It seems to be a postulate in his mind that the gospel is diametrically
opposed to, and subversive of, the principles of slavery. We do not
complain of this syllogistic mode; but we do complain, as we have done
before, that his postulate is not an axiom, a self-evident truth, or
made equal thereto by the open and clear declarations of Christ or his
apostles. This defect cannot be remedied by ever so many suppositions,
nor by deductions therefrom. Nor will those of a different faith from
Dr. Wayland, on the subject of “conscience,” or “moral sense,” be
satisfied to receive the declarations of this his “distinct faculty” as
the fixed decrees of eternal truth. His assertions and arguments may be
very convincing to those who think they possess this distinct faculty,
especially if their education and prejudices tend to the same
conclusion.
But if what President Wayland says about slavery be true, then to hold
slaves is a most heinous sin; and he who does so, and never repents, can
never visit Paul in heaven. He necessarily is placed on a parallel with
the thief and robber; and Dr. Channing has been bold enough to say so.
But has Paul ever hinted to us any such thing as that the holding of
slaves is a sin? Yet he gives us instruction on the subject and
relations of slavery. What excuse had St. Paul for not telling us what
the Rev. Dr. Wayland now tells us, if what he has told us be true? And
if it be true, what are we to think of Paul’s verity, when he asserts
that he has “not shunned to declare all the counsel of God?”
Did Jesus Christ ever hint such an idea as Dr. Wayland’s? What are we to
understand, when he addresses God, the Father, and says, “I have given
unto them the words thou gavest me, and they have received them?” What
are we to deduce from his remark on a slaveholder, and who notified him
of that fact, when he says to his disciples, “Verily I say unto you, I
have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel?” What impression was
this remark calculated to produce on the minds of the disciples? Does
Dr. Wayland found his assertion on _Luke_ xvii. 7–10? or does he agree
with Paley that Christ privately condemned slavery to the apostles, and
that they kept such condemnation secret to themselves, to prevent
opposition to the introduction of Christianity, and left the most wicked
sin of slave-holding to be found out by a mere innuendo? Or does Dr.
Wayland claim, through the aid of his distinct moral faculty infallibly
teaching him the truth, to have received some new light on the subject
of slavery, which the FATHER deemed not prudent to be intrusted to the
SON, and, therefore, now more lucid and authoritative than what was
revealed to the apostles?
The Archbishop Secker has made a remark which appears to us conclusive,
and also exactly to fit the case. In his Fifth Lecture on the Catechism,
he says:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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