‘Well, sir,’ they said, ‘we certainly never saw it in that light; for it was never put to us in that way before.’ ‘Well, but,’ I added, ‘don’t you see and admit, that it may be looked at in this way?’ They answered that they did, and then there was silence for some time, which was broken by one of them asking: ‘Well, sir, how would this do? Set all the children of God free; but the children of the devil, keep them in slavery as long as they live!’ ‘Well,’ I answered, ‘by that plan you would get rid of the difficulty and be clear of the guilt of buying and selling the sons and daughters of the Almighty, and the brothers and sisters of His Son; but don’t you see, that you would not get rid of all the difficulties even by that plan, in fact, you would only remove them a step. You remember God said: “Let Us make man in Our own image after Our likeness ... So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.” And so you see, you would not quite get rid of all the difficulties, as you would still be buying and selling men and women created in the image of God, and also desecrating that humanity which has been sanctified by the Son of God tabernacling in it.’ ‘It’s of very little use,’ they said, ‘arguing with you white men on the subject of slavery. You have always an answer ready for everything we may advance in support of it, and we always get the worst of the argument; and so we may just as well give in now; for we are certain to be beaten in the end.’ ‘You have a very bad cause to defend,’ I said, ‘and although “Good men may be connected with a bad cause, good men can never make a bad cause good.” Your cause is thoroughly bad. It is rotten to the core, and the sooner you cut all connexion with slavery--as you will have to do some day--the better it will be for yourselves and everybody else.’ ‘Well, sir,’ they said, ‘that may be quite true, but it will require a great deal of the grace of God to enable us to see slavery in the light that you white men see it, and cut all connexion with it.’ ‘Very likely,’ I answered: ‘for it took a great deal of the grace of God to enable _our_ forefathers to see slavery in its true light.’