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Show ·222 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY. would not have been matter of such profound astonishment. But is it not unspeakably shocking that a Christian man, nay, .U:a~ a Christian minister and doctor of d!VImty, should thus set at naught the clearest, the most unequivocal, and the most universally received teachings of the gospel? If he had merely accused the Christian men of the South, as he bas so often done in his two stupid volumes on slavery, of the crimes of "swindling," of "theft," of "robbing," and of "manstealing," we could have borne with him well; and, as we have hitherto done, continued to pass by his labors with silent contempt. But we have deemed it important to show in what manner, and to what extent, the spirit of abolitionism can wrest the pure word of God to its antichristian purpose. We shall conclude the argument from Scriptme with the following just and impressive testimony of the Princeton Review: " The mass of the pious and thinking people in this conntry are neither abolitionists nor the advocates of slavery. They stand where they ever have stood-on the broad Scriptmal foundation; maintaining the obligation of a11 men, in their several placos and relations, to act on the law of love, ARGUMENT FROl! THE SCRIPTURES. 223 and to promote the spiritual and temporal welfare of others by every means in their power. They stand aloof from the abolitionists for various reasons. In the :first place, they disapprove of their principles. The leading characteristic doctrine of this sect is that slaveholding is in all cases a sin, and should, therefore, under all cirCU\DStances, be immediately abandoned. As nothing can be plainer than that slaveholders were admitted to the Christian church by the inspired apostles, tlte advocates of this doctrine are brought into di1·ect collision with the Scriptures. This leads to one of the mo•t dangerous evils connected with the whole system, viz., a disregard of the authority of the word of God, a setting up a different and higher standard of truth and duty, and a proud and confident wresting of Scripture to Sltit their own purposes. TIIE HISTORY OF INTERPRETATION FURNISHES NO EXAMPLES OF MORE WII,FUL AND VIOLENT PERVERSIONS OF THE SACUED TEXT THAN ARE TO BE FOUND IN THE WRITINGS OF TilE ABOLITIONISTS. THEY SEEM TO CONSIDER THEMSELVES ABOVE THE SCRIPTURES; AND WHEN THEY PUT THEMSELVES ABOVE THE LAW OF Goo, IT IS. NOT WONDERFUL TIIAT THEY SHOULD DISREGARD THE J~AWS OF MEN. Significant manifestations of the result of this disposition to |