An inquiry into scriptural and ancient servitude, in which it is shown that neither was chattel slavery; with the remedy for American slavery

Front matter

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Chapter I. Bible Servitude

Ax Address delivered ix the Sixth Presbtteriax Church, Cincinnati, 0., March 19th, 1843.

Revised and Enlarged.

(i Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." — Romans xiii. 10.

Much has been said, and much written, of man's accountability ; but when all is said that can be, for or against, it amounts to this : the Creator has implanted in the heart of every human being a consciousness of his accountability. There is in the mind of every man a living conviction that he is an accountable creature, and must answer for his conduct to some superior being. This is the fact with all savage as well as civilized men. This conviction fans the flame of all idolatrous altar fires — inflames the zeal of all the worshipers of strange gods. The Scriptures reveal the nature of this accountability, — the great objects to be secured; and also the nature and design of the moral government of God. 1*

I have selected this text, 1st, to call attention to one great object of the divine government, — the great object ; and to show that slavery is wholly irreconcilable to this object — to that government. And 2nd, to examine those passages of the Holy Scriptures which are thought by some persons to favor slavery. •

All intelligent beings act from motives ; they have design in all they do. The great Jehovah is the perfection of all intelligence, and exhibits perfect design in all his works. He had design in his divine legislation, and we now inquire what that design was — ■ what was the great object of establishing the moral government of the Universe. Some contend it was to secure the honor or dignity of the throne of God — the rights of divine sovereignty. This is hard to maintain, because Jehovah is immutable ; he cannot change ; his rights cannot be invaded. What he now is, he always was and ever will be. The whole universe could not put forth an arm long enough to reach even the foundations of his throne. He liveth forever deeply interested in the happiness of all his creatures, yet perfectly independent of them. While "he can. not be tempted," he tempteth no man. He dwells beyond temptation's reach. Not so with his creatures. They are placed in such a variety of circumstances, and their relations to each other are such, that the moral government of God is necessary to make the possession of the powers with which intelligent beings are endowed safe to those with whom they are connected. The great design of the divine law is to make moral agents act right or felicitously toward each other, and all creatures with whom they are connected. Religion does not consist so much in what some call devotion to God, as in righteousness to man. True devotion is humble obedience. While we are to love God with all our hearts, we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. The measure of love we are to have to our fellows is the love we have to ourselves. Self-love renders us incapable of consenting for a moment to our own pain or injury. We can consent to suffer pain for the sake of gain, but never for its own sake. We are wholly incapable of choosing misery for misery's sake. This is a fixed law of mind. And this measure of love the divine law requires us to have to our neighbor, and we can no more consent to his injury than to our own, while governed by it. But obedience to the divine law does more than this. It brings our powers under contribution to each other's good — makes them act well on our neighbor.

Actions have tendencies irrespective of any moral character which may be given them by law. Were I to strike another with my might, that act would inflict pain, had no prohibition been given. Our powers may be employed in producing happiness or misery; and the great design of the divine law is to make them productive of delight. This is the great principle established in the text: "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor," and therefore fulfils the law. What the law requires, love does. Love fills the measure of the law which God has given man for the government of his whole life; and to work ill to no neighbor is at once the obiect and fulfilment of this law. The objects of the divine law are to prevent misery and to produce happiness. A heart that can consent to inflict misery on a fly, is at war with the principles of the law of Jehovah, and is unlike the Holy One. Now as love fulfils the law because it worketh no ill to any neighbor — to any person — its great object must be, to make the possession of the powers bestowed on man safe to those with whom he is associated.

Permit me to illustrate this position : suppose large pipes were placed just over each pew in this house, within reach of the people in them, — one fdled with scalding water, impregnated with the most corroding and caustic substances ; the other with the most fragrant odors, as exhilarating as the air of heaven, — and stop-cocks in these pipes over each person in the house, so that every one might turn a key and let in a stream of odor or of scalding corosive, as he might choose. The hand that turned a water key might be the first injured, but not the only sufferer. Would it be unreasonable or unjust to prohibit the actor from injuring himself and those around him ? Surely not.

But suppose these hands cannot be still, that they must turn some of these keys, would it not be indispensable to securo the happiness of those occupying trUe house, for him who might be the author of thii state of things, to require each hand to turn an odor key, to prevent it from turning a hot water one, and thus make every hand contribute to its own happiness, and the happiness of those with whom it is associated, instead of letting in a stream of misery or death. Let every odor key be turned, and at once the place is filled with the sweetness of heaven. These pipes and keys may serve to illustrate the moral government of God.

Actions have tendencies ; some produce felicity, others infelicity. The immortality within us is a living principle of ceaseless activity — a perennial fire that never goes out. Throw the soul into a state of quietus, and you might as well annihilate it. Action is to the mind what breathing is to the body, — its life. The great design of the government of Jehovah is to make beings thus constituted instruments of each other's happiness, both in time and in eternity, and by employing them constantly in producing delight, prevent them from producing misery. The law of God prohibits all those actions or things which would directly or indirectly give the slightest pain, or sadden for a moment a single heart ; and requires the employment of the unceasingly active powers of the mind in doing what will increase the general joy, widen the openings of the fountains of life, and cause the streams thereof to flow deeper and wider in waves of increasing delight — to bear creation forward toward the throne of God, from whence pours forth all the bliss that the Infinite can impart to finites. And all this is done in a way which will strengthen the bonds which unite social beings. It makes them instruments of each other's happiness — increases their obligations to each other forever. What wisdom, what love in this arrangement ! How near will the operation of this law bring together, through an eternal heaven, the inhabitants of the worlds of joy ! With what delight will this arrangement be contemplated through eternity ! Let none suppose, for one moment, that the moral government of God will not require obedience to his law in heaven ; for the perfection of earthly obedience is to do the will of God on earth as it is done in heaven ; to obey his law here as it is obeyed there.

"Love worketh no ill to his neighbor." But who is my neighbor ? Some may be ready to answer, the man in the next door, across the street, or on the next farm. The neighborhood of some is very small. They are not willing to acknowledge that the slave in the South is their neighbor ; they are unwilling to know that he is. Let us examine into who is our neighbor. The word in the original is rhe, a verbal noun : it comes from the verb ra ah, to see, — or he saiv, viewed, beheld, perceived, knew, discerned, — and means the person seen, perceived, or discerned ; hence I am neighbor to any person I have any knowledge or conception of. This comports with our Lord's definition in the case of the man who fell among thieves. He was a Jew. The priest lived near him, and so did the Levite. The priest went down on ono side, the Levite on the other ; but neither gave him the needed aid. How his heart must have leaped for joy, when he saw his brother Jew approaching him,-^- more, when he saw his priest ! But what a change of feeling when his priest passed by and paid no attention to him ! But his hope revived when hearing the footsteps of a man approaching him, he looked and saw his Levite ; but soon died, as he saw him pass by on the other side. He must have given himself up to die, when the men of his own sanctuary, whose only business was to serve the people at the altar of the living Jehovah, had no hearts to feel for him, or hands to give relief. But the sound of footsteps fall again upon his ear, and behold a Samaritan approaches ! A man of another nation, an enemy of the Jews — his enemy — a sad reflection ; but this stranger spoke kindly to him, took him to an inn, and relieved all his wants. How unexpected must all this have been ! Our Lord asked who was neighbor to him who fell among thieves ? The Jews answered, "he who showed him kindness;" and the Savior accepts the answer. This settles the meaning. According to the literal meaning of the word, any person that I can see, perceive, or have any knowledge of, is my neighbor ; and according to our Lord, any person to whom I can show kindness. We can do some act af kindness to all, even the slaves over the river, yea, in the far south. We cannot go there and unloose their chains, but we can send up fervent prayer to the Grod of heaven for them, and he can and will do it. If we are not good men and women we ought to be, and what we ought to be we may be, and the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much. And as we can pray for all men, we can show kindness to all, — be neighbor to all ; every human being is our neighbor. The entirety of humanity is the neighborhood of Christianity.

The human being does not live for whom we cannot pray — to whom we cannot show kindness. Away with the mistaken notion, — I will use scriptural language, and say — damnable heresy, which confines our sympathies — our christian affection to the narrow limits of the smoke of our fires. Blessed be the name of the Most High, I can be neighbor to every human being ; my neighborhood is as big as the world — the world is the neighborhood of the christian — yes, and if there were beings in the moon for whom Christ died, to save from sin, they would be in my neighborhood too ; and I could act the part of a neighbor to them — sympathize with them through Jesus, our living head, as the members of the body sympathize with each other through their common head.

Does slavery work ill ? If it does, it conflicts with the law of love, which fulfills the law of God, — is the law of God. I think none who heard me last night, can doubt for a moment that it works ill, and if so, it falls under the condemnation of scripture. Some say, "show me, thus saith the Lord, and I will believe." I think I can do it. I will try presently . But slavery assumes such a variety of shapes, phases, and forms, that to condemn it In one form would not cover the whole ground, or even in many forms would leave some modification of it uncondemned. The scriptures condemn every element that enters into the composition of slavery, just as the Pope curses heretics, beginning at the "topmost hair," and curses every muscle, sinew, tendon, and fibre, from the head to the toes, and then curses the whole man. This is a very effectual way to curse, and in this effectual way the scriptures condemn slavery ; condemn all the elements which enter into its composition, and then condemn it by name — the name the God of heaven has given it in his word ; from this condemnation there is no escape.

I have heard some professed christians say, that they were "as much opposed to slavery as anybody," but they believed the Bible sanctioned it. This is an extremely awkward position. These persons' morality is purer than the Bible. They condemn as wicked what the Bible sanctions as righteous. I could not bring myself to proclaim, that my principles were purer than my admitted rule of faith and practice, which is a revelation from an infinitely pure and holy God. But some go even thus far, to apologize for slavery. It is not to be wondered at ; the maintenance of error is always inconsistent.

I will call your attention to some of those passages

of the Holy Scriptures which have been claimed as

giving support to slavery. Leviticus xxv. 44, 45, and

46, are mainly relied on for its support, — are claimed as the great foundation of the system, and are on this account entitled to a careful examination. I

Here I will say, I am a southerner ; have lived thirty-two years in the slave States ; have preached to slaves and slaveholders hundreds of times. I then believed, as I now do, that any person living and dying in the spirit and practice of slavery, would be inevitably lost ; and this doctrine I have preached to slaveholders repeatedly. From my earliest recollection, all persons of whom I had any knowledge, admitted that slavery was wrong. The religion of the entire South condemned it as wrong, up to 1834. At that time an old J), D,, who had formerly been President of a College in the county and State in which I was born and raised, made the important discovery, jthat the sin was in the abuse, not in the use ; that the relation was sanctioned by the Holy Scriptures, while the abuse was condemned by them. He was at that time a Professor in a theological seminary. This important discovery was first made known in an ecclesiastical association in Virginia, my native State.

The subject of modern abolitionism was then beginning to excite the South. One member of the association said, in an inflammatory speech, that, "if the abolitionists would set the country on fire, it would be right to give them the first warming.*' The learned D. D. said, " I think we are in error ; we have admitted that slavery was sinful. This we have always acknowledged, and if our premises be correct, the conclusions of the abolitionists are undeniable. If slavery be a sin, it must be immediately repented of, to secure the divine favor, as immediate repentance is required of all sinners ; but I think, brethren, Tire have conceded too much. If we examine the subject carefully, we shall find that slavery is a relation sanctioned by the scriptures ; that this relation is not sinful ; and the sin is not in the relation, but in the abuse of it, and that we have confounded the abuse of slavery with its use. The abolitionists have taken advantage of this admission, and have assailed slavery, which is right, with the weapons which the scriptures furnish to correct its sinful abuses, not its proper uses." This was the first intimation that slavery was not sinful ; and as soon as it was brought forth by this D. D., it ran like fire in dry stubble all over the South, and over a great part of the North too. I spent several days, in this State, in public debate with two presbyterian ministers, who undertook to prove, from the book of God, that slavery was not only sanctioned by that book, but it was of divine appointment. This Reverend Doctor made another discovery, which was as little creditable to him as this : that it Was a sin for a slave to pray to the Almighty on the sabbath-day, if the master was administering chastisement. This discovery was made in this wise : he was a slaveholder, and a severe one too, and often with his own hands applied the cowhide to the naked backs of his slaves. On one occasion a woman, who served in the house, committed on Sunday an offense of too great a magnitude to go unpunished until Monday.

In towns and cities slaves are generally whipped in cellars, to prevent their cries from being heard as far as they would he in other situations. This is not the case on the plantations. The Doctor lived in a town, and on this occasion took his woman into the cellar, and as is usual in such cases, stripped her from her waist up, and then applied the lash. The poor woman writhed and winced under each stroke, and cried, Oh! master, have mercy! Oh! master, do have mercy ! but without effect. She then cried, Oh, Lord ! Oh Lord ! ! Oh LORD ! ! ! The Reverend Doctor then stopped, and his hand fell to his side as .though it had been stricken with the palsy, gazed on the woman with astonishment, and thus addressed her (the congregation will pardon me for repeating his words) : " hush, you b — h, will you take the name of the Lord in vain on the sabbath-day ? " And when he had stopped the woman from the gross profanity of crying to God in her distress on the sabbath-day, finished whipping her, and then went to his pulpit and essayed to preach that gospel which proclaims liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prisondoors to them who are bound. This was the man who made the important discovery that slavery is not sinful ; and surely he was just the man for such a work. Rut he is now where the servant is freed from his master — he has gone to his reward.

Let us go to the South, and take up the resolutions of southern Presbyterian Synods, and Methodist Conferences. These have taken the ground that slavery

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is not sinful — is not a moral evil. And in the addres of our Methodist Bishops,* at the General Conferenc of 1840, the same ground is substantially taken. The t would not have slavery preached against as a sin, bu the master and slave both converted and brought int the church, and in the relation of master and slave live and die, and get to heaven. This is the doctrine of the bishops of the M. E. Church, and of the church too. The church never has required her slaveholding members to free their slaves, as a condition of salvation or membership — does not now do it ; has always taught that entire sanctification was an indispensable condition of salvation in heaven, and that Providence designed by Methodism to " spread scriptural holiness through these lands," — and yet have from the first admitted that slaveholders might be saved — now take that ground ; consequently, that slaveholding is not inconsistent with entire sanctification ; for the argument when stated stands thus : None but entirely sanctified persons can be saved, — slaveholders can be saved, — therefore, slaveholders can be entirely sanctified. I admit this church has always said that slavery was "a great evil," but never considered it an evil of sufficient magnitude to exclude slaveholders either from the church or heaven ; and that which does neither of these, is no great evil after all.

According to this doctrine, "master use-well" is as good a christian as grace can make, all things else being right. And "master use-ivelV is a very eom-

* The author was at that time an Episcopal Meths«&st. 2* mon character at the South ; you may find him or. every plantation. All slaveholders claim to use their slaves well ; and each is left to determine this question for himself, as the church has not even attempted any standard, except to allow slaves to go to meeting and to receive some religious instruction, but nothing further ; and, according to their showing, none of them are in danger of being lost on account of slavery. It may be asked, how did this opinion obtain such general acceptance ? This passage in Leviticus, and some texts in the New Testament which speak of master and servant, were glossed over so as to appear to favor slavery ; and thus the conclusion was reached that it was not a moral evil, for a pure and holy God could not in any circumstances sanction sin. The introduction of this argument was as follows : After the Spaniards had discovered South America, and commenced working the gold mines of that continent, they employed the Indians in them. The amount of gold required by the Spaniards was more than the Indians could procure ; and they were worked so hard that many of them died. The priests (for the Jesuits had large possessions* and influence in South America at this time), out of compassion for those oppressed beings, proposed to introduce slaves to divide the labor with them. The Portuguese had commenced the slave-trade at that time ; and applications were made by the priests and Jesuits to Charles V., and the Pope of Rome, for permission to buy slaves of the Portu- * See Robertson's Charles V, guese, but they both refused.

Las Casas, a priest, and afterward a bishop, glossed over the 25th of Leviticus, and some parts of the New Testament, so as to adapt, or rather pervert, them to their purpose. He argued that the Jews were authorized, or required, to buy heathen servants — " servants of the heathen," and teach them the worship of the true God — to judaize them, and so far from it being a sin to enslave heathen to make them Christians, it was a duty ; for the Jew had been required to enslave them to make them Jews, a less blessed state. This plea was successful, and the emperor granted permission to buy four or five thousand annually, to be employed in the gold-mines, notwithstanding his former decision. The Jesuitical priest proposed to take the heathen from a state of barbarism — from a land of idolatry, from the altars of their pagan gods, and bring them to a land of gospel-light — to the temples of the true God. In a word, to bless them with Christianity— to bless them with faith and hope in God, and to send them through the gold-mines to the city whose streets are paved with gold. And thus avarice, in the disguise of Christianity, succeeded in reconciling one of the greatest sins with the christian profession, in the judgment of many ; and did more to make sensible men infidels than was ever done at any other one time, or by any other set of men the world ever saw.

The emperor resigned his throne to his son Phillip, and retired to a monastery ; but previous to his abdication he repealed this act of privilege ; but tho interest of the trade had become so lucrative, that his successor paid no attention to the repeal, and the trade went on. This was the commencement of the slave-trade and American slavery. These glosses of Las Casas were improved by the Jesuits. Then came Calmet, the great biblical lexicographer, and adopted these glosses. Then followed Scott, Henry, Dodd, Gill, Coke, Benson, and Clarke, and with one accord and without examination adopted Calmet. Thus the pro-slavery glosses of Las Casas and the -Jesuits have obtained among biblical critics, both Calvinistic and A r mini an i These glosses run through all our commentaries ; but a careful examination of the subject will prove that they are in error on this most important point. Our commentators were good men, wise men, and learned men ; — but the mind of the church was occupied with the jive points, tvatev laptism, and Catholicism. Slavery was not a subject of investigation, much less the subject, and no candid or careful examination of it was made in their day. This is proven by the fact that all adopt Calmet, without questioning any of his positions, or taking any new ones. But I think you will presently be convinced that slavery finds no support in the 25th chapter of Leviticus.

All parts of the Divine Government harmonize. Infinite wisdom has so arranged its proportions that the whole operates without a jar. The Jewish Theocracy was of divine appointment, — the arrangement of infinite wisdom ; hence the operation of the whole must have been harmonious ;. no conflict could ever take place in its action as is sometimes the case with our general and State governments, and all human contrived institutions. There are three things brought to view in this chapter: 1st. the Great Atonement ; 2nd. the Jubilee ; and 3rd. the bringing in of the heathen to the enjoyment of the religious privileges of the Jewish Theocracy. All these are set forth in this chapter.

The institution of the atonement is in the 16th chapter, from 29th verse to the end of the chapter, and is again repeated in 23rd chapter, from 26th to the 33rd. This institution was typical of the great atonement made by God's Eternal Son for sin, and was designed to keep the eye of the Jew's faith steadily fixed on him who was to come. This was one of the most important institutions of the Jewish Theocracy, if not the most important, and was to be observed yearly, with the strictest religious devotion.

The 25th chapter contains the institution of the Jubilee, which was typical of the liberty from sin which the atonement of Christ was designed to secure. On this point all commentators, as far as my knowledge of them goes, are agreed. This institution was associated with the atonement^ was to take place on the day of atonement, which the Apostle, in the 10th chapter of Hebrews, connects with the great atonement of Christ, and shows clearly was not designed to cleanse the Jews from sin, but to fix their eves on him by whose stripes they were to be healed. The blowing of the trumpets on the day of atonement was typical of the gospel-trumpet of salvation — the proclamation of freedom from sin, which was to follow the tragedy of Calvary. And the bringing in of the heathen from the surrounding nations was typical of the gathering of the gentiles into the gospel-kingdom by the preaching of the truth, which makes free the slaves of sin — the gospel-jubilee of freedom from the bondage of corruption and sin, into the liberty of the sons of God. But according to the pro-slavery exposition, slavery is a type of the liberty of the truth — of salvation from the bondage of sin. A queer type of the liberty of the sons of God.

I propose to show that this chapter contains tlio constitution of Heaven's first Missionary Society, and that the arrangement for the purchase of servants was a provision of Divine compassion, by which a door of mercy and salvation was opened to the heathen, through which they could find access to the altar of sacrifice ordained of God, find mercy and live ; and furthermore, to prove that the whole arrangement looked to the benefits of the servants, and not those of the masters.

To understand the Jewish economy, we must look at all its peculiarities. The harmonized action of the various parts exhibits the design of that economy. The first particular we shall notice, is the land could never be sold. It was divided among the tribes, families, households and persons, Lev. 25. 23, Josh, from U to 20 ch f , and 7 and 15, 17, and 18, The Lord claimed the lands as his. It might change hands for a season by a limited sale, or rather what we would "call a lease, but it might be redeemed at any time, and if not redeemed before the Jubilee, went back to its original owner without redemption. The only exception to this statute was a house in a walled town, which might be redeemed in one year, but if not redeemed in that time, did not go out free in the Jubilee. Lev. xxv. 29, 30. In this chapter we have in a very small compass the very best system of democracy the world was ever blessed with. Here was a plan to maintain equality. None could be poor long, and none could out-strip their brethren in wealth for any length of time, for if a reverse of circumstances obliged any to sell their lands, they might redeem them, should a favorable change take place, or any of their family or near kin might do it for them ; but if neither happened, the lands reverted to their original possessors in the Jubilee, and thus all things found their level every fifty years. Well would it be for our world, if statesmen, instead of wading through so many trashy volumes of political economy, would take their principles from the word of God. See Lev. 25, 26, and 27. Now, from this peculiarity, what was the situation of strangers in Judea ? They could purchase no land, for there was none for sale, and they could not obtain any permanent possession, except in a walled town. They could have no permanent residence, except in the character of servants or dependents, except in a walled city ; not one foot of land could be obtained by one of the strangers outside of walls, from Dan to Beer Sheba. And it must be noticed that tributaries, such as the Gibeonites, who maintained their nationality, were not permitted to enjoy the privileges of the Jewish churchy to enjoy these privileges they had to loose their nationality, become family servants, or live in a walled town. This was the only door — mark this !