“_The Elements of Moral Science: By_ FRANCIS WAYLAND, D.D., _President
of Brown University, and Professor of Moral Philosophy. Fortieth
Thousand. Boston, 1849._” Pp. 396.
THIS author informs us that he has been many years preparing the work,
with a view to furnish his pupils with a text-book free from the errors
of Paley. Like Paley, whom he evidently wishes to supersede, he has
devoted a portion of his strength to the abolition of slavery. We
propose to look into the book with an eye to that subject alone.
President Wayland says:
P. 24. “Moral Law is a form of expression denoting an order of sequence
established between the moral quality of actions and their results.”
Pp. 25, 26. “An order of sequence established, supposes, of necessity,
an Establisher. Hence Moral Philosophy, as well as every other science,
proceeds upon the supposition of the existence of a Universal Cause, the
Creator of all things, who has made every thing as it is, and who has
subjected all things to the relations which they sustain. And hence, as
all relations, whether moral or physical, are the result of his
enactment, an order of sequence once discovered in morals, is just as
inviolable as an order of sequence in physics.
“Such being the fact, it is evident that the moral laws of God can never
be varied by the institutions of man, any more than the physical laws.
The results which God has connected with actions will inevitably occur,
all the created power in the universe to the contrary notwithstanding.
“Yet men have always flattered themselves with the hope that they could
violate the moral law and escape the consequences which God has
established. The reason is obvious. In physics, the consequent follows
the antecedent, often immediately, and most commonly after a stated and
well-known interval. In morals, the result is frequently long delayed;
the time of its occurrence is always uncertain:—Hence, ‘because the
sentence against an evil work is not _speedily_ executed, therefore the
hearts of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evil.’ But time,
whether long or short, has neither _power_ nor _tendency_ to change the
order of an established sequence. The time required for vegetation, in
different orders of plants, may vary; but, yet, wheat will always
produce wheat, and an acorn will always produce an oak. That such is the
case in morals, a heathen poet has taught us. ‘_Raro, antecedentum
scelestum deseruit pede pœna claudo_.’ HOR. lib. iii. car. 2.
“A higher authority has admonished us, ‘Be not deceived; God is not
mocked; whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap.’ It is also to be
remembered, that, in morals as well as in physics, the harvest is always
more abundant than the seed from which it springs.”
To this doctrine we yield the highest approval.
The first obvious deduction from the lesson here advanced is, that the
laws of God, as once revealed to man, never lose their high moral
qualities nor their divine character, at any subsequent age of the
world. The law, which God delivered to Moses from Mount Sinai,
authorizing his chosen people to buy slaves, and hold them as an
inheritance for their children after them, is, therefore, the law of God
now. The action of the law may be suspended at a particular time or
place, from a change of contingencies,—yet the law stands unaffected.
We hope no one doubts the accuracy of the doctrine thus fairly stated in
these “Elements.” But we shall see how fatal it is to some portions of
the author’s positions concerning slavery. And we propose to show how
this doctrine, as connected with slavery, has been, and is elucidated in
scripture. The twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy shows that the
fruits of wickedness are all manner of curses, finally terminating in
slavery or death.
Here, slavery, as a threatened punishment, distinctly looks back to a
course of wickedness for its antecedent. The same idea is spread through
the whole Scriptures: “Whosoever committeth sin, is the _servant_ of
sin.” _John_ viii. 34. “I am carnal, sold under sin.” _Rom._ vii. 14.
“Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves.” _Isa._ 1. 1. See,
also, _Jer._ xiii. 22.
The biblical scholar will recollect a multitude of instances where this
doctrine is clearly advanced, recognising sin as the antecedent of
slavery.
Abraham was obedient to the voice of God. His conduct was the antecedent
and the consequent was, God heaped upon him many blessings and among
them, riches in various things,—“_male and female slaves_,” some of whom
were “_born in his house_,” and some “_bought with his money_;” and God
made a covenant with him, granting him, and his seed after him, the land
of Canaan for an everlasting possession.
But this gift, as is the continuance of all other blessings, was
accompanied with a condition, which is well explained in _Genesis_,
xviii. 19: “For I know him, that he will command his children and _his
household_ after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do
justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he
hath spoken of him.”
Scholars will concede the fact that “_his household_” is a term by which
his slaves are particularly included, over whom his government was
extended; and, without its proper maintenance, the covenant so far on
his part would be broken.
From the wording of the covenant it is evident that Abraham had slaves
before the covenant was made, since it embraced regulations concerning
slaves, but, in no instance, hints that the existence of slavery was
adverse to the law of God, or that the holding of slaves, as slaves, was
contrary to his will. The deduction is, that slavery exists in the world
by Divine appointment; and that the act of owning slaves is in
conformity with the moral law.
The doctrine, that sin is the antecedent of slavery, is further
elucidated and made still more manifest by the recognition of the
institution by the biblical writers, where they place sin and slavery in
opposition to holiness and freedom:—thus, figuratively, making
righteousness the antecedent of freedom. “Stand fast, therefore, in the
liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage.” _Gal._ v. 1. “And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free.” _John_ iii. 32.
The abuse of slavery, like the abuse of any thing else, is doubtless a
great sin. Of the blessings God bestows on man, there is perhaps no one
he does not abuse; and while we examine the laws of God, as presenting
to the mind the vast field of cause and effect,—of antecedent and
consequent,—we may be led to a reflection on the necessity of a
conformity thereto, lest a long continuance of such abuses shall become
the antecedent to future calamities and woes, either to ourselves or
posterity; woes and calamities prefigured by those nations and tribes
already under the infliction of slavery, as a just punishment of sin.
Thus far, we thank the Rev. Dr. Wayland for this fair _exposé_ of his
views of the moral law of God; and if he will apply them now to the
institution of slavery,—if he will unfetter his intellect from the
manacles imposed on it by a defective education on that subject, and cut
himself loose from the prejudices that his associations have gathered
around him, we may yet have occasion to rejoice over him as one once an
estray from the fold of truth, but now returned, “sitting in his right
mind and clothed.” And will not Mr. Fuller and Professor Taylor rejoice
with us!
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