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SLAVEHOLDING NOT SINFUL.
M ARGUMENT
BEFORE THE
GENERAL SYNOD
OF THE
|lcfoniuir f roMtiif gittclj €$$£$,
OCTOBER, 1855.
BY /
SAMUEL B. HOW, D.D.,
PA6TOE OF THE FIBST EEFOBMED DUTCH CHTJECIT, NEW-BEUNSWICK, H. J.
NEW-YORK:
JOHN A. GRAY, PRINTER & STEREOTTPER,
95 & 9T CLIFF STREET.
1 8T5.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by
HENRY K. UOW,
In the Clerk'a Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New- York.
A RELATION
CIRCUMSTANCES THAT CALLED FORTH THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS.
The Author of the following address to the General Synod of the
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of North America, deems it
proper to state : that at the meeting of the Synod in the City of New-
Brunswick in June last, " a communication was received from the
North-Carolina Classis of the German Reformed Church, purporting
to be a certified copy of their action in reference to seeking an eccle-
siastical connection with the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church,
which was referred to the Committee on Correspondence," of which
he was the chairman. That committee recommended to Synod the
adoption of the following resolution :
"Resolved, That Synod cordially reciprocate the fraternal feelings expressed by the
Classis of North-Carolina of the German Reformed Church ; that they regard with
favor their proposal of effecting an ecclesiastical relation with our Church ; and that
so soon as they present duly-authenticated testimonials of their accepting its stand-
ards and constitution, they shall be received as one of its integral parts, and so be
fully incorporated with it, and shall be known among us as the German Reformed
Classis of North-Carolina, of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of North-
America."
The Report recommending this resolution was accepted. But when
it was moved to adopt the above resolution, debate followed, and it
was discussed at some length ; when Rev. Thornton Butler, who had
been recognized by Synod as the Commissioner from the North-
Carolina Classis, perceiving from the debate that several members of
the Synod were opposed to forming a connection with them, with-
drew the application of the Classis. He was afterwards requested,
4 ADDRESS.
by a resolution of the Synod, to "reconsider the withdrawal of his
papers, and leave them in the hands of the Synod until their meeting
in October next : whereupon he consented to leave them in the hands
of the Synod, subject to the advice of his Chassis." According to the
report of the New-York Tribune, of June 16, 1855, there were two
principal objections raised against the receiving of the Classis by the
Synod ; the one was, that it was inexpedient to do so, because it
would endanger the peace of the Church, and expose it to being dis-
tracted by the agitation of the question of slavery. This was urged
by Rev. Dr. Wyckoff, of Albany, and Rev. Dr. Bethune, of Brook-
lyn. The other was, that slaveholding is a sin, and that we ought not
to hold communion with slaveholders. This objection was urged by
Rev. Isaac G. Duryee, of Schenectady, who said, that he had " conscien-
tious scruples against the formation of such a relation." According to
the Tribune, he declared as follows : "I can say that my inmost soul
shrinks from the idea .of our extending the fellowship of our church to
slaveholding churches as I shrink from the touch of the torpedo," etc.,
etc. The writer of this was not aware at the time that there were any
Abolitionists among the ministers of the Reformed Dutch Church, or
that such feelings as those expressed by Rev. Mr. Duryee existed in
the minds of any members of the Synod. He knew that slavery
had existed in the Reformed Dutch Church for generations past, and
that it now exists ; and that there is no prohibition of it in the form
of our church-government, and that it had never been reproved by
General Synod. He was, therefore, taken completely by surprise.
He, however, attempted a reply, and among other things, reminded
the Synod that, as a judicatory of the Church of Christ, they were
bound to administer its government according to the laws and the
principles taught us in God's holy word ; and that, as there was no
prohibition of the holding of slaves, and nothing whatever in that holy
word to warrant our refusal to form an ecclesiastical connection with
these German brethren, we ought to assent to their proposal by
receiving and incorporating them with our Church.
At the late meeting of Synod in October, in the city of New-York,
the question of receiving this Classis was again considered. On the
third day of the session of Synod, a motion was made and carried in
the affirmative to lay the whole subject upon the table ; the vote at
first standing 44 ayes and 41 nays. The ayes and nays were called
for, and the vote then resulted in 50 ayes and 47 noes. The Comis-
sioner from the Classis of North-Carolina considered this vote as
dearly exhibiting the feelings of a majority of the Synod towards the
Classis, and withdrew from its sessions. He also expressed to the
ADDRESS. 5
Chairman of the Committee of Correspondence his desire that he
would do nothing more in relation to this business, and received from
him the assurance that he would comply with his request. When,
therefore, on the following day, this matter was called up, he stated
to the Synod, that he considered the vote on the motion to lay this
whole subject on the table as decisive, and that he had promised the
Commissioner from North-Carolina that he would take no further part
in any doings of the Synod on this question. The following resolution
was finally adopted :
" Whereas, It is evident from the opinions expressed on this floor, that the Synod
can not unite cordially in receiving the Classis of North-Carolina within the limits
of our Church ; and whereas the Synod desire to treat the Classis of North-Caro-
Jina with the courtesy and kindness due to respected brethren, therefore
"Resolved, That the Commissioner of the Classis of North-Carolina be requested to
withdraw his papers."
On the second day of the sessions of Synod, it being the order of
the day to take this subject up, the Chairman of the Committee on
Correspondence delivered, with the exception of a few passages which
he omitted when speaking before the Synod, the following
A. D D R E S S .
Me. President : Two principal objections have been made
against receiving into our Church the Classis of North-Carolina.
The first objection is, that if we do so, we shall destroy the
peace of our Church, and introduce among ourselves distrac-
tion and division by the agitation of the slavery question. The
second objection is, that slaveholding is a sin, and that there-
fore, we ought not to admit slaveholders into our Church. 1
shall attempt, first of all, to show that slaveholding is not a sin,
and that therefore, there is no reason to exclude slaveholders,
simply because they are slaveholders, from union and com-
munion with our Church. If this is established, then both ob-
jections necessarily fail: for it would be alike absurd and
wicked to disturb the peace of the Church for that which the
Scriptures teach us is not a sin, and which was no bar to
church-fellowship with the Apostles of Christ. Let it be re-
6 ADDRESS.
marked that we admit slavery is an evil, much to be lamented ;
but we deny that it is, as 1ms been asserted, a sin against God
and a crime against man.
I. THE HOLDING OF A SLAVE NOT A SIN.
It has been said that " American Slavery is at war with the
Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United
States, natural justice, and Christianity" — "that slavery is a
sin against God and a crime against man, etc."* To these bold
statements we reply, that the mass of the American people have
never considered the holding of slaves as at war with the De-
claration of Independence ; that the Supreme Court of the Na-
tion has declared that it is not against the Constitution of the
United States ; and that it is not against natural justice and
Christianity, we shall now endeavor to prove. AVe admit that
it is an evil much to be lamented, but we deny that it is a sin
against God and a crime against man.
As I am addressing the Supreme Ecclesiastical Court of the
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, my final appeal shall be
to the Holy Scriptures as the inspired word of God, the only
infallible and perfect rule of right and wrong, truth and error,
in matters of religious faith and duty. ~We all profess to believe
that " the law and the testimony of God" are the standard of
duty and the rule of faith, and that if any "speak not accord-
ing to this word, it is because there is no light in them."
That the holding of slaves is not a sin we prove from the
following passages of Scripture :
1. 1 Tim. G : 1-5 : " Let as many servants as are under
the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the
name of God and his doctrine be not 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 any man teach otherwise, and consent
not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and to the doctrine wliich is according to godliness; he
is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and
* Sco 13th Annual Report of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society,
pp. 3 and 16.
THE HOLDING OF A SLAVE NOT A SIN. /
strifes of words, whereof comet] 1 envy, strife, railings, evil sur-
rnisings, perverse clisputings of men of corrupt minds, and desti-
tute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness : from such
withdraw thyself."
We begin with the New Testament to obviate an objection
that might be urged if we should begin with the Old Testa-
ment, that the Christian dispensation has greater light and
freedom and privileges than were enjoyed under the Jewish
dispensation, and that therefore, though slavery might have
lawfully existed under the latter, that can not be pleaded in
favor of its existing under the former. Our endeavor will be
to show that they both entirely agree on the point before us.
The term " servants" in this passage of sacred Scripture is in
the original Greek, "dovXoi" the primary meaning of which,
Robinson in his Greek and English Lexicon of the ]STew Testa-
ment, gives as, " a bondman, slave, servant, pr. by birth ; diff.
from dvdpdnodov, one enslaved in war." — He says : "In a family
the dovXog was one hound to serve, a slave, and was the prop-
erty of his master, 'a living possession,' as Aristotle calls
him." — Schleusner gives as the meaning of the term — 1. proprie :
servus, minister, homo non liber, nee sui juris et opponitur ru>
eXevdepog, that is, " its first and proper signification is that of a
slave, a serving-man, a man who is not free and at his own dis-
posal." But to put his meaning beyond doubt, the Apostle adds
the words, " under the yoke" which is an emblem of servitude
or of the rule to which any one is subject. He here unques-
tionably speaks of slaves who are under bondage to their mas-
ters. Bloomfield says : " The commentators are not sufficiently
aware of the strength of this expression, in which there is a
blending of two expressions to put the case in its strongest
point of view (supposing even the harshest bondage) in order
to make the inj unction to obedience the more forcible." These
slaves the Apostle commands to " count their own masters,
whether heathen or Christians or Jews, worthy of all honor,"
and the reason that he gives for this is, " that the name of God
and his doctrine be not blasphemed." It was lawful by the law
of Moses, to make of the heathen bondmen for life, and to hold
their children in bondage. But not so with one who was born a
Jew. lie was permitted to serve only for six years, and it is quite
possible that there were some false teachers who asserted that,
8 ADDRESS.
as no Jew was to remain a slave for life, so ought no Christ-
ian.
This sentiment,. if it Lad prevailed among those slaves who
were Christians, would have caused them to despise and hate their
masters, and to withhold from them the respect and obedience
which they owed to them. They would thus bring a reproach
on the Gospel as if it were a doctrine that taught men contempt
for their superiors, and disobedience to their lawful commands.
From speaking of the duty which slaves owe to their masters
in general, the Apostle passes on to speak to those who have
believing masters who are their brethren in Christ. Here the
questions whether the holding of slaves is a sin, and whether
we should hold Christian communion with slaveholders, are
fairly met. Does the Apostle then teach the slaves that
they ought to be free? that their Christian masters sin in hold-
ing them in bondage? and does he, with apostolic authority
and in the name of Jesus Christ, command the masters to give
them their freedom? He does nothing of the kind. He not
only does not require these Christian masters to set their slaves
at liberty, but he speaks of them as " faithful and beloved"
brethren, " partakers of the benefit," and for this very reason
he exhorts Christian slaves not to despise them, but rather to do
them service. It seems impossible for the question before us
to be more fully and directly settled. But the Apostle proceeds
further. He says that " if any man teach otherwise," that is, if
there is any Abolitionist among you, any Immediate Emanci-
pationist, who says that no Christian can, without sin, hold a
slave ; that if he holds any, he is bound in duty immediatply to
liberate them, and if he docs not, then true Christians are bound
to refuse church-fellowship and communion with him lest they
should partake of his sin — if ;my man teach these things, then
he does " not consent to wholesome words, even the words of
onr Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according
to godliness." This we should suppose would have been a
sufficient rebuke. But to show the criminality of the doctrine
of these early Abolitionists in the Christian church, the Apostle
proceeds to say, that he who teaches their doctrine " is proud,
knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of
words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of
THE HOLDING OF A SLAVE NOT A SIN. 9
the truth, supposing that gain is godliness." He, then, in a
most marked manner, shows the falseness and danger of their
sentiments by commanding Timothy, " from such withdraw
thyself," that is, hold no intercourse with them. We shall not
inquire how far this precept extends, nor whether it is a pro-
hibition against holding church communion with Abolitionists ;
nor whether the Apostle does not mean to teach us that their
sentiments are so revolutionary, so subversive of the established
order of society, so calculated to produce discontent and resent-
ment in the minds of the slaves as to endanger not only public
but domestic peace and safety, and to produce by stirring up
the slaves to insurrection, massacres and horrors, like those of
the Massacres of St. Domingo, in the year 1790. Certain it
is, that he commands us to withdraw from them.
2. We now turn to the Old Testament. We are informed,
Gen. 17 : 1-14, that when Abrain was ninety years old and
nine, the Lord again ratified the Covenant which he had
made with him, and instituted circumcision as the sacramental
sign of the Covenant. He commanded : " He that is eight days
old among you, every man-child, in your generations — he that
is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money,
must needs be circumcised." (Y. 12, 13.) " He that is bought
with thy money," means the bought slave, and to such God
commanded the sign of his covenant to be administered.
Here then God took Abraham, a slaveholder, his children and
his bought slaves into covenant with himself without express-
ing the slightest disapprobation of his holding slaves, but in
the fullest manner authorizing him to retain them as a portion
of his family or household by taking him and them into coven-
ant with him. Abraham was a large slaveholder, for we are
told, Gen. 14 : 14, 15, that he armed three hunded and eight-
een of his slaves to pursue the kings who had captured Lot ;
and the servant whom he commissioned to procure a wife for
Isaac, in recounting to the family of Eebecca the great wealth
of Abraham said: "The Lord hath blessed my master greatly,
and he is become great ; and he hath given him flocks and
herds, and silver and gold, and men-servants and maid-ser-
vants, and camels and asses." (Gen. 24 : 35.) Here men-servants
—the original term means servants who are bought, or inherit-
ed slaves— such men-servants and maid-servants are enumer-
10 ADDRESS.
ated aa a part of the property belonging to Abraham— property
which the Lord hath given him — and in the bestowal of which
the Lord had blessed him, and the possession of which Abra-
ham's servant urged as a reason for Rebecca marrying his son.
But what is the character that is given to Abraham? The
Apostle James tells us that this slaveholding Abraham "was
called ifu friend of Goo 1 :' (Jas. 2 : 23.) The Apostle Paul
teaches us that he was "the father of all them that believe."
( I J< »m. 4 : 11.) In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, to
teach us the wonderful change that death made in the con-
dition of the poor beggar, Christ tells us that "he was carried
by the angels into Abraham's bosom." (Luke 16 : 22.)
The Covenant which we are considering, was made with Abra-
ham and with his children that should come after him in their
generations, for an everlasting Covenant. It was by this cove-
nant that God first organized his visible Church on earth. He
and his descendants were now separated from the world by God
himself, and were taken into a special covenant-relation with
him. The promise given was : " I will be a God unto thee
and to thy seed after thee," and as the sign and the seal of this
Covenant, circumcision was instituted ; and thenceforth the
descendants of Abraham, through Isaac and Jacob, became
" an holy people unto the Lord their God ;" and the Lord chose
them to be a peculiar people to himself above all nations
that were upon the earth. (Deut. 14 : 2.) A special promise
given to Abraham was : " In thy seed shall all the nations of
the earth be blessed." This promised seed was Christ. Because
of the rejection of Christ by the Jews, the natural descendants
of Abraham, they became an apostate church, and the kingdom
of God was taken away from them and given to a nation or a
race of men bringing forth the fruits thereof. They ceased to
be the peculiar people of God, and thenceforth the middle wall
of partition, the ceremonial law that sej^arated the Jew from
the Gentile, was broken down by Christ ; and believing Gentiles
were admitted into the Church along with believing Jews. The
covenant, however, w r as the same, and through Christ the
blessing of Abraham conies on the Gentiles, for they are all
the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and so they are.
Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Circum-
cision taught the Jew to look forward by faith to a coming
THE HOLDING OF A SLAVE NOT A SIN. 11
Messiah to save him from sin and make him a child of God.
Baptism teaches all believers in Christ to look back and rejoice
that the promised seed of Abraham, from whom he receives the
blessings of salvation, has come. Circumcision now on the
part of the Jews is the standing testimony against them that
they reject Christ, and so are rejected by him. Baptism is the
standing testimony that we believe in Christ as the seed of
Abraham, in whom it was promised that all nations should be
blessed. Before the coming of Christ, circumcision, and since
his coming, baptism distinguish from the world the organized
visible Church of God, which has existed from the institution of
circumcision, and will exist till the end of time. But this cov-
enant was made with a slaveholder, and this visible Church
was organized in his family, and his slaves received the sign of
the covenant along with himself and his children.
Moreover, the non-holding of slaves has never been made a
term or condition of church- fellowship. Bingham, in his Anti-
quities of the Christian Church, informs us that, " We find by the
author of the Constitutions, under the name of the Apostles,* that
in the first ages of the Christian Church, one part of the inquiry
that was made concerning those who offered themselves to
baptism was, whether they were slaves or freemen. If they
were slaves to a heathen, they were only taught their obliga-
tions to please their master, that the word of God might not be
blasphemed ; and the master had no further concern in their
baptism, as being himself an inlidel ; but if the master were a
Christian, then the testimony of the master was first to be re-
quired concerning the life and conversation of his slave before
he could be admitted to the privilege of baptism. If he gave
a laudable account of him he was received ; if otherwise, he was
rejected till he approved himself to his master. So far in those
days it was thought necessary and serviceable to religion to
grant Christian masters a power over their slaves, that without
their testimony and approbation they could not be accepted as
fit candidates for baptism."f So far, too, we may add, were
they from considering the holding of slaves to be sinful in
itself.
* Supposed to be of the second and third centuries.
f Book 11th, chap. 5, sec. 4, p. 502. See also Southern Presbyterian Review,
Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 582-583.
12 ADDRESS.
3. Our third argument to prove that the holding of slaves
is not sinful, is derived from Exocl. 20 : 17. "Thou shalt not
covet thy neighbor's house ; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
wile, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor
his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's." This precept
establishes the right of property, and forbids not only the unjust
depriving the owner of his lawful property, but even the secret
desire to do so. It strikes down at once into the dust Commun-
ism and Socialism. It teaches us that there is a division, and that
there are rights of property ; that there are masters and that
there are slaves, and bids us to respect the right of the master,
and not to covet his man-servant or his maid-servant.
The division of property and the security of the owner in the
possession of it, lie at the foundation of civilized and Christian
life, and where they are unknown men are wandering tribes of
barbarians, ignorant, rapacious, and debased. To cultivate the
arts and sciences that embellish and exalt human life, and es-
pecially to have colleges and churches, the right of property
must be respected, and the desire and the attempt to deprive
others of property which the law of God and the law of the
land have made it lawful for them to hold, is to strike a blow
at the very existence of civilization and Christianity. We ad-
mit that there are great inequalities in the possession of pro-
perty and in the conditions of men, and that there are many evils
to be deplored. But with all their inequalities and evils, the
worst despotism on earth is to be preferred to a state of constant
anarchy and consequently of constant warfare. Oppressive as
despotism may be, yet under it the masses of men live in com-
parative quiet and security. Under anarchy no man is safe in
the possession of life or property. God therefore commands us
to respect the right of property, to leave the lawful owner of it
in the undisturbed possession of it, even though it be a man-
servant or a maid-servant. What though we may think slavery
unjust, yet there it is, it actually exists, for wise and good rea-
sons God permits it, and he commands us not to seek by force
to remove it. He has sent forth no messengers of violence and
of war, no spiritual knight-erraats to light with carnal weapons,
and by force and bloodshed to remove the evils and oppressions
that exist, or that we may imagine to exist among men. This was
the plan of Mohammed, who went forth with sword and fire to
THE HOLDING OP A SLAVE NOT A SIN. 13
punish and destroy all who did not agree with him in what he
considered truth and right. This was the plan of the French infi-
del propagandists of 1793 ; and this we fear is the plan of many
amongst us, and we regret to say of some who are called min-
isters of the Gospel, a name which they do not deserve and should
not bear. No, " the weapons of our warfare, not carnal, but
mighty through God to the pulling down of strong-holds." We
are ministers of peace, not of war, and they who would put
down what they consider wrong among us by violence and war,
might have made good followers of Mohammed and able allies
to French infidel republicans ; but we can not admit their claim
to be the ministers of the Gospel of the Prince of Peace.
4. Our fourth argument to prove that slavery is not sinful,
is derived from the ceremonial and political law given to the
Israelites by God, as well as the moral law. One of the most
remarkable of the institutions of the Levitical law, was the
passover which commemorated the deliverance of the Israelites
from their bondage in Egypt. "We are told that the Lord said
to Moses and Aaron : " This is the ordinance of the passover ;
there shall no stranger eat thereof. But every man's servant
that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him,
then shall he eat thereof. A foreigner and an hired servant
shall not eat thereof." When the bought servant was circum-
cised he became a member of his master's family, and was
entitled to various privileges which were not granted to the
foreigner who was a hired servant. He became one of the
covenant people of God, for his circumcision signified this to
him ; and if he was an Israelite indeed, then it was to him, as
well as to Abraham, " a seal of the righteousness of faith."
Another remarkable law was that of the Jubilee, which re-
turned every fiftieth year, when every Hebrew servant was set
free with his children, and was restored to his own family and
the possessions of his father. But it was not so with servants
who were foreigners. The law in relation to them was as fol-
lows : " Both thy bond-men and thy bond-maids which thou
shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you ;
of them shall ye buy bond-men and bond-maids. Moreover,
of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of
them shall ye buy and of their families that are with you which
they begat in your land, and they shall be your possession ; and
14 ADDRESS.
yc shall take them as an inheritance for your children after 3*011
to inherit them for a possession. They shall be your bond-men
•for ever." (Lev. 25 : 44—46.) It is remarkable that this law was
given within the space of the first year after the departure of
the Israelites out of Egypt." But in all the history of their de-
liverance from the cruel bondage in which they were there
held, no mention is made of any slaves among them ; nor when
we consider their abject poverty is it probable that they pos-
sessed any. It seems probable, therefore, that the laws relating
to slaveholding were given to them in anticipation of the ex-
istence of slavery among them after they were settled in the
land of Canaan ; and if so, they were plainly permitted by God
to hold slaves. When Abraham was taken into covenant by
God, the holding of slaves was fully established, and had he
even wished and attempted to do away with it, we have no
reason to suppose that he would have succeeded, but would
have exposed himself and his family to the resentment of those
among whom he dwelt, and that therefore God permitted him
to hold slaves. But this can not be said of the laws in relation
to slavery which were given to the Israelites. They were then
separated from all other nations, alone and in the wilderness,
they were under the special protection of God and had nothing
to fear from any of the neighboring nations. But instead of for-
bidding them to hold slaves, he expressly permitted them to do
so. We might produce other arguments from the laws given
by Moses to the Israelites ; but we think that enough has been
presented to show that the holding of slaves was not forbidden
by God, and was no bar to the enjoying of church privileges.
It may be objected, however, that under the Old-Testament
dispensation many things were permitted which are not tole-
rated under the New-Testament dispensation, a dispensation of
greater light and purity and privileges than belonged to the
old dispensation. Let us then examine the New Testament
and inquire what are its teachings on this subject.
1. Our first remark is, that Christ and his Apostles in the
strongest manner assert the divine inspiration and binding
authority of Moses and the Prophets, that is, of the Old-Testa-
ment Scriptures. On this point there was no dispute between
them and the Jews. It was Jesus Christ the Son of God who
* Compare Exodus 19 : 1, with Num. 10 : 11.
THE HOLDING- OF A SLAVE NOT A SIN. 15
gave to the Israelites their laws in the wilderness, and who
spake by his spirit in the prophets,* who was again visibly
present among the Jews in the humble form of the Man of
Nazareth, explaining and enforcing the laws which he had
before given to them. The Law of Ten Commandments is re-
ferred to and argued from by both Christ and his Apostles, as
the Law of God of universal and perpetual obligation, and con-
sequently the tenth command is in as full force at the present
day as when it was first given, and the right of the master to
his man-servant and maid-servant remains as strong as at the
first. Moreover, all true believers in Christ are children of
Abraham, and so under and interested in the Covenant which
God made with him. " Know ye, therefore," says the Apostle,
" that they which are of faith the same are the children of Abra-
ham So then they which be of faith are blessed
with faithful Abraham. . . . If ye be Christ's then are ye
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal. 3 : 7,
9, 29.) It is under that covenant which God made with Abra-
ham to be a God to him and to his seed after him, and of which
circumcision, before the death of Christ, was the sign, and bap-
tism now is and has been since his death, that the visible
Church is now placed, and believing masters with their believ-
ing slaves are now as they ever have been entitled to the sign
and privileges of the covenant.
2. Our Lord repeatedly spoke of slaves, especially in several
of his parables, without the slightest intimation that he con-
demned slavery, and in such a way as plainly showed that he
considered it lawful. Among others we refer to the parable
of the Unmerciful Servant, Matt. 18 : 23-35. Of the Talents,
Matt. 25 : 11-30. Of the Unprofitable Servants, Luke
17 : 7, 10.
3. We are told, Matt. 8 : 5-13, that a Centurion came to
Jesus beseeching him to heal his sick servant. When Jesus
offered to come and heal him, the centurion replied : "Lord, I
am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but
speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I
am a man under authority, having soldiers under me : and I
say to this man, Go, and he goeth ; and to another, Come, and he
* Luke 24 : 21. Acts 24 : 14, etc.
16 ADDRESS.
cometh ; and to my servant, (slave, tfovAw,) Do this, and lie doeth
it." Here was a heathen, high in office, acknowledging to
Christ that he was a slaveholder, and asking of him to heal his
servant. If the holding of slaves had been sinful, Jesus would,
we 1 1< >ubt not, have so informed him. Instead of this he highly
commended his faith. lie marvelled and said to them that
followed, Yerily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith,
no, not in Israel. Did he say that a slaveholder could not be
a Christian ? that he could not be saved ? that he would not
own him as his disciple? lie said just the reverse. "I say
unto you that many shall come from the east and west and
shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kin<r-
dom of heaven," plainly intimating that this believing Roman
centurion should be one of them.
The divinely-inspired writers of the Books of the New Testa-
ment imitate their Master, for while they address commands,
exhortations, and admonitions to masters and slaves, they do
not give the slightest intimation that slaveholding is sinful.
We shall select some of the passages which refer to this subject :
Eph. G : 5-8. — Servants, be obedient unto them that are your masters ac-
cording to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart as unto
Christ ; not with eyeservice as menpleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing
the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service, as to the Lord
and not to men : knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same
shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
Coloss. ;J : 22-25. — Servants, obey in all things your masters according to
the flesh, not with eyeservice as menpleasers ; but in singleness of heart,
fearing God : and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not
onto linn ; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inherit-
ance : for ye serve the Lord Christ. Rut he that doeth wrong shall receive for
the wrong which he hath done : and there is no respect of persons.
Thus 2 -. 9, 10. — Exhort servants to be obedient to their own masters, and to
please them in all things; not answering again; not purloining, but showing
all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all
things.
1 Peter 2 : 18-21. — Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not
Only to the good and gentle, lint also to the fro ward. For this is thankworthy,
if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For
what glory is it, if, -when ye be buffeted m your faults, ye shall take it patiently?
but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable
with God. For even hereunto were ye called.*
The Apostles fully recognize the right of the masters in their
ations from the Epistles of the Apostle Paul, he uses the
lot, bond Blaves— the A.postle Peter uses the term di/cerai, which also some-
tunes means slaves. See Luke 1G : 13.
THE HOLDING OF A SLAVE NOT A SIN. 17
servants, and to their obedience and service, and exhort the
servants to yield these to their masters, as their duty and for
conscience toward God.
"We think that we have fully established from Scripture our
position, that the holding of slaves is not a sin. We might in-
deed have pursued a shorter course, and have challenged the
Abolitionists to produce a single law of God forbidding it. We
are told that " whosoever committeth sin transgresseth the law,
for sin is the transgression of the law /" (1 John 3 : 4,) and that
"sin is not imputed when there is no law." (Rom. 5:13.)
Slavery is constantly spoken of in the sacred Scriptures, but
there is no direct prohibition of it, no special law against it, and
therefore it does not come under the definition of sin given by
the inspired apostle. We can not therefore but consider the
harsh and bitter denunciations of slaveholders as both unwar-
ranted and anti-scriptural.
Before leaving this part of our subject, we think it right to
refer to two cases of fugitive slaves. The one is that of Onesi-
mus, who ran away from his master, Philemon, who was a
Christian, and had been converted through the ministry of Paul.
Though a slaveholder, the Apostle commends him for his love
and faith toward the Lord Jesus and toward all saints. Onesi-
mus, his fugitive slave, came to Pome, and was there converted
also under the ministry of Paul, and had, by his exemplary
temper and conduct, gained his high esteem. How does Paul act
under these circumstances % He was an inspired apostle, in-
vested with authority from Christ to teach Christian doctrines
and to enforce Christian duties, and therefore his conduct in this
case would be a precedent to guide the Church in all future
similar cases. He explicitly and fully recognized the right of
Philemon, and sent back his slave, at the Scime time earnestly
commending him to the mercy and forgiveness and Christian
love of his master.
Another strong test-case is that of Hagar, the fugitive slave
of Abraham. She had fled from the oppression of her mistress,
Sarah. The angel of the Lord — or rather, as we think the
words should be translated, the Angel-Jehovah — found her in
the wilderness, and said, " Hagar, $arai's maid, whence earnest
thou ? and whither wilt thou go ? And she said, I flee from the
face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the Lord said
2
18 ADDRESS.
unto lier, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her
hands." (Gen. 16 : 6-9.) Here the Lord Jehovah taught Iia-
o-ar her duty as a slave, to submit to and obey her mistress, and
recognized the right of masters to their slaves.
"We have thus far considered only the question whether slave-
ry is a sin, and have shown that Abraham was a slaveholder
when the Lord called and entered into covenant with him ; that
at the first organization of the visible Church of God, slaves and
their children were admitted into it along with their masters,
and that the sign of the covenant was equally administered to
both ; that the laws which God gave to the Israelites by Moses
clearly recognized the right of masters in their slaves and to
their service ; that Christ and his apostles enforced these laws ;
that under the Gospel dispensation slaveholders and their
slaves were admitted to church-membership and its privileges ;
that special commands were given to regulate the intercourse
between masters and their slaves ; and that the apostle Paul,
and even the Angel- Jehovah himself, sent back to their owners
slaves who had run away from them. It is evident from this
that God has not made the holding of slaves a sin, and that to
attempt to exclude all slaveholders, simply as and because they
are such, from church communion, is a usurpation of unlawful
power against the covenant and the law of God. We have
made our appeal to the Scriptures of truth, heartily assenting to
the teachings of the confession of faith of our Church, which
says : " "We believe in the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures to
be the only rule of faith. "We believe that those Holy Scrip-
tures fully contain the word of God, and that whatsoever man
ought to believe unto salvation is sufficiently taught therein.
Therefore we reject with all our hearts whatso-
ever doth not agree with this infallible rule which the apostles
have taught us, saying,' Try the spirits, whether they are of God.
Likewise, ' If there come any unto you, and bring not this doc-
trine, receive him not into your house.' " (Art. 1, § 7.)
II. KTCASONS FOE, THE PERMISSION OF SLAVERY.
Since God has permitted slavery to exist in his Church, and
has made it the subject of special legislation, there must be not
only sufficient, but good and wise reasons for his so doing.
EEASONS FOR THE PERMISSION OF SLAVERY. 1 !)
Should we be unable to discover these reasons, it would be our
duty to bow in humble acquiescence, assured that he ever acts
with infinite wisdom and goodness.
But there are most important reasons for what He has done,
some of which we shall now attempt to specify. Slavery is one
of the bitter effects of the fall, and of the great wickedness of
men. The only effectual remedy for these evils, is the redemp-
tion of men from sin by our Lord Jesus Christ; and this
redemption is applied to them through the instrumentality of
the word, and of the ministers of God which he has given to
the Church.
At the very time when God pronounced on man the sentence
of death, immediately after his first sin, he said to the Serpent:
" I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between
thy seed and her seed : it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt
bruise his heel." It is here foretold that there would be con-
stant enmity through the whole period of the power of " that
old Serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the
whole world," (Rev. 12:9;) together with wicked men, whom
he rules, and who are called " the children of the devil,"
(1 John 3 : 10,) and the Lord Jesus Christ, the seed of the
woman. It is foretold, that in this contest the seed of the
woman should bruise the serpent's head, that it should inflict a
mortal blow on his power ; and that the serpent should bruise
his heel, that it should injure his human nature, in which he
dwelt and trod upon the earth. This was accomplished, when
Christ " through death destroyed him that had the power of
death, that is, the devil, and delivered them who through fear of
death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Ileb. 2 : 14,
15.) This promise gave the first gleam of light and hope to
our fallen race. All the cruelties and oppressions and deaths
that have ever existed among men, have been caused by their
apostasy from God, and the delusions and temptations of the
devil. The remedy for all this is the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus. This is the remedy that God has provided, and
there is no other. The universal extension of the Gospel of
Christ, in its purity and power, over the whole world, is that
which alone can remove the evils of the fall.
This truth was more fully revealed when God gave to Abra-
ham the promise : " In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth
ADDRESS.
be blessed.' 1 The exposition of this promise is given to us by
tie, when he says: '-Now to Abraham and his seed
the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of
many ; bu1 as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." He
: " Christ hath redeemed ns from the curse of the Law,
being made a curse for us. . . . That the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." (Gal.
: 1 : 16, 13, 14.) This 1 (leasing of Abraham, God communicates to
the world through the Church, and a clear understanding of
the origin, the nature, the privileges, and the design of the
visible Church, which began in the family of Abraham, will
greatly assist us to form right conclusions on the subject of
slavery.
It had its origin at a time when the world was full of
idolatry and wickedness, and seemed to be fast hastening to
the same state of violence and crime as existed before the
flood. Then, God interposed in wrath, and, with the exception
of Noah and his family, destroyed the whole race for their sins.
Now, however, he interposed in mercy, not to destroy, but to
reform the race. To arrest the wickedness that was spreading
in all directions, and prevent its universal prevalence, he called
Abraham, and entered into covenant with him. He appointed
circumcision, as its sign and seal that he would be a God to
him and to his seed after him; and he commanded him to
administer this sign and seal of the covenant— not to the serv-
ants that ho had hired, but to him that is " bought with money of
any stranger which is not of thy seed." (Gen. 17:12.) Does
the Abolitionist burn with indignation against the wickedness
of slaveholders, and of those who do not join in his wrath and
denunciations against them; Does he cry: "Let justice be
done though the heavens fall?" Let him look back and see
this justice done in the terrible desolations of the flood. But did
this reform man \ It is easy to declaim against popular evils and
popular Bins to which we ourselves have no personal tempta-
- ; but it may be laid down as a sure maxim, that the man
who does not resist and repel the temptations to which he is
personally exposed ; who declaims against the sins of others
vv ith whom he has no personal connection, and from whom he
has no reason to fear personal evil, or expect personal profit,
EEASONS FOR THE PERMISSION OF SLAVERY. 21
while he readily complies with whatever is popular in the
Church or the world, and is ready, and even foremost, to extol
whatever the community among whom he lives extols, and to
decry whatever it decries, would be one of the strongest advo-
cates of slavery among slaveholders, and one of the loudest
demanders of abolition among the enemies of slavery. But let
us suppose that slavery was exterminated by violence, and that
every slaveholder was compelled to relinquish all his slaves,
would this better the condition of the world? Would this
arrest oppression and injustice, and make all men benevolent
and upright ? It would merely set loose a multitude of ignor-
ant, unprincipled, immoral men, and give them the power to
follow the promptings of their evil hearts. ~No permanent and
beneficial reformation can be effected, except through the
mercy and grace of God in Christ, and these are usually
bestowed through the instrumentality of his Church.
2. A slave belongs to the lowest condition of men, and is
often exposed to injuries and oppression from his master with-
out being able to obtain relief. To mitigate the evils of his
condition, to teach his master that though he is a slave, he is
yet a man, an immortal and accountable being like himself;
to assert his rights, and shelter him from injury, God took him
into covenant with himself, and along with his master and his
master's children, commanded him to be circumcised. He
thus taught the master, that while he permitted him to retain
the slave as his property, and to require from him labor, and
obedience to all his lawful commands, he must beware how he
oppressed and injured him ; that he, as the covenant-God of
his slave, would be the avenger of his wrongs, and that he
required of him, as the master, to respect the rights, and
endeavor to promote the spiritual welfare of his slave, and to
treat him not only as a man, but as a brother in the Lord.
To the slave, too, who was bought from among the heathen,
it was a privilege of unspeakable value thus to be admitted
to the covenant of the people of God. JSTot only was the con-
dition of the slave among the heathen much more degraded
and wretched than among the Israelites, but he lived and died
in spiritual darkness and hopelessness. But among the
Hebrews he was placed under the protection of the covenant
and law of God. He was taught that he was not a poor,
22 ADDRESS.
degraded, wretched, and friendless outcast; but that the eternal
God was his father and his protector, who admitted him to the
blessings and the privileges of his covenant, and gave him a
name and a place in his Church. How great was the privi-
vilege, how rich were the blessings bestowed on him !
Among the laws that God gave to protect the slave from the
cruelty of the master, one was the following : " If a man smite
his servant or his maid with a rod, and he die under his hand,
he shall be surely punished. Notwithstanding, if he continue
a day or two, he shall not be punished for he is his money."
Another law was, that : " If a man smite the eye of his serv-
ant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish, he shall let him go
free for his eye's sake. And if he smite out his man-servant's
tooth or his maid-servant's tooth, he shall let him go free for
his tooth's sake." (Exod. 21 : 20, 21, 26, 27.) Some suppose
that the meaning of the words " he shall be punished," in the
law relative to beating a slave, is that he shall be punished
with death ; but many commentators think that it means that
he shall be punished at the discretion of the magistrate, accord-
ing to the circumstances of the case. It is, however, implied in
this case, that the master has beaten his slave with a proper and
usual instrument of correction, that he did not intend to murder
him, and that the loss of property and of services is part of his
punishment. We learn, too, that the mutilation of any mem-
ber of the body of a slave by his master entitled him to free-
dom.
The Hebrews were commanded to give to their slaves the
rest of the Sabbath, and to allow them to partake along with
themselves, and their sons and their daughters, of the feasts
which were made of the second tithes. (Deut. 12 : 17, 18 ;
16 : 11.) Thus they were not only protected from the cruelty of
their masters, but admitted to partake in their most sacred
festivals, and to rejoice along with them.
3. It would be interesting to compare the state of slaves
among the Hebrews, with their state in other and heathen
nations, and to show its superiority. A writer on Hebrew
antiquities has correctly remarked, that though "they were
sometimes the subjects of undue severity of treatment, and of
sufferings in various ways, (Jer. 34:8-22,) still it can not be
denied that their condition was better amonsr the Hebrews
EEASONS FOR THE PERMISSION OF SLAVERY. 23
than among some other nations, as may be learnt from their
well-known rebellions against the Greeks and Eomans. Nor
is it at all wonderful that the Hebrews differed from other
nations in the treatment of their slaves, in a way so much to
their credit, when we consider that in other countries there
was no Sabbath for the slave, no day of rest, and no laws
sanctioned by the Divinity." (Jahn, §172.)
From the few intimations that are given us on the subject,
it seems that pious masters, before the coming of Christ, treated
their slaves with strict justice and humanity ; that the con-
dition of their slaves was easy, and that they were not only
contented, but often strongly attached to their masters. Who
can read the interesting prayers of the eldest servant of Abra-
ham, his fidelity in the discharge of the duty committed to him,
and the terms in which he speaks of his master, without the
conviction that strong friendship towards each other existed in
both the master and the slave? (Gen. 21.) Holy Job had his
slaves, and numerous slaves too ; but that he was far from
oppressing them, and that he rightly discharged his duty to
them, is manifest from his solemn protestation before God : "If
I did despise the cause of my man-servant or of my maid serv-
ant when they contended with me, what then shall I do when
God riseth up ; and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him ?
Did not He that made me in the womb make him ? and did not
one fashion us in the womb ?" (Job 31 : 13, 15.)
Such were the laws which God gave to the Hebrews, which
continued throughout their whole commonwealth, under which
Christ, as the Son of Man, and his holy apostles, lived, and to
which, in all their teachings and writings, we find no objec-
tion — not a single word of their injustice, or of the propriety
of their repeal, or even of their amendment. What, too, is
more remarkable, is the fact that, if slavery is unjust, Christ, in
his comment on, and explanation of the law of Moses, in his
Sermon on the Mount, does not give the slightest intimation
of it.
When we turn to the inspired writings of the Apostles, writings
addressed to fully organized Christian churches, whose govern-
ment and discipline were administered by the laws of Christ's
kingdom, do we find that they denounced slaveholding as a sin ?
Do they require a protest against slavery, or enjoin on masters
2-i ADDRESS.
the immediate emancipation of their slaves as a condition of
admittance to their communion, or of continuance in it? There
is not a syllable of the kind in all their writings. The Apostle
having exhorted slaves to the faithful discharge of the duties
which they owed to' their masters, from the fear of God, and a
regard to his glory, commands the masters to do their duty to
the slaves in the same manner. He says: " And ye masters,
do the same thing unto them, forbearing threatening : knowing
that your Master also is in heaven, neither is there respect of
persons with him." (Eph. G:9.) "Masters, give unto your
servants that which is just and equal, knowing that ye also
have a Master in heaven." (Col. 4 : 1.)
The position, then, in which slavery is now placed by the
laws of Christ is this : They concede to masters the right of
ownership of their slaves, and at the same time they remind
them that there are important duties which they owe to them
as immortal, and many of them as redeemed creatures, whom
God has taken into covenant with himself, and that they must
give account to him for the manner in which they discharge or
violate these duties. They command the slave to submit to
the rule of his master, and to perform the duties which lie
owes to him with fidelity, and in the fear of God. To both the
master and the slave, they say : "As ye would that men should
do to you, do ye also to them likewise." (Luke 6 : 31.) "We are
aware that this passage has been interpreted to mean, that as
no man desires to be held in slavery, so the slaveholder should
gratify the desires of the slave and make him free. This is
entirely changing the rule, and making it to read thus:
•' Whatsoever others would that you should do to them that do
ye to them." But it is : "As ye would that others should do
to you, do ye also to them likewise." We have no right to
desire others to give up their lawful rights, or to do unjustly,
for our sakes ; nor does Christ intend that we shall sacrifice
our rights, or fail to do our duties, for the sake of gratifying
the unreasonable or unlawful and sinful desires of others,
'lake the case of a murderer and a judge or a juryman. Would
it be right for a judge or a juryman to reason thus : " If I were
in the ease of this murderer I should wish to be acquitted, but
I ought to do to him what were I in his circumstances, and he
in mine, I would wish him to do to me, and therefore I will
REASONS FOR THE PERMISSION OF SLAVERY. 25
acquit liirti" ? The meaning of the precept is, that in our con-
duct to others we should have a constant regard to the law of
God, and act towards them with the same benevolence, truth,
and justice, as we have a right to wish them to act towards
us ; thus conscientiously performing to each other the duties
belonging to our relative positions and conditions in life. The
law of God, and not the desires of others is the rule of our con-
duct. A covetous man, through the inordinate love of money,
runs deeply in debt to an honest man. He is exceedingly
unwilling to pay the debt, and, though he has ample means to
do so, yet most earnestly wishes his creditor to relinquish it.
Does this precept require the honest and laborious creditor to
do so, and to act on such reasonings as this : " This man who
owes me a large sum of money, though he is able to pay it,
yet wishes me to relinquish my claim to it ; true, indeed, it is
the gain of jeaximi honest industry and frugality, and the loss
of it will reduce me to poverty ; but yet, if I were in his cir-
cumstances, and had his disposition, and if he were in my cir-
cumstances, I should have the same desires as his, and there-
fore it is my duty to comply with his desires, and relinquish
my claim to the debt." If we should thus interpret and act on
this precept, we should introduce a frightful state of society.
The rule contemplates a continuance of its established order ;
that the parent shall retain his authority f^er his child, and
the child revere and obey his parent ; that the husband shall
be kind and faithful to his wife, and the wife shall be affection-
ate and faithful to her husband ; that the master shall be just
and merciful to his slave, and the slave be obedient and faith-
ful to his master.
In the Epistle of Paul to Philemon, we have an admirable
illustration of this rule, as applicable to the case of a master
and his runaway slave. Having declared his strong affection
for Philemon, the high esteem in which he held Ids Christian
character, and the joy and consolation he received from the
accounts which he heard of his kindness to the people of God,
and usefulness in the Church ; he, in the gentlest and kindest
terras intercedes with him for Onesimus, his slave. He reminds
Philemon of his authority, as an Apostle of Christ, to command
him, but he tells him that for love's sake he would rather be-
seech him. He reminds him that he was Paul the aged. He
26 ADDRESS.
had grown gray in the service of Christ, and in the midst of
perils, and persecutions, and prisons, and poverty, and stonings,
and scourges, and shipwrecks, had triumphantly carried for-
ward the banner of the Cross, and won thousands to Christ.
And who is he that this intrepid Apostle so humbly beseeches?
Is he a man who is claiming what does not belong to him ?
who is insisting on what is wrong and sinful in itself? And
does Paul quail before this man ! Does he who stood
undaunted before Rome's cruel tyrant, Nero, cower before an
obscure church-member, who wickedly claims what it is sinful
for him to possess ? Had this been the fact, had God's law
forbidden Philemon to hold his slave, would this holy Apostle,
whose soul was adamant, and the lightning-flash of whose eye
made Felix tremble, would he for an instant have shrunk from
telling Philemon that he had no right to hold a slave ? that
slaveholding is in itself a sin ? and if he had not relinquished
all claim to the slave, would he not have denounced against
him the severest vengeance of Almighty God? This would be
the course which some modern reformers would have pre-
scribed to him ; but the course which he pursued was directly
the opposite : and either this holy and inspired Apostle erred,
or they are in grievous error. He knew that Philemon had
rights ; he admitted those rights. He knew that, by the
Roman law, he had the power to punish his slave, not only
with scourges, but with death. (Juvenal 6 : 219.) He knew,
too, that even a good man might be hurried to excesses by
passion and resentment. He, therefore, used entreaties. He
says : " Though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee
that which is convenient, yet for love's sake I rather beseech
thee." Surely, if Philemon had one spark of noble, generous
Christian feeling in his heart, he must have been astonished
and humbled at such an address from such a one as he knew
Paul to be, the aged Apostle of Christ, illustrious for his serv-
ices and his sufferings, honored far above all others by God ;
who had already been rapt up into the third heaven, and now,
close on the verge of life, stood ready, and waiting for the
summons to ascend to his Saviour and his God, and receive his
unfading crown of righteousness — that he should tenderly and
earnestly beseech him ! And for whom does he beseech him ?
Why, for his poor runaway slave, Onesimus. But the Apostle
REASONS FOR THE PERMISSION OF SLAVERY. 27
does not now speak of him as a slave ; lie commends him as
his son : thus intimating to Philemon, that if he had any
respect or love for him, the father, he must show it by kind-
ness for his sake to his son. " I beseech thee for my son,
Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds ; whom I have
sent again. Thou, therefore, receive him that is mine own
bowels." What tenderness ! what meekness ! what humility !
But we can not pursue our remarks further on this wonderful
epistle.
Suffice it to say, that both Philemon, the master, and
Onesimus, the slave, had been converted to Christ through the
instrumentality of Paul, and he, reminding Philemon of this,
exhorted him to receive his returned slave, " not now as a serv-
ant," (slave,) "but above a servant," (slave,) " a brother be-
loved especially to me ; but how much more unto thee, both
in the flesh and in the Lord." No heathen, no infidel, ever
could have acted thus from such principles, or have used such
arguments and such motives to induce a master to treat with
humanity his slaves. Yes ; there are Christians that are slave-
holders ; there are slaves that are Christians; and there are
Christians'who are the friends of slaveholders and their slaves;
and who are willing, like Paul, to hail them as brethren in
Christ Jesus, and to sit down with them at the sacramental
table of their common Lord and Saviour. When Philemon
received from Onesimus himself, and had read this epistle from
Paul, with what emotions must he have received his slave!
Methinks that with gushing tears, and a throbbing heart, he
clasped him in his arms, and welcomed him back to his home ;
and when at the close of that day he and his household bowed
in worship before God, he thanked and praised him with the
liveliest gratitude, and with his whole soul, for his conversion
and return. You, Christian brethren, who yourselves have
tasted of the grace and goodness of the Lord, can judge of his
feelings. Through the benign influences of the Gospel, the
bitterness of servitude is lessened and sweetened, and " the
brother of low degree rejoices in that he is exalted, but the rich
in that he is made low." (James 1 : 9.) Philemon after his
conversion was a better master, and Onesimus after his return
was a better slave.
The mitigating influence of Christianity was shown by the
28 ADDRESS.
conduct of the first Christian emperor of Home, Constantino the
Great, who abolished the punishment of slaves by crucifixion,
and facilitated their manumission, which before was attended
with great difficulties and no small expense, but which he ren-
dered easy, and no ways chargeable.*
I owe an apology to Synod for trespassing so long on their
time ; but I trust that the importance of the subject will be my
excuse. Permit me, however, to remark, that our Southern
Christian brethren are fully impressed with their duty to com-
municate the Gospel to their slaves, and to give them suitable
religious instructions and privileges. None can more strongly
insist on this duty than does the Southern Presbyterian Review,
a very able and excellent work, published at Columbia, S. C.
It says, speaking of their slaves :
"We still bear in mind that they are men, and have immortal souls; that
Christ shed his blood to redeem them as well as ourselves, and that we are put
in charge of their training as that of our own children, for his kingdom of
glory. It is, then, as plain as daylight that Christianity condemns all laws of
the State, and all ideas and practices of individuals which put aside the im-
mortality of the slave, and regard him in any other light than that of a moral
and responsible fellow-creature of our own. We have no hesitation in declar-
ing that we accord with Judge O'Neall in earnestly desiring the repeal, for
example, of the law against teaching the slave to read, .... because, we con-
ceive the law is both useless and hurtful. It is a useless law, for very many of
our best citizens continually break it, or allow it to be broken in our families.
Besides, very many of our slaves can read, and do teach and will teach others.
.... But the law is hurtful, inasmuch as it throws an obstacle in the way of
that which it is plainly the wisdom of the State to foster and encourage,
namely, the religious instruction of the young negro population."
The writer asserts that " Christianity, while it civilizes the
slave, improves him in all parts of his character. It takes
away piecemeal the mass of barbarian ignorance, superstition,
and corruption. It is advantageous to their whole physical,
intellectual, and moral nature. It makes the slaves better,
more intelligent, industrious, tractable, trusty — better men, bet-
ter servants of God, better servants of man. . . . And what is
the effect of Christianity upon the master ? It softens his
spirit in the sternness of law and discipline, while it confirms
and establishes these just bonds. Whatever was formerly
harsh in the relation is gradually removed. Mutual intercourse
is sweetened by it ; the master is no tyrant, the slave no rebel.
"Authority ceases to be severe ; obedience ceases to be a task."
* Ant Uni. Hist., vol. 15, book 3, ch. 25, pp. 5*76, 577.
REASONS FOR THE PERMISSION OF SLAVERY. 29
{jS&uthem Presbyterian fieview, vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 579-581.)
"One tiling," say they, addressing their fellow-citizens of the
South, "is plain. It is ours to do the duties of intelligent,
decided, fearless, conscientious Christian masters, and future
events we may leave with Him who will direct them well."
(P. 585.)
Let us remember, that if we refuse to receive these
churches into full communion with ourselves, we not only ex-
clude the masters, but along with them their slaves ; many of
whom are members in full communion in the same churches
with their masters, and sit down with them at the same sacra-
mental table. It is a startling fact in the history of the Church
in our country, that a Southern Aid Society has been formed
in this city, (New- York,) avowedly for the purpose of supplying
the deficiency of the American Home Missionary Society, who,
it is said, forbear to send missionaries to our Southern and
South- Western States, because they hold slaves. Can it be
that they thus act because they have lost confidence in the
efficacy of the Gospel, to remove and cure the sins and evils of
the world, and have found an obstacle too great for it to over-
come } .
In reading the life of the late excellent Bishop "White,
of Pennsylvania, I have met with one of his letters, dated in
1811, in which he says, that there then was " clanger of the ex-
tinction of the profession of Christianity among a great propor-
tion of the people of the United States." It would seem, from
the course that the Home Missionary Society pursues towards
them, that they are willing that this event should happen in
our Southern States. What a contrast to the conduct of Christ,
who commenced his public ministry, by going among " the
people who sat in darkness and in the region and shadow ot
death," (Matt. 4 :15, 16,) and who came to save the chief ol
sinners. But they seem to think that our Southern brethren
are in a darkness so deep, and are sinners so great, that their
condition is hopeless ; or that they deserve to die in their sins,
without the Gospel. Dark, however, as they may consider
their state to be, it is the firm conviction of the writer of this,
and he speaks from personal knowledge, that the Gospel is
preached in greater, and in many instances in far greater purity,
and consequently with far greater power, in the pulpits of the
30 ADDRESS.
Southern churches generally, than it is in a large number of
the Northern churches. That some of the Southern masters
are cruel to their slaves he does not deny. This, however, is
only admitting that there are cruel men at the South, as well
as at the North. But he confidently asserts, that public senti-
ment in the South is strong against such cruel masters ; and he
believes that should such a scene occur among them as the
death of " Uncle Tom," it would send a thrill of horror, and
produce as strong detestation throughout our Southern as it
would throughout our Northern States. Our Southern breth-
ren complain, and they complain with truth, that " so mon-
strous are the misrepresentations which ignorance, malice, and
fanaticism are constantly and assiduously propagating in re-
gard to this (the slave) relation among us, that if our names
were not actually written under the pictures, we should never
suspect that they were intended for us." Sure we are, that
withholding the Gospel from them, and refusing to hold eccle-
siastical connection with them, will produce no beneficial
results, while it may be attended with most disastrous conse-
quences.
Hitherto we have, as a nation, run a career of unex-
ampled prosperity ; and, bound together by that glorious Con-
stitution, which, under the guidance of Heaven, the wisdom
and patriotism of our fathers formed, we have reposed in the
peace and the safety of a mighty empire, while a glorious
future opens before us. Not only do our own safety and hap-
piness require the perpetuity of our Union, but true patriots
and philanthropists throughout the world desire with intense
anxiety the success of our attempt at self-government, and the
dissolution of our Union would be a fearful blow to the cause
of true freedom throughout the world. To ourselves it would
bring ruin, for it would at once plunge us into the horrors of a
civil war. And for what ? Why, for the maintenance of an
infidel abstraction, concerning the inalienable rights of man, in
what they call a state of nature. Suppose, then, that the three
millions of Southern slaves were all liberated at once, that the
wishes of the Abolitionist were carried out to their full extent,
what would be their condition ? Would we join them to drive
the Southern white men from their homes, and to seize their
property, and so throw them out, with their families, houseless,
REASONS FOR THE PERMISSION OF SLAVERY. 31
impoverished, and helpless? Or are the Abolitionists of the:
North prepared to receive and support these three millions of
slaves ? The greatest injustice and cruelty that could be done
to them, would be simply to carry at once into execution that
for which, not the slaves, but the Abolitionists are contending.
And shall we, for such a mad scheme, break up our confeder-
acy and dissolve our Union? Where is the true-hearted
American that advocates this ? Where is the American so
ungrateful to God for the blessings of the government under
which he lives, and such a traitor to his country, as to consent
to the breaking up of our Union, and consequently the destruc-
tion of our own happiness, and of our usefulness to the world,
that now stand in bright prospect before us ? And what would
be the gains of such traitorous and diabolical schemes, should
they prove successful ? Who would be benefited by them ?
Not one ; while all would be losers. None can predict what
disasters and crimes and sorrows would follow an event so
marked by folly and wickedness. All the denunciations and
slanders and bitterness of Abolitionists will never benefit the
slaves of the South. These are not the methods which God
employs to bless men. His Church is " the light of the world,"
is " the salt of the earth," by which he instructs, purifies, and
elevates them.
Shall we then join hands with the Abolitionist, and dis-
own every Christian minister, and close every church at the
South, so far as in us lies, abolish from among them the
Sabbath, and the worship of God, and the sacred ordinances of
our religion, and leave them, in spiritual matters, in a deeper
than Egyptian darkness ; and this, too, for not doing what they
can not do, emancipate at once all their slaves ? Our brethren
of the Classis of North-Carolina are the true friends of the
slaves among whom they live, as well as of their masters ; and
are laboring, as the ministers of God, to convey to them the
blessings of salvation. Christ has owned them as his minis-
ters, and they come to us in the name of Christ, seeking to be
one with us. Shall we repel them ? Shall the Dutch Church,
which has heretofore gloried in the reputation of its steadfast-
ness in the truth and purity of the Gospel, and of its conserva-
tive influence amid the agitations and changes that have for
years past shaken society, now abandon its conservative course.
32 address;
and forfeit its conservative character ? No. Let us take these,
our Southern brethren, by the hand, and say to them : Christian
brethren, we own and we bless you as such in the name of the
Lord. We hail you in your good works, and in all your
efforts to instruct and enlighten and Christianize the slaves
that are among you. Our arms are open to receive you ; and,
while we ask the blessing of God on you and your labors, we
welcome you as one with us in Christ.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
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