pupil and apprentice, have a right to demand a release from the restraining obligations imposed upon them contrary to their will, and the thief, the murderer, and the wretch who prostitutes female innocence, when arraigned at the tribunal of justice, have only to appeal to the moral sympathies of the Judge and Jury with the prayer, "forgive us, for even so would we do unto thee if we were in thy circumstances," and they are morally bound to grant the prayer. And according to their exposition, the rich are required by these words to make such a distinction of their goods to the poor as to render their condition more than tolerable. They seem, however, to have forgotten that their hypothesis embraces more than Southern slave owners as transgressors of the precept, we therefore beg leave to illustrate the consistency of their exposition by an allegory.

A certain poor man at the North approached the dwelling of a wealthy Abolitionist and thus accosted him-Sir, I am poor and have no home for my family; I would that thou shouldst give me a small portion of thy large estate, if it be but one of thy smallest farms, that I may the better provide for my little ones, and not be tortured in my last hour with the heart rending thought of leaving them to be fed by the cold hand of charity-do this I pray thee, for even so would I do unto thee, if I were in thy circumstance. Now the poor man was silent for a while and likewise was the rich man, for the prayer of the suppliant had entered his ears, but the thought of granting it had not entered into his heart: wherefore the poor man importuned him again, and appealing to his own exposition of the

precept, and to his benevolence and his piety, he assured him that inasmuch as he possessed a more abundant store of goods than his wants required, he could not consistently with the spirit of Christianity reject his prayer,for thus is it written "having food & raiment, let us therewith be content." Now these words were received by the Abolitionist as something more orthodox than the prayer of the suppliant, wherefore he thus accosted him—friend, thou hast done well by reminding me of those words of St. Paul, for they were written specially for the poor, therefore take them to thyself— moreover, thy request is unreasonable, for if I were to grant unto thee what thou desirest, another and others would desire the same, and when I should have done likewise to them, then would I be left to pine in poverty also-furthermore, I would have thee know that I do no violence to the spirit of Christianity nor the precepts of the Bible by holding my wealth; for Abraham and Job and the Centurion and many others of old abounded in wealth, and it is said of them that they were the servants of God, yet they suffered not their charity to extend so far as to the giving away of their estates; nevertheless to the poor they were kind, and so I trust am I. Now when he had thus spoken, the poor man looked with indignant pity at the Abolitionist and answered him saying-and so, sir, Abraham and Job and the Centurion were quite orthodox in thy faith of not sharing their fortunes with the poor, but hast thou forgotten that a large portion of their wealth consisted in slaves? They were slave owners, Sir, "base criminal kidnappers" according to thine own words, "who in art and wickedness cxceed the

devil" and wilt thou take such characters as ensamples of thy faith and practice in deeds of charity?— Consistency, sir,is a jewel that belongeth to the philanthropist, and if the measure of thy philanthropy be so vast as to embrace the poor sons of Ham who dwell in the South, how canst thou look with pitiless concern on the poverty and wretchedness of thy kindred of the Tribe of Japheth, who sojourn in the North? Wouldst thou know the burthen of my heart and the cause of these my tears? Go thou to the Alms House even of the great city of the North, and look at the pittance provided by the rich for the hungry poor who call for their morsel. And of what does it consist? Potatoes, sir, Potatoes—a scanty share of Potatoes. And is this the boon of thy charity that is to soothe a parents heart in his last hour? Knowest thou not, that thy most" cruel kidnappers" do more than this for their slaves? Go thou to the South and see the comforts of life which the more humane bestow on their servants of the Tribe of Ham, and not on them only, but on our kindred of the Tribe of Japheth. If thou wouldst find that charity which bids the poor man die in peace, go thou to Charleston the city of thy "hard hearted men stealers,” and view their Orphan House filled with fatherless children, fed and clothed and nurtured in the admonition of the Lord--Go view the POOR of the City and the Suburbs thereof, supplied abundantly and daily with the best of Bread and Flesh-see the physicians of skill and science employed to minister to the sick, and the great men of the City, like good Samaritans of old, alternately acting as Overseers of their cares and their wants without fee or reward—there

go, if thou wouldst find that charity which fain would wipe the tears that fall impitied at the door of thy dwelling. And wilt thou suffer those whom tho callest 'the most depraved of mankind' to exceed thee so far in charity? In the name of thy boasted philanthropy, I adjure thee, go thou and do likewise, that the poor man of the North may also die in peace.— Now when he had thus spoken, the door of the Abolitionist was closed against the suppliant, for his heart sickened at the thought of the many virtues of his "Southern kidnappers," therefore he determined to hear no more of them.*

Nor will we trespass any

farther on his patience by seeking a just exposition of the precept in the consistency of his words and deeds: neither will we be our own expositor-we prefer offering the exposition of one who never advocated slavery, but who having viewed it in the abstract, imbibed prejudices quite as strong as the spirit of piety would permit him to indulge. "The words, says Dr. Doddrige, imply that we should treat men in every respect just as we would think it reasonable to be treated by them, if we were in their circumstances and they in ours; for this is in effect the summary and abstract of all

* There is not a City in the world where such ample provision is made for the Poor, and the Orphans of the Poor, as in Charleston. "Leave thy fatherless children with us," say the benevolent inhabitants to the Poor in their dying moments, "and we will teach them to fear God & walk uprightly." Thousands of such Orphans have been reared under the parental care of" THE HARD HEARTED KIDNAPPERS" of the Orphan House, all of whom have distinguished themselves for honest industrious habits; some are -numbered with the most talented citizens of Carolina, and not one has ever been convicted of a penal offence. We have Institutions of a similar character but of less magnitude among us, and JOSIAH FLOURNOY ESQ. of Putnam, has recently contributed 40,000 Dollars to the Methodist Conference of Georgia, to aid in establishing a MANUAL LABOUR SCHOOL in which some Orphans are to be educated. Will not a few more of the GENEROUS BENEFACTORS of Georgia do likewise and enable the Conference to erect a Manual Labour School Asylum for all the POOR ORPHANS of the state ?What a vast amount of good would result from such an Institution, and how appropriately might the Epitaph of ATOLUS of Rhemis, be engraven on the tombs of such friends of God and man-" He exported his Fortune before him into Heaven by his charities, he is gone thither to enjoy it."

the moral precepts of the law and the prophets, and it was one of the greatest ends of both to bring men to this humane and equitable temper." Thus the master, like Abraham and the faithful of old, is required by this precept to treat this slave with all that humanity and benevolence with which he would wish his slave to treat him, provided their circumstances were reversed.

But what is the measure of that humanity and benevolence, and how shall it be meted to the slave ? The Jews understood it to embrace all that was written concerning humanity and benevolence in the laio and the prophets, for the precept was familiar to them, being one of their own maxims* and Wetstein and Grotius inform us that some of the Heathen writers so understood it; but the Abolitionists have discovered that the spirit of Christianity is not to be found in the law and the prophets concerning slavery, consequently they reject the construction. The Saviour, however, perceiving in the plentitude of his wisdom that the members of civil society would be disturbed by the discordant opinions of such extraordinary teachers, expressed the precept in words so plain as to permit even the Heathen to perceive that it embraced nothing more than was written in the law and the prophets; therefore, if the master would learn how far his humanity and benevolence should be extended to his slave, and if the slave would know how far his obedi ence and fidelity should be extended to his master's precepts and interest, let them both go to the law and ths prophets, for more than is written therein, is not

See Tobit chap. 4, 15.