indorsement by Moses in the law — the fortunes of the race in past ages, as well as in the present times — we desist from further remarks, having done what we can toward allaying the conflict now raging between the slavery and anti-slavery classes of the great public; believing that good men, whose consciences have been formed by reading the Scriptures on this subject, will honor the source of their education, by soothing, all in their power, the unhappy ferment, and thus, if possible, prevent the separation of the states, and a horrible civil war in America, which, were it to happen, would be the joy of all the monarchies of Europe, and their friends in the United States.
But, in closing this work, we ought not, perhaps, to hide it, that the feelings, the sympathies, the education and preconceived principles of the writer, have once been all at war with the facts brought from the Bible on the subject of negro slavery. But now we feel the amazing importance of bowing these prejudices to the word of God, submitting, with all lowliness of mind, this mysterious matter to a higher adjudication than is to be found among men, in which frame of spirit we must remain, till a stronger light than hitherto has shone on the mind of the author, shall irradiate his understanding in relation to the principles advanced in this book, respecting the fortunes of the race of Ham.
We desire it to be understood, that in all we have said in this work, we have had an eye to truth, so far as we could ascertain it, and that we have not written a word from prejudice against the people of
