tribes, for the last 4000 years, their condition has been stationary; at least they have given no evidence of advancement in morals or civilization beyond what has been the immediate effect of the exchange of their slaves for the commodities of other parts of the world. So far as this trade had influence, it effected almost a total abolition of cannibalism among them. That the cessation of cannibalism was the result of an exchange of their slaves as property for the merchandise of the Christian nations, is proved by the fact that they have returned to their former habits in that respect upon those nations discontinuing the slave-trade with them. Which is the greatest wrong to a slave, to be continued in servitude, or to be butchered for food, because his labour is not wanted by his owner?

No very accurate statistics can be given of African affairs; but their population has been estimated at 50,000,000, and to have

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