"But our inquiry into the divine legislation respecting slavery, will
disclose some things which draw largely upon one's implicit faith in the
divine goodness; and if a man is disposed to be a sceptic and his
anti-slavery feelings are strong, here is a stone on which, if that
anti-slavery man falls, he shall be broken, but if it falls on him, it
shall grind him to powder.
"You will acknowledge this, if you will allow me to speak further on
this subject.
"Did you ever notice," said I, "with what words Christ concludes his
enunciation of the golden rule? They are a remarkable answer to our
modern infidels, who impugn the Old Testament as far behind the New in
its moral standard. After declaring that the rule by which we should
treat others is self-love, the Saviour says,--'for this is the Law and
the Prophets.' So there was nothing in the Law and Prophets inconsistent
with the golden rule. The golden rule therefore marks the history of
divine legislation from the beginning; and if God appointed slavery, he
ordained nothing in connection with it which was inconsistent with
equal love to one's self and to a neighbor.
"This deserves to be considered by those who, finding slavery in the Old
Testament appointed by God, begin, as it were, to exculpate their Maker
by saying that the Hebrews were a rude, semi-barbarous people, and that
divine legislation was wisely accommodated to their moral capacity.
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