than
ourselves--or, at all events, we will not give them up yet." It was
but seldom that we troubled the good old Bible, but as we were in a
difficulty, we decided at once to consult her--perchance she might
talk about right on the subject of slavery. After a long search we
found the old book; brushed off the dust and opened it. Well, now, we
felt quite certain, that the Bible would tell us, that we were better
Christians than slaveholders; for we had already succeeded in
persuading ourselves, that we were not quite so bad as we imagined at
the outset; and we moreover thought, that we got a glimpse of some
thing dreadful about these Southern folks, but hardly knew what it
was. We then proceeded to examine the Bible. "Where is it," (said we),
"that the Bible denounces these slaveholders, as the chief of
sinners?" "Well, we don't know, but we think it says something
dreadful about them; but we don't know where it is, or what it is."
We searched, but searched in vain; almost ready to abuse the good
Boob, because it refused to abuse slaveholders. We then soliloquized
in the following words. "We don't like these slaveholders--never
did--nor did our fathers before us. Our fathers told us that they were
bad men--that they were guilty of many horrible things; and that they
were not good Christians, like the people out here North." We were,
nevertheless, still oppressed by a load of guilt, and felt the
insupportable gnawings of a guilty conscience. We had oppressed the
poor and robbed the widow and orphans! We had defrauded our neighbor
and slandered our brother! We had lied to both God and man! "Can it be
possible," (said we to ourselves), "that there are human beings
living, who have been guilty of more abominable crimes?" "What is more
odious?" "What could be more detestable?" "What could render a human
being more obnoxious to eternal vengeance?" We were in this deplorable
condition, when we first set about trying to deceive ourselves. We
pondered the matter well, and could devise no means, that in our
judgment, would be so likely to bring relief to our troubled minds, as
to find that there were others who were as bad, or probably a little
worse than ourselves. We flattered ourselves, that while we were
talking about the sins of others, we might forget our own; and at
length be able to persuade ourselves that we were Christians. But it
was all of no avail. Our consciences said "nay"--the Bible said "nay."
It was at this crit