o encourage their
captors in their pillage and violent seizure of the defenceless
creatures; nor do I think that all the blessings which multitudes of
them have received, for both worlds, in consequence of their
transportation from Africa, lessens the guilt of slave-traders; nor are
these benefits any justification of the trade, nor do they afford ground
for its continuance. Nothing can justify it. Such is the voice of the
human conscience everywhere except where covetousness or controversy
prevail.

"But finding these colored people here, the question upon which you and
I differ, is, What is our duty with regard to them?

"You say, Set them all free. I reply, The relation of ownership on our
part toward them is best for all concerned. You say, It is wrong in
itself. To say this, I think, is to be more righteous than God."

"Then you maintain," said he, "that the Most High, in the Bible,
countenances all the atrocities of American slavery."

"What a strange way," said I, "of arguing, do we very generally find
among anti-slavery men, when their feelings are enlisted, as they are so
apt to be. They take unwarrantable, extreme inferences from what we say,
and oppose these as logical answers to a statement or argument. 'Auction
block' and 'Bunker Hill,' are sufficient answers with them to most of
our reasoning on this subject. But let us look at this point in a
dispassionate manner.

"But," said I, "before I begin I wish to be distinctly understood as
holding this doctrine; namely, The Bible does not justify us in reducing
men to bondage at our will. God might appoint that certain tribes should
be slaves to others; but before we proceed to reduce men to slavery, our
warrant for it must be clear.

"If, however, slavery is found by a certain generation among them, and
it is not right and just nor expedient to abolish it, may we not safely
ask, How did the Most High legislate concerning slavery among the people
to whom he gave a code of laws from his own lips?

"Learning this, we must then consider whether circumstances in our day
warrant, or require, different rules and regulations.

"But our inquiry into the divine legislation respecting slavery, will
disclose some things which draw largely upon one's implicit faith in the
divine goodness; and if a man is disposed to be a sceptic and his
anti-slavery feelings are strong, here is a stone on which, if that
anti-slavery man falls, he shall be broken, but if it falls on