One of them had put this question to their lordships, "if the Slave-trade were as wicked as it had been represented, why was there no prohibition of it in the holy scriptures ?" He then entered into a full defence of the scriptures on this ground, which he concluded by declaring that, as St.Paul had coupled men-stealers with murderers, he had condemned the Slave-trade in one of its most productive modes, and generally in all its modes:--and here it was worthy of remark, that the word used by the apostle on this occasion, and which had been translated men-stealers, should have been rendered slave-traders.

This was obvious from the Scholiast of Aristophanes, whom he quoted.

It was clear therefore that the Slave-trade, if murder was forbidden, had been literally forbidden also.
The learned counsel too had admonished their lordships, to beware how they adopted the visionary projects of fanatics.

He did not know in what direction this shaft was shot; and he cared not.

It did not concern him.
With the highest reverence for the religion of the land, with the firmest conviction of its truth, and with the deepest sense of the importance of its doctrines, he was proudly conscious, that the general shape and fashion of his life bore nothing of the stamp of fanaticism.