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Show 90 haughty, proud, self-seeking propensities of our nature. l\Ian cannot, without imminent peril to his virtue, own a fellow-creature, or use the word of absolute command to his brethren. God never delegated this power. It is an usurpation of the Divine dominion, and its natural influence is to produce a spirit of superiority to divine as well as to human laws. Undoubtedly this tendency is in a measure counteracted by the spirit of the age and the genius of Christianity, and in conscientious individuals it may be wbolly overcome ; but we see its fruits in the corruptions of moral sentiment which prevail among slaveholders. A quick resentment of whatever is thougbt to encroach on personal dignity, a trembling jealousy of reputation, vehemence of the vindictive passions, and contempt of all laws, human and divine, in retaliating injury,- these take rank among the l' irtues of men whose self-estimation has been fed by the possession of absolute power. Of consequence the di rect tendency of slavery is to annihilate the control of Christianity. Humility is by eminence the spirit of Christianity. No vice was so severely rebuked by our Lord, as the passion for ruling over others. A deference towards all human beings as our brethren, a benevolence which disposes us to serve rather than to. reign, to concede our own rather than to encroach 91 on others' rights, to forgive, not avenge wrongs, to govern our own spirits instead of breaking the spirit of an in fe rior or foe, - this is Christianity; a religion too high and pure to be unde•·stood and obeyed any where as it should be, but which meets singular hostility in the habits of mind generated by slavery. The slaveholder, indeed, values himself on his loftiness of spirit. He has a consciousness of dignity, which imposes on himself and others. But truth cannot stoop to this lofty mien. Truth, moral, Christian truth, condemns it, and condemns those who bow to it. Self-respect, founded on a consciousness of our moral nature and immortal destiny, is, indeed, a noble principle; but this sentiment includes, as a part of itself, respect for all who partake om nature. A consciousness of dignity, founded on the subjection of others to our absolute will, is inhuman and unjust. It is tirne that the teachings of Christ were understood. In proportion as a man acquires a lofty bearing from the habit of command over wronged and depressed fellow-creatures, so far he casts away true honor, so far he has fallen in the sight of God and Virtue. I approach a more delicate subject, and one on which I shall not enlarge. To own the persons of others, to hold females in slavery, is necessarily fatal to the purity of a people. That unprotected |