Mr. Barnes has quoted and adopted the following passage from President
Wayland, page 310: “If the religion of Christ allows such a license (to
hold slaves) from such precepts as these, the New Testament would be the
greatest curse that ever was inflicted on _our race_.” On the account of
the avowal of Dr. Barnes as to _his race_, heretofore noticed, we feel a
degree of gladness that the above passage is not original with him: we
should expect to find in him a sympathy on this subject, unpleasant to
encounter, because legitimately acting on his mind. A man may be a
philosopher or a Christian, yet the ties of nature, the sympathies of
kindred are not abated.
We are informed that heretofore, written arguments in favour of
abolitionism by Dr. Wayland and against it by Dr. Fuller, have been
published. We have not seen the work; but are told that the
abolitionists claim victory for Dr. Wayland, and that the opponents also
claim it for Dr. Fuller; and from the foregoing passage as quoted, we
conclude that Dr. Wayland found himself, at least, in _straits_ on the
subject. If such be the fact, it may account why the abolitionists
thought Dr. Barnes’s present work necessary. But, however these things
may be, the passage from Dr. Wayland is a volume of deep instruction,
announcing the feelings and theological consistency, we might say
fanaticism, of, we hope, but a few extraordinary men, now appearing in
our land; men, we doubt not, conscientious in their opinion that God
designs the government of the world to be in strict conformity with
human reason, and who cannot, therefore, pray in the spirit of the Son:
“Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not
my will, but thine, be done.” _Luke_ xxii. 42. “If any man have not the
spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” _Rom._ viii. 9.
In the book before us, the author falls into one error, common to every
writer on his side of the question: That slavery is the cause of the
degradation of the Africans and the slaves generally. We maintain that
the converse is the true state of the case. Another error is the
substitution of what may be abuses of slavery for the institution
itself. This author, like most of the abolition writers of whom we have
any knowledge, evinces an inability to enter into an impartial
consideration of the subject, from his deep and overshadowing prejudices
against it. Indeed, the whole work, from page to page, carries proof of
a previous determination to condemn, not less obvious than in the
instance of the judge who, in summing up a case, said—“It is true, in
this case, the accused has proved himself innocent; but, since a guilty
man might prove himself so, and since I myself have always been of the
opinion that he was guilty, it will be the safest to condemn.”
The style of the work before us is always diffuse and declamatory,
sometimes elevated, but often cumbrous; still his language bears the
impress of classical learning and a cultivated mind; but there is in the
work a want of conciseness; it abounds in contradictory positions and a
frequent inconclusiveness of deduction, which make it obnoxious to a
charge of carelessness. But may we not account for these defects by the
urgent solicitude of his readers?
The morbid appetite of the Northern abolitionists was probably hungry
for the work. Having no wish to _oppose_ his pecuniary views, we refrain
from further extracts, lest we should infringe his copyright. Nor did we
at all contemplate a classical review of the work. The book contains
about 400 pages. If it could be condensed, like a pot of new-brewed and
foaming, into potable beer, to a fourth of that size, it might well
claim such attention; and from the specimens of ability displayed, if it
were proved that the doctor has suffered his zeal to run ahead of the
truth in regard to his _race_, we should judge him fully competent to
the task of such improvement.
------------------------------------
Study III.
------------------