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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est filmd d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 32 X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 SLAYERY, X \. \ AS RECOGNIZED IN THE '^N MOSAIC OIYIL LAW, RECOGNIZED ALSO, AND ALLOTTED, IN THE ^ Jifrraliamir, lasaic, anJr Clrnstiatt C|ttu|, BEING ONE OP A SERIES OF SABBATH EVENING DISC0UB8M ON THE LAWS OF MOSES. wt REV. STUART ROBINSON. WITH NOTES FROM ORTHODOX BRITISH, AND CONTINER fAL BIBLICAL CRITICS AND COMMENTATORS. I», *« a. TORONTO : ROLLO & ADAM 1886. JOHN p. TRQVr, P«rNT,n Sr.RKOTvP„. and EtKCTHorr,™, 50 Greene Street New York ft ••iN I- Entered, according to the Act of Con^reBs .„ ♦h„ «^oHgroB8, In the year 1866, by JOHN" P. TKOW, 4 ^^ ■> PREFACE. h» The reason for the present publication may, perhaps, best be given iji the following extracts from letters addressed to the author the day after the delivery of the discourse in the regular course of his pulpit ministrations, by a large number of intelligent Canadian gentlemen ; ^' ► Toronto, Feb. 27, 1865. Rev. Sttakt Robixson: Deae Sir : — The interests of religion and truth require that, in all matters affecting our faith in Divine Revelation, our opin- ions should be clear and definite. The subject of Human Slavery comes under this category. It is a subject which in lormer times very much agitated the public mind in Groat Britain, and, since the commencement of the American war, has been revived with great vigor, both in England and Canada, * * * On a subject of so much importance— a subject involving the interests of millions of our fellow-beings— it would seem necessary and right that wo should have something more substantial than vague generalities, as an anchor to our faith. t9 •»-' In common with the bulk of the English people, we hold, and hold thoroughly, as you are a^ are, anti-slavery opinions ; but while so doing, we believe it to be in the interests of truth that the subject should be laid open to full, free, and fair dis- cussion. The extraordinary research and ability displayed in the Lec- tures oa Genesis and Exodus, delivered by you in this city during IV PREFACE. very respectfully yours. Sev. Stuaet Robinson : Toronto, Feb. 27, 1866. pos tion of this siihipot T tlb^ ii 1 1 ^ I ^^^ exhaustive ex- I am, Rev. and Dear Sir, Very faitljfuily yours, to. ' Not having before thought of such a publication, tho preparation for the press, i„ accordance with the foregoW ^.quests, has, of course, been „,acle somewhat hastily Clr co!„r'Tr "•'"' '" ?^'' °"^'^ of public caU for adis- ult """:' ""'' "I""'"'"' «"'=^«<1' '""'•ever, have ong been_ entertained; and the expositions of the Scrip- tares are in general accordance with the steadfast faith of the people of God, as uttered through their pious and «3n."r' '" "" "^.^ "P *° ""= P'^^^"'- This will be apparent by a comparison of the statements of the dis- coui-se with the foot-notes which have been appended for the benefit of plain readers, who have not acce s to man^ r"^'^::':^:';" ?^ "'"I ""»- ^'■>'" '« ">« voicToT ino ^.n„,>;ii „ mlorproters. ior some of these authorities that were not within his reach, the author i. inSld T"' 4 i w4 mm ■*■■ i 4 , i V ptf Mi ts PREFACE. T tho laborious compilation of the learned and excellent Bishop Hopkinx in his late work. Though not thus coming before the public by any design or forethought of his own, it seems to the author to be somewhat providential, that he should have been called upon, just at this time, to show the people " what saith the Scrij)turcs " concerning the relation of master and slave. The reaction from the extremes to which a plausi- ble but lierco and reckless fanaticism had carried both the American and British people, but especially the foi-mer, seems about to set in. The sober second thought of Christian people is beginning to suspect the dogmas of the noisy, canting, inlidel philanthropismvwhose prophets have seduced them temporarily to follow tlie pretended revelations of natural reason, "spiritual insight," and "universal love," instead of Jehovah's prophets whom their fatiiers followed. The recent very remarkable utterances of this fanatical philanthropiam from the very highest official of the Ameri- can nation, since tliis discourse was delivered, — utterances, which, as will ai)pear from the argument of this discour^a, can hardly be characterized as less than impiously presuLxj tuous perversions of the Word and Providence of God,-^ must arrest the attention of thonghtful Christian men, and lead to tho inquiry Avhether the lights which the Churches of that country have been following to such an extreme, can pos-^'bly have been kindled at the altar-fires of inspiration. To such inquiries, it is believed, this brief yet compact and somewhat exhaustive view will be of service ; especially to such as have no time or opportunity for more extended reading. Stuajkt Robdtsok. Toronto, March flth, 1866. I Iw S£< Ski Se' -^ ff '^ Se < i .3 -* «f CONTENTS. 1 VAOt Intboduction. — Reasons for this present discussion. The au- thorities in biblical criticism upon which the argument relies arc not partisan. Difference between the New Eng- land and the British Anti-Slavery sentiment, . . . 2-7 Section I. — Slavery in the Church, anterior to the civil code of Moses, recognized in the covenants which form the fundamental charter of the Church viiible. The deliver- ance from Egypt was the deliverance of a nation of slave- holders from political bondage, 8-14 Section II. — Hationale of the Mosaic civil law respecting the bond-service of Hebrews. That service was not slavery, in the proper sense, at all. The prohibition against reducing a Hebrew to slavery was not on ve ground of natural right, but of special religious faith, 16-21 Section III. — A system of perpetual slavery was recognized and regulated by the Mosaic civil code, substantially the same with the system in the American Southern States ; nor was such slavcholding deemed inconsistent with the strict holiness symbolized in the ritual law, .... 22-29 Section FV. — This system of perpetual slavery continued to exist in the Mosaic Church till the close of the Old Testament inspiration ; and, during the interval between the close of the Old and the opening of the New Testament, vast num- bers of Jews, as well as of other peoples, had been sold into slavery in all parts of the Roman Empire, . * ... ^9-32 VUl CONTENTS. BccTiON v.— Duriug the personal ministry of Jesus Christ though slavery, in fact, as part of the social order and tho question of slavery, in thcai, in the exposition of Moses must have been forced upon his attention, Christ did not re^ peal Moses' permission of slavery, as He repealed the per- mission of divorce and polygamy, nor claim to teach a purer ethics than Moses. When actual cases came before him not only did he not rebuke the relation of master and slave as sinful, but blessed both master and slave/and in his preaching, referred without rebuke to the relation of master and slave, Section Vl.-In the final reorganization of the visible Church' through the Apostles, under the dispensation of the Spirit' ■ the ethical propriety of slavery, especially of enslaving Jews, must have been forced upon their attention. Yet the Apostles not only admitted slaveholders and the r slavos together into the Church, but enjoined the Christian duUes of master and slave precisely in the same manner as the duties of ruler and subject, husband and wife, parents and children, ..... Section VIF.-The Apostles not only recognized negatively the ethical propriety of the relation of master and slave, but ex- ^i-pressly denounced those who " teach otherwise," as heretics from whom true ministers of the Church must withdraw fellowship, Section VIII.-The hnminent danger to religion from the' tend- encies of the anti-slavery philanthropism to subvert the faith of the people in the inspiration of the Scriptures. Fallacious judgments uf the greatest and wisest men under the mental and moral epidemics that seize upon society, as compared with the mfallibie word of God, Concluding NoxE.-AppUeation of the foregoing argum'ent to the ' great secular issues now pending between the slaveholdmg States and British and New England philanthropism. The trilemma. Neither of its horns consistent with scriptural ethics nor with facts. The slavery tolerated in the New Testa- ment demonstrntpH t" b" ih -• ... *u * . T'"" ' """'"*-■ '" P"°cipie With that in the American State?, Why these views have not been press- ed upon the attention of the world before by Southern writew. risa 82-43 44-66 6Y-62 62-78 ^ • w 6h BH C.5 Sll AS 78-89 FO TAta 82-48 14-66 67-62 62-78 -^ 1B-S9 'V DISCOURSE. Now these are the judoments which thou shalt set before them. If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve thee, «fec. Ex. 21 : 1-8. And if a man smite his servant with a rod and he die under his hand : ho shall be surely punished. Notwithstanding if ho continue a day or two he shall not be punished : for he is his MONET, Ex. 21 : 20. And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or tho eye of his maid, that it p risl:, he shall let him go free for his eye's sake, &c. Ex. 21 : 26, 27. If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservunt ; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. E.x. 21 : 28-32. And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor aad be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bond-servant ; but as an hired servant and as a sojourner shall he be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee • and then shall he depart from thee, both he and his children with' him, and shall return unto his own J' dy, and unto the possession op ms FATHEB8 shall he return. For they aee my servants, which I brought out of the land of Egypt : they shall not be sold as bondmen, &c. Both thy bondmen and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen tl at are round about thee ; of them SHALL YE BUY BONDMEN ANO BONDMAIDS ; moreover, of tho c sildren of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them And they shall be tour possession. And ye shall take them AS AN iNFERiTANOE foT your children after you, to inherit them FOR A possession; they ehaH be your bondmen poKeveh ; but '* BIBLICAL DISCOUESB over your brethren, the children of Israel, ye shall uot rule over one another with rigor. Lev. 25 : 39-55. And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, Take the sum of the unto the Lord of the men of war which went out to battle • one soul of five hundred both of the persons and of the beeves,'&c And the persons were sixteen tliousand : of which the lokd's TRIBUTE WAS THIRTY AND TWO PERSONS. And MoseS gavO the triuute which was the Lord's heave offering, unto Eleazer the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses. Numbers 31 : 2o, 26, 28, 40, 41 Then shall no stranger eat cf the holy thing; a sojourner of the priest or a hired servant, shall not eat of the holy thing But If the priest iny any souUcith Ms money, he shall eat of it and L:viS22:To!n" "^ "^^^^' ^^^^ ^^-" -^ ^' ^- --t- ?T, ^^^^ ^"^ ^l''^^ ^^^^Y\ ^ '^^^'^ ^"*^ ^®"®*^ ^™' or if he be found m his hand, shall surely be put to death. Ex. 21:16 and Deut. 24 • Y inou Shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee. Deut. 23 : jg^"*'''^^^ ^^'^^ '^ INTRODUCTION. /• ' \ Reasons for this present discussion : the authorities in BibHcal criticism upon which the argument relies are not partisan. Difference betn^ecn the New England and the British anti slavery sentiment. Having considered, according to our proposed plan, The Moral Law, The Constitutional Law, The Criminal Code, we come next to the consideration of the Civil Law of Moses, relating to persons and things. And here among tne very first of its enactments stand the laws relating to servitude. It is obvioup.ly impossible to present any adequate view of this code without entering upon some discussion of a feature of Moses' laws, which of late has been so much one /• ^ I I 1 OjS slavery. 9 talked about, and so little understood, viz : these slavery enactments. It would certainly be sufficient reason for desiring to instruct the Christian people fully on this subject, were there no other reason, that modern un- believers of the Colenso school, cite the fact of the recognition of slavery by Moses as indisputable proof that his writings could not have been " given by inspiration of God."* You will remember that while expounding the Abrar hamic Covenant (Gen. IVth), I ok occasion to define my position, as a preacher of the word, in regard to this vexed question of slavery ; that, except as the subject comes in my way in the exposition of the Scriptures, I feel that I have little to do with it, here in a country where no * " The wife and her cliildrsn shall he his master''s " (Ex. 21 : 4). " For he is hia money " (v. 21). " I shall never forget tho revulsion of feeling with which a very intelligent Christian native, with whose help I was translating these words into the Zulu tongue, first heard tliem, as words said to bo uttered by the same great and gracious Bt 'ng, whom I was teaching him to trust in and adore. His whole soul revolted against tho notion that tho great and blesbcd God, the merciful Father of all mai)kind, would speak of a servant or maid as mere ' money,' and allow a horrible crime to go unpunished, because the victim of the brutal usage had survived a few hours. My own i. jart and conscience at the time fully sympathised with his. But I then clung to the notion that the main substance of the narrative was historically true. And I relieved his difficulty and my own for the present by telling him, that I supposed that such words as these were written down by Moses, and believed by him to have been divinely given to him, because the thought of them arose in his heart as he con- ceived by the inspiration of God, and that hence to all such law'S he prefixed the formula ' Jehovah said unto Moses ' without it being on that account necessary for us to suppose thnt they were aciuully spokeii by the Almighty. This was, howcvor, a very great strain upon the cord which bound me to the ordinary belief in the historical veracity of the Pentateuch ; and since then that cord has snapped in twain altogether." Coleuso on The Penta- teuch, part 1, page 50. BIBLICAL DISCOtlRSE Buch institution exists : for, having little confidence in, I do not wish to give countenance, by my example, to that sort of religion which exercises itself about the sins of other people rather than its own ; and whose repentance, like the Pharisee's, having no sins of its own to mourn over, wastes its sighs over those of the publican " standing afar oflf." But, on the other hand, havirg undertaken to expound to yea this Great Book, I dare not allow the fear of having sectional prejudices imputed to me, or the consideration that I must here run counter to the almost universal popular prejudices of the country so to r'>strain me that I should " shun to declare the whole counsel of God." (Acts 20: 17.) Not to tax your time and patience with the too com- mon critical disquisitions conceraing the import of the Hebrew term ebed, and the Greek doulos, which our translators rendered " servant^' because, in their day, the word "servant" still retained its primary and proper signification of " bondman," or " slave," from its Latm original, " serwws," *— allow me to premise that, in regard I < y * The fact that the Latin servtis means slave, is no mere modern deduction from etymology and classic usage, but rests upon the precise legal definition of the Justinian Code. Thus : " Servi antom exeo appellati sunt quod imperatores captives tendcre et per hoc servare, nee occidi solent ; qui etiara mancivia dicti sunt quod ab hostibus manu capiebantur," &c. •' Slaves (servi) are so called from the fact that commanders are used to sell their captives, and by this means to preserve (servare) rather than lull tliem. They are also said to be man- cipia^ because they were tal-en hj hand (manu capta) from the enemy." Justinian Institutes, Lib. 1. Tit. 8. Thus also Augustine : .",,," Itaque primos servos, quibus hoc nomen in Latina lingua maitum est, belia feeeruut. Qui enhn iiotno ab homine superatus jure belli possit occidi, quia servaUis est, servtis est appelatm : inde et mancipia quia vianu capta sunt." " Thus, as is indicated by the name appropriated to them in t! ON SLAVERY. • O^ to these terras in particular, as well as the exegesis, in general, of the scripture texts relating to slavery, I but follow not only the ancient critics, but also the best and most generally accepted British and Continental biblical scholars of the new anti-slavery era, who cannot be sus- pected of partiality to my theories. For, somewhat to my surprise, I find that, unlike the New England anti-slavery sentiment which is obviously the natural result of the trifling with, and perversion of, the plainest language of Scripture by their partisan commentators and preachers, who have a foregone conclusion to support, the British anti-slavery sentiment seems to exist rather in spite of the judgment of the latest and highest results of British and Continental biblical scholarship as to the exegesis of the texts of Scripture relating to the subject of slavery.* n» V the Latin language, wars made the first slaves. For the man conquered by a man according to the law of war might be slain ; but because he was preserved (servatus est) he was called servtta—' a slave. Hence also they were called mancipia, because (want* capta sunt) they were taken hy JiancV Manifestly the logic of Mr. Barnes and that school of critics who argue that ehed (Hebrew), doulos (Greek), and servus (Latin), do not properly mean slave^ because sometimes applied figuratively to free persons, would prove with equal force that the word alam in Virginia does not properly denote a bondman, because some- times Virginians speak of freemen as " slaves to strong drink," " slaves to habit ; " and of free ladies of the highest position as " slaves to fashion." Says the learned McKnight : " The word doulos properly signifies a slave. Our English trans- lators, in all places where the duties of slaves are inculcated, have justly translated it servant,, because, anciently, the Greeks and Romans had scarce any servants but slaves, and because the duties of the hired servant, during the time of his service, are the same witli those of the slave. So that what the Apostle said to the slaty was in eiieot said to the hired servauL." MeKnight on i^p. Col. 3 ; 22. * Those who have searched the Scriptures under no other guidance than the exegetical platitudes, and critical thimble- rigging of that American politico-evangelical school propheti- " BIBLICAIi DISCOUESE Finding myself thus brought face to face with the subject, in the regular course of tliese Sabbath even- ing expositions, I propose to develope the principles of the Mosaic Civil Code in regard to it, and, as I did s i !M! cally flescnbed, to the very life, by the Apostle (1 Tim. 6 : 4) as proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and sMfea oj words, whereof cometli. . . perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, supposing tliar gain is godliness " (and therefore manufacturing interpretations to suit the popular market,) will be surprised at finding such statements as follow from cotemporary British and German scholars, all directly in the teeth of the charlatans who quibble about eled and doxilos as not signifvmg a bond-slave. In the article " Lews of Moses," in the new cyclopsedia of Dr Wm. bmith,_ embodying the last and highest results of biblical scholarship m England, Rev. Alfred Barry presents this synopsis under the head of " Laws Civil." J i" "^ *i ." (c) Master and slave. Poicer of the master so far limited, that death under actual chastisement was punishable (Ex 21 ; 20) Mid maiming was to give liberty ipso facto (ver. 26, 27). The Hebrew slave to be freed at sabbatical year. _ " Foreign slaves to be held and inherited as property for ever (Lev. 25 : 45, 46) and fugitive slaves from foreign nations not to be given up. (Deut. 23 : 16)." In the Art. Slave, from the pen of Eev. William Latham Bevan, Vicar of Hay, occur these statements : "The institution of slavery was recognised, though not estab- lished, by the Mosaic Law, with a view to mitigate its hardships and to secure to every man his ordinary rights. ' J.J' ^5P'^g°a"<^ «s the notion of slavery is to our minds, it is difhcult to see how it can be dispensed with in certain phases of society^ without, at all events, eutailing severer evils than those which it produces. " The Hebrew designation of the slave shows that service was the sa lent feat-: re of his condition; for the term eled usually applied to hira is derived from a word signifying " to work " and the very same term is used in reference to offices of high trust held by free men. In short, service and slavery would have been to the ear of the Hebrew equivalent terms, though he fully recog- nized CrradeS of flfil'\M<-.nr?o ar^r^f\■rlV^r,r^ «o fU« ^«. i. 1T.1. " or a non-llebrew, and of the latter according as he was " boucht with money," » or born in the house." . . The slave is described as " the possession " cV his master, f ^ ON 9LAVEEY. 1 I in the case of the Moral and Constitutional Code given by Moses, to point out the relation of these principles to the preceding and succeeding teachings of the Scrip- tures. We have, just at present, nothing to do with the ethical justice of slavery as a question of natural law, nor with the question whether it exists by law of nations according to the Justinian Code, or merely by "local law " according to certain American jurists ; nor with the inhumanity of slavery, nor with the thousand abuses to which, in common with every other humim institution, it is liable ; but simply with the Bible teaching concerning slavery ,as a relation consistent or inconsistent with the holiness enjoined in God's word, and therefore, as aflect- ing our faith in the Scriptures as " the inspiration of God." apparently with special reference to the power which the latter had of disposing of him to liis heirt*, us he would any other arbicU of 2>eT8onal property (Lev. 25 : 45, 40) ; the sLivo is also dcsciibed as his master's " money " (Ex, 21 : 21), i. e., as representing a certain money value. Such expressions sho'- that he was regard- ed very much in the light of a mancipkiin or chattel. But on the other hand provision was made for the protection of his person." So the German commentator. Otto Von Gerlach, on Ex. 21 : " The first division treats of laws which concern slaves and Israelites. Slavery was, in all ancient nations, a common acknow- ledged right, as we lind the case witii Abraham (Gen. 12: 5). The Mosaic law found this relation oj master and dace existing among the Israelites,'''' &c. So the learned Dr. Wordsworth, Canon of Westminster, on the epistle to Philemon (1850), says of the New Testament : " Wherever the word ' servants ' occurs in the Now Testament, we must understand ' slaves ' — slaves purchased vvitli money, or taken in war, or reared from slaves in the house of their master. Phi-ygia, iu which Colosse was situated, was the laud of slaves. A Phrygian was another word for slave." Shall we take the authority of New England partisans against all these f t BIBLICAL DISCOURSE m law ■iowsi SECTION I il! SUrery m U,e Church anterior to Uoae., , recogtbecl in tho covennnt Jtaeh forn^s the fun.„n,ental charter of .1° Chnrch *ibT he dchveranoe from Egypt was the deliverance of a naUorof Jvl holders from poUilcal bondage. ^ B^hii'ir'""'''™ °^ "" P™''-'''"^ "f ^'°'''>' '^^ have eeen that it was a purpose of God, revealed at the very pngm of the present race of men, that cue portion of' the race should be doomed to servitude. I did not then argtte, nor do I now, that this revelation through Noah ttr^ J-t.fiesaman in holding slaves; anynfore thS that the prophecy declaring that Messiah should be betrayed by one of his own household, justified Judas Z betraying hun. Nor will I argue now, as I might with great force that, on the same principle that a degraded ace was, in the purpose of God, doomed to senltud! Bpu-uually, ,„ which it cotild continue on earth, so it is easy to conceive that the providence of God now ordains thTstr'7'' "f " "''"™^ '"^ '' "" amelioration of the state of a people, two thirds of which are already under the cruelest bondage to the other third, and all under the bondage of a ferocious Devil-worship. All that i" claLld u. this argument from Noah's prophecy is that this pt'ose of God, revealed at the very origin of the present human race lurmshes a clue to the interpretation of the subs qTent jelations of His will both in His word and in the h^ry ot His providence to this day. ' , Accordingly, in the subsequent expositions of that great covenant with Abraham, which' cojitutes the N # V H^ ON StAVEBY. divine charter organizing, as a separate society^ the Chnroh visible, toward the close of Patriarchy, which had hitherto comprised both State and Church in the family, we have seen that the choice of Jehovah for a head of that new society, the Church, was a man, the inspired inventory of whose property (Gen. 12 : 16) included slaves as well as money and cattle ; who received slaves as well as money, by way of present, from Abimelech, king of Egypt (Gen. 20 : 14) ; whose slaves were so numerous that he could raise an army of 318 home-born slave warriors (Gen. 14 : 14) ; whose agent urged it as an argument to gain the consent of Rebeccah's family to her marriage with Isaac, tli?t he was heir to immense wealth in " flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and manservants and maid-servants and camels " (Gen. 24 : 35) ; and whose wife's bondwoman (Gen. 16 : 9), by direct order of Jehovah, recognizing her as a slave, " returned to her mistress." And in the exposition of the book of Job, as belonging to the patriarchal era, we have seen that, among his losses of property, were slaves (Job 1 : 16), which in the lan- guage of that early era were distinguished from the ''''hireling that looketh for the reward of his work" (Job 8 : 19 and 7:2); that while Job recognized, as distinctly as the Justinian Code, or as Thomas Jefferson himself, that God " created all men equal," yet he made that the reason to himself for dealing justly and kindly with his slaves, not for setting them free (Job 31 : 13, 17). Now what is still more important than the existence of slavery, merely, in that era, is the remarkable fact that, in the actual organization of the Church, as a separate visible society, this slaveholder Abraham and his slaves were made the cou«tituent members of it, by direct ordinance of Jehovah. " He that is bom in thy house, or bought with thy money of any stranger, must need be |0 BIBLICAL DISCOURSE I rill; ' SI .'f dimmcisecl. (Gen. 17: 13.) And accordingly (Gen. 17 : 28), Abraham took Ishnmel liis son, and all that were . bom m hi, home, and aU that were bought xoith his money, and circumcised tliem in the selfsame day, a^ God had s-ild unto hini." * Wo have seen also in the com-se of these * "-Q"oy, wlicther the servants bought with money could be compelled to circumcision ? Many affirm it from this place For 1. The slave is the property of his master. 2. It is a command let Inm be cn-cumcised,' which you nullify if you Vnd^rTnd that It depends on the will of the slave. ^ 3. Otherw^o ?hero would be up distinction between the hired servant and ^he skve v'nt Er'1'2' 4f PJi;T'"^^^"<^ not commanded to a hh?d sS Tant, Jix. 33 44 Othe.s deny. They suppose that no adult slave was obliged," &c. Poli Synopsis, Gen. 17 : 12 «. A i! ■ ^^ .^^'■" ^° *^y ^'O'lse or bought with monev must needs be circumcised." Xot ^j^.^her they would or So f J; men tMs'covtrnrB^t Al"h^""' "H^'^ ^^^^^- a proZlln":? I'f tln^ . 1 * Abraham was to persuade them to it • and If they consented not, to keep them no longer in his house but to sell them to some other people. So MaimoniderexpoSs f ^nn^i\^°^'- °V":«°°^cision, chap. 1, which is true both of ser- vants born m the house, and bought with money; but as for the trtf ^^ fr^ ^^^'f^ ^^'"^y ^^'«'-o to be circumcised whether he SZl7''"^^ ""' "° ' ^'''^'''^ ^^'y '''^''^ T«E POSSESSION OF THEin MASTEBS, NOT OF THEIR PAUENxs." Bp. Patrick on Gen. 1? ll It may be remarked m general, as a guide to inquiries into the teachings of commentators and critics concerning the SninVof tl Sr^'' '" f'l ?1^^" ^"^^*'"S to slavery, that they S find the tollowing rule hold good, almost without exception. tT,« t5-.- 1 *^<^, o/thodox ancient commentators, up to the era of the British and American anti-slavery movement almost wlflfn?,f Tltr' ''P°""^ '''''^ ^''''^'' '' ''^^' discoTse'expou dTttm and as they are expounded generally in the Southern Churcb' «?..; fti .^T''' "^'^^^o^o^ and learned commentators and cdtics smce the anti-slavery movement, expound these texts in the same way with two exceptions. First-of the class of Dr Scott S Dr. Adam Claije, who, while they concur with the foiegoL^a then- reading of most of the passages relating to slaveryTet fn a onT^iTfr'-l'?*^^ '^'^'''.^^' '^^*' f^'- th^ ^"ke of introdudng an outside homiletic remark against slavery and the «Uv.:?£r oeconaiy-oi the class of Dr. Jamieson, who observe"s' a ■'most significant silence on the whole subject. •^s^^^ta a most It may, therefore, be asserted with truth that, aside from the few ON 6LAVEBT. 11 I' ' expositions, that when the fuhiess of time is come, and, by tho divine legation of Moses, this family of Abraham is to be ovpanized fully as a visible Church, and also as a nation to whom has been assigned in the Abrahamio covenant the land of Canaan, as an inheritance ; another covenant of redemption, with its sacramental seal, as the former — even tho passover ordinance — is entered into with a Church composed of masters and their slaves in tho land of Egypt. (Ex. 12 : 43, 45.) That such were the con- stituent elements of the Church at this time is manifest from tho very terms of the law. " This is the ordinance of the passover. There shall no stranger eat thereof. A foreigner and a hired servant (notice the distinction) shall not eat thereof. But every man's servant^ that is bought for mone}/^ when thou hast circumcised him, shall eat thereof." Observe that this holy ordinance is given to the Church as Churchy through its recognized leaders — " the elders " — the same who examined into Moses' call as a prophet, and accepted him (Ex. 4 : 29-31) ; and not through " tho officers," who directed their temporal con- ceras, and who quarrelled with him (Ex. 5: 10, 14, 19, 20, 12), as u troublcr of Israel." !. That the relation of master and slave was thus sanc- tioned in the Churcih of God, as such and not as a civil institution merely, even before the law given by Moses, is certainly a strong presumption to begin with, against all theories of the intrinsic sinfulness of slavery ; or of its banction only in dai'ker and more impure ages, as a sin temporarily to be borne with, and afterward to be rejected exceptions of orthodox men who have been tempted by partisan feeling to Wi'cst scrij)ture ill suppui't of a iuregoiic conelssbioa, iho whole ci'tliodox IjiUical learning of the Ohurcli expounds tiie Scriptures on this subject in one way — and that in the way it la understood in tb© {southern Church. 18 BIBLICAL DISCOURSE t! * 'I ; I '11 with hon-or. And by the way, it is a curious fact for those to explain who find, in the deliverance from Egypt, the parallel of the modern anti-slavery successes, that this deliverance from Egypt was simply the deliverance from political bondage of a nation of slaveholders, who came forth bringing their slaves with them. The tnie parallel to the redemption from the bondage of Egypt would then have been found, should God, in His providence, give deliverance to a slave-holding nation of people from political subjugation, and attempted extirpation, in face of the prejudices of the whole world. It but tends to confuse and darken the minds of the people touching this entire sec- tion of the inspired history, thus absurdly to find its parallel in the personal emancipation of even thousands of slaves.* * Besides the obvious facts in the wliole history of Israel in ±.gypt, from which llie ordinary reader must infer, on a little rellection, that they lived there as a nation ; that the bondage was not a personal bondage, in which the individual Israelites were slaves to individual Egyptians, but a politicul bondage, in which the Egyptian power oi)erated on the body politic through the officers" or political representatives of the Isrn^ ''tes, and there- tore the Hebrew^ institution of slavery might stilx exist —I may ■ cite m support of this view, the following passage from perhaps the ablest ot all cotemporary writers on the Bible historv 1, I'J*^^.*^ gross mistake to suppose tl at the two millions were all the direct descendants of Jacob. When Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt, they must cert' .inly have taken with them ail their men-servants and maid-servants as well as all their cattle.'. We know that Abraliam had 318 servants, lit for war, and trained to arms ; his nomadic household must have contained, therefore, more than a thousand souls. Jacob again, who inherited all these brought with him from Syria so many men-servants and maid-ser- vants, and so much cattle, that when he was afraid of an attack from Esau, he divided them into two armies. With such data as these, then wo are justified in assuming that the number of those who went down with Jacob into Egvnt was not limited to his sixtv- SIX children jinn cTAndnliil'l'*'^" >»«<• ««"=i«*«-i -~4.' .,i ^^ "j men-servants and mazd-servants." Kurtz's Sac. His. vol 2 p 149 • Even the " N^eto American Cyclopedia " suggests . ' "^' " The Jews had some form of slavery from the time o^. Abra- I 1 j 01? 8ULVEBT. IS It has been shown also in these expositions how, fifty days after this first Passover, when this Church, prepared for tlie great solemnity by a synod or council of its elde.s, stood before Mount Sinai to hear directly the very voice of her Lord and Head utter the great covenant of the Law, two of the precepts of that Law recognized the pro- priety of the relation of master and slave within the Church itself. In the fourth commandment masters are required to see to it that their slaves shall keep I oly the Sabbath as well as themselves and their chUdren. In the tenth commandment, forbidding even unlawful desires of another's property, slaves are enumerated among the repre- sentative articles of property which men shall not covet — " nor his man-servant nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour's." * The conclusion is thus reached, beyond all possibility ham, with whom their historical existence '^ommeDced. Their own long enslavement in i^^gypt was oi & political and personal (?) nation — and probably did not prevent them from holding slaves." * That this is no novel construction of the law, will be seen from the following citation from old commentators : " Nor thy man-servani, demption, whose seal was the Passover, and the ethica! covenant of the moral law, as the Church's rule of life, and also delivering an elaborate ritual of worship whereby to teach atonement for sin by blood as the means of deliver- ance from the penalties of the ethical law, it was tha mis- sion of Moses to organize the Hebrew patriarchy into a free, constitutional commonwealth. Hence the system of constitutional law, the general principles of which were illustrated in the discourse of last Sabbath evening ; and the civil law respecting persons and things, now to be ex- pounded. It has been shown that the civil constitution given by Moses, like every other national constitution, con- lains certain germinal principles, according to which its several provisions are developed ; that the fundamental psinciple of this constitution is that Jehovah is not only the God of their religious worship, but, at the same time, the Theocratic King of the nation — His palace the Tab- ernacle or Temple — His throne the Ark of the Cove- nant overshadowed by the Cherubim — His courtiers the Priests, His vicegerent the Judge or King ; and that He is really the ]->roprictor of the soil of the nation, which He has directly interfered, by ::ipeniuturai power, to ob- tain for the people, as an inheritance, ace ling to the covenant with Abraham. And not only is 1^ the owner 16 BIBLICAL DISCOURSE of the Boil, but aho of the persons upon it, by virtue of having dolivorcd them from the bondage of Egypt. That while this is tlic general theory of the constitution, it has also a luudamental aim mid end of expediency ; even to keep ahvc among the several families of the nation the hope of being in the line of the descent of Messiah, who is to come, and so to preserve tlieso families distinct that in subsequent ages the line of Messiah can be traced back through all the centuries, as Matthew and Luke have done in order to demonstrate that His descent is exactly accord- ing to the prophets. Hence, as we liave seen, the reason of that peculiar land- law forbidding the alienation of land from the family to whom It was originally given, by sale of it in fee simple • permitting only the alienation of the leasehold till the semi- centenary Jubilee, when all lands must revert to the fami- lies originally holding them ; by which arningement the records through which the land-titles are traced become at the same time official records of the family genealogies, generation alter generation. * Hence also that peculiar Levirate law-directly con- trary to the general law (Lev. 18: 10) forbidding mar- Si r"". "?' ^-elatives-requiring a man to marry his childless brother's widow, under penalty of disgrace, that (Dei!r257no.r^ '"^'''"" "''^'''' ^'''^^^ '"'^"^^ Hence also the law, Avhich stands here at the verv head of the cml code- the first " of the Judgments which thou Shalt set belore them." " U thou buy an Hebrew servant, BIX years shall he serve, and in the seventh shall he go out free for nothing » (Ex. 21 : 1, 2) ; or, as repeated, more in de- tail, m Lev. 26: 41. "shnll /^o,^orf **. *u-- i. ., , . . . children with hun, and shall retui-n unto his own family and unto the pos^emon qf his fath&ra skaU he return:^ I ON SLAVERY. n Tims it appears tlmt, precisely for tlie Pamc reason of expediency that a Hebrew could not alienate the fee simple of his land, but only the leasehold till the Bomi-eentcnary Jubilee, he could not alienate himself beyond the septennial Jubilee. There must be a reeonnection between the fami- lies and their lands. And, what is conclusive on this point, is the further fact that precisely the same reason of right is assigned in the law itself for both these j>rovisionH of the law. As to the first, the reason assigned is : " The land shall not be sold forever (/. c, in fee simple). For the LAND IS Mine, for ye ara strangers and sojourners with me " (and being mere tenants can pass no title to the fee simple). (Lev. 25 : 23.) As to the second, the reason as- signed is : " Thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bond- servant, but as a hired servant ; fou they are My ser- vants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt ; they shall not be sold as bondsmen " (Lev. 25 : 39, 42, and also v. 55). No Israelite could alienate his title to him- self, then, for the same reason that he could not alienate his title to his land. Neither are his own, but Jehovah's j and, however poor he may be, he is yet one of a singular spiritual aristocracy, or rather of a royal line, from which Messiah the King is to descend, and, therefore, shall not, by reason of poveity and oppression, be allowed to have his name and household become extinct. Therefore, after temi^orary servitude he shall " return unto his family and the possession of his fathers " — not merely be fi-ee. It is evidence of the confusion of ideas that is current touching the simplest principles and plainest provisions of the Mosaic law, that, in the minds of so many, the practical end and design of the septemiial and semi-centenary Ju- bilees are confounded together. The common sense of practical life, aided by a little reflection, would suggest that, on the one hand, a septennial restoration of lands to 18 BIBLICAL DISCOUESB the famJ.es would operate practically an abolition of all aeb te, or at least of all real estate s„ara„tee for debt ^*.le, on the other hand, a personal servitude that 2ht consent of e tber master or servant, would operate the grossest cruelty in taming off servants, as old age Z proaehed, to poverty and starvation. H;nce the sfn Jar absurduy of the notion, devised to bolster up a fZ°.on ant..slavery conclusion, that all slaveiy mn^t Un^2 every senn-centenary Jubilee. And aside from Le ab! Bui-duy of the ching from the nature of the ease, tie vet language of the Jubilee law itself limits the right of .oin^ free at the Jubilee to those who have " the familief "I possessions of their fathers" given in the original d «b ' t on of the lands, to which they may " return^' Hence this provision could not apply to sl.aves bought from fotetn nations and their descend.ants. 'oiei„n It is this peculiar feature of the Mosaic code in refer- ence to Hebre,v servitude which the modern partTsan ex- pounders have seized upon as a proof that this L dW not tolerate perpetual bondage. Any and every such cons.mc aesign of the Hebrew constitution, but also the expresslv- assigned reasons for the provision itself ; " Mr thev are J,L ^r.an*«, and'iltedtl h™ .o 11 I i -(Cruden, Oon. on "Steal. ') I ^ ON SLAVERY. 28 r f ( men and thy bondmaids shall be of the heathen which are round about you : of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. And they shall be your possession (property), and ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you to inherit them for a possession ; they shall be your bondmen forever." " For he (the slave) is his money." And his appointed valuation is fixed : " If the ox shall push a man-servan'. : he (the owner) shall give their master thirtt/ shekels of silver:' " If his master have given him a wife, and she have borne him sons and daughters : the wife and her chil- dren shall be her inasier's, and he shall go out by himself." ^ Can any language be found in the slave code of Vir- ginia or South Carolina more clearly and distinctly setting forth the right of a master in his slave as property than this ? or language setting forth more clearly the principle that the chUdren shall follow the condition of the mother than this ? or that the rights of the master may, in cer- tain cases, contravene and supersede the slave's' family rights, and cause separation of families ? * It will be found, furthermore, in studying the prin- ciples of this slave-code, that almost all its fundamental * That jho interpretation put upon tliese pnssages ^"n tlie dis- course 13 the almost universal interpretation of accredited com- mentators, might readily be shown by actual citations from all commentaries of established repute in the Churcli. But tlio very brief r,pace that can be allotted here to such citations, permits only representative specimens, thus :— i >. j ITexuy— I'But tliG Jews miglit purchase bondmen of the heatlien nations that were round about them, and might claim a clominion over them, and entail them upon their families as an inheritance; for the year of jubilee should give no discharge to them."— (Hen., Com.. Levit. 25 : 39.) Bi'. Patuick— '• 27iou slialt not compel him to eerve as a bond- servant. " As a slave which they bought of other nations or took m wars ; over wliom they Imd an absolute dominion (as they had over their goods and cattle), and might bequeath them and their 24 BIBLICAL DISCOURSE points are precisely the same with the slave-codes of the Animcan Southern States, however the latter may, in the detailed application of these principles, be found differing from the former; nnd however much ignorance and false- o^ildren to their sons and posterity forever (v 4B-m • n,. di them and bond their childre'n at r/easure.''L&tfcoin.,^:^l! IsraZtuTraSe''' """^"'" "^ ^^^^ ^^^ -- -t an children" A^°V^- f f," "? ,"'^.'" »' '«' inleritance for vonr JubUee nor before, nor after," fe^Gill's Com Lev 25 4??^ but, bf;o'u?:£tT^;„„f ;:j tt; s?' -' '"^ ^- °^ ^"^«-. ^n mh^ntance for T/our children after vov " Tn « i, (P:n?L'ir4V^ ^'^-^ ^o^^esof the ON SLAVERY. 25 s- i * P > hood have caricatured them. And indeed, in some ma- terial points the slave-code of the American Southern States IS oven more restrictive of the principles of slavery and the power of the master than either the ]\[osaic code or the Roman code of Justinian, which develops the law of slavery as it existed in the time of the Apostles and subscqnendy. 1. The Mosaic laws involve the princii)le that beside bom- a person, the slave is also a chattel, property—" pos- session ''-"inheritance"-" money." Thus, "for he (the slave) 1.S his ' money,' " Is assigned as the reason why the master, unintentionally, by lawful chastisement, causing his death, sliall not suffer punishment (Ex. 21 : 21). In tho enumeration of tlie tenth commandment, as Bishop Patrick suggests, tho slave seems to be represented as the master's « principal goods " next to his realty. The value of the slave is fixed at " thirty shekels of silver," in determining, the compensation for his loss by the carelessness of a nei-h. bor (Ex. 21 : 32). Tho slave passed as a part of the In- heritance to a man's children (Lev. 25 : 45), and became the children'H property, " possession." In no code of the American Southern States can stronger and clearer lan- fh^lrJll^"^"^'"*''^;''^'^"^'""^ tran'^lators call servants, were, in tlie r flay, universally oonsidered as tho most valuable part of their masM pronerff/, and classed with his flocks and herds.'' ^ mat tlu) practice of buying and selling servants, thus earlv begun amongst the Patriarchs,''descended t'o their postedty is authorized hj (he, Jewish law, in which are many directions how Buch servants wore to be treated." ^ i actions now " evfrv nf?n.'?-'''^" "''^'i"* ^^'^y ^^® presumed to be, well known to ^,1 ;i f • "^^^'"•'^r'oJ I'Otftui the public confidence for themselves char SS'n? '"' ^'clotlng about strifes of words," attempt tl^ eSmi fin ^''''^ ^'''' "''^ "'^^^ ^^'^^t the most trusted scholar- Binp and the common sense of men unite in saying it docs mean? 26 BIBLICAL DISCOURSE I gunge be found setting forth the notion that slaves are at the same time persona and property. Nor is it easy to con- ceive how lani,'uage coidd more clearly convey that idea. 2. The jNIosaic law recognized the rights of the master as paramount, even when coming in conflict with the rights of the husband and father of a slave-wife and chil- dren. " He shall go out by himself, tlic wife and her chil- dren shall be her master's." And the children of the slave- mother followed the condition of the mother. Thus Solo- mon, describing his efforts after happiness from the acqui- sition of vast possessions, says, " I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my home: also I had great possessions of great and small cattle" (Eccl. 2:1). ^ 3. On the other hand, the Mosaic code protected the slave as a person, just as the codes of all Sonth^;rn States do. The wilful murder of a slave, under both the ancient and the modern codes, was punished just as any other murder (Lev. 24 : 17). "He that killeth any man shall surely be put to death. So (Ex. 21 : 20), " If he die under his hand he shall surely be punished " (even when smitten with a rod in the ordinary mode of chastisement). In the code of Moses is to be found, indeed, an incidental provi- sion which is found neither in the Justinian nor the Ameri- can code. In order to protect the slave against cruel usage, Moses' law enacted that, in case of any cruelty to a slave, betokening more than ordinary chastisement with the rod —as the loss of an eye or a tooth— the slave shall go free. In the American, as in the Justinian code, the provision is that in such case the slave shall be taken from the cruel master and sold to one who is more merciful. Cruelty to his slaves by a master is, iu the American code, an indict- able offence. 4. In accordance with the general provisions of the -f v> I ON SLAVERY. 2» -/ ! < Mosaic code for the kind treatment of strangerf* (Ex. 22 : 21, and Lev. 19 : 33, 34) the law of Moses forbade the de- livering up of a foreign slave to his master (Deut. 23 : 15, 16) ; both the general and the specific provision, being founded upon the principle tl.^at the foreigner, free or slave, should be encouraged to take refuge among the wor- shippers of the true God in order to redeem him from heathenism. The use which the modern partisan ex- pounders of God's Word make of this and similar texts as authority for their refusal tc deliver up a fugitive slave to his Southern master fails in two essential particulars : first, in assuming that the religion of the Northein States is the direct revelation of Jehovah ; and secondly, in assuming that the religion of the Southern States is undoubtedly heathenism. Any honest student of Scripture must per- ceive at once the ethical inconsistency of applying this enactment of the Mosaic code to the case of a slave escap- ing from one tribe (or State) of the commonwealth of Israel to the other.* * *' Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped, Tlie Hebrew doctors understand this of a servant of another nation wlio was become a Jew ; while they understand it also ot a servant that fled from his master out of any of the coun- tries of the Gentiles into the land of Israel, which was to be a safe refuge to him. Pat., Com. Deut. 23 : "15. " The land of Israel is liere made a sanctuary or city of refuge for servants that were wronged by their masters, and fled thither lor shelter from the neighboring nations." ^ " Supposing him willing to embrace their religion, they must give him all the encouragement that might be to settle among them. Thus would he soon find a comfortable difference between the land ot Israel and all other limds, and would choose it to be his rest forever." Henry, Com. Deut. 23 : 15. .'' Tlie Jewish writers generally understand it of the servants of idolaters fleeing for the sake of religion." Gill, Com. Deut. ^o '• 15. _ " That is, the servant, not of a Hebrew, but of an alien and for- eignei. Bishop Kidder. 28 BIBLICAL DISCOURSE 5. That this holding of slaves under the civil law was not deemed inconsistent with the highest obligations of religion and the hoHnesa symbolized in the ritual law i« manifest from the fact, tliat when thirty-two thousand c'ap- tive slaves were taken witli otlier spoils from Midian (Num. 31 : 28), Moses, by special command of Jehovah, took three hundred and fifty-two of the " persons," and turned them over to Eliezer, the High Priest, as the " Lord's tribute ; " * and from the further fact that the priests were assumed to be slaveholders, as appears from Lev. 22 : 10, 11, where it is said of the priests' portion of the sacrificial victim, " No stranger shall eat of the holy thing: a sojourner of the priest, or an hired servant, shall not eat of the holy thing. But if the priest buy any soul with his money, he shall eat of it, and he that is born in his house : they shall eat of his meat." 6. It may be added, as a proof of the distinction kept up between the personal rights of the freeborn and the slave, that while a violation of the seventh commandment with "a betrothed damsel that is a virgin" was punishable with death by stoning (Deut. 22 : 23-27), yet in case uV^— .'''*^?f'^^°"-^<^''^"^^ asks, Pent, part 1, page 210 iW «i°''' '' ^t possible to quote the Bible as in any Avay condemn- Iff nf ir'^ ''^l?^''! ^"^"^ ^'""'^ ^^""- 31 = 40) of Jehovah's trib- ute of slaves, thirty-two persons? " nf fhJn^ question has a tremendous significancy to that whole class o^rinl-HLY ^^'?-? ''If'' ^P. ^^''''' ^^"'1^' under the teachings ot a poht cal and philanthropistic naturalism, that the Bible mult tTon. I? ^)r '^^]\V^^^, they come to the' Bible to settle ques- t ons of ethics. Under tlie san.e sort of training in religion that Colenso's " very intolligent native African " had ?eceived^ beforo- tiand it IS not surprising that he and all such should have been shocked at reading -lie is his money." But should not ''hitelli" gent Britons and Americans excel the " intelligent " native enour^h m sense, to perceive whither thev are tendin.? af i.oa,.;,.l I,, Ifl? ESJ'^'^f^'^ ^''r'"'S t'^^ ^^-^"^ of inspTmion'iniroseg; shouted back to them from a British bishop who has travelled along the same road and simply got in advance of them ? I ^ * ON SLAVERY. 29 of a like crime with " a woman that is a bondmaid, be- trothed to an husband, and, not at all redeemed, nor free- dom r/lven to her : she HJiall be scourged. They shall not be ])i;t to death because she Avas not free" (Levit. 19: 20, '21). Tliose who have any acquaintance with the slave-laws of the American Southern States, from practical observation rather than from the singular taricatures of them in the credulous or wilful falsehoods of cotemporary fanaticism, will at once recognize in these provisions of the 3Iosaic law the same fundamental provisions which characterize the slave-codes of the Southern States. SECTION IV. This system of perpetual slavery continued to exiat in the Mosaic Church, under the Mosaic civil law, till the close of the Old Testament inspira- tion ; and during the interval between the close of the Old and the opening of the New Testament, vast numbers of Jews as well as of other peoples had been sold into slavery in all parts of the Roman Empire. In the subsequent history of the outworking of the Mosaic civil law and constitutional system, there are i&w allusions to the existence of slavery ; just as, in like man- ner, there are few allusions to the law of the Sabbath, and few even to the ritual of the tabernacle, or of the sacred festivals. Still there are allusions sufficient to show that slavery continued to exist among them, and that the pro- visions of the slave-code continued in xise. Thus we have the illustration of the popular contempt for runaway 30 BIBLICAL DISCOTTBSE V. 1 r slaves in the insult of (he churlish Nabal offered to David's guerilla scouts, when they applied in David's name for a contribution to his commissary stores (1 Sam. 25 : 10), Who IS David ? And wlm is the son of Jesse ? There be ma7ii/ servants (slaves) now.a-da>/s, that break away, every man ^from his master:' So we find David saving to the Egyptian (1 Sam. 30 : 1 3, 15), To whom, belomjest thou f and swearing that he will « neither kill him, nor deliver him into the hands of his master," as he might lawfully swear in accordance with the law of Moses. In 1 Kino-s 2 • 39 40 we have the instance of Shimei, who had cursed David' paroled within the limits of the city by Solomon, but breaking his parole, and losing his life in consequence of gearing that his runaway slaves were at Gath, and in thoughtless eagerness hasting off to recover his property. So from Solomon's account of himself, getting servants and maidens, and having servants (slaves) bora in the house (Ecclesiastes 2: 7), we trace the existence of slavery in Israel to the later times of the commonwealth. From the piophecy of Ezekiel against Tyre, in the imme- diate vicinity of Israel, we gather that the trade in slaves was a<,tively carried on till his age; for, in his splendid recita of the universal commerce of Tyre, he describes the trade with Javan Tubal and Mesheck, who traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market" (Ezek 27: 13) ; and this mentioned in the same matter-of-course manner in which he alludes to all other commerce. - During the captivity of the Jews in Babylon and As- «yna, as before during their bondage in Egypt, we know that they were still slaveholders; for, as we see from the rolls of those who returned to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple under Ezra. th« fliov,^c „.., ^t.^ ... , - . ^ "" ^ •.,..,. ciiiiviij^ tiic returned captives were m the proportion of one to six of the free population (Ezra 2 : 64, 66, and Nehem. 7 : 66). " The whole congre- j I ON SLAVERY. 31 gation was forty-two thousand, and three hundred and threescore, besides their servants (slaves) and their maids, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred and thirty and seven." And, by the way, it is interesting to observe, from this record in Ezra, how the fundamental purpose of the Mosaic constitution had been accomplished, in preserving the family genealogies distinct for near one thousand years (Ez. 2 : 58, 59 and 61-63) ; it is in confirma- tion of the correctness of the reason already assigned why a Hebrew, after seven years' servitude, must go back " to the possession of his fathers." Having thus traced the existence of slavery under the Mosaic constitution down to the era of the restoration and the close of the Old Testament history, it may be well, be- fore proceeding to the New Testament history, to refer to the important fact, predicted by Joel and other prophets, and verified as history by the Maccabees and josephus, that vast numbers of Jews, anterior to the advent of Christ, had been sold as slaves throughout the Grecian and Roman Empires. For, unlike the Babylonish and Assyrian con- querors of Israel, who deported the entire people of coun- tries conquered by them, freemen and slaves alike, and filled their places by people of other countries, the Gre- cian, and especially the Roman commanders, took captive and sold into personal slavery the peoples whose countries they overran. Thus, for instance, we find Joel charging it against Tyre and Sidon prophetically. *' The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them from their bor- der" (Joel 3:6). Accordingly, we have the account, in the history of the Maccabees, of the boastful style of the Grecian warfare, that when Antiochus sent his mighty army into Judea, " The merchants of the country hearing the fame of them, took silver and gold very much, with .1 32 BIBLICAL DISCOUUSE servants, uud came into tlic camp to huy the children of Israel for slaves " (1 Mace. : 41). And how " Nicanor undertook to make so much money of the captive Jews as should pay the tribute of two thousand talents, which the kmg was to pay to the Romans. Wherefore immediately he sent to the cities upon the sea-coast (Tyre, the great slave-trader, being of course one), proclaiming a sale of the captive Jews, and promising that they should have lourscore and ten bodies for one talent" (2 Mace. 8 • 10 11). But especially, as appears from Josephus' " Jewish VV ar 13. 6, chap. 9, § 3, were vast multitudes of Jews sold mto slavery throughout the empire by the Ro- IIiu«IlS« ] J SECTION V. Dumg the personal ministry of Christ, though slavery in fact, as part of the social order, and the question of slavery, in thesi, in the mte.pre- tation of the law of Moses, must have been forced upon His attention ; yet He did not repeal the permission of slavery as He repealed the permission of divorce and polygamy. Nor did He claim to teach a purer ethics than Moses. When actual cases of slaveholding came before Him, He not only did not rebuke the relation, bat blessed both master and slave ; and in His preaching referred without rebuke to tne relation of master and slave. There cannot be the least doubt, therefore, that at the appearance of Jesus Christ as a minister of the Church s avery existed throughout the civilized world. Indeed' classical scholars compute the number of slaves then in the ixomm Empire at sixty millions. The historian Gibbon after describing the condition and character of slaves in j ON SLAVERY. 33 the empire, thus sums up the condnsion as to their num. bers : " After M-eighing with attention every circumstance which could influence the balance, it seems probable that there existed in the time of the Emperor Claudius, about one hundred and twenty millions of persons. The slaves were at least equal in number to the free inhabitants of Rome (Gibbon, "Declme and Fall," vol. i. p. 53.-) It should be borne in mind, too, that, while generally they were degraded barbanans, many of the slaves were Jews, as well as of other civilized nations ; many of them, there- tore, men of culture and great skill in the higher arts. For according to Gibbon, " almost every profession, either lib' eral or mechanical, could be found in the house of an opu- lent senator." It must be borne in mind, moreover, that among the communities in which Jesus and His Apostles preached the gospel, the civil law of Moses had been super- seded by the slavery Ium's of the Roman Empire, which, though at that era modified and mollified in a great de-ree were still less restrictive of the rights of the masterlhan either the Mosaic code or the modern American code.* And bearing in mind how fanatically the Jews, in their subjection, still clung to the Mosaic code, turning even its • * ? ^'^^^ ^^^^'^* materially tlie ordinary reader of the Bible nnrl give defimteness to his views of the teachings of Proi™^^ Apostles concerning slavery, as n practical \em"<^?,'? the right to enslave men of all nations l^ri^ ^ (I e";. 250 "'' '^'" '°"^^ ^'° ^''^^ °°^^ tempo! The Justinian code recognized the right to enslave people of all va dri>v'rr^'''^''^^''rf /^T"*^" ^^^ (^"t was anlded after! wards by Loo so as to forbid the enslaving, even bv his own con- sent a free citizen of the empire)-(Jnst.. Inst. Lib. 1 : Tit 8 ) of tlit M;;;rr;c:tiy"''''^ ^'^ ^"^^^^^"^ '' --^"^ ^^^^p^^' --p' , 2. In the theory of the Mosaic code the ethical riffht of enslav- ing as against the admitted natural equality of men before God IT ^u^^^'^'^'iT. "?"" the will of Jehovah, directly revealed through Noah and Abraham and Moses ^ ii-veaiea £l'rS.?;!SJ"^5.5Si^!{!!^I! code-heathen in its origin-the ethical nght.of enshving-which is^p;^i;^d;S^^i;^r nature— rests for its sanction upon the " Law of • % trary to the law of xu..urc-xes:s lor us sanction upon tne " Lav Nations," as deduced from the usages of war.-(jist. Inst. L?b Intlio theory of the American code— Christian ?n it«. or* in— S!/il!!f''l'f ^'' of enslaving-admitted, in the sense of the Justi- SJthe wm of ar'"""'^ *' natural right-rosts upon the sane" on of the will of God, as revealed m his Word and Providence, oon- J J to the in— 4 J ON SLAVERY. ^5 i question of slavery should not have become a matter of earnest discussion. Certain it is that, precisely for the Bame reason that they raised the question of tribute to Cnesar in a country of which Jehovah had said " Tlic land is Mine," and, therefore, cannot be alienated by My tenants, they must also raise the question at least of the lawful- ness of enslaving Jews, of whom Jehovah had said, " They shall not be sold as bondsmen. For they are My servants " . (slaves). Now, during the brief era of Christ's personal ministry, confined to the " lost sheep of the House of Israel," with the Mosaic moral and ritual codes still in full force as their ethical and ritual rule of faith, but with the authority of his civil and political code set aside by the Roman law- how did He treat this question ? We have but a few inci- ccniing a degraded race, and also upon tlie " local law " of the country. 3. The Mosaic law protected the personal rights of the slave by ordaining the freedom of the slave, as tiie penalty to the master, for maiming, by cruel usage ; and treated the murder of a slave as any other murder.— (Ex. 21 : 20 ; and Lev. 24: 17.) The Justinian code, though the origin.'d lioman law, gave no protection, even of life, against the master; yet, by the amend- ment of Antouine, punished the murder of one's slave as the mur- der of another man's slave, and, in case of cruelty, ordered the slave to be sold to another master.— (Just. Inst. Lib, 1 ; Tit. 5.) The American code agrees with the Mosaic in i)rotecti'ng the personal right of a slave to life, by punifibing the murder of a slave tis any other murder ; and, with the Justinian code, in mak- ing cruelty to a slave an indictable offeuco, and providing for the sale of the slave, cruelly used, to another master. It may be added to this last statement, however, that a still more powerful protection of the slave than formal enactments of law, in the Southern States, is the great unwritten law of public oi)inion. Notoriously, the surest" provocative of '• Lynch law " agamst a mrister, is cruel usage of his elaves ; and it is equally no- torious, that the slave suing for his freedom, with a reasonably fair case, can always command the highest legal counsel of the locality. Under all codes, the interest of the master is the best protection. ! f r ( p \l 36 BIBLICAL DISCOURSE dental facts recorded relating to the subject ; but these are very signilicant.* A case of slavery came before Him iji one of the first recorded of his miracles. A Roman centurion appeals to Ilmi to save the life of a highly-valued slave (Jilatt. 8 : 6, and Luke 7 : 2). There can be no doubt that he was a slave m the fullest sense, for his master calls him ''pais mou;' " my boy," precisely the term applied to full-grown slave men in the Southern States at this day, so greatly to the horror of anti-slavery sentimentalism ; wliile, on the other hand, Luke terms him '' doidos;' "his shr o." So far from rebukmg the master as a " manstealer," - thief," or by any other epithet of the anti-slavery vocabulary, and demanding his instant emancipation, Jesus heals the slave, and at the same time pronounces his master a hero of the faith beyond any yet met with in Israel, f In the Saviour's teachings He manifestly uses the Ian- guage of a slaveholdmg people, alluding to the existence of such a relation as master and slave as a fact familiar to his hearers. And, more particularly, in His parables ioes As tlie subject and structure of the discourse admits of a discussion of slavery m the New Testament only incidentally, and, therefore, briefly, the auth<.r feels tlie more free to fill up the out- line ot the argument of the text by means of fuller citations of au honties in the notes, and additional suggestions in the form of the wbn''l.''nt/i IV/f '"^' ^' ^^^^P^^t^^'y «'« ^lio space will admit, tne viiole ot the Bible argument. ' t That the reference to, and argument from the case of the contunon, is not overstrained in aid of the author's view, will be apparen from its accordance with the latest, and, perhaps hi-hest authorities m Biblical criticism. Tims, Lang'e, on this place v. 6) vn.f ^ rT^"V ^ ^«'« mou.-T\x<, slave, or domestic ser- vant, as dis ingmshed from the common soldier, who was only officially subject to him and not a son. From the ni-r-^ (Wi'led narrative in Luke we learn tbat he was held in special esteem by nil 'wf ' n^'' '^'J^^!^ o ""'^ ^^ gathered from this passage also.' — (Lange, Com. Matt. 8:6. ' ° I ON SLAVERY. 37 He borrow for the illustration of divine truth, as a thing perfectly familiar to the people, the doings and sayings of masters and slaves. Take, for instance— for time would fail to refer to more— the parable of the talents (Matt. 25 : 14-30), in which some of the peculiar features of Roman slavery are brought into view.* And yet in connection with no one of all these allusions is a single word uttered indicative of a condemnation of the system. Here, however, we are met with some of those vague generalities in which modem philanthropism so commonly indulges. It is said that though Jesus Christ pronounced no specific rebuke of the relation of master and slave, yet He uttered the great law of Love—" Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, etc., and thy neighbor as thyself i''' It is a singular instance of how the people, with the Bible in their hands, may yet know nothing of the Bible, that this passage is continually quoted as if an original saying of Jesus, and intended to supersede the ancient ethical laW of the church by a " higher law " of the gospel. Whereas it must be obvious to any reader, witii a reference Bible in his hand, that Jesus is here but quot- « * It is presumed that tho following authorities for tLis view will hardly bo disputed : — " The foolish virgins failed for thinking their part too easy ; here the wicked se' vant fails from thinl'K'"'?entativo use of the golden rule andtlie "law of love, in (li«cMfl8mg the ethical propriety of slavery, as it figures in tlie Bentimental rhotoric of anti-slaveryi.m, is so utterly intanciblo and ethoivul— a " name " without a local liabitation-as to be un- Su"^^ ,,f'i" tlio thought tind languMge of simple-minded people and chlklron, this nebulous universe of the platform and pulpit orators condenses into the solid practical question—" How would 2/«//. hl•' -'* -- - of ethics, higher and purer, to supersede Moses; but, Z thoiity for his judgment: " Jlhve ye not read (Moses in Genesis 1 : 27 and 24), 'They twain shall be one flesh ' W,.r^o.. they are no more twain but one flesh. What thei.lore, God hath joined together let not man put^,;^: de. And the apostl, Paul on the same subject refers first to Moses (1 Cor. C: le). and then to this del -e^^n e of the Lord Jesus (1 Cor. 7 : lo), as settling the que tTon polygamy and divorce were tolerated during the patriarThv whether this-hke the levirate law, rennirin.. a man to marry his childless brother's widow, di'ectl/ontTaty o the general levitieal law of marriage-was! for rTafons tho S'cripturesf only on ^S^ Jjl '"™, -7'"?^ '° °1>P«»' "> led. sa, rLo irwNM,'!fi'';Ltf,3',";'f -'-''?." !;'";"'«i">it- o..iiclition that thoy shall be allow",! ti^.'^ V"" ^"'■'P'"'-™, on lible intorpreter pc^l^its them to teach? °"'^ "'''"' *' '"f"'" I ON SLAVERY. 41 on unknown to us, made an exceptional case. Nor does it matter to the present argument. .... .,„.,c pomt here made is that Jesus didnot repeal the permission of divorce and polygamy m the civil code of Moses, on the ground of havmg a higher law of ethics for the New Testament chuich, but simply as interposing Moses, and thereby rec- ognizmg nis ethi^cal teaching as continuing to bo authorita- tive, even after the civilism organized by Moses had passed a^v ay. In the second place, the permission of polygamy and divorce did not stand upon the same footing wifh slavery at all, in the Mosaic code. They were not recognized as properly exi.tmg, by Divine approval, in either of the three great covenants of the church-of circmncision, the Pass- over, and the moral law-as slavery was, but only in the civil code of the nation; and there, only in the way of J^mehora ion and m restraint upon the previous common law rights of patriarchy, just as the provision of the cities of refuge was made in amelioration and limitation upon the patriarchal common law of God, or blood revenge. And, therefore we cannot, by parity of reasoning, infer the repeal ot the toleration of slavery from the repeal of toleration of divorce and polygamy. But in the third place, and still more conclusive on this subject : Even granting, for the sake of argument, what has just been proved to be untrue, that the permission of slavery stands upon the same footing in the Mosaic law with divorce and polygamy ; yet while Jesus Christ ex- presdy and specifically repealed the toleration of divorce and polygamy, He did not anywhere, in like manner ex- pressly and specifically repeal the toleration of slavery \\ hat IS the inference ? Inevitably this, that slavery is left in the New Testament precisely as it stood in the Old Ihis, one would suppose, ought to settle the question with «i BIBLICAL DISCOURSE every man who can reason intelligently. If the sinfulness of divorce and polygamy under the New Testament, though they were tolerated in the Old Testament, rests upon the fact that Jesus personally first, and subsequently through Paul, expressly repealed the toleration, then plainly the ethical propriety of slavery under the New Testament rests with equal certainty upon the fact that Jesus Christ did not repeal the toleration of slavery in the Mosaic code. And the Great Head of the church—" the same yesterday, to- day and forever "—having not only allowed the relation of master and slave to exist in that ancient church to which He gave the law of love as the rule of life between man and man, but also having allowed it to continue without repeal or rebuke in the New Testament church, what Christian man, with any intelligent reverence for His holy law, dares gainsay it? For remember that while the rationalizing apostates and infidels may consistently enough set up their humanitarian philosophisms, and " inner light," and " spiri- tual instincts," as the standard to which God's Word must conform, it is the part of a sincere and truly rational Chris- tian man to bow reverently to the plain teaching of God's holy word. And even though these judgments given by Moses and Jesus seem to him " past finding .ut," and occa. sionally repugnant to the teachings of his natural heart, he but applies to Moses and Josus the admired maxim of Coleridge concerning Plato, " When I cannot understand his ignorance I confess myself ignorant of his under, standing." Your attention is the more earnestly requested to the brief argument of this section, because it will be found that, under the hazy verbiage of this popular declamation about the " law of love " and the teachings of Jesus- purer and milder " than tiie teachings of Moses — lurk ever the germs of that fatal heresy which begins with sep- " ON BLAVERY. infulnesfl t, though -ipon the through inly the ent rests i did not e. And day, to- ation of which man and it repeal Christian w, dares nalizing up their " spiri- rd must 1 Chris- f God's iven by d occa- jart, he sim of erstand under. to the found mation '^esus — 5 — lurk th sep- 48 I aratmor, in idea, Jesus and John and Paul and Peter from Moses and David and Isaiah, in framing the ethical law of the Christian church. This once done, Moses and David and Isaiah no longer are « gospel " in the sense that Jesus and Paul and Peter are ; then, by the inevitable laws of logical gravitation, that Moses and David and Isaiah did not in like sense with Jesus and Paul and Peter " speak as thev were moved by the Holy Ghost," nor are " all Scriptures," m like sense, " given by inspiration of God." Then begins the transition to a hypocritical infidelity in the chaffer about the inspired and uninspired shreds of the Scripture history and teaching ; then, finally, the conclusion that Jesus and Paul were mistaken in supposing Moses inspired ; and therefore cannot themselves bo inspired of God. Many good men indeed indulge in this sort of declama- tion about the " purer and hiorher » ethical law of the gos- pel, and the darker an the arJ- ment of the Apostle's letter, sending back the slave, after his conversion, to his master, are utterly incompatible with have become the property of yonr master in consequence of his paying down a price for you, so surely are you nowK Lord's &T f' ^A'T''?."'"^^ ^^^^"^ b^^'^^ P^'-^^ha^sed byThe blood of Clinst." Clarke, Com. on 1 Cor. 7: 21-23 • So Dr. Jenks' addition to Scott and Henry in the « Comnre hensive Commentary » on 1 Cor. 7 : 21-23 • '^ompre- "The sense is not clear : Clirysostom" and all the oommpn tators understand, ' You need care so little that, Ln if vTcan gam your freedom prefer your servitude as a greater tS of Christian patience.' So a religion of despotism coVnsesron trary to the precept, ' Do not evil that good may Tome" B v whai SSsrVm ?e!:^''"'f ?'^^' p«..'which cVrSoned'f:r'?o amimlless, wiU-less, soul-less, right-less 'chattel?' TThe reader mus remember this is the logic of a Boston abolitionisFVho as 8tSard"of'^HS!t^'^^ ''''^ r"^"^^' ^'•«*' *« «ome e^trane'ous slavervt So Camer tl''-i?^i *' ^"i 'false facts ' concerning Bia.ery.j »o Lamer, Schmidt, &c., and the Syriac Cread it ^ f? 18 also ably defended by De Dieu and Wolf. ^ ^ '^'^ " oinnn "' iT''^ '^ a cn of tl.y mi^tor h hftlLT^^. H'"" ^•■'y*" '"' "We to become fro? 'Ithfi ^ivoV^This'senrtr'^ /™.<^, prefer rather ,o o„nt?n„f in biSr fc '°'",'°",".'' ""> "-"i-'lavery school, iviri, be«ils t e bitter bondage of white men and women nndtr tlw A ,tl„ «! Thus Matthew Henry • not over sohoitous about it," &c serv jiit ^ Jie " He who i3 a slave may yet be a Christian freeman ; he who is 60 BIBLICAL DISCOURSE )} f! tie, " I would not do it without thy mind, that thy benefit should not be, as it were, a necessity, but willingly " (Ep. Phil. 14). Plainly, the entire scope of the letter is in the spirit of one who relies upon the gospel as the means of a freeman may yet be Christ's servant. He is bought with a price, and should not therefore be the servant of man. Not that he must quit the service of his master, or not take all proper mea- sures to please him (this '.vere to contradict the whole scope of the Apostle's discourse)," &c. " No man should make his faith or religion an argument to break through any natural or pivil obligation," &c. Henry, Com. 1 Cor. 7: 21. Thus the great Baptist, Dr. Gill : " Art thou called ? " &c. The Syriac version renders the last clause— cAoose for thyself rather to serve ; perfectly agreeable to the sense given by several great critics and excellent interpreters, who take the Apostle's meaning to be, that should a Christian servant have an opportunity of malcing his escape from his master, or could he by any art, trick, or fraudulent method obtain his liberty, it would be much better to continue a servant than to become free by any such means. Yea, some carry the sense so far that even if the servant could be made free in a lawful way — yet servitude was the most eligible," &c. " But one should rather think that the more obvious sense is, thai when a Christian servant has his freedom oifered to him by his master, or can obtain it in a lawful and honorable way, he ought to make use of it," &c. Gill's Com. 1 Cor. 7 : 21. Of the third class of commentators — the most learned and generally accepted cotemi)orary critical scholars — Dr. Alford, Dean of Canterb'^ry, will furnish a fair specimen : " 1 Cor. 7 : 21-24. Second example — slavery — ' Wert thou called {i. e. converted) a slave ? Le*^ it not be a trouble to thee, but if thou art even able to become free, use it (i. e. remain in slavery) rather. This rendering, Avhich is that of Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Wolf, Bengel, &c., &c., is required by the usage of tie particles ei l-ai, &c. It is also required by the context ; for the burden of the whole passage is, ' Let each man remain in the state in which he was called.' Beza, Calvin, Gro- tius, and almost all the moderns understand, ' freedom ' after 'use.' The objeotionfs to tins are: (1,) The position of the /(v? a'. (2.) The clause would hardly have begim with alia ei, but with ei de — so the alternative propositions in v. 9, 11, 15, 28, 30. (3.) The absence of a demonstrative pronoun after ' use,' by which ON 8LAVEBY. «1 the amelioration, not the emancipation of the slave. And nothing can be more directly contradictory than the Apos- tie's whole actions and words on this occasion, as contrasted with the actions and words of many in these days, claim- ing to be honest an:l Christian men, who, in like case, would not only encourage the slave to steal his freedom* U> ^^^e are thrown back, not on tlie secondary subject, freedom, but on tlio pnInary-sla^■ery. (4.) Its utcer inconsistency with the general context. The Apostle would thus be giving two examples of the precept, one of which w oiild convey a recommendation of the contrary course. See this followed out in Chrysostom (o ) f?l^."f '^l*""//'"'^!'^'?- *° 'T^ 22. (6.) It would be quite incon- Eistent with the teaching ol the Apostle, that in Christ freemen and slave are all one (Gal. 3 : 28j-and with his remarks on the urgency and shorfness of the time in this chapter (v. 29)— to turn out ot his way to givo a precept of mere worldly wisdom, that a s ave should become free if he could. (7.) The import of ChraomaL (to use) m such a connection, which suits belter the remaining in endunng, laboring under, giving one's self up to an alreadv exist' ing stai:e, than the adoptmg or taking advantage of a new one," &c. V . 22. Groimd of the nhore precept. For the slavk who was ca ed m the Lord, is the Lord's freedman ; similarly ho that was called being free is the slave of Christ. The (actual) slave is (spiritually) free: the (actual) free is a (spiritual) slave." Alford Com. 1 Cor. 7: 21-22. "i^jiu, This elaborate criticism is here cited so fiillv, and in a form to be comprehensible to the English reader, rather than brief cita- tions from several authors, for the purpose of cxLibitrng how clearly and sharply true scholarship can "give a reason "for its taitli, m contrast with the loose dogmatism that simply declares a passage mmt mean so and so in order to conform to its foreffone conclusion. ° And this extended note exhibits remarkably the fact that however commentators differ about the construction of " u«e it ratlier, they universally sustain and more than sustain the arsu- ment of the d:Scourse, and flatly contradict the partisan quibblers who pretend to deny that slavery existed in the Apostolic Church • !I^»;frn ^^"^^'^ *">.-|'iirijvi. i.'. ijiuc Liie la^uiiics Oi ;* Slave ary not to bo despaired of. 3. That slaves becoming believers in Christ do not thereby become free, nor are to be talcen away from their masters without their consent. 4. What is the dnty of a bishop both 4» 1 iP ON SLAVERY. 63 mstruotionH n,lclrc.ssod to mnstors and slaves in ihe npos- toho JetUirs that does not imply a recognition of the eth- ical i)ro|,riof.v of that rehition even between members of the Haine Church. It is inconceivable that in an epistle addrosst.l " to the saints Avliich are at Ephesus and the /cul/,Jul m Christ Jesus," an inspired Apostle, after specific directions to husbands and wives, parents and children, shouhl, precisely in the same manner, address specific du-ections to masters and servants, without a word to r T i I toward tho lowly and the cxalfed. The object in writing this let- tc'i was tlint Hio «^^/Tc should be reconciled to his master:' Poli Synopsis, Ep. ,u\ Philcnion. },iam?Bl!!!"i>r'i" *''''''^' '"^ -""T '^'^"""^ '^»v^"S rtm away fvom bis mafiter, PJnl.tnon, came to Rome," &c. ♦«,. ^ f "Vf '"/V'^'"''''l^ '1 h\s /avU in running aicay from his maa- '« Tr • to repair that injury by returning to liim," &c Having ft nnmher of slaves, on whom the pardoning of Onesi- s,':" n:.!'L';;;^.'."^r° " '"' '"'™'' ■'^ "'«'" '=''''"''^' '■""■ " What tho Apcistlo wrote to Pliilemon on tliis oceasion is ]n"<^h- ly worthy our notice; namely: that though he had need of aa alfoctmnuto, Imnest servant, &c.-yet the Apostle would by no Enfi ."."• <^^'^!'.""8 ^vithout Philemon's leave, because it be- longed to him to dispose of his oxen slate in the -lay he thou-ht proper. Sucir was tfie Apostle's regard to justice and the rights ot mankind." Macknight on Ep. Phil. But as a Hpocinicn of ihe more recent and the highest results ot criticism, tako the tollowing from Dr. Wordsworth's Xew Testa- ZIjCiIu \ «„.i T^^*^,*''"'**^ l''^*'''*' dictated from the 'hired honse ' of the aged Apos lo, .1 prisoner at Rome, may be called a divine act of eraancipi.tioM, .Vc. ; an act which, while it Wxxm, ameliorated the con- anion oj (ho Blum not only did not impair fhe just rinhts of the master, but jxrortfly improved them, by dignifying service, and by secum.g oherlk.nro to n.an as a duty done to Christ," &c. ^ tot. tdul (lid not constrain Philemon to emancipate his slave but he infii,|,.at.d moh ^.vmc^r^.H ^^ digested slarery of its evils," t;,v,. ' • r'^''"?'^"'' ""^'^'^^ ^^'•'^'""ed Canon of Westminster seoms VfomAy m harmony with the views of tho " Appeal t<> the Christian World," by the Southern ministers, touching 04 BIBLICAL DLSCOURKB distinguish this r(>lation as ethically loss ]>roper than the other, on the theory that the writer doenicl it unlaw- lul for one man to have a i,eimanent riuht of proi.oitv in anotlier man's labor. It is equally inconceivable that; on the supposition of the unlawfulness of Bueh relation as defined m the Justinian Code, an inspired Aj.ostlo should say " Slaves, be obedient to your masters— m singleness ol heart as unto Chiist— not as men-pleasers—with good- will doing service as to the Lord, and not to men " or that he should say to their masters, without a hint at emancipation-though at the, same time, like Job, arguing the duty of masters, from the equality of all men before God-simply, "Do the same thing unto them, forbearing threatening." * (See Ephesians 6 : 4-9.) * ^"of o"b' foi* the sake of abimdnnt testimony to the accord- ance of the constructions of the word of God heri givervvith the general voice of tlie Church of Gcd, but also for t^^e purn" o of formation, the following mterpretations of this passnge are here given. lL_w.ll be remembered that Pool's Synopses Seseuts the who e oruicism of the Protestant church up to 1650 .''^''"'"'' ^^® bermnta, obey your masters :'~:nxQ Apostle did not over- throw the general custom of working slaves, i,r it h"s its ndv.n ages, and it is lawful to use it rightly. He t'eaeL hat the CI. ^-" tmare],g.on consorts with political slavery, and that the poliic^l " Them that are your masters:'—'- They were ant to hp imno t.e.;t and weary of the yoke, and scandal wariikelv^to nSeS r 4» Eph. 6 : 5. Even Drs. Scott and Clarke, whoso judicious exposition, of the mea^wu, of the langnar,e are interpolated sometimes m^.renty !.tu or^^cH -'" ^"*^^P''il^^^t',ropism of Exeter ^A} {"'^1 i-aiJiu ^0.1.1 adKuDu oi their o^vu iiiterpretations, do not pretend to d.ny that the Apostles, addressed as saints both masters Jn 1 s'a ea and enjoined upon them their relative duties under a system which,' ON SLAVERY. 60 or at In the epistle to the Colossians, again, addressed to the « saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse "-in Phrygia, " the land of slaves," as it was called, and the residence of Philemon-the same instruc- tions are given to slaves, and similar instructions to masters to " do that which is Just and equal,'' enforcing It by the same argument of the natural '^quality of aU men before God (Coloss. 3: 22-4: 1.) But not the remotest hint that justice and equality required them to free their slaves. Again, in the Pastoral epistles instructing young minis- ters in their duties-in which, if the relation of master and slave were wrong, it is unaccountable that allusion should be made to the subject without so pronouncing it— these mmisters have it enjoined upon thorn specifically, to teach slaves to be faithful and obedient. Thus, in the instruc tions to Titus (ch. 2 : 8-10), it is an illustration of the " sound speech not to be condemned " to « exhort slaves to be obedient to their own masters, and to please them well in all things "-that they may « adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour:' That such a conception of the mode m which men should « adorn the doctrme of our God and ns Dr. Clarke contends, is an " enormity and a crime." It would be rather odd to find tlie Apostle addressing directions how to dis- charge their relative duties to gamblers or highway robbers with-' out a word of rebuke of " the enormity and cl-ime '' of the Vs m by which they live. Yet says Dr. Scott : ^ " In general the servants at that time were slaves, the property of their masters "&c. "But the Apostles loere ndnisters of religion not pohticians." Scott's Com. Eph. 6:5 "^'^igion, And says Dr. Clarke : "Even a slave if a Christian, was bound to serve him faithfully by whose money he was bought; however illegal the traffic may be considered." Clarke's Corn. Eph. ft : « ^ Says Alfoi^-Eph. 6 : b-of masters and slaves: "There is no reason to render ^<;wZm ' servants,' as in the Eng. version, for bu this much of the Apostle's exhortation is deprived of point)' fte BIBLICAL DISCOURSE Saviour," now would be received with incredulous derision and ^r.duin, in a large part of the Protestant Church, is only a sad evidence of the distance to which the Churches have drifted away from Apostolic notions of Christian faith and practice, under the blasts of the stormy hunuini- tarianism before which the Churches have given way. Similar instructions to servants, enforced by simiUir motives, are given by the Apostle Peter to the " strangers scattered throughout Pont us," ttc * (1 Peter 2 : 18.) * The exhortation in Colossians heinj? the same as that in l.piicsians, Its interpretation is supported l)y the same proofs It may be wort 1 while, however, by way of giviug tbe render Jome conception ot tlje ''great crowd of witnesses" who testify in favor of ttie ourrectness of the interpretations on which the argument ot tins discourse rests, to add tlie following : ''Servants, obey in all things your mastcra. The occasion of this precept seems to si)ring from the circumstance that servants converted to Christianity thought themselves to be exempt from the yoke ot servitude. Wnicn opixioxv full of error, the dkvil, without doubt, INSTILLED IXTO THE MINDS OF ME.N. that thcnce ho might render the Clmstian religion odious among' the heathen as a disturber ot order." Bishop Davenant on Col. 3 : L2. 'St. Paul (Col. 4: 1) commands masters to give to iheir slave.? What IS just and equal, bnt he also teaches slaves this lesson • If a man have food and raiment, let him therewith be content." Rev Canon Wordsworth, 1859. ?f ?J'^^^^* \-i "f- ?'^'^, '■®"'^'"*^ ^^^^^^ inheritance. Knowing that It 18 trom the Lord (the ultimate source of reward) ve shall re- ceive the compensation (or recompense which will inake ample amends Im- having no earthly pos=;ession as slaves noxc) consistSiff ol the inheritance (a term excluding the notion of meriting it by works; It IS all of grace, Eora. 4: 14)." Eev. A. E. Fausset, Port- able Ccjmmentary, on Col. 3 : 24. "V. 25. This Terse seems best to he taken as addressed to the 8laics, by way of encouragement to regard Christ as their master ^.hZ7 -n' r'-'""^ ^''^^ '''" ^^^'' '^''■'^"g^' ^f t^'ey leave then, in his hands, will bo in duo time righted by bhn, the just judge, with whom there is no respect of person." Alford, Com. Col. 3: 25 Ihe following expositions of 1 Pet. 2; 18, maybe cited *as specimens: •' "The case of servants wanted an apostolic .determination as i^* ON SLAVERY. 67 IS SECTION VII. The Apostles not only recognized negatively the ethical propriety of tho relation of master and slave, but expressly denounced those " who teach otherwise" than that 8ln-«s shall obey (heir masters, as liere- tics, from w!iom true m"a.fit.er.' of the Church must withdraw fellowship. But perhaps tho most c -jh.aivc evidence that the fore- going argument contains the true teachings of the Scrip- tures on this subject, will be found in the special instruc- tions of Paul to Timothy, in rcforencu to such as, from either Judaizing or humanitarian tendencies of mind, deny the obligation of slaves to give their masters all honor and due service. For such instructions imply that precisely such questions on the subject were raised then as are raised noM' : and that an Apostolic decision has been had on actual cases made. In the instructions to Timothy (1 Tim. 6 : 1-5) the Apostle directs, " Let as many slaves as are under the yoke, count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his dc<.-r,'ne be not well as that of subjects, for they imngined that their Christian lib- erty set them free from their unbelieving and crnel inasters. To this the Apostle answers : Servants, be subject." Henry, Com 1 Pet. 2: 18. "This was another notion of the Jews, that because tlicy were the seed of Abraham they ought not to be the servants of any. Hence the Apostle Peter here, ns the Apostle Paul frequently elsewhere, inculcates the duty of servants to their master." Gill Com. 1 Pet. 2 : 18. " In the time when the gospel was first preached, servants for ,.,e Tun^t part -"cro slaves^ and .15 many of tlicm were converted to Christianity with or witliout their masters, it was ftarcd lest they should take too much upon thorn and think too well of thei/aolves ," &c. Dr. Jortiu on 1 Pet. 2; 18. 3* 0^ BIBLICAL DISCOUilSE blasphemed. And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren ; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort. If amjma?i teach otherwise, ... he is proud knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy— perverse disputino- of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth,°8up- posmg that gain is godliness. Feom such withdbaw thyself." ^ It appears, therefore, that, just as has been presumed m this argument, from the peculiar law of Moses prohibit- ing the enslaving of a Hebrew permanently, which law was still read in the Churches and made the foundation ot Apostolic sermons, controversies arose touching this question of the relation of master and slave. And men taught that converted slaves should not any longer submit to the yoke ; and esj)ecially that masters pretend- mg to be Christians, and still claiming rights over their slaves as masters, must be insincere and hypocrites. Be- yond all doubt too, the selfish passions of the human heart even partially sanctified, would make this a very accept- able doctrine to other than Jewish slaves. Clearly this tendency to make religion a plea for subverting the rights of masters, was somewhat general, and the heresy regarded as a dangerous one from the prominence given the matter in this briet letter of Pastoral instructions. As before he had taught didacticalV the contrary doctrine concerning master and slave, so now here he not only reasserts his former opinion of th-^ duties of slaves and the rights of masters, and in connection therewith takes occasion to portray the character of th ,e noisv DhilanthrnnJ^ts in no very gentle termi , but also ord- ins that the ministers of [ ,. ... ON SLAVEET. ftjft the Church shall give them no countenance. " From such withdraw thyself." * It is upon the ground of this authoritative instruction to all ministers of the Church, through Timothy, that I In order that this argument from this important passage may be thoroughly justified, numerous but brief citations are here made, to establish, beyond all possibility of doubt, that the construction here put upon the place, is in precise accordance with that of the wisest and most learned men of God, in the Protestant Church, from the Reformation Era down to the present : " In the beginning of the sixth chapter he gives a command to slaves, where the young should remember that the common rule is confirmed which is so often repeated— that the Gospel does not ABOLISH ESTABLISHED ORDER So WC SfcO here THAT BLAVElti TS APPROVED, SUCH AS WAS THEN LAID DOWN IN THE LAWS " — (Melancthon on 1 Tim. 6: 1.) " As every man is disposed, with a false estimate, to arrogate superiority to lumself, there is no one that bears with equanimity that others should rule over him All of this sort of disputations, however, the Apostle cuts off with one word, when he exacts a willing subjection from all who are under the yoke. For he signifies that the inquiry m not whether thev are worthy of such a lot ; because it is enough that they are held fast m this condition."— (Calvin, Com. 1 Tim. 6: 1.) "If Christianity finds servants under the yoke, it coxtinues THEM TJNDER IT, for the Gospel does not cancel any obligations any he under, either by law of nature or by mutual consent.''— rilenrv Com. 1 Tim. 6:1.) \ jy n \\ ^L^'^ .^"'^^S '^^'^ "*^^^'' abolished by any communication of God s bpirit. The civil state in which any man was before his conversion is not altered by that conversion, nor does the Grace of God absolve him from any claims which either the state or his neighbor may have upon him."— (Clarke, Com. 1 Tim. 0:1.) " For, though all Christians are equal as to religious pri\ileges, tlavea arewferior to their mmters in station. Therefore, let them serve tlieir masters more diligently, becau-re they who enjoy the benefit of their services are believers and beloved of God. " If any one teach differently, by aftirming that, under the Gospel, slaves are not bottnd to serve their masters, he is puffed up with pride, and knowoth nothin" either of the Jewish or the Christian revelation, although he pretends to have great knowledge of both. Fbom suoh impious tkaoheks with- 6a BIBLICAL DISGOUKfiE r have denounced the present general departure of the Churches from these teachings of the word of God and the xdeas of the Church of God during all the a.e's of -.sp.al.on, under the lead of a mere humanita^tn "ph l.n! -(McKnight, uatnrnl, as there '■.•„s a dumrer nf fl .en' .• ^he exhortaUon is ...g,m,jters."-(Fa.i«ot, Port. Com. ?Tim 6 '' T)""" ''"" ''°'"^>'- andm'a '■sftSnt^T fom,., inEpisi. ,;^ 6; Col. 8 : 22; stood as 'putting masfoSbon.t.?.^^, ""''•>' "■'''' '" ""^ '""i^-- order oflho^ZWrsuSf "TlleX's wi^"'"'' ^"""f '■«' ^ '"- ni.istors were BMiVwSto re^J 1 f) „• "'"V"''" ""'''"' ''«»"'« honor, tiic slaves under Cl, .!.??» / "'■'""'" "^ <'«.-5"-vini; of evince any ,^^ at o " re ,>St d" '?■';?'?.¥'•? "'^'"'"'!' ""' '» and Bristol, Ciit ,a ™K';;;ln«„^'';,°°"' '''»''°I' "f aiouce^ter New work, iscs!) """""aatical Cotmncntary ! Tim. 0: 1_ «r/,;fc:";^'f;:£.'?Jf;;*;'/'^J(,f «■*'-» *«»., Let a, many a, tl>ose slaves whVtrnnbeli! 'i /Sti 'Thfs°':']l'™ °,f '» by the reason given and I)v fi. .rntvlcf- Ii ^"'^ '« brought out (AUbrd, Com. 1 £ 1 ) ""'* "' ^^^^ "^^"^ ^■'^^•««'" &c.~. .ndl^^'h^'o^^^^^^^^^^ ^^-/«^- ^-Z"-"., which, «i7«/««« their master^ Zl «nlS;V^^ highest anthonty on uiclx questions, what is the present ^^^^.f^^ '^''- ^'^^-^ '' -^ ^-•-' -^^-- Ih- general statement of Mr. Kay is, that the British laboring f><^; •K^ri?'''''' are extremely ignorant, helpless, demoralized and paupeiized," owing to the depressing social system to whi.h we have subjected them J ,nean. th/system of laws re! ^; n "n? 1 /I f""''^' ^^^,i^'l^"f? conveyance, purchase and settle- ment ot landed property."— (pp. 14, 15,) Now, obvioualy it /matters little as to the practical result whether labor is kept m a degraded position bv a system of direct ownersn,p of the laborer himself, or, indirectly, by ownership of the soil ha treads and the air he breathes, so long as he i.too poor and helpioss to leave it. And it may well be doubted whether even anti-slavery romance has painted abuses of the slave-labor systeni that can compare with the sad details of Mr. Kav, nnde- the ullowing heads of abuses of the English land-law 'syst. V iiQ shows, in substance : 1. That the laboring man in England and Wales can, by bc- -j -s a possibility, become a huull .> - er, and with difhculty cv ' ; ; i- ant ot a farm. That the smi: , r farms have been absorbe; J in cha large estates; cotl ages destroy ea to prevent their occupaic and 1. ^. L„ .!%,!.. i..,«.r-!it!.t-a, raui dais lauorcrs are uriveii io ;urd. like cattle in the crowded hovels in the rural districts, as in tov, r.^^ and cities labor is (h-i'en to shelter in cellars and filthy dens. Tiu'.'-' 1^ ON SLAVERY. 65 i a general division with llieir laborers ? The relation of parent and cluld, itself, is terribly abused, as Vetlt old the laborer's Iiopo of risinc in tlio u-m-M ic . c i fi peasant, always a ik 3 '' in \?\\ • "", •'"'.^'■'J ''"°- " ^nco tWoUeal t„a,. ;t^;ca'nj>;.rit «, afS'Ji, I.J.I'i: 13, llic number uf naiii/crs iiiidc'r Iho Fm-l iu 1 i 'I'l'- ■'■'. ^I.) J li,.t ono.i,alf the whole ,,„iorof,Iavo''r, nil- ^'"'^^^^ worthy of .re,lit oron l.af.h "rUd .01^ sS " ."" ?"° 3;:o'r„''iio^t--/,ir;ii,,ra,''t""5°s''r'^ £|o ^rs7^lf feS j::r^!fd;"htf h:Lzs.:f"S from teachiaga™ ^ot.fd ■ "'"""''' P'""'"* "'"'' "»«'«■» ch.sts™lT.'he'''LVJ,:i'tter"'r:"°^^^ iaadhoId.r and „ea»,n„. capi.a! aadiao;: i la aLmS -Oarh;if" s«i;i:st^-y---,w,i.^;^ 66 BIBLICAL DISCOURSE among the degraded poor of Britain *— shall we, therefore, like Lycurgup, give over the cliildren to the care of the State ? Nay, even among yourselves — as I am sorry to observe from the reports in the journals of numerous wife- Scriptures: scarcely any of them enter a place of public worship, or ever come in contact with a religious ministor. They live liko brutes, then die to po— they never thought, li- cared, or under- stood, where."— (p. 215.) Yet, with fill the havdsliips and abuses charged iipon the f^lave-labor system, the Protestant Churches of the Southern States report half a million of the slaves as membera in full con^munion wfth them. ^ It is not the purpose of this note to taunt the British people with the hardships and sorrows tliat oppress their poor, nor to bring a railing accusation against their social institutions, nor to deny tliat these rejiorts may be exaggerated, as all such reports aro likely to be; but simply to show, in a way that may come home to them, hpw fallacious may be the argument from hardships and abuses against any general social system. And how absurd to con- demn a social system which God has recognized in His word, and denounce, as unrighteous and wicked in itself— on mere idle and exaggerated reports of the hardships and abuses of it— an argu- ment that, in a fallen and depraved world such as ours, may be ap- plied to condemn even the best and wisest instituticns ever devised for the comfort of society. * As an extreme case of this unnatural abuse of the parental relation, and at the same time an additional illustration of the argument of the preceding note, it is sufficient to refer to the horrible details of Mr. Kay's book from the reports of Mr. Chad- wick, Mr. Gardiner of Manchester, Eev. Mr. Wilkins, vicar of Uickesand others, of the murder of their own infant children by fathers and mothers, in order to get money from "the burial clubs," just as men sometimes burn their property to get the insurance money. It is shown that for the sake of the three or five pounds sterling assured to them, for a small annual payment from the birth of their child, tliese unnatural parents will murder their children by poison, or starvation, or cruel usage ; that some make a busmessof it, entering the child in ten or twenty different clubs • that in one instance, in Manchester, a man murdered sncn of ^is children successively at the age of from nine to eighteen mo'xtha. Another, Mary May, thus rmmiered fourteen of her children succes- sivuly, and then her little brother ; that tlie very language of the poorer people is permeated with this horrible idea. The reply, on hearing of the dangerous sickness or death of a poor friend's child i a I ON SLAVERY. 67 1 \ I - i beatings— the relation of husband and wife is abused ;— shall wo tliorcforc give ear to the manifold stories of the frcc-lovo rofornic -s concerning the wife-slavery of the Anglo-Saxon laws, and abolish marriage in favor of wo lan's ligJitH ? Timt the rdation of master and slave is abused, yea, even peculiarly liable to abuse, all Christian men where it exists have boon ready enough to admit. And more, they have labored earnestly in amelioration and reform of abuses, and very successfully, save as they have been ham- pered in tlieir efforts by a philanthropism which seems to care little ibr the Apostle's caution lest through the turbu- lence and unfaithfulness of slaves " the name and doctrines of God bo blasphemed." * isoommonly: " It is no matter," or, "It is good luck for her— t/iat child lit in two— three— Jive— burial clubs." In a town of sixty-one thousand inhabitants, there existed eleven bin-iu chibs, with an aggregate of fifty-two thousand mem- bers (Hco Kav's Soci. Cond. p. 84-91.) What more melancholy Illustration could be offered of the propensity of depraved human nature to ubiiHo nny and every institution and relation of life? yet Avho thinkrt of arguing that the children of all the poor should theretoio bo taken from them and reared by the state? Why then argue that bcc/iuse in n few cases masteis also may acr an unnatural and cruel part, the whole system must be abofished, society up- turned, and four millions of ne.uroes be turned loose among six or riglit millions of white men, to sink at once, by indolence, below ..he condition of the " degraded, demoralized, and pauperized " labor 80 graphically described by Mr. Ivay? The sturdy honesty of Southern people is evinced by the fact that though thoy might secure the applause and sympathy of ihe wor d mstead of its curses, by playing the hypocrite a little, and turi.liig tholr slnv. svstem into a system of peonage, by seeming to emancipate, st^ • ihey will not do it. Will not the world at least learti to i • si,cct their honesty and their contempt for all J'yp^'f Ijisy in an age of shams and deceits ? * That Cii)%tian men at the South have labored earnestlv, and, all things coiiHidored, successfully, for the amelioration of their system, is a fac^ that would be too notorious to need mention, but for the fact that ,mxiy philanthropism at the Korth, which has the •8 BIBLTf •'"'rRSE 11 It But when it cones to denying tlic ctliical right of the relation itseij; and tue right of any man to property i,er- mancntly, in the labor of another, it ceases to be a (,uestian ol the reform of abuses, and becomes a fiin'^imental ques- IZ *'^^,f"^ ;,'"•/ circulate the contrary lal.ehood. Thus for stance the ( i.n.stians of Souil. Curnlhm and (Jcor^na, f..r venty ime and talouts ot as many educated men, in carrvinL^ the L'o.pel to the slaves cf those states, as all that thc^Xnti-BraveVch.^Xs of ritai . ,. ud the N.rth together exiK-ndcd for the evm.i^' iation Ivi^'l u-'"^ ?''■ ^"^^ ^^'« ^-^'I-'^^-t^ "f t;i'"rches fron a e slave-holdmg states, show tlio conversion and admission to m comniumon m Protestant Churches, of prohably ten times as ClS; "Snlrrr " IK "™-^"." -^ tl.ese gathered il the Thus, too, in spite of the obstacles from the fierce iealousy iSS'fbTthe:^ ^''T ^" ^''«?-^^— 'antlystiSand ri sm ot^ th/S'*T^' ^«17^^-t-dcfl-^i"ff and faithless pn.p- agandism ot the iSorth, which sought not to ameliomte hut through their common relation to the general "•overnmc it n'nd in conten.pt of the political rights of tifo Be\ end sS, ^S//S the system ot slave labor-thc enlightened and p ilan hVon c citizens had made such progress in thc^,mel^oration^ tlT la -e sys em, as to put the Southern greatly in .- ivance of any ancient tiie tami y igh s of the slavo were so far regarded by the civil law an 1 in 18j8 there was a bill ^ • f vo the Legislature of J'-sis'^iooi Buj,porten by many lea.ling men of the Slate, wh ch proS ' m ettect, to protect all the family rights of the lav. by Sri ^ a registry ot the slaves on every plantation h- ..nnlies ami pro S ttlr ;:Sr"" °' '"^'^^' ^"^ ''"''^ -^ ^^ yZg d^lK ar.d^f dt'^'lcs'li^l^'A'T! ^''" '^"^"'J?' ^^ '^ ^ ^"^'^ interference, a .a t.iit Jos^ness to the covenant betw. th, ates bv a reck'esa ^ParH'JrrT'i?'"';^? ^f "^'^^ immediatdy n r"^ 6q)ai.,,)n ot the Southern Churches from the Northern thl Churcli courts, of all denominations, began to call upon the eon e for uch modihcfdions of the civil laws' as would pl>Lcrbv Tvil i^nrb^e^^h":^ " ""''""' '' ^^^^^^"^' '''' --^-§0 cove- Liko the hue and cry concerning the inabUlty of slaves to read the ON SLAVERY. G9 I 1 i tion of religion. When it comes to denouncing as " an abominable system " and ns " the sum of all viilanics " a relation that at the very beginning of tlio race was an- nounced of God, as one of the forms which human society should fake; which was recognized as allowable in the very first organization of the Ciiurch ; Avhich was again recognized in the second great covenant to redeem from bondage a slave-holding nation, and in the very moral law given of God, as the Church' ethical rule of life ; which woi-d of God— thouprh all masters may, and Christian masters and mistrcpsos do generally, teach their slaves to read, when tliey will receive the instruction, and thouj-h in other ways than by reaJiny the slaves in common with the laboring masses of the (•ivili?cd world receive that " faith that cometh by hearing "—so tlie hi;, and cry concerniu;,' the heathenism of denying to the slaves the P'-itectioii of civil, laic to tlicir marriage contract lies with any k e only against the theoretic principle, rather than the actual practu-e of the Southern slave labor system. Of course, no Chri> tian li ill denies tluit, viewing the slave as a person, as well as a property, tlio eflbrt should be always to secure to him all the personal i- 's consistent with his civil status by the eiril law. And ever} istian master not only admits, but' practises upon, the principle that the marriage covenant has all the sauction.s of religion to enforce respect to it, independent of the civil contract. The real issue in the case is %\\n\Ay wliether the slave shall have* equally with the free, the citil right to contract marriage, and be protected in that right against tli^- master. And, as to tiiMt ; ije, liowever it may bo determined theoretically, Southern Chrii- t:anity, if unimpeded by political fanaticism, would befoi rhig probably have secured a decision by the Southern people tc pro- tect the man iage relation between slaves by civil authority. But even aside from al' thi:-, it must be borne in mindtliat the Southern system is, ( ven in this respect, as far, if not farther, in advance, in conferruig civil privileges upon slaves, a^either of the ancient codes recognized in the Bible. And further, that if nil masters were but to become Christians, the mai-riage law of Christ would be recog- nized in their households as extending alike to bond and free. In such cases the question of marriage as a civil right would Dec:':nie an ctliical quistion uiialugous lo the Sabbath question raised by the Pharisees, and the proper answer to the question of a slave's civil right to m.uriage would be, '• ihe marriage law was made for man, not man foj- the marriage law." .^ BIBLICAL DISC0UK8B «v>s recog„,zcd m the civil code, given by Jel,„val, him,clf m,c accor. ,„g to which he aJ„u„i»ie,-c,l i civil go c™ cnt a thcoc,at.c Kn.g, so I ,„g ,„ „,,, tingdo.n contin " ^ .udcpenacut nation ; which went with the Ch „" natton .uto thoir captivity, and was .-ctored w ' „ ^' received f.om h,m no word of rebuke, but clearly his acq„,esce„oo m Us ethical propriety ; whid, began wih the s. hfcb':'':'"""' •"■,'"•• ^"'"•'" ■■^"'•^'-■-' "' "' ^J iistian Lburch, as a relation icooirni^ied anrl if« .i«f were tfienibelves denounced bv an insniro/i a, .1 unworthy the iellowsMp of t.L "nnir 'of^S-l' when an mstitution thus ethically iuterwoven 2^17 eptthet that can express vileness, loathsomeness ,„d depravtty-then it becomes the infinitely solemrqltion whether, we have a revelation from God or IT ^ whether if so, those who hold such opTnions of Iv ' possibly hold the inspiration of " ^X^p'r: " "' '^'"' I am fl-ee to say that as to practical consequences «I .mately, .t ,s difficult to make much distinction between the open and avowed denial of plenary insnirathl ^i partial acceptance of the Scriptu, esf and [h X«t« V«« acceptance of them, which yet tortures the word Tt God ,m„n any and every Procrustean bed which the humanly deS heor.es of natural right and ethical justice may Ipate for them. Apostates like Colenso and his co-IaborTL Essays and Reviews" and the "Westminster I^vLV" da.m,ng st.U to hold a portion of tl>e Bible inspir^ Xie they rgect Moses, are pleased to caution those of us^l Will admit no fli'stJpnt;^« v^* - .r . . ^ "^ ^'^^ „«;i u- A , i-i"-=. wcLucuu uie inspiration of .Tpcn« •' ON SLAVERY. 71 5> warn us " not to carry the ark of God into the field of battle." To which I have only to say, if there is no longer any book of the law in the ark, and blossoming rod, and pot of manna — nor any mercy seat on its golden cover, nor Jehovah, as the ineffable brightness dwelling between the Cherubim upon it, then it is a bogus ark ; let the Philistines take it ! If Moses is nut inspired, then how can Jesus and his Apostles be inspired, when mistaken in founding their whole system of doctrine upon Moses as inspired ? If the ethics of Moses are impure, how shall we trust the ethics of Jesus expressly founded upon the teach- ings of Moses, first divested of the human accretions with which human ignorance and fanaticism had invested them ? If " all " this Scripture is not " the inspiration of God," but only a part of it, and if we are left to the guesses of such learned critics as these in ascertaining which is the in- spired part, " profitable for doctrine, reproof, and instruc- tion in righteousnesss " — then where is the infallibility of our guide ? If the bread that professes to come down from heaven is a loaf with poisoned parts in it, which none but these spiritual chemists can distinguish, then we had better throw away the loaf, and, in hunger, sorrow and despair, turn to " the husks the swine did eat." " We believe," says the Apostle, " therefore we speak." Brethren, I believe, therefore I speak — earnestly on this subject, and not in the spirit of a miserable logomachy conceraing a controverted civil and social question. I believe that all Scripture- -Ivloses just as much as Jesus — David just as much as John — Isaiah just as much as Paul — is the inspiration of God. I believe, too, on the other hand, that, by the very mental law that controls the convic- tion of humaRity at large, this tampering with the language and teachings of God on one subject, to conform them to a mere human theory, must inevitably lead the multitude, 72 BIBLICAL DISCO UESB first to tamper with, and then to contemn, the word and leachings ol God concerning any other subject, and finally on all subjects. For, hoM^ever individual eccentricity of mind may enable one man to hold, persistently, con- tradictory propositions and use contradictory methods of interpretat?on, yet the great mass of humanity, as a whole though less enlightened than the individual, is ever loci! cal m Its judgments. Just as .urely as water wiU seek and attain its own level when the obstructions are removed so sm.ly will the multitude, left to its own mental acUo" settle down to the general logical conclusions which are consistent with the premises which error has taught it to cason from, and the methods by which error has taught it to reason. a *' ^^ I believe that it was the tampering with the teachings of God s word, to make them conform to the theories of a hazy philanthropism in E„gk..i. on this very subject of slavery, that prepared the soil for the sowing of that croo of tares by the Francis William Newmans, the Williams the Baden-Powels, the Colensc, of Britain and the bL phemmg Theodore Parkers and lisping Eme^ons of Arner- ca; which IS now ripening into the harvest of apostasy in t!.e Church of England. And the same process is now earned on n, the Churches of Scotland by even holy men Presbytenan Colenso to rise and lead off the masses into apostasy from the faith of their fathers. So the ministe s of the American Evangelical Churches slept while the enemy sowed tares; until now, when the haiwest of iuil ment .s come, only here and there a head of the true grain ti:.";*'::;:;:' ^"""^ "- ^--'^ ^™^^* °^ '^^ --'- Only here and there a solitary voice appeals to the fanatical mob m the plaintive tone of Elijah-" I, even Z OS SLAVERY. 13 i word and and finally titricity of mtly, con- lethods of IS a whole, ever logi- Ll seek and raoved, so tal action, which are ight it to 5 taught it teaching3 ories of a object of that crop ^Villiams, the blas- of Arner- )ostasy in 5 is now fioly men t for any sses into ministers hile the of judg- ue grain ostenta- to the evenZ onli/, remain a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men." And, with the propensity of the multitude to d(3cide truth by the majority, no wonder the opinion of the four hundred and fifty Baal priests seems to make it hardly worth while to listen to the singular old man, but to say with a sneer — " Doth he not speak parables ? " But need I remind you that God's truth has always been in the minority in this follen world, and therefore no argument in confirmation of faith can be drawn from the mere popular opinion of any age ? Need I remind you moreover, how often this philanthropy-frenzied world has gone mad ? As with these physical epidemics, that, rising in some obscure comer amid filth and disease, become as the cholera, the pestilence that Avalketh in darkness, stalking around the globe and feeding upon its millions of victims, Fo these mental and moral epidemics that sometimes sweep over the earth's high civilizations. Thus, in former ages, the world wais so filled with a mad passion for worshipping i-'od as a local god, through stocks and stones, that the very Church of God gave Avay before it. All the Avorld was on one side, and Elijah alone openly on the other, yet it turned out Elijah was right. Thus, in the middle ages, the epidemic of romantic zeal for the holy sepulclire pre- cipitated all Europe upon the plains of Asia and hills of Canaan. Thus, too, at a later period, the epidemic that seized upon British society, filling men of all classes with stupid credulity and fear of witchcraft. Even in regard to their worldly aflfairs, how often have partial epidemics of this sort run even the commercial world mad — as witness the "tulip mania" in Holland, the South Sea and Mis- sissippi stock madness in England and France, and a score of like cases. It is no new thing, therefore, that the wo/ld should be mad, nor very singular that the madness now 4 H U BIBLICAL DISCOURSE H\ ' V the hi^tnr^ ,a- 1 . ^' P''ofo"nd students of SS l: ,xi ':7rr -f: ^^" '"=" '- ^" skilfiiUv fj,^ ,• . ''"^*^ ^'^ *«e Devil to counterfeit so ?n euth \n^ ? r " "'"' ^'"=" •''''«'™l- '1'™!' ^^ king «eoI ^r ' "'■'"•■''= *° '^« '"'"^""^d by Ws chosen destroy the faith of the Church Fnr h f ^ '^ '° the Church of r„^ ^'""<:1. I'or half a century past <« a wo It" Chl r r" *«""«"^''^'' fo-- »ew zeal phiIa„Zp7to el"™; 7e /T'"'"'"""" '""^-"^-^ "^ gospel to al natons .1 t , """''' ''""' «'™ "'^ with the histor7f"\ .h p..rt'h:"irr'"" fz'"'' RlinnLi ^ P ^' ^"^-' 10 this aofe the Devil property and ,ort, as the gos 71^ 1;;%^ ^^.aJsia'ty tS:X":: rrLtttr ■: '• not strange that this code slmuld «.f „. . ,..„:_!'' !^ '® of riffht fhor. ♦J,^ 1 ^^ " =i-i«:Lur scantlarU mid bt^;« t ^'"'"'' "" "'"* Christian men, capti- v»Ud by ,t» flashy generaUties, should iind it „eces;ary to ON SLAVERY. 76 )limated and homely God- students of ^t that in all )unterfeit so ion of God, ' the Theo- heophanies, fcs mytholo- elt as king his chosen heathenism ^on of God sed in pos- ion of the ipirits " to ntury past new zeal hemes of give the therefore the Devil d seekinsr - doctrine shy, niob- a philan. no's own py dowd, comfort s, not to ors, it is standard *n, capti- sssary to im^ strain and trim the language and teachings of this old rule, to force it into harmony with the new. The honest servant of God, clear in his convictions of the teachings of God's truth, can afford to stand by such convictions, though all the Church cry out, " Art thou he that troubleth Israel ? " With such convictions there is neither temerity nor real want of modesty in standing forth against a world in arms, because with his eyes opened by the Spirit of God he sees that " they that be with us are more than they that be with them." It is therefore an argument of little real weight with me, that mighty statesmen in Britain and America de- nounce that which I have shown to be recognized by the ethics of the Bible, as the " abominable system " and the " sum of all villauies." For I remember that a mightier statesman and jurist than any of them — endowed of God with intellectual capacities beyond any of his tribe — even Lord Bacon himself, catching the singular infection of his age, justified as a judge the murder of poor helpless old women as witches, and as a philosopher studied the rationale of witchcraft. Why need it stagger one's faith in his own plain deductions from God's word, that great names in the British and American Churches in the inte^st of political power denounce them, when he remembers how Robert South, great as any of them, either intellectually or as a theologian, played the sycophantic corn-tier to the most faithless tyrant Stuart of them all; advocating with all his rare logical power the doctrine of passive obedience, and defending the divine right of kings ? Why should I tremble before the elaborate show of learned critical skill, by a partisan Biblical critic, in devising some other read- ing of the sacred oracles to suit a theory, when I remember how the " learned Selden," profounder in Biblical learning than any of them, perverted all the vast stores of his learn- ta BIBLICAL DISCOUHSE ' 1 1 ^-nd to .ubject the cTm-cT o^ f'^T'^f"' commonwealth, heel of a coa.e, fanaU^lt^or: ''""'' ""'''■ ''^ "- «- -'^;:;":rSc" .r •^'— — ^^ liero-worshippor within f ""' """^ '» as true a '•eroes of ,ea,.„i„,, ,,',";:; 'Z^l^T- """""'^ '"« their age as readilv as com.! dominant ideas of »» in the enthusiaL Of -Z ■„?■;■ r ""'"'' '«'— » "B infallible, the dicta of th„ ^ ^^ '^''P"'''^ «» accept, or the general opitn of oeitr "'i ""^ "'"""» '"'"" experience that his mindo„r ^ , '''°"'' ''« ""d^ tVom dicta, or discover „" aC fnT ? "P""""' ""■""''"« argnment on which they , IS' "" ''""""'''^ "' 'he P"s, n„ doubt-that hifinflbW,"""" "> ""'^ ™'- passions," and subject in "ike! ^""''•' ^''^ " '"c" of like rnent,! and mora, epidemic tharr^'. '" °"'^" ■"^"' '» the the more experience o7 tht !oT,1 '" '''''"' ''''^- ^»<3 disposed to value and cL'lT ,""= '".J'' he will be he may depend with certaiMv ^^ ^" ' "P™ '"hioh Now, iu the discharge of mv „« i , more than twenty years Lrl "^ °*ce, I have been, for fl"do„tthemind^of h sITt^ •? 'f ""'"' "^"ok to ]-J m own and the i„d;^C/Vr.f '"™ °'' '^'''ch to mdeed, have I f„„„d its ifr „""" P«"P'''- Often, searchable and its w ys past"^!!' ^^^""^ '<> me un-' -•■ong judgment. And;gCrat^'^- 7 ' '""' "^™' » ndge's admired rule oonSnt P,^^"L'P'"' «*' ^ole- undorstand his ignorancTr ? ""'o-" When I eannot •mderstanding "-fl hi , Tl""" '"^'*"' '^""'-ant of hi a»d grown f litt"!!",!"^" Patiently, looked furthe' ----thatlt---a~^;/,-:,r ON SLAVERY. "res the idea mmonwealth, ider the iron ■evevenee for 5e as true a ero-Morship, 'pecially the nt ideas of ho\rever a i to accept, •ols u'ithin, finds from i infallible 5ies ill the to his sur- len of like en, to the ay. And 3 will be on M-hich been, for Book to R^hich to Often, nae un- Qever a >f Cole- cannot t of his nrther ve not ors of 77 my my human guides, that had obscured the truth fro view. With what little acquaintance I have been aoie to make with the philosophers and their reasonings, I have found them often mistaken just as common men ; or if, at first, their opinions were accepted, they would not stand the test of a maturer judgment. But this Book I have never found mistaken ; and, as again and again I review It m these lectures— now for the fourth time— I find the Book gi'ows upon me with my f^rowih— nay, outgrows me ; and the mistakes of my earlier expositions are simply my failures to reach the spiritual depths of the writers. And the characteristic impression of my study of the Bible in ^ the present course is the consciousness of still leaving the vast mines of thought unexplored that lie under all these utterances of Moses. So I have found the philanthropists often terribly mis- taken. However garish and attractive to the youthful eye their « glittering generalities of argument," and to the youthful heart their gospel of universal brotherhood and their propliecies of an Arcadian dignity of human nature rismg above all selfishness, pride, and passion, to inaugurate a general reign of " liberty, equality, and fraternity " over the whole race, I have found at last that the fitful glare of their light was but leading me a fruitless chase through bog and swamp and jungle. But I have never found these " holy men of old " mistaken ; nor the plain, homely benevolence taught in this Book fail, as a true guide both of the mind and heart in laboring for the amelioration of the sorrows of our f^illen liumanity. Thus every lesson of sober experience combines with every dictate of my under- standing and my heart to constrain me to stand by this iSook, as my guide in ethics and philanthropy ; going wherever it go3s ; stopping just where it stops. And having by earnest search found '^ what saitb the Scrip :i rs BIBLICAL DISCOURSE »d the ge„e,.al ju'dgmerto *,t Z':,:! ?"";'■" ''"'''"' be content to let C'c „onnl,o„ > '^ '^ kadea-l must, shudder and de„o„„cc-antL, ■■"""'■""" P^^^th-pists and mock-and calmly take "^V "f"""™ ^""^''^ '"^er age. Meanwhile I stLd tt bi ' f ,"""""' '° » ^'"«"-- of onr fathers, a. i^ ^™ ™d "dV'"^'^""' S-'le "very age; the guide tha- ™f ' f , ^' *'"' ''=«""■« o*' woy^dne^s o/youth t iri 1 ".'f '^ ^i*"' - the eternal word of God *""'' "'^ ™a"hood_the • CONCLUDING NOTE. l«ndi„gletJ!o'ftfITehXTa,,'° f" ^« ««"'ar i«e3 n„ Pb.ta,hropto. The .ri,e.„,a.° !4 L/'of ," k* ""'' ■''"'' ^"='-« Scriptural ethics nor with f„c,, nl, "' "^ '«'"" consisteot with Testaiiiont de„„na,ratcd t„r,he 1! '■•'°'"''''="' '» "■» »=« American Stale,. Why these View, , ''"°°* "■'* *" '"■ 'he a«enU„n of,,. ™« h'oforc X.^'r^^^^ P-e<, np„„ .h, Thl' author's view of thr. „ * a preacher of the Sine] ^iH ''*!''' ^"^ fl^nctions of hJs ofR.. his I :n^ ON SLAVERY. 79 though that ular opinioij, lerfe— I must ilanthropists coffers sneer io a soberer —the guide Withers of thcr in the tihood — the ■ issues now rew England isistent with in the New I that in the ed upon the 3 office, as eaking in ion or the pending nor even •s and the "»g them 'he scope offensive cation of s of the miioating t tJie a|> (■v V f plications of tlie argument, as in tlie foregoing notes ; so also here in a concluding note, by way of appendix to his published dis- course. The earnest attention of conscientious men and logical thinkers is requested to the brief suggestions -which follow. Leaving out of view here the popular illogical argument from abuses, which commonly, in this case, is merely a rhetorical farrago of false reasoning from still " falser facts," as unworthy of any further notice than has been already taken of it in the discourse and notes, there are but three conceivable grounds upon which an honest Christian man can, logically, give a reason for his faith and practice in joining the popular crusade for the extermination of slavery, either by means of the pious thieveries of j)rivate philan- thropism, or the open violence of public robbery, under the ethical theory that " might makes right." Either — First. That the holding of slaves — i. e., of persons wlio are also the owner's " possession " — " inheritance " — " money " — " proper- ty " — ''chattel" — is, intrinsically, contrary to ethical right, and so clearly a sin per se against God and man as to be without the pale of protection by law : or. Secondly. Tliat though it may be, abstractly, not contrary to ethical right, it is yet practically a bad social and political economy, so hostile to the interests of society at large as to be incapable of protection by law as other rights of property: or, Thirdly. That, though the Scriptures recognize and tolerate a system of slavery, as ethically proper, yet this particular American system of slavery is, in principle, ditferent from, and ethically contrary to, the system tolerated in the Bible. As to the first of these three propositions: — That the holding of slaves, i. c, persons who are also at the same time the owner's "possession," "inheritance," money,"' "property," or "chattels," — is a thing recognized and tolerated in the Scriptures, has been shown beyond dispute in the foregoing exposition of Scripture language and history. For, if human language and forms of thought can be relied upon at all for expressing the mind of God (aid if not, where is the use of a Bible), then it is certain that the utterances of the Scripture, expounded in accordance with the Church's interpreters, and with the steadfast faith of God's people in all ages, do convey to us the notion that such a slavery did exist, .ind was loleratcd in the Church, as ethically proper, during all the eras of inspiration. To pretend to hold, therefore, both the theory of the ethical wrong of slavery, and at the same time the inspiration and divine authority of the Scriptures, in the proper lint^Hrui scnsu \?i w*iCir irktiguago, vs jusl as *nvA>i]sistciiSj UTivi im- possible to a logical mind, as to hold at the same time both the Ptolemaic the*>ry and the Copernican theory of our physical aniveree. And to deay the plain sense of the words of Scripture, and devise itUswprotatious of them consistent with the denunciation 'H 60 of nnd any slavery BIBLICAL DISCOURSE "s a sin, is s imply to furnish "Sjr''^z^^'^^-^'i"^:^:^:i^^-!!f-F,^ - --' "^ ^''y;"fhat ii=raei ' means no arfn- V "' ' abstract, ;\7Z/^;.../.^.W.^lS "J'' '"'^ onJv ... ^WhiV;;' aliegoncal condensation <^S! 5^' ."^ that Moses ig „^L,;':'i the Xiir p; ;•,'"", ^^^'"''"'^ ^''^''ofThe noiVi' '"^''^^^' an slavorv i: n^^:'S'^^^';r' ti^erefbre, the thJoly^f n^ "^^^'^^^^'^ ^f ethic n i.s a denial of't] as the consistent abol 'f perfection and m-^ty oi the Sc ness of recognized ^in Sn-h"tarf nl'^ ?''"' Propositions --Tlmt tl , ;; coven^i^t^ ."^KS^,, •^^""J!f «t'on against ^ "'£^7,^7'% mmmmm l-onf proi)erty ; "id |)iactice tates, indis- "itries, who !• property '-Ijroakers/' s matters." ■tJjeni anti- ■J economy guardians, t' political [gJiijist the or depriv- na^lv pur- ■pcoguized tish oove- 'onofthe tiat this e stealing operty in nf'air and ^ taivc it lOijghtfuI f crimes sacred- ness of prr.pcrly rigJits, which every day's account brings to his ears from Uritiiin and America, wlio is familiar witli the teaching and pra for luraaelf, afto,. what 1,, f e.^. ''" "'■'''""7 reader of U,eXw« Apostle, Cohel rS,eT't'd rfi'l' ?' Saviot' "nriJis pant with avlo^v to ascertain ,Vni->,'""® ^•^^"^•nafJon of this cord t e legal onactm^ento eVe'jfd rin"',, 'T ""e"" ^S rZ ancient laws of the Romnn Z • ^''"^^"^ summary viewlnf ff It is necesaarr to n^l- Christian era. ""'^ ^^ ""^'^fe' ON SLA VERT. 8S the American i-of the Bible foregoing dis- liiit in regard 5U1- and Hia ated in tlieir eader a niorei ora tJie Naw fe of defence =68 tlie Soi-ip. > are assidu- ation of rhis tJjo general ' tlie revised 's one thou- "t also the the preach- -en enabled •man jurist, raanis lata- abor-— from I Latin— aU u'ons, on alJ '•d- Here, i decisions temporary which re- ament — as of CjGsar Archelaus ^'elix ; the ?ion, &c., lactments pire. So e system >are with luring all vv Testa- ode, and ved and s of tlie ian, and k during ble the among the very peculiar features of the Roman political and civil hiw. Urst, that until an age subseijuent to the Apostles, and indeed un- til the privileges of Uoman citizenship ceased to be regarded aa of any v.ilue, the lioman citizenship wiis a menibership in a curi- ous political close corporatii^n, guarded as jealously us modern privileges of nobility, and its privileges conferr* d only by sr-.me form of public act. Secondly, that the citi children were held as his property, becoming free ( .Lizens o^.j by his death or by formal act of oniaucipution— his wife bearing legally the same status as his daughter. Thirdly, that tlicoretically every citizen at his death must by his testament leave some one as I in " heir" to represent his '''■persona " in the civil society. Ilcnce he usually named several persons to be hi:!j " heir," '^ach following one to be- come such, in case of the refusal of his p:edeces>or, and naming at last one of his slaves to be what was called his " Lucres neces- earius," or necessary lieir, who, in case the heirship was refused, by re.isnn of his insolvency or other cause, should sell out the es- tate for the benefit of creditors in his own name, to save disgrace to the name of his master. Hence this fiequent allusion to slaves as "heir" in the classics. Fourthly, that the spirit of the Koman law was utterly averse to the acting of one freeman as attorney foranothei. Hence the son or the slave of the citizen usually acted for him in every business transaction to which he could not give personal attention. St)me of the general principles of the slave code as it existed for a thousand years previously are thus set forth in the Justinian code : "Slavery is an institution of the law of nations, by which one man is made the projicrty of another, contrary to natural right (natural law having before been defined as ' that law which na- ture teaclies to all animals' — such as matrimonial union, the rear- ing of children, '&c.). " Slaves are called servi because commanders used, rather than 177? their captiv s, tosc/hhem, and thereby («e?T«r^) to preserve them. "Slaves are either born or become such. Born such from mothers av hich are our bond-maids. They become such by cap- tivity, or by the civil law. (Just. Inst. Lib. 1, Tit. 3 : 2, 3, 4.) " It is not the privilege of every master to manumit as he pleases, for a mannmission in defraud of creditoi-s is void. "A master who is insolvent, however, may by his last will and testament ins.itnte a slave to be heir, with his liberty, so that, as a freeman, he may become his ' only and necessary heir,' in case there is no otlior boir -nnpointed in his will, or beoause the rierson ap- pointed from any cause does not become his heir — that he may satisfy the creditors, or if not, that the creditors might sell the goods of the estate in the name of the slave^ so as to prevent the de- wased suffering disgrace. (Just. Inst. Lib. 1, Tit. 6; 1.) IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // .^ ^ {./ tj:' "«'d.6 1.0 I.I 1.25 IIIIIM IIM 2.2 1.8 U 11.6 V, % ;\ i'^ 1^ >^ ^^ '^ ''i 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^ /<' <" m. * I/a k 84 i 1^ ! ? n 1 BIBLICAL DISCOURSE |^m1lr,:r„;Vatr?-L°' --'«-». -Wch power is der- . "'OW power oHtfo rdde.;i,n'' ""rs "" ""ims^-lmfv 1"°'^ «»d evo,.,thins aca^freT^^ ZX^" ■'"''"""' «*■-« - '- "KSj"^ , "•""-'•"""■i'»;.i1.' 'fit ""• — ~v-:irav»rg 'even to b master. ON SLAVERY. 85 ^o^er is derived we luay observe esttd in masters : ior his master. ^9 may use unre- fnst. Lib. ], Tit. ■^ tlie power of 1- MmseJf, or for aiwai/a acquires 5 power of their "• (Just. Insf. cannot, of him- \2, Tit. 9: 3,) IS peculiar to ir power; and *• Inst. Lib. 1, trent % eman- '•'. &c. (Just. 7 of (ho Ro- •I iiaenel, we that system, '"St and his J^ate enacted Provisions: "■and of cred- 'cept in the lonJd emfin- 3std of five 'peratorea in ipnting—as, laid-servant c be eman- 'onsiJium. een put in "•k, should, 'e of freed- ' til] death, * master. In the year A. D. 8, the Lex Furia Ganiniawas enacted, " re- Btricung the power of emancipating, by last will and tc'Stament, to one half of his slaves, if a man had from two to ten ; one third, if from ten to thh-ry ; one fourth, if from thirty to one hundred ; and one fifth, if from one hundred to five hundred; but in no case to emancipate more than one hundred." In tlie year A. D. 9 was enacted the Lex Papia Poppcea, " sanctioning the marriage of any one below senatorial rank with a freedwoman." In the year A. D. 18 was enacted the Lex Lunia Horhana, " en- larging the privileges of the lower class of the emancipated, allow- ing them to trade and marry with Komano or Latins ; but leaving them still incompetent to devise property, and still securing their property to their master, at their death." In the 34th year of Christ., the year before Paul's conver- sion, Tiberius Oajsar decided the celebrated case in equity, which afiirmed the principle that v.iien a testator, by mistake, thought a slave free, and instituted him his heir, naming another slave as his ••necessary heir," and the masters of both slaves claimed the estate, it should be divided between them. In A. D. 40, the year of the conversion of Cornelius the centu- rion, under the Emperor Caligula, it was enacted that slaves privy to high crime on tiie part of their masters, might become informants against them. In A. D. 42, it was enacted " that the children of a manuinit- tor, not expressly disinherited, should t.ike the estate of an eman- cipated slave of the class of ' Latins,'' in preference to any stranger whom the raanumittor may have made liis heir." In A. D. 4(3, the year of Paul's pre iching at Antioch and Lys- tra, it was enacted that "a patron who had manumitted & slave, may assign the right to inherit the slave's property to any one of the manumittor's children, thereby really substituting his cliild as patron of the freedman, and recognizing the fact that the con- tingent interest in an emancipated slave's property was a property that could bo devised." In A. D. 47 was enacted the edict of Claudius that "sick slaves, neglected by their masters, should become free, in case of recovery from sickness." Also, " that the Roman frceborn woman, cohabiting with a slave, s'lould, on prosecution of the slave's master, be reduced also to the condition of his slave." In A. D. 57, the year in which Paul resolved on a joxuney to Rome it was enufited that " in f^.ise of the murde'.' of? inftstor bv his slaves, even those slaves who were found to have been manu- mitted by his Avill, should be held liable to suflfer with his other slaves." Also, " that, in case a slave, after purchase, became liable to m }l BIBLICAL DISCOVUSB punishment for crimp th^ of slavery «S, " ""V" "'f >vill dare L "e.f ,'?""l'' "'»' "■ ^^"s (A.D. m)n'/r ^'"Perors Hadrian r. ?iJ^''* ^'''^ «•« of of the code aS' 1- "'^'"'"'^ (^- ^- 525) t^inf.?' ^^^^' ^"toninSg ^ave been bon-ouS ?'^"' ^^"'^ rights of m;.f?"'' «'"^^'"oratlons o^des. A«d'vi.tLinS ^A^ J"««Tuan code brf?''"'"?^^' ^^^"«h statesman of th daylfh 'f ^'""'^ '"ostsignific^fi^ ^^^^'^ slave gission of emancinateVfe* '^"^^'^Poivaneots yA"th ?). ''^^''•'^•''^ Boman citizenshin t oe .f '^''''''' ^^ «" ffmdes M ti ^^<^S:eneraJad. tliat pHviJege ;Tic fo,"i^P'^^'•^J ^ndiffSc and P^J'^^^'^^ ^^ and which, even .n t ^ thousand years ],o,i k 1 contempt for inestimable boon ^^At'\'^' ^P'^^^Ie PaVrf da^^^ ^'"'1 P^«^'o»« was the significant Jif ^' ^^''^''^ ''^"ten us 0Denj7'i '•''' "^^^'"^^ «n trembie. ^ "'^''' statement which can«.d i' ^^'""S Itomam,'^ Jn the comparative v . ' Pei'secutors o «?f e, the autJj^r couU T ?^ '^'' ^'^^^^ code, in « . • edge of the ArnericZ i ^^^^ ""^^ ^>om geneVo? '''*^'''°"« ^"ef Jf -quentJy submS'^st^fo'^- '^"^^"^ S n^'i^.^.^^J-owi- of a slave-holdin.^ Sn/n ,' ^'^ *^°® '^^ the mo.t^n • ^^^''''^^''is t"'e limits in statiiS n' 'u ^^ ^^''^'ed thaUtllT'"* ^«^^Ters f ving tJie right ofX^ "personal" riS of tf ^'f ^^'^thin the ON SLAVBRT, B1 Jiis price to the done wrong to 's of the abuses ei-o s time, hnd ^^ up to their rth of our Sa- sumod that in lat the system •1 by the Sa- afferent from, ?Jit, tlian the -^'' ^/„ ,■ » 1 ^ ' """S'^l 1 "lone can limreiis the mnl. SS a,- woS'oT " TnS, t ""1"-^"=!', ""'M' Ste car.,e of the church and the world .".V"" """ "'"' ^^''' "'» ns of the formation of the ecoraeoftntrc den,,?'"/,",' '"'' "' served and uncared for iw " On account of the perfectly helpless condition of the slave when the master is placed in opposition to him, the courts should, and do feel them- selves .o be his guardian and protector, and will provide for tho defence of his rights as for a ward of the court. Hence, in some of the States, by statute tho court is required to assign him counsel learned in the law (scf Const. Arkansas, Art. 4, §26 ; Missouri, Art. 8, § 27 ; Rev. Stat. N. Car. 583 ; Rev. Code Va. 787) and in others the very penalty affixed for cruel traatmeut by the master is the emaucipation ot the slave (Civ. Code Louisiana, 192). In others the penalty is in part, the sale of tho slave." Cobb, Law of Slavery, chap. 5, 5 104-106. "A fair trial by jury is, in all grave cases, granted by the statutes of every " So also that principle of law which protects the citizen from being charged twice criminally with the same offence throws its shield over the slave, 5 : 11 ' Capital ofloncesaro in most of the states tried before the highest county court, and everv guard thrown around the citizen, to protect hk innocence, is thrown around the slave." § 310. ^v.'^u'^*® citations 'om the elaborate work of a Southern lawyer, who made this branch of law a . pecial study, evince, abundantly, the principles and spirit of tno American slave code. Tho reader need only compare these principles with those koove cited from tho Mosaic and Roman cods^s to spc. h«"' sissur--* th«* b'""''ii~'' of pretending to admit the ethical rectitude of the tolerario^n by Inspired men of the Mosan and the Roman system of slavery, and at the same time to denounce the ethical unrighteousness of the American system. It is manifest that the whole •pint of the latter Is favorable to any and every enlargement of tho slave's ppr .T 00 BIBLICAL DISCOURSE. tVeMn .„?'''' '" r'^'""^-" '>n.otl\hc'MoHa -H uH ,i''r. '^la.ter and in that view i. tj,» . '"'••8""a' i-itflitH as a man it r^H^HMi'l, '•* '^"'""n "ode in rccoKnizina ?P: 5 '< Mi M :1 intlffat nllconsUt- ho Mosaii! and thfi ', and In that view ade In rccojjfnizinjf the master -with- ave ai hU. ilavery Bystem of '■ the toleration of Ijfhteoucneps, and spiratlon, of the