The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade | Page 2

existence of that which is denominated virtue,) have a
tendency to produce vice and wretchedness among us, yet we see in
this our constitution what may operate partially as preventives and
correctives of them. If there be a radical propensity in our nature to do
that which is wrong, there is on the other hand a counteracting power
within it, or an impulse, by means of the action of the Divine Spirit
upon our minds, which urges us to do that which is right. If the voice of
temptation, clothed in musical and seducing accents, charms us one
way, the voice of holiness, speaking to us from within in a solemn and
powerful manner, commands us another. Does one man obtain a
victory over his corrupt affections? an immediate perception of
pleasure, like the feeling of a reward divinely conferred upon him, is
noticed.--Does another fall prostrate beneath their power? a painful
feeling, and such as pronounces to him the sentence of reproof and
punishment, is found to follow.--If one, by suffering his heart to
become hardened, oppresses a fellow-creature, the tear of sympathy
starts up in the eye of another, and the latter instantly feels a desire,
involuntarily generated, of flying to his relief. Thus impulses, feelings,
and dispositions have been implanted in our nature for the purpose of
preventing and rectifying the evils of life. And as these have operated
so as to stimulate some men to lessen them by the exercise of an
amiable charity, so they have operated to stimulate others, in various
other ways, to the same end. Hence the philosopher has left moral
precepts behind him in favour of benevolence, and the legislator has
endeavoured to prevent barbarous practices by the introduction of laws.
In consequence then of these impulses and feelings, by which the pure
power in our nature is thus made to act as a check upon the evil part of
it, and in consequence of the influence which philosophy and
legislative wisdom have had in their respective provinces, there has
been always, in all times and countries, a counteracting energy, which

has opposed itself more or less to the crimes and miseries of mankind.
But it seems to have been reserved for Christianity to increase this
energy, and to give it the widest possible domain. It was reserved for
her, under the same Divine Influence, to give the best views of the
nature, and of the present and future condition of man; to afford the
best moral precepts, to communicate the most benign stimulus to the
heart, to produce the most blameless conduct, and thus to cut off many
of the causes of wretchedness, and to heal it wherever it was found. At
her command, wherever she has been duly acknowledged, many of the
evils of life have already fled. The prisoner of war is no longer led into
the amphitheatre to become a gladiator, and to imbrue his hands in the
blood of his fellow-captive for the sport of a thoughtless multitude. The
stern priest, cruel through fanaticism and custom, no longer leads his
fellow-creature to the altar, to sacrifice him to fictitious Gods. The
venerable martyr, courageous through faith and the sanctity of his life,
is no longer hurried to the flames. The haggard witch, poring over her
incantations by moon-light, no longer scatters her superstitious poison
among her miserable neighbours, nor suffers for her crime.
But in whatever way Christianity may have operated towards the
increase of this energy, or towards a diminution of human misery, it has
operated in none more powerfully than by the new views, and
consequent duties, which it introduced on the subject of charity, or
practical benevolence and love. Men in ancient times looked upon their
talents, of whatever description, as their own, which they might use or
cease to use at their discretion. But the author of our religion was the
first who taught that, however in a legal point of view the talent of
individuals might belong exclusively to themselves, so that no other
person had a right to demand the use of it by force, yet in the Christian
dispensation they were but the stewards of it for good; that so much
was expected from this stewardship, that it was difficult for those who
were entrusted with it to enter into his spiritual kingdom; that these had
no right to conceal their talent in a napkin; but that they were bound to
dispense a portion of it to the relief of their fellow-creatures; and that in
proportion to the magnitude of it they were accountable for the
extensiveness of its use. He was the first, who pronounced the
misapplication of it to be a crime, and to be a crime of no ordinary

dimension. He was the first who broke down the