world in righteousness "-is exhibited in all the illustrations of its glory, which the gospel affords. Christ is "set forth evidently crucified," as "a propitiation for the sins of the whole world." It is proclaimed that "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature," and that in Christ-in the bonds of allegiance and love to him, in the unity of communion with him— all the distinctions which divide men, whether distinctions of race or language, of nation or condition, are merged, and all are on one footing. These principles, we will suppose, find audience; and, by the grace of God, they enter into some hearts with a quickening power. How will they operate in respect to slavery?

The first effect of Christian principle on the mind of a master toward his slaves, is to make him recognize those slaves as his brethren of the human race, who, though they may not be his equals in the eye of the state, are his equals at the tribunal of God. Not only is that natural instinct strengthened and elevated, which prompts him to treat his servants kindly, as he would his dogs or his cattle, because they are his; but he is made to feel that these servants, placed under his power and protection, are, like himself, the subjects of God's government, rational and responsible; that like him they are made for immortality; that like him, involved in the ruin of a common apostacy from God, they are the objects of God's care and compassion, and of the redeeming love of One who gave himself a ransom for all. He feels that in the sight of God he and the meanest of his slaves are equal-equally worthless as sinful creatures, equally precious as immortal

souls. He feels, within, the movement of the Spirit of God's love, writing upon his heart and breathing into his soul's life the law, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." The first impulse upon his mind is that these poor people are his neighbors, and must be treated accordingly; that he must do them good to the extent of his opportunities; that he must by all means make them acquainted with God and with the way of salvation; that the first of all his duties to his fellow-men, is his duty to these wronged and helpless creatures whose entire destiny, from this time onward, is so much within his power. Can he any longer treat these persons as things which, having no rights, can suffer no injustice? Can he treat them as merchandise, property, creatures made to be bought and sold? Can he leave them in the power of a mere hireling, a low and brutal overseer? Can he refuse to acknowledge and protect the domestic relations and affections which nature, too strong to be entirely subverted by oppression, has established among them? Must he not begin to treat them in all respects as men having the common rights of human nature? Must he not begin to treat them in all respects as men made in God's image, and redeemed from the wrath to come by Christ's atoning sacrifice? I am not speaking of how a man may act, who has received Christianity as a dead tradition including a divine warrant for enslaving the "cursed race of Ham." I am not speaking of how a man may act who knows the gospel only under the forms of a "hard-shell" Antinomianism. I am not speaking of what a Christian man may do contrary to the principle of Christian

love, through inadvertence or under the power of some special temptation. I only ask the reader to imagine for himself the spontaneous operation of the 66 new heart and new spirit" in a master of slaves ; and I say that to him thus renewed by the gospel, those slaves are no more things, inferior creatures, whom he may use for his own pleasure or gain without any regard to their welfare, but fellow-men who are of as much worth in the sight of God as he is, and whose welfare he is bound by God's law to value as if it were his own.

Let us now extend our view somewhat. Instead of a solitary master receiving the gospel and acting under its impulses, without any aid or sympathy from other minds around him, we have-let us say -a dozen families living in habits of frequent amicable intercourse. Into each of these families, dispersed to some extent among families of a very different character, the gospel has entered with something of its renewing power. These families constitute a Christian congregation. The heads of these families, sustaining similar relations to the enslaved peasantry on their several plantations, as well as to their several household circles, are under each other's influence; and as fellow-believers, they are watching over each other "to incite to love and good works." In their conferences and consultations, their duties in the various relations of life come into discussion, and are made the subject matter of mutua exhortation, and among the rest, not last nor least, their duties as masters, individually and collectively. As Christian men, moved by the spirit of Christ, they talk with each other about those slaves

of theirs, what shall be done for them; and in all their debates the slaves, instead of being regarded, according to the theory of the laws, as inferior creatures, beings without rights, mere property to be used for the benefit of their owners, are regarded as men whom God made in his own image, for his own service, and for immortal blessedness, and whom Christ has redeemed. And in this way, the influence which the gospel has on each individual apart, to make him feel that the slave is his brother and must be treated accordingly, and to make him ask, "He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" is strengthened by the association and Christian sympathies of the individuals with each other. Thus we begin to see some rudiments of the legitimate action of Christianity and the church against slavery. Christianity and the church recognize the slave as a man, an immortal spirit, a creature having rights, his master's equal before God.

And as Christianity and the church extend themselves, slaves too begin to experience the quickening power of the gospel. Here we have a new element. In the church, the slave is not only a brother by the tie of a common humanity, but a brother in Christ. The master and the servant share in thoughts and emotions, in experiences of infirmity and deliverance, in joys and hopes, which place them on one level. Both walking in faith and love, and breathing the same spirit of adoption, both are alike the servants of Christ and the freemen of the Lord. Consequently a new feeling of respect and affection springs up in the mind of that master toward that servant. Nor

is this all. As religious instruction is communicated to the slaves upon one plantation and another, and as the fashion of teaching slaves the truths and duties of Christianity spreads in the community, not only is there an effect upon those who experience the full power of the truth, but others partake in the movement. The servants of Christian masters first, and then to some extent the enslaved as a class, rise gradually, but steadily, in the scale of intellectual and moral being. And as they rise; as they become more intelligent, more cultivated, more civilized; as their higher human nature, in distinction from their merely animal instincts, is developed; their brotherhood in the human family is more distinctly felt on all sides, and demands a more formal recognition. While this process of reformation in the ideas and sentiments of the people is going forward, the moment is steadily approaching in which the laws will chronicle the change, and will acknowledge the slave as a man, for whose welfare the State is bound to provide, and whose inalienable human rights the State is bound to protect. Whenever that moment arrives, a new order of things-which had been preparing itself as silently perhaps, and perhaps as unsuspectedly, as some great process of creative nature-makes its appearance. The motion on the dial-plate was slow-nay, imperceptible to hasty and impatient eyes; but meanwhile the unresting pendulum within, and the weights and wheels, were doing their office unobserved. At last the clock strikes twelve; midnight is past, and though darkness still lingers, the hours of a new day begin to be numbered.