e slavery has been ordained by him, it
cannot be always and everywhere wrong. And how does the abolitionist
attempt to meet this reply? Why, by a little legerdemain, he converts
this reply from an argument against his position, that slavery is always
and everywhere wrong, into an argument in favor of the monstrous dogma
that it is always and everywhere right! If we should contend that, in
some cases, it is right to take the life of a man, he might just as
fairly insist that we are in favor of having every man on earth put to
death! Was any fallacy ever more glaring? was any misrepresentation ever
more flagrant?

Indeed we should have supposed that Dr. Wayland might have seen that his
representation is not a fair one, if he had not assured us of the
contrary. We should have supposed that he might have distinguished
between an argument in favor of slavery for the lowest grade of the
ignorant and debased, and an argument in favor of slavery for all men
and all times, if he had not assured us that he possesses no capacity to
make it. For after having twisted the plea of the most enlightened
statesmen of the South into an argument in favor of the universal
subjection of mankind to slavery, he coolly adds, "I believe that in
these words I express the argument correctly. If I do not, it is solely
because I do not know how to state it more correctly." Is it possible
Dr. Wayland could not distinguish between the principle of slavery for
some men and the principle of slavery for all men? between the
proposition that the ignorant, the idle, and the debased may be
subjected to servitude, and the idea that all men, even the most
enlightened and free, may be reduced to bondage? If he had not
positively declared that he possessed no such capacity, we should most
certainly have entertained a different opinion.

It will not be denied, we presume, that the very best men, whose lives
are recorded in the Old Testament, were the owners and holders of
slaves. "I grant at once," says Dr. Wayland, "that the Hebrews held
slaves from the time of the conquest of Canaan, and that Abraham and the
patriarchs held them many centuries before. I grant also that Moses
enacted laws with special reference to that relation. . . . . I wonder
that any should have had the hardihood to deny so plain a matter of
record. I should almost as soon deny the delivery of the ten
commandments to Moses."

Now, is it not wonderful that directly in the face of "so plai