s since:

'The word _immediate_ may no doubt be considered as a strong
word; but you will observe that it is used as contrasted with
the word _gradual_. And were I to criticise the term _gradual_
as certain opponents have treated the term _immediate_, I could
easily, by the help of a little quibbling, bring you to the
conclusion, that as hitherto employed it means that the
abolition is never to take place, and that, by putting it into
their petition, they are to be understood as deprecating rather
than asking the emancipation of the slaves. "_Immediate_," they
argue, "evanishes as soon as you utter it; it is gone before
your petition reaches parliament." How absurd! If I should say
to my servant while engaged in work, "You must go to the south
side of the town with a message for me _immediately_," is it
indeed implied in the order I have given him, that he could not
fulfil it, unless he set off without his hat, without his coat,
without his shoes, without those habiliments which are requisite
for his appearing decently in the streets of Edinburgh, and
executing the task that I had assigned him? The meaning of the
word as used by us is perfectly clear, and cannot be
misapprehended by any one: it is not to be made a subject of
metaphysical animadversion: it is to be considered and
understood under the direction of common sense, and especially
as modified and expounded by those statements with which it is
associated both in our resolutions and in the petition; and
viewed in that light, _immediate abolition_ is not merely an
intelligible phrase, but one that does not warrant a particle of
the alarm which some have affected to take at it, and is not
liable to any one of those objections which some have been
pleased to make to it.

'To say that we will come out of the sin by degrees--that we
will only forsake it slowly, and step by step--that we will
pause and hesitate and look well about us before we consent to
abandon its gains and its pleasures--that we will allow another
age to pass by ere we throw off the load of iniquity that is
lying so heavy upon us, lest certain secularities should be
injuriously affected--and that we will postpone the duty of
"doing justly and loving mercy," till we have removed every
petty difficulty out of the way, and got all the conflicting