to _the
arbitrary will and tyranny of another_, and moreover to _the condition
of a brute_, because by _mere accident_, and by _no fault_ or _will of
his own_, he was born of a person, who had been previously in the
condition of a slave?

And as the right to slaves, because they were born slaves, cannot be
defended either upon the principles of reason or of justice, so this
right absolutely falls to pieces, when we come to try it by the
touchstone _of the Christian religion_. Every man who is born into the
world, whether he be white or whether he be black, is born, according to
Christian notions, a _free agent_ and _an accountable creature_. This is
the Scriptural law of his nature as a human bring. He is born under this
law, and he continues under it during his life. Now the West Indian
slavery is of such an arbitrary nature, that it may be termed _proper_
or _absolute_. The dominion attached to it is a despotism without
control; a despotism, which keeps up its authority by terror only. The
subjects of it _must do_, and this _instantaneously_, whatever their
master _orders them to do_, whether it _be right or wrong_. His will,
and his will alone, is their law. If the wife of a slave were ordered by
a master to submit herself to his lusts, and therefore to commit
adultery, or if her husband were ordered to steal any thing for him, and
therefore to commit theft, I have no conception that either the one or
the other would _dare_ to disobey his commands. "The whip, the shackles,
the dungeon," says Mr. Steele before mentioned, "are at all times in his
power, whether it be to gratify his _lust_, or display his
authority[3]." Now if the master has the power, _a just, and moral
power_, to make his slaves do what he orders them to do, even if it be
wrong, then I must contend that the Scriptures, whose authority we
venerate, are false. I must contend that his slaves never could have
been born free agents and accountable creatures; or that, as soon as
they became slaves, they were absolved from the condition of free-agency
and that they lost their responsibility as men. But if, on the other
hand, it be the revealed will of God, that all men, without exception,
must be left free to act, but accountable to God for their actions;--I
contend that no man can be born, nay, further, that no man can be made,
held, or possessed, as a proper slave. I contend that there can be,
according to the Gospel-dispensation, _no such state as West I