The Impending Crisis of the South

nding of its leading moral precepts, feels, in his own conscience,

orst system of servitude of which we have any account in the Bible-and, by the way, it furnishes no account of anything so bad as slavery (the evil-one and his hot home alone excepted)-was far less rigorous and atrocious than that now established in the Southern States of this Confederacy. Even that system, however, the worst, which seems to have been practiced to a considerable extent by those venerable old fogies, Abraham,

ten to a limite

AYINGS OF THE

out all the land, unto al

oppressed

ve thy neighbo

r, nor honor the person of the mighty; but in

ed shall not abide with thee

oppressor, and choo

ed and needy; rid them out

take away your exactions from

other, and every man to his neighbor: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword,

h him, or if he be found in his han

e cry of the poor, he also sha

th the poor repro

swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherl

o he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave the

ll listen to

AYINGS OF THE

er, neither be ye

ould that men should do to

another with brotherly love; in

men, as ye hav

with Christ hath made you free, and be not

be made free,

is worthy o

of the Lord is,

blish a book or pamphlet entitled "Bible Defence of Slavery," which the Baltimo

of slave property-by the Constitution. And nobody would pretend that, if it were inexpedient and unprofitable for any man or any State to continue to hold slaves, they would be bound to do so on the ground of a "Bible defence" of it. Slavery is recorded in the Bible, and approved, with man

revolve in its orbit. Aside from unaffected truthfulness and candor, no merit is claimed for anything we have said on our own account. With the best of motives, and in the language of nature more than that

e and the effect of the contents would have been far less. From the first, our leading motive has been to convince our fellow-citizens of the South, non-slaveholders and slaveholders, that slavery, whether considered in all its bearings, o

e that argument is needed against slavery." Taking things as they are, however, argument being needed, we have offered it;

strength and beauty upon which the popularity of our work will, in all probability, be principally based. If the ablest writers of the Old Testament; if the eloquent prophets of old; if the renowned philosophers of Greece and Rome; if the heavenly-minded authors and compilers of the New Testament; if the illustrious poets and prose-wr

their one-sided view of things, conceive to be the advantages of their favorite and peculiar institution. Such an exposé, if skillfully executed, would doubtless be regarded