nt? If the slaves are not men; if they do
not possess human instincts, passions, faculties and powers; if they
are below accountability, and devoid of reason; if for them there is
no hope of immortality, no God, no heaven, no hell; if, in short, they
are, what the Slave Code declares them to be, rightly "deemed, sold,
taken, reputed and adjudged in law to be chattels personal in the
hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors,
administrators and assigns, to all intents, constructions, and
purposes whatsoever;" then, undeniably, I am mad, and can no longer
discriminate between a man and a beast. But, in that case, away with
the horrible incongruity of giving them oral instruction, of teaching
them the catechism, of recognising them as suitably qualified to be
members of Christian churches, of extending to them the ordinance of
baptism, and admitting them to the communion table, and enumerating
many of them as belonging to the household of faith! Let them be no
more included in our religious sympathies or denominational statistics
than are the dogs in our streets, the swine in our pens, or the
utensils in our dwellings. It is right to own, to buy, to sell, to
inherit, to breed, and to control them, in the most absolute sense.
All constitutions and laws which forbid their possession ought to be
so far modified or repealed as to concede the right.

But, if they are men; if they are to run the same career of
immortality with ourselves; if the same law of God is over them as
over all others; if they have souls to be saved or lost; if Jesus
included them among those for whom he laid down his life; if Christ is
within many of them "the hope of glory;" then, when I claim for them
all that we claim for ourselves, because we are created in the image
of God, I am guilty of no extravagance, but am bound, by every
principle of honour, by all the claims of human nature, by obedience
to Almighty God, to "remember them that are in bonds as bound with
them," and to demand their immediate and unconditional emancipation.

I am "ultra" and "fanatical," forsooth! In what direction, or
affecting what parties? What have I urged should be done to the
slaveholders? Their punishment as felons of the deepest dye? No. I
have simply enunciated in their ear the divine command, "Loose the
bands of wickedness, undo the heavy burdens, break every yoke, and let
the oppressed go free," accompanying it with the cheering promises,
"Then shal