We answer, no; because on that supposition freedom would be a
curse and not a blessing. Dr. Wayland himself admits that "it is very
likely" freedom would be "the greatest possible injury" to the slaves of
the South. Hence, we cannot perceive that if we were such as they, we
ought to desire so great an evil to ourselves. It would indeed be to
desire "the greatest possible injury" to ourselves; and though, as
ignorant and blind slaves, we might cherish so foolish a desire,
especially if instigated by abolitionists, yet this is no reason why, as
enlightened citizens, we should be willing to inflict the same great
evil upon others. _A foolish desire, we repeat, in one relation of life,
is not a good reason for a foolish or injurious act in another relation
thereof._

The precept which requires us to do as we would be done by, was intended
to enlighten the conscience. It is used by abolitionists to hoodwink and
deceive the conscience. This precept directs us to conceive ourselves
placed in the condition of others, in order that we may the more clearly
perceive what is due to them. The abolitionist employs it to convince us
that, because we desire liberty for ourselves, we should extend it to
all men, even to those who are not qualified for its enjoyment, and to
whom it would prove "the greatest possible injury." He employs it not
to show us what is due to others, but to persuade us to injure them! He
may deceive himself; but so long as we believe what even he admits as
highly probable--namely, that the "abolition of slavery would be the
greatest possible injury to the slaves themselves"--we shall never use
the divine precept as an instrument of delusion and of wrong. What!
inflict the greatest injury on our neighbor, and that, too, out of pure
Christian charity?

But we need not argue with the abolitionist upon his own admissions. We
have infinitely stronger ground to stand on. The precept, "Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself," is to be found in the Old Testament as
well as in the New. Thus, in the nineteenth chapter of Leviticus, it is
said, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself;" and no greater love
than this is any where inculcated in the New Testament. Yet in the
twenty-fifth chapter of the same book, it is written, "Of the children
of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of
their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and
they shall be your possession. And ye s