What then is to be done? Must Christianity sacrifice its holy principles at the shrine of pagan impurity? Must we be satisfied to have men embrace _the faith of the gospel_, while they retain their own _ungodly practices_? No! But wisdom is profitable to direct.—Some method must be adopted by which these deeply-rooted evils may be branded with disgrace, and thus gradually but effectually eradicated. For this purpose St. Paul, or rather the Holy Spirit, ordained in those countries where polygamy was common, that “a bishop or deacon must be the husband of one wife.” A man that sincerely embraced the gospel, might be admitted to the privileges of the church without first turning half a dozen women out of doors; but he never could arise to any dignity, or be capable of holding any office in the church. Now you plainly perceive that the necessary operation of this simple regulation, was to abolish gradually, but effectually, this vile practice; not however, by sovereign authority or absolute force, but by the voluntary consent of the party concerned. Thus it appears to be the genius of the gospel to tolerate an evil for a while, where the immediate and total abolition would be productive of greater miseries and crimes; while, at the same time, it requires the use of all prudent and effectual measures for its ultimate extirpation. I humbly conceive that it is on this ground alone, that the Scriptures, in certain cases, allude to despotism, slavery and many other evils without a distinct expression of disapprobation. Had the evangelists and apostles explicitly denounced the tyranny of Rome, and declared that slavery was contrary to the law of nature, and the law of God, they would have been instantly slain, or driven, at the point of the sword, from every province of the Roman empire. On this account every argument founded on such texts of Scripture in support of slavery, is of no more weight than the dust of the balance.