Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1845-06-18

| from barbarlsmetO ciylliZatlon-from idol
airy 10 christianity-in in short from death Il
life.
Bu lei US leave the African slave trade
which has SO sisnally defeated The Phil
anthropy Of the world, and turn to Amer
ican slavery, to which you have now di
rec,ed your attention, nd.agains, which
crusade has been preached as enthusiastic
and iefocious as that Of Peter The Hermi
destined, believe, to be about as sue
cessful. And here let me say, there is no
a vast difference between The two, though
you may not acknowledge il. The wis
dom Of ages has concurred in the justice
aud ,ex pediencg Of. establishing rights by
prescrip,ive nse, however losious ia thei
origin they may have been. You would
deem a man Insane whose keen sense %
equity would leac him TO denounce you4
right to bc lands you hold, aud whct
perhaps you inherited from long line o
ancestry, because your title was derived
from Saxon or Norman conqueror, aud
your lands were originally wresied by vic.
lence from he vanqnished Brilons. And
SO would the New England Abolitionis
| regard any one who would insist that be
should restore his farm to the descendants
Of The slaughtered Red men 10 whom God
had as clearly given it as he gave life and
freedom to the kidnapped African. That
time does not consecrate wrong, is falla-
cy which all history exposes and which
The best and wisest men of all ages and
professions of religious faith have practi-
,cally denied. The means, therefore,
Whatever they may have been, by which
the African race now in this country have
been reduced to slavery, cauuot aflec, us.
since they are our-prupery, as your land
is yours, by Inheritance or purchase aud
prescriplive right. You will say that man
cannot hold property in man. The an
swer is, that he can and actually does hold
propenyin his fellow all the world over,
in variety of forms, and has aiwoyS done
SO. will show presently his authority
for doing il.
If you were 10 ask me whether was
an advocate of slavery in The abstract, /
should probably answer, thai 1 am not,
according 10 my understanding of The
question. do not TO deal 10 abstractians
Ii seldom leads 10 any useful ends. There
are few universal truths. do not now
remember that any single moral truth
universally acknowledged. We have no
assurance that it is given 10 our finite un-
ders,anding to comprehend abstract moral
truth. Apart from Revelation and The
Inspired Writings, what ideas should we
have even of God. Salvation and lnmor-
taIity! Let the HeaIhen answer. JUS
lice itself is inpalpable as an abstraction,
and abstract liberty the mcrest planlasy
that ever amused the Imagination. This
world was made for man, and man for the
world as it is. Ourselves, our relations
with one one another and with all matter
are real, not ideal. might say that am
no more in favor Of slavery in the abstract,
than am of poverty, disease. deformity,
idiocy or any other inequality in the con.
dition of The human family that I'loye
perfection, aud think | should enjoy a
Millennium \ such as God has pronisssssdLS5z lnq issssdL5z
that would join you to Sc, about eradica.
Ting those apparently inevitable evils of
our nature, in equalizins The CONDITION OF
all mankind. consummating the perfection
of our race, and introducing the Millen-
ium! By no meaps. To effect these
things belongs exclusively to Higher
Power. And it would be well for US TO
leave the Almighty to perfect His own
works and fulfil His own Covenants
Especially. as The history Of ali the past
shows how entirely futile all human eff
forts have proved, when made for the pur-
pose of aiding Him in carrying out even
his revealed designs, and how invariably
he has accomplished Them by unconscious
instruments, and in the face Of human
expectation. Nay more, that ever.i az,
tempt which has been made by fallible
man to eytort from the world obedience TO
his abstract" notions Of right and wrong,
has hcen invariably attended with calami-
ties. dire and extended just in proportion
to the breadth and viSor of the movement.
On slavery in The abstract, then, ii would
NOT be amss to have as little as possible TO
say. Let US contemplate it as, is And
thus contemplating it, the srsI question we
have to ask ourselves is, whether il is con
rary TO the Will of GoI. as revealed to us
in His Holy Srriplures-lhe only certain
means given us to ascertain his Will. II
it is, then slavery is a sin. And | admit
al orce that every man is bound 10 set his
face against it, and 10 emancipate bis
slaves should he hold any.
Let US open these Holy Scriptures. In
the twentieth chapter OF Exodus, seven
leen,h verse, find the following words :
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
house, thou shalt covet Thy neighbours
wife, nor his man-servant nor his maid
serran,, nor his OK, nor his ass, nor any.
thing that is thy neiehbor's"-which is the
Tenth Of those commandments that de-
clare the essential principles Of the Grea,
| Moral delivered to Moses by God Himself.
Now, discarding all technical und verbal
quibblinS as wholly unworthy to be used
in interpreting the Word of God, what is
The plain meaning, undoubted intent. and
true spirit of this commandment Does
it no, emphalically and explicitly forbid
you 10 disturb your neighbor in the enjoy.
l