North," said I, continuing our conversation, "I cannot oppose
the relation of master and slave as in itself sinful; for then I become
more righteous than God. But I must inquire whether it is right, in each
given case, to reduce men to bondage: shall that be, for example, the
mode in which prisoners of war shall be disposed of? or a subjugated
people? or criminals? or, in certain cases, debtors? In doing so, there
is no intrinsic sin; the act itself, under the circumstances, may be
exceedingly sinful; but the relation of ownership is not necessarily a
sin. This, I hold, is all that can be deduced from the Bible in favor of
slavery: The relation is not in itself sinful."
"But," said Mr. North, "we sinned in stealing these people from Africa;
all sin should be immediately forsaken; therefore, set the slaves free
at once."
I replied, "Let us apply that principle. You and I, and a large company
of passengers, are in a British ship, approaching our coast. We find
out, all at once, that the crew and half of the passengers stole the
ship. We gain the ascendency; we can do as we please. Now, as all sin
must be repented of at once, it is the duty of the passengers and crew
to put the ship about, and deliver it to the owners in Glasgow! Perhaps
we should not think it best to put in force the '_ruat coelum_'
doctrine, especially if we had had some '_ruat coelum_' storms, and it
was late in the season.
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