iii 
 
 li: 
 
 iilR 
 
THE BIBLE AND SLAVEBY: 
 
 IN WHICH 
 
 THE ABRAHAMIC AND MOSAIC DISCIPLINE 
 
 IS 
 
 CONSroERED IN CONNECTION WITH THE MOST 
 ANCIENT FORMS OF SLAVERY; 
 
 AND 
 
 THE PAULINE CODE ON SLAVERY 
 
 AS 
 
 RELATED TO ROMAN SLAVERY AND THE DISCIPLINE 
 OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCHES. 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. CHARLES ELLIOTT, D. D. 
 
 CINCiNNATI: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY L. SWORMSTEDT & A. POE, 
 
 FOR THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, AT THE WESTERN BOOK CONCERN, 
 CORNER OF MAIN AND EIGHTH STREETS. 
 
 J». P. THOMPSON, PRINTER. 
 1859. 
 
^ A 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, 
 
 BY L. SWORMSTEDT & A. POE, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District 
 of Ohio. 
 
 By £3LoJuuaa» 
 
 'UL m 1929' 
 
 American University 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 During the last twenty-three years, or since 1834, 
 the writer of these pages employed much of his time 
 and attention on the subject of slavery. He com- 
 menced editorial life, January 1, 1884, and eighteen 
 and a half years since that time has been occupied 
 as an editor of the religious press. Throughout this 
 period, the discussion of slavery formed a part of 
 his official duties. On this account, he felt himself 
 bound, as far as in him lay, to become professionally 
 acquainted with the subject. He had access to all 
 the leading weeklies, monthlies, and quarterlies of 
 the times, and this subject has all along occupied 
 considerable portions of these publications. The 
 various pamphlets and books issued from the press, 
 during the modern controversies on slavery, have 
 been carefully consulted, whether those in reference 
 to the abolition of the African slave-trade. West India 
 emancipation, or the issues of the last twenty-five 
 years, on American slavery. In prosecuting the 
 subject in reference to the Christian Church, it was 
 indispensable to have recourse to the great law codes 
 of the Roman republic and empii^e, as contained in 
 the Theodosian code, and the compilation of Jus- 
 tinian, as well as the canon law, as these are the 
 
 3 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 leading standards. The Latin and Greek fathers, 
 too, as well as the classical Greek and Latin writers, 
 furnish very important matter on some portions of 
 the general subject. 
 
 When the author of this volume was specially 
 appointed, in 1848, to write the history of the events 
 connected with the secession of a portion of South- 
 ern Methodists from the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 the whole subject of slavery was necessarily in his 
 theme; and after maturely examining the entire 
 ground, his subject naturally was divided into three 
 parts. First, the evil nature of slavery; Second, 
 slavery as it stands connected with the Church; and. 
 Third, as it stood related to the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, in those difficulties which led to a consider- 
 able separation from her fold, in 1845. 
 
 The first part of the discussion led to the consider- 
 ation of slavery in its evil moral character, which is 
 proved from its evil origin, its injustice, its wrongs, 
 its conflict with Christian principles and the Chris- 
 tian spirit, and from its evil effects on all concerned 
 in it. This part of the subject was published six 
 years ago, or in 1851, by Swormstedt & Power, 
 Cincinnati, in two volumes, duodecimo. There is 
 sufficient proof that these volumes have done good 
 service in the Church, in establishing many in the 
 south as to the wrongs of slavery. In the north, it 
 has satisfied thousands, that as this work is in accord- 
 ance with the teachings of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, on the subject on which it treats, the Church 
 herself can not be unsound on this topic. In short, 
 
PREFACE. 5 
 
 the approbation of all whose suffrage may be deemed 
 valuable, has been given to this part of our subject. 
 The late Dr. Bond, on several occasions, informed 
 the author that the work was unanswerable, and that 
 the writer of it, in consequence, had a decided advant- 
 age over his opponents on those points in dispute, 
 between him and them in other parts of the contro- 
 versy. On review, after the lapse of six years, the 
 writer of these two volumes sees nothing material in 
 them which he would now change. And from all he 
 can infer from the objections of opponents, or the 
 approval of friends, this part of the discussion is 
 suflSciently sustained as far as the author is con- 
 cerned. 
 
 Before the second part of the discussion could be 
 prepared for the press, it was necessary to publish 
 "The History of the Great Secession," which was 
 accordingly printed in one large octavo, in 1855, or 
 two years ago. This involved the principles com- 
 prised in the other two parts, and they were used as 
 occasion called for them in the historical narrative. 
 This volume is composed, to some extent, of Church 
 annals, which it was necessary to preserve and ar- 
 range, for the future protection of the Church. This 
 work, of course, will never pay the author or the 
 publishers of it, in a pecuniary point of view. But 
 its material is such that it was necessary to be pre- 
 served for the benefit of the rising generations. 
 
 The present volume — which is entitled, " The Bible 
 and Slavery" — comprises a thorough discussion of 
 the relations of the Bible, historically and theoret- 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 ically, to the system of slavery. The chapter on 
 patriarchal service, under Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
 will show how their treatment of the slavery of their 
 times led gradually to its destruction. The influence 
 of circumcision on it led to its overthrow. The prin- 
 ciples of justice and judgment practiced by these 
 patriarchs warred against it, and the leading element 
 of slavery, that " the child follows the condition of 
 the mother," was overturned in the families of Abra- 
 ham and Jacob. Ishmael, the son of the slave, 
 Hagar, who became the freed-woman of Abraham, 
 was free, as well as his descendants. The four sons 
 of Jacob's two slave-wives, who afterward became 
 freed-women, were patriarchs, or heads of tribes, 
 equally with the other sons of Jacob. And when 
 Jacob descended to Egypt, there were no slaves or 
 servants to go with him. 
 
 The cases of Joseph and the Israelites in Egypt, 
 are the proper types of the reigning slave systems 
 of the times. 
 
 The chapters on the Mosaic code will show^ that 
 slavery could not or did not live where, and as long 
 as it was observed. The chapter on Roman slavery, 
 which cost much labor, it is hoped will be acceptable 
 to the reader. The exegesis and apiDlication of the 
 Pauline discipline, it is presumed, will satisfy the 
 greater number of unprejudiced persons. 
 
 In preparing the chapter on Roman law, there was 
 very little truly available to be found in the English 
 language. What may be culled from the treatises on 
 Greek and Roman antiquities, and the classical die- 
 
PREFACE. 7 
 
 tionaries. will be found very defective indeed, as to 
 any accurate discussion on the merits of the leading 
 topics. The writer was therefore compelled to have 
 recourse to original documents alone as the only reli- 
 able source of information. With these solely he pre- 
 pared the chapter mentioned above, by reading and 
 analyzing all he could find in them on the subject 
 under inquiry. After this chapter was prepared, 
 he found two works which would have aided him 
 much, had he possessed them in time. The one is 
 Blair on Slavery, which is a valuable book, and, as far 
 as it goes, very accurate. This work confirmed fully 
 what had been deduced from the original sources. 
 Another publication of very great merit was obtained, 
 in French, by Mallon. This work is infinitely supe- 
 rior to all in the English language on the subject of 
 the Church and slavery. After perusing every word 
 of it carefully, during the session of the late Gen- 
 eral conference, while watching over the little daily 
 in Indianapolis, we found these volumes to sustain in 
 full the brief outlines which had been prepared with- 
 out any aid other than the original authorities them- 
 selves. Should any thing further be needed on the 
 subject, the republication of Blair in this country, 
 and the translation of Mallon would satisfy the inqui- 
 ries of intelligent, candid men. 
 
 Though the author has, from the best and most 
 reliable sources, prepared a thorough digest of the 
 discipline of the post-apostolic Church upon the 
 subject of slavery, after mature deliberation, he de- 
 termined to send out the Biblical discussion as an 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 independent and separate publication. He has not 
 written a word or a sentence that, as he believes, 
 in its connection, can be fairly construed in favor 
 of slavery. The author feels himself relieved of a 
 considerable task, in having completed, although im- 
 perfectly, what he has had so long on hand. He 
 would now commit all to the providence of God, and 
 implore him to bless what is good and right, and 
 counteract whatever of error may be found in any of 
 these volumes. He desires also, finally, to render to 
 almighty God his sincere thanks for all his mercies, in 
 sparing life and giving health to complete a service in 
 itself imperfect, as other human performances are. 
 
 Charles Elliott. 
 Cincinnati, 0., 1857. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 1. Service and slavery the subject of Divine legislation 23 
 
 Slavery is condedHed by Scripture, page 23. Service a nec- 
 essary institution, and approved of God, p. 24. 
 
 2. Difference between service and slavery 24 
 
 3. Slavery defined. 24 
 
 By the civil law, p. 25. The laws of Louisiana, p. 25. Of 
 South Carolina, p. 26. Judge Stroud, p. 26. General 
 views, p. 26. 
 
 4. Various ways of becoming slaves 26 
 
 Enumeration by Justinian, p. 27. Other modes, p. 27. 
 
 5. floral characteristics of slavery 28 
 
 6. Slavery the creature of law 29 
 
 Civil law quoted, p. 29. It is contrary to the law of nature 
 and to the Divine law, p. 29. It exists by unjust human 
 laws, p. 30. 
 
 7. The relation of the Church to slavery 31 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 PATRIARCHAL SERVICE. 
 
 1. Preliminary remarks 32 
 
 Origin of slavery in the world, page 32. Mixed service among 
 the patriarchs, p. 32. The religious patriarchs not slave- 
 holders, p. 33. 
 
 2. Meaning of the Hebrew and Greek words rendered servant, 
 
 slave, etc 33 
 
 3. The curse pronounced on Cain 34 
 
 4. Patriarchal government. 36 
 
 (1. ) How Abraham's servants were obtained, p. 36. (2.) Re- 
 ligious character of Abraham, p. 37. ( 3. ) His servants 
 were circumcised, p. 38. Religious element in this service, 
 p. 39. It secured religious instruction, p. 39. And final 
 liberty, p. 40. 
 
 5. Various ways in which Abraham became possessed of servants •• 40 
 
 Some were obtained by being proselytes, p. 40. 
 
 6. Others were bought with monei/ 41 
 
 The mere purchase determines nothing, p. 42. ( 1. ) Buying of 
 personal property, p. 42. (2.) How God buys or purchases 
 his people, p. 42. ( 3. ) Service was purchased, p. 43. ( 4. ) 
 Wives were purchased, p. 43. (5.) Joseph bought the 
 
 9 
 
10 CONTENTS. 
 
 Egyptians, p. 44. (6.) Purchase of Joseph involves slav- 
 ery, p. 44. ( 7. ) Mere purchase does not involve slavery, as 
 shown in purchasing for passage money, p. 45. (8.) Buy- 
 ing merely does not sanction slavery, p. 45. 
 
 7. Others were horn in his house 46 
 
 These were instructed and circumcised, p. 46. 
 
 8. Some were obtained by gift 47 
 
 9. Abraham arming his servants inconsistent with slavery 47 
 
 10. Abraham's servants were voluntary 48 
 
 11. He employed no force 49 
 
 12. The social condition of Abraham's servants forbids slavery 49 
 
 13. The patriarchs never sold their servants 50 
 
 14. The classing of servants with cattle, sheep, etc., does not prove 
 
 they were slaves 51 
 
 15. The case of Isaac considered 52 
 
 Does not favor slavery, p. 52. 
 
 16. The case of Jacob 53 
 
 His service to Laban, p. 54. To what extent he had serv- 
 ants, p. 55. No slavery in his case, p. 557 Services of Esau 
 to Jacob, p. 55. Jacob had no servants when Joseph was 
 sold, nor when he went down to Egypt, p. 66. 
 
 17. Service connected with the secondary wives of the patriarchs •• • 57 
 
 Hagar, p. 57. The secondary wives of Jacob, p, 58. First. 
 These maids did not remain slaves, p. 59. Second. They 
 were wives, p. 59. Third. Their children were equal or 
 secondary inheritors, p. 60. Fourth. Their children were 
 not slaves, p. 60. 
 
 18. Points of contrast between patriarchal service and slavery 61 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PATRIAECHAL SLAVERY. 
 
 Service and slavery existed among the patriarchs 65 
 
 1. The moral character of the enslavers 65 
 
 ( 1. ) They were wicked, page 65. ( 2. ) Were under the power 
 of bad passions, p. 66. (3.) Determined to kill him, p. 66. 
 (4.) Their conspiracy, p. 66. (5.) They forcibly seized 
 him, p. 66. Their moral picture drawn, p. 67. Five char- 
 acteristics given, p. 67. 
 
 2. The protest of Reuben 68 
 
 Speech of Josephus on the case, p. 69. The protests of good 
 men in all ages, p. 69. The argument of Judah answers 
 for all, p. 70. 
 
 3. Commutation of slavery for death 70 
 
 The argument of Judah for this, p. 70. It satisfied them, 
 
 71. The deception in the matter, p. 71. The theft, p. 71. 
 'he sin of the act, p. 72. Strictures on the commutation, 
 p. 72. (1.) It has been the source of slavery, p. 72. Jus- 
 tinian quoted, p. 73. (2.) It is unjust, and founded in 
 injustice, p. 74. Blackstone quoted, p. 74. (3.) The jarq/^f 
 of the commutation, p. 74. (4.) Our sales compared to 
 that of Joseph, p. 75. (5.) It was theft, p. 76. (6.) It 
 was sinful, p. 77. Two cases given, p. 78. (7.) The c?e- 
 ception, 78. 
 
 4. The slave-dealers in Joseph's case and our system compared, and 
 
 identified 79 
 
 Negro dogs, p. 81. Sale of Mr. Hill's slaves, p. 82. 
 
 "fn 
 
CONTENTS. 11 
 
 5. Grief of Jacob 86 
 
 A case given, p. 87. Case of Daliah, p. 88. Other cases sim- 
 ilar to Jacob's, p. 88. 
 
 6. Distress and suffering of Joseph 89 
 
 Similar sufferings of our slaves, p. 90. Are deprived of lib- 
 erty, p. 90. This is done by force, p. 91. His unavailing 
 prayers, p. 91. Our gag-laws, p. 92. He was converted 
 into property, p. 92. The producers, traders, consumers, 
 p. 92. The anguish of slaves, p. 93. Separation of chil- 
 dren from parents, p. 9-i. Changes of masters, p. 94. Long- 
 ings for liberty, p. 95. The slaves forgotten, p. 95. 
 
 7. Providence of God over Joseph - • 96 
 
 Lessons derived from it, p. 96. 
 
 8. Reverse of circumstances of enslavers 97 
 
 Anxiety of Joseph's brethren, p. 97. In our case, p. 98. Ob- 
 servations on our slavery, p. 98. 
 
 9. Our confession and remorse compared to those of Joseph's 
 
 brethren - 99 
 
 10. Contrast the slavery of Joseph with the service under Abraham, 
 
 Isaac, and Jacob 99 
 
 11. Identity of our slavery with that of Josej)h 100 
 
 CHAPTER IV, 
 
 EGYPTIAN BONDAGE. 
 
 The principles of this bondage and slavery the same in substance- •• 103 
 
 1. Egyptian bondage was subjection to the government, and not to 
 
 individuals 103 
 
 The Hebrews enslaved as a nation or people, and not as 
 individuals, page 103. 
 
 2. The service of Egypt more mild than our slavery 104 
 
 Instances given, p. 104. 
 
 3. Wherein Egyptian bondage consisted i • • 105 
 
 Compared with our slavery, p. 107. 
 
 4. The new king that did not know Joseph • . . . » 108 
 
 5. Points of resemblance between Egyptian bondage and our slavery- 109 
 
 6. The Egyptians did not want to lose the services of the Hebrews- 111 
 
 Our system compared in this respect, p. 111. 
 
 7. Increasing number and power of the Hebrews a ground of fear.. 112 
 
 Comparison with our system, p. 113. 
 
 8. Danger of insurrection 114 
 
 Tiie Greeks noticed, p. 115. The Romans, p. 115. Dangers 
 in our system, and means to avert it, p. 115. 
 
 9. Prayer of the Israelites to God — and of our slaves 118 
 
 10. God's respect to their prayers 119 
 
 ( 1. ) Bondage, its grievance, p. 119. ( 2. ) The oppressed have 
 access to God, p. 120. (3.) His covenant secures re- 
 dress, p. 120. ( 4. ) His attributes against oppression, p. 121. 
 
 11. The mission of Moses 121 
 
 Allies of our slaves, p. 122. 
 
 12. Punishments on the Egyptians 122 
 
 Analogy between them and us, p. 123. 
 
 13. Deliverance in their case and ours founded on the same princi- 
 
 ples of justice and mercy 123 
 
 (1.) The injustice the same, p. 123. Force the support 
 
 of both, p. 124, Example of women laboring, p. 124. 
 
 (2.) Threatenings are alike, p. 125. (3.) Judgments will 
 
12 CONTENTS. 
 
 be the same, p. 125. (4.) Deliverance will be the same, 
 p. 125. ' 
 
 14. Arguments from Egyptian bondage against slavery 126 
 
 U.) A general argument, p. 126. (2.) Because they were 
 strangers and bondmen, they should not oppress strang- 
 ers, p. 127. ( 3. ) Redemption from bondage a reason against 
 all bondage of Hebrews, p. .129. (4.) The Jewish code 
 prohibits all slavery, p. 129. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 MOSAIC CODE — CLASSES OF SERVANTS. 
 
 The code appealed to to support slavery 130 
 
 Order of discussion, page 130. 
 
 1. The hired servant j3 j 
 
 2. The sexennial servant j^oo 
 
 Law in his case— its meaning, p. 133. Meaning of buy, 
 p. 133, He and his family freed, p. 135. The gratuity 
 conferred on him when freed, p. 135. He was no slave, 
 
 3. Ear-bored servant 237 
 
 He was a contractor in the matter, p. 138. The master was 
 bound by the contract, p. 138, Meaning oi forever, p. 138. 
 
 4. Wife and children of the ear-bored servant 139 
 
 The wife was a heathen, p. 139, Marriage not dissolved, 
 p. 139. Children were free, p. 140. 
 
 5. The daughter sold for a wife 141 
 
 The law in the case, p. 141. ( 1.) Her father sold her, p, 142. 
 ( 2. ) She was purchased for a wife, p, 142. ( 3, ) The mas- 
 ter could not sell her, p, 142. (4,) If married to his son, 
 she is to be treated as a daughter, p. 142. (5.) If she 
 does not become a wife, she is free, p. 143. 
 
 6. The Hebrew non-freeholder sold to a Hebrew I43 
 
 (1.) Not a freeholder— his gratuity, p. 144. (2.) Difference 
 between the hired and bought servant, p. 144, The bought 
 were superior, p. 144, (3.) Political imvileges, p. 145. 
 (4.) His treatment more lenient than that of the heathen, 
 p. 146. (5. ) ^'ot to be ruled with rigor, p, 146. 
 
 7. The Hebrew sold to a stranger, I47 
 
 (1.) The purchaser a sojourner, p, 148. (2.) The servant 
 a freeholder, p. 148. (3.) Had the right of redemption, 
 p, 148. (4.) To be treated as a yearly hired servant, or 
 with respect, p. 149. (5.) To be free at the jubilee, 
 p. 149. (6,) Reason for the law, p. 149, 
 
 8. The thief sold for theft 15X 
 
 9. The heathen servants 1 51 
 
 The law in the case, Leviticus xxv, 44-46, p. 151. This 
 forriK the strongest ground for the pro-slavery advocate, 
 p. 152. Errors of commentators on this point, p. 153, 
 First. The stranger was purchased, p. 153. The heathen 
 stranger, p, 153. Proselyte of the gate, p. 154. Proselyte 
 of justice, p, 154, The poor only became servants, p. 155. 
 Second. Legal restraints and disabilities laid on the stranger, 
 p. 155. (1.) He could not be king, p, 155. (2,) Nor be 
 exempt from usury, p, 156, (3.) Nor oppress a Hebrew, 
 p. 156, (4.) He could be punished for blasphemy, p, 156, 
 (5.) Must abstain from leaven, p. 157. (6.) Could not 
 
CONTENTS. 13 
 
 eat the passover before circumcision, p, 157. (7.) Timo 
 of service, p. 157, Third. Privileges of tlie strangers, 
 p. 157, Fourth. Religious duties of servants, p. 161. 
 Fifth. The names bondmen and bondmaids considered, 
 p. 162, iiixth. Meaning of buy, sold, p. 163. Seventh. 
 Meaning oi forever, p. 164, Eighth. He was free at the 
 jubilee, p. 165. Ninth. Meaning of inheritance, 2)o88c8- 
 sion, p. 165. Tenth. No ground for slavery, p. 166. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MOSAIC CODE — CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS. 
 II. Constitutional laws 168 
 
 Principles and usages of service among the Hebrews 168 
 
 These derived from heathen nations 168 
 
 The Mosaic code nullified these, and prohibited slavery 168 
 
 1. Canaan was to be, by promise, a free country 169 
 
 This is embraced in the Abrahamic promise, page 169. How 
 this was fulfilled, p. 169, 
 
 2. Slavery was prohibited in condemning Egyptian bondage 170 
 
 3. The essential acts of enslavement forbidden as capital crimes by 
 
 a fundamental law, Exodus xxxi, 16, 170 
 
 4. The absence of a slave code in the law of Moses, and the presence 
 
 of a prohibitory one 172 
 
 5. The decalogue condemns, prohibits, and makes penal the system 
 
 of slavery ] 72 
 
 The fifth commandment, p. 173. The seventh, p, 173. The 
 eighth, p. 174, The tenth, p. 174. No support for slav- 
 ery in fourth and tenth commandments, p, 174. (1.) No 
 servants among the Hebrews were slaves, p, 175. (2.) 
 Servants were not property any more than wives, sons, 
 and daughters, p. 175, (3.) The prohibition of eovet- 
 ousness condemns slavery, p. 175, (4,) The fifth, sev- 
 enth, and eighth commandments condemn slavery, p, 175. 
 
 7. The prohibition in respect of persons condemns slavery 176 
 
 8. The rights and privileges secured to servants prohibit slavery- •• 176 
 
 9. The Hebrew language has no word for slavery 178 
 
 10. The servant could never be sold •• .' 179 
 
 They could be bought, but not sold, p, 179, They were not 
 subject to the uses of property, p, 179. Were in covenant 
 relation, p, 180. They were voluntary servants and re- 
 ceived wages, p. 180. 
 
 11. No fugitive slave could be arrested 180 
 
 (1.) The fugitive was not a Hebrew, p. 180. (2,) He was a 
 foreigner or stranger, p. 181, (3,) He was under the pro- 
 tection of the magistrates, p, 181, (4,) Palestine was 
 the asylum for slaves, p, 182. (5.) The Mosaic law ex- 
 cluded slavery in recognizing fugitive slaves as freemen, 
 p. 182. (6,) No law to seize fugitive slaves could ever 
 be made, p, 182. (7.) This law shows the evil nature of 
 slavery, p. 182, (8.) The Hebrew nation an example of 
 a free nation, p, 183, (9,) Our Fugitive-Slave law con- 
 demned by the Mosaic anti-fugitive-slave law, p. 183. 
 ( 10, ) The Mosaic code different from ours, p, 183, 
 
 12. The Sabbatic year at war with slavery 184 
 
 The law of this institution, p, 184, The provisions of the 
 law, p. 185. Hebrew servants released in this year, p. 185. 
 
14 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page, 
 
 13. The jubilee set all servants free 186 
 
 14. No Scriptural or other account of a slave system among the 
 
 Jews 188 
 
 15. The penal sanctions of Moses do not belong to a slave system, 
 
 but to a free ISO 
 
 (1.) Case of a servant corrected with a rod — Plato quoted, 
 p. 189. (2.) Case of a servant killed b^f an ox, p. 190. 
 (3.) Case when an eye or tooth Avas struck out, p. 191. 
 (4.) Case of the betrothed bondmaid when assaulted, 
 p. 192. 
 
 16. Summary of the constitutional laws 192 
 
 CH APTEE VII. 
 
 MOSAIC CODE — EIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES OB 
 SERVANTS. 
 
 III. Rights and pkitileges op servants 196 
 
 1. All servants of strangers were proselytes 196 
 
 2. The master was compelled to keep the Hebrew servant if re- 
 
 quired. 196 
 
 3. Yarious rights — religious instruction — were guests at festivals — 
 
 had much time at command. 196 
 
 4. The servant was protected by law equally with others 198 
 
 5. Affection and love were to be exercised toward them 199 
 
 6. Servants were not to be vexed or oppressed 199 
 
 7. The poor were provided for 199 
 
 8. Servants might hold property 200 
 
 9. They received tuages. 201 
 
 10. Were equal to their masters in all civil rights 201 
 
 11. The gratuities conferred at the end of the term of service. 201 
 
 12. Servants received into covenant relation. 201 
 
 IV. Comparison of service and slavery 201 
 
 1. The two codes are from different origins 203 
 
 2. The one system is hereditary— the other by contract 203 
 
 3. The law of love governs Hebrew service; the law of enmity, 
 
 slavery • 203 
 
 4. Service was voluntary ; slavery is by force 203 
 
 5. The servant received wages ; the slave did not 204 
 
 6. The servant could not be sold ; the slave was 204 
 
 7. The slave could be punished cruelly; not so with the servant- •• 204 
 
 8. Marriage was the right of the servant, but not of the slave 205 
 
 9. The life of the servant protected ; the life of the slave exposed- - 205 
 
 10. Much time allotted to the servant; not so with the slave 205 
 
 11 . The slave can have no property ; the servant can 206 
 
 12. The servant had religious privileges by law ; the slave has no 
 
 such privileges 206 
 
 13. The servant had the common privileges of education; not so 
 
 with the slave 206 
 
 14. Servants could redeem themselves ; slaves can not 207 
 
 15. In Judea the fugitive slave was protected and freed ; not so 
 
 with us. 207 
 
 16. Our laws do not provide for general emancipation from slavery; 
 
 the Mosaic code terminated service 208 
 
 17. EfiFect of the Mosaic code on slavery 209 
 
 18. The slave laws considered »• 210 
 
 19. Conclusion 210 
 
CONTENTS. 15 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 WORKING OF THE MOSAIC CODE. 
 
 Paok. 
 
 1. General survey of the Mosaic code 212 
 
 2. The Canaunites were not enslaved 213 
 
 They were politically destroyed, page 213. 
 
 3. The Gibeonitos not slaves 213 
 
 4. Solomon's servants not slaves 216 
 
 5. The case of the Syrians in B. C. 893, sent home by Elisha 217 
 
 6. A similar case in the days of Ahaz, B. C. 741 218 
 
 7. Denunciation of Isaiah, B. C. 712 219 
 
 8. Occurrence, B. C. 589 • • ••• 220 
 
 9. No foreign or domestic slave-trade among the Jews 222 
 
 10. Period between Malachi and Christ 223 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 
 
 I. Origin* op slavery 224 
 
 II. The Roman law on slavery 225 
 
 Various parts of the law, page 225, 
 
 1. Legal definitions 226 
 
 2. Rights of persons 227 
 
 3. nKjen ui, or freemen 228 
 
 4. Libcrtini, or freed-men 228 
 
 5. Of manumission and its modes, and how accomplished 228 
 
 6. Difference in freed-men abolished 229 
 
 Roman citizens, p. 229. Latins and the law of Jnnia JVor- 
 hona, p. 229. The Dcdititii and the law JSlia Sentia, 
 p. 229. 
 
 7. Who can manumit 230 
 
 8. Manumission in fraud of creditors 231 
 
 Minors under twenty can not manumit, p. 231. 
 
 9. Just causes of manumission 231 
 
 10. Abrogation of the law ^lia Sentia 232 
 
 11. Power of masters over slaves 232 
 
 12. Power of parents over children 233 
 
 Adopted children, p. 234, 
 
 13. Of diminution 234 
 
 14. What are fruits 236 
 
 15. Slaves can have no property 237 
 
 16. Who are witnesses 238 
 
 17. Of making wills 238 
 
 18. Of heirs 239 
 
 The substitution of heirs, p. 240. Division of heirs — neces- 
 sary heirs, p. 241. 
 
 19. Of the pecidiuin 241 
 
 20. A new species of succession 245 
 
 21. The decree Mirahilis •• ^ 246 
 
 22. A slave held in common 246 
 
 23. Runaways, or stolen slaves 247 
 
 24. Obligations of those under our power 247 
 
 25. Of theft 248 
 
 26. Injury to a slave 249 
 
 On the peculium, p. 249. 
 
16 CONTENTS. 
 
 27. Liability of masters for slaves 249 
 
 28. Noxal actions. 249 
 
 III. Digest of the Roman law 250 
 
 1. Division of persons into freemen and slaves 250 
 
 2. Slavery defined 251 
 
 Taylor quoted, p. 251. 
 
 3. Various modes of becoming slaves 252 
 
 (1.) By wars, p. 252. (2.) By kidnapping and commerce, 
 p. 252. (3.) By birth, p. 252. (4.) By persons selling 
 themselves, p. 252. (5.) By the operation of certain laws, 
 p. 253. (6.) By diminution, p. 254. 
 
 4. Slaves in the power of their masters 254 
 
 5. They can have no property 255 
 
 6. Nor make contracts 255 
 
 7. Can have no marriage 255 
 
 Connuhium alone is theirs, p. 255. Concubinage, p. 256. 
 
 8. Are transmitted by inheritance 257 
 
 9. Can not be a legal witness 257 
 
 10. The fugitive — how treated 257 
 
 11. Injury done to a slave 257 
 
 12. Of manumission — it was variously effected 257 
 
 (1.) By the census, p. 258. (2.) By will or testament, 
 p. 258. (3.) By will or testament, p. 258. (4.) By 
 epistle, p. 259. (5.) By adoption, p. 259. (6.) By mak- 
 ing the slave tutor, p. 259. (7.) By being made an heir, 
 p. 259. (8.) In the face of the Church, p. 259. 
 
 13. Restraints on emancipation ' 260 
 
 The frced-man still depended on his former master, p. 260. 
 The Dedititii, p. 260. The Latini, p. 261. The Liher- 
 tini, p. 261. 
 
 14. Patrons, and their relation to freed-men 262 
 
 The subjection of freed-men to patrons, p. 262. 
 
 IV. Slavery of Rome historically considered 262 
 
 1. Slavery in the early days of Rome 262 
 
 2. Number of slaves 263 
 
 3. Masters responsible for the slaves 263 
 
 4. Punishment of slaves 264 
 
 5. Restraints on punishing them 265 
 
 6. Slave-traders. 266 
 
 7. Value of slaves 267 
 
 8. Their food 267 
 
 9. Clothing 267 
 
 10. Their work — the egastula 267 
 
 11. Their privileges 267 
 
 12. Their education 268 
 
 13. Division into classes 268 
 
 V. Bad effects of Roman slavery 268 
 
 1. The condition of the slave was one of great hardship 269 
 
 2. Insurrections of slaves 269 
 
 3. Its effects in the rural districts 270 
 
 4. Its influence on free labor 271 
 
 5. On domestic life 271 
 
 6. On civic virtue 272 
 
 7. On public morals 273 
 
 VI. Principles of justice in the Roman code at variance with 
 
 slavery 274 
 
 1. Principles of justice as laid down in the Institutions of Jus- 
 tinian 274 
 
CONTENTS. 11 
 
 Pagb. 
 
 2. Axioms of justice in the Digest 275 
 
 3. IIow these conflict with the system of slavery 270 
 
 VII. COMTAKISON BETWEEN THE ROMAN AND AMERICAN CODES 278 
 
 1. There are several points in wliich the two systems agree 278 
 
 (1.) They are identical in the leading elements instituting 
 slavery, p. 278. (2.) Both cases adopt principles subvers- 
 ive of slavery, p. 279. 
 
 2. The two systems disagree in other respects 279 
 
 (1.) The Roman law did not forbid the enlightenment of 
 the slave in letters, p. 279. (2.) Nor prohibit his eman- 
 cipation, p. 279. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 1. Extent of slavery at the advent 281 
 
 2. It did not exist in Judea 281 
 
 Not very expressly mentioned in the Gospel, page 282. The 
 omission no proof in its favor, p. 282. 
 
 3. Christ and his apostles condemn it 283 
 
 They reaSirm the moral law on it, p. 283. Its not being 
 condemned by nmne no argument for it, p. 283. 
 
 4. The law of love against it 283 
 
 5. The golden rule also 284 
 
 6. The brotherhood of Christianity 284 
 
 7. The equality of Christianity 284 
 
 8. Inequality of slavery forbidden 285 
 
 9. Our redemption • 285 
 
 10. The Gospel jubilee subversive of slavery 286 
 
 The salvation of the Gospel the principal element, p. 286. 
 It removes the causes of slavery, as poverty, captives in 
 war, etc., p. 287. Sets free those already enslaved, p. 288. 
 A remedy for all moral evils, p. 289. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE PAULINE DISCIPLINE. 
 
 Introductory remarks 290 
 
 An exact discipline on slavery in the New Testament 290 
 
 I. The principles of this discipline 291 
 
 1. The passages containing them quoted 291 
 
 2. Instructions to slaves in the Church of Corinth, 1 Corinth- 
 
 ians vii, 20-24 295 
 
 (1.) The Christian should not hastily change his condition 
 in life, page 295. (2.) Christian slaves should not be 
 anxious about obtaining liberty, p. 296. (3.) Christian 
 freedom above civil freedom, p. 297. (4. ) Christian slaves 
 should do their utmost to be lawfully free, p. 297. (5.) 
 No freed Christian should willingly become a slave, p. 298. 
 His redemption forbids this, p. 299. (6.) The S'ovKoi men- 
 tioned here were slaves, p. 300, (7.) The instructions of 
 Paul to the Corinthians gave no sanction to slavery, 
 p. 301. (8.) Freedom from sin superior to civil free- 
 dom, p. 302. (9.) Every citizen should promote civil 
 freedom ; yet as secondary to freedom from sin, p. 302. 
 9 
 
18 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 3. Instructions to slaves and masters in the Church at Colosse 303 
 
 Duties of slaves, p. 303. (1.) Obedience to their masters, 
 p. 303. (2.) The properties of this obedience, p. 303. 
 (3.) The reward of the slave from God, p. 304. (4.) He 
 must not do wrong, p. 304. (5.) These doidoi shown to 
 be slaves, p. 304. Duties of masters, p. 304. (1.) They 
 must do justice to the slave, p. 305. (2.) And that which 
 is equitable, p. 306. (3.) Argument enjoining these du- 
 ties, p. 308. (4.) The effects following these duties are 
 immediate amelioration and final liberty, p. 309. 
 
 4. Instructions to slaves and masters in the Ephesian Churches •••• 309 
 
 Instructions to slaves, p. 310. (1.) The duties enjoined, or 
 obedience, p. 310. (2.) Manner of performing it, p. 310. 
 (3.) The authority and will of God is to control the slave, 
 p. 311. (4.) The glorious reward to the slave, p. 311. 
 (5.) These servants were slaves, p. 312. Instructions to 
 masters, p. 313. (1.) Reciprocal good acts are required, 
 p. 313. (2.) Threats and punishments to be avoided, 
 p. 313. (3.) The reason assigned, p. 314. (4.) These 
 masters were slaves, p. 314. There is no support to slav- 
 ery in these instructions to the Ephesian Churches, p. 314. 
 Emancipation, p. 315. 
 6. Instructions in the First Epistle to Timothy 316 
 
 The man-stealer, or slave-dealer, considered, 1 Timothy i, 10, 
 p. 316. KvS'pcivoi'iaTit; defined, p. 316. Scriptural de- 
 scription of him, p. 316. The Placjiarii, p. 317. Slave- 
 dealers classed with the worst of men, p. 317. Diffei'ence 
 between the slave-dealer and master pointed out, p. 317. 
 1 Timothy vi, 1, 2, considered, p. 318. (1.) Obedience to 
 unbelieving masters enjoined, p. 318. (2.) And to believ- 
 ing masters, p. 319. (3.) The servants mentioned were 
 slaves, p. 319. (4.) Some slaveholders were Christians, 
 p. 320. (5.) Paul gives no support to slavery, p. 320. 
 (6.) This discipline to be taught and obsei'ved, p. 321. 
 
 6. Titus ii, 9, 10, considered 321 
 
 (1.) The general duties enjoined, p. 321. (2.) The particu- 
 lar or special ones, p. 322. (3.) The reason of the duty, 
 p. 322. (4.) The relation was that of master and slave, 
 p. 322. 
 
 7. 1 Peter ii, 18, 19 323 
 
 (1.) Obedience required of the slave, and why, p. 323. 
 (2.) These servants were slaves, p. 324. (3.) And the 
 masters were slaveholders, p. 324. Two classes of mas- 
 ters mentioned, p. 325. (4.) No countenance to slav- 
 ery, p. 325. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PAULINE DISCIPIilNE CASE OF ONESIMUS. 
 
 1. The epistle to Philemon, addressed to him, his family, and the 
 
 Church in his house at Colosse— the epistle to the Co- 
 
 lossians 326 
 
 Who Philemon was, page 326. Onesimus and his conver- 
 sion, p. 327. Onesimus was the legal slave of Philemon, 
 p. 327. 
 
 2. How Philemon must receive him 327 
 
 (1.) He must receive or treat him above a slave, p. 327. 
 
CONTENTS. 19 
 
 Pack. 
 
 (2.) ^ irof^er— beloved— as Paul himself, p. 328. (3.) 
 Philemon was bound by the epistlo to the Church of 
 Colosse, of which ho was a member, as well as by the 
 epistle to Philemon, p. 329. This required justice, reci- 
 procity, and fraternity, p. 329. 
 
 3. Tlic leading points in Paul's plea for Onesimus 329 
 
 4. The effect was emancipation 330 
 
 5. The case gives no countenance to slavery 331 
 
 Should Philemon have sold him, what then ? p. 331. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 PAULINE DISCIPLINE — GENERAL SURVEY. 
 
 1. The apostle acknowledged some masters to be Christians 332 
 
 2. Such masters admitted to Church membership 332 
 
 3. The great endeavor of the apostolic preaching 332 
 
 4. Paul enjoined duties to masters and slaves in this relation 333 
 
 The duties of masters enjoined in this relation, page 333. 
 
 5. The duties of slaves to masters, as obedience, fidelity, honesty, 
 
 and doing no wrong • 333 
 
 6. The reciprocal privileges of each » 334 
 
 The effect of these reciprocal duties and privileges would bo 
 emancipation, p. 334. 
 
 7. These instructions connected with those to husbands and wives- • 335 
 
 The instructions to husbands and wives subversive of slav- 
 ery, p. 335. Paul's instruction concerning slavery would 
 convert it into free and just service, p. 335. Paul lays 
 down nothing to institute or maintain slavery, p. 336. His 
 teaching would subvert it, p. 336. 
 
 8. Paul gives no sanction to slavery 336 
 
 (1.) A brief view of Roman slavery, p. 336. (2.) Paul 
 gives no sanction to these, p. 337. (3.) The instructions 
 to masters do not sustain slavery, p. 338. ( 4. ) Nor those 
 to slaves, p. 339. (5.) General conclusion, p. 339. 
 
 9. The teachings of Paul on slavery are opposed to it, and sub- 
 
 versive of it 340 
 
 The sovereignty of God and his laws are opposed to it, 
 p. 340. 
 
 10. Doing good enjoined on all, is against slavery 341 
 
 11. Doing wrong forbidden — this forbids all the wrongs in the 
 
 system 342 
 
 12. The equality of the human race subverts it 343 
 
 13. And the brotherhood of man 344 
 
 14. So does human redemption 344 
 
 15. The instructions to masters would overturn it 345 
 
 (1.) They are taught justice, p. 345. And to do no wrong 
 or injustice, p. 345. The foregoing applied to life, liberty ^ 
 security, property, marriage, and insuring these to the 
 slave, p. 346. (2.) And to render a just equivalent to 
 the slave, p. 348. (3.) And to disuse the whip, p. 348. 
 (4.) The privileges of the masters no support to slavery, 
 as their duties balance these, p. 349. The master has 
 no just right to the slave, but a mere legal usurped right, 
 p. 349. 
 
 16. Instructions to slaves do not support slavery 350 
 
 (1.) Not the duty of obedience, p. 350. Motives of the 
 duty, p. 350. (2.) Nor of service, p. 351. Motives of 
 
20 CONTENTS. 
 
 Pagk. 
 service, p. 351. (3.) Nor the virtues of honesty, fidelity, 
 veracity, etc., p. 351. (4.) The privileges of slaves grow- 
 ing out of the duties to masters, p. 351. 
 
 17. Of emancipation 351 
 
 The Roman law on the subject, p. 352. The Dedititii, 
 the Latini, cives Romani, p. 352, The patron and the 
 freed-man, p. 353. The true state of the question, p. 353. 
 Emancipation the result, p. 353. 
 
 18. The whole history of Providence in reference to freedom and 
 
 slavery 354 
 
THE BIBLE AID SLIYERY 
 
THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 1. The Bible is the rule, and only rule, of faith, prac- 
 tice, and institutions for Christians. This Bible has leg- 
 islated on slavery and service, in many places, and in a 
 great variety of ways, from Genesis to Kevelation. This 
 was the case in the days of the patriarchs, before the 
 giving of the law of Moses. The Mosaic code treats on 
 these. So do the prophets, from Moses to Christ. Both 
 Christ and his apostles deliver instructions on these two 
 subjects. 
 
 Slavery is condemned in various ways in the history 
 of the patriarchs, in the code of Moses, by the prophets, 
 by Christ and his apostles. Among the patriarchs it is 
 condemned in the case of Joseph, and of the Israelites 
 in Egypt, and in the principles of right delivered in these 
 times in Genesis. The law of Moses makes slaveiy a 
 capital crime, worthy of death to the enslaver. (Exodus 
 xxi, 16.) The same law regulates service so that it must 
 never, in a single instance, become slavery. The proph- 
 ets denounce slavery in every case in which the Jews 
 perverted service into slavery. One leading object in 
 Christ's mission was, to proclaim liberty to the captives ; 
 and his doctrines of brotherhood, of reciprocal good acts, 
 and of love to others, proscribe slavery as criminal ; and 
 man-stealing, by the apostle Paul, is ranked among the 
 
24 TUE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 most odious vices. The relation of master and slave 
 was never originally instituted by any law of God ; and, 
 whenever induced by wrong human laws, it is to be dis- 
 solved, with the least possible delay, in consistency with 
 justice and humanity. 
 
 Service, not slavery, is an institution of God, and nec- 
 essary for man. All abuses of it, and all morally-wrong 
 acts in its exercise, are condemned, both on the part of 
 the servant and master ; and the regulations respecting 
 it are such, as in the Mosaic code, that it must never run 
 into slavery. In this code there was recognized as lawful 
 the service of the hired man, and the bondman, or bound 
 man. The latter and the purchaser of his services made 
 the contract. It could last only six years, or, by a new 
 contract, during life ; and the jubilee terminated all such 
 contracts, and proclaimed liberty to all inhabitants of 
 Hebrew territory. Service was as distinct from slavery 
 among the Jews, as in the United States. The principal 
 diiference is, that no slave should tread Hebrew soil ; while 
 the laws of the United States admit both service and 
 slavery. No slave could breathe Hebrew air, or tread its 
 soil, without becoming a freeman. 
 
 2. Service, as distinguished from slavery, may exist in 
 various relations and circumstances ; but the relations 
 of service are essentially different from that existing in 
 slavery. We might mention the services of children, 
 apprentices, minors, hired servants, professional men, 
 servants of government. 
 
 The relation of master and slave is very different from 
 that existing between husband and wife, parent and child. 
 The relation of parent and child is a natural relation; 
 that of master and slave is not. The relation of hus- 
 band and wife is voluntary ; that of master and slave ia 
 not. In these relations there is no right of sale, or to 
 sunder them for the sake of gain. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 'Zb 
 
 The relation of minor is not to be confounded with 
 that of skive. Nature, not force, has made the condition 
 of a minor, and his service is for his own benefit as well 
 as that of his ward. 
 
 The service of an apprentice is not like that of a slave. 
 The future good and happiness of the minor is consulted, 
 and a full equivalent is supposed to be rendered for his 
 services. This is not the case with slaves. 
 
 The relations of hired servants, professional men, serv- 
 ants of government, are essentially different from that 
 of slavery, as all candid persons will at once concede. 
 
 3. The best definition we can think of, and give of 
 slavery, is to be found in the civil law, and is thus ex- 
 pressed in the Institutes of Justinian as well as in the 
 Digest : 
 
 "The first general division of persons, in respect to 
 their rights, is into freemen and slaves." 
 
 " Freedom, from which we are denominated free, is the 
 natural power of acting as we please, unless prevented 
 by force, or by the law." 
 
 " Slavery is, when (5ne man is subjected to the domin- 
 ion of another, according to the law of nations, though 
 contrary to natural right." 
 
 ''Slaves are denominated servi, from the practice of 
 our generals, to sell them captives, and thus preserve — 
 servare — and not slay them. Slaves are also called man- 
 cipia, in that they are taken from the enemy by hand — 
 ma7iucaptV (Instit. Justin. Lib. I, Tit. 3, Sec. 1, 2, 3.) 
 
 According to the laws of Louisiana, "a slave is one 
 who is in the power of a master to whom he belongs. 
 The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his in- 
 dustry, and his labor. He can do nothing, possess noth- 
 ing, nor acquire any thing but what must belong to his 
 master." "The slave is entirely subject to the will of 
 
 his master, who may correct or chastise him, though not 
 
 o 
 
26 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 witli unusual rigor, or so as to maim or mutilate him to 
 the danger or loss of life, or to cause death." (Stroud, 
 p. 22.) 
 
 The laws of South Carolina say, '' Slaves shall he 
 deemed, sold, taken, reputed, and adjudged in law to loe 
 chattels personal in the hands of their owners and pos- 
 sessors, and their executors, administrators, and assigns, 
 to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatever." 
 (Stroud, p. 23.) 
 
 Judge Stroud says, ''The cardinal principle of slavery, 
 that the slave is not to be ranked among sentient be- 
 ings, but among things — obtains as undoubted law in 
 all these [slave] states." 
 
 A slave is a person divested of the ownership of him- 
 self, and conveyed, with all his powers of body and mind, 
 to the proprietorship of another. 
 
 Slaveholding is detaining one in this condition, or 
 keeping him subject to the laws of slavery ; and the de- ' 
 tainer is the slaveholder. Or the slaveholder is one who 
 sustains the legal relation of master or owner of a slave ; 
 and to enslave, is to convert a freeman into a slave, or to 
 continue him in a state of slavery. All men are born free ; 
 and it amounts to the same thing whether the free person 
 is made a slave, or deprived of freedom by conquest, by 
 kidnapping, or by law. The last mode is that resorted 
 to in the United States, in which, at this time, about one 
 hundred thousand free-born children are annually con- 
 verted into slaves. 
 
 4. On the various ways in which men became slaves 
 in ancient times, we quote the civil law, which is stand- 
 ard on this subject : 
 
 **The law of nations is common to all mankind, and 
 all nations have enacted some laws as occasion and ne- 
 cessity required ; for wars arose, and the consequences 
 were captivity and slavery, both which are contrary to 
 
INTRODUCTION. 27 
 
 tlio law of nature, for by natural law all men are born 
 free." (Inst. Lib. I, Tit. 2, Sec. 2.) 
 
 "Slaves arc born such, or become so; they are born 
 such of slave mothers. They become so either by the law 
 of nations, that is, by captivity, or by the civil law ; as 
 when a free person, above the age of twenty, suffers him- 
 self to be sold for the sake of sharing the price given 
 for him." 
 
 "In the condition of slaves there is no diversity, but 
 among free persons there are many ; thus they are iji- 
 oenui, or free-men ; others Ubertini^ or freed-men.'* (Inst. 
 Lib. I, Tit. 3, Sec. 4, 5.) 
 
 "A freeman is one who is born free by being born in 
 matrimony, of parents who are both free, or both freed, 
 or of parents, one free the other freed. But one born 
 of a free mother, although the father be a slave, or un- 
 known, is free ; notwithstanding he was conceived dis- 
 creditably. And if the mother is free at the time of the 
 birth, although a bond-woman when she conceived, the 
 infant will be free." (Inst. Lib. I, Tit. 4.) 
 
 The various ways in which free persons were made 
 slaves, according to the Roman laws, are the following : 
 
 (1.) By making slaves of captives taken in war by 
 force, contrary to the natural law, but according to the 
 laws or usages of nations. 
 
 (2.) By the civil law, as when a person allows himself 
 to be sold in order to share in the price. 
 
 (3.) By birth, which is the case with all who are born 
 of slave mothers. This mode, too, was incorporated 
 into the civil law, by the common law maxim, partus 
 sequitur ventrem — the child follows the condition of the 
 mother. 
 
 (4.) Taking into view the whole range of the existence 
 of slavery, writers have enumerated the following modes 
 by which men became slaves : first, by captivity in war ; 
 
28 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 second, debts ; third, thefts ; fourth, man-stealing ; fifth, 
 children of slave mothers ; sixth, by purchase. 
 
 5. The following will present some of the leading 
 moral traits of slavery : 
 
 As slavery deprives a person of liberty, it deprives him 
 of the possession or control of himself, and of the pur- 
 suit of happiness, or it deprives him of personal security, 
 personal liberty, and the right of private property, so 
 much prized by all men. 
 
 The person thus deprived of liberty comes under the 
 dominion of his master, to use him according to his will, 
 and he may commit this control over the slave to another 
 person. 
 
 The slave thus becomes an article of property, and may 
 be bought, sold, transferred, given by will, or used as 
 property is used. 
 
 The slave is deprived of the right of marriage, and, of 
 consequence, he is, by law, doomed to contuhernium — a 
 medium between brutality and concubinage. 
 
 The enslaved children are deprived of parental training 
 and control. They are without father or mother, to use 
 the style of slavery. The father is accidental. The 
 mother can not exercise the duties of mother, because the 
 children are bound to obey the master and not the mother. 
 
 If slave parents, under moral or religious influence, 
 endeavor to perform the duties of parents, they are pre- 
 vented from doing so by slave laws. They can not teach 
 their children to read or write, or govern them as parents. 
 They can not put them to trades, prepare them for any 
 business, or control their course for the future. And then 
 their children may be whipped before their eyes, sold 
 from them, and separated from them forever, or hired out 
 to others, etc. 
 
 Slaves, in general, are not permitted to learn to read, 
 or go to school. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 29 
 
 They are, by slave laws, deprived of the rights of con- 
 Bcience, because the master has the control in this. 
 
 They can not be a witness in any case in which white 
 persons are concerned. This is the source of many 
 wrongs. 
 
 Slavery visits the sins of the fathers on the children, 
 or it treats innocent children as criminals. A slave, who 
 wrote his own life, says: ''The man who stole me as 
 soon as I was born, recorded the births of all the infants 
 whom he claimed to be born his property, in a book 
 w^hich he kept for that purpose." (Life of Brown, p. 13.) 
 
 In these United States over a hundred thousand inno- 
 cent children, born free according to the law of nature 
 and the law of God, are annually deprived of their liberty, 
 and from free persons are converted into slaves. 
 
 The foregoing moral traits of the system alone are 
 presented. We omit the greater number, as the fore- 
 going will answer the religious object we have in view. 
 
 6. Slavery in the United States exists as the creature 
 of the civil law. 
 
 Slavery does not exist by the law of nature, but is con- 
 trary thereto. The Institutes of Justinian declare this 
 very clearly: "The law of nature is a law not only to 
 man, but likewise to all other animals, whether produced 
 on the earth, in the air, or in the waters. From hence 
 proceeds that conjunction of male and female which we 
 denominate matrimony ; hence the procreation and edu- 
 cation of children." (Inst. Lib. I, Tit. 2.) 
 
 "By the law of nature all men from the first were 
 born free." ''Jure enim naturali omnes homines ab initio 
 liberi nascebantur." (lb. Tit. 2. ) " Slavery is contrary to 
 natural right." " Servitus est contra naturam." (Tit. 3, 
 Sec. 2.) 
 
 As slavery is contrary to the law of nature, it is also 
 contraiy to the Divine law. The principles of Divine 
 
30 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 truth, given to the pious patriarchs, as well as the case 
 of Joseph, condemn slavery among them. In the bond- 
 age of Egypt it is expressly condemned. No slavery 
 existed under the Mosaic code. This code prohibited, 
 condemned, and excluded it. He that stole a man and 
 sold him, or if he was found in his house, was to be put 
 to death. The service between master and servant was 
 by mutual contract — could last only six years, or till 
 death, by a new contract. The foreigners, or strangers, 
 served during their lifetime, by similar contract. The 
 year of jubilee broke up all such contracts among all the 
 inhabitants of the land. None were born slaves ; and no 
 such class as Grecian helots ever existed in Judea. 
 
 In the New Testament the mission of our Savior con- 
 firmed the destruction of slavery, as well as of other 
 forms, in his great mission, for which he was anointed, 
 or consecrated, or appointed by the divine Spirit. (Luke 
 iv, 18.) Paul condemns slavery by condemning traf- 
 fickers in it, whom he calls man-stealers. 
 
 The epistles of Paul and Peter clearly condemn the 
 system by the instructions given and the course laid down 
 in reference to masters and slaves. And, indeed, many 
 Scriptural declarations, threatenings, etc., condemn slav- 
 ery in no measured terms. 
 
 Slavery exists by unjust human laws, at variance with 
 both the law of nature and the law of God. It was 
 introduced among the Romans contrary to the law of 
 nature, as the quotations from the civil law, already 
 given, fully show. It was introduced by force and by 
 law, though directly opposed to the best principles of 
 justice and right contained in the Roman law. 
 
 So also in the United States, the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence copied the principle of natural law in the civil 
 law, and proclaimed, "All men are created free and 
 equal." The language of Scripture is, " God hath made 
 
1 N T K 1) U C T I N . 31 
 
 of one Llood all men." Tlic slave laws of tlic .slave states 
 are at variance with the laws of nature, with the laws of 
 God, and with the principles of justice, liberty, and right, 
 embraced in the Constitution of the United States, and 
 of all the states. 
 
 Nor does it at all mend the matter to say that this is 
 done by law. The enactment of a law can not make 
 wrong to be right. 
 
 7. The purpose of the following pages is to show the 
 relation of the Church to slavery, so as to point out the 
 duties of the Church in the present state of affairs. The 
 code of revelation to the Jews excluded slavery from their 
 territory, as it never could be introduced. Under the 
 Roman Government slavery existed in the state. The 
 Discipline of the Church under these circumstances will 
 be instructive. The result, too, is marked with the best 
 of consequences. In the American republic there exists 
 both the Church and slavery. The several legislatures 
 have more severe laws on slavery than those of the West 
 Indies, or the civil code of heathen and Christian Rome. 
 Emancipation, in various ways, was allowed and encour- 
 aged under the Roman code, while emancipation now in 
 the slave states is restrained by the most stringent laws 
 ever enacted on the subject, whether ancient or modern, 
 barbarian, heathen, Mohammedan, or Christian. 
 
32 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 PATRIARCHAL SERVICE. 
 
 1. Some preliminaiy remarks may be necessary before 
 we consider particularly tbe sort of service in wliicb tbe 
 patriarchs were concerned, with the approbation of the 
 Almighty. 
 
 *' God made man upright, but he hath sought out many 
 inventions." In the iirst human family, the younger son 
 was murdered by his brother. The earth was filled with 
 violence, in consequence of which was the destruction 
 of the flood. In the wars of the nine kings, fighting at 
 once in the vale of Siddim, we have an illustration of 
 the early period of human society. The captives were 
 reserved for bondage. Women were subject to sensual 
 gratification. Servants were bought for money, or were 
 born in the house. Justinian, as we have already shown, 
 maintained that all men were born free ; that slavery was 
 contrary to natural law. He describes the origin of slav- 
 ery in war first, and then by the poiver of civil law, rec- 
 ognizing the children of slave mothers as also slaves. 
 As far as we can trace back the records of nations, we 
 find the existence of slavery in some form. We find it 
 in Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The state of slavery was 
 not originated by the patriarchs of the Old Testament, as 
 the system existed around them in some form or other. 
 
 Job, who was one of the patriarchs, is said to have 
 had a ''very great household" — Job i, 3 — of persons 
 employed in his service. Abraham also possessed serv- 
 ants, and so did Isaac and Jacob. Joseph was stolen, 
 
PATRIAECIIAL SERVICE. 33 
 
 sold, and "bought — Gen. xxxvii, 27, 28 ; xxxix, 1 — wliicli 
 shows that the stealing, buying, and selling of men was 
 then a common thing. The question before us is, did 
 these devout patriarchs become possessed of servants 
 which they obtained and treated as slaves, or as hired 
 servants ; or, in other words, did these patriarchs engage 
 in such thefts, sales, and purchases, as took place in the 
 case of Joseph, or in the bondage of the Israelites ? Or 
 did they obtain servants in a different way, in keeping 
 with the principles of right that governed them in other 
 respects, and which we see embraced in the Mosaic code, 
 with the express purpose of preventing the existence of 
 slavery in the Jewish commonwealth ? 
 
 Our position is, that these devout patriarchs did not ob- 
 tain or treat servants as Joseph was obtained and treated, 
 nor did they treat servants as Pharoah did the Hebrews. 
 They obtained servants on just and equitable principles, 
 and treated them according to the principles of justice 
 and of equal and reciprocal rights. 
 
 2. A survey of the meaning of the Hebrew and Greek 
 words rendered servant, slave, master, etc., may be worth 
 attending to in this place. 
 
 The Hebrews used but one word — ehed or ahed — to ex- 
 press all the relations of servitude of every sort. n3;', 
 ahad, the verb, means to labor, to ^vorJc. The noun ahedy 
 derived from the verb, means a laborer, a servant. It is 
 applied to a person who performs any kind of service. 
 
 The Hebrews had tw^o words to denote female serv- 
 ants. The one w^as ama, rendered maid-servant, bond- 
 maid, maid, bond-woman, maid, etc. The other was 
 sJiiphcha, rendered handmaid, hond-maid, maiden, maid- 
 servant. As far as the meaning of these words is con- 
 cerned, there is no countenance for slavery. Indeed, the 
 Hebrew language had no single word to denote a slave. 
 And the context, or peculiar phraseology, must be ad- 
 
34 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 duced to show that sLaveiy or slave is intended, as no 
 single word will answer this purpose. 
 
 The same remark will apply to the Greek word doulos, 
 a servant, and douleo, to serve. These words are ap- 
 plied to any sort of service or servants. But there is a 
 Greek word which properly means a slave ; this is the 
 word andrapodon. The Greeks used the word doulos to 
 express a servant in the most general sense ; while the 
 word andrapodon properly means slave. 
 
 While the Latins used the word servus, to denote any 
 kind of a servant, they had the word mancipium in use, 
 which meant a slave only. 
 
 The English word slave is never applied to a volun- 
 tary servant. For such an exclusive word there is no 
 corresponding one in Hebrew. Abed may signify a 
 slave, but not exclusively. It properly means a serv- 
 ant, but will equally apply to a bond-servant, or to the 
 most honorable official character. And we may say, in 
 passing, that if the Hebrews held slaves, such as ours, 
 they had no word such as we have, and the Greeks and 
 Latins had, signifying a slave, and nothing else. The 
 foregoing are the bare conclusions on this point, which, 
 we are persuaded, every competent Hebrew, Greek, and 
 Latin scholar will readily assent to. 
 
 3. The curse pronounced on Canaan is adduced in 
 order to prove that slavery was instituted of God. 
 ** Cursed be Canaan ; a servant of servants shall he be 
 unto his brethren." Gen. ix, 25. Calmet, on the word 
 slaves, says: "Noah, to punish the affront received from 
 his son, subjected him to slavery." In reply, we remark: 
 It is assumed, without proof, that slavery was proph- 
 esied rather than mere service to others, and individual 
 bondage rather than national subjection and tribute. 
 
 The curse pronounced neither fell on Canaan nor his 
 wicked father, but upon the Canaanites. These people 
 
PATRIARCHAL SERVICE. 35 
 
 were exceedingly wicked. (Lev. xviii, xx ; Deut. ix, 4; 
 xii, 3i.) Their profligacy was great, but it was not the 
 effect of the curse; it was the effect of their conduct. 
 The prediction of crime neither brings crime into being, 
 nor does it justify it. Pharoah might say with our pro- 
 slavery men : " Thy seed shall be a stranger in a land 
 that is not theirs, and they shall afflict them four hun- 
 dred years." Prophecy is no excuse for slavery, or any 
 other wrong. Our Savior declares, *'It must needs be, 
 that offenses come, but woe unto that man by whom they 
 
 come 
 
 I" 
 
 It is not historically true that the Africans are de- 
 scended from Canaan. Africa was peopled from Egypt 
 and Ethiopia, and it was settled by Misraim and Cush. 
 (Gen. X, 15-19.) The other sons of Ham settled Egypt 
 and Assyria, and, conjointly with Shem, Persia, and after- 
 ward, to some extent, the Grecian and Roman empires. 
 
 The history of Canaan's descendants verifies the 
 prophecy. They first became tributary to the Israelites ,* 
 then to the Medes and Persians ; then to the IMacedo- 
 nians, Grecians, and Romans, successively ; and, finally, 
 they were subjected to the Ottoman dynasty, under which 
 they yet remain. Thus Canaan has been for ages, mainly, 
 the servant of Shem and Japheth, and secondarily of the 
 other sons of Ham. 
 
 As the Africans are not the descendants of Canaan, 
 the assumption that their enslavement fulfills the prophecy 
 is not correct. Besides, only a fraction of the Africans 
 have at any time been the slaves of other nations. If it 
 be objected, however, that a large majority of the Afri- 
 cans have always been slaves in Africa, we answer, this 
 is not true in point of fact, as the greater portion of 
 Africa is not a slave country, as far as we can learn, 
 though represented such by pro-slavery men ; and if they 
 were even so, Canaan, in this case, could not be the 
 
36 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 slaves of Shem and Japheth, as the prophecy says, but 
 the slaves of each other. 
 
 4. At the commencement of human society all gov- 
 ernment was naturally patriarchal. Each family was a 
 little kingdom of itself, relying on its head as the fount- 
 ain of authority. Abraham seems to have been under 
 the authority of Terah, his father, till he was seventy-five 
 years old. (Genesis xi, 31.) In the year 1921 before 
 Christ, he "took Sarah his wife, and Lot his brother's 
 son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and 
 the souls that they had gotten in Haran ; and they went 
 forth to go into the land of Canaan." Genesis xii, 5. 
 He was a prince with regal authority, and his servants 
 were his subjects. He must have been a man of consid- 
 erable possessions when he had three hundred and eighteen 
 servants born in his house, instructed in the use of arms. 
 He had many not born in his house, and some were 
 given him as a present. These, with the women and chil- 
 dren, make a considerable tribe. He possessed many of 
 the rights of sovereignty, in no small degree ; and he 
 was even considered as a sovereign prince while dwell- 
 ing on the territories of others. He was confederate with 
 several kings. (Genesis xiv, 13.) He was in alliance 
 with Abimelech and the King of Egypt. It may be 
 proper now to consider how Abraham obtained his serv- 
 ants, and how he employed them. 
 
 (1.) The first account we have of Abraham's servants 
 is, when he and Lot removed to Canaan from Haran. 
 They took ''the souls that they had gotten in Haran." 
 Genesis xii, 5. As Abraham left Haran on account of 
 its idolatry, the souls that he and Lot had gotten, appear 
 to be persons whom he had been the instrument of con- 
 verting to the knowledge of the true God, and whom 
 he employed in his service as a religious and civil head. 
 This is confirmed by the Chaldee paraphrase which ren- 
 
PATRIARCHAL SERVICE. 37 
 
 ders the text, "The souls of those whom they proselyted 
 in Haran." Abraham took these with him from Haran 
 to Canaan, that they might be under his care and gov- 
 ernment, and that they might be partakers of the prom- 
 ised blessings. 
 
 Shortly after, when he was in Egypt, on account of 
 the famine, it is said, "he had sheep and oxen, and he- 
 asses, and men-servants and maid-servants, and she-asses 
 and camels." Genesis xii, 16. 
 
 When Abraham and Lot parted, we find their serv- 
 ants were employed principally as herdsmen. (Genesis 
 xiii, 7, 8.) Thus far we have no account of the way 
 in which these servants came into the possession of Abra- 
 ham or Lot. Eight years after, when Abraham went 
 to war with his servants, they were composed of those 
 born in his house. (Genesis xiv, 14.) Twenty-three years 
 after he left Haran, before Christ 1898, we have an 
 account of bought servants: "He that is born in the 
 house, or bought with money of any stranger which is 
 not of thy seed." Genesis xvii, 12, 27. Next year we 
 learn that Abimelech gave Abraham " sheep and oxen, 
 and men-servants and maid-servants." Genesis xx, 14. 
 
 (2,) At this stage of our inquiry, it is proper to state 
 that Abraham was a very devout and religious man. 
 "When the Lord called him to leave Haran and go to 
 Canaan, it is said of him, that God blessed him, and 
 made his name great ; that he should be a blessing to 
 others ; and in him all the families of the earth should 
 be blessed. (Genesis xii, 2, 3.) Melchisedek blessed 
 Abraham, and characterized him as a righteous man. 
 (Genesis xiv, 18-20.) God is said to be his "shield and 
 his exceeding great reward." Genesis xv, 1. " He be- 
 lieved God, and he counted it to him for righteousness." 
 In regard to his family government it is said, "For I 
 know him that he will command his children and his 
 
o8 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 housoliold after him, and they shall keep the way of the 
 Lord to do justice and judgment." Genesis. 
 
 (3.) We have seen that those who came with Abraham 
 from Haran to Canaan, were proselytes to the true re- 
 ligion, and this is further confirmed twenty-four years 
 after, when God gave to Abraham the covenant of cir- 
 cumcision. The servants were all required to be circum- 
 cised. "This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, be- 
 tween me and you, and thy seed after thee ; Every man- 
 child among you shall be circumcised. And he that is 
 eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every 
 male child in your generations, he that is born in the 
 house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is 
 not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he 
 that is bought with thy money, must needs be circum- 
 cised : and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an 
 everlasting covenant. And all the men of his house, 
 born in his house, and bought with money of the stranger, 
 were circumcised with him." Genesis xvii, 10, 12, 13, 
 27. 
 
 According to the Jewish writers the father was to cir- 
 cumcise his son ; and the master, his servant born in his 
 house, or bought with money. If the father or master 
 neglected to do this, the magistrates were required to see 
 that it was done. If the magistrates neglected, then the 
 person himself was obliged, when he came of age, to be 
 circumcised. 
 
 There were many adults in Abraham's family bought 
 with money. We can not suppose they were bought 
 without consent from those persons. For as no adults 
 would be compelled to a religious life, the servants of 
 Abraham were voluntary ; they were bought with their 
 own consent or from themselves, and none were pur- 
 chased except those who would renounce idolatry and 
 worship the true God. Their admission, as parties to 
 
PATRIARCHAL SERVICE. 39 
 
 this covenant, was a recognition that they were not arti- 
 cles of property, but rational, accountable beings, stand- 
 ing before God on an equality with their masters. They 
 were fellow-heirs with him of the promises. 
 
 Circumcision establishes the religious element existing 
 in the service which was rendered to Abraham. The 
 original acquisition of servants, by him and Lot, in 
 Haran, was by proselytism, as we have seen. On estab- 
 lishing the covenant with Abraham, on his departure for 
 Canaan, when circumcision was given, twenty-four years 
 after, all these original proselytes were included ; so also 
 were all who were afterward purchased by money, as 
 additional proselytes, and their children were all included. 
 It embraced every man-child ; every one born in the 
 house, and those bought with money from strangers, not 
 of Abraham's seed. All must be circumcised ; they must 
 needs be circumcised. The uncircumcised soul shall be cut 
 off from his people; because he "hath broken God's 
 covenant." All uncircumcised servants of Abraham lost 
 their rights of social, civil, and religious privileges, and 
 were therefore separated or driven out from the com- 
 munity of Abraham; and where we have an account of 
 carrying out this institution, in Genesis xxii, 23-27, it 
 embraced Abraham, Ishmael, his son, and all others, as 
 in the words following: "All that were born in the 
 house ; all that were bought with money ; every male 
 among the men of Abraham's house ; all the men of his 
 house, born in the house, and bought with money of the 
 stranger." Hence, all the proselytes and their children 
 that came with Abraham out of Haran, and those under 
 his civil and religious government, eight years after, when 
 he armed his trained, or religiously instructed subjects or 
 servants, to recover his nephew, Lot, and any others, 
 either bought, or born, were all included in the covenant 
 of circumcision. 
 
40 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 And this was to be a permanent institution for the 
 future, in reference to all Abraham's posterity, and any 
 who would become allied to him in religious, civil, or 
 domestic citizenship. The language of the institution 
 of circumcision is, " Thou shalt keep my covenant, there- 
 fore, thou and thy seed after thee, in all their generations. 
 Every man-child in your generations, he that is born ia 
 the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which 
 is not of thy seed." Genesis xvii, 9-12. Thus the first 
 edition of the Christian brotherhood of man was insti- 
 tuted. It was to be established in the land of Canaan ; 
 and indeed all the elements of the Mosaic code or service 
 is embraced in the covenant made with Abraham. And 
 when it was established in Canaan, it provided that no 
 Israelite or stranger who joined them, could be a slave ; 
 though temporary service was allowed. But this was so 
 guarded by the right of redemption, and the year of 
 release to all Hebrews, and of the year of jubilee to all 
 strangers as well as Hebrews, that slavery never could, or 
 never did, get any footing among the Jews. 
 
 5. We may here notice the various ways in which 
 Abraham came into the possession of his servants. We 
 put them down as follows : 1. By proselytism. 2. By 
 purchase. 3. By birth in his house, or rather under his 
 religious and civil government. 4. By gifts. We will 
 notice each of these. 
 
 The first subjects or servants associated with Abraham 
 as their commander and religious instructor, and civil 
 protector, seem plainly to be proselytes to his religion. 
 Those souls which he got in Haran, as the Chaldee has it, 
 were proselytes, who united with him under the covenant, 
 and emigrated with him to Canaan. They are, eight 
 years after, said to be trained, or rather imtruded, serv- 
 ants. The Hebrew word used here means consecrated, or 
 devoted, meaning those who were devoted to God's serv- 
 
PATRIARCHAL SERVICE. 41 
 
 ice, and instructed by liim, in the true religion. (Genesis 
 xiv, 14.) These trained, instructed, religious subjects, or 
 servants of Abraham, composed his household. The 
 Almighty, constituting Abraham as the person through 
 whom the nations were to be blessed, says : **For I know 
 him, that he will command his children and his house- 
 hold after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, 
 to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may do to 
 Abraham that which he hath spoken of him." Genesis 
 xviii, 19. Here Abraham is a commander, who com- 
 mands or governs his children and household, or subjects. 
 The object is that these may keep the way of the Lord, 
 so as to do justly in all things, and maintain judgment 
 or religious institutions, both in theory and practice. If 
 we consider also the institution of circumcision, which ho 
 and his servants, or subjects, received from God, the relig- 
 ious character is the most prominent one of the service 
 rendered to Abraham. And his receiving them originally 
 as proselytes, and connecting with his institution religion 
 to the very last, the obtaining of proselytes to the true 
 religion was the foundation of the whole. And annex- 
 ing to this the mode of increasing them by purchase, by 
 gift, or by birth, were all secondary modes of acquisition, 
 to be regulated by the religious element in all things, so 
 that there is no trace of the slave system in the service 
 rendered to Abraham, as it is found in the case of Joseph, 
 in the case of the Hebrews in Egypt, or in Grecian, Eo- 
 man, or American slavery. 
 
 6. Some of the servants of Abraham were "bought 
 with money." There is only one instance of this in the 
 case of Abraham, and it is the following: ''He that is 
 born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, 
 which is not of thy seed ; he that is born in thy house, 
 and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be 
 circumcised." Genesis xvii, 12, 13; see also 23, 27. 
 
 4 
 
42 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 From this it is inferred "by pro-slavery men, that as Abra- 
 ham bought with money, he might also sell for money ; 
 and hence other men may now buy and sell human 
 beings as slaves. 
 
 To this we answer, that the mere fact of purchase de- 
 termines nothing as to the natu're of the service. It by 
 no means proves that the person purchased must in future 
 be regarded as property, and therefore a slave ; or that 
 because a person, or rather his services were purchased or 
 bought, that they could therefore be sold. Abraham may 
 have purchased his servants from themselves, by paying 
 them wages, or securing them protection and support; 
 or he may have bought slaves, in view of emancipating 
 them, and of bringing them to a knowledge of true relig- 
 ion, or to a state which ultimately would be freedom. 
 But Abraham sold no servants. On this important point 
 w^e furnish the following observations, in order to clear it 
 up fully, and rescue it from the perversions of slave- 
 holders and their expositors. 
 
 (1.) The use of the mere words to buy does not settle the 
 question. It is commonly used in the sense of purchas- 
 ing, as applied to land, cattle, or any sort of property. 
 This is a common use, and need not be dwelt on. But its 
 meaning, as applied to real estate or personal property, is 
 very different from what it is, when applied to human 
 beings, as we shall presently show. 
 
 (2.) God is represented as having ho^iglit his people. 
 *as not he thy father who hath bought thee?" (Deu- 
 teronomy xxxii, 6. "Till the people pass over which 
 thou hast purchased." Exodus xv, 16. " Remember thy 
 congregation, which thou hast purchased of old ; the rod 
 of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed." Psalm 
 Ixxiv, 2. ''I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and 
 Seba for thee." Isaiah xliii, 3. It is the same word 
 used here, that is used respecting the servants of Abra- 
 
PATRIARCHAL SERVICE. 43 
 
 ham ; yet those whom God bought, purcliased, or re- 
 deemed, were not held as slaves, or regarded as inoperty. 
 Abraham may have purchased his servants to prevent 
 them from being slaves. The mere act of paying a i^rice 
 for them no more implies that he continued them slaves, 
 than it does that because God redeemed his people by a 
 price, implies that he regarded them as slaves ; or that, 
 because a man may purchase his wife or child, who have 
 been slaves, that he still continues to hold and treat them 
 as slaves. 
 
 (3.) Persons were sometimes bought by paying men 
 what they consider a fair compensation for their services, 
 by taking their obligation to serve for a limited time. In 
 this way Jacob was bought, or sold himself, and this was 
 the way contemplated by the law of Moses. "If thy 
 brother wax poor and sell himself." Leviticus xxv, 47. 
 This is a transaction in which the purest minds can 
 engage in and retrospect without guilt. This was a 
 mere purchase of time, or service. It gave no right to 
 sell the man again, or retain him beyond the specified 
 time, or to retain him at all, 6ould he or his friends suc- 
 ceed to redeem him. It gave no right of property to the 
 man, any more than to an apprentice. In no proper 
 sense of the word could this be slavery. 
 
 (4.) The word buy is sometimes applied to the manner 
 in which a wife was obtained. Jacob purchased his 
 wives by his labor or service, not by money. And the 
 purchase of a wife by paying a doiory was common. (Ex- 
 odus xxii, 17; 1 Samuel xvii, 25; Judges i, 12, 13.) 
 Boaz bought Ruth to be his wife. So Hosea bought his 
 wife for "fifteen pieces of silver, and for one homer of 
 barley, and one half homer of barley." Hosea iii, 2. 
 The wife among the patriarchs was not a slave, or sub- 
 ject to the laws of property, so that her husband could 
 sell her. She was his, to the exclusion of the claim of 
 
44 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 any other man, but she was his as his wife, not as Ms 
 slave. And thus the manner of obtaining a wife by pur- 
 chase, is the same in which Abraham obtained servants ; 
 and this docs not certainly imply slavery; but in Abra- 
 ham's case slavery is out of the question, because he was 
 a just, honest, and pious man. 
 
 (5.) Joseph is said to have hovgld the Egyptians. ** Be- 
 hold I have bought you this day, and your land for Pha- 
 raoh." Genesis xlvii, 23. Tlie fifth part of the produce 
 was to be Pharaoh's, and the four-fifths were to be theirs. 
 There was a claim on them for produce, the fruit of labor. 
 Farmers who work for shares, are not on that account 
 slaves. 
 
 (6.) The case of Joseph will show the difference be- 
 tween the purchase of a slave, and the purchase of a 
 servant for a time, to perform labor or service. He was 
 sold, not by himself, but by third persons. The Ishmael- 
 ites paid for him. So did Potiphar. Yet he was stolen. 
 Joseph said to the butler, "Indeed,! was stolen." The 
 Ishmaelites paid for him, and so did Potiphar, yet he was 
 stolen. It was theft all over. God does not approve 
 of theft, especially the stealing of a man, and the pun- 
 ishment for it was death. Yet slaveholders are displeased 
 when they are called thieves, though their slaves are all 
 stolen from themselves. The servants whom Abraham 
 bought, he paid for as an honest man, either to them- 
 selves or their owners. The objector takes it for granted 
 that Abraham bought from third persons, in the charac- 
 ter of owners, as in the case of American slaves. There 
 is no instance in the Bible of any innocent person being 
 sold, with Divine approbation, for a slave. The case 
 of Joseph condemns the slave system, and Abraham can 
 not be supposed to act either like Joseph's brethren, the 
 Ishmaelites, or Potiphar. 
 
 (7.) We have many instances of the purchase of 
 
PATRIARCHAL SERVICE. 45 
 
 servants for money, without a single element of slavery. 
 In early times many emigrants from Scotland, Ireland, 
 Germany, etc., in order to pay their passage to America, 
 bound themselves to serve in America, a certain number 
 of years, to pay their passage money. These persons, or 
 rather their time and service, were sold in America by the 
 captains of vessels. Many of these servants, by industry 
 and economy, after the expiration of their term of service, 
 became wealthy. Many of their descendants now hold 
 slaves ; and were you to remind them that their fathers 
 or grandfathers were bought with money, and, therefore, 
 their children must be slaves, the argument would be as 
 good in this case as it would be to prove that Abraham 
 held slaves. 
 
 The mere act of huying servants by no means proves that 
 slavery is to be the result. The purchase may amount 
 to nothing else than an act of emancipation. There 'is 
 not the slightest evidence that either Abraham, Isaac, or 
 Jacob ever sold a slave, or offered one for sale, or re- 
 garded servants as justly liable to be sold. There is no 
 evidence that their servants descended by inheritance from 
 father to son. The passage which says that Abraham 
 had '* servants bought with money," can not be adduced 
 to justify slavery. He must be little acquainted with the 
 Bible who does not know that buying a man sometimes 
 means securing a right to his services for a limited time 
 by paying him a price ; and sometimes it means buying 
 a man of some neighbor, who claims the right to dispose 
 of him as property ; or, sometimes, it means buying a 
 servant, or his services, by mutual contract ; and some- 
 times it means buying a slave. The meaning of the 
 word is easily known by inquiring who sold him. We 
 learn that Jacob served, and that Joseph was sold for a 
 slave. They were both bought, and they both served; 
 but Jacob was a free servant, and Joseph was a slave. 
 
40 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 Jacob sold himself, and Joseph was sold by others, 
 without his consent. To buy corn of its lawful owners 
 is right, but to buy it from thieves is to partake with 
 them in the guilt of theft. Jacob, by his sons, bought 
 corn in Egypt, not from thieves, but from the proper 
 owner. Abraham bought the services of men and wo- 
 men, either from themselves or from others, in view of 
 their redemption, as the facts in the case show. 
 
 7. Some of Abraham's servants were born in his 
 house, or the sons of his house. (Genesis xiv, 14.) As we 
 have already seen, Abraham was a prophet while he lived 
 at Haran. (Genesis xi, 31.) He diligently instructed his 
 neighbors in the truths of religion, and through the 
 Divine blessing made disciples or proselytes from idola- 
 try to the true religion. He became a spiritual father 
 to them, and they were dear to him as children. They 
 became so attached to him, that they accompanied him to 
 Canaan. Hence he took all "the souls he had gotten " — 
 all the converts he had made to his religion — along with 
 him. The servants born in Abraham's house — Genesis 
 xvii, 12, 13, 23-27 — must have been the children of Abra- 
 ham's first converts, who raised up families while in his 
 service, and educated or instructed them in the knowledge 
 and practice of the true religion. They were, therefore, 
 said to be trained and instructed in the worship of the 
 true God. Abraham governed or commanded these, and 
 taught them and their parents to "do justice and judg- 
 ment." Genesis xviii, 19. This is the only constant in- 
 terpretation to comport with Abraham's character for 
 justice. As he would not take the least plunder taken 
 in war, he certainly would not obtain servants unjustly. 
 (Genesis xiv, 22, 23.) The father of the faithful would 
 certainly not engage in unjust acts. Those, therefore, 
 born in his house were not slaves, as they were all united 
 with him in the brotherhood of the true religion by means 
 
PATRIARCHAL SERVICE. 47 
 
 of the sacrament of circumcision, as we have already 
 sufficiently shown. 
 
 8. As to the men-servants and maid-servants that 
 Abraham received as a present from Abimelech — Genesis 
 xiv, 14 — it is very likely that they had been slaves, but 
 it does not follow that Abraham kept them slaves, nor 
 is it inconsistent with his character as a just and up- 
 right man. These servants, too, must be commanded by 
 Abraham as a part of his household, every individual of 
 whom was required to ''keep the way of the Lord — to do 
 justice and judgment." As a part of Abraham's house- 
 hold, these were treated as the other servants were. The 
 others were not treated as slaves — neither were these. 
 
 In whichever of these few ways of acquiring servants 
 we consider the subject, the idea of slavery is precluded. 
 The first class of them were disciples, or proselytes, or 
 converts to the true religion, who ranged themselves under 
 the civil, social, and religious superintendence and con- 
 trol of Abraham. Those born in the house were in- 
 structed in religion and treated as members of the house- 
 hold of Abraham. Those purchased with money from 
 themselves were under the same regimen ; and those re- 
 ceived by gift must have fared the same with others. 
 
 9. Abraham armed his servants — three hundred and 
 eighteen in number— and led them to battle. This he 
 would never have done had they been slaves. A ma- 
 rauding party came and carried away captive Lot and his 
 family. When Abraham learned this, "he armed his 
 trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred 
 and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan." Genesis xiv, 
 14. Had these young men been the children of persons 
 whom Abraham had dragged from their homes, would 
 Abraham have armed them, and drawn them so far from 
 home as Dan — the extremity of Canaan ? Would not 
 these servants, while Lot was captive, and his neighbors, 
 
48 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 employed in defending themselves, have turned their arms 
 against their master, and recovered their own and their 
 parents' liberty ? But Abraham felt himself safe with 
 this band of armed men, though far away from his fam- 
 ily and home. Such a company could not have been 
 slaves. Look at our slavery when compared with this. 
 Slaves with us are not allowed to keep arms of any sort, 
 and the severest laws are enacted to keep them from hav- 
 ing arms. Hence, slavery in the United States is a very 
 different thing from the service under Abraham. Surely 
 there is no analogy here between American slavery and 
 patriarchal service. 
 
 10. The servants of Abraham were such by their own 
 voluntary choice. It can not be supposed that x^braham, 
 the pattern of just and righteous dealing, bought or 
 retained any involuntary servants. His institution of 
 service was not a system of selfish speculation, but a mis- 
 sionary appointment from God. It is true, that he had 
 some servants born in the house, and some bought with 
 money ; but these circumstances do not prove that their 
 service was involuntary. Abraham was a prince, as the 
 children of Heth addressed him — ''Thou «'irt a mighty 
 prince among us." Genesis xxiii, 6. His servants were 
 merely his subjects. He had no fixed residence ; there- 
 fore, he and his subjects dwelt in tents. "By faith he 
 sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange coun- 
 try, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob." 
 Hebrews xi, 9. His servants must have amounted to over 
 a thousand at one time. It is, therefore, absurd, that a 
 single individual, migrating from place to place, could 
 compel so many persons to involuntary servioe. Cer- 
 tainly such a number of armed slaves would not submit 
 to compulsory service in a country where emigration was 
 so common and so easy. And as to those bought with 
 money, as he was "very rich in cattle, in silver, and in 
 
P A T R I A K C II A L SERVICE. 40 
 
 gold," and as benevolent as ricli, lie would be led to 
 redeem captives or slaves in view of benefiting them. 
 His whole conduct shows that he considered his subjects 
 as voluntary servants, but not slaves. He exacted an 
 oath from his eldest servant, who was over his house, in 
 obtaining a wife for Isaac. This we might expect of a 
 prince from a subject, but not of a master from a slave. 
 
 11. Abraham did not employ force to compel service. 
 The servants, therefore, were voluntary both in the com- 
 mencement and the continuance of their service. They 
 emigrated from place to place with theii' immense flocks 
 and herds, frequently fifty or sixty miles from home, yet 
 there were no patrols. There was no compact to deliver 
 up fugitive slaves. How easy would it have been for any 
 disposed, to escape ; yet there were neither policemen nor 
 military men employed to guard the servants. 
 
 12. The social condition of Abraham's servants, their 
 treatment and privileges, are at variance with the con- 
 sideration that they were regarded as property in view of 
 slavery. In certain circumstances, a servant bought with 
 money, or born in the house, might become heir or ruler 
 in the household. Such, for some years, was Abraham's 
 expectation relative to one of his servants and his own 
 household — Genesis xv, 3 — he actually made one of his 
 servants ruler over all that he had several years before his 
 death. (Genesis xxiv, 2.) Indeed, female servants were 
 sometimes taken by their masters as subordinate wives ; 
 and this entirely exempted them and their children from 
 vassalage or slavery. This was the case with Hagar and 
 Ishmael, and with the secondary wives of Jacob and 
 their children. When Abraham sent an escort of serv- 
 ants, headed by Eleazar, the oldest servant of his house, 
 to select a wife for Isaac, the reception and treatment 
 of the servant shows there was no slavery in the case. 
 Laban received him courteously into the house. Laban 
 
 5 
 
50 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 nngirds and feeds the Ccamels, brings water to wash his 
 feet, and food for him and his men. The servant was 
 treated as an equal, or in a manner altogether at variance 
 with the treatment of slaves. Hence, we may infer that 
 Abraham never held any persons as slaves or marketable 
 property. The historical fact is, that he was most assidu- 
 ous in cultivating the hearts and minds of all under his 
 care, in the ways of wisdom, truth, and righteousness. 
 (Genesis xviii, 19.) 
 
 13, The religious patriarchs never sold their servants, 
 nor gave them away, nor transferred them to their heirs 
 as slaves ; and hence their servants were not slaves. 
 
 The patriarchs had servants, bought with money ; but 
 no case occurs in which we can infer that any of them 
 sold a servant. They had servants born in their houses, 
 as subjects under their religious, and civil, and social con- 
 trol ; but we have no account of any of these being sold 
 or transferred by them to others, or given as an inher- 
 itance to their children, as either perpetual or temporary 
 slaves. Wealthy masters sometimes exchanged presents. 
 Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and men-servants and 
 maid- servants, and gave them unto Abraham. (Genesis 
 XX, 14.) But Abraham, courteous and rich as he was, 
 respected the rights of his servants and subjects, and gave 
 none of them to Abimelech. He only "took sheep and 
 oxen and gave them to Abimelech." Abraham gave 
 gifts to his sons by Keturah and Hagar, but no servants. 
 (Genesis xxv, 5, 6.) Abraham's servant, who went to 
 seek a wife for Isaac, enumerates the wealth of Abraham 
 thus: *'The Lord hath given him flocks and herds, and 
 silver and gold, and men-servants and maid-servants, 
 and camels and asses ;" and then adds : " and unto Isaac 
 hath he given all that he hath." Genesis xxiv, 35, 36. 
 As Isaac was the patriarchal successor of Abraham, the 
 servants, or subjects of Abraham continued under his 
 
PATRIARCnAL SERVICE. 51 
 
 care and protection as a civil and religious head. Hence 
 these servants were employed in keeping these flocks and 
 herds which they had kept for his father. There is no 
 proof that any one ever had any authority over Abra- 
 ham's servants but himself and Isaac. Certainly Isaac 
 would not give them to Esau, who sold his birthright. 
 Isaac gave no servants to Jacob when he went to Padan 
 Aram to seek his fortune. In the present made by Jacob 
 to Esau, no servants were included. (Exodus xxxii, 13.) 
 In his present sent to the Governor of Egypt, no servants 
 were included. When Jacob went down into Egypt with 
 all that he had, even the servants he had brought with 
 him from Padan Aram did not go with him. All the 
 souls that went with him were seventy — all of whom were 
 his own children and grandchildren. (Genesis xlvi, 27 ; 
 Exodus i, 5.) The truth of the matter seems to be, as the 
 Rabbins declare, that servants were released, or their term 
 of service had expired, at the death of their masters, and 
 did not descend to their heirs. 
 
 14. It is inferred that the servants of the patriarchs 
 were slaves, because they were classed with cattle, asses, 
 and the like. (Genesis xii, 16.) To this we reply, that 
 we may as well conclude that servants were irrational, 
 because they were classed with animals. And if servants 
 are property, because they, in common with cattle and 
 camels, are said to be owned, j)ossessed, etc., then a wife 
 is property, for she is mentioned in connection with the 
 ox and the ass. (Exodus xx, 17.) In like manner chil- 
 dren must be property. 
 
 As a general thing, the servants are evidently distin- 
 guished from property. "And Abraham took all the 
 substance they had gathered, and the souls that they had 
 gotten in Haran." Genesis xii, 5. The herdsmen of 
 Abraham and Lot are mentioned separately. (Genesis 
 xiii, 1.) When the wealth of the patriarchs is spoken of 
 
52 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 servants are not mentioned, but only when their f/reatness 
 is described. *' Abraham was very rich in cattle and 
 gold." Genesis xiii, 2. Servants are not included. The 
 Schechemites say, respecting Jacob and his sons, " Shall 
 not their cattle, and their substance, and every boast of 
 theirs be ours ?" Genesis xxxiv, 23. There is no men- 
 tion here of Jacob's servants. (Compare Genesis xxxi, 
 16-18 ; Deuteronomy viii, 12-17 ; Joshua xxii, 8 ; 1 
 Samuel xxv, 2 ; 2 Chronicles xxxii, 27-29 ; Job xiii, 
 and xiii, 12, w^ith Genesis xxiv, 35 ; xxvi, 13, 14 ; xxx, 
 43 ; xxxii, 4, 5 ; and xxxvi, 6, 7.) 
 
 15. We may now consider the case of Isaac. When 
 the servant of Abraham proposed that Rebecca should 
 become the wife of Isaac, he assured the family of Re- 
 becca that Abraham would make Isaac heir to all that he 
 had; and among the possessions he enumerates ''flocks 
 and herds, and silver and gold, and men-servants and 
 maid-servants, and camels and asses." Genesis xxiv, 
 35, 36. And before the death of Abraham, it is said that 
 *'he gave all that he had to Isaac." Genesis xxv, 5. 
 But this must be understood as meaning that Isaac, being 
 the son of his first wife, he made him his principal heir. 
 For unto the sons of the concubines "he gave gifts, and 
 sent them away from Isaac, his son, while he yet lived, 
 eastward, toward the east country." 
 
 The history goes on to say, that, to some extent, Isaac, 
 as successor of Abraham, exercised civil and religious 
 authority over the servants, or over such of them as 
 remained with Isaac, who was married thirty-five years 
 before Abraham's death. Isaac, during this period, exer- 
 cised subordinate control over Abraham's servants. 
 
 Eighteen years after the death of Abraham, it is said 
 of Isaac that "the man waxed great and went forward, 
 and grew until he became very great ; for he had pos- 
 session of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store 
 
PATRIABCIIAL SERVICE. 53 
 
 of servants, \oy husbandry — margin;^ and the Philistines 
 envied him." Genesis xxvi, 13, 14. Those are called 
 Isaac's servants and herdsmen, who took care of his herds 
 and flocks, and dug wells. (Verses 19, 20, 32.) We 
 hear no more of Isaac's servants ; and he lived eighty- 
 eight years after this account of his servants. (Genesis 
 XXXV, 29.) We can not suppose that Isaac sold any 
 of his servants, or gave them to others. Between Isaac's 
 marriage and Abraham's death — a space of thirty-five 
 years — Isaac probably had the control of many of Abra- 
 ham's servants, or subjects. For fifty-three years after 
 his marriage we learn that he had servants under his con- 
 trol, or among his dependents. 
 
 From the death of Abraham— B. C. 1822— to the 
 death of Isaac — B. C. 1716 — a space of one hundred and 
 six years, it is manifest that there was a great decrease of 
 these servants, as we find none of them were given to 
 either Jacob or Esau ; at least we have no account of any 
 such thing. For Jacob became a servant himself, in his 
 turn, and served Laban twenty years — fourteen for his 
 two daughters, and six for the cattle — or from 1760 to 
 1740 before Christ. During this twenty years' service, 
 we can not suppose he would be prepared to have many, 
 or any servants, as he himself had to serve. From the 
 end of this term to the death of Isaac — a space of twenty- 
 two years — we have no account of his having many 
 servants, though he had some. 
 
 In brief, we fail entirely, in the case of Isaac, to see 
 any real slavery, although there was a service rendered to 
 him similar to that which was rendered to Abraham, but 
 to a more limited extent. 
 
 16. We will next consider the case of Jacob in ref- 
 erence to his servants, in order to ascertain how far 
 his example may be quoted in reference to freedom or 
 slavery. 
 
54 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 We find tliat in 1760 before Christ, or forty-four years 
 before the death of his father, Isaac, he went to Padan 
 Aram to his uncle, Laban's, at the urgent exhortation of 
 his mother, Eebecca. He certainly took no servants with 
 him, as the history shows. By contract with Laban, he 
 agreed to be his servant for seven years, for board and 
 wages. His wages, at first contract, was that he should 
 have Rachel for a wife. (Genesis xxix, 15-20.) When 
 deceived by Laban, in substituting Leah for Rachel, he 
 made a new contract, and became the servant of Laban 
 for seven years more, still in order to obtain Rachel for a 
 wife. Thus he served, as a hired servant, for fourteen 
 years, for his two wives. (Genesis xxix, 21-30.) At 
 the end of this period Jacob's large family was unpro- 
 vided for, as he himself states. He resolves to go to his 
 own country ; that he had served, as a servant, Laban, but 
 that now he must provide for his family. ''And now," 
 says he, "when shall I provide for mine own house 
 also ?" Genesis xxx, 30. At the conclusion of this 
 period of twenty years' service, for two wives, and much 
 cattle, Leah and Rachel break out into the following 
 justly-indignant language against their father, who had 
 counted them strangers, and had sold them, and even de- 
 voured their private property. ''Are we not counted of 
 him strangers ? For he hath sold us, and hath quite 
 devoured also our money." Genesis xxxi, 15. 
 
 Laban even acted arbitrarily and unjustly in changing 
 the wages of Jacob. (Genesis xxxi, 7.) Jacob thus 
 states the matter when he had finished his twenty years* 
 hard service, just twenty-four years before Isaac's death. 
 " Thus have I been twenty years in thy house : I served 
 thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years 
 for thy cattle ; and thou hast changed my wages ten 
 times." Genesis xxxi, 41. Although Jacob was a serv- 
 ant, who served for wages, partly in wives, and partly in 
 
.PATRIARCHAL SERVICE. 55 
 
 cattle, he was no slave. And although Laban sold his 
 hvo daughters, he did not sell them for slaves, or even 
 menial servants, but only for wives, according to the 
 general custom of the times. In accordance with another 
 custom, he gave to each of his daughters a female serv- 
 ant, or maid, or maid-servant. (Genesis xxix, 24, 29.) 
 These, also, through the urgency of his two wives, became 
 the wives of Jacob. (Genesis xxx, 4, 9.) 
 
 Let us now see in what manner, and to what extent, 
 Jacob became the possessor of servants. He certainly 
 brought with him no servants to Padan Aram. At the 
 end of fifteen years' service, or one year after he com- 
 pleted the service for his wives, we find he had servants. 
 "And the man increased exceedingly, and had much 
 cattle, and maid-servants and men-servants, and camels 
 and asses." Genesis xxx, 43. It is not stated how he 
 came in possession of these ; but it can not be supposed 
 that he obtained them otherwise than for wages of some 
 sort. 
 
 Five years after this — B. C. 1740 — when he was on his 
 way to his own country, we learn that he had servants 
 with him, who were employed in taking care of, and 
 driving his cattle, and flocks, and herds, of various kinds. 
 (Genesis xxxii, 16.) 
 
 The next and only account we have of Jacob's servants 
 is on his arrival at Luz, or Beth-el. " So Jacob came to 
 Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Beth-el, 
 he, and all the people that were with him." Genesis 
 XXXV, 6. 
 
 We can see nothing of slavery in the service of Jacob 
 to Laban, or among the servants that Jacob afterward 
 obtained. There are other events in the history of Jacob 
 which fully confirm this view of the subject. 
 
 The service, or servitude, of Esau to Jacob, will serve 
 to illustrate and support this. Of the two brothers, at 
 
56 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 their Lirtli, it is proplietically declared, ''And the one 
 people shall be stronger than the other people ; and the 
 elder shall serve the younger." Genesis xxv, 23. In 
 the prophetic blessing of Isaac on Esau and Jacob, Isaac 
 declares to Esau, ''Behold, I have made him thy lord, 
 and all his brethren have I given to him for servants." 
 *' By thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy 
 brother ; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have 
 the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy 
 neck." Genesis xxvii, 37, 40. 
 
 The nature of the patriarchal government is here indi- 
 cated. Esau was heir by primogeniture, but Jacob was 
 chosen by the Almighty. The brethren of the proposed 
 sovereign were not given as slaves, but as subjects, as the 
 history shows. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were suc- 
 cessive patriarchal rulers of a spiritual and civil govern- 
 ment, that was to be continued to the end of the world. 
 They were men of uncommon excellence, and the govern- 
 ment they instituted, to promote true religion and good 
 government, is yet but partially developed, though it is 
 destined to fill the world with righteousness. 
 
 The Edomites had dukes and kings reigning over them, 
 while the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. Subsequently 
 they became tributary to the Israelites, and were finally 
 absorbed in the Jewish nation. Surely there is no sup- 
 port for slavery here. 
 
 If we examine the history of Jacob, after his return 
 from Syria to Canaan, we shall find, that at the time he 
 went down to Egypt, he had no servants, of any sort. 
 
 At the time that Joseph was sold — B. C. 1729 — eleven 
 years after Jacob came to Canaan, we find that his own 
 sons attended to keeping the flocks and herds — Genesis 
 xl — and we see no account at all of the employ of serv- 
 ants, either hired, or by other contract. All that the 
 history of this period furnishes is, that Judah " had sheep- 
 
PATRIARCHAL SERVICE. 57 
 
 shearers in Timnath." Genesis xxxviii, 12. And the 
 slave-trade seems to have made considerable progress 
 everj-where, except in the families of Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob. For Joseph's brethren, being wicked, and 
 unmindful of just patriarchal law, which did not allow 
 of stealing, selling, buying, or using stolen men as slaves, 
 sold their brother Joseph. This was the slavery system 
 as opposed to the legitimate and lawful service under the 
 Abrahamic covenant, Avhether in his family, and among 
 his descendant patriarchs, or in the Jewish and Christian 
 Churches. 
 
 Jacob had no servants, as far as the history testifies, 
 when his sons went down to Egypt to buy corn, either 
 the first or second time. None accompanied his sons in 
 either of the journeys. And we have no account of any 
 servants employed at home with Jacob, at that time, in 
 any kind of service. (Genesis xlii, xliii, xliv.) 
 
 When Jacob went down to Egypt he had no servants 
 with him. The number and the name of all are given, 
 and amount to seventy persons. (Genesis xlvi, 5-7; 
 Exodus i, 5.) When presenting the Hebrews to Pharaoh, 
 there was no mention of servants. (Genesis xlvi, 32.) 
 
 The case of Jacob stands thus : When he went to 
 Syria — B. C. 1760 — he had no servants, but was there 
 himself a servant for twenty years. At the end of fifteen 
 years we find that he had some servants. When he left 
 Syria and came to Canaan, some servants accompanied 
 him. Eight years after we find he had some servants. 
 W^hen Joseph was sold we find no servants in Jacob's 
 possession. When he went to Egypt he had no servants. 
 No one can justly conclude that Jacob ever had a slave, 
 and all the historical facts indeed show the contrary. 
 
 17. We will now consider that department of patri- 
 archal life, embraced in, and connected with, their sec- 
 ondary wives, or concubines, which many have made a 
 
58 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 principal support of the slave system, tlioiigh contrary to 
 tlie leading elements of polygamy, or concubinage ; as 
 slavery sinks down into contubernium, wliicli is tbe con- 
 dition of the system — ignoring and rejecting marriage 
 first, then concubinage, and becomes brutalized into servile 
 contubernium. 
 
 Sarah was barren. She had a ''handmaid, an Egyp- 
 tian, whose name was Hagar." Genesis xvi, 1. In order 
 to obtain children by her handmaid, servant, or slave, 
 Sarah ''took her maid and gave her to her husband, 
 Abraham, to be his wife." Verse 2. His connection 
 with Hagar was not proposed by himself, but by Sarah — 
 Abraham yielding in this to her wishes rather than to his 
 own. The custom of more than one wife was common 
 in the east, especially if the first was barren. 
 
 Hagar finding herself pregnant, despised her mistress, 
 Sarah. On the complaint of this to Abraham, he per- 
 mitted Sarah to treat her as she thought fit. Sarah hav- 
 ing used her harshly, Hagar fled from the dwelling of 
 Abraham. The angel of the Lord finding her in the 
 wilderness, commanded her to return, and to submit her- 
 self to her mistress. She returned to Abraham's house, 
 submitted to Sarah, and was delivered of a son, whom 
 she called Ishmael. (Genesis xvi, 16.) Abraham was 
 then eighty-six years old. 
 
 Fourteen years after Isaac w^as born. When Sarah 
 saw some misconduct in Ishmael, she insisted that Abra- 
 ham should cast out this bond-woman and her son, "for 
 the son of this bond-woman shall not be heir with my 
 son, even with Isaac." Genesis xxi, 10. Though this 
 was grievous to Abraham, yet he consented ; because the 
 Almighty informed him that the succession of religion, 
 and of the covenant, was by Isaac ; and that the descend- 
 ants of Ishmael should be a great people. (Genesis xxi, 
 12, 13.) The oldest son was the legal heir. For though 
 
PATRIARCHAL SERVICE. 59 
 
 concubines, or wives of the second class, were legitimate 
 in those times, yet their chiklren did not inherit the prin- 
 cipal estate, except in the failure of legal issue. 
 
 How Sarah came into the possession of Hagar we 
 know not. All that the history furnishes was, that she 
 was about fifteen years a member of Abraham's family, 
 in a dependent situation, and badly treated by Sarah. It 
 is likely she was of such as were given to wealthy women, 
 when married, to be waiters, but on what terms we know 
 not precisely. Rebecca had her nurse and damsels, or 
 maids to accompany her when she was married, but we 
 learn nothing more of them. Laban gave a handmaid, 
 or servant, to each of his daughters, Leah and Rachel. 
 (Genesis xxix, 24, 29.) These were also given to Jacob 
 for wives, by Leah and Rachel, for a reason similar to 
 that which led Sarah to give Hagar to Abraham to wife. 
 (Genesis xxx.) These are subsequently mentioned as the 
 wives or woman-servants of Jacob. (Genesis xxxiii, 1, 
 2, 6; XXXV, 25, 26; xxxvii, 2; xlvi, 18, 25.) 
 
 To show that the slave system receives no countenance 
 from the concubinage of the patriarchs, we furnish the 
 following reasons : 
 
 First. These maids, maid-servants, handmaids, etc., 
 could not be slaves as members of a circumcised family 
 or community. We allow, that those maid-servants that 
 were given to married women as their servants, may 
 have been given to them as slaves ; but they could not 
 remain such in the families of Abraham, Isaac, and 
 Jacob. Their privileges, as disciples, or proselytes, or 
 converts to the true religion, made them members of this 
 great brotherhood. Hence, they could not be continued 
 permanently as slaves. So the history of the patriarchs 
 say, as in the cases of Hagar, Bilhah, and Zilpah. So 
 under the Mosaic code, and in Christianity. 
 
 Second. Hagar, Bilhah, and Zilpah were wives, and 
 
60 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 not slaves. Being concubines, or second or secondary 
 wives, they could not be slaves. The marriage bed was 
 considered as inviolable, in reference to concubines, as 
 to the principal wife, and its violation punished. Concu- 
 binage is not the state of slavery. Contubernium is the 
 state of slavery — a state not only below marriage and con- 
 cubinage, but one bordering on or identical with brutality, 
 or the indiscriminate mixture of the sexes. 
 
 Third. The heirship to which the children of the sec- 
 ondary wives were entitled and received, shows they were 
 not slaves. Abraham, it is said, gave all that he had to 
 Isaac. (Genesis xxv, 5, 6.) That is, he made him the 
 principal heir. The oldest son was the legal heir. For 
 though concubines, or wives of the second class, were 
 legitimate in those ancient times, yet their children did 
 not inherit the principal estate, except on failure of the 
 legal issue. The principal right of Isaac was to the land 
 of Canaan, including a confirmation of whatever was 
 contained in the promises of God. To the sons of the 
 concubines Abraham gave gifts. And the sons of Jacob's 
 secondary wives were made partakers of the inheritance 
 of their father, equally with their other brethren ; for they 
 became the progenitors of four tribes of Israel, and re- 
 ceived their proportion of the land of Canaan, as well as 
 equal religious privileges. 
 
 Fourth. Ishmael, Gad, Dan, Asher, Naphthali, the chil- 
 dren of these secondary wives, were not slaves. There- 
 fore, their mothers were not slaves, but freed-women. It 
 is a matter of history that none of their sons were 
 slaves. But, according to the established laws of slavery, 
 in every age, it became fixed, that the child shoidd follow 
 the condition of the mother. Now, as the children were 
 both born free, as indeed all are, and continued free, the 
 mothers could not have been slaves. 
 
 An objection or two may be met here. <*When 
 
PATRIARCHAL SERVICE. 61 
 
 Hagar ran away from Abraham's family, the angel of 
 God sent her back, and instructed her to submit herself 
 to Sarah." Very true. For as Sarah was the principal 
 wife, and the mistress of the house, it was reasonable 
 that Hagar should submit. But as Hagar was Abra- 
 ham's wife, and therefore no longer a slave, she was sent 
 back as a ur'ife, though a subordinate one. She was not 
 sent back as a slave, nor was she treated as a slave, other 
 than the jealousy of Sarah led to bad treatment. 
 
 The departure of Hagar after the birth of Isaac is 
 urged by pro-slavery apologists. But this was a divorce^ 
 occasioned, too, by the jealousy of Sarah. Yet as God 
 permitted, but did not approve of concubinage and di- 
 vorce on account of the hardness of men's hearts, he 
 permitted Abraham to divorce his wife Hagar, to gratify 
 his wife Sarah. Yet the overruling providence of God 
 was in this. The reasons given are, that in Isaac and 
 his posterity the world should be blessed in religious 
 descent from Abraham ; the son of the bond-woman 
 should be a great nation. The Ishmaelites became a 
 great and powerful j^eople, and were never the slaves of 
 any nation or individuals. (Genesis xxi, 12-21.) 
 
 18. It remains to point out the contrast between the 
 service under Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and slavery. 
 
 Patriarchal service was founded on the conversion of 
 the servants to the true religion. They were also thor- 
 oughly instructed in the principles and practice of relig- 
 ion. They were ingrafted by circumcision into the 
 Church of God, and became, equally with their masters, 
 partakers of the blessings of the covenant. Our slavery 
 has no recognition of religion ; it forbids mental instruc- 
 tion, makes no provision for religious privileges, and 
 recognizes no brotherhood between master and slave. 
 The maintainers of our slavery, according to the system, 
 have very little regard for moral principle. 
 
Q2 THE BIBLE AND SLAVEEY. 
 
 The patriarchs employed no force, in the exercise of 
 their authority as masters. None became their servants 
 by force of any sort. We hear of no parols ; no jails 
 to confine servants ; no dogs to hunt them ; no chains to 
 bind them. Slavery requires all these, and the strong 
 arm of the civil power to carry them into effect. 
 
 The patriarchs did not sell their slaves. They did not 
 make merchandise of them. Although they bought serv- 
 ants, either from themselves, or perhaps third persons, in 
 order to free them, they sold none of their servants. In 
 this it differs from slavery, which always furnished for 
 market those whom they held by force. 
 
 Patriarchal service could not be slavery, because, after 
 a period of longer or shorter service, it came to an end. 
 Of all the servants once in the possession of Abraham, 
 Isaac, and Jacob, not one of them were in service when 
 Joseph was sold, or when Jacob went down to Egypt, 
 thirteen years after. Something like the year of release, 
 or of the jubilee, must have taken place. The common 
 law maxim of slavery is, that the child follows the con- 
 dition of the mother. By this means slavery continues 
 its existence ; but on the patriarchal scheme it would 
 soon die out. 
 
 Indeed, the moral character of the patriarchs forbade 
 them to hold slaves. The act of selling Joseph was 
 repudiated among the patriarchs. The carrying out of 
 the slave system is contrary to the moral sense of all 
 good men. 
 
 Patriarchal service threw off entirely the elements of 
 slavery existing around, and established a service antag- 
 onistic to slavery. Its princijDles were justice, moral 
 right, religion, and reciprocal rights. On this account 
 it was directly at variance with the slave system of their 
 times. 
 
 Patriarchal service was the forerunner of freedom ia 
 
PATRIAKCHAL SERVICE. 63 
 
 the world, as established in the Mosaic code, and in the 
 Christian system. The foregoing survey of the subject 
 goes to show that the principles of the Mosaic code were 
 only a development of the patriarchal. Circumcision, as 
 among Abraham and his servants, was a necessary part 
 of the Mosaic code. This brotherhood confined service 
 to six years, or to the jubilee, and thus prevented it from 
 running into slavery ; while the New Testament prin- 
 ciples entirely rooted out the deeply-seated slavery of 
 Rome ; as they will yet overturn American slavery. 
 
 In conclusion, patriarchal service combined none of the 
 essential features of slavery. Abraham did not hold 
 servants by a tenure wdiich transformed men to mere 
 things, to goods and chattels, or mere property. There 
 is no restriction on mental instruction, no ignoring of 
 religious teaching, or religious privileges. There is no 
 annulling of the fifth and seventh commandments of the 
 decalogue. There is no withholding of the laborers' hire, 
 no pursuit or capture of fugitives, no mercenary trading 
 of human beings, no child bound to perpetual service, on 
 account of the condition of its mother. The application 
 of the leading features of the service rendered to Abra- 
 ham, Isaac, and Jacob, would, at no distant day, uproot 
 American slavery. Let no slaves be sold on any account ; 
 let schools of instruction be established; let religious 
 institutions be maintained and supported by the slave 
 code ; let marriage be established ; let no children be 
 separated from their parents ; let parental authority be 
 respected ; let no force of law, or police, or military be 
 resorted to ; let any leave their masters who will. These 
 regulations, all of which are imbedded in patriarchal 
 service, would annihilate slavery in America, in about 
 two generations, or even less. It is supremely absurd, 
 then, to quote either the examples or principles of the patri- 
 archs in favor of American or any other system of slavery. 
 
64 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 In the cases of Hagar, the damsels of Rebecca, and the 
 maids given to Leah and Rachel, it may be admitted 
 that originally they were slaves ; but subsequently they 
 became freed-women, though they were never free per- 
 sons, that is, persons born free. But under the patri- 
 archal government of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they 
 became as free as their circumstances would allow. Their 
 children were all free. Ishmael was free, and so were the 
 four sons of the two maids of Leah and Rachel. And 
 they were the heads of tribes equally with the other sons 
 of Jacob. The true slavery maxim is, the child follows 
 the condition of the mother. In the families of Abraham 
 and Jacob it was not so — the children followed the 
 condition of the free father. This alone would destroy 
 slavery ; and apply it to our slavery, and one generation 
 would annihilate the system in America. 
 
PATRIARCHAL SLAVERY. 65 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PATRIARCHAL SLAVERY. 
 
 We have shown in the previous chapter, that the service 
 rendered to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by their servants, 
 was not sLavery. We will noAV show where slavery may 
 be found among the patriarchs, and will concede to the 
 slaveholders and apologists for slavery, that they have 
 patriarchal examples to produce for the practice of slavery. 
 We allow, nay, we maintain, that there was patriarchal 
 slavery, as well as patriarchal service. We find this serv- 
 ice in the example of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We 
 find the example of slavery in the case of Joseph. W^e 
 will therefore take pains to show the elements of slavery 
 in the case of Joseph, contrast it with the service of the 
 patriarchs, and point out its identity with slavery, whether 
 ancient or modern. In the case of Joseph, let us notice, 
 
 1. The evil moral elements that were brought to act, in 
 order to prepare the way for the introduction of slavery. 
 
 (1.) The actors in this, before they engaged in the en- 
 slavement of Joseph, were, at that time, under the influ- 
 ence of bad principles, and of bad moral conduct. Dan 
 andNaphthali, Gad and Asher, the sons of the secondary 
 wives, seem to have been principals. Joseph gave them 
 offense, because he gave to his father an account of "their 
 evil report." Genesis xxxvii, 2. The readmess in which 
 the nine brothers engaged in the capture of Joseph, in 
 the hatred, cons^Diracy, and cruel treatment of their brother, 
 show great moral depravity at that time, as well as inhu- 
 man conduct. 
 
 6 
 
QQ THEBIBLEANDSLAVEKY. 
 
 (2.) They exerci.sed a wicked temper. They hated their 
 brother, and envied him. "They hated him, and could 
 not speak peaceably unto him." ''They hated him yet 
 the more for his dreams and for his words." Genesis 
 xxxvii, 4, 8. "And his brethren envied him" — verse 
 11 — in consequence of his supposed future eminence over 
 them. 
 
 (3.) They, therefore, under the influence of these bad 
 dispositions, determined to kill him. Murder, with mal- 
 ice, was their first object, in order to get rid of him whom 
 they hated, and envied. "They conspired against him to 
 slay him." Genesis xxxvii, 18. Such was the object 
 the Jews had in view, in reference to Paul. They dt-term- 
 ined to kill him. (Acts xxiii, 14.) 
 
 (4.) They entered into a conspiracy to accomplish their 
 object. When Joseph was at a distance, they determined 
 to kill him, and conspired or combined for that purpose. 
 Their plan of conspiracy was, "Come now, therefore, and 
 let us slay him, and cast him into some pit; and we will 
 say, some evil beast hath devoured him : and we will see 
 what will become of his dreams." Genesis xxxvii, 20. 
 These are the words of the conspiracy. It comprises mur- 
 der with malice aforethought, or with hatred and envy. A lie 
 is invented in carrying it out, and hij]Jocrisy in complet- 
 ing the deception on Jacob. The conspiracy consisted 
 in the following : First, murder as the way ; second, 
 this was designed ; third, hatred and envy were the dis- 
 positions in exercise ; fourth, a lie was resorted to as the 
 means of justification ; fifth, and hypocrisy was the clos- 
 ing part of the conspiracy or plan. 
 
 (5.) They carried their purposes into effect, without 
 remorse, up to the very last act of putting him to death, 
 but for the sake of gain they did not kill him. "And 
 it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his breth- 
 ren, that they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat 
 
PATRIARCHAL SLAVERY. 67 
 
 of many colors that was on liim ; and tliey took and 
 cast him into a pit : and the pit was empty, there was 
 no water in it. And they sat down to eat bread." Gen- 
 esis xxxvii, 23-25. Thus, after seizing, by force, their 
 innocent brother, they stripped him of his clothes, cast 
 him into a pit, and then sat down deliberately to eat 
 bread, as if they had done no wrong. Their act was like 
 that of the remorseless transgressor, who "eateth, and 
 wipeth her month, and saith, I have done no wicked- 
 ness." Proverbs xxx, 20. Here we have the moral 'pic- 
 ture of those, in all ages, who are prepared to take the 
 incipient steps in enslaving mankind. First, they are, 
 in general, bad, wicked men. Second, they are under 
 the influence of bad dispositions, as hatred, envy, the 
 love of gain, pride, ambition, or the like. Third, hence 
 their plans, or, if you please, their laws of enslavement, 
 can all be traced to these bad tempers, and can never 
 spring from love, either to God or man. Fourth, mur- 
 der, or waste of human life, or making it bitter with 
 service, whether severe or easy, for gain, or for pleasure, 
 is a part of the system. Fifth, by the acts of enslave- 
 ment we must judge of these ; for by their fruits ye shall 
 know them. 
 
 Who, as they contemplate the conduct of Joseph*s 
 brethren, can fail to detect all the elements requisite to 
 constitute the system of slavery, or to prepare the way 
 for it ? 
 
 First. They were, at this time, wicked men. Will not 
 this character apply to all the originators of the slave 
 system, from those who sold Joseph down to the present 
 time ? This was the case with the Egyptians. Those 
 who sell their own people in Africa, and elsewhere, are 
 of this character. 
 
 Second. The evil tempers of hatred, envy, love of 
 gain in the enslavers, who succeeded Joseph's brethreiij 
 
68 THE BIBLE AND SLAVEBY. 
 
 are pretty fair patterns for those who are participants in 
 the oppression of their fellows now. 
 
 Third. Murder, or sacrifice of human life, is a char- 
 acteristic of the system, and has been in all ages. Sta- 
 tistics could show this. 
 
 Fourth. Look at the plans, conspiracies, and decep- 
 tion in the case of Joseph's brethren. The ambushes of 
 the African slave-trade may be taken as a sample. And 
 the studiously constructed slave-laws of eYerj slave na- 
 tion in the world present a specimen of this. The laws 
 of the United States possess this characteristic. Its fu- 
 gitive-slave law, its protection to the system, and its guar- 
 antees to support it are of this class. And then the laws 
 of slave states are a comjjlete net-work to surround, en- 
 tangle, and retain the unwilling bondman in its meshes. 
 The children of slave mothers are slaves. There is no 
 father to protect ; no instructor to teach. If the slave 
 attempt to escape, he is an enemy, and must be captured 
 or killed. 
 
 Fifth. And then the 'practice of our system is no bet- 
 ter than that of Joseph's brethren. The poor slave is 
 stripped of every thing, is chained in ignorance, and 
 bound down by all the laws of the system, in as forc- 
 ible and cruel a manner as that M^hich took place in the 
 case of Joseph's brethren. 
 
 2. The protest of Reuben against the conduct of his 
 brethren, and his grief on account of it. 
 
 Of the ten brethren of Joseph only one protested and 
 resisted their course. The narrative goes to say, "And 
 Eeuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands ; 
 and said. Let us not kill him. And Reuben said unto 
 them. Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is 
 in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him ; that he 
 might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his 
 father again." Genesis xxxvii, 21, 22. 
 
PATRIARCHAL SLAVERY. 69 
 
 The murderous brethren, however, in the absence of 
 Eeuben, sold Joseph; and Reuben expresses himself, on 
 the occasion, in the following mournful strains: "And 
 Beuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was 
 not in the pit ; and he rent his clothes. And he returned 
 unto his brethren, and said, The child is not : and I, 
 whither shall I go ?" Genesis xxxvii, 29, 30. 
 
 The following speech, on this occasion, is put into the 
 mouth of Reuben by Josephus, which will show the views 
 he entertained on the subject, as well as point out the 
 great evil of the act by which Joseph was sold to the 
 Midianites. 
 
 "It were an abominable wickedness," says Josephus, 
 "to take away the life even of a stranger. But to destroy 
 a kinsman and a brother, and, in that brother, a father too, 
 with grief for the loss of so good and so hopeful a son — 
 bethink yourselves, if any thing can be more diabolical ! 
 Consider that there is an all-seeing God, who will be the 
 avenger as well as the witness of this horrid murder. 
 Bethink yourselves, I say, and repent of your barbarous 
 purpose. You must never expect to commit this flagi- 
 tious villainy, and the divine vengeance not overtake you ; 
 for God's providence is every-where, in the w^ilderness as 
 well as in the city ; and the horrors of a guilty conscience 
 will pursue you wherever you go. But put the case, your 
 brother had done you some wrong, yet is it not our duty 
 to pass over the offenses of our friends ? When the sim- 
 plicity of his youth may justly plead his excuse, and 
 make you his friends, rather than his murderers ; espe- 
 cially when the ground of all your quarrel is this, that 
 God loves your brother, and your brother loves God." 
 (Josephus, Book II, c. 3.) 
 
 Though this speech is put into the mouth of Reuben, 
 it shows the true Jewish views of this transaction by 
 their acknowledged historian. 
 
TO THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 We have the protests of the best men the world ever 
 Siw against the acts of Joseph's brethren, and against 
 slavery. In this are united clergymen and laymen, an- 
 cients and moderns. In our work on the ** Sinfulness 
 of Slavery" — Vol. II, p. 167-243 — we have given an 
 ample list of these protesters ; and to this and other such 
 works we must refer our readers, as our space will not 
 allow their insertion. These, too, comprise both slave- 
 holders and non-slaveholders. It is also remarkable that 
 the plea of Judah to sell Joseph for money, and save 
 the imputation or trouble of killing him, is a fair speci- 
 men of the best arguments of pro-slavery men. The sub- 
 stance of their pleas is, abolitionism, fanaticism, our 
 property, our institutions, civil law, good feeding, good 
 clothing, good nursing, etc. 
 
 3. The commutation of slavery for death. 
 
 The policy of Reuben was, that they should not kill 
 him, in order that he might deliver him out of their 
 hands and restore him again to his father. This was 
 benevolent and praiseworthy, but was rejected. This was 
 an abolition argument, and could not prevail. 
 
 Let us notice the argument of Judah, the sale of Jo- 
 seph, and the deception on Jacob. Judah adduced a 
 pro-slavery argument, and that succeeded. It is as fol- 
 lows : *'And Judah said unto his brethren. What profit 
 is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood ? Come, 
 and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our 
 hand be upon him ; for he is our brother and our flesh. 
 And his brethren were content and hearkened." Genesis 
 xxxvii, 26, 27. 
 
 Look at Judah's argument against killing Joseph. First. 
 It was not expedient to kill him, because this would shed- 
 blood ; and they must lay violent hands on him in order to 
 kill him, and this, too, would be either wrong or inex- 
 pedient. Second. He is our brother, and our flesh ; not 
 
PATRIARCHAL SLAVERY. 71 
 
 only a liuman being, with the feelings of flesh like our- 
 selves ; but he is our natural brother, the son of the same 
 natural father with ourselves. Third. There is no j^rojit 
 in killing him. 
 
 Next see his reason for making him a slave. 1. They 
 would have 2^rofit in selling him ; though the price was 
 only twenty pieces of silver, or about twelve or fifteen 
 dollars. 2. It would be humane to sell him ; because 
 they would not be guilty of murder, so that they would 
 avoid the revolting acts of shedding blood, and using 
 their own hands in doing it. 
 
 The argument for sale prevailed. The reasons against 
 the murder were satisfactory, and the arguments for sale 
 conclusive. On the one hand, they could exercise human- 
 ity so as not to be reduced to the necessity of becoming 
 the bloody executioners of their own natural brother by 
 their own hands, and at best it was profitless. On the 
 other hand, they could just sell him, and thus avoid all 
 this, and then they would have some price or benefit ac- 
 cruing. The argument prevailed ; his brethren were con- 
 tent or satisfied with the profound logic of Judah. And 
 to facilitate the matter, the merchants who then dealt 
 in goods and chattels personal, were just in sight, and 
 presently the bazar was closed in the manner following: 
 *' And there passed by Midianites merchantmen ; and they 
 drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph 
 to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver : and they 
 brought Joseph to Egypt." Genesis xxxvii, 28. 
 
 Notice now the deception practiced on Jacob by this 
 transaction. "And they took Joseph's coat, and killed 
 a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood : 
 and they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought 
 it to their father ; and said, This have Ave found : know 
 now whether this be thy son's coat or no. And he knew 
 it, and said, It is my son's coat ; an evil beast hath 
 
72 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 devoured liim : Joseph is witliout doubt rent in pieces.*' 
 Genesis xxxvii, 31-33. 
 
 Observe here the theft in Joseph's case. Joseph says, 
 "For, indeed, I was stolen out of the land of the He- 
 brews." Genesis xl, 50. This was man- stealing, a capital 
 crime. 
 
 The selling of Joseph was a great sin. When his 
 brethren saw the act in its true light they confessed, 
 "We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that 
 we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, 
 and we would not hear ; therefore is this distress come 
 upon us." Reuben then said, " Spake I not unto you, 
 saying. Do not sin against the child ; and ye would not 
 hear? therefore behold also his blood is required." Gen- 
 esis xlii, 21, 22. After the death of Jacob, Joseph's 
 brethren were afraid that "Joseph will peradventure hate 
 them, and will certainly requite them all the evil which 
 they did unto him." And they sent a messenger to 
 Joseph to plead for the fulfillment of Jacob's injunction 
 to them. "Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy 
 brethren, and their sin ; for they did unto thee evil ; and 
 now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants 
 6f the God of my father." They "thought it for evil 
 against Joseph." Genesis 1, 15, 17, 20. Their act was 
 a sin, a trespass against the principles of right. It was 
 a deliberate act ; it was mea7it for evil. In consequence 
 they were guilty, and stood in need of pardon. 
 
 These are the prominent points in the enslavement of 
 Joseph : 1. I'/w commutation of slavery for death. The 
 reasons against the murder were, that they would be 
 relieved from shedding the blood of their brother with 
 their own hands ; and that there would be no profit in 
 doing so. The reasons for the sale were, they would 
 profit by it, and make money by it ; and it would be a 
 humane course. In a word, slavery is the more profitable 
 
r A T K J A K O H .\ j , ,-. L A V E R Y . 73 
 
 way; it is tlie more liuu nine way. 2. His sale and his 
 jyrice. 3. The deciyllon in the affair, and the means of 
 carrying it out. 4. The theft, effected by violence of as- 
 sault and battery. 5. And the sin. 
 
 All these evil elements in the enslavement of Joseph 
 are to he found in every slave system that ever existed in 
 the world ; and they exist in our slave system to an ex- 
 tent equal to, or exceeding, any other. The following 
 observations will present this, we think, in a convincing 
 light : 
 
 (1.) The capture of men by theft, violence, or war, 
 and holding men liable to death, has been the principal 
 source of slavery in \\\q world, in all ages. Personal 
 violence and theft in individual cases has always been 
 an element of slavery. Such cases are constantly occur- 
 ring in our country. Under the covert of slave laws in 
 the United States, multitudes born free, according to law, 
 are re-enslaved in various ways which we have not time 
 to detail. War in olden times, as a national business, 
 gave rise to national slavery, as Justinian declares : **The 
 law of nations is common to all mankind, and all na- 
 tions have enacted some laws, as occasion and necessity 
 required ; for wars arose, and the consequences w^ere cajD- 
 tivity and slavery ; both which are contrary to the law 
 of nature; for by that law all men are born free." (Inst. 
 Lib. I, Tit. 2, Sec. 2.) 
 
 Our mode of enslaving children by law is perfectly 
 identical in principle with the use of violence and theft 
 in the case of Joseph. Violence made Joseph a slave. 
 Our violent laws make children slaves. The work done 
 is precisely the same ; namely, a free person is made a 
 slave. The mode is different, as if one would murder a 
 man by slow torture, and another would do it by the 
 easy way of shooting him through the head or heart. 
 Our ChHstion way is different from the pit and the sale, 
 
 7 
 
74 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 of Joseph's brethren ; but the accomplished deed is the 
 same, only our way is the worse way. Our mode is to 
 steal the child as soon as born, and then deny him any 
 instruction or means of moral, religious, or mental im- 
 provement during life. But Jose23h had seventeen years 
 of good education under his father before he was stolen. 
 If our slaves had seventeen years of paternal instructions 
 their case would be different. But our poor slaves have 
 no fathers ; and their mothers have their hands tied, and 
 their mouths sealed ; they are themselves in chains. 
 
 (2.) The commutation of slavery for death is unjust, 
 and founded on unjust principles. 
 
 Blackstone furnishes on this subject the following ar- 
 gument : 
 
 **The conqueror, say the civilians, had a right to the 
 life of his captive ; and having spared that, has a right 
 to deal with him as he pleases. But it is an untrue posi- 
 tion, when taken generally, that by the law of nature or 
 nations a man may kill his enemy : he has only a right 
 to kill him in particular cases — in cases of absolute 
 necessity for self-defense ; and it is plain this absolute 
 necessity did not subsist, since the victor did not actually 
 kill him, but made him prisoner. War itself is justifiable 
 only on principles of self-preservation ; and, therefore, 
 it gives no other rights over prisoners but merely to dis- 
 able them from doing harm to us by confining our per- 
 sons : much less can it give a right to kill, torture, abuse, 
 plunder, or even to enslave an enemy when the war is 
 over. Since, therefore, the right of making slaves by 
 captivity depends on a supposed right of slaughter, that 
 foundation failing, the consequence drawn from it must 
 fail likewise." (1 Blackstone's Com., 423.) 
 
 (3.) The small profit of Joseph's sale, though only 
 twelve or fifteen dollars, was a consideration. The value 
 of our slaves is far beyond this. By the profits of their 
 
PATRIAHCHAL SLAVERY. 75 
 
 sweat and toil their masters and their families are fed, 
 clothed, and maintained. Slaves now sell at from five 
 hundred to one thousand dollars each. Perhaps eight 
 hundred dollars may be an average. This is over fifty 
 times as much as the cost of Joseph. Our slaves, too, if 
 they are religious, are more valuable than others. And 
 almost white, handsome, female slaves sell, especially at 
 private sales, at immense prices. Joseph's brethren, 
 however, had one or two disadvantages in their busi- 
 ness. They had to use personal violence to steal and 
 seize Joseph. We raise or breed our slaves, and newly- 
 born babes need no chains ; and they are easily raised, as 
 they need no schooling or trades, and therefore can work 
 all the time that other children go to school or are ap- 
 prentices. The annual profits of the slaves is consider- 
 able ; and the entire value of the chattels of this sort is 
 very great. In 1790 Mr. Gerry valued the slaves at 
 810,000,000 ; in 1840 Mr. Clay valued them at $1,200,- 
 000,000. At present the value of over 3,000,000 must 
 be about $2,000,000,000. The income of the property 
 at six per cent, would be $3,300,000 annually — a con- 
 siderable advance from the time of Joseph. What would 
 our slaveholders think of fifteen dollars for a stout boy 
 of seventeen years of age ? They could get $1,000 for 
 such. 
 
 (4.) On the sale of Joseph, as an example, the United 
 States have somewhat improved. With us, fathers sell 
 their own children, and brothers and sisters sell their own 
 brothers and sisters. And if fathers, and brothers, and 
 sisters shrink from this sometimes, as they really do, the 
 law, in its regular course of procedure, does it for them 
 by the sheriff and auctioneer. An entire Church of par- 
 ents and children, belonging to the late H. R. W. Hill, 
 were recently sold in New Orleans, the narrative of which 
 is given in another place. The United States sometimes 
 
76 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 goes to market, and makes pm-cliases and sales to save 
 tlie loss of a bad debt. We know a large family of 
 children sold by a grandfather to his own son, who was 
 the father of the children. Thus the son purchased from 
 his own father his children, and the mother of his chil- 
 dren, the grandfather selling coolly his grandchildren, the 
 offspring of his slave. He attempted afterward to repur- 
 chase one of the grandchildj-en, but in vain, as his son 
 needed her for a housekeeper ; and this was all according 
 to law. It is believed, as a matter of history, that some 
 descendants of Jefferson are now slaves. Our traders, 
 wholesale and retail, make selling slaves a regular 
 business. 
 
 (5.) Joseph, was stolen. This transaction is rej)re- 
 sented, in Genesis xlii, 21, 22, as a crime worthy of death, 
 in those guilty of it — as a self-evident and enormous 
 crime against the laws of nature. Joseph says he was 
 stolen. (Genesis xl, 15.) The wrong inflicted on him 
 was an act of stealing, or of theft ; and as he was a man, 
 that crime was man-stealing — precisely the crime with 
 which our slavery is justly charged. The Larger West- 
 minster Catechism, on the eighth commandment, places 
 among the things forbidden, "theft, robbery, man-steal- 
 ing, and receiving any thing that is stolen." Bishop 
 Hopkins, of England, in his Exposition, defines theft 
 thus : "Theft is an unjust taking or keeping to ourselves 
 what is lawfully another man's. He is a thief who with- 
 holds what ought to be in his neighbor's possession, as 
 well as he who takes from him what he hath formerly 
 possessed." Slaveholders are called by St. Paul — 1 Tim- 
 othy i, 9, 10 — man-stealers, or the stealers, venders, or 
 holders of men, as slaves ; and that man- stealer, or slave- 
 dealer, or 27ossessor of the property — except a possessor 
 in trust — in guilt and sin, is synonym(5us with thief, is 
 plain, from Exodus xxi, 16, whero the thief, the vender, 
 
PATIIIARCIIAL SLAVERY. 77 
 
 or holder of a stolen man, is equally guilty, and to be 
 punished with death, equally wilh murderers, or those who 
 strike or revile their parents. The 2^ossess'ion is prin- 
 cipally criminal, because he who possesses the stolen 
 property prevents the true owner from enjoying it. ' 
 
 The moral law makes no difference between the first 
 act of the theft and the willful possession of a stolen 
 article. ** Whoso is partner with a thief, hateth his own 
 soul." Proverbs xxix, 24. The crime of theft consists 
 in taking, or having that which the moral law recognizes 
 as the property of another ; and this theft is robbery, 
 because it involves fraud and violence without the shadow 
 of justice. While men hold slaves as lyroperty — except 
 in trust, in order to restore it — no other terms will as well 
 designate them as man- stealer, thief, slaveholder, slave- 
 dealer, or the like ; and such are the very words which the 
 Holy Ghost employs, both in the Old and New Testa- 
 ments : "And they sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites." 
 Genesis xxxvii, 28. " For indeed I was stolen away 
 out of the land of the Hebrews." Genesis xl, 15. 
 
 These passages show that he who sells or bvys one 
 man from a third person, except to ransom him, is a 
 thief. So, in Deuteronomy xxxiv, 7, it is clear that he 
 who steals, makes merchandise of, or sells a man, is 
 called a thief. 
 
 (6.) The enslavement of Joseph is, in Scripture, pro- 
 nounced sinful. If the original act of enslavement was 
 sinful, the continuance of this state, by the infliction of 
 wrongs, the deprivation of rights, as well as the great 
 moral principles involved, can not be right. At this 
 time, human beings are deprived of liberty, of education, 
 of the rights of conscience, and are subject to great and 
 cruel wrongs ; and of course, as the nature of right and 
 wrong does not change, Avhat was wrong then must be 
 wrong now. It is in vain to evade the charge of moral 
 
78 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 wrong in our slavery, any more than it was in the case 
 of Joseph. 
 
 Take the two following examples of wicked wrong, 
 from Brisbane on " Slaveholding Examined," page 207 : 
 
 " A slave woman was brought before the Church, for 
 trial, on account of pregnancy. But she escaped censure 
 because she testified that her master met her in the field 
 and forced her. There was no law to protect her." 
 
 ** Sam, a slave, in consequence of severe treatment, ran 
 away. His master stripped him, cut off one of his ears, 
 whipped him on the bare back till it was laid open in 
 deep gashes from the neck to the hip, and then applied 
 pepper and salt to the wounds. For this there could be 
 no redress by law. His master was in respectable so- 
 ciety." 
 
 (7.) Nor does the deception practiced in the case of 
 Joseph at all exceed that which is brought into requisi- 
 tion in our own slave system. Jacob, for a time, was 
 deceived, but the issue detected all this. Our system 
 operates wisely with the slaves. There is the authority 
 of the United States, assisting the slave states, with the 
 Fugitive- Slave law, as a means, and the army, navy, 
 and Supreme Court of the United States, guaranteeing 
 and upholding, by statute, constitution, and judicial de- 
 cisions, the system of slavery. Then there are the con- 
 stitutions and laws of the slave states, which seize every 
 child, as soon as born, and, regardless of the laws of 
 nature, make the innocent a slave for life. 
 
 The masters have almost supreme control over the 
 slaves. There are no schools to teach them, and no 
 liberal arts, or respectable pursuits, to elevate them. If 
 they attempt to run away, the blood-hounds are let loose 
 on their scent, or more bloody men become the hunters. 
 There is a conspiracy against them. There is a complete, 
 organized system of oppression ; and emancipation is a 
 
P A T 11 1 A 11 C 11 A L SLAVE 11 Y . 79 
 
 proliibition, in most cases. The petty conspiracy of 
 Joseph's brethren, in reference to one person, is almost as 
 nothing compared to the legishitive, judicial, and execu- 
 tive system, which is brought to bear against three millions 
 of persons, born free, but now enslaved men, women, 
 and children of the United States. 
 
 4. The slave-dealers, in the case of Joseph, and also 
 our own dealers, may now be considered. 
 
 Our system of slavery has its model in the seizure and 
 sale of Joseph by his brethren to the Ishmaelites, and by 
 the latter to Potiphar. His brethren stripped him, and 
 sold him to the Ishmaelites. (Genesis xxxvii, 23.) The 
 Ishmaelites, or Midianites, who were merchants, and dealt 
 in the purchase and sale of human beings, as well as in 
 spicery, balm, myrrh, etc., bought him from his brethren. 
 (Genesis xxxvii, 25, 28.) The Midianites brought him 
 down to Egypt, and sold him to Potiphar. (Genesis 
 xxxvii, 36 ; xxxix, 1.) 
 
 Here is a case described at length, of the forcible seiz- 
 ure, or kidnapping, of one person by others ; of his sale 
 as an article of merchandise for money; and a subse- 
 quent sale of him as property to another ; and all exactly 
 as our slave seizures, and sales, and purchases are now 
 made. The transaction is theft, and a sm, worthy of 
 death by the law of God. 
 
 The seizures and sales, with us, have taken place ac- 
 cording to constitution, statutes, and judicial decisions, and 
 with much more deliberation than in the case of Joseph. 
 Our slave laws, too, just in proportion as Christianity 
 has spread in the country by the religious, have continued 
 to become more stringent and severe, to counteract the 
 exercise of moral principle. And the examples in the 
 slave-gangs, and barracoons, have left the case of Joseph 
 in the distance ; and, indeed, it will be difficult to say 
 whether the African piratical trade, or our home trade, in 
 
80 THE BIBLE AND SLA YEKY. 
 
 breeding, sales, transfers, etc., exceeds in atrocity, con- 
 sidered in tlieraselves. But oni-s far exceeds theirs in evil, 
 as it is an inic|uity framed hy law, done deUberately, by 
 constitution, by statute, by judicial decisions ; at tbe 
 mouth of the cannon, or musket, by the blood-hounds, 
 the auctioneer, the sheriff, and backed by the army and 
 navy, the laws of the United States, the executive, and 
 supreme judiciary. 
 
 Some specimens of our home trade, in slaves, will 
 show clearly that our regular legalized traffic is, in no 
 respects, lower than that practiced by Joseph's brethren 
 and their successors in the trade. 
 
 The enslavement of brothers and sisters, by brothers 
 and sisters, and even by fathers, is a lawful part of our 
 trade, and no abuse of it, more or less. Specimens 
 enough could be given. ^ But almost every mulatto in the 
 United States is a proof, not of opinion, but of fact, to 
 sustain this ; yet we pass it by, leaving it as a subject 
 of reflection, as there are many things in this wdiich 
 we are forbidden to speak out on, through downright 
 shame. 
 
 Then there is our practice of slave-growing, that is also 
 a lauful business, and no abuse of the system. For 
 slavery rejects marriage, and adopts the old heathen 
 maxim, tJte cJt'dd follotvs the condition of the mother. If 
 there is any thing in Joseph's case worse than this, we 
 are much mistaken. 
 
 And as to seizing persons, and making slaves of them, 
 conveying them from one part of the country to another, 
 in chains, and under escorts, selling families apart, etc., 
 we can scarcely imagine any thing in the case of Joseph 
 which will compare with it. We will here furnish some 
 specimens of the improvements made in the commerce 
 of slavery, which our times may now boast of. 
 
 Of the mode of catching slaves by hi- .'1 -hounds, or 
 
P A T III A 11 II A L SLAVERY. 81 
 
 negro <logs, Ave give tlie following specimen, from the 
 Lexington Democratic Advocate, a Mississippi journal. 
 We give this without a word of comment : 
 
 ''NEGRO DOGS. 
 
 "I wonld inform the citizens of Holmes county that 
 I still have my negro dogs, and that they are in good 
 training, and ready to attend to all calls for hunting and 
 catching runaway negroes, at the following rates : 
 
 " For hunting per day, five dollars ; or if I have to 
 travel any distance, every day will be charged for, in 
 going and returning, as for hunting, and at the same 
 rates. Not less than five dollars will be charged, in any 
 case, where the negroes come in before I reach the place. 
 From fifteen to twenty-five dollars will be charged for 
 catching, according to the trouble. If the negro has 
 weapons, the charge will be made according to the diffi- 
 culty had in taking him, or in case he kills some of the 
 dogs, the charge will not be governed by the above rates. 
 I am explicit to prevent any misunderstanding. The 
 owner of the slave to pay all expenses in all cases. 
 
 "I venture to suggest to any person having a slave 
 runaway, that the better plan is to send for the dogs 
 forthwith, when the negro goes off, if they intend sending 
 at all, and let no other person go in the direction, if they 
 know which way the runaway went ; as many persons 
 having other negroes to hunt over the track, and failing 
 of success, send for the dogs, and then perhaps fail in 
 consequence to catch their negro, and thus causelessly 
 fault the dogs. Terms, cash. If the money is not paid 
 at the time the negro hunted for is caught, he will be 
 held bound for the money. I can be found at home "at all 
 times, five and a half miles east of Lexington, except 
 when hunting with the dogs. John Long. 
 
 ''February 14, 1855." 
 
82 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 The following is an account of our slave traffic, in one 
 of its most favorable forms, under the best religious and 
 mental culture which the south furnishes ; and yet the 
 system turns out to be more at variance with right than 
 even the case of Joseph itself. 
 
 Mr. H. R. W. Hill resided long in Nashville, Ten- 
 nessee ; was a zealous, active, and very liberal member of 
 the Methodist Ej^iscopal Church South. He spared no 
 pains or expense to have his slaves instructed and bene- 
 fited by religion. As he became very wealthy, in the 
 pursuit of commerce, several large plantations, with the 
 slaves on them, near New Orleans, where the family re- 
 sided, came into his possession. He built churches on the 
 plantations, supported missionaries, and did every thing 
 he thought best to make them intelligent and happy. 
 Last year — 1854 — he died, and left his vast estate to his 
 son, after having been munificent during life, and at 
 death, to benevolent objects. After his death his negroes 
 were all, or the greatest part of them, sold, at public 
 sale. 
 
 The following is the advertisement which appeared in 
 the National Intelligencer, giving notice of the sale : 
 
 *' Will be sold at auction, at Bank's Arcade, on Maga- 
 zine-street, in the city of New Orleans, at 12 o'clock, on 
 Tuesday, January 16th, 1855, the slaves at the same hour 
 on Thursday, January 18th, and the following days, for 
 the account of the estate of the late H. R. W. Hill, with- 
 out reserve, all that extensive and valuable sugar estate, 
 known as the Live-Oak Plantation, etc., including two 
 hundred and sixty choice plantation-slaves, accustomed 
 to the culture of sugar and cotton, and considered to be 
 the best gangs in the south, and comprising all the requi- 
 site mechanics, such as sugar-makers, engineers, black- 
 smiths, coopers, carpenters, bricklayei-s, ch.oice house- 
 
PATRIARCHAL SLAVERY. 83 
 
 servants, cooks, and field hands, and are to be sold in 
 families and singly, by a descriptive catalogue. Tbe 
 slaves are guaranteed in title only." 
 
 The sales took place in New Orleans. Handbills were 
 printed with large black letters, and the words mechanics, 
 seamstresses, cooks, etc., stood out prominent. Adver- 
 tisements and editorial notices appeared in the papers. 
 Circulars, on fine paper, were printed, giving particulars 
 of each one to be sold, all being duly numbered. The 
 following is the description of the sale, given by a cor- 
 respondent of the New York Tribune, February 16, 1855 : 
 
 *'0n the morning of the sale I wended my way to 
 Bank's Arcade, determined to witness the scene. I found 
 the Arcade to be a very large building, situated in the 
 very center of business, and used as a hall for mass meet- 
 ings of the various political parties, and it is said will 
 accommodate five thousand people on such occasions. 
 A large bar or counter, about one hundred feet in length, 
 is placed directly opposite the entrance, and some half a 
 dozen tenders are constantly occupied in dealing out 
 poison at a dime a drink. Opposite to the bar the poor 
 negroes were marshaled into line ; the men and boys were 
 uniformed with short jackets made of cottonade, pants 
 of the same material, hickory shirts, black brogans, and 
 tarpaulin hats. The women were all clad in common 
 calicoes, and a common handkerchief tied around the head. 
 All the slaves were labeled, a tag or card being tied to the 
 breast of each, giving the name, age, and number of the 
 negro, so as to correspond with the printed catalogue. 
 
 "It is impossible for me to give you a faithful descrip- 
 tion of the scene, as no pen can picture the horrors of it. 
 One hundred and seven poor slaves were there assembled 
 together for the last time in this world. They had for 
 
84 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 many years all been living on Mr. Hill's plantation, as 
 one family. Most of them were brought up by Hill. 
 They had always been blessed with a kind master. They 
 were all members of one Church, which had been estab- 
 lished among themselves. Old men and women, over 
 seventy years of age — some of them blind — were to be 
 separated from their children and grandchildren ; hus- 
 bands about to be torn from their wives ; children sold 
 into slavery, never to know a mother's love, or have a 
 father's protection and care. In a few hours the fate 
 of all would be decided. All the slaves were crying ; 
 many of them were apparently calm in their sufferings, 
 and had a hope that they might fall into the hands of a 
 kind master ; but others exhibited their feelings in violent 
 outbursts of passion. One old woman, who was j)ut 
 down in the catalogue as number 40, Daliah, age sixty- 
 six years, milk-woman, etc., was in great distress, and 
 several of the small children were clinging to her and 
 moaning, half frightened to death, and one of her own 
 sons, about thirty- six years of age, was receiving her 
 farewell blessing. With her left arm clasping him to 
 her bosom, and her right hand placed on his head, she 
 repeated these words, ' Bob, I shall never see you again, 
 never, never ! 0, God ! it will break my heart ! Your 
 poor old mother will die !' Other poor slaves were 
 crowding about the poor old woman, all anxious to take 
 leave of one who had been with them from their youth 
 up, and to receive her blessing. She ajDpeared to be re- 
 garded as a kind of mother to them all. I noticed 
 among the spectators many northern men who were 
 here on a visit, and many a sympathetic tear was shed 
 by them. 
 
 " At twelve o'clock, the auctioneer mounted the stand. 
 On either side of him were placed plans of real estate, 
 and large posters of future sales of slaves and other prop- 
 
PAT 111 ARC HAL SLAVERY. 85 
 
 erty. Behind him were two clerks seated at a table, to 
 take down the names of the purchasers. On the table 
 were placed a bottle of brandy and a tumbler, for the use 
 of the auctioneer, who glories in the name of Beard. 
 Before commencing the sale, this Mr. Beard smiled ap- 
 provingly on the audience, and delivered the following- 
 address : ' Gentlemen buyers, I am about to offer you 
 some of the most valuable property ever put up, at auc- 
 tion, and on most favorable terms — a credit of one year. 
 These slaves are very choice, and all brought up by our 
 lamented fellow-citizen, Harry Hill. Most of the women, 
 as you will notice, are pregnant, and of good stock. I 
 must impress it upon your minds that these slaves are 
 exhibited under great disadvantage, as, after being worked 
 very hard, they were hurried on board the steamer, and 
 have had a hard time of it. They will look twenty-five 
 per cent, better after being here a few days. Gentlemen 
 buyers, before I sell this gang of negroes, I will put up 
 thi-ee boys, who were sold at the last sale, but the papers 
 of the purchasers were not satisfactory to us. It is, gen- 
 tlemen, a credit to New Orleans, that, out of the large 
 number of slaves sold on last Friday, only three of the 
 purchasers have been rejected. It speaks well for the 
 ]orosperity of our state.' " 
 
 It is due, however, to Mr. Hill, to state that he made 
 particular request that his slaves should be kept all to- 
 gether, if possible ; and in case of their being sold, that 
 husbands and wives should not be separated. On this 
 account the husbands and wives were sold together. 
 There is at least one protest against slavery, in making 
 this arrangement. When Bob and his wife were sold for 
 sixteen hundred and seventy-five d()llars, he was about to 
 bid good-])y to his mother, but was hurried out of the 
 room, just as his mother was put on the block. The 
 
86 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 auctioneer j^raised her as a ''good and motherly old 
 wench — good and very useful to take care of children 
 and milk cows." In this way the whole Church was 
 d'isposed of. 
 
 5. The grief of Jacob when Joseph was stolen, and 
 for thirteen years after, is no more than a medium exam- 
 ple of what our slavery inflicts on parents and relatives, 
 by tearing their nearest friends from them. 
 
 When Jacob heard the deceitful narrative about Joseph, 
 he gave vent to the feelings of a father in the following 
 mournful strains : "And Jacob rent his clothes, and put 
 sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many 
 days. And all his sons and his daughters rose up to 
 comfort him ; but he refused to be comforted ; and he 
 said. For I will go down into the grave unto my son 
 mourning. Thus his father wept for him." Genesis 
 xxxvii, 34-36. 
 
 The hypocrisy and blunted feelings of Joseph's brethren 
 on this occasion, have their correspondence in the cold- 
 blooded indifference with which some, not all, slavehold- 
 ers look on when the nearest relatives are separated. So 
 revolting is this law of slavery, that many will never, in 
 their lifetime, allow of such separations. But after their 
 death ihe law of slavery knows neither justice nor mercy. 
 The revolt of feeling, on such occasions, is a moral pro- 
 test against the unprincipled atrocity of slavery. 
 
 The grief of Jacob when Simeon was detained in Egypt, 
 and when Benjamin was called for to go to Egypt, pre- 
 sents another phase of the slave system. Jacob had lost 
 one child, but now others were in danger of being torn 
 from him. Hear his lamentation : "Me have ye bereaved 
 of my children : Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and 
 ye will take Benjamin away : all these things are against 
 me. My son shall not go doAvn with you ; for his brother 
 is dead, and he is left alone : if mischief befall him in 
 
PATRIARCHAL SLAVERY. 87 
 
 tlie way in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down my 
 gray hairs witli sorrow to the grave." Genesis xlii, 36, 
 38. When Jacob was urged again to let Benjamin go, 
 he asked, "Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell 
 the man whether ye had yet a brother?" Genesis xliii. 
 And when finally persuaded to let Benjamin go to Egypt, 
 he said, after having advised them to take double money, 
 "Take also your brother, and arise, go again unto the 
 man : and God almighty give you mercy before the man, 
 that he may send away your other brother, and Ben- 
 jamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved." 
 
 How strikingly does the history of Jacob's sufferings 
 find a counterpart in our slave system ! One child is first 
 taken and sold, and then another; and the distracted 
 parents can not tell how soon the last will be taken away. 
 Thus poor slave parents, especially mothers, are left to 
 the mercies of a continued succession of bereavements 
 till their death. The examples of this are so numerous 
 that we are at a loss to select specimens. We give, how- 
 ever, a few. 
 
 The following was communicated to us by Rev. H. C. 
 Boyers, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Maysville, 
 Ky., under date of January 13, 1855, and published in 
 the Western Advocate, of January 31, 1855. It is the 
 experience of a colored woman, taken down as she uttered 
 it in love-feast : 
 
 "I have great pleasure in the service of my God, and 
 I've none any whar else. Many years ago I started for 
 heaven, but I had none to take me by the hand to lead 
 me, or teach me the w^ay. Master and mistis was wicked, 
 and nobody near whar I lived loved the Lord Jesus. I 
 lost my child, and God showed me I was a sinner, and 
 had a wicked heart ; and something told me I must pray ; 
 but I could not pray. I asked Master Jesus to show me 
 
88 THE BIELE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 how to pr;w,.ancl then I could pray; and the more I 
 prayed the worse I got, and at last I thought I would 
 die. I was sick of sin, and I went off to a distant 
 neighbor's house, and told an old Methodist sister how I 
 felt ; and she knoM' ed what was the matter with me, and 
 told me to look, by faith, to Jesus Christ, and he would 
 save me. And I did ; and, thank God ! he did save me 
 from all my fears and sins ; and I was joyful. But I've 
 had to wade through deep waters and fiery trials since 
 then. Some of my children have died, and some have 
 been sold down south, and my poor, dear husband, too, 
 was sold, and I am almost alone now. I'll never see 
 them on earth any more, but I hope to meet them in 
 heaven. Brethren, pray that my faith fail not." 
 
 The lamentation of 13aliali, one of Mr. Hill's slaves, 
 as given in the account of the sale, is as touching as any 
 thing uttered by Jacob. Daliah, number 40, of several 
 hundred, with one arm around her son's neck, and the 
 other on his head, despairingly said : 
 
 ''Bob, I shall never see you again; never, never! 
 O, God ! it w^ill break my heart ! Your poor old mother 
 will die !" 
 
 " Mr. — had a slave of light complexion, whom he took 
 for his wife. She lived in his house as his wife, and had 
 several children by him. The laws of the state — South 
 Carolina — forbid emanci2)ation ; she therefore was still 
 legally his slave, although not treated as such. Her 
 master, who in the sight of God was her husband, became 
 involved in debt. His wife and children were levied on 
 and sold to satisfy a claim. A physician, himself a 
 prominent member of a Baptist Church, and a son of 
 a Baptist minister, purchased them, and the husband and 
 father was not allowed to visit them on their master's 
 
PATRIARCHAL SLAVERY. 89 
 
 plantation. The master continued a respected member 
 of the Church." (Brisbane's Slaveholding Examined, 
 
 P- 217.) 
 
 "A prominent southern minister, when invited to the 
 pastoral charge of a leading Church in a northern city, 
 brought with him a slave, and retained her in his service, 
 after selling her children to a planter in Georgia." (Ibid., 
 p. 204.) 
 
 6. The distress and sufferings of Joseph are such as 
 slaves are no strangers to. 
 
 Joseph was seized violently by his brethren, stripped 
 of his coat, put into a pit, kept there for a time, and then 
 sold to strangers, and, therefore, separated from his father 
 and home, and transformed from being a beloved son to 
 be the slave of such master as might fall to his lot. 
 
 The anguish and distress of Joseph are thus described 
 by his brethren when they were convinced of their sin 
 in the presence of Joseph : " We are verily guilty 
 concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of 
 his Soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear ; 
 therefore is this distress come upon us." Genesis xlii, 21. 
 Here is presented, 1. The anguish or deep distress of a 
 young man torn from his father and home, and consigned 
 to strangers. 2. His prayer; he besought his brethren, he 
 pleaded to be sent home. 3. They would not hear, but 
 sold him for money. This was the beginning of Joseph's 
 sufferings. 
 
 He next served in Egypt, as a slave, his master Poti- 
 phar. (Genesis xxxix, 4, 17, 19; xli, 12.) In conse- 
 quence of his refusal to comply with the wishes of his 
 master's wife, he was put in the dungeon of the prison 
 and bound. (Genesis xxxix, 20.) There he served or 
 waited on the chief butler and baker, (Genesis xl, 4.) 
 
 But, although he was well treated in prison, because 
 
90 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 the Lord was with him, he was not content as a slave. 
 For having inter23reted the dreams, he besought the butler 
 for deliverance with the following entreaty and explana- 
 tion : *'But think on me when it shall be well with thee, 
 and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make men- 
 tion of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this 
 house. For, indeed, I was stolen away out of the land 
 of the Hebrews ; and here also have I done nothing, that 
 they should put me into the dungeon." Genesis xl, 14, 
 15. Yet the butler forgot Joseph for two full years, 
 which was another aggravation of his sufferings. (Gen- 
 esis xl, 23.) Joseph was thirteen years a slave. (Gen- 
 esis xxxvii, 2; xli, 46.) 
 
 There are several incidents in the case of Joseph as a 
 slave which will point out clearly characteristics common 
 to him and our slave system. We will present the fol- 
 lowing : He was deprived of liberty ; this was done by 
 force ; he pleaded against the wrong, but they would not 
 hear ; he was made an article of property and sold ; his 
 soul was in anguish on this account ; he was torn away 
 from home ; suffered much as a slave ; was forgotten by 
 those to whom he rendered important services. Thus he 
 mourned after his lost liberty. 
 
 As Joseph w^as deprived of his liberty, so our slaves 
 are deprived of their liberty. *' Liberty," according to 
 Justinian — Inst. Lib. I, Tit. 3, Sec. 1 — "is the natural 
 power of acting as we please, unless prevented by force 
 or by the law." This is the case with our slaves. They 
 are deprived of the inalienable rights of personal liberty, 
 personal security, and the pursuit of happiness. There 
 is no difference in this respect between the case of Joseph 
 and our slaves. Liberty is denied to the one as well as 
 the other. And liberty is the greatest gift that any one 
 can possess, except religion, and to be deprived of it is 
 to be deprived of what is most prized. And then the 
 
P A T K I A R C II A L SLAVERY. 91 
 
 en.slavcd person is placed under the will or dominion of 
 another, who can control him as he pleases, and treat him 
 as a mere thing of convenience. 
 
 As Joseph was deprived of liberty by force, so it is 
 with our slaves. It is true, there seems to be no ap- 
 parent force nsed, when children are born, to place them 
 in the number of slaves ; but let the mother of the slave 
 child take her own child, and leave her master, in order 
 to have her child become a freeman, then the power of 
 force will be shown. She and her child will be seized 
 by violent hands, and immediately be arrested and re- 
 duced to the submission of the slave. If the slave at- 
 tempt to run away he is hunted by the dogs, if need be, 
 pursued as a criminal, seized with violence, and punished 
 with stripes. There is the power of law, of courts, of 
 the supreme judiciary, of the army and navy, brought 
 out to compel him to submit to his bondage. He may 
 be shot or killed in almost any way, if he resist his cap- 
 tors. There are three millions of slaves in the country, 
 and about twenty-one millions are in combined federal 
 alliance to keep these slaves under the yoke. These slaves 
 have not one dollar of property, or dollar's worth; they 
 have no arms, they have no learning, they have no press, 
 they have no allies. On the other hand, their oppressors 
 are seven times more numerous than they. They have all 
 the property in the country ; they have the arms and army 
 of the Union ; they have the learning, the press, and pow- 
 erful allies. The force brought to bear against our slaves 
 is greater, in proportion, than that which seized, stripped, 
 and sold Joseph to strangers. 
 
 And Joseph did not pray more nnavailingly than our 
 slaves. As to signing petitions to legislatures, even by 
 putting down their marks, it could not be entertained 
 for a moment. They could not meet to deliberate, nor 
 send in a petition. They would expect nothing but 
 
92 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 stripes were tliey to attempt sucli a thing. How could 
 three millions of slaves contrive to send in petitions to 
 Congress ? It would he impossible. How could the 
 slaves in a state combine in reference to the power that 
 binds them hand and foot ? They can make no stump 
 speeches, nor pulpit speeches. They can print nothing, 
 or circulate it, were it printed. If others petition for 
 them, they are rarely heard. Even gag-laws have been 
 passed in Congress both against the petitions in their 
 favor, or any speeches in their behalf. Gag-laws were 
 passed in Congress in 1836, 1837, and 1840. By one 
 hundred and sixty ayes against thirty-five nays, February 
 11, 1837, the house resolved, "that slaves do not possess 
 the right of petition secured to the people of the United 
 States by the Constitution." The most miserable sinner 
 may pray to God ; but slaves among us must not utter 
 any prayer in reference to their case. The powers that 
 be will not receive, respect, or hear their petitions, much 
 less grant them. 
 
 Our slaves are as truly reduced to properti/ as Joseph 
 was. He was sold and bought, and so are our slaves. 
 We, too, sell for a price, and a high price at that. 
 Joseph's price was only about twelve or fifteen dollars. 
 Our slaves sell at from five hundred to one thousand dol- 
 lars, and over. Joseph passed through several hands. 
 The matter of the sale, purchase, conveyance, and secur- 
 ing of slaves has become a great and weighty business. " 
 There are the producers, who, in the very nature of the 
 system, are the slave-growers. Then there are the traders, 
 who buy them by traversing the country, and picking up 
 one here and there till a gang is ready for the southern 
 market. Then there are the great slave merchants, who 
 have the barracoons to keep them safely. Almost every 
 newspaper makes a gain by profitable advertisements of 
 negroes for sale, negroes wanted ; the farm-horses, cows. 
 
PATRIARCnAL SLAVERY. 93 
 
 hogs, furniture, and negroes, are displayed. The hand- 
 bills and circulars, too, increase the business of the coun- 
 try. The auctioneer, the sheriff, and other civil officers, 
 have a share in the merchandise of the souls and bodies 
 of men. The bidders do their work. And if the slave 
 be a Methodist preacher or Baptist preacher, as he is 
 worth much to keep the slaves at work, and keep them 
 from stealing, the bidding becomes often very brisk — 
 the gifts and graces of the man commanding the highest 
 price — as these are valuable qualities on a plantation, so 
 that such a slave becomes an overseer as well as a slave. 
 The consumers, properly so called, must not be over- 
 looked ; the sugar men and cotton men especially. These 
 purchase hardy males — do not wish to grow slaves — 
 wear them out in about seven years, and by extra profits 
 can afford to buy a new gang. When this pays, as it 
 mostly does, it saves the inconvenience and risks of grow- 
 ing the stock. Thus our growers of slaves, our various 
 grades of traders, merchants, and officers, and consumers 
 do a business as far beyond that of Joseph's brethren, the 
 Midianites, and Potiphar, as three millions of slaves ex- 
 ceed one single Joseph. 
 
 The anguish of our slaves may, in many respects, equal 
 that of Joseph ; though, in some cases, it may fall greatly 
 below it. To be torn from parents, and husbands, and 
 wives, and relatives, must always affect any sensitive, in- 
 telligent being. And we have instances enough in the 
 history of the slaves' wrongs which inflict wounds on 
 the slave as keen and cutting as Joseph experienced. 
 This will apply, however, to those who, like Joseph, had 
 superior advantages. 
 
 But there is a class of slaves, so steeped in ignorance 
 and stupidity by slavery, that some of them seem not to 
 be much alive to their true state. And their masters 
 cherish this, by making them as comfortable as possible, 
 
94 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 in their way, Avitli food, clothing, and attendance, when 
 sick. Through ignorance and mere animal gratification 
 these often become contented slaves, and are liapioy, as 
 they say. This is the darkest and lowest grade of slavery. 
 Here is brutality, induced by the system. The man is 
 unmarried, and the animal rules. And yet the perpetra- 
 tors of this debauch tell us, ** Our slaves are better clothed, 
 fed, and housed, than your free laborers and manufac- 
 turers." They seem never to take into the account mental 
 culture, liberty, independence, religion, marriage, eleva- 
 tion of character. They substitute for these, contuber- 
 nium, ignorance, degradation, servility, irreligion, food 
 and clothing, and thus call these things the chief good 
 of man. 
 
 To tear aw^ay children from parents is common to the 
 case of Joseph and to our slavery. In one state, we believe, 
 there is a law restraining the separation of children or 
 parents. But, in general, the slave laws pay no regard 
 whatever to this ; for, though the benevolence of some 
 masters operates here, the effect is very limited. In the 
 partition of estates it is little regarded. In sheriff's sales 
 it is not known. Those that pass through the trader's 
 hands are liable to separation, with no reference to the 
 wishes of parents or children. 
 
 The changes of masters are very often attended with 
 untold miseries to the slaves. Even when they fall into 
 the hands of good masters, the evil is not evaded. In 
 such cases there is often the separation of parents and 
 children, and all the grades of relationship. Some are 
 purchased for the sugar and cotton-fields of the south, 
 and from being house-servants in Virginia, now make 
 up a part of the southern gang on the cotton, rice, or 
 sugar plantations. Then young, well-looking females, 
 almost white, are purchased, and treated as God's intel- 
 ligent creatures ought never to be treated. If there is a 
 
PATRIARCHAL SLAVERY. 95 
 
 curse from heaven, from the conscience, and the result 
 of crime, here it must rest, and adhere like the shirt of 
 Nessus. 
 
 The longing of the slave for Uherty, unless brutality is 
 induced, is keen and undying. He sighs, and groans, 
 and prays for liberty to the very last. This is natural 
 to man. Nothing is so much in accordance with the law- 
 ful instincts of man as to enjoy the exercise of going, 
 coming, and staying, as he pleases, or as his judgment 
 directs. It is pleasant to call one's hands, feet, eyes, 
 MINE, not YOURS ; to have some property, too, if it is only 
 as much as poor Cadmus had, is worth something, as it 
 is a man's all ; to wear a chain, only occasionally — to 
 anticipate a sale — to be placed in the very lowest grade 
 of humanity, must prey on human feelings, and produce 
 anxiety. Justinian describes this well where he says, in 
 the civil law, that, "in the condition of slaves, there is 
 no diversity, but among free persons there is many, aa 
 ingenui — freemen, or libeilini — freed-men." (Inst. Lib. I, 
 Tit. 3, Sec. 5.) A slave is the lowest state, and none 
 can be lower or higher, as all are andrapoda, that is, 
 men iinderfoot, who can sink no lower. And no human 
 being can inflict this on another without doing a great 
 moral wrong. The sorrows of the slave, and his long- 
 ings for liberty, show that slavery is both inhuman and 
 unjust. 
 
 And yet all these evils, to which the slave is subject, 
 seem to be overlooked and forgotten. His services and 
 trials are not kept in view. Like Joseph and the butler, 
 the slave is forgotten by his master, except to reap the 
 fruit of his labor. This, at least, is the genuine opera- 
 tion of the system. When benevolence interferes, by 
 its kind offices, it is like the good Samaritan doing the 
 work which the slaveholding priest and Levite knew noth- 
 ing of. Slaveholders ride in their carriages, eat at their 
 
96 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 sumptuous tables, possess property, enjoy their homes, 
 and all by the toils of the slaves. Surely here is as 
 great a forgetfulness as the two years' forgetfulness of 
 the butler. There is this difference, however, that the 
 slaveholder's forgetfulness lasts always. 
 
 7. The care and providence of God over Joseph will 
 enable us to notice the care, protection, and deliverance 
 which the Almighty exercises toward slaves, and all that 
 are oppressed. 
 
 The Lord was Avith Joseph and prospered him. His 
 new master, Potiphar, discovered this. This brought 
 Joseph into favor. He was made overseer in the hoiiso 
 of his master, and all his concerns were intrusted in his 
 hands. (Genesis xxxix, 2-6.) 
 
 The singular piety of Joseph was remarkable in fidelity 
 to every trust, and his resisting the overtures of his mis- 
 tress. (Genesis xxxix, 7, 20.) 
 
 When put in prison, and even in its dungeon, for a 
 crime of which he was not guilty, the Lord was with him, 
 showed him mercy, and gave him favor in the sight of 
 the keeper of the prison. He was even here intrusted 
 with the care of every thing. (Genesis xxxix, 21-23.) 
 
 After interpreting the dreams of the butler and baker, 
 and then of Pharoah, he was not only set at liberty, but 
 promoted to the highest distinction in Egypt, the par- 
 ticulars of which we need not here detail. (Genesis 
 xl, xli.) 
 
 And after all the evils which Joseph suffered from his 
 brethren, he generously forgave them, when they came 
 to a proper sense of their crimes. (Genesis xlv, 3-8; 
 1, 15-21.) 
 
 Two lessons, connected with our subject, we learn from 
 this part of the history. The first is, that the Lord will 
 hear and protect the poor, the needy, the slave, and the 
 oppressed. The second is, that he will punish +heir 
 
PATRIARCHAL SLAVERY. 97 
 
 oppressors, and deliver tlie oppressed in his own good 
 time. 
 
 8. The reverse of circumstances in the case of Joseph's 
 brethren will furnish a specimen of what has occurred, in 
 the history of mankhid, to the oppressors of their fellow- 
 men. 
 
 An unexpected famine rendered it necessary for Jo- 
 seph's brethren to go to Egypt to purchase corn to pre- 
 vent starvation. There the recollection of their past evil 
 conduct came up fresh in their minds. They were har- 
 assed with the conditions of their case, in the detention 
 of Simeon as a hostage for bringing down Benjamin. 
 
 The reverse of circumstances brought them to a sense 
 of their guilt. They confessed to each other their guilt ; 
 they were distressed on account of it, and they acknowl- 
 edged now that their course was a murderous one. " We 
 are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw 
 the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we 
 would not hear ; therefore is this distress come upon us." 
 Reuben said to them, *' Spake I not unto you, saying. Do 
 not sin against the child ; and ye w^ould not hear ? there- 
 fore, behold also his blood is required." Genesis xlii, 
 21, 22. Thus they expressed themselves when they were 
 before Joseph the first time. At the second interview 
 they say, '' What shall we say unto my Lord ? what shall 
 we speak ? or how shall we clear ourselves ? God hath 
 found out the iniquity of thy servants." Genesis xliv, 16. 
 
 They were haunted with fears even to the very last. 
 After the death of their father, Jacob, they feared that 
 their former evil deeds would be visited on them. They 
 approached Joseph with trembling, and entreated him to 
 forgive their trespass, their sin. 
 
 The adverse reverse of circumstances of the supporters 
 of the slave system, if variously examined, will be found 
 to exist in it in all ages. In Greece, and in Rome, it was 
 
98 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 found to produce the greatest disasters, and often broke 
 ont in insurrections and bloodshed. It reduced the West 
 Indies to the greatest distress, financially and socially ; 
 and, although the blame has been laid at the door of 
 emancipation, it properly belongs to slavery. The hor- 
 rors of St. Domingo were nothing else than the con- 
 vulsive throes of slavery. 
 
 In our country the low morals, in connection with 
 the system, are manifest to all men. The majority of 
 the whites, in the slave states, are but poorly educated, 
 and have even obtained the name of ''white negroes." 
 Landed property in slave states, is, perhaps, only one- 
 half, or two-thirds the price it is in the free states. The 
 money pressures, too, have a greater effect on them than 
 on others. The overt efforts of the slave power, in 
 forcing pro-slavery measures on the General Government, 
 as in the Fugitive- Slave law, the Nebraska bill, and other 
 acts of like sort, are now producing an opposition to 
 the whole system that will never be settled while slavery 
 exists. The civilized world looks now with horror at 
 our system, and we are forced to be dumb, having no 
 argument or reason to meet their just reproaches. If 
 prices of cotton and sugar are greatly reduced, by the 
 cultivation of these staples, in other countries, the result 
 will be to humble and depress the slave power. In short, 
 the moral sense of the world has now solemnly uttered 
 its condemnation of the entire system. What reverses 
 may be in the future, none can tell, but, according to 
 the fixed laws of God's government, these reverses will 
 come. 
 
 ^ Sober reflection has brought the most devoted friends 
 of slavery to the conviction of its wrongs, and distress 
 of mind in consequence. In 1832, just after the insur- 
 rection in Virginia, this conviction became very general 
 throughout the south. After some respite, this convic- 
 
PATRIARCHAL SLAVERY. 99 
 
 tion died away, and elaborate essays have been published 
 to defend the sj-stem. The issues of the press, from the 
 north, since that time, have shown up, pretty clearly, the 
 great moral evils of the system. And, however numerous 
 they are Avho now plead for the system, the conscience of 
 the south, to some extent, is greatly disturbed, if not 
 convinced. 
 
 9. We may here inquire how far our confession and 
 r-epentance, for the sin of our slavery, may correspond 
 with the confession and repentance of Joseph's brethren. 
 
 By the wonderful change of circumstances, and the 
 providence of God, there is much conviction in the minds 
 of men in regard to the moral, social, and political 
 wrongs of slavery. The discussions in the north, though 
 mixed up wdth some extravagant sentiments, have greatly 
 convinced the public of the evils of the system. The 
 conscience of the south, after all the denunciations of 
 abolitionists, has been greatly awakened. It is true, that 
 many now in the south contend for the system on Scrip- 
 tural grounds ; but this we must consider similar with 
 pleading and arguing for heterodoxy, or false doctrines, 
 and bad morals from the Scriptures. The exercise of nat- 
 ural conscience, and sounder teachings, will, in time, do 
 away these errors from the minds of men. But, if men are 
 deaf to the convictions of justice, the adverse providences 
 of God, by judgments, will plead the cause of right, as 
 in the case of Joseph's brethren. We need not stay to 
 portray this — the history of God's righteous government 
 proves it to every reflecting mind. 
 
 10. If we contrast the service of Joseph with that 
 under the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, noth- 
 ing can be more different. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob 
 were eminently good men, and were governed by the 
 principles of justice. Joseph's brethren were bad men, 
 at the time they sold their brother. 
 
100 TUE EIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 No force was used in procuring the servants of Abra- 
 ham. They became his servants, or subjects, from re- 
 ligious considerations, and for the sake of protection and 
 support. Those bought with money, by Abraham, were 
 bought for their benefit. The servants of Abraham were 
 never sold, or transferred to others, and it gradually be- 
 came extinct, by voluntary agreement, as we see in the 
 servants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. No cruel treat- 
 ment can be found toward the servants of Abraham, 
 Isaac, and" Jacob. In short, the two systems are as 
 opposite as freedom and slavery — as right and wrong. 
 
 11. On survey of the subject, we find that there is a 
 perfect identity between the slavery of Joseph and our 
 slave system ; at least, it has all the parts that can be 
 common to the case of an individual, compared with a 
 general system. 
 
 The brethren of Joseph, when they seized him, were 
 wicked men, under the control of bad tempers, such as 
 hatred and envy. Enslavers, in general, are wicked men ; 
 and if envy, hatred, and malice, be not uppermost, the 
 love of gain, of power, gratification, or the like, govern 
 them. They are not und3r the influence of love, which 
 worketh no ill to his neighbor, nor do they observe the 
 golden rule, " Do as you would wish to be done by." 
 
 The commutation of slavery for murder, has nothing 
 to recommend it ; because the murderous temper still 
 remains, and is now, and always has been, an element in 
 every slave system. Such unworthy motives as gairiy 
 pleasure, convenience, govern in this. So, while our sys- 
 tem has disavowed murder, it includes it, nevertheless, 
 and alleges for it the argument of gain, pleasure, or 
 custom. 
 
 In their case Joseph's brethren used force. We use it 
 in originating, continuing, and practicing our slavery, 
 with no less a force than the army and navy, the treasure 
 
PATRIARCHAL SLAVERY. 101 
 
 and police of the whole Union, in compelling our slaves 
 to lie quiescent under our feet, as the word andrapodon, or 
 slave, i^roperly means. And we are andrapodistae, those 
 who stand upon the slave, in this downtrodden condition. 
 
 Our theft, or stealing of men, is as palpable as that of 
 Joseph, and the charge is as applicable to us as to his 
 brethren. The sin of it, too, is nothing less ; and no 
 evasion can clear us of the guilt and shame which are 
 incurred by our acts. 
 
 Our slave-dealers are certainly more competent, and 
 greater adepts in their profession, than those who bought 
 and sold Joseph. We employ dogs to catch them, hunt- 
 ers to hunt them, and marshals to seize them. And our 
 stripes and stars float proudly over a poor Burns, and we 
 carry him back in triumph to receive his quota of stripes, 
 minister as he was. 
 
 In Joseph's case there seems to be no mourner but one ; 
 that is, the father. The bereavements of our system 
 reaches father and mother, brothers and sisters, and all 
 relatives. Look at the picture found in the case of Mr. 
 Hill's slaves. 
 
 As to the distress of the slaves themselves, in their bond- 
 age, while some, through the mere ignorance and degrada- 
 tion inseparable from the system, seem content, the greater 
 number carry with them the miseries of the system, both 
 bodily and mental, down to the grave, in which at last 
 they find a resting-place. 
 
 The remorse and confession of slaveholders, among us, 
 are sufficiently exhibited to declare our guilt. Of late, 
 especially since 1832, some have boldly disavowed all 
 sense of guilt. But this disavowal is no proof that it 
 does not exist. Almost all culprits, like Joseph's breth- 
 ren, deny, to the last extremity, their sin, even were it 
 murder. Joseph's brethren did so. Our slaveholders do 
 so. It is a part of their sin, after doing their evil deed, 
 
102 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 to eal hread, like Joseph's brethren, and then cry out, 
 " AboUtlo7iist /" — ^' Fayiatic North I' ^ while inward guilt 
 preys on their conscience. But we have hosts of slave- 
 holders, who now, like honest men, denounce it all over, 
 as Jeiferson did. 
 
 While we earnestly hope, we would humbly pray that 
 all our slaveholders might be led, by God's grace and 
 providence, to forsake their sins, and turn their attention 
 to the slave system, so as to do it away as soon as pos- 
 sible, in consistency with the principles of the New Test- 
 ament, under the influence of the great law of love, 
 which works no ill to his neighbor, and does to all as he 
 would desire that they should do to him. Whenever love 
 of God and man shall govern, slavery will die out. 
 
EGYPTIAN UONDAGE. 103 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 EGYPTIAN BONDAGE. 
 
 The inquiry here is, whetlier there is such a just anal- 
 ogy between the bondage of the Hebrews, in Egypt, 
 and our slavery, as to justify us to argue from the one to 
 the other. There were certainly some points in which 
 the service of the Hebrews, in Egypt, differed from our 
 slavery ; but there are many points on which they agree. 
 It is not always safe to argue from mere analogy, be- 
 tween two cases, so as to infer from the one the same 
 conclusions which we may infer from the other. But in 
 forming the comparison here, we have great moral prin- 
 ciples so clearly pointed out, in both cases, that we are 
 saved from mere conjecture. Besides, the law of Moses, 
 in drawing instructions from the bondage of Egypt, 
 expressly declares to the Hebrews, that this bondage con- 
 veys the lessons, that they should not enslave one another, 
 nor enslave strangers. 
 
 1. The Hebrews in Egypt were held by the govern- 
 ment, and were employed in the service of the govern- 
 ment, Avithout particular reference to the will of indi- 
 viduals. They were held to service, enslaved, or op- 
 pressed, as a people, or nation, rather than as individuals, 
 to the service of others. They were not claimed, or 
 owned, or required to serve individuals, or distributed on 
 farms, as the property of individuals. 
 
 Our slavery, like that of Egypt, is established by the 
 authority of law and Government ; and it is 'as much the 
 creature of law and Government as Egyptian slavery. 
 Both were created by the sovereign civil power. Our 
 
104 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 Government does not, however, either own slaves, or re- 
 quire the service of our slaves. It disavows these, except 
 in case of debt to the Government, in which case the 
 slaves are sold to pay the debt. Our Government author- 
 izes individuals to own slaves, and maintains the full ex- 
 ercise of this to the utmost power of the civil arm. And 
 this seems to give bad eminence to our system, as the 
 civil power gives to the master the complete dominion 
 over the services of the slave ; and also such power over 
 his life and limb as no just civil power ever granted to 
 one human being over another. Our slavery originated 
 in private individuals taking possession of men as slaves. 
 Subsequently this theft, robbery, violence, or assault and 
 battery were sanctioned by law ; hence, our slavery differs 
 from the Egyptian, and is worse on that account. The 
 Egyptians, however, appear to have had domestic serv- 
 ants or slaves in their families. (Exodus ix, 14, 20, 21.) 
 
 2. On many accounts the servitude of Egypt was more 
 mild than our slavery. Although it was hard, opj^ressive, 
 grievous, a furnace, yet in several of the features it was 
 much more lenient than our slavery. The following are 
 the principal points of lenience in the bondage of Egypt. 
 (See Barnes on Slavery, pp. 83-86. Weld's Bible Argu- 
 ment, pp. 43, 44.) 
 
 The Israelites were not dispersed among the families 
 of Egypt, but formed a separate community of their 
 own in the land of Goshen, of which they had exclusive 
 possession. (Genesis xlvi, 35; xlvii, 6, 11, 27; Ex- 
 odus ix, 26; X, 23 ; xi, 7.) 
 
 The Israelites lived in permanent dwellings. These 
 were houses and not tents ; because the doors, side posts, 
 and lintels are mentioned. (Exodus xii, 6, 22.) And 
 each family seems to have occupied a house with several 
 apartments. (Exodus ii, 2, 3; Acts vii, 20.) 
 
 They were the owners of vast herds of cattle ; *' a mixed 
 
EGYPTIAN BONDAGE. 105 
 
 multitucle of flocks and herds," and ** much cattle." Ex- 
 odus xii, 32, 37, 38. They were, therefore, the possessors 
 of much property, as the history shows. 
 
 They had their own form of government, as their 
 tribes, their elders, their family divisions, though a sort 
 of province of Egypt and tributary to it. (Exodus ii, 
 1; iii, 16,18; vi, 14, 25 ; xii, 19,21.) 
 
 Thev seemed to have had, to a considerable degree, the 
 disposal of their own time. (Exodus ii, 9; iii, 16, 18; 
 xii, 6; Exodus xxiii, 4.) 
 
 They possessed the use of arms. (Exodus xxxii, 27.) 
 
 None but adult males seem to have rendered service. 
 There is no account of the bond service of females. The 
 mother of Moses had him three months ; and afterward 
 she contracted to nurse him for wages. (Exodus xii, 29.) 
 The great body of the people seem not to be in the service 
 of the Egyptians at any one time. 
 
 None of these privileges belong to our slaves. On 
 this account the bondage of Egypt had several meliora- 
 ting traits which do not belong to our slavery. Our 
 slaves do not dwell in separate communities, in their own 
 houses, do not possess much property, assemble when they 
 choose, or make contracts, etc. 
 
 8. As to the proper character of the service rendered 
 by the Hebrews, by the exaction of the Egyptians, it is 
 thus described by the inspired penman: "They did set 
 over them taskmasters, to afflict them with their burdens. 
 And they built for Pharoah treasure cities — Pithon and 
 Kaamses. And the Egyptians made them serve with 
 rigor. And they made their lives bitter with hard bond- 
 age, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service 
 in the field: all their service wherein they made them 
 serve was with rigor." Exodus i, 11, 13, 14. ''They 
 sighed by reason of their bondage, and they cried ; and 
 their cry came up unto God, by reason of the bondage." 
 
106 THE BIBLE AND SLAVEKY. 
 
 Exodus ii, 23. "I have surely seen the affliction of my 
 people "w/^hich are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by 
 reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 
 I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians 
 oppress them." Exodus iii, 7, 9. **But they hearkened 
 not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bond- 
 age." Exodus vi, 9. 
 
 The Israelites were employed in severe labor, of the 
 lowest and most laborious kind. They worked in mortar 
 and brick, in digging the clay, kneading and preparing 
 it, and then forming it into bricks, and drying and burn- 
 ing them. They also served in the field by carrying 
 these materials to the places where thej were to be put 
 into buildings for the public. 
 
 Josephus says: *'The Egyptians contrived a variety 
 of ways to afflict the Israelites ; for they enjoined them 
 to cut a great number of channels for the river, and to 
 build walls for the cities and ramparts, that they might 
 restrain the river, and hinder its waters from stagnating 
 upon its own banks. They set them also to build pyra- 
 mids, and wore them out, and forced them to learn all 
 sorts of mechanic arts, and to accustom themselves to 
 hard labor." Antiq., B. II.,- cap. ix. Sec. 1, Philo tells 
 us they were employed to carry burdens beyond their 
 strength. They were forced to be workers and servers. 
 
 The service was with ri^or, with cruelty, and oppres- 
 sion. They served with hard bondage, with grievous servi- 
 tude. Their life was one of laborious service ; oppressive 
 enough in itself, but made more severe by the treatment 
 they received. 
 
 This service was compidsory by the supreme law of the 
 land, which they could neither gainsay nor resist. ''They 
 MADE THEM SERVE witli rigor." It was compulsory on the 
 part of the Egyptians, and involuntary on the part of 
 the Hebrews. 
 
EGYPTIAN BONDAGE. 107 
 
 There were taskmasters, D'DD nb" — sawray missim, 
 princes of "burdens, works, or tribute. The Septuagint 
 calls them overseers of the works. Tax-gatherers is the 
 most exact meaning, perhaps. These appointed them 
 their work, and exacted from them the performance of it. 
 
 This service was attended with both bodily and mental 
 affliction. The strongest words are used to express this. 
 It is called oppression, because it crushed the man. It is 
 called affliction, because of the constant uneasiness ex- 
 perienced. Their very lives were made bitter, so that the 
 comforts of life were greatly lessened or allayed. The 
 very spirit was in anguish, so that they sighed by reason 
 of their miseries. 
 
 Add to all this, that their burdens were increased in 
 refusing to give them straw to make the brick, in order 
 thoroughly to subdue them and preserve them in subjec- 
 tion. (Exodus V, 5-19.) 
 
 The foregoing presents a tolerably faithful picture of 
 slavery in several of its leading characteristics. Our 
 slaves are employed in the most laborious drudgery, of the 
 lowest sort, with no opportunities of mental culture ; so 
 that it may be said, in general terms, to be hard, rigorous, 
 constant, and degrading. The Egyptian taskmasters and 
 officers correspond to our overseers and drivers with a 
 good degree of coincidence. The overseer is the taskmas- 
 ter, and the officer is the black driver, who urges on the 
 gang in their toil. The anguish, bitterness, and affliction 
 of the one are well represented by those of the other. We 
 have also a very fair specimen of the excessive exaction 
 of Egypt, in the demands made on multitudes of slaves 
 in the cotton-fields and sugar plantations, in order to 
 exact the most possible service at the least expenditure. 
 The points of agreement are very marked between our 
 slavery and their bondage — in the nature and degree of 
 labor exacted, in the compulsion used, in the oversight 
 
108 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 employed, in the mental and bodily sufferings endured, 
 and tlie immeasurable and unjust exactions demanded. 
 
 4. Egyptian bondage is said to have commenced at a 
 time when there was a king ** who knew not Joseph." 
 Exodus i, 8. The word to Tcnow often signifies to ac- 
 knowledge, to approve, as all allow. We may, therefore, 
 understand by the new king's not knowing Joseph, his 
 disapproving of that system of government which Joseph 
 had established, as well as his haughtily refusing to ac- 
 knoivledge the obligations under which the whole country 
 was laid to Joseph. The entire period that the descend- 
 ants of Abraham were in Canaan and in Egypt, was four 
 hundred and thirty years, being about two hundred and fif- 
 teen in the one and two hundred and fifteen in the other. 
 (Exodus xii, 40.) The enslavement of the Hebrews, 
 when the new king arose, occurred about B. C. 1604, or 
 one hundred and three years after the descent of Jacob to 
 Egypt. They were one hundred and thirteen years in 
 bondage, or from B. C. 1604 to 1491. The Hebrews were 
 treated on the basis of equal rights over one hundred years 
 in Egypt ; then the policy changed, and the reign of op- 
 pression continued for one hundred and thirteen years. 
 
 It was a dark day in Christendom when the Christian 
 nations of Europe entered on the extinguished system of 
 slavery. The Christian nations of Spain and Portugal 
 took the lead. England soon followed. These Govern- 
 ments did not know; they forgot, or did not acknowledge 
 the antislavery practice of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob. They either forgot, or they did not acknowl- 
 edge or approve the unbending antislavery laws given 
 by God to Moses, so that no slave could touch Hebrew 
 soil, or breathe its air. They did not study the anti- 
 slavery principles of the New Testament. They over- 
 looked the victories of Christianity in destroying slavery 
 wherever it existed. 
 
EGYPTIAN BONDAGE. 109 
 
 Worse yet, the Biblical interpreters, from Cornelius a 
 Lajnde, down to onr times, liave blindly taught, or con- 
 ceded, that slavery existed in the families of Abraham, 
 Isaac, and Jacob ; that the Mosaic code allowed it, and so 
 did Christ and his apostles. From the Sj^anish comment- 
 ators, as far as we can learn, the teaching has passed 
 to all the Protestant commentators, Wesley, Clarke, and 
 Coke not excepted, strong antislavery men as they Avere. 
 They have not shown that the true slavery was found in 
 the case of Joseph, among the Egyptians, and the heathen 
 nations, and received its support from unjust human laws, 
 and not from the word of God. 
 
 Our slave system finds its type in this new king of 
 Egypt, who ignored the just principles of Joseph's gov- 
 ernment. The Roman code, in establishing slavery, re- 
 jected the law of nature, and counteracted its own defini- 
 tion of justice, and right, and liberty. The American 
 constitutions and laws, establishing the system, reject the 
 sound principles of the Declaration of Independence, of 
 the constitutions of the land, of holy Scripture, and nat- 
 ural law. And by such barbarous principles as that the 
 child follows the condition of the mother, our system of 
 slavery has grown up, maintained by the army, navy, 
 treasure, judiciary, and laws of the states and United 
 States. And now, most recent pleaders for the system 
 treat with sneer and contempt the antislavery principles 
 Avhich the fathers of American liberty held, professed, and 
 practiced to the end of their lives. 
 
 5. There are many strong points of resemblance be- 
 tween the servitude of the Hebrews in Egypt and our 
 slavery. 
 
 There are some respects in which, as we have seen, 
 there was a great dissimilarity between the two systems. 
 The Israelites were not dispersed among the families of 
 Egypt, but formed a community by themselves. They 
 
110 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 owned much property, they had a limited government of 
 their own, and the females were not held to service, but 
 the adult males only. They were not liable to be sold for 
 debt, they were not held strictly as chattels, nor were they 
 under the constraint, or in the service, of individual own- 
 ers, but of the government only. They were held to in- 
 voluntary service by compulsion of law. They were 
 oppressed men, but not reduced to all the conditions of 
 property, as our slaves are. 
 
 Yet there are, as stated, strong points of resemblance 
 between their servitude and our slavery, that give the same 
 moral character to the one and the other. 
 
 They were a different race, as the African with us. We 
 can not call our slaves a foreign race, as distinguished 
 from our wdiites ; because both, as to America, are for- 
 eign ; the Indians alone being the original people of the 
 country. The difference of race, say color, is the leading 
 badge by which to mark out, in this country, the slave. 
 And if difference of race be a reason for enslavement, 
 then any one race may enslave another race which is dif- 
 ferent from it. 
 
 The service, in both institutions, is one of force or mere 
 power. It was the work of oppression and wrong. 
 There was no right but power alone. They were made 
 to serve. This is the case with our slavery — it is com- 
 pulsory and involuntary. 
 
 The bondage of Egypt had all the essential features of 
 our slavery, being a state of compulsory, involuntary, 
 unremunerated toil. It was hard bondage. They had 
 taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. They 
 had also their officers or drivers, to see that the work was 
 done. The tale of bricks is demanded, while no straw is 
 given. There is no voluntary labor. "And they made 
 their lives bitter with hard bondage in mortar, and in 
 bricks, and in all manner of service in the field; all their 
 
EGYPTIAN BONDAGE. Ill 
 
 Rervicc wherein they made them serve was with rigor." 
 Exodus i, 14. ''I am the Lord thy God which brought 
 thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bond- 
 age." Exodus XX, 2. Thus, many of the leading qual- 
 ities of slavery are identical with Egyptian bondage. 
 
 6. The Egyptians did not wish to lose the services of 
 the Hebrews. They did not wish them '*to get them up 
 out of the land." Exodus i, 10. It is not to be sup- 
 posed that the Egyptians were ignorant of the Israelites' 
 intention to return and settle in Canaan. Sensible, there- 
 fore, of the advantages arising from such a body of peo- 
 ple, yet fearful of their numbers and power, they determ- 
 ined to prevent their increase, and so weaken their power. 
 Hence the recourse to very severe labor, and the sacrilico 
 of life. 
 
 In the estimation of our slaveholders, who are unac- 
 customed to labor, and who make large demands for per- 
 sonal services from their slaves, the services of our three 
 millions and a half of slaves can not be dispensed with. 
 The climate, and culture of rice, cotton, and sugar, they 
 say, does not suit the constitutions of white men, and 
 therefore slaves are necessary. And yet white people 
 reside wherever the slaves labor. Though they can not 
 go into the cornfield, and toil in the production of 
 sugar, cotton, and rice, they can ride in carriages, and 
 live in luxury, notwithstanding the climate. Slavehold- 
 er? want the slaves to work for them, to wait on them, 
 and to administer to their pleasures, conveniences, and 
 luxuries. Here is the secret of the whole system. There 
 is the lyrofit, pleasure, and ease of the system ; therefore, 
 they will not let the people go. Even after the ten 
 plagues had destroyed Egypt, and the Israelites had left, 
 Pharaoh and the Egyptians repented of their conrse, and 
 resolved to overtake them and bring them back. "And 
 it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled ; and the 
 
112 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 heart of Pharaoli and of his servants was turned against 
 the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that 
 we have let Israel go from serving us ?" Exodus xiv, 5. 
 We hear loud complaints of the worthlessness, expense, 
 and vexations of slavery ; yet when the proposal of 
 emancipation is presented, it is scouted with abhorrence. 
 And our Fugitive- Slave law, with its officers, and the army 
 of the Union, and the President of the United States, 
 commander-in-chief, furnishes a pretty good imitation 
 of Pharaoh and his army pursuing the Israelites. 
 
 7. The increasing number and power of the oppressed 
 always gave uneasiness to their oppressors, and the most 
 rigorous means have been resorted to, to keep numbers 
 within due bounds, and subdue the rising and dangerous 
 power. 
 
 The Israelites were fruitful as fruit-trees^ and increased 
 with the fecundity of fishes, as the Hebrew words imply. 
 Hence they are said to multiply, and wax exceedingly 
 mighty, so that the land was filled with them. They 
 were more numerous and strong than the Egyptians. 
 They grew and were multiplied under afflictions." They 
 multiplied and waxed very mighty. (Exodus i, 7, 9, 12, 
 20.) Their number and power were a source of alarm to 
 the Egyptians. Two expedients were resorted to, to coun- 
 teract the number and the power of the slaves. The one 
 was to destroy the male children ; or a certain proportion 
 of them. (Exodus i, 16-21.) The other was to increase 
 their labor, and refuse them the necessary means of per- 
 forming their tasks, by withholding straw. (Exodus v, 
 7-14.) They had more work to perform, and the material 
 was diminished. 
 
 The increase of the number and power of slaves, is no 
 small cause of alarm and precaution in our country. 
 There is no resort, however, to direct murder, because tho 
 slaves are too valuable for this. The slave-growing states 
 
EGYPTIAN BONDAGE. 113 
 
 are, by natural increase, constantly swelling the number. 
 And as they cost high prices in the south, and then the 
 profit is considerable, to kill them would be bad policy ; 
 indeed, ruinous. Hence, more territory is constantly 
 wanted, sought, and obtained, so as to make room for 
 their numbers ; and severe protective laws are enacted, 
 to guard against their growing and formidable power. 
 
 The entire number of slaves in the United States, in 
 1850, was 3,204,313 ; of free colored people, 434,495 : 
 total colored people, of slaves and free persons, 3,638,808 ; 
 or over three and a half millions of colored persons ; who 
 about this time — April, 1855 — are about four millions, or 
 nearly one-sixth of the population of the United States. 
 
 The proportion of free colored and slave population, to 
 the free w^iite poj^ulation, was, 
 
 As 1 slave or colored to 4.1 -whites in 1790. 
 
 1 « " 
 
 ■y « « 
 
 J il u 
 
 ]^ U (( 
 
 1 " " 
 
 Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina, have each 
 more colored population than white. The states of Ala- 
 bama, Florida, and Georgia, have nearly as many colored 
 as white persons ; while the states of Maryland, North 
 Carolina, Texas, and Virginia, have about one-third col- 
 ored. Maryland has about one-seventh of her population 
 free colored persons, and about one-eighth slaves, which 
 shows that free colored persons there find a home and 
 protection. 
 
 There are now — 1855 — about four millions of colored 
 people in the United States, and about twenty-six mill- 
 ions of whites, making nearly one-sixth of the whole 
 colored. Then there are about ten millions of colored 
 10 
 
 4.2 
 
 (( 
 
 1800. 
 
 4.2 
 
 <( 
 
 1810. 
 
 4.4 
 
 il 
 
 1820. 
 
 4.5 
 
 « 
 
 1830. 
 
 4.9 
 
 « 
 
 1840. 
 
 6.3 
 
 (( 
 
 1850. 
 
114 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 people, as some state, on the American continent and 
 islands, making the colored force about fourteen millions. 
 The population of Mexico and South America, may be 
 set down now at about nineteen millions ; so that the 
 colored population make up a numerous body of men, 
 who may form, yet, pretty formidable enemies ; especially 
 as their race is treated os enemies, in enslaving so many 
 of them. Add to this, that the civilized world, Britain 
 and France especially, are arrayed against the whole sys- 
 tem of slavery. Besides, the conscience, wherever it is a 
 good one, is against the system, and for freedom. And 
 what is greater than all, God is against it, and it must 
 come to an end. The fears of Pharaoh, and of the 
 Egyptians, are the type of the fears of our slaveholders, 
 in reference to the number and power of the colored peo- 
 ple ; and the strong political movements of the south, 
 within the last few years, aided by northern sympa- 
 thizers, in passing the Fugitive- Slave law, and the Ne- 
 braska bill, indicate a purpose to continue and extend 
 the system. The plan is not to kill, or even overwork 
 the slaves ; but perhaps it is even worse in its results, as 
 it is to establish firmly, and extend greatly, the system, 
 and make the whole Union the allies in this huge work 
 of oppression. 
 
 8. The Israelites were oppressed, lest they should join 
 the enemies of the Egyptians. "Come on, let us deal 
 wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass 
 that, when there falleth out any war, they join also our 
 enemies, and fight against us, and so get them out of the 
 land." 
 
 The fear of insurrection is one that has haunted slave- 
 holders from the days of Pharaoh down to this day. 
 Pharaoh undertook to meet the difficulty by killing off 
 in due time the dangerous excess of the Hebrews, by 
 murder, and then subduing the rest by excessive labor, 
 
EGYPTIAN BONDAGE. 115 
 
 and a most vigilant police of taskmasters, and under 
 officers. This was dealing wisely with them. 
 
 Among the Greeks various methods were employed, 
 when necessary to diminish the power and number of the 
 slaves. We can not enlarge here, but refer to the well- 
 known authorities. 
 
 The Romans, too, found the same difficulty pressing 
 upon them. Here, too, we must, for want of space, refer 
 to the authentic histories on this subject. 
 
 An insurrection of the slaves strikes terror to all 
 hearts, especially the guilty, and those who are exposed 
 to the danger. The little insurrection in Southampton, 
 Virginia, above twenty years ago, moved the whole Union ; 
 and the project of emancipation was discussed, remem- 
 bered for a while, and then forgotten. Presently the old 
 measures of subjecting the slaves were considered and 
 revised, and new measures of vigilance and restraint 
 were resorted to. The Sunday schools, and other schools, 
 that had, through the tolerance of the times, been estab- 
 lished, were now shut up, and the laws favoring eman- 
 cipation have been done away, so as to make it almost 
 impossible. The southern slaveholders, in their genera- 
 tion, have acted wisely, and have fortified themselves 
 pretty firmly against the colored people, whom they con- 
 sider their enemies ; as the colored people view slavehold- 
 ers, in general, as their enemies. Hatred, envy, love of 
 gain, began slavery ; and these inhere to it as parts of 
 its very life blood. There is no love in the system. The 
 slaves and masters never can be brothers, according to 
 the slave code. They are natural, traditional, and prac- 
 tical enemies, and ever will be so, on the principles of the 
 system. We will barely mention a few of the methods 
 employed to preserve the dominion over the slaves, as 
 effectual, for the time being, as the wise plans of Pha- 
 raoh. 
 
116 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 It is rather an ungracious work to single out the sub- 
 stitutes which our system of slavery has selected to do 
 the work which the Egyptians did, by the murder of the 
 male children, the increase of burdens, and the refusal 
 of the material necessary for the work required. 
 
 The brand of color is a pretty formidable one, so that 
 wherever there is the African tinge, however slight, the 
 strong presumption is, there is the slave. And even when 
 the African is absorbed by the Saxon, genealogy comes 
 in, and the descent, by the mother, answers the same end 
 of pronouncing the man a slave. 
 
 Then, the child follows the condition of the mother. This 
 becomes the source of the new generations of slaves, 
 after the thefts from Africa had furnished the original 
 stock of mothers. 
 
 Next, these generations of slaves must be raised without 
 education, so that they should forever remain ignorant of 
 the proper modes of redress, and of asserting their rights. 
 Hence, they can never use the press in any form in their 
 behalf. 
 
 They are disfranchised of all political or civil powers 
 as citizens. They can neither vote nor hold any office. 
 They can not even petition, in order to have any wrong 
 redressed. 
 
 They can not assemble together, or deliberate, or confer 
 with one another, for any purpose whatever. They can 
 have no primary meeting, in which to complain of their 
 wrongs, nor utter any opinions about them, nor assert 
 any principles to support their cause. They can not 
 stand up as orators, nor plead before any power on earth 
 that can relieve them. They can have neither hearing 
 nor redress for any real or supposed wrongs ; as any acts 
 by them, on these points, are pronounced and treated as 
 treasonable, insurrectionary, or rebellious. 
 
 Even their religious ivorship is at the will of their mas- 
 
EGYPTIAN BONDAGE. 117 
 
 ters, and under the control of severe and unjust laws. 
 All their churches may be shut up, if the state sees fit. 
 Masters may prevent all their slaves from ever attending 
 any place of public worship. 
 
 The southern police, or patrols, are organized, and on 
 constant duty, as an armed force to preserve the peace 
 of the town or vicinity. This may be necessary, because 
 there is slavery ; but, because such a thing is necessary, 
 the cause which produces it ought to be discontinued. 
 
 And then the slaves can have no arms to protect them- 
 selves, or assert their own rights. This, too, of course, 
 is as necessary for the maintenance of the system, as the 
 murder of infants, the increase of burdens, and the re- 
 fusal of straw, was to the Hebrews in Egypt. But the 
 system is radically wrong that needs the support of such 
 means. 
 
 And even when a poor fugitive, not from justice nor 
 service, but from slavery, sets out to obtain freedom, 
 the whole United States, from the President to the con- 
 stable, with the army, navy, and police at their backs, 
 are in motion to catch the poor runaway, as if he were 
 the common enemy of mankind, or the safety of the 
 United States, and of the world, depended on his capture, 
 his enchainment, and the stripes he receives on his un- 
 willing return. 
 
 It would make a long list of means and ways, indeed, 
 to trace out, in detail, all the various processes of the 
 United States Government and of the slave states, of the 
 masters and their ends, in order to accomplish what the 
 original Egyptian slave power attempted by three simple 
 and direct instrumentalities — murder, more hard work, 
 and the denial of the prof»er material for this work. The 
 wisdom of Pharaoh, and of his wise counselors, in our day, 
 would be mere bungling, compared with our well-adjusted 
 scheme of enslavement. Our southern slaveholders have 
 
118 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 studied the subject, and liave done a master-work of leg- 
 islation and diplomacy. There is no part of the old 
 British code so much improved, as the part relating to 
 slavery, in making it the completest despotism the world 
 ever saw. As it excels the Egyptian and British codes, 
 so does it the Roman code, in the complication of its 
 wrongs. 
 
 9. The oppressed Israelites prayed to God for relief, 
 in consequence of their distress. "And the children of 
 Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried ; 
 and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bond- 
 age." Exodus ii, 23. "And the Egyptians vexed us, 
 and our fathers ; and when we cried unto the Lord, he 
 heard our voice." Numbers xx, 15. 
 
 Petitions to men are frequently unavailing, because 
 men often want poAver to hear the request. The hum- 
 blest of God's creatures are authorized and encouraged 
 to ask God for redress. "Ask, and ye shall receive ; seek, 
 and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto 
 you." The poor and the needy, the stranger and the 
 fatherless, are especially privileged to ask God for deliv- 
 erance. 
 
 Our slaves have prayed, sighed, and groaned, in vain, 
 as it respects human aid. By stern law, they are not 
 permitted to assemble in order to petition ; they are not 
 allowed to draw up one, or set their mark to it. They 
 can not present it to congress, legislature, judge, jury, or 
 any power on earth to which they have access. Their 
 private prayers, and sighs, and tears, can speak only in 
 silence, with closed lips, to the Supreme Ruler of the 
 world. They have now a2)pealed their unprotected, un- 
 heeded, unredressed cause to the tribunal above. The 
 four millions of colored people in the Union have done 
 this. The more than three hundred thousand of Chris- 
 tian slaves in bonds, have prayed, night and day, for 
 
EGYPTIAN BONDAGE. 110 
 
 liberty. Ttey are praying for it now. They will con- 
 tinue to pray for it till death. Millions of free white 
 Christians are praying for them. Will the cry of all this 
 host of oppressed ones and those who saw them, reach 
 the ears of the Lord of armies ? Will God avenge his 
 elect who cry to him day and night ? Have these poor 
 ones no Redeemer? Does Jesus Christ intercede only 
 for white people ? Are the tears of all these little ones 
 entirely forgotten by God, that made them, by Jesus 
 Christ, who died for them, and by the Holy Ghost, who 
 sanctified them ? Are slaveholders the only persons who 
 will find favor with God ? 
 
 10. The Almighty had respect to their prayers, and 
 answered them, by a great deliverance from their bond- 
 age. "And their cry came up unto God, by reason of 
 the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God 
 remembered the covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and 
 with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, 
 and God had respect unto them." Exodus ii, 23-25. 
 *' And I have also heard the groanings of the children 
 of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage ; and I 
 have remembered my covenant. Wherefore, say unto 
 the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I' will bring 
 you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I 
 will rid you of their bondage, and I will redeem you with 
 a stretched-out arm., and with great judgments." Exodus 
 vi, 5, 6. 
 
 These passages of Scripture apply particularly to the 
 case of the Hebrews ; but the same great principles here 
 laid down, are every-where declared in Scripture as the 
 standard according to which the Almighty will deal in 
 all like cases. Observe here, 
 
 (1.) Bondage, oppression, and the like, are abhorrent 
 to God. He abhorred it in the case of the Egyptians, 
 and he does in reference to all. It is as hateful in his 
 
120 THE BIBLE AND SLAVEKY. 
 
 sight now as it was then ; and as he changes not, he must 
 always hate it. American slavery can claim no exemp- 
 tion from this, any more than Egyptian, Roman, or 
 Grecian slavery. The righteous God hateth the wrong, 
 and can never approve of it. 
 
 (2.) The oppressed always had, have now, and ever 
 will have, the ear of the Almighty, who hates oppression. 
 No edicts of man can shut out their petitions from before 
 the mercy-seat, and God's justice. No privileged class 
 can exclude them from the compassion of the most mer- 
 ciful God. 
 
 (3.) Indeed, God has made a covenant with man in 
 this matter. He says, in reference to this bondage, " I 
 have remembered my covenant." This is the covenant 
 of grace and mercy, made with Abraham, but to be ex- 
 tended to the whole human family ; for in Abraham all 
 the families of the earth were to be blessed. This cove- 
 nant recognizes the brotherhood of man, and was com- 
 pletely established under the Gospel dispensation. There 
 was no slavery under it in the days of Abraham ; as all 
 his servants, whether bought with money, or born in hi« 
 house, were circumcised, and this broke up the slave sys- 
 tem, which even then was in process of formation. There 
 was no slavery connected with this covenant under the 
 Mosaic code, because this code made every enslaving act 
 a capital crime, punishable by death. No slavery existed 
 according to this covenant under Christ and his apostles. 
 Christ's mission was to proclaim the Gospel ; and the 
 sequence of that was, Uhertij to the captives. This broth- 
 erhood existed under the apostles. 
 
 In the primitive Church, slavery died out under its 
 influence. Our Christian slavery never was in accordance 
 with God's covenant, whether the African slave-trade — 
 the parent, or the American commerce — the offspring ; 
 for both are of the same birth and kin ; and if the one 
 
EGYPTIAN BONDAGE. 121 
 
 be wrong, tliey must botli be wrong. The one is piracy, 
 and the other can not belong to godliness. 
 
 (4.) God has no attribute in favor of slavery. In 
 reference to it, he says : "I am the Lord, and I will bring 
 you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians." 
 Here, we presume, Jefferson found the sentiment, that 
 ** no attribute of God was in favor of slavery." The 
 God of love can not love slavery. The God of all grace 
 can not favor the wrong. Mercy itself must arm itself 
 against its cruelty. Justice weighs it in the balance and 
 finds it wanting. God's omnipotence, in the exercise of 
 judgments, are at war with the whole system. And as 
 Omnipotence has destroyed the slavery of Egypt, Greece, 
 and Kome, it will destroy our slavery, unless we repent, 
 and reform, and voluntarily, like the primitive Christians, 
 and all truly good and enlightened Christians, have done 
 with it. 
 
 11. The commission of God to Moses to deliver the 
 Hebrews from being involuntary laborers, or slaves to 
 the Egyptians, runs in this wise : " Now, therefore, be- 
 hold the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me ; 
 and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyp- 
 tians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will 
 send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my 
 people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." Exodus 
 iii, 9, 10. 
 
 Under the leadership of Moses, all this was accom- 
 plished, as the history shows. The oppression was hateful 
 to God, and it therefore could not be endured. The 
 prayer, too, of the oppressed had reached the ear of the 
 Almighty. Hence, deliverance was determined on, to 
 meet the necessity of the case. Moses was the commis- 
 sioned agent, through whose administration this was 
 accomplished, with a strong arm, and great judgments. 
 The oppression of the slave is still hateful to God, and 
 11 
 
122 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 deliverance is in store for liim under some leader, or 
 leaders. Clarkson was providentially raised np to lead 
 in this great work. Wilberforce, and others of like 
 spirit, were his associates. Buxton, Lushington, and oth- 
 ers, pleaded the cause in the British Parliament. Eman- 
 cipation, by law, was the result. Such men as Franklin, 
 Jefferson, and the best leaders of American independence, 
 were among the pleaders for freedom. The best divines 
 of the age preached and pleaded the good cause, such 
 as Wesley, Edwards, and a host of others. State after 
 state proclaimed freedom. Happy was it for them that 
 they obeyed the voice of justice and mercy. 
 
 But many states refused to let the oppressed go free. 
 They have fortified themselves, like Pharaoh and the 
 Egyptians, against freedom, and have resorted to the 
 most subtile policy of plans, ways and means, to keep 
 the people in bondage. Perhaps they will soon hear the 
 expostulations of our Moseses and Aarons. We hope 
 and pray that they may. But Moses had a commission, 
 not merely to petition and expostulate — he had one to do 
 the work itself, should expostulation be in vain. What 
 deliverers God may raise up from among the sons of the 
 oppressed, even fugitives from labor, like Moses, we can 
 not tell. Such men as Frederick Douglass may not be 
 despised. Judging from some specimens of his writing, 
 and speeches which we heard, he is not a man to be 
 despised, and will compare with the best of our southern 
 statesmen in ability. We can not tell what sons of op- 
 pression may now, or will be, in reserve, under God's 
 providence, to head insurrections, or foreign black troops, 
 out of the fourteen millions of colored people now in the 
 western continent and its islands. We pray that the 
 voice of justice and mercy may be heard in due time, to 
 avert these calamities. 
 
 12. The punishments on the Egyptians, for persevering 
 
EGYPTIAN BONDAGE. 123 
 
 in tlioir oppression, are mere specimens of what God has 
 done in former ages, and what he hatli decUired he will 
 do in the future in like cases. The ten plagues of Egypt 
 are well known, as the judgments of God on account 
 of oppression. Out of the very system of slavery its 
 plagues will arise. The slaves and their masters, in the 
 nature of the case, are converted into enemies. On the 
 side of the oppressors are to be found the instrument- 
 alities of war. There is the armed force, the domina- 
 tion, the expedients of disabilities, and the prohibitions 
 of emancipation operating. 
 
 On the other hand, there is the sense of wrong, and 
 the judgment of natural conscience, without any other 
 teacher, whether preacher or book, demonstrating this 
 wrong to the untutored slave. Then there is hatred, 
 and %jt)om5?/, and a well-disguised spirit of resistance to 
 all this. Then the inherent elements of slavery, which 
 we have not space here to enumerate, furnish the seeds 
 of future calamities growing out of the system. There 
 is the indolence and want of economy of the slaves. 
 There is the idleness of the masters and their families, 
 wdio become consumers but not producers. There is the 
 exhausted soil, which deteriorates its value. The very 
 staples of production, as sugar and cotton, are liable to 
 fluctuations. There is, too, the strong arms of the civil- 
 ized world almost threatening invasion, and in due time 
 they may come to the onset. The specimens of filibus- 
 tering exhibited by southern slaveholders themselves, are 
 pretty fair precedents for similar operations, which may 
 be carried on in the free states, Canada, the West Indies, 
 and other countries. There are arrows enough in God's 
 quiver to pierce the hearts of all who make a business 
 of oppression, and God will do this unless the oppressed 
 are permitted to go free. 
 
 13. The deliverance of the Hebrews from bondage. 
 
124 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 and the deliverance of slaves from slavery, are founded 
 on the same great principles of justice and mercy. 
 
 (1.) The injustice is the same in both cases. It is as 
 unjust for white Americans to retain black Americans in 
 slavery as it was in the Egyptians to do the same with 
 the Hebrews. All the right in either case is derived from 
 mere power. The law of Egypt was as much law as the 
 slave laws are. It is difficult for us to free the slaves ; 
 it was also difficult for the Egyptians to do it. Still God 
 required them to do it, as he does also require us to do 
 the same. The Egyptians had power to enslave the He- 
 brew's, and they did it. We have power to enslave the 
 Africans, and we do the same. 
 
 Besides, we have less plea on our side than the Egyp- 
 tians had. The Hebrews were not mere chattels or things 
 converted into property and marketable. Ours has this 
 under more aggravated circumstances than any slave sys- 
 tem that ever existed. Hence, if ten plagues were the 
 awards of justice for Hebrew bondage, more than twenty 
 must be our proportion. The women and children es- 
 caped the yoke among the Egyptians ; but our system 
 seizes the mother and child as soon as the infant sees 
 the light, and puts the chains on the one, and robs the 
 mother of her darling. This is the worst of all, and is 
 fundamental with us. The following from the Brunswick 
 (Ga.) Advocate, is but a specimen: 
 
 ''WANTED TO HIRE. 
 "The undersigned wish to hire one thousand negroes 
 to work on the Brunswick Canal, of whom one-third 
 may be women. Sixteen dollars will be paid per month 
 for steady, prime men, and thirteen dollars for women. 
 
 '* F. & A. Pratt, 
 *'P. M. Nightingale. 
 *' Brunswick, Jan. 25, 1839." 
 
EGYPTIAN BONDAGE. 125 
 
 (2.) The threatenings are applicable in both cases. 
 All the parts of Egyptian bondage are condemned by 
 almighty God. We have the same end in view to keep 
 between three and four millions in slavery. Our means 
 are a little different. The Egyptians killed the surplus, 
 and made the bondage heavier in work, superintendence, 
 and the withdrawal of material. This was simple and 
 summary, and pronounced 2vise by the projector Pharaoh. 
 Ours is a complicated system of arrangements. We 
 make constitutions to do the work ; in their structure all 
 but unchangeable. We make laws to carry it out. We 
 have federal combinations of our great Union sworn to 
 accomplish this by supreme judges, irresponsible as to 
 the decision, by armies and navies. Our other arrange- 
 ments are subordinately administrative. We keep the 
 slaves in ignorance, forbid them to assemble for any pur- 
 pose, except under the strictest surveillance ; prevent them 
 from going from plantation to plantation ; pursue them 
 when they run away ; and a thousand other means of 
 subjugation and degradation, at variance with justice 
 and mercy. Unless the Almighty be subject to change, 
 our slavery is as abhorrent to him as that of Egypt was. 
 
 (3.) The judgments of God must be the same in sub- 
 stance in both cases. The judgments may not proceed 
 from direct miracles. They may be of a very different 
 class, but the same end must be accomplished — the liberty 
 of the oppressed. A comparison of the moral, social, 
 civil, and religious effects of freedom and slavery will 
 furnish the answer to the inquiry here. (See American 
 Slavery, by the author. Vol. I.) 
 
 (4.) The deliverance must be the same in both cases. 
 The object is to deliver the oppressed from their op- 
 pressors. This is the work to be done. The jubilee 
 among the Jews finished all contracts of service of eveiy 
 sort. Christ's jubilee proclaimed by himself — Luke iv. 
 
126 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 18,19 — will accomplisli this. The second Psalm points 
 out the way. If the voice of warning and of mercy 
 will not be heard, the great Father will, by the stroke of 
 justice, dash in pieces the nation who is deaf to right, 
 truth, and mercy. 
 
 14. It remains for us to present the Scriptural argu- 
 ments drawn from Egyptian bondage against slavery, and 
 in favor of freedom. 
 
 (1.) The deliverance from the house of bondage, or the 
 house of servants, as the margin has it, is employed as a 
 general argument toward obedience to all God's com- 
 mandments. ''And God spake all these words, saying, 
 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of 
 the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage or serv- 
 ants." Exodus XX, 1, 2. This is the preface to the ten 
 commandments ; and the deliverance from Egypt was a 
 reason for observing them. And the observance of these 
 commandments would prevent forever any recurrence 
 to bondage among the Hebrews, or in the world. The 
 fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and tenth commandments, 
 are directly against slavery, and all the others are indi- 
 rectly against it, and for liberty. The argument is, that 
 as you have been delivered from bondage, observe God's 
 commandments, as the observance of them will prevent 
 the existence of slavery, or destroy it where it does exist. 
 Keligion and cruelty can not walk together. Justice and 
 mercy can not endure slavery. Honesty and stealing men 
 are at war. Marriage destroys it. Obedience to parents 
 destroys it. Covetousness and other vices will breed 
 slavery. Truth, righteousness, and justice, are at war 
 with it. The very name, "the Lord thy God," as com- 
 prehending the attributes of Jehovah, is at war with 
 the system. "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and 
 gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and 
 truth, keeping mercy unto thousands, forgiving iniquity, 
 
EGYPTIAN BONDAGE. 127 
 
 transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear 
 tlie guilty ; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the 
 children, and upon the children's children, unto the third 
 and fourth generations." Exodus xxxiv, 6, 7. God's 
 commandments, like himself, are at variance with wrong 
 of all sorts. 
 
 (2.) Because the Hebrews were bondmen and strangers 
 in Egypt, they were required to remember the poor and 
 the stranger, and not enslave them. '* Ye shall not vex 
 a stranger nor oppress him, for ja were strangers in the 
 land of Egypt." Exodus xxii, 21. "Also, thou shalt 
 not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a 
 stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." 
 Exodus xxiii, 9. "And if a stranger sojourn with thee 
 in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger 
 that dwelleth with you, shall be unto you as one born 
 among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye 
 were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord." 
 Leviticus xix, 33, 34. "He doth execute the judgment 
 of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in 
 giving him food and raiment. Love ye, therefore, the 
 stranger, for ye were sti-angers in the land of Egypt." 
 Deuteronomy x, 18, 19. 
 
 The Israelites were required not to vex strangers, be- 
 cause they were once strangers in Egypt, and they ought 
 to know both the heart and feelings of strangers. They 
 were required not to oppress strangers, because they w^ere 
 once oppressed in Egypt. This applies to strangers in 
 general, and not merely proselytes to the Jewish religion. 
 It implies all other persons of any other country that so- 
 journ in their land, as the Hebrews in Egypt, where the 
 inhospitalities and the evils they met were to be remem- 
 bered as motives to a different behavior. Strangers have 
 a double title to humanity and protection, because they 
 are especially liable to imposition and oppression. It 
 
128 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 was also wise to treat them kindly, "because they would 
 soon become proselytes to the gate, if not proselytes to 
 the covenant. Hence, ''Vex not a stranger;" **Love 
 him as yourself;'* for "ye were strangers in the land 
 of Egypt." 
 
 The wisest and best men among the heathens consid- 
 ered love to strangers as one of the characteristics of the 
 divinity. The Zsv? Sfrtoj, the god of strangers, was the 
 peculiar attribute of Jupiter, their supreme deity, benign 
 to mankind, and the pattern of universal benevolence. 
 Stabius mentions a law of Charondas requiring "to re- 
 ceive every stranger with kindness and humanity, and 
 send them away in peace, in reverence to Jupiter, the god 
 of strangers, who is as a god to all in common, and a 
 narrow inspector of those who obey or violate the laws 
 of hospitality." See Homer, Odyss., xiv, 65-69 — Pope's 
 translation — 
 
 "It never was our guise, 
 To slight the poor, or aught humane despise; 
 For Jove unfolds the hospitable door, 
 'Tis Jove that sends the stranger and the poor." . 
 
 The hospitality of Christians, as Sozomen in his Ec- 
 clesiastical History states, is eulogized in a letter by the 
 Emperor Julian, apostate as he was. 
 
 Surely these lessons, taught in the texts we have quoted 
 above, show that no Hebrew should ever treat any 
 stranger, not born in the land, as a slave, as is fully de- 
 clared in the Mosaic code, as we shall show the same is 
 the Christian law. No stranger, or any other, is to be 
 treated as slaves. The Anglo-Saxons themselves are 
 strangers in America, or the sons of strangers ; and be- 
 cause they were even politically oppressed, though never 
 enslaved, they threw off the dominion which oppressed 
 them. The remembrance of mere political wrongs, and 
 that they are the descendants of strangers, should teach 
 
EGYPTIAN BONDAGE. 129 
 
 tliem to abhor slavery, and set the oppressed free. And 
 the Africans here are just as much Americans by birth 
 as the Anglo-Saxon race is. And for oppressed strangers 
 to oppress another class of strangers, is doubly wrong. 
 
 (3.) The redemption of the Hebrews from Egyptian 
 bondage was a reason why no Hebrews should be en- 
 slaved. "For they are my servants, which I brought 
 forth out of the land of Egypt : they shall not be sold 
 as bondmen. Thou shalt not rule over him with rigor, 
 but shalt fear thy God. For unto me the children of 
 Israel are servants ; they are my servants whom I brought 
 forth out of the land of Egypt : I am the Lord your 
 God.'* Leviticus xxv, 42, 43, 55. As God redeemed 
 every Israelite out of Egyptian bondage, they Avere, 
 therefore, to consider themselves as his servants, and to 
 devote themselves to him. Having thus acquired their 
 liberty, by the interposition of God, they were bound 
 not to enslave one another, or allow it to be done among 
 them. 
 
 (4.) Hence, the Jewish code absolutely prohibited the 
 enslavement of Hebrews. And as the same code forbade 
 also the enslavement of strangers, all enslaving is for- 
 bidden expressly by the instructions given respecting 
 Egyptian bondage. Of course the same is forbidden to 
 all Christians. The liberty enjoyed by Christian people, 
 whose ancestors were mostly enslaved, as is the case with 
 the white Americans, ought to be a reason against keep- 
 ing in blastihe furnace of Egypt, and its severe bondage. 
 
130 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE MOSAIC CODE ON SERVICE. 
 
 Those who appeal to the Bible in defense of slavery, 
 make the argument from the Mosaic laws prominent, and 
 consider this decisive. They state that slavery existed 
 among the Hebrews, and was tolerated by law ; that it 
 was the subject of legal enactments ; that the Hebrew peo- 
 ple might own slaves. These expositors never attempt to 
 show what sort of service was approved by the Mosaic 
 law. Nor have they, as far as we can learn, ever tried 
 what effect the spirit and principles of the Mosaic code 
 would have on our slavery. They have never allowed 
 themselves to see how a jubilee would affect our system. 
 Had every slave been set free at the end of the first fifty 
 years from 1776, or in 1826, and with a prospect of an- 
 other such process in 1876, there would soon be an end 
 to the system. Or had every seventh year come in with 
 its release, the doom of slavery would soon be fixed. If 
 all those called slaves were to make their own contracts 
 in the matter, and the masters could never sell slaves, 
 how many slaves would be now in the United States ? 
 
 In prosecuting our inquiries on this subject, we will 
 pursue the following order of discussion : 
 
 I. The various classes of servants, and the different 
 modes of becoming such. 
 
 II. The constitutional laws, principles, and usages of 
 service among the Hebrews. 
 
 III. The rights and privileges of servants. 
 
 IV. Comparison between service and slavery. 
 
MOSAIC CODE ON SERVICE. 131 
 
 I. The various classes of servants among the Hebrews, 
 and tlie modes of their becoming servants. 
 
 The various classes of servants found among the He- 
 brews may be arranged in the following order. Tliere 
 was the hired servant, whose contract lasted for three 
 years, or a day at a time. There was the Hebrew servant 
 to Hebrews, for six years, or to the jubilee, whose services 
 were bought for a price, by contract between the servant 
 and master. There was the foreign servant, by purchase 
 from himself, by contract to the year of jubilee. The 
 second class has several varieties, so that the following 
 will make as accurate a class as we can gather from the 
 Mosaic code, concerning w^hom there are special regula- 
 tions given, so as to prevent any of them from running 
 into slavery, as well as to prohibit any thing cruel or 
 unjust, either in regard to servant or master. 
 
 1. The hired servant. 
 
 2. The poor Hebrew^ non-slaveholder, or sexennial serv- 
 ant, who sold himself six years to a Hebrew. 
 
 3. The ear-bored servant, or poor non-freeholder, who 
 sold himself for life, or to the jubilee, or to the death of 
 his master. 
 
 4. The wife and children of the ear-bored servant. 
 
 5. The daughter sold by her father for a wife. 
 
 6. The poor Hebrew freeholder, who sold himself to 
 a Hebrew. 
 
 7. The poor Hebrew freeholder, who sold himself to 
 the rich stranger, or heathen. 
 
 8. The thief sold for theft. 
 
 9. The heathen servants. 
 
 1. The hired servant was one who worked for wages, 
 by the day, or for a longer period, as was agreed on be- 
 tween him and his master or employer. It would seem 
 as if some, at least, of the hired servants contracted for 
 three years at a time. (Deuteronomy xv, 18.) A sex- 
 
132 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 ennial servant, who s6rved six years, was wortli a double 
 hired servant, who served only three years. This seems 
 indicated by Isaiah xvi, 14: ** Within three years, as 
 the years of a hireling." The value, however, of the 
 sexennial servant seems to be, that his services were pro- 
 cured for a small original cost ; that he served for mere 
 support for himself and family, during his term of serv- 
 ice, and more labor was commonly exacted from him 
 than from a hired servant. (Leviticus xxv.) No rigor 
 was exercised over a hired servant ; whereas, over the 
 sexennial servant a moderate degree was expected, if not 
 allowable. 
 
 2. The sexennial servants. 
 
 The Mosaic code on this class of servants is as fol- 
 lows : ** If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he 
 shall serve ; and in the seventh he shall go out free for 
 nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by 
 himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out 
 with him." Exodus xxi, 2, 3. The law reads more full 
 in Deuteronomy, and is as follows : " And if thy brother, 
 an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold [or sell 
 himself^ unto thee, and serve thee six years ; then on the 
 seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And 
 when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not 
 let him go away empty ; thou shalt furnish him liberally 
 out of thy flock, and out of thy fleece, and out of thy 
 winepress ; of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath 
 blessed thee, thou shalt give unto him. And thou shalt 
 remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of 
 Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee : therefore I 
 command thee this thing to-day." Deuteronomy xv, 
 12-15. 
 
 The laws respecting male and female Hebrew servants 
 are here delivered first ; no doubt to exhibit just feelings 
 of humanity, both to male and female; especially to 
 
MOSAIC CODE ON SERVICE. 133 
 
 females, who always have been treated worse than males 
 hy the codes of slavery. Tertiillian justly calls these laws 
 the precepts of humanity. Perpetual service, or slavery, 
 is here forbidden. It was an excellent provision in these 
 laws, that no man could finally injure himself, by any 
 rash, foolish, or precipitate act. No man could make 
 himself a servant for more than six years by one con- 
 tract. 
 
 The utmost term of service for Hebrew men and women, 
 was six years. The servants in this case sold themselves, 
 or, rather, their services. Sometimes malefactors were 
 sold by the judges. (Exodus xxii, 3.) Sometimes insolv- 
 ent debtors were sold by their creditors. (2 Kings iv, 1 ; 
 Matthew xviii, 25.) Sometimes very poor persons sold 
 themselves. (Leviticus xxv, 39.) No such person was 
 to serve more than six years ; on the seventh, or on 
 the year of jubilee, he was to go out free. It is supposed, 
 however, that the term, six years, refers to the sabbatic 
 years ; for in whatever period between two sabbatical 
 years the service began, it could not reach beyond the 
 next sabbatical year. If the servant commenced on the 
 third year after sabbatical year, he had only three years to 
 serve ; if the ffth, but one. This law is one of the most 
 striking of the Mosaic code. It was an abridgment of 
 civil liberty in favor of liberty, and to prevent injustice 
 and oppression, and was worthy of a divine Lawgiver. 
 
 As to the buying, or purchase of a servant, we may 
 here stop to examine the proper import of this transac- 
 tion. The statutes quoted above — Exodus xxi, 2, 3, 
 and Deuteronomy xv, 12-15 — limit the voluntary sales 
 of native Hebrew servants to the period of six years ; 
 while adopted foreign servants, as appears from Leviti- 
 cus xxv, 44-46, and other passages, might sell themselves 
 for still longer periods, even to the jubilee. The political 
 reason, or policy of this course seemed to be that foreign- 
 
134 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 ers could not hold real estate in the nation any longer 
 than the jubilee, when all the land in the country reverted 
 back to its original owners, or their heirs — see Levit- 
 icus XXV, 10, 13, etc. — so that poor foreigners could con- 
 tract for more than six years, though none were permitted 
 to extend beyond the jubilee. 
 
 In the law above quoted the description is, '* If thou 
 buy [procure] an Hebrew servant," etc. The inquiry is, 
 did the servants sell themselves as free and voluntary 
 servants. Or were they sold as free and voluntary servants, 
 or w^ere they sold by third persons to others, as slaves, as 
 Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites ? The words buy and 
 sell prove nothing either way. So far as we know any 
 thing about the modes of sales of service, the servants 
 sold themselves, by free and voluntary contract, just as 
 poor foreign emigrants have done. The Egyptians sold 
 themselves and their land to Pharaoh ; and Joseph bonght 
 them and their land for Pharaoh. (Genesis xlvii, 19, 23.) 
 The poor Hebrew, who sold himself to the stranger, is a 
 specimen of the same sort of a voluntary sale of one's 
 self. (Leviticus xxv, 47.) The use of the words and 
 phrases here alluded to proves nothing against this view 
 of the matter, because a person who sells himself is still 
 bought and sold, just as the Egyptians were, or the poor 
 Hebrew was. Besides, were this statute intended to reg- 
 ulate slave sales, they certainly would not be limited to 
 six years, but the sale Avould be in perpetuity, like the 
 sales of other property. The statute was, therefore, in- 
 tended to regulate free and voluntary service, and to pre- 
 vent its running into slavery, or perpetual service. This 
 is further proved by the case of the ear-bored servant, 
 who could not be continued in service over six years with- 
 out a new contract. 
 
 The service among the Hebrews was for the most part 
 voluntary. The buying a Hebrew servant legitimately 
 
MOSAIC CODE ON SERVICE. 135 
 
 implies tlie huying him from Jnmself ; that is, hnying his 
 services. These servants were never made to serve Ly 
 force, against their will, except as a punishment for 
 crime. We have no evidence that the law allowed any 
 master to sell his servant. A man could sell himself- — 
 Leviticus xxv, 47 — or an officer of the law may have 
 sold a thief to serve long enough to make legal restitu- 
 tion, if he were not able to make restitution otherwise. 
 A man's selling himself or his services, was a voluntary 
 act, and yet the terms employed are sometimes such as 
 though he were sold by a master. 
 
 At the end of the six years' service, or in the seventh 
 year, the Hebrew servant, his Hebrew wife and children, 
 were to be free from any obligation of future service. 
 " In the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he 
 came in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he 
 were married, then his wife shall go out with him." Ex- 
 odus xxi, 2, 3. ''In the seventh year thou shalt let him 
 go free from thee." Deuteronomy xv, 12. If he and his 
 wife came in together, they went out together. Jerome 
 says that "he shall have the same coat in going out, as 
 when he came in." That is, he shall have as good cloth- 
 ing when he went out, as a matter of right, as when he 
 came in. We must infer, too, that the children will also 
 go with the mother, were there any. For in the next 
 class of servants, namely, the ear-bored servant, the chil- 
 dren remained servants with the strange wife, given to 
 him by his master, till the jubilee. And where the chil- 
 dren of Hebrew parents are mentioned in connection with 
 service, they go with the parents, as in the case of him 
 who became servant to a stranger, it is said, "He shall 
 go out in the year of jubilee, both he, and his children 
 with him." Leviticus xxv, 54. 
 
 But though the sexennial servant, when he went out 
 free, at the sabbatic year, could claim no more by his 
 
136 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 rigid of contract, but just as mucli as lie brought with 
 him, yet the master was hound to supply him bountifully 
 from his own stores. The law in the code reads thus : 
 "And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou 
 shalt not let him go away empty : thou shalt furnish him 
 liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy fleece, and out 
 of thy winepress : of that wherewith the Lord thy God 
 hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. And thou 
 shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of 
 Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee : therefore I 
 command thee this thing to-day. It shall not seem hard 
 unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee ; 
 for he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee, 
 in serving thee six years : and the Lord thy God shall 
 bless thee in all that thou doest." Deuteronomy xv, 13, 
 14, 15, 18. What a merciful law this was ! Because 
 the servant, during his service, could not make any prop- 
 erty, he must not go away empty, for he must be furnished 
 liberally. He was to be supplied from the flock, so as to 
 have some to breed and to work ; out of the thrashing 
 floor, so as to have grain for seed, and for bread; out of 
 the winepress, so as to have even the comforts of life 
 when he retired. This was God's command. "I com- 
 mand thee this thing to-day." And it was urged from 
 the consideration of Egyptian bondage or slavery, which 
 no Hebrew was ever allowed to sanction in any shape. 
 Another reason was the valuable services of the servant, 
 on account of his six years' service, and that he was 
 worth a double hired servant. And the third reason for 
 God's command was, that God would bless the master in 
 all he did, on this very account. 
 
 Not only so, but even during the sexennial term of serv- 
 ice, any poor man, whether servant or otherwise, was to be 
 supplied with the comforts of life. The Hebrew was not 
 to harden his heart against him, or shut his hand, or 
 
MOSAIC CODE ON SERVICE. 137 
 
 calculate on the year of release, but to aid him liberally. 
 (Deuteronomy xv, 7-11.) 
 
 There is clearly, in the case of the sexennial servant, 
 no countenance to slavery. The term of service was for 
 six years at farthest The service was by contract, and 
 there was no entailment of service on the posterity, as the 
 husband, wife, and children were all free. The divine 
 Lawgiver, considering that the purchases of human be- 
 ings were entailing involuntary service, or slavery, on 
 the nations out of Israel, ordained, by the case of this 
 servant, to prevent the very existence of slavery among 
 his chosen people. The servant alone, in this case, was 
 the seller, the master was the purchaser ; the transaction 
 was a mutual contract between both ; the time of its dura- 
 tion must never exceed six years, then entire freedom was 
 to follow ; and the servant must have a fair beginning 
 of means in the world, to enable him to live in future 
 as a freeman. No more direct antislavery arrangement 
 could be made. 
 
 3. The case of the ear-hored servant. 
 
 The law in this case reads as follows : "If his master 
 have given him a wife, and she have borne him sons or 
 daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, 
 and he shall go out by himself. And if the servant shall 
 plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my chil- 
 dren ; I will not go out free : then his master shall bring 
 him to the door, or unto the door-post ; and his master 
 shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve 
 him forever." Exodus xxi, 4-6. In Deuteronomy we 
 have the following : " And it shall be, if he say unto 
 thee, I will not go away from thee, because he loveth thee 
 and thine house, because he is well with thee ; then thou 
 shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the 
 door, and he shall be thy servant forever ; and also unto 
 thy maid-servant thou shalt do likewise." Deuteronomy 
 
138 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 XV, 16, 17. On this law we submit the following 
 remarks : 
 
 The servant who was now free, after six years' service, 
 was contractcn' in the transaction, acted voluntarily, and 
 had the right to accept or refuse the future relation of 
 servant to his former master. This can never apply to 
 our slaves, who do not enter on their condition by choice, 
 but by force and necessity of law. 
 
 The master was bound to retain the servant in his 
 service, if the servant desired it. And as the servant 
 was a Hebrew, it was contrary to law for him to be a 
 bondman, or menial servant, but to be as a hired serv- 
 ant. (Leviticus xxv, 50, 53.) The master was bound 
 to retain the servant, from whose wife and children he 
 had any claim of service, when the servant himself so 
 desired it. The master could not be released while he 
 retained the wife and children ; and it was for the benefit 
 of the servant, the wife, and children, that the law was 
 made. So far from its being oppressive to the servant, 
 it was the security of his natural right to his wife and 
 his children, and made a separation a voluntary act on 
 his own part. 
 
 Tlie ceremony by which the new relation was inaugu- 
 rated was a singular one. It seems to imply that he 
 was now attached to his master's house and family, of 
 which his wife and children formed a part ; and that he 
 was bound to hear all his master's orders, and ohe^J them. 
 The case, however, was to come under the cognizance 
 of judges, so as to secure the legal rights of all con- 
 cerned. 
 
 As to the duration of the service, it is said to be for- 
 ever. The word forever here can not refer to eternity, or 
 unending time, but to a limited period, whether the end 
 of the servant's life, the lifetime of the master, or to the 
 next jubilee. That it could not extend beyond the year 
 
MOSAIC CODE ON SERVICE. 139 
 
 of jubilee, is plaiu from the laws of this institution, 
 which ended all servitudes, whether of the Hebrew or 
 the stranger. 
 
 The Eabbins contend that such servants were set free 
 at the death of their master, and did not descend lo 
 heirs. And this is the more probable, because the law 
 was for the benefit of the servant, and it would seem to 
 be unreasonable to extend it to heirs. At any rate, this 
 case gives no countenance to our slavery, because our 
 system is against the will of the slave, and knows no 
 jubilee, or sabbatic release, and does not end at the deam 
 of the master. 
 
 4. The ivife and children of the ear -bored servant. 
 ^ The law in this case reads thus : ''If his master hath 
 given him a wife, and she hath borne him sons or daugh- 
 ters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and 
 he shall go out by himself," or with his body. (Exodus 
 xxi, 4.) On this case we observe : 
 
 The master, who gave his man-servant a female-servant 
 to wife, still retained authority over her as his servant, 
 till her time of service expired. Her children were also 
 his. But this was only for a limited period, as children, 
 or minors. 
 
 As the wife must have been a heathen woman, she 
 could not enjoy the privilege of the sabbatical year; but 
 her husband might quit her, and enter on his liberty this 
 year. It would not folloAv, however, that the marriage 
 was dissolved, because he might serve another, and still 
 live with his w^ife and children. The Mdfe must have been 
 a stranger, because a HebreAv had no power to give a He- 
 brew woman to another for wife, unless it were his own 
 daughter. At any rate, the jubilee terminated the service 
 of all persons capable of enjoying their freedom. As to 
 the case of minors, we have no reason to suppose their 
 service continued longer than their minority. 
 
140 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 It has been objected by some, ''that the master's prop- 
 erty in a female-servant is here distinctly recognized, and 
 he is allowed to dissolve her marriage, separate her from 
 her husband, and retain her and her children in perpetual 
 bondage." This is supposed to be analogous to Ameri- 
 can slavery, and to justify the master in disannulling the 
 marriage relation of the slaves. 
 
 The ground assumed in the objection is false. The 
 bondman in this case is a Hebrew. He could be bound 
 to service only six years. His wife could not be a He- 
 brew, because she as well as he would be free at the end 
 of six years, or at the same time with her husband. His 
 wife, furnished him by his master, must therefore have 
 been a stranger, or heathen woman. The master could 
 have permanent control over no other. They could con- 
 tract for any length of time, even to the jubilee. When 
 the six years' service of the Hebrew had expired, the time 
 of his wife's service had not expired, according to her 
 contract with her master, made before her marriage, and 
 which her marriage left unimpaired. She must therefore 
 fulfill her bargain. But this did not annul the marriage, 
 nor had the master any power to dissolve it. 
 
 The children were horn in his house. They were part 
 of his domestics. They belonged to his family. He 
 was bound by the law to have the males circumcised, and 
 all of them properly instructed and educated, till they 
 would be of age. Nor was the husband necessarily sepa- 
 rated from his wife and family. If he pleased, he could 
 compel his master to retain him in his service till the 
 year of jubilee, and his wife and children could be kept 
 no longer. There was no clause in the law touching the 
 case of the ear-bored servant, authorizing, or even per- 
 mitting the master to sell either him, her, or the children. 
 Even if the husband did not choose to avail himself of 
 this law, what would hinder him from getting employ in 
 
MOSAIC CODE ON SERVICE. 141 
 
 the neighborhood, and still, at least occasionally, enjoy 
 the society of his wife and children ? There is no just 
 likeness between this case and American slavery. 
 
 5. The daughter sold by her father for a wife. 
 
 The law on this case is as follows : **If a man sell his 
 daughter to be a maid-servant, she shall not go out as the 
 men-servants do. If she please not her master, who hath 
 betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed ; 
 to sell her unto a strange nation, he shall have no power, 
 seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her. And if he hath 
 betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after 
 the manner of daughters. If he take him another wife, 
 her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he 
 not diminish. And if he do not these things unto her, 
 then shall she go out free without money." Exodus 
 xxi, 7-11. 
 
 It appears very plainly from the account given in Le- 
 viticus, that the law^ laid down in the preceding verses, 
 respecting the sexennial servant, held good with regard to 
 female, as well as to male-servants. The law that gov- 
 erned parents selling daughters, was different from that 
 regulating sales on other accounts ; for she should not go 
 out as the men-servants, or female-servants do, by gain- 
 ing her liberty, after a servitude of six years ; other and 
 easier terms are assigned her, as the law in the case ex- 
 pressly provides. 
 
 No man could sell his daughter, as the Jews say, unless 
 in cases of extreme poverty ; and he had this permission 
 only while she was unmarriageable, and it was also on the 
 condition, that when mature, she would be the wafe of 
 her master or his son. It was something like apprentice- 
 ship, in which the parents bind the child for a term of 
 years, and have from the master so much per week, during 
 that period. 
 
 The daughter, sold by her father, was not sold for a 
 
142 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 slave, but for a wife, as the law expressly declares ; be- 
 cause, 
 
 (1.) She was purchased in her maidenhood, to become 
 her master's wife at womanhood. After that period the 
 master must marry her ; or she might claim redemption, 
 or, in other words, freedom. If he betrothed her to his 
 son, it was on the condition that the marriage should 
 be consummated when she was come to maturity. 
 
 (2.) The fact that she was purchased from her father, 
 does not prove that she was a slave, or the property of 
 the purchaser. She was bought for a ivife. Wives were 
 often bought by their husbands, though they were never 
 to serve as servants. So Boaz bought Ruth. (Ruth iv, 
 10.) Merea bought his wife. Jacob bought two wives 
 for fourteen years' service. Shechem offered to buy Di- 
 nah, Jacob's daughter. Leah and Rachel say of their 
 father, "He hath sold us." The custom, indeed, Avas as 
 common in ancient times, as receiving a dowry now with 
 wives. 
 
 (3.) The master had no power to sell her to a strange 
 nation, or, rather, to any other person. (Leviticus xxii, 
 10.) The Hebrews had no power to sell, in any case, 
 any of their own people, whether male or female, to those 
 of another nation. He must allow her to be redeemed, 
 if he did not marry her ; and all he could require was to 
 have the money refunded that was paid for her, or a just 
 proportion of it, according to the laws of redemption. 
 
 (4.) If she is betrothed to his son, she must be treated 
 as a daughter. He shall give her the same dowry he 
 would give to one of his own daughters. If the son 
 married another woman, she must stand in the relation 
 of a second wife ; and he was bound to make no abate- 
 ment to her in the privileges of the first wife, either in 
 her food, raiment, or duty of marriage. If the father or 
 the son should marry her, and afterward take another 
 
MOSAIC CODE ON SERVICE. 143 
 
 wife, her food, raiment, and marriage duty must not 
 diminish. 
 
 (5.) Should she not be recognized any longer as a 
 wife she could not be retained as a servant, but she was 
 to go out free without money, that is, without being 
 redeemed. 
 
 The case is a very plain one, that a daughter sold by 
 her father was sold only to become a wife; and when 
 this stipulation failed she was free. Hence, she never 
 was, and never could be, according to the law of Moses, 
 a slave. 
 
 In this case we see the strong, unbending antislavery 
 nature of the Mosaic code. In the heathen nations daugh- 
 ters could be sold for slaves, and their children would 
 also be slaves. The Mosaic code, in the case of the 
 daughter sold by her father, prevented this, and required 
 that the result should be freedom and not slavery. 
 
 6. The poor Hebrew freeholder who sold himself to a 
 Hebrew. 
 
 A Hebrew reduced to poverty might sell himself to a 
 Hebrew, not as a bond-servant, but as a hired servant, 
 till the jubilee. The law of Moses, in this case, reads as 
 follows: **And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be 
 waxen poor, and be sold unto thee ; [or sell himself;] thou 
 shalt not compel him to serve as a bond-servant, but as an 
 hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, 
 and shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee : and then 
 shall he depart from thee, both he and his children with 
 him, and shall return unto his ow^n family, and unto the 
 possession of his fathers shall he return. For they are my 
 servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt : 
 they shall not be sold as bondmen. Thou shalt not rule 
 over him with rigor ; but shalt fear thy God." Leviticus 
 XXV, 39-43. 
 
 (1.) This statute is very different from that in Exodus 
 
144 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 respecting the sexennial servant. (Exodus xxi, 2, etc. ; 
 Deuteronomy xv, 12, etc.) It relates to another class 
 of persons. The sexennial servant is bought for six 
 years, but he may, at pleasure, extend the time of service 
 to the jubilee. In the case of the poor servant in Leviti- 
 cus no mention is made of a six years' engagement, nor 
 of his having the ear bored as a test of additional service. 
 The sexennial servant shall not be sent away empty, but 
 shall be furnished liberally. Nothing is said of his re- 
 turning to his possession. That in Leviticus makes no 
 provision for furnishing liberally when he departs ; but 
 declares that he "shall return to the possession of his 
 fathers." A servant of the one class was called an abed. 
 A servant of the other could not be sold with the sale, 
 nor be compelled to serve with the service of an abed. 
 The poverty of the sexennial servant shows that he needed 
 supplies when his service was ended. He, likely, was a 
 younger brother who was not a landholder, while the 
 statute in Leviticus xxv, 39, provided for the first-born^ 
 the possessor of the inheritance of his father, who, from 
 poverty, had been compelled to part with his real estate 
 till the jubilee. The difference then is between two He- 
 brew servants of one class, and Hebrew and heathen 
 servants of another class. 
 
 (2.) There is a marked distinction made here between 
 the hired or temporary servant, and the permanent or 
 sexennial servant. Both classes were paid ; but in sev- 
 eral respects they were distinguished. Hired servants 
 were paid daily at the close of their work. (Leviticus 
 xix, 13 ; Deuteronomy xxiv, 14, 15 ; Job vii, 2 ; Mat- 
 thew XX, 8.) Bought servants were paid in part in ad- 
 vance, and a constant maintenance, and those that went 
 out on the seventh year received a gratuity. (Deuter- 
 onomy XV, 12, 13.) The hired wexe paid in money; the 
 bought servant received the gratuity, at least, in cattle. 
 
MOSAIC CODE ON SERVICE. 145 
 
 grain, and tlic product of the vintage. (Deuteronomy 
 XIV, 17.) The hired servants supported their families out 
 of their wages ; the bought servants and their families 
 were supported by the masters besides their wages. 
 
 The bought servants were, as a class, superior to the 
 hired servants, possessing greater privileges, and occupy- 
 ing a higher station in society. They were incorporated 
 into the families of their masters ; were guests at family 
 festivals and social solemnities, from which hired servants 
 were excluded. Marriages took place between servants 
 and their master's daughters. (1 Chronicles ii, 34, 35.*) 
 Hired servants did not form such alliances. Bought 
 servants and their descendants were treated with the same 
 respect with other members of the family. This is ex- 
 emplified in the cases of Abraham, Gideon, Saul, Jona- 
 than, Elisha, and their servants. (Genesis xxv ; Judges 
 vii, 11 ; 1 Samuel ix, 5, 22, and xv, 1-14.) No such 
 ties seem to have existed between hired servants and their 
 masters. Hired servants were mostly of the lower class. 
 (Judges ix, 4 ; 1 Samuel ii, 5.) Traces of this are 
 found in the parables of the talents, of the prodigal son, 
 etc., in the New Testament. Hebrews and strangers be- 
 longed to each class indiscriminately. 
 
 (3.) In the enjoyment of mere 'political 'privileges the 
 hired servants among the Hebrews were more favored 
 than the bought servants among strangers. No stranger 
 could exercise any honorable political office, nor could 
 he own the soil. The want of ownership in the soil. 
 
 *"For 'Ca.Q ipurchased servant, who is an Israelite or proselyte, shall fare 
 as his master. The master shall not eat fine bread and his servant bread 
 of bran ; nor yet drink old wine, and give his servant new ; nor sleep on 
 soft pillows and bedding, and his servant on straw. I say unto you that 
 he that gets a purchased servant does well to make him as his friend, or 
 ho will prove to his employe as if he had got himself a master." (Mai- 
 monides, in Mishna Kiddushen, Chap. I, Sec. 2. ) 
 
 13 
 
146 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 perliaps, forms tlie reason wliy the one served six years, 
 and the other to the jubilee, 
 
 (4.) The servants purchased from the heathens are 
 called, by way of distinction, the servants^ not bondmen. 
 They were tributaries, and were required to pay an an- 
 nual tax to the government. The strangers were prop- 
 erly the house servants employed in the families. The 
 Jewish servants were almost exclusively agriculturists. 
 (1 Samuel xi, 7 ; 1 Kings xix, 19; 2 Chronicles xxvi, 
 10; Judges vi, 11.) Hence the regulation in the law 
 under consideration, " Thou shalt not compel him to 
 serve as a bond-servant." ** As an hired servant, and as 
 a sojourner, shall he be with thee." His family organi- 
 zation was to be preserved. Jarchi's comment on "thou 
 shalt not compel him to serve as a bond-servant," is, 
 "The Hebrew servant is not to be required to do any 
 thing that is accounted degrading — such as all offices of 
 personal attendance, as loosing his master's shoe latchet, 
 bringing him water to wash his feet and hands, waiting 
 on him at table, dressing him, carrying things to and 
 from his bath. The Hebrew servant is to work with his 
 master as his son or brother in the business of his farm 
 or other labor, till his legal release."' His family organi- 
 zation was preserved, so that he lived with his wife and 
 children, controlled them, and did not make a part of the 
 household of his master, as the stranger or permanent 
 servant did for the most part. 
 
 (5.) "Thou shalt not rule over him with rigor." 
 What is rigorous service ? Service which is not determ- 
 ined, and whereof there is no need. To overlook the 
 privileges of a Hebrew, and requiring services which a 
 stranger or domestic servant might render, was rigorous. 
 To overlook the distinction between servants of Jewish 
 and Gentile peculiarities would be rigorous in reference 
 to the Jew. The Egyptians made the Israelites serve 
 
MOSAIC CODE ON SERVICE. 147 
 
 with rigor. (Exodus i, 13.) This rigor is affirmed of 
 the amount of labor y and the mode of the exaction. The 
 expression, *'to serve with rigor," is never aj^plied to the 
 service of servants under the Mosaic system. The phrase, 
 **thou shalt not rule over him with rigor," does not pro- 
 hibit nnreasonable exactions of habor, nor inflictions of 
 cruelty. Such were provided against otherwise. But it 
 forbids confounding the distinctions between a Jew and a 
 stranger, by assigning the former to the same grade of 
 service as to the other. 
 
 7. The 'poor Hebrew who is servant to a stranger. 
 
 The law of this case reads as follows, and contains 
 very clear expositions of the case: "And if a sojourner 
 or stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother that dwell- 
 eth by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger 
 or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger's 
 family : after that he is sold he may be redeemed again ; 
 one of his brethren may redeem him : either his uncle or 
 his uncle's son may redeem him, or any that is nigh of 
 kin unto him of his family may redeem him ; or if he be 
 able he may redeem himself. And he shall reckon with 
 him that bought him from the year that he was sold to 
 him unto the year of jubilee ; and the price of his sale 
 shall be according to the number of years, according to 
 the time of an hired servant shall it be with him. If there 
 be yet many years behind, according unto them he shall 
 give again the price of his redemption out of the money 
 that he was bought for. And if there remain but few 
 years unto the year of jubilee, then he shall count with 
 him, and according unto his years shall he give him 
 again the price of his redemption. And as a yearly 
 hired servant shall he be with him, and the other shall not 
 rule with rigor over him in thy sight. And if he be not 
 redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the year 
 of jubilee, both he and his children with him, For unto 
 
148 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 me the cliildren of Israel are servants ; tliey are my serv- 
 ants whom I brought forth out of the Land of Egypt : I 
 am the Lord your God." Leviticus xxv, 47-55. 
 
 (1.) The purchaser, in this case, was a sojourner* 
 stranger, or the son of a stranger, who became rich. 
 As a stranger he could not be a freeholder, so as to 
 possess real estate, especially fields or vineyards. The 
 strangers were generally poor, but some became rich. 
 God here provides that the sojourners should have the 
 same legal advantages with the native Hebrew. But the 
 Hebrew who sold himself to him had the peculiar privi- 
 lege of redemption before the jubilee, or of the jubilee 
 when it arrived. Yet the law wisely provides that the 
 sojourner shall have full compensation, and that the price 
 shall be exactly paid him. The stranger was required, 
 too, to treat the Hebrew servant with the indulgence of a 
 hired servant, in leaving him with his family, and that 
 his service should not be rigorous or severe. 
 
 (2.) As to the Hebrew servant, he was a freeholder: 
 but he became 'poor, so that he could not support his 
 family, seeing his property was sold or mortgaged unto 
 the jubilee ; and to meet present wants he was compelled 
 to sell himself, or, rather, his services, and to become a 
 day-laborer, or as a hired servant. He, therefore, sold 
 himself for money. He was not sold by another person ; 
 for no such sale occurred among the Hebrews, except the 
 thief for restitution, or the female maid or minor for a 
 wife, but never for a servant, much less a slave. The 
 sale of the poor freeholder was to the year of jubilee, 
 with the privilege of redemption at any time by himself 
 or any other person. 
 
 (3.) The servant had the right of redemption, either 
 by himself or any one of his kindred, at any time before 
 the jubilee. The price was to be reckoned according to 
 the years from the time of redemption to the jubilee, at 
 
MOSAIC CODE ON SERVICE. 149 
 
 the rate of a liired servant's wages. Tlie fixed price was 
 the wages of a hired servant for the same length of time. 
 There were no exactions in this case, or even bargains 
 for high or low, hut a determined rate. The Jews con- 
 sidered themselves bound to redeem their poor brethren, 
 lest they should be swallowed up by the heathen. On 
 their return from the Babylonish captivity we find the 
 following: ''We, after our ability, have redeemed our 
 brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen." 
 Nehemiah v, 8. 
 
 (4.) He was to be treated " as a yearly hired servant." 
 Hired servants were not incorporated into the families of 
 their masters ; they retained their own family organiza- 
 tion, without the surrender of any domestic privilege, or 
 honor, or authority ; and this, even though they resided 
 under the same roof with their master. While bought 
 servants were associated with their master's families at 
 meals, at the passover, and at other family festivals, hired 
 servants and sojourners were not. (Exodus xii, 44, 45 ; 
 Leviticus xxii, 10, 11.) Hired servants were not subject 
 to the master in any such sense as the master's wife, chil- 
 dren, and bought servants. Hence, the only form of 
 oppressing hired servants is that of Iceeping bach wages. 
 To take away such privileges from the poor freeholder 
 would be hard, or rigorous. It would be ruling over him 
 with rigor. He was the head of a family, who had seen 
 better days, now reduced to poverty. He was an Israel- 
 ite. Abraham was his father. He was not a servant 
 born in the house, nor a minor, whose minority had been 
 sold by his father. He was the head of a family. 
 
 (5.) He was at the utmost to be free at the jubilee. 
 *'If he be not redeemed in these years, then he shall go 
 out in the year of jubilee, both he and his children with 
 him," or his entire family. 
 
 (6.) The reason for this law was, 1. The Hebrews 
 
150 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 were tlie servants of tlie most high God ; and it was in- 
 consistent that they should be under the control of men 
 as slaves. Hence, no slave was to be found in God's 
 heritage, which he gave to Abraham and his descendants. 
 2. Their ancestors had been in bondage in Egypt ; and as 
 God brought them out of the house of bondage, he would 
 never allow that Palestine could become another Egypt 
 for those in behalf of whom he achieved so great a deliv- 
 erance. 3. "I am the Lord thy God." The supreme 
 authority of Jehovah hath established this law, and no 
 man should infringe on it in the least. 
 
 This was a very equitable law, both to the sojourner 
 who had made the purchase, and to the Israelite who had 
 sold himself. The Israelite might redeem himself, or one 
 of his kindred might redeem him ; but this must not be 
 done to the prejudice of the master. They were, there- 
 fore, to reckon the years he must have served from that 
 time to the jubilee, and settle on the amount to corre- 
 spond with the years. The Jews held that the kindred 
 of such a person was bound, if in their power, to redeem 
 him lest he should be swallowed up among the heathen. 
 And we find — Nehemiah v, 8 — that this was done by the 
 Jews on their return from the Babylonish captivity. 
 
 The Israelites were a typical people. They represented 
 Christians. And Christians are not merely servants of 
 God, like the Jews, but they also are his sons, and should 
 never become the slaves of men. (1 Corinthians vii, 2, 
 3.) In the case before us, this servant was no slave. 
 He sold himself, as a servant, for a term of years ; he 
 had, by law, the right of redemption, and, at farthest, he 
 and his family were free at the jubilee. It is a sad sight, 
 indeed, to see Christians buying and selling their own 
 Christian brethren and sisters to the highest bidder ; or 
 which is, in fact, the same in reference to the suft'erers, to 
 see the great American nation engaged in this work, 
 
MOSAIC CODE ON SERVICE. 151 
 
 which God would not permit to enter Judea, but was ex- 
 cluded by express enactments. 
 
 (8.) The thief sold for his theft. 
 
 The law is, **If he [the thief] have nothing, then he 
 shall be sold for his theft." Exodus xxii, 3. 
 
 The laws of the twelve tables ordained, "He that is 
 attacked by a robber in the night, let him not be punished 
 if he kills him. If the robbery be committed by day, 
 and if the robber be taken in- the fact, let him be beaten 
 with rods, and become the slave of him whom he rob- 
 bed." (Twelve Tables. Laws I, II.) The Hebrew code 
 would not allow the thief to be made a slave ; but it re- 
 quired that he should be sold so long as his services were 
 required to pay the proper assessment for theft. The res- 
 titution required was fivefold, fourfold, double, etc., ac- 
 cording to the articles stolen and the amount of injury 
 done. (Exodus xxii, 1.) He was to be sold for his 
 theft, or for services to the amount of the assessment 
 made for such theft. The sale, too, was by the public 
 officers. This case furnishes no analogy between it and 
 our slavery. 
 
 (9.) The heathen servants among the Hebrews. 
 
 The law in this case is as follows: **Both thy bond- 
 men, [servants,] and thy bondmaids, [maid-servants,] 
 which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are 
 round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and 
 bondmaids. 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 yo 
 shall take them as an inheritance for your children after 
 you, to inherit them for a possession ; they shall be your 
 bondmen forever : but over your brethren the children of 
 Israel, ye shall not rule over one another with rigor." 
 Leviticus xxv, 44-46. 
 
152 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 If there were any slaves among the Hebrews, they must 
 have become such under the provisions of this law ; for 
 it is the most plausible support of slavery to be found in 
 the Mosaic code. It, therefore, demands our most careful 
 consideration. There can be no doubt but the Hebrews 
 were authorized to purchase those of the surrounding 
 nations for servants. But the question arises, of whorriy 
 and Jiow, and under what conditions did they purchase 
 them ? Was this service to be during life as to the serv- 
 ants, and hereditary as to their children ; or did they 
 come under the operation of the jubilee, which pro- 
 claimed liberty to all the inhabitants of the land ? If 
 slavery was here authorized as to strangers and their de- 
 scendants, there must have existed, in after times, a very 
 large body of them in Judea, similar to the Helots in 
 Greece, the slaves of Rome, and the slaves in America. 
 We are prepared to show that no such class of Helots 
 existed in Judea, and that this law does not authorize or 
 establish such a system. When a southerner buys a 
 slave, he buys of a third person, who claims the slave as 
 his property ; and he is his property according to the 
 slave laws. But in this case the stranger sold himself to 
 the Hebrew, or consented to the sale ; and hence the pur- 
 chase was a contract between two parties, and, therefore, 
 the system could not be slavery. But had the purchase 
 been from third persons, the Mosaic code interfered so as 
 to preclude slavery. 
 
 Some very respectable names may be mentioned who 
 have believed that this law tolerated, sanctioned, or estab- 
 lished the slavery of aliens or strangers among the He- 
 brews. This was Mr. Thomas Goodwin's opinion. (See 
 his Moses and Aaron, c. x.) The conductors of the 
 Princeton Repertory, in an article in 1836, are very posi- 
 tive on this point. They say, "We do not know how 
 this passage can be rendered plainer than it is, nor can 
 
MOSAIC CODE ON SERVICE. 153 
 
 we hope that any man, who is in such a state of mind as 
 to prevent his seeing and admitting that it authorized the 
 Hebrews to hohl slaves, coukl be convinced, even if one 
 rose from the dead." The conchision to which we have 
 come, on reading the above, is, that the writer of the 
 article had never thoroughly studied the subject on which 
 he decided ex cathedra, and was under the influence of 
 those vague and pro-slavery teachings found in Cornelius 
 a Lapide, and other Popish writers, and the general cur- 
 rent of Protestant commentators, who follow the foot- 
 steps of their Roman predecessors on this point, without 
 ever carefully examining the Mosaic code on the subject. 
 Among these we place Coke, Clarke, Benson, Professor 
 Robinson, and many others, who, with Lapide, adopted 
 the creed on this subject as taught in the Corjms Juris 
 Canonici of the Church of Rome. 
 
 First. The first part of our inquiry is, tvho ivere the per- 
 sons that might he bought? The answer is, that they were 
 heathens, strangers, that dwelt round about Palestine, or 
 the children of strangers that were born in the country. 
 The Hebrew word -»J, ger, and "iDJ, necher, ^gnifies a trav- 
 eler or stranger — one who comes from abroad, or from 
 another place. They were those who came to dwell in 
 Judea, or who embrace the religion of the Hebrews, not 
 being Hebrews by birth. They are called in Greek 
 Ii^o6ri-Kvtog, a proselyte, a stranger, a foreigner. The Vul- 
 gate calls them advence, immigrants, and peregrini, strang- 
 ers, travelers. The French, from the Vulgate, calls them 
 les etrangers, strangers. 
 
 These may be divided into two classes — the heathens 
 and the proselytes. The heathens comprise those Avho 
 had not yet embraced the Christian religion, but had 
 come to Judea to better their condition, and enjoy 
 liberty. 
 
 The Hebrews distinguish two kinds of proselytes — the 
 
154 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 first, i\iQ proselyte of the gate; tlie second, the proselyte of 
 justice. The first class, without obliging themselves to 
 be circumcised, or to receive any other ceremony of the 
 law, feared and worshiped the true God, observing the 
 seven precepts of Noah, such as avoiding idolatry, blas- 
 phemy, incest, adultery, and murder. These might dwell 
 in Judea, share in its outward prosperity, be protected 
 by its laws, and receive instruction respecting the true 
 religion. These dwelt mostly at the gates or suburbs of 
 cities, and sometimes within their walls. In the days of 
 Solomon there were one hundred and fifty-three thousand, 
 six hundred of these proselytes who were employed in 
 building the temple. (2 Chronicles ii, 17, 18.) Many 
 of these were Canaanites, who had continued in the 
 country since the days of Joshua. 
 
 Proselytes of justice or righteousness, were those con- 
 verted to Judaism, who had engaged themselves to receive 
 circumcision, and to observe the whole law of Moses. 
 They were then admitted to all the prerogatives of the 
 people of Israel, with the exception that they could not 
 be kings or rulers — could not own landed property, un- 
 less houses, in certain cities or their suburbs. Boys under 
 twelve years of age, and girls under thirteen, could not 
 become proselytes, till they had obtained the consent of 
 their parents ; or, in case of refusal, the concurrence of 
 the officers of justice. Moses — Deuteronomy xxiii, 1, 2, 
 3^ etc. — excludes certain persons from the privileges of 
 the people of Israel, or from the congregation of the 
 Lord ; some forever, others only for a certain time. 
 Eunuchs were excluded forever. Illegitimate children 
 were not to be admitted till after the tenth generation. 
 The same was the case with the Moabites and Ammonites. 
 The Egyptians and Idumeans were admissible after the 
 second generation. It was believed by the Jews, that the 
 mixed multitude — Exodus xii, 38 ; Numbers xi, 4 — that 
 
MOSAIC CODE ON SERVICE. 155 
 
 came np from Egypt, were at least semi-heathens. Dr. 
 Clarke computes them at twenty thousand, and says of 
 them, ''This momjrel peo2:>le, who had comparatively 
 little knowledge of God, feeling the difficulties and 
 fatigues of the journey, were the first to complain." 
 Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, had embraced the 
 Jewish religion. (Exodus xviii, 10.) 
 
 From these strangers, foreigners, or their children bom 
 in Palestine, the Hebrews were permitted to procure, buy, 
 or contract for servants, in the menial offices of their 
 houses. As among the Hebrews so among the strangers, 
 none but poor persons w^ould become servants of any 
 grade. For, a rich stranger would certainly not become 
 a servant ; on the contrary, he could have servants himself, 
 even a Hebrew servant, as we have already seen. (Levit- 
 icus XXV, 45.) There is no doubt, too, that, among the 
 strangers, those only sold themselves or became servants 
 who were j)oor, and were, in consequence, compelled to 
 bind themselves to serve for a number of years, which, by 
 law, was limited by the jubilee. These, too, were em- 
 ployed in the lowest grades of service, such as household 
 service ; while the Hebrew servants were employed in the 
 business of the field, and the more reputable pursuits 
 of life. 
 
 Second. The strangers, as a class, especially before 
 they became proselytes of justice, were laid under cer- 
 tain legal restraints and disabilities, to which Hebrews 
 were not subject. The following are mentioned as prom- 
 inent, though others might be mentioned : 
 
 (1.) The law of Moses enjoined that, whenever the 
 Jews should determine to have a king, they should not 
 select a foreigner or stranger. " One from among thy 
 brethren shalt thou set king over thee : thou mayest not 
 set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother." 
 Deuteronomy xvii, 15. The Talmud relates that, when 
 
156 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 King Agrippa, at the Sabbatic service, came to this pas- 
 sage, his eyes filled with tears, because he remembered 
 that he was not of the seed of the Jews. The people 
 present being disposed to relieve him, cried out, three 
 times, **Fear not, Agrippa, thou art our brother." On 
 this ground the Jews proposed that insidious question to 
 our Lord, ** Is it lawful to give tribute to Cesar, or 
 NOT?" — Matthew xxii, 17 — for they were then under 
 foreign power. We may also infer, that, as strangers 
 could not be kings, they could not hold high, if any, 
 political office in the Hebrew commonwealth. 
 
 (2.) A Hebrew might receive usury from a stranger, 
 but not from a Hebrew. ** Unto a stranger thou mayest 
 lend on usury, but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend 
 upon usury." Deuteronomy xxiii, 20. As their neigh- 
 bors, as the Sidonians, Syrians, Egyptians, and others, 
 made great gain by merchandise, it would be unreason- 
 able that they should borrow money from the Israelites 
 for nothing. It was also reasonable that the Israelites, 
 whose business was husbandry, should lend money freely 
 to one another, without interest, or not beyond common 
 interest, their land not being a country of traffic, wherein 
 money could be profitable, as in other countries. At any 
 rate, the stranger labored under this disability compared 
 with the Hebrews. 
 
 (3.) A stranger could not oppress a Hebrew. Even 
 when the Hebrew sold himself to the rich stranger, he 
 could not exact from him the services of a menial, such 
 as from a hired servant. ** As a yearly hired servant 
 shall he be with him : and the other [the stranger] shall 
 not rule over him in thy sight." Leviticus xxv, 53. 
 That is, he must allow the Hebrew the most reputable 
 service in his power, and not treat him as a menial, or 
 a mere hired day-laborer, as among us. 
 
 (4.) The heathen, or stranger, was as liable to be pun- 
 
MOSAIC CODE ON SERVICE. 157 
 
 ished for wicked conduct as any other. He was subject 
 to law. If lie blasphemed God he was to be put to death, 
 as any other transgressor. (Leviticus xxiv, 16.) 
 
 (5.) The stranger was as much bound to abstain from 
 leaven during the paschal feast as the Hebrew was. (Ex- 
 odus xii, 19.) 
 
 (6.) The uncircumcised stranger, foreigner, or hired 
 servant, was prohibited from eating the passover. (Ex- 
 odus xii, 43, 45.) The proselytes of the gate, or the 
 heathen, could not eat the passover, or partake of the 
 sacred festivals. But the proselytes of the covenant had 
 the same rights as the Jews themselves, whether spiritual 
 or temporal. 
 
 (7.) The strangers were inferior to the Hebrews, as to 
 the time of their service. The strangers were never pur- 
 chased for six years, but always till the jubilee. The 
 Hebrew servants, even when their ears were bored, never 
 became an inheritance to the children of their master; 
 whereas, if the master of a Gentile died before the jubilee, 
 the Gentile servant was inherited by the children, and 
 retained till his whole time of service expired, reaching 
 down to the jubilee. (Leviticus xxv, 46.) 
 
 From the foregoing we conclude, that, as the strangers 
 were not, as was right, entitled to the full privileges of 
 Hebrews, till after a full and long probation, their service 
 as servants had disabilities and disadvantages attached to 
 it that would not apply to Hebrews. As heathens, being 
 poor and degraded, they were suited to the lowest menial 
 service of the country ; and, in this respect, the Hebrews 
 were honored and privileged with the more reputable 
 grades of service, even when they were compelled, 
 through poverty, to sell their services to such as were 
 able to purchase them. 
 
 Third. God encouraged the settlement of strangers 
 among the Hebrews, by the protective statutes and grants 
 
158 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 of advantageous privileges. Among others we name the 
 following : 
 
 The stranger was privileged to be a partaker of the 
 covenant blessings of the Hebrews ; and these blessings 
 were incompatible with a state of degradation such as 
 slavery induces. "Ye stand this day all of you before 
 the Lord your God — your little ones, your wives, and 
 thy stranger that is within thy camp, from the hewer of 
 thy wood to the drawer of thy water : that thou shouldest 
 enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, and into his 
 oath, which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this 
 day." (Deuteronomy xxix, 10-13.) 
 
 It was the privilege of the stranger to be incorporated 
 into the Jewish nation, when circumcised, and be as one 
 born in the land. "But every man's servant that is 
 bought with money, when thou hast circumcised him, 
 then shall he eat thereof. And when a stranger shall 
 sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the Lord, 
 let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come 
 near and keep it ; and he shall be as one that is born in 
 the land : for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. 
 One law shall be to him that is home-born, and unto the 
 stranger that sojourneth among you." (Exodus xii, 44, 
 48, 49.) 
 
 The circumcised stranger, equally with the Hebrew, 
 partook of the passover, and one law governed both, so 
 as to place them on an equal footing as to covenant rela- 
 tions. (Exodus xii, 49 ; Numbers ix, 14.) 
 
 The strangers were protected equally with others by the 
 laws, while there were some laws enacted for their pecul- 
 iar benefit. " Ye shall have one manner of laws, as well 
 for the stranger as for one of your own country : for I 
 am the Lord your God." Leviticus xxiv, 22. No dis- 
 tinctions are made to favor the master at the expense of 
 the servant ; for the law allowed no respect of persons. 
 
MOSAIC CODE ON SERVICE. 150 
 
 His testimony was as good as his master's. The Mosaic 
 laws regarded the brotherhood of man. 
 
 The stranger in judgment was protected equally with 
 others. ** Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the 
 stranger, nor of the fatherless ; nor take a widow's rai- 
 ment to pledge." Deuteronomy xxiv, 17. "Cursed be 
 he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, father- 
 less, and widow." Deuteronomy xxvii, 20. 
 
 The same law applied to the stranger and Hebrew in 
 regard to sins of ignorance. (Numbers xv, 29.) 
 
 The privileges of the sabbatic year belonged to the 
 stranger as well as others. '* And the Sabbath of the 
 land shall be meat for you ; for thee, and for thy servant, 
 and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy 
 stranger that sojourneth with thee." Leviticus xxv, 6. 
 
 The stranger, equally with the Levite, the fatherless, 
 and the widow, partook of the jubilee provisions, arising 
 from tithes. (Deuteronomy xiv, 29 ; xxvi, 12.) 
 
 To secure the stranger from slavery there was an ex- 
 press law against oppressing him. **Thou shalt neither 
 vex a stranger nor oppress him ; for ye were strangers 
 in the land of Egypt." Exodus xxii, 21. "But the 
 stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one 
 born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself ; for 
 ye were strangers in the land of Egypt : I am the Lord 
 thy God." Leviticus xix, 34. "Love ye therefore the 
 stranger : for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." 
 Deuteronomy x, 19. The stranger was neither to be 
 vexed nor oppressed, but loved as one born among them. 
 And though some of them were servants till the year 
 of jubilee, this treatment shows that they were not con- 
 sidered as slaves, though they were servants ; and serv- 
 ants, too, in the menial rank of servants. 
 
 The poor man, whether stranger or Hebrew, was to be 
 relieved with equal regard. " And if thy brother be waxen 
 
160 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 poor, and fallen in decay with thee ; then thou shalt 
 lelieve him ; yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner : 
 that he may live with thee." Leviticus xxv, 35. 
 
 The stranger had the benefit of the fugitive law. 
 (Deuteronomy xxii, 15, 16.) 
 
 The hired servant, whether a Hebrew or a stranger, 
 was to be paid his wages. ** Thou shalt not oppress an 
 hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of 
 thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land 
 within thy gates : at his day thou shalt give him his hire, 
 neither shall the sun go down upon it ; for he is poor, and 
 setteth his heart upon it : lest he cry against thee unto 
 the Lord, and it be sin unto thee." Deuteronomy xxiv, 
 14, 15. 
 
 The stranger, or sojourner, could flee to the city of 
 refuge. (Numbers xxxv, 15.) 
 
 The stranger shared, with the fatherless and widow, 
 the gleanings of the harvest-fields. (Deuteronomy xxiv, 
 19, 21.) 
 
 Those were cursed who perverted the judgment of tho 
 stranger, the fatherless, or widow. (Deuteronomy xxvii, 
 19.) 
 
 The stranger was present at reading the law, in the 
 year of release, and was considered as having a right and 
 interest in the privileges of the country. (Deuteronomy 
 xxi, 12.) 
 
 According to the foregoing collection of statutes, from 
 the Mosaic code, respecting the reception, treatment, and 
 privileges of strangers, it is manifest that they give no 
 encouragement to the institution of slavery, but they are 
 at variance with it. The stranger was a welcome can- 
 didate for covenant relations with the Hebrews. He 
 might be naturalized by circumcision, and then partake 
 of the passover, in common with the Hebrews, so as to 
 become one of their nation. He was protected equally 
 
MOSAIC CODE ON, SERVICE. 161 
 
 with others, in civil rights, under one and the same prin- 
 ciples and forms of law. When poor, he was to share 
 with the widow and the fatherless. He must not he vexed 
 nor oppressed, hut loved and dealt with as one born in 
 the land. He enjoyed the benefit of the fugitive law. 
 He could flee to the city of refuge. And the Hebrews 
 were instructed constantly to treat the stranger with kind- 
 ness, under the consideration that they themselves were 
 strangers in Egypt. And, though some of these precepts 
 are honored by many benevolent slaveholders, yet the 
 slave system and the slave laws are in opposition to these 
 statutes, and can never be reconciled with them. 
 
 Fourth. The religious duties enjoined upon the Gen- 
 tile servants, show they were bought with their own con- 
 sent, and were not reduced to a state of slavery. Willing 
 services could not be expected of persons bought against 
 their will, and held in perpetual slavery. The stranger 
 was called upon to receive circumcision, the token of the 
 covenant, in which he avowed the Lord to be his God 
 forever — Exodus xii, 48, 49 — and this covenant was 
 occasionally renewed — Deuteronomy xix, 10-15 — to eat 
 the passover and unleavened bread seven days. (Exodus 
 xii, 44.) The stranger was bound to attend the jubilee 
 feasts with rejoicing. (Deuteronomy xii, 10—12.) He 
 was bound to receive religious instruction. (Deuteronomy 
 xxxi, 10-13 ; Joshua viii, 33-35.) He was required to 
 offer sacrifices ; to appear three times in the year before 
 the Lord, and none were to appear empty. (Exodus 
 xxiii, 14-17 ; Deuteronomy xvi, 11, 14, 16, 17 ; Numbers 
 ix, 13.) Such duties could not be performed in con- 
 sistency with slave laws. On this point the testimony 
 of Maimonides is of value, and is a just interpretation 
 of the Mosaic code on the subject : 
 
 " Whether a servant be born in the house of an Israel- 
 ite, or whether he be purchased from the heathen, the 
 
162 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 master is to bring them both into the covenant. But he 
 that is born in the house is to be entered upon the eighth 
 day ; and he that is bought with money on the day in 
 which the master receives him, unless the slave be unwill- 
 ing. For if the master receives a grown slave, and he 
 being unwilling, his master is to bear with him — to seek 
 to win him over by instruction, and by love and kind- 
 ness, for one year ; after which, should he refuse so long, 
 it is forbidden to keep him longer than the twelve months, 
 and the master must send him back to the strangers, 
 whence he came ; for the God of Jacob will not accept 
 any other than the worship of a willing heart." 
 
 Fifth. The fact that some strangers were called bond- 
 men, and others servants, is quoted to prove that the 
 former were slaves. The Hebrew word abed affords 
 ground for no such distinction, as it means a laborer, or 
 one who does work for, or renders any sort of service to 
 another. Indeed, there is no word in the Hebrew lan- 
 guage that corresponds to our word slave — to the Latin 
 mancipium, or the Greek andrapodon, a slave. A peri- 
 phrasis is required in this venerable language to denote 
 a slave, such as Egyptian bondage, oppression, theft, 
 robbery, or hard usage. In the Hebrew, in reference to 
 the foreign servants, there is no word nor expression 
 which points out slavery to be the condition of these hired 
 servants. In the statute, then, in Leviticus xxv, 44-46, 
 in the place of bondmen, it should be servants ; and in 
 the place of bondmaids, maid-servants ; or the terms 
 bondmen and bondmaids may be used in a good, and 
 even its proper sense, to mean those servants who were 
 bound by contract to serve a term of years, just as appren- 
 tices are bound, or the Hebrew servant was bound, by 
 contract, to serve out his term of years. The name, bond- 
 man, or bondmaid, properly, no more means a slave, 
 than apprentice, the word minor, or hired servant does. 
 
MOSAIC CODE ON SERVICE. 163 
 
 Sixth. The Israelites, in procuring servants of the 
 heathen, Avere required to buy them ; from whicli it is 
 argued that tlic servants were proj^erty, and, therefore, 
 slaves. This inference is based on the assumed principle, 
 that whatever costs money is money or property. The 
 children of Israel were required to biiy their first-born 
 from the obligation of the priesthood. (Numbers xviii, 
 15, 16 ; Exodus xiii, 13 ; xxxiv, 20.) The word to buy 
 is still used to describe this transaction. They were 
 bought as really as were the servants. The Israelites were 
 required to pay money for their own souls. Bible saints, 
 as Jacob, Boaz, David, etc., bought their wives ; yet these 
 wives were not the less wives, and surely they were not 
 slaves. 
 
 The word buy, like other words, is governed by the 
 usus loquendi. Eve said, "I have gotten [bought] a man 
 of the Lord," She named him Cain; that is, acquisi- 
 tion, purchase. "He that heareth reproof getteth [buy- 
 eth] understanding." Proverbs xv, 32. ** We, after our 
 ability, have redeemed [bought] our brethren that were 
 sold to the heathen." Nehemiah v, 8. Here bought 
 means, not to bring into servitude, but to take out of it. 
 
 It is not long since European servants, or laborers, 
 were bought in America ; but these were not slaves. But 
 we have said enough on this here, especially as we have 
 noticed it in our chapter on patriarchal service. 
 
 In Leviticus xxv, 47, the Israelite who became the 
 servant of the stranger, *' sold himself unto the stranger." 
 The same word, and the same form of the word, which, 
 in verse 47, is rendered sell himself y is, in verse 39, ren- 
 dered he sold. 
 
 Who sold the foreign servants ? If there were a theft 
 committed, the civil magistrate might sell the thief for so 
 long a time as his services would satisfy for the law on 
 tlieft. This, however, would be a temporary arrangement, 
 
164 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 and the penalty of a crime. It does not, therefore, apply 
 to the case. A father might sell his daughter for a wife, 
 hut not to he a slave. The law of Moses — Exodus xxi, 
 16 — did not allow that one man should sell another man. 
 But a man might sell himself, as we have seen. (Leviti- 
 cus XXV, 47.) In this way the Jcavs could ohtain hond- 
 men of the heathen. They bought them when the poor 
 heathen men or women sold themselves. Hence, this 
 must have been a contract between the seller and buyer. 
 
 The heathen and the stranger might be bought, and 
 who but themselves had a right to sell ? None could buy 
 those who dwelt in the land of Israel without incurring 
 the penalty of death. Hence, the Hebrews could purchase 
 none but those who sold themselves ; and could hold 
 them to service no longer than the term specified. If 
 they could buy lawfully those that were slaves, they might 
 save their money by their own thefts. The fact of their 
 buying slaves shows they could not lawfully make slaves 
 of them, when they had power to reduce them to slavery 
 without purchase ; so that the servants bought were bought 
 from themselves and paid for their services. Perhaps 
 parents, who were unable to maintain their children, 
 might sell them for the term they had a right to their 
 services ; but no man could justly sell his children for 
 life. And as God did not allow a father to commit such 
 a crime against natural affection, surely he would not 
 allow his people to commit such wickedness. If the 
 parent had no right to sell, the Hebrews had no right to 
 purchase. The fact that purchase was required shows 
 that the principle of justice was dominant, and that an 
 equivalent was paid for the services. 
 
 Seventh. The word forever, in the statute, is quoted to 
 prove that the servants were to serve during life, and their 
 posterity from generation to generation. No such idea is 
 contained in the passage. It is certain that the word for- 
 
MOSAIC CODE ON SERVICE. 165 
 
 ever here conveys the idea of limited time, and not of 
 endless duration ; because slavery must end, at least, at 
 the end of the world. It must mean, therefore, here a 
 limited period. The word here means ahvays. As if it 
 were said, you shall always get your permanent laborers 
 successively from the strangers, or, as the original literally 
 runs, ** forever, or always, shall ye serve yourselves from 
 the strangers." Or the sense is, that from generation to 
 generation the Hebrews might obtain a constant succes- 
 sion of servants from the strangers, according to the law 
 regulating this class of servants. For whenever forever 
 refers to individual cases, it is limited by the jubilee. 
 The word is applied to the ear-bored servant who was 
 free at the jubilee. (Exodus xxi, 2-6 ; Deuteronomy xv, 
 12-17.) But as these servants were free at the jubilee, 
 they could not be slaves. 
 
 Eighth. That the foreign servant was free at the jubi- 
 lee we have ample proof. " And ye shall hallow the fif- 
 tieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land 
 to all the inhabitants thereof." Leviticus xxv, 10. This 
 law must apply to the stranger. The release of the He- 
 brew servant was secured by other enactments, as we 
 have seen, at the end of six years, except those who chose 
 to continue to the jubilee. The year of jubilee, therefore, 
 could bestow no privilege to any Hebrew, but to the few 
 who voluntarily remained in service at the close of the 
 usual period of six years, or to freeholders who became 
 servants. All the inhabitants of the land included these 
 servants as well as others ; for the strangers are mentioned 
 expressly verse 6. 
 
 Mnth. From the use of the terms inheritance and pos- 
 session^ it is argued that the service was transmitted by 
 inheritance from generation to generation. The law says, 
 ** Ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children 
 after vou to inherit them for a possession." We contend 
 
166 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 tliis refers to tlie individuals only for the term of service ; 
 that is, to the jubilee. That the servants were not prop- 
 erty is certain, because they could not be sold ; yet their 
 term of service, in consequence of the price paid for it, 
 v^as property, to be possessed and inherited by children as 
 other property. But that the descendants of these serv- 
 ants could not be in successive generations slaves, we 
 have proved from the historical fact, as well as from the 
 law of the jubilee, that no such class of servants existed 
 among the Jews in subsequent ages. If the jubilee had 
 not terminated this service of strangers, and if children 
 followed the condition of the mother under almost all 
 slave codes, the land of Judea would abound with these 
 Helots, like Greece, Rome, America, and all slave coun- 
 tries. In consequence of the law of the jubilee, the for- 
 eign servants becoming free and incorporated into the 
 Jewish population, very few servants from strangers were 
 to be found. The only servants mentioned in the narra- 
 tives of the evangelists, except where the words occur in 
 Christ's parables, are the centurion's servant miraculously 
 healed, and the servants of the high-priests' palace. 
 (Matthew viii, 5-13 ; Mark xiv, 65 ; Luke xxii, 50.) 
 
 Tenth. On a careful survey of this law — Leviticus xxv, 
 44-46 — we must conclude that it gave no toleration, sanc- 
 tion, or authority to slavery. The Hebrews were forbid- 
 den to buy human beings from third persons in view of 
 enslaving them. The strangers were to be treated with 
 such regard to their well-being as to preclude slavery. 
 Their attendance to religious duties, by divine command, 
 was at variance with a slave system. These foreign serv- 
 ants, however, were not equally privileged with Jewish 
 servants, as they might be inherited by children at the 
 death of their fathers ; were employed in domestic or 
 menial services ; had not the right of redemption, and 
 served to the jubilee. But whenever its first trumpet 
 
MOSAIC CODE ON SERVICE. 167 
 
 sounded tliey were released. And all this is established 
 by the historical fact, that no hereditary class of servants 
 existed among the Jews down to the time of Christ. On 
 this point, however, we shall take pains to show, from 
 historical data, that we give the proper view of it. 
 
168 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MOSAIC CODE — CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS. 
 
 II. On examining the various classes of servants, re- 
 specting which the Mosaic code legislated, we find that 
 not one of them could he classed under the head of slaves. 
 Still, in some of them, if not in all, we perceive several 
 characteristics which go to say that some usages existed 
 even among the Hebrews, and others among the sur- 
 rounding nations, which, if not restrained or forbidden, 
 would ultimately embody slavery in the Jewish polity. 
 But the Mosaic restrictions respecting these, and the prin- 
 ciples established, prevented slavery proper. For in- 
 stance, the case of the ear-bored servant, who was to 
 serve forever, might be a sort of specimen on which to 
 graft slavery, did not the jubilee interfere. The case of 
 the daughters sold for wives would readily run into the 
 common surrounding heathen usage, that the child fol- 
 lows the condition of the mother, did not the Mosaic 
 statute expressly provide otherwise. The man sold for 
 debt would be a capital case on which to adjust a slavery 
 department, and then the strangers would be readily the 
 types of an imported African, had there been no jubilee. 
 In the Mosaic code there are several great constitutional 
 laws which completely prevent the tendency of human 
 nature, the enslaving examples of strange nations, and 
 the kindred honored usages of those among the Hebrews j 
 from running into slavery. We will now present these | 
 to our readers ; and though the manner of procuring ' 
 servants among the Hebrews, and even the treatment of 
 
MOSAIC CODE. 169 
 
 them, might run into a modified slavery, the great con- 
 Btitiitional guards entirely prevent this. Hence, no slave 
 could tread the Hebrew soil except for the purpose 
 of knocking off forever his chains. We will now in 
 order present these great constitutional laws. 
 
 1. Because Canaan was the land to be inherited by 
 promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their poster- 
 ity, it was not to be a land of slavery. 
 
 In the original grant to Abraham, after reciting that 
 his name should be great, that he w^ould be a blessing, 
 and that in him all the families of the earth should be 
 blessed, the Lord said, **Unto thy seed shall I give this 
 land." Genesis xii, 7. This was especially renewed in 
 reference to Abraham when circumcision was enjoined as 
 the seal of the covenant. It is stated in the promise, 
 ** And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, 
 the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of 
 Canaan, for an everlasting possession ; and I will be 
 their God." Genesis xvii, 8. The token of the cov- 
 enant was circumcision. This comprehended every male 
 child — he that was born in the house, or bought with 
 money of any stranger which was not of the seed of 
 Israel. Hence, every Hebrew was to be free, and every 
 stranger who became a proselyte was to be treated as a 
 Hebrew, being, like the Hebrew, exempt from usury, 
 whereas other strangers w^ere to be -charged usury or 
 interest. 
 
 In the fulfillment of this promise to strangers and He- 
 brews, we have the following regulation: "And if thy 
 brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; 
 then thou shalt relieve him ; yea, though he be a stranger, 
 or a sojourner ; that he may live with thee. Take thou 
 no usury of him, or increase ; but fear thy God ; that thy 
 brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give him thy 
 money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase. 
 
 15 
 
170 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of 
 the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and 
 to be your God." Leviticus xxv, 35-38. The poor, and 
 these only — except criminals — were liable to become serv- 
 ants, or bond-servants. All, whether strangers or others, 
 were to be relieved so as to be saved even from bond- 
 service, in consequence of poverty. But if this did not 
 meet all cases, then the other regulations would prevent 
 slavery, as the limited periods of service, the right of re- 
 demption, and the jubilee. Thus the land devoted to the 
 descendants of Abraham should never be the seat of 
 slavery, either to the Hebrew, or to any stranger who 
 dwelt among them. 
 
 2. Slavery is prohibited to the Hebrews in those decla- 
 rations which forbid them to allow of any such bondage 
 in Canaan as existed in Egypt. " For they are my serv- 
 ants which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt; 
 they shall not be sold as bondmen," or with the sale of 
 bondmen. "Thou shalt not rule over him Avith rigor; 
 but shalt fear thy God. For unto me the children of 
 Israel are servants ; they are my servants whom I brought 
 forth out of the land of Egypt : I am the Lord your 
 God." Leviticus xxv, 42, 43, 55. And as strangers 
 could ally themselves to the Israelites by receiving their 
 religion, then it is clear all the inhabitants Avere to be 
 saved from such bondage as the Egyptian, or from any 
 form of slavery. And this is repeated in Deuteronomy. 
 "And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in 
 the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee : 
 therefore I command thee this thing to-day." Deuteron- 
 omy XV, 15. It would be strange, indeed, that the Al- 
 mighty would send the plagues of Egypt on account of 
 slavery, and then permit or establish the same, or some- 
 thing as bad, or worse, in Canaan. 
 
 8. The essential acts of enslavement of any human 
 
MOSAIC CODE. 171 
 
 being, snch as stealing a man, selling the stolen man, or 
 retaining the stolen man, is expressly prohibited in the 
 Mosaic code on pain of death. 
 
 The fundamental law in Exodus, and the somewhat 
 exegetical one in Deuteronomy, reads thus: **And he 
 that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in 
 his hand, he shall surely be put to death." Exodus xxi, 
 16. *'If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of 
 the children of Israel, and maketh merchandise of him, 
 or selleth him ; then that thief shall die ; and thou shalt 
 put evil away from among you." Deuteronomy xxiv, 7. 
 In the first passage either to steal any man, to sell a many 
 or to have in custody a stolen man, is expressly forbidden 
 in this fundamental law of God. The punishment for 
 the crime is capital, or death. It ranks with smiting or 
 reviling a parent. Whether the act of theft is done se- 
 cretly, as in some cases, or by violence, as in other; 
 whether by law, or assault and battery, as the act in refer- 
 ence to the sufferer is to deprive him of liberty, the dearest 
 gift of God to man, the criminality is the same. In the 
 passage in Deuteronomy the explanation is remarkably 
 significant. The stealing is that of a brother, like the 
 stealing of Joseph. The man was converted into an arti- 
 cle of merchandise, as if he were a horse, or any thing 
 else, and a mere sale is only a part of the mercantile trans- 
 action. Death was the penalty, and unless the culprit 
 were put to death the evil was not put away. This fun- 
 damental law in terms prohibited slavery to the Jews, 
 whether in reference to Hebrews or to foreigners. If the 
 stolen man was found in the hand of his captor, the man 
 was, of course, set at liberty, and his captor was put to 
 death. If all the retainers of stolen men in our land 
 were put to death, or, in other words, were this law in 
 vogue Among men, as it always must be in the sight of 
 God, our handful of slaveholders would be all extermina- 
 
172 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 ted, while the three and a half millions of slaves wonld 
 he set at libert}^ God's laws, according to which he will 
 judge the world in the last day, would make sad work 
 with many human laws of most countries. 
 
 4. There is not only an entire absence of any slave 
 code, or body of slave regulations, in the Mosaic law, or 
 in any part of the Old Testament, hut, on the contrary, 
 the direct reverse of all this. The omission and antago- 
 nism are unaccountable on the hypothesis of slavery 
 among the Hebrews. Every slave nation has adopted 
 two distinct codes — one for its free inhabitants, and an- 
 other for slaves ; the latter being always barbarous and 
 cruel. According to Stroud more than seventy acts, pun- 
 ishable with death when committed by slaves, are not 
 either punished at all, or else in a slight degree, when 
 committed by freemen. The omission of this by Moses 
 is accounted for only on the supposition that slavery was 
 not authorized by his law. Had God authorized sla^oery 
 by that law, he certainly would have enacted a slave code 
 to support it. 
 
 5. But this great code was formed to prevent every sort 
 of oppression. *'Ye shall not oppress one another;" 
 "Ye shall not therefore oppress one another ; but thou 
 shalt fear thy God : for I am the Lord your God ;*' 
 " Thou shalt not rule over him with rigor ; but shalt fear 
 thy God." Leviticus xxv, 14, 17, 43. Thus mutual 
 oppression, as well as oppression of every sort, was for- 
 bidden. And as slavery is oppressive, though all oppres- 
 sion is not slavery, therefore slavery is forbidden. (See 
 Genesis vi, 11 ; Exodus iii, 9 ; xii, 29 ; xiv, 28. See 
 particularly Job xxvii, 13 ; Isaiah Iviii, 6, 7 ; Ezekiel 
 xviii, 10-13 ; xxii, 29, 31 ; Amos iv, 1 ; viii, 4-8 ; Zech- 
 ariah vii, 9, 14.) More ancient nations were destroyed on 
 account of this sin than for any other. The Israelites 
 were forbidden under heavy penalties to oppress strangers 
 
MOSAIC CODE. 176 
 
 or foreigners. (Exodus xxii, 21 ; Leviticus xix, 33, 34 ; 
 XXV, 35 ; Deuteronomy i, 16 ; x, 18, 19 ; xxiv, 14, 
 15,17.) 
 
 6. The fifth, seventh, eighth, and tenth commandments 
 directly condemn the system of slavery ; and the other 
 commandments condemn it indirectly. 
 
 The fifth commandment teaches, " Honor thy father 
 and mother." It teaches the duties of parents to chil- 
 dren, and the duties of children to parents. It is the 
 duty of parents to instruct their children in the principles 
 of knowledge ; protect them, provide for them, and pre- 
 pare them for the duties of life. They are required to in- 
 struct them in the principles of religion — discipline them 
 in its practice and precepts, and leave them a good exam- 
 ple. On the other hand, children are hound to reverence 
 and love their parents — obey them in all things in the 
 Lord — provide for them in sickness, poverty, and old 
 age — receive their good instructions, and imitate their 
 good example. Slavery pays no regard to the reciprocal 
 duties of parents and children. It transfers to the mas- 
 ter the authority of parents over their children, and the 
 right obedience of children to their parents. Thus the 
 authority of the master was above the moral law, and 
 especially above the fifth commandment. Slavery goes 
 beyond the farthest extent of the civil power; for the 
 proper civil power claims no authority over the private 
 rights and duties of citizens. Hence, as slavery does 
 thus interfere, it is condemned by the commandment, 
 *' Children, obey your parents." 
 
 The seventh commandment, *'Thou slialt not commit 
 adultery," destroys slavery. God intended marriage, 
 and enjoined it as much on servants as on others, as 
 we have seen in considering the various classes of serv- 
 ants. Slavery does not regard marriage, but entirely 
 annuls it, as all the slave laws declare. Now, as slavery 
 
174 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 either forbids or annuls marriage, and God enjoined it 
 on all servants in Judea as well as on others, therefore, 
 the service concerning which Moses legislated was not 
 slavery. Slavery places the slaves entirely in the power 
 of the master. Hence, every female slave is entirely in 
 the power of the master — his sons — his overseer — his 
 driver, or of any white man. No violence to the person 
 of a slave is to be considered a rape. Hence the process 
 of amalgamation in the south, and the high market value 
 of handsome white slaves. The seventh commandment 
 forbids slavery. 
 
 The eighth commandment, "Thou shalt not steal,'* 
 forbids slavery. "Theft is an unjust taking or keeping 
 to ourselves what is justly another man's." Slavehold- 
 ers are called, by St. Paul, man-stealers, or, in other words, 
 the stealers, venders, or holders of men as slaves. (1 Tim- 
 othy i, 9, 10.) And these are reckoned by him as 
 among the most flagrant transgressors of the moral law. 
 As slavery is theft, it is forbidden by this commandment. 
 
 Slavery is condemned by the tenth commandment, 
 which says, "Thou shalt not covet." By the law of 
 God every man owns himself. The slaveholder first 
 covets, then steals, secretly, violently, or by law, the man, 
 and makes him a slave. The act or acts are breaches of 
 the tenth commandment. 
 
 As the apologists for slavery have no solid grounds, on 
 the score of justice, or the law of God, to maintain their 
 cause, they have recourse to the perversion of Scripture to 
 prove their point. For this purpose the fourth and tenth 
 commandments are chosen. In the fourth commandment 
 it is said, respecting the Sabbath, " In it thou shalt not 
 do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy 
 man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor 
 thy stranger that is within thy gates." The tenth com- 
 mandment says, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's 
 
MOSAIC CODE. 175 
 
 house, thou shalt not covet thy neiglibor's wife, nor his 
 man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his 
 ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's." 
 
 On the foregoing we remark : 
 
 (1.) Of the various dasses of servants among the 
 Hebrews, none of them were slaves, but either hired serv- 
 ants, servants for six years, or till the jubilee. And the 
 right of property or possession in them, as expressed by 
 THY man-servant, thy maid- servant, only referred to the 
 right of the master to the service of the servant during 
 that period. 
 
 (2.) The command, *'Thou shalt not covet," does 
 not prove that the servants were held as property, any 
 more than that a wife, son, or daughter was property in 
 common with cattle, houses, etc. Men are possessed as 
 servants, without being possessed as property. Children 
 and wives are possessed as children and wives, but not as 
 chattels. They may be claimed by the title of children 
 and wives, but not by the title of chattels. 
 
 (3.) The command says, "Thou shalt not covet any 
 thing that is thy neighbor's ;" that is, any thing that 
 justly belongs to him. To every man belongs, by the law 
 of nature, and the law of God, and by all just human 
 laws, personal liberty, personal security, and the pursuit of 
 happiness. These must not be coveted by any person, 
 because these are the property of another. But the con- 
 tract for services, by which one person voluntarily binds 
 himself to another, becomes the just right of the other, 
 and should not be coveted or seized by another. 
 
 (4.) These servants could not be slaves, because the 
 fifth, seventh, and eighth commandments condemn slavery, 
 in condemning the acts which originate or continue it. 
 To enslave is to steal a man, or to use him as stolen. 
 And then the commandments on obedience to parents, 
 and on marriage, clearly condemn the system. Those, 
 
176 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 therefore, mentioned as servants, in the fourth and tenth 
 commandments, could not be slaves ; seeing the fifth, 
 seventh, eighth, and the same tenth commandment con- 
 demn slavery. The conclusion is, that the decalogue con- 
 demns, prohibits, and makes penal the entire system of 
 slavery. 
 
 7. The resjyed of persons forbidden in the law of 
 Moses, and in other portions of Scripture, is at variance 
 with a state of slavery. "Ye shall do no unrighteousness 
 in judgment : thou shalt not respect the person of the 
 poor, nor honor the person of the mighty ; but in right- 
 eousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor." Leviticus xix, 
 15. ** Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge 
 righteously between every man and his brother, and the 
 stranger that is with him. Ye shall not respect persons 
 in judgment : but ye shall hear the small as well as the 
 great ; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man : for the 
 judgment is God's." Deuteronomy i, 16, 17. "For the 
 Lord your God is a God of gods, and Lord of lords, a 
 great God, a mighty and a terrible, which regardeth not 
 persons, nor taketh reward." Deuteronomy x, 17. In 
 other parts of the Old Testament the same instructions 
 are given. "It is not good to accept the person of the 
 wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment." Prov- 
 erbs xviii, 5. "It is not good to have respect to per- 
 sons." Proverbs xxiv, 23. " To have respect of persons 
 is not good : for for a piece of bread that man will 
 transgress." Proverbs xxviii, 21. The justness of the 
 cause was to be decided without regard to rich or poor. 
 The claims of slavery are founded on respect of persons — 
 on injustice — on gain — and are at variance with the 
 above texts and the righteous jurisprudence of the Bible. 
 
 8. The legal rights and privileges secured to servants 
 among the Hebrews, both in the Mosaic code and other 
 places of the Bible, excluded the very idea of slavery 
 
MOSAIC CODE. 177 
 
 from the nation. According to slave laws, the slaves 
 have no rights, because they are property. Among the 
 Hebrews all classes of servants were circumcised. They 
 had a right of covenant with God. They had a right to 
 the passover and other feasts. They enjoyed the Sabbath 
 and its privileges. They received remuneration and good 
 treatment. They were instructed in religion. They had 
 a right to hold property, and have servants of their own. 
 They were governed by equal laws. They might be heirs 
 to their masters. They exercised the highest offices. If 
 their masters abused them to the extent of mayhem, they 
 were set free. They might leave their master's house for 
 ill usage. Their contract of service ended at the year of 
 release, or at the jubilee. They married into their mas- 
 ter's families. The children and heirs of masters seem 
 to have no greater privileges than the servants. The 
 legal exercise of these rights would destroy slavery. And 
 surely God would not establish an institution in a code 
 of laws, which he would destroy by antagonistic laws, in 
 the same code. Something the very opposite of this, 
 however, is done by all slave codes. The Roman law 
 declared that all men were born free, and that liberty 
 was the right of every man. It also declared that slav- 
 ery was contrary to natural law and the divine law. 
 But they gave the dominance to unjust human laws, so as 
 to annul the divine law. In the United States it is de- 
 clared that all men are created free and equal — copying 
 the Roman law, as well as the divine. Yet the slave 
 laws, though merely statutory, counteract and annul the 
 Declaration of Independence — the declaration of rights — 
 the Constitution of the United States — the decisions of 
 judges, and the principles of the decalogue. But God's 
 laws do not conflict ; and, hence, there is no law of his 
 which authorizes any person to steal a man — to compel 
 him to serve him without wages and without a contract — • 
 
178 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 to part husbands and wives — to sell children from their 
 parents — to hunt men with dogs and guns, who are flee- 
 ing for liberty. It is for our free America to do this. 
 
 9. There is no word in the Hebrew language corre- 
 sjDonding in meaning with our English, and the ancient 
 and modern word slave, slaveholder, slavery, etc. This 
 certainly could not have happened, had the practice of 
 human slavery existed among the ancient Israelites, either 
 with or without the Mosaic law. No such word was 
 formed during the use of the Hebrew language, down to 
 the time of our Lord. Never did an important public 
 institution, custom, or practice, exist in any country in 
 the world, without a distinct and specific name given to 
 it, in the language of the country. Accordingly, the 
 ancient Greeks and Romans, the English, French, and 
 Spaniards, have distinct names for slave, slavery, and 
 slaveholders. While the Latins had servus, a servant, 
 for any sort of a servant, the word mancipium was the 
 proper name of a slave. The Greeks used the word 
 doulos to signify a servant of any sort ; but andrapodon, 
 from aner, a man, and potts, a foot, a downtrodden man, 
 is the proper name for slave ; while aiidrapodistes, from 
 the preceding, and isteml, to stand, means the slaveholder, 
 who stands with his feet on the prostrate man. Such dis- 
 tinctions run through all languages, as far as we can 
 learn, where slavery has existed. 
 
 The Hebrew word abed, a laborer, husbandman, servant, 
 is derived from abad, to labor, cidtivate, to labor for an- 
 other, to be tributary. So it is said there was not a man 
 to till, or cultivate, the ground. The word is used as a 
 noun in the sense of husbandman, laborer, servant. It 
 retains this meaning in composition in proper names, as 
 Obededom, the servant of Edom ; Obadiah, the servant of 
 Jehovah; Abednego, the servant of light ; Ebedmelech, the 
 servant of the king. How is it possible that the Hebrew 
 
MOSAIC CODE. 179 
 
 language has no word for slave as distinguished from 
 servant, if slavery had existed from the earliest patri- 
 archal times among the people of God, especially as this 
 was their language from Adam to Christ ? 
 
 10. Another fundamental law in regard to Hebrew 
 service was, that the servant could never be sold. A 
 man, in certain circumstances, could be bought ; but when 
 bought he could not be sold. Permission is given in the 
 law of Moses to buy a servant, but none is given to sell 
 him again; and because no such permission is given, it 
 is full proof that it was not designed. The Mosaic code 
 gives no authority to take servants in payment for debts ; 
 they were not given as pledges, nor given as presents. 
 This is positive as to the Hebrew servant, and its princi- 
 ple must apply to all. ''They shall not be sold as bond- 
 men." Leviticus xxv, 42. Before a slave came into the 
 hand of an Israelite he might have been bought and sold 
 many times ; but in the hand of the » Hebrews he could 
 not be an article of merchandise. Many good men have 
 bought slaves ; but they would not for the world sell one. 
 
 As servants were not subject to the ordinary uses of 
 property, they were not property, and could not be sold 
 as property. The law forbade to steal, buy, sell, or make 
 merchandise of a man. (Exodus xxi, 16 ; Deuteronomy 
 xxiv, 7.) No Israelite could buy a stolen man. In the 
 case where damages were paid the master, as when an ox 
 pushed the servant — Exodus xxi, 32 — there is no recog- 
 nition of the master's property in the servant. It only 
 refers to his services. The master had paid a full price 
 for his services. Hence, if the person of the servant 
 were injured, the loss fell on the master. And if the 
 servant were killed, the master was bound to support the 
 family -of the servant. 
 
 The servant in the family of an Israelite was one of 
 his own accord. For to abjure idolatry; to enter into 
 
180 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 covenant with God ; to be circumcised in token of it ; to 
 observe the Sabbath, the passover, the pentecost, and the 
 feast of tabernacles ; and to receive instruction in the 
 moral and ceremonial law, were all voluntary acts. 
 
 As the servants of the Jews became such voluntarily , 
 they also received wages, pay, or remuneration. *' Woe 
 unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and 
 his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbor's serv- 
 ices WITHOUT WAGES, and giveth him not for his work.'* 
 Jeremiah xxii, 13. God here testifies that to use the 
 service of others without wages is unrighteousness, and he 
 pronounces a woe on the doer of the wrong. To buy a 
 person against his will of a third person ; to reduce him 
 and his posterity to perpetual slavery ; to give him barely 
 food, clothing, and lodging only ; and all this at the 
 pleasure of the master, can have no pretenses to wages or 
 remuneration. The answer of Rev. R. J. Breckinridge 
 to such a substitute for wages is in point. " Out upon 
 such folly ! The man who can not see that involuntary 
 domestic slavery, as it exists among us, is founded on the 
 principle of taking by force that which is another's, has 
 simply no moral sense." 
 
 11. The law of Moses, which forbade to restore run- 
 away servants or slaves to their masters, proves that no 
 slavery proper could exist in Judea. The law reads thus : 
 "Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which 
 is escaped from his master unto thee : he shall dwell with 
 thee, even among you in that place which he shall choose 
 in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best : thou shalt 
 not oppress him." Deuteronomy xxiii. On this law we 
 remark as follows : 
 
 (1.) The servant, we maintain, was not a Hebrew serv- 
 ant, because such servants were such by contract. They 
 could not be slaves, and were protected equally with oth- 
 ers, as well as paid beforehand their wages, if they wert 
 
MOSAIC CODE. 181 
 
 servants bonglit with money from themselves. It would 
 have been imjiist to have harbored such runaways. It is, 
 moreover, absurd that God would make so many laws 
 respecting servants *'born in the house or bought with 
 money of any stranger," and who had received their 
 wages or support in advance, or as they had need, and 
 then introduce a law to encourage them to run away, and 
 thus refuse to meet their contracts or agreement, honora- 
 bly entered ink). To prove further that Hebrew servants, 
 or the servants of Hebrews, were not thus protected, we 
 adduce the case of the servant that might be punished, 
 whose services, though not the person, were ''the money 
 of the master." Exodus xxi, 20, 21. The servants of 
 Shimei, who escaped to the king of Gath, were brought 
 back by their master. (1 Kings ii, 39, 40.) A servant 
 in Judea, who was not, and never could be a slave, had 
 no more right to run away than any other person, as he 
 had the same means of redress. 
 
 (2.) The fugitive, as Hanligant says, was a foreign 
 servant or slave, not of the Jewish nation. The pagan 
 master was often cruel. He might beat, maim, or kill 
 his slave. The slaves were often selected as sacrifices to 
 idols. The words, ''escaped from his master," show that 
 he was in jeopardy and saved himself by flight. The 
 design of the law seems to be to provide an asylum for 
 all oppressed foreign slaves who would flee to Judea for 
 liberty, on whose territory there were no slaves, and where 
 laws of equity governed. 
 
 (3.) It is evident this law is addressed to the magis- 
 trates, and not to individuals, or the common people. 
 The character of the fugitive — the causes of his flight — 
 the granting of the rights of citizens, implied in the 
 phrase, " in one of thy gates," all came properly under 
 the power of the civil magistrate ; and no magistrate 
 could, on any account, deliver up a runaway slave. The 
 
182 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 moment his foot touched Hebrew soil the magistrate he- 
 came his protector, so that he should not be taken back 
 to his master, or oppressed, or even restrained by the 
 Hebrews. He was to dwell unmolested wherever he 
 chose. 
 
 (4.) Hence, Palestine became an asylum for freedom. 
 The foreigner who voluntarily came there was a freeman, 
 and no longer a slave. No power could oppress him, nor 
 compel him to return to slavery, nor force 4iim to become 
 even the servant, much less the slave, of any man in 
 his new residence, unless he made a voluntary contract 
 himself to become the servant of some one, and that con- 
 tract could be made only to the jubilee. The whole civil 
 power of Judea was engaged to protect the stranger, who 
 was now free and no longer a slave. 
 
 (5.) Heathen service or slavery was compulsory, hav- 
 ing no regard for the rights of man, and the Jewish law 
 forbade the system which compelled the poor and defense- 
 less to toil for the rich and powerful. Hence, the Hebrews 
 had none but voluntary servants, who sold themselves for 
 a term of years ; and, therefore, justice and humanity 
 forbade all Jews to countenance the claim of foreign 
 slaveholders by restoring their runaways ; and they would 
 not allow their soil to be polluted as a race-ground for 
 seizing forcibly those who were escaping from oppression. 
 
 (6.) Therefore, as there was no law to seize runaway 
 slaves, so the law in Deuteronomy xxiii declared that no 
 law could ever be made to restore a slave to his master. 
 No future law could ever change this principle of the 
 Jewish constitution. 
 
 (7.) This law of Moses deeply impresses the mind 
 with the evil of slavery. This law impressed this great 
 truth on the public mind, that every man ought to be a 
 freeman. It taught every Hebrew that it was wrong to 
 subject any man as a slave. It taught the heathen world 
 
MOSAIC CODE. 183 
 
 that tliere was one nation, at least, that regarded the voice 
 of natural law, as uttered by Justinian in the Roman 
 code, "All men from the beginning were born free" — 
 *' Omnes Uheri ah initio nascebanturJ' We quote from 
 memory. 
 
 (8.) And the Jewish nation themselves were an exam- 
 ple of this. The whole nation of the Hebrews were a 
 fugitive race, who fled as precipitately from Egypt as a 
 slave does from his master. The example of the whole 
 people, in the glorious exode from Egypt, was one great 
 rush for freedom, under the direction of God. And as 
 God is as watchful over one of his creatures as over all, 
 so every individual, who is escaping from slavery, is as 
 much under God's protection as the Israelites were in 
 their escape, their flight, and their settlement in Canaan. 
 Hence, the law of the fugitive is, that he should not be 
 delivered to his master ; that he may dwell where he 
 pleases ; that he should not be oppressed or enslaved, but 
 protected by the civil magistrate. 
 
 (9.) Hence, the American Fugitive-Slave law is in 
 direct opposition to the divine law, and can not bind the 
 conscience of a Christian. It is also unconstitutional in 
 reference to the "Declaration of Independence, the bill of 
 rights, and the Constitution of the United States. It is 
 at variance with natural law. It has, therefore, no force 
 to bind the conscience of any man, except so far as it 
 forms a part, though an anomalous one, of a great sys- 
 tem of the best laws in the world ; and even this is to 
 have such respect shown to it as not to impair a good 
 system in doing away the unsound portion of it. This 
 is a nice point. 
 
 (10.) How different the Mosaic code from our slave 
 codes ! In the year 1705 a law was enacted in Virginia 
 authorizing any two justices of the peace, "by procla- 
 mation, to outlaw runaways, who might thereafter be 
 
184 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 killed and destroyed by any person whatsoever, by such 
 ways and means as he might think fit, without accusation 
 or impeachment of any crime for so doing." And then 
 the law authorizing the hunting of men with dogs, guns, 
 advertisements, in any county, is among the most scan- 
 dalous, unjust, and wicked laws ever enacted by a barba- 
 rous or civilized nation. 
 
 12. The sabbatical year, as established in the Mosaic 
 code, is at utter variance w^ith a system of slavery. The 
 following texts contain the principal regulations of the 
 sabbatical year : ''And six years thou shalt sow thy land, 
 and shalt gather in the fruits thereof : but the seventh year 
 thou shalt let it rest and lie still ; that the poor of thy 
 people may eat : and what they leave the beasts of the 
 field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy 
 vineyard, and with thy olive-yard." Exodus xxiii, 10, 
 11. ** Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years 
 thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit 
 thereof; but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest 
 unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord ; thou shalt neither 
 sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. That which grow- 
 eth of its own accord of thy harvest, thou shalt not reap, 
 neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed : for it is 
 a year of rest unto the land. And the sabbath of the 
 land shall be meat for you ; for thee, and for thy servant, 
 and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy 
 stranger that sojourneth with thee, and for thy cattle, and 
 for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase 
 thereof be meat." Leviticus xxv, 3-7. The following 
 are the regulations of the law : 
 
 The Hebrews were neither to sow their fields nor prune 
 their vines on the seventh year, that the land might enjoy 
 its rest or sabbath every seventh year, as the Israelites had 
 enjoyed their rest every seventh day. (Exodus xxiii, 11 ; 
 Leviticus xxv, 4.) 
 
MOSAIC CODE. 185 
 
 The produce of that year, which, of course, was spon- 
 taneous, was common to all, without exception, as the 
 poor, the servants, the stranger, and cattle. This re- 
 minded the owners of the land that they depended on 
 God for their lands, and that their duty was to feel char- 
 ity for the poor, for servants, and for strangers, and 
 humanity to hrutes. (Leviticus xxv, 6, 7 ; Exodus 
 xxiii, 11.) 
 
 This mstitution was intended to demonstrate a particu- 
 lar providence ; for the produce of every sixth year was 
 promised to be such as would support them till the har- 
 vest of the ninth year. (Leviticus xxv, 20-22.) 
 
 The sabbatic year was intended as a release from any 
 debts in the way of borrowing and lending, which had 
 been contracted between the Israelites. (Deuteronomy 
 XV, 2. ) And they were cautioned not to shut their bow- 
 els of compassion on that account. (Deuteronomy xv, 
 7-11.) But of a person of another nation, not a prose- 
 lyte, it could be exacted. (Deuteronomy xv, 3.) 
 
 But the most important matter that concerned the sab- 
 batic, or seventh year, was, that it terminated the term of 
 service of Hebrew servants. The land was to rest on the 
 seventh year. So the Hebrew servants who sold them- 
 selves, for wages or money, were also to enjoy this year of 
 release. '* Six years he shall serve : and in the seventh he 
 shall go out free for nothing." Exodus xxi, 2. " And if 
 thy brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, be sold 
 [sell himself] unto thee, and serve thee six years ; then 
 in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee." 
 Deuteronomy xv, 12. 
 
 In the sabbatical year, at the feast of tabernacles, they 
 were enjoined to read the law in the hearing of all the 
 people, comprising the women, children, and the strang- 
 ers, to the end that they might hear, learn, fear the Lord, 
 and ** observe to do all the words of this law." Deu- 
 
 16 
 
186 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 teronomy xxxi, 12. In the sabbatic year, or year of 
 release, we see an institution wliich would destroy slavery 
 in its stronghold. And did the Almighty approve of 
 such a system, he would not annul or counteract it by the 
 year of release. And this was proclaimed to all Israel as 
 the standing law of the country, on reading the law in 
 the sabbatic year. 
 
 13. The law of the jubilee is thus described: *'And 
 thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, 
 seven times seven years ; and the space of the seven sab- 
 baths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. 
 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound, 
 on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of 
 atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout 
 all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and 
 proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the in- 
 habitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye 
 shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall 
 return every man unto his family. A jubilee shall that 
 fiftieth year be unto you : ye shall not sow, neither reap 
 that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in 
 it of thy vine undressed. For it is the jubilee ; it shall be 
 holy unto you : ye shall eat the increase thereof out of 
 the field. In the year of this jubilee ye shall return every 
 man unto his possession." Leviticus xxv, 8-13. The 
 jubilee year began on the first day of Tizri, answering to 
 our September, and about the autumnal equinox. On 
 this year no one either sowed or reaped. Each took pos- 
 session of his inheritance that had been sold, mortgaged, 
 or alienated. Hebrew servants, with their wives and 
 children, were free from all previous contracts of service, 
 w^hich could last only to the year of jubilee at the fur- 
 thest. All foreign servants also enjoyed the right of the 
 jubilee. 
 
 The most natural derivation of the word jubilee, is 
 
MOSAIC CODE. 187 
 
 from b'D"n, lioh'il, or Jiovll, tlic Hiphil from hy, yaval, to 
 recall, restore, bring hack, because this year restored all 
 slaves or bound servants to their liberty, and brought 
 back all alienated estates to their primitive owners. 
 Accordingly, the Septuagint renders the word by a<j)satj, 
 a remission. And Josephus — Anticp, b. ii, chap, x — 
 says it signifies ^x^vOs^iav, freedom. Hence he says, ^ot, 
 bovTiivovtsg s7.svOspoi a^csv-tai — " Tliose rendering service 
 are sent out free ;" or, as his Latin translator has it, 
 Servi manumittuntur , slaves are manumitted. 
 
 The jubilee was a wonderful institution, and of great 
 service to the religion, freedom, and independence of the 
 Hebrews. It was calculated to prevent the rich from 
 oppressing the poor, and reducing them to perpetual 
 slavery, and to hinder them from getting possession of 
 all the lands, by purchase, mortgage, or usurpation. Tt 
 was further intended, that debts should not be multiplied 
 too much, lest the poor should be entirely ruined — that 
 servants should not always continue in servitude, and 
 that personal liberty and equality should be preserved, as 
 far as possible. 
 
 Some contend, that, because the law of emancipation 
 is found in the tenth verse, and the law on service in 
 verses 44-46, that the jubilee did not reach to the 
 stiangers or heathen. We might as well affirm that 
 the Babylonish captivity took place after the latter-day 
 glory, because it is written subsequently in the book of 
 Micah iv, 1-3, 9, 10. The Hebrew who sold himself, 
 or he who was sold by the magistrate, was free at the end 
 of six years. The jubilee must therefore apply to all 
 servants of every description. 
 
 The jubilee was to be a universal proclamation of free- 
 dom throughout the land. So the law says, "Proclaim 
 liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants 
 thereof.'' The law is not ambiguous — liberty is to be the 
 
188 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 boon to be bestowed. The Septuagint renders tlie Hebrew 
 nm, deror, liberty ; a^soiv, remission. So Luke iv, 18. 
 
 All the inhabitants of the land, must certainly include 
 all servants. The servants belonged to the households; 
 and, therefore, to the regular inhabitants, whether strang- 
 ers by birth or not. The Ixx use a phrase which includes 
 all sojourners, Ttant. rotj xatoixovcsiv avtr^i — to all who in- 
 habit it. It is not worth while to dwell here respecting 
 the meaning of inhabitants ; as this word can not apply 
 to transitory sojourners, in the case in hand, but to the 
 bouffht servants, who were incorporated among the Hebrew 
 families, became their possession, as servants, were inher- 
 ited as such by their children, and that forever, or to the 
 jubilee. Such is the plain meaning of the law of the 
 jubilee, which applies to all servants of every grade, and 
 proclaims liberty to all of them. If any doubts, let him 
 just read the texts in a concordance under the word in- 
 habitant, and he will be convinced of the truth of this 
 statement. ^t 
 
 The following passage from Isaiah will show the light 
 in which the stranger is viewed, and, therefore, the serv- 
 ant who is a stranger: "The sons of the stranger, that 
 join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the 
 name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that 
 keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold 
 of my covenant; even them will I bring to my holy 
 mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer : 
 their burnt-offerings and sacrifices shall be accepted upou 
 mine altar : for my house shall be called a house of 
 prayer for all people." Isaiah Ivi, 6, 7. 
 
 14. There is no Scriptural or other accotmt of the 
 existence of a slave system among the Jews. Every 
 country in Avhich slavery existed, has exhibited a class of 
 persons who were hereditary slaves. Among them the 
 common maxim, the child followed the condition of the 
 
MOSAIC CODE. 189 
 
 mother, prevailed. The Helots among the Greeks are a 
 sample. 80 also the Hebrews among the Egyptians. 
 The case of America and other modern countries presents 
 examples. No such class of slaves existed in Judea. 
 Besides, had the Jews practiced slavery, even in violation 
 of the Mosaic code, they would have left some historical 
 tradition of the matter, such as the Greeks and Romans 
 did. Josephus relates no such custom ; and, though the 
 word slave occurs in the English translation, it must bo 
 considered a false rendering, because there is no word in 
 the Hebrew language for slave. 
 
 15. The penal sanctions delivered respecting the treat- 
 ment of servants, go to show that slavery was not the 
 system of servitude which the Mosaic code regulated. 
 We will notice the principal cases under this head. 
 
 (1.) The following law is given: "And if a man 
 smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die 
 nnder his hand ; he shall be surely punished. Notwith- 
 standing, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be 
 punished : for he is his money." Exodus xxi, 20, 21. 
 This law refers to servants in general, and not to Hebrew 
 servants in particular. Cruelty is here forbidden, by ap- 
 pointing to that master who should beat his servant, so 
 as to kill him, the punishment due to a murderer. If the 
 death of the slave was not owing to the correction, the 
 master was thought sufficiently punished by the loss of 
 his servant's services ; for, in this respect, he was his 
 money ; and in this view it was clear, that the master did 
 not design to kill him. The servant being his master's 
 money, is, therefore, not adduced as any proof that he 
 was his master's property, but as evidence that his 
 master had no design to kill him. 
 
 How different the spirit manifested here to servants, 
 to the absolute power allowed over them among the 
 heathen nations, who gave the master the power to kill 
 
190 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 his slaves ! Plato, in liis Kepublic, says, ''He who kills 
 his own slave, shall be acquitted ; whoso, in anger, kills 
 another's, shall pay double the price of him." The 
 Emperor Adrian first softened the rigor of the laws re- 
 specting putting slaves to death. The Mosaic law here 
 would badly suit a slave code. 
 
 (2.) The Mosaic law decided that, if an ox killed a man, 
 the ox must be killed, and his flesh must not be eaten ; 
 and the owner of the ox would be quit. But if the ox 
 were wont to assault persons, and the owner did not con- 
 fine him, he was put to death. Yet he might, in that 
 case, ransom his life, according to the decisions of the 
 judges, by paying whatever sum they laid on him. 
 (Exodus xxi, 28-31.) The fine was not determined, 
 in this case, as to the amount. In the case of a servant, 
 however, the fine was fixed. " If the ox shall push a 
 man-servant or maid-servant ; he shall give unto their 
 master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be 
 stoned." Verse 32. 
 
 The law is express. There is no distinction made be- 
 tween a freeman and a bondman, except as to the 
 amount of the fine, when that was commuted for death. 
 *'If an ox gore a man or a woman.'' Bondmen and 
 bondwomen were not then excluded from the class of 
 men and women ; for the law is, Siman or a woman ; also, 
 a son or a daughter. It applies equally to all human be- 
 ings. Death is the punishment to be inflicted upon the 
 owner of the ox, if, in the opinion of the judges, the 
 same was murder, whether the person killed was bond or 
 free ; the law made no difference. 
 
 But, when the case was not pronounced murder, there 
 was a difference between the freeman and the bondman. 
 If there be alleviating circumstances, in both cases, a 
 ransom is to be paid. In the case of the freeman this 
 amount was to be decided by the judges. In the case of 
 
MOSAIC CODE. 191 
 
 tlie bondman the sum was fixed at "thirty shekels of 
 silver," or from fifteen to twenty dollars. 
 
 (3.) The following is another of the penal laws on 
 service: ''And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or 
 the eye of his maid, that it perish ; he shall let him go 
 free for his eye's sake. And if he smite ont his man- 
 servant's tooth, or his maid-servant's tooth ; he shall let 
 him go free for his tooth's sake." Exodus xxi, 26, 27. 
 The servant in this case, as in others under the Mosaic 
 code, was not a slave, but a servant. As a servant he 
 was to serve either till the year of release, or till the 
 jubilee. The loss of his eye or tooth, exonerated him 
 from the service, and he therefore kept the money by 
 which he sold himself, or he canceled the obligation of 
 service, whatever it was, by the loss of his eye or tooth. 
 In this the service differed from slavery ; as slavery proper 
 knows of no such condition of emancipation. If muti- 
 lated members, scourged backs, or the like, would j^ro- 
 duce freedom with us, there would not be many slaves in 
 the country at this time. 
 
 (4.) Here is another penal case. **And whosoever 
 lieth carnally with a woman that is a bondmaid be- 
 trothed to a husband, and not at all redeemed, nor free- 
 dom given her ; she shall be scourged : they shall not be 
 put to death, because she was not free." Leviticus xix, 
 20. Had she been free, the law required that she and the 
 man should be put to death. (See Deuteronomy xxii, 
 24.) As she was a servant, she had less control over her- 
 self; but as she made no resistance, she was to be 
 scourged, and the man was required to confess his guilt 
 and make an offering. But the gir] Avas no slave, because 
 she was " betrothed to a husband ;" and, therefore, might 
 soon have a husband ; but a slave could not be betrothed, 
 married, or have a husband ; therefore, she could not be a 
 slave. She was punished, however, with correction. 
 
192 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 The man was censured, and was required publicly to atone 
 for his sin. Such crimes as this pass entirely unnoticed 
 by our slave laws. In all such acts among us, were the 
 slave women to be publicly scourged, and the slaveholders 
 publicly censured, and fined before an ecclesiastical tribu- 
 nal, it would be a strange thing, indeed, in the annals 
 of slavery. Therefore, the penal censure here adminis- 
 tered does not agree with a slave system ; and, therefore, 
 service among the Hebrews was not slavery. 
 
 16. We will here sum up the great antislavery consti- 
 tutional principles of the Mosaic code, so as to place 
 before our readers the mere outline of it in one general 
 survey. There was slavery in some form in all the na- 
 tions which surrounded the Hebrews. From their inevi- 
 table connection with these nations some of the usages of 
 slavery were incorporated with the customs of the He- 
 brews, These customs, unrestrained and extended, would 
 lead to slavery. To preserve liberty among God's people, 
 and to prevent the introduction of slavery into the model 
 republic, the antislavery principles were embodied into 
 the Mosaic code, not only in its very constitution, but 
 into all its civil statutes, ordinances, etc., so as entirely 
 to prevent the establishment of slavery in Judea. Add 
 to this, the great principles of liberty in the Jewish code 
 were to be a standard for Christianity, so that the Chris- 
 tian Church should never be infested with a slave system. 
 So Isaiah declared very clearly. (Isaiah xli, 1-4.) Our 
 Lord proclaimed to the Jews this great jubilee. (Luke 
 iv, 18.) Isaiah calls it proclaiming liberty to the cap- 
 tives, and the opening of the prison to those that are 
 bound ; to proclaim the acceptable year of our Lord and 
 the day of vengeance of our God. Our Lord expresses 
 it thus: *'To preach or proclaim liberty to the cap- 
 tives to set at LIBERTY them that are bruised or DOWN- 
 TRODDEN," as the andrapoda, or slaves of the heathens, 
 
MOSAIC CODE. 103 
 
 were tlms trodden on by their captors and enslavers. 
 With these remarks we introduce the summary of the 
 antishavery constitutional Laws of the Hebrew code. 
 
 By the appointment of God Canaan was to be a free 
 country, on whose soil no slave could tread and remain 
 without becoming a freeman, and thus resume the exer- 
 cise of his natural rights, of which, like our slaves, he 
 had been feloniously and violent!}^ deprived in spite of 
 justice. In this free country, it w\as jirovided that no 
 such bondage as that of Egyptian bondage should ever 
 be introduced. So that, in denouncing the bondage of 
 Egypt, the system of slavery was condemned in the same 
 sentence of prohibition. Hence, the essential elements of 
 slavery were condemned as capital offenses, and the pun- 
 ishment for this was death equally with murder, or beat- 
 ing, or reviling a parent. (Exodus xxi, 16 ; Deuteron- 
 omy xxiv, 7.) Thus there is the total absence of any 
 law in the Mosaic code which tolerates, sanctions, ap- 
 proves, or establishes a slave system. And yet there is 
 also the presence of many prohibitory laws excluding all 
 the leading characteristics of slavery. Therefore, the 
 decalogue is altogether antislavery. The fifth, seventh, 
 eighth, ninth, and tenth commandments directly condemn 
 it ; while the other commandments are indirectly at vari- 
 ance with it. And the two great commandments, love 
 to God and love to man, are subversive of the system. 
 The constant command in the exercise of human rights, 
 to avoid respect of persons, condemns the system that re- 
 duces some to the low^est degradation ; while it makes 
 despots or tyrants of others. As God made of one blood 
 all men, this respect of j)ersons, as that which distin- 
 guishes the slave from the master, is clearly forbidden. 
 The numerous rights and privileges — civil, religious, and 
 social — can not consist with slavery. And so alien is 
 the system to the Hebrew nation, that their language 
 
 17 
 
194 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 never had a word exactly to correspond to slave, slavery, 
 enslaver. The word that most nearly approaches a proper 
 designation, is that which, in its various forms, corre- 
 sponds to the terms oppression, oppressive, oppressor. 
 And these terms are similar to the terms in Greek, which 
 are literally expressed by trampling under foot, he that is 
 trampled on, and the trampler on men. The Hebrew serv- 
 ant, or the stranger, could never be sold, though they 
 could be bought. And they could be bought, not to 
 enslave them, but to set them free. As there was no 
 oppression allowed in Hebrew service, there was no need 
 that the servant should leave his home to escape oppres- 
 sion. He had the civil law on his side just as much as 
 the master had, and could sue for the fulfillment of the 
 contract respecting his service. But the foreign slave, 
 who fled to Judea for protection, became a freed-man, 
 and all Israel was bound to protect him at any cost. 
 And there was the sabbatic year, which released perhaps 
 two-thirds, or more, of all the Hebrew servants ; while 
 the jubilee proclaimed liberty to all the inhabitants of 
 the land without distinction. As to the effect of these 
 two institutions on slavery, it may be gathered from ap- 
 plying it to our own system. Had two-thirds of all our 
 slaves been set free septennially since 1776, the year 1853 
 would have been the witness of eleven seven-year re- 
 leases. This would have left few slaves in our land. 
 Then, had there been a jubilee in 1826, and did we look 
 forward to another in 1876, our slave system would have 
 been far from needing a Nebraska bill, or from calling 
 for the annullment of a national compromise in favor of 
 slavery. 
 
 The foregoing synopsis or summary of the great anti- 
 slavery constitutional prohibitions and regulations of the 
 Mosaic code, go unequivocally to say that the system of 
 service which the Mosaic code regulated and sanctioned. 
 
MOSAIC CODE. 195 
 
 and wliicli God apjiroved, Avas not slavery ; but a sys- 
 tem of service consistent with liberty, and which was 
 consistent with, and was the support of liberty and equal 
 unalienable rights. 
 
19G THE BIBLE AND SLAVEEY. 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 MOSAIC CODE— RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES OP 
 
 SERVANTS. 
 
 III. Under a third division of our discussion of serv- 
 ice, as regulated under the Mosaic code, we have to show 
 that the rights and privileges of servants, as secured hy 
 this law, or that the principles of benevolence inculcated 
 and the treatment of servants enjoined, proves that the 
 service was not slavery. We select the following among 
 the various rights of servants : 
 
 1. No servant or stranger could remain with an Israel- 
 ite without becoming a proselyte. (Genesis xvii, 9-14, 
 23, 27.) Thus, according to the Mosaic law, he was 
 entitled to covenant privileges. (Deuteronomy xxix, 
 10-13.) Hence, all became brethren, and entitled to all 
 the privileges of equal and just laws, among which wero 
 personal liberty, personal security, the pursuit of happi- 
 ness, and the full exercise of religious privileges. 
 
 2. If the servant desired it, he could compel the master 
 to keep him after the six years' contract expired. This 
 shows that the servant, as well as his master, had the 
 full right to contract. (Deuteronomy xv, 12-17; Ex- 
 odus xxi, 2-6.) Slavery knows no such law as this. 
 
 3. There were various rights and privileges conferred 
 on servants, which will show how unlike the service 
 regulated was to our slavery. 
 
 The servants were instructed in the principles of mo- 
 rality and religion. This course of instruction commenced 
 among the servants, household, or subjects of Abraham, 
 
MOSAIC CODE — SERVANTS. 197 
 
 who tanght and commanded his children and his house- 
 hokl after him, that they should keep the way of the 
 Lord, to do justice and judgment. (Genesis xviii, 19.) 
 The law of the Lord was read on the sahbatic year "to 
 all Israel, men, and women, and children, and the stranger 
 that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that 
 they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe 
 to do all the words of this law." Deuteronomy xxxi, 
 10-13. And the copy of the law was for all the people, 
 '' as well the stranger as he that was born among them." 
 Joshua viii, 33. Jehoshaphat sent the Levites to teach 
 the law throughout all the cities of Judah, to all the 
 people. (2 Chronicles xvii, 8, 9.) 
 
 The servants were invited guests at all the national 
 and family festivals. When circumcised they partook 
 of the passover. (Exodus xii, 12.) "And ye shall 
 rejoice before the Lord your God, ye, and your sons, 
 and your daughters, and your men-servants, and your 
 maid-servants, and the Levite that is within your gates ; 
 forasmuch as he hath no part nor inheritance with 
 you." Deuteronomy xii, 12; see also verse 18; and 
 xvi, 10-15. 
 
 Servants were released from their labors nearly one 
 half of the year. The law secured for them the follow- 
 ing portions of time : 
 
 The whole of every seventh year. While the land 
 rested the servant who tilled rested also ; and the prod- 
 uct was to be for food for the master, and "for thy 
 servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hii-ed servant, 
 and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee." (Levit- 
 icus XXV, 3-6.) 
 
 Every seventh day was also secured to the servant as 
 well as to others. "In it thou shalt do no manner of 
 work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man- 
 servant, nor thy maid-servant." Exodus xx, 10. 
 
198 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 The servant could attend the three great national an- 
 nual festivals. "Three times in a year all thy males shall 
 appear before the Lord." Exodus xxiii, 17. These fes- 
 tivals were the "passover, which commenced on the 
 fifteenth of the first month, and lasted seven days" — 
 Deuteronomy xvi, 1-8 — the Pentecost, or feast of weeks, 
 began on the sixth day of the third month, and lasted 
 seven days — Deuteronomy xvi, 10, 11 — the feast of tab- 
 ernacles lasted eight days, commencing on the fifteenth 
 day of the seventh month. (Deuteronomy xvi, 13, 15; 
 Leviticus xxiii, 34, 39.) If we include the time spent 
 going to, remaining at, and returning from these festivals, 
 each may occujDy from two to three weeks. 
 
 The rest of the new moons, it is said, occupied two 
 days — Numbers x, 10 ; xxviii, 11-14 — also the feast of 
 trumpets — Leviticus xxiii, 24, 25 — and on the great day 
 of atonement. (Leviticus xxiii, 27.) 
 
 Thus the Mosaic system secured to servants about one 
 half their time. They were also furnished with the oppor- 
 tunities of instruction. The time not spent in religious 
 services might be employed by the servant himself, and, 
 therefore, he could obtain much property, and even 
 redeem himself, for which the law made provision. 
 
 4. The servants were protected by law equal to the 
 other members of the community. "Judge righteously 
 between every man and his brother, and the stranger 
 that is with thee." Deuteronomy i, 16. " Ye shall have 
 one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one 
 of your own country : for I am the Lord your God." 
 Leviticus xxiv, 22. "Ye shall have one law for him 
 that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born 
 among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that 
 sojourneth among them." Numbers xv, 29. "Cursed 
 be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger." 
 Deuteronomy xxvii, 19. Thus the servants enjoyed the 
 
MOSAIC CODE — SERVANTS. 199 
 
 full benefit of jnst and equal laws, and the execution of 
 them. This can not be said of any slave system, whether 
 the patriarchal, as in the case of Joseph, the Grecian, the 
 Roman, or the American. The most noted distinction 
 descriptive of slavery is that by Justinian, where he says, 
 "In the condition of slaves there is no diversity; but 
 among free persons there are many ; thus some are ingenuiy 
 or freemen; others liherthii, or freed-men." (Institutes, 
 Lib. I, Tit. 3, Sec. 5.) Such a distinction was not rec- 
 ognized by the law of Moses, as this law treated all 
 alike. 
 
 5. The Mosaic code enjoined the greatest affection and 
 kindness toward servants, whether foreign or Hebrew. 
 *' The stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you 
 as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thy- 
 self." Leviticus xix, 34. ''The Lord your God . . . 
 regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward : he doth execute 
 the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth 
 the stranger in giving him food and raiment. Love ye, 
 therefore, the stranger." Deuteronomy x, 19. It is 
 difficult to conceive how these precepts can be reconciled 
 to slavery. 
 
 6. The Hebrews were expressly warned against vexing 
 or oppressing servants. ** And shalt neither vex a stranger 
 nor oppress him ; for ye were strangers in the land of 
 Egypt." Exodus xxii, 21. "Thou shalt not oppress 
 a stranger, for ye know the heart of a stranger, see- 
 ing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." Exodus 
 xxiii, 9. "And if a stranger sojourn with thee in 
 your land, ye shall not vex him." Leviticus xix, 33. 
 As they were neither to vex nor oppress strangers, they 
 could not enslave them, as slavery is both a vexation 
 and oppression. 
 
 7. Relief to the poor was especially enjoined to all 
 the Hebrews. " If thy brother be waxen poor, thou shalt 
 
200 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 relieve liim : yea, thougli lie be a stranger, or a sojourner ; 
 that lie may live with thee. Take thou no usury of him, 
 or increase; but fear thy God." Leviticus xxv, o5, 36. 
 **For the poor shall never cease out of the land: there- 
 fore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thy hand 
 wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in 
 thy land." Deuteronomy xv, 11. The stranger, the 
 fatherless, and the widow were to be relieved, "that they 
 may eat within thy gates, and be filled." Deuteronomy 
 xxvi, 12. Poverty among the Hebrews was the principal 
 cause of service for a term of years ; in order to take 
 away the very cause or necessity for this service, the 
 relief of the poor was particularly enjoined. Poverty 
 is not the reason for slavery among us ; its cause is a 
 very different one, as all know. 
 
 8. Servants might hold property, and were sometimes 
 the heirs of their masters. Saul's servant had money of 
 his own. (1 Samuel ix, 8.) Ziba, the servant of Mephi- 
 bosheth, made David a present of bread, fruit, and wine. 
 (2 Samuel xvi, 1.) He also had twenty servants of 
 his own. (2 Samuel ix, 10.) David also divided the 
 property of Saul's house between Ziba and his master. 
 (2 Samuel xix, 24, 30.) Eliezer was selected before the 
 birth of Isaac to be the heir of Abraham. (Genesis xv, 
 2, 3.) "Now Sheshan had no sons, but daughters. 
 And Sheshan had a servant, [abed,'] an Egyptian, whose 
 name was Jarha. And Sheshan gave his daughter to 
 Jarha, his servant, to wife, and she bare him Attai." 
 1 Chronicles ii, 34, 35. Solomon says, "A wise servant 
 shall have rule over a son that causeth shame, and shall 
 have part of the inheritance among the brethren." Prov- 
 erbs xvii, 2. Thus servants sometimes inherited with 
 children. The slave law is, "Slaves have no legal rights 
 of property in things real or personal ; and whatever 
 property they may acquire belongs, in point of law, to 
 
MOSAIC CODE — SERVANTS. 201 
 
 their masters," The Louisiana code says, "A slave is one 
 who is in the power of a master. ... He can do 
 nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire any thing, hut 
 what must helong to his master." 
 
 9. The servant among the Hehrews received wages. 
 We do not say that he received daily wages as did the 
 hired servant. But he received wages in some form, 
 or what he himself agreed to serve for. The wages was 
 either money, or maintenance for a certain term of years, 
 by contract, and was as much wages as the considera- 
 tion of the apprentice, the minor, or the hired servant. 
 Slavery knoAvs no such thing as wages as a part of its 
 code, in any remunerative or just sense. 
 
 10. Servants were placed upon a level Avitli their mas- 
 ters in all civil and religious rights. "As ye are, so 
 shall the stranger be before the Lord, One law and 
 one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that 
 sojourneth with you." Numbers xv, 15, 16, 20. (See 
 also Leviticus xxiv, 22; Deuteronomy i, 16, 17.) Were 
 the same legal aud moral principles applied to our south- 
 ern masters and slaves, it would require to alter the 
 constitutions of the southern states and their laws, and 
 then slavery would perish under this one law and one 
 manner. 
 
 11. The treatment of servants at the end of the sex- 
 ennial term of service does not comport with the usages 
 or laws of slavery. The servant who completed his six 
 years' service was liberally suj)plied by his master from 
 the thrashing-floor, the flock, and the vintage. (Deuter- 
 onomy XV, 13, 14, 17.) Not only was the servant, his 
 wife, and family released from service, but they were also 
 well supplied with what was necessary to commence the 
 world again. This alone shows how unlike our system 
 was to theirs. 
 
 12. From the foregoing we learn that servants were 
 
202 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 received into covenant relation to God among the He- 
 brews, whether they were Hebrews or strangers. Hence 
 they possessed, on this account, various rights and privi- 
 leges, religiously, socially, and civilly, which never be- 
 longed to slaves in any country. They were invited 
 guests at all the national festivals ; were instructed in 
 morality and religion ; were protected by laws equal with 
 others ; were placed on a level with others in civil and 
 religious respects ; if poor, they were relieved ; they re- 
 ceived wages for their services ; they could hold property ; 
 they were dismissed from their term of service with noble 
 gratuities. Such rights and privileges do not belong to 
 a slave system ; and the enactment of them would destroy 
 any system of slavery, as the history of the world fully 
 shows. As examples, we adduce the service among the 
 patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; the effect of the 
 Mosaic code among the Hebrews ; the effect of the same 
 principles under the Christian dispensation. And to cor- 
 respond with these cases, we mention the absence of such 
 rights and privileges in our slave system, and in all 
 the slave systems under heaven. 
 
 IV. Comparison of Hebrew service with American 
 slavery. 
 
 We have seen that the Mosaic code respecting service 
 was intended to root out those incipient elements among 
 the Hebrews tending to slavery, to prevent the introduc- 
 tion from heathen nations of any shade of slavery, to 
 establish universal freedom in the land of the Hebrews, 
 and thus make it the model free country for the world, 
 in view of establishing the great jubilee of political and 
 religious freedom throughout the earth. Let us now turn 
 to the slave laws of the south, and see the plain, irrecon- 
 cilable contrast between the Mosaic service and American 
 slavery, and between the slave code and the code of 
 Moses. 
 
MOSAIC CODE — SERVANTS. 203 
 
 1. As to the origin of tlie two codes ; tliey may bo 
 traced to two very distinct and opposite sources. 
 
 The Mosaic code, regulating service, had its origin in 
 generous compassion to the poor. Its provisions were 
 framed for their benefit. It required a kind and benevo- 
 lent disposition in the rich. It elevated the poor, and so 
 restrained the tendency toward slavery by law as forever 
 to prevent its establishment in the land. 
 
 The American slave laws had their origin in avarice. 
 The system they support is derived from the African 
 slave-trade, and is identical with it now in evil principles 
 and practices. The laws are formed to promote the in- 
 terests of the master — to degrade the servant, as well as 
 to foster cruelty in the master, and those wrong dispo- 
 sitions which are at variance with the supreme law of 
 laws. 
 
 2. American slavery is hereditary and perpetual to 
 the last moment of the slave's earthly existence, and to 
 all his descendants, to the latest posterity. 
 
 The service of the Hebrews was not hereditary. Per- 
 haps about two-thirds were free at the end of six years. 
 The greater portion of them had the right of redemption. 
 The jubilee, or every fiftieth year, gave liberty to all with- 
 out exception. 
 
 3. The law of Moses required every one to love the 
 stranger and the poor servant, and forbade any one to 
 oppress him ; or, in other words, to make him a slave. 
 The slave law views its victim as an enemy, and treats 
 him as such, by bonds, imprisonment, and subjugation. 
 Hence, it is contrary to the Mosaic code, which taught 
 love to the servant, and the poor and needy. The service 
 of the heathen, authorized by Moses, was founded on 
 moral and religious principles, and did not involve in- 
 justice of any kind. 
 
 4. The Jewish service was voluntary, except where it 
 
204 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 was fhe i^enalty for crime. Slavery is involuntary and 
 inflicted for no crime. The labor of the slave is com- 
 pulsory and uncompensated, and dictated by the master. 
 The master, under the Jewish economy, possessed no 
 greater authority over the servant than over his children. 
 Servants might contend with their masters about their 
 rights, and to despise their cause was reckoned a heinous 
 crime. (Job xxxi, 13.) Slaves can make no contracts, 
 and can have no legal right to any property — all they 
 have belongs to their masters. 
 
 5. The labor of the servant, under the Mosaic servi- 
 tude, was for value received. The servant submitted to 
 this either to cancel an obligation of justice, or to pro- 
 cure for himself special benefits, which, in his opinion, 
 he could not so well secure by any other means. Slavery 
 does not recognize the principles of justice. It does not 
 concede the right to a full compensation for servile labor. 
 
 6. According to the Mosaic code the servant was not 
 property, and could not be sold or transferred from one 
 master to another. The slave, being regarded as prop- 
 erty, may be sold, left by will, alienated, or disposed of 
 as any other property is disposed of. He may be sold 
 irrespective of his being a husband, or father, or brother, 
 or any other relative. In the slave-growing states the 
 principal profit of the system is, that the slave may be 
 sold. Some states throw in some restrictions as to sales ; 
 but these are so limited and partial, that the general mer- 
 chandise in slaves continues with little restraint. 
 
 7. Among the Hebrews the testimony of the servants 
 was as valid as that of any other person. According to 
 our slave system, neither a slave nor a free polored person 
 can be a witness against any white or free person, in a 
 court of justice, however atrocious may have been the 
 crimes they have seen him commit, if such testimony 
 should be for the benefit of the slave. But they may 
 
MOSAIC CODE — SEEVANTS. 205 
 
 give testimony against a fellow-slave, or a free colored 
 person. 
 
 8. The law of Moses granted a release from labor to 
 ohe servant wlio liad been crnelly or unreasonably pun- 
 ished. (Exodus xxi, 26, 27.-) An American slave may 
 be punished, at his master's discretion, without the means 
 of redress. The master can transfer the same despotic 
 power to any other person. Thus, on the side of their 
 oppressors, there is power ; but they have no comforter. 
 There is also a great inequality of law and right, in our 
 slave system. What is a trifling offense in the white 
 man is considered highly criminal in the slave ; as the 
 same offenses which cost a white man a few dollars, are 
 punished in the slave with death. 
 
 9. Servants among the Hebrews were guarded in all 
 the privileges of marriage, whether it regards husband 
 and wife, parents and children. In case the mother was 
 not free from service at the same time with the wife, the 
 children remained with her, and the master was bound to 
 receive him to service again, if he chose to live with 
 them. American slaves are entirely unprotected in their 
 domestic relations ; so that husbands and wives, parents 
 and children, may be separated at the sovereign will of 
 the master. 
 
 10. In the laws of Moses on service, the life of the 
 servant was as much protected as the life of any other 
 person ; and the same principles applied to both. Accord- 
 ing to our slave laws, as presented by Stroud, page 35, 
 "The master may, at his discretion, inflict any species of 
 punishment upon the person of his slave." The murder 
 of a slave is generally punished with a j)ecuniary fine. 
 Yet, according to statute, the deliberate murder of a slave 
 is punishable with death. But, considering the general 
 character of the slave laws, the master mostly can escape, 
 especially when no colored person can be a witness in the 
 
206 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 case. The laws of some states acquit the master for kill- 
 ing a slave, if it be done when inflicting moderate punish- 
 ment. The law of North Carolina, of 1798, after de- 
 ciding that the willful murder of the slave incurs death, 
 gives the following proviso : ''Provided, always, this act 
 shall not extend to the person killing a slave outlawed, by 
 virtue of any act of assembly of this state, or to any 
 slave in the act of resistance to his lawful owner or mas- 
 ter, or to any slave dying under moderate correction." 
 
 11. The law of Moses secured to the servant a large 
 portion of time. He had, like his owner, every seventh 
 day, every seventh year, the whole of the national feasts, 
 and the family festivals. This arrangement gave him 
 about one half of his time. According to our slave 
 laws, there is no portion of time allowed to the slave, 
 in which he may labor for himself, read or pray. The 
 Sabbath is not secured expressly for him by law, except 
 in Louisiana or Mississippi. In this the Mosaic code 
 differs from our slave code. The reason is, that Moses 
 legislated for servants who were free ; but we legislate for 
 servants who are slaves. 
 
 12. The slave can have no property. He can not 
 own land, a horse, or any article of husbandry. If he 
 receives even a grant of land, for serving as a soldier to 
 defend his country, which denies him liberty, he can not 
 hold it, as the master may take it as his own. But, 
 according to the law of Moses, the servant might become 
 possessed of property. He might purchase his freedom 
 at a fair valuation. At the end of his term of service a 
 liberal gratuity was conferred upon him. He also might 
 become heir to his master, did his master see fit to make 
 him such. 
 
 13. The law of Moses secured to servants the means of 
 religious instruction, and of religious privileges. Serv- 
 ants were received into covenant with God, and enjoyed 
 
MOSAIC CODE — SERVANTS. 207 
 
 religious privileges as amply as any other portions of the 
 Hebrew people. With us the means of religious instruc- 
 tion are not bestowed upon the slaves. On the contrary, 
 the efforts of the charitable and humane to supply these 
 wants are discountenanced by law. Indeed, in several 
 states it is made criminal even to teach the slave to read. 
 
 14. The Mosaic code made the same provision for the 
 education of the servant as for any other; and there 
 was no prohibitory law to prevent him from learning 
 any more than others, as far as he had opportunity. The 
 benefits of education are withheld from our slaves. And 
 this is not the effect of mere custom or neglect on the 
 part of the master. It is an essential part of the system, 
 and is ordained by law. In Virginia it is ordained, **that 
 all meetings or assemblies of slaves, or free negroes, or 
 mulattoes, mixing or associating with such slaves, at any 
 meeting or any other place, etc., in the night, or at any 
 school or schools for teaching them reading or writing, 
 either in the day or night, under whatever pretext, shall 
 he deemed and considered an unlawful assembly." 
 
 15. Slaves can not redeem themselves, or obtain a 
 change of masters, though such a change may render 
 this necessary for their personal safety. Under the Mosaic 
 constitution the law provided a way by which this could 
 be done, if the servant or his friends could do it. The 
 price of redemption, too, was fixed by the statute. A 
 just valuation was to be made of the services of the 
 servant in proportion to the proximity to the year of 
 jubilee, and the value of a hired servant's wages ; and 
 the master was bound to accept that as the price of his 
 release. Our slave code has no law compelling the mas- 
 ter to sell a slave to himself or his friend, any more than 
 requiring him to sell his horse or ox. A husband or 
 father can not compel a master to release his wife and 
 children at any price or for any consideration. In Egypt 
 
208 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 and Arabia, if a slave is maltreated, he may appeal to 
 the laagistrate, and compel his master to sell him. 
 
 In the Lonisiana code there is a law which does allow 
 of an exception, but under such restrictions as to be no 
 real substitute for the Mosaic code in the case. It reads 
 thus: "No niaster shall be compelled to sell his slave, 
 but in one of two cases, to wit : first, where, being only 
 coproprietor of the sl-ave, his coproprietor demands the 
 sale in order to make partition of the property ; second, 
 where the master shall be convicted of cruel treatment 
 of the slave, and the judge shall deem it proper to 
 pronounce, besides the penalty established for such cases, 
 that the slave shall be sold at public auction, in order to 
 place him out of the reach of the power which the master 
 abused." (Louisiana Code, article 192.) In Kentucky 
 there is, we believe, a similar law, and perhaps in some 
 other states. 
 
 This law, however, is almost, if not altogether, a prac- 
 tical nullity ; because no slave or free colored person can 
 be a witness in the case ; the master must be convicted 
 of cruelty, a thing very difficult, indeed ; and it is optional 
 with the judge whether he shall make the decree in favor 
 of the slave or not. But when, in any case, the law is 
 carried into effect, it furnishes little or no relief to the 
 slave, because the slave is not made free, as the servant 
 was under the Jewish law. The degradation of slavery 
 still remains, that the slave may be sold at public auction 
 as property. And then the slave may pass into the 
 hands of as cruel a master as his former owner. 
 
 16. If a servant escaped from his master, and fled to 
 the land of Israel, the law commanded every one to pro- 
 tect him, and forbade every one to deliver him to his 
 master. By this law, and the laws on service, the land 
 of Judea became consecrated to freedom, so that no slave 
 could tread its soil or breathe its free air. But the Consti- 
 
MOSAIC CODE — SERVANTS. 209 
 
 tiition of tlie United States has adopted an opposite law, 
 at once at variance with the word of God and the other 
 Darts of the Constitution. The provision of the Consti- 
 tution is: '*No person held to service or labor in one 
 state, under the law thereof, escaping into another, shall, 
 in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be dis- 
 charged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered 
 up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor 
 may be due." (Article iv, section ii, clause 3.) On this 
 article in the Constitution the notorious enactment was 
 passed, called the Fugitive-Slave law. The law of God 
 provides that every man who can secure his freedom by 
 escape, has a right to do so. The Constitution and laws 
 of the United States decide that he has no such riorht. 
 
 o 
 
 Xo tAvo laws can be more at variance than the law of 
 God and the Fugitive-Slave law. 
 
 17. There is, in our slave laws, no provision made for 
 general emancipation ; in most cases it is absolutely for- 
 bidden ; and in the few cases in which it can take place, 
 it is accompanied with unjust and degrading treatment 
 of the person. In the Mosaic code the Hebrew servant 
 was to be set at liberty at the close of the sixth year, in 
 most cases ; at the jubilee there was a general proclama- 
 tion throughout the land. Under such laws the system 
 could not be perpetuated. If the laws of the Pentateuch 
 had been applied to our slavery in 1776, when the Decla- 
 ration of Independence was made, there would not have 
 been many slaves in this country now. Had the service 
 of the greater number been terminated at the end of 
 every six years since 1776, this would have nearly ruined 
 slavery at this time. And had there been one jubilee in 
 1826. and another confidently looked for in 1876, and 
 had the privilege of redemption been enjoyed, where 
 could we look for slavery in 1876, after the blasts of the 
 second American jubilee had died awav ? 
 
 18 
 
210 THE BIBLE AND SLAVEKY. 
 
 18. I^et us more especially consider here the effect of 
 the Mosaic laws on service upon our slave system. Were 
 slavery to originate with us, as service did with the 
 Jews — the masters and the servants having to make the 
 contract as to the time and conditions of service — there 
 would he no small obstacle to completing gangs for the 
 southern market. And then the refusal of wages, the 
 prospective sales of near relatives, the punishments that 
 awaited the disobedient, would not be very high motives 
 to choose a state of slavery, because it was better than 
 the condition of northern or British laborers. Add to 
 this the precarious tenure of life among slaves, and the 
 disability to hold property. And then when you apply 
 the year of release and the jubilee to the system, it grad- 
 ually, yet rapidly, vanishes away. 
 
 19. We may close our argument here with some 
 remarks upon the laws on slavery, contrasted with those 
 of Moses on service. 
 
 It is admitted here, that all these laws are not always 
 enforced by individuals, whose sense of morality pre- 
 vents them from practicing according to the laws. This 
 is truly a strong protest against that system, the support 
 of which, according to law, shocks the moral sense of 
 a Christian. No such laws exist in the moral code of 
 Moses, either in regard to service or any other subject. 
 
 Yet, in very many cases, the laws, in all their harsh- 
 ness and cruelty, may be executed; and in many cases 
 they are and must be put in force. The plea, then, of 
 relaxation can not be pleaded in favor of the law or the 
 system of slavery, but in favor of the pious protest of 
 enlightened minds and a good conscience. 
 
 The laws, therefore, fairly represent the system of 
 slavery. And since our slave laws are at variance with 
 the Mosaic laws on service, the inference is just, that the 
 service in the one case is altogether different from the 
 
MOSAIC CODE — SEllVANTS. 211 
 
 slavery in tlie otlicr. For if the system of slavery is 
 right, the laws which support it must also be right. 
 And if the laws be just and good, they can not be the 
 support of that which is wrong in itself. 
 
 20. In conclusion, we may here refer to the leading 
 points in the Mosaic code ; from which it will appear, 
 that, though slavery existed in all the nations around 
 Palestine, and shreds of it existed among the Hebrews 
 themselves, yet the Hebrew laws prevented the establish- 
 ment of slavery among their owm people by necessary 
 laws, and these laws would never allow the foreign slave, 
 as such, a residence among them. 
 
!12 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY 
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 WORKING OF THE MOSAIC CODE. 
 
 1. In our second chapter, on patriarchal service, it was 
 shown that the service under Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob 
 was not slavery, nor did it sanction or tolerate a slave 
 system. On the other hand, it neutralized the elements 
 of slavery aroimd and laid the platform of fieedom. In 
 another chaptei- it was proved, we think, that the case of 
 Joseph is the proper specimen of slavery. In Egyptian 
 bondage we found a system which is nearly akin to 
 slavery ; which was condemned by the word of God, and 
 destroyed by miraculous influence. It was also shown 
 that the Mosaic code condemned the bondage of Egypt 
 as well as the slavery in the case of Joseph, and such as 
 existed in the heathen nations around the Israelites. Still, 
 even among the Hebrews, there were some of the usages 
 of the slave system, derived from their association with 
 the Egyptians and others. The code of Moses legislated 
 respecting the whole subject so effectually as to prevent 
 the establishment of slavery in Canaan, as well as furnish 
 a model free government, regulated by just and equal 
 laws, at perfect variance with oppression and wrong. 
 
 We will now consider the ivorking of the Mosaic system. 
 What was the operation of the Mosaic laws in regard to 
 slavery ? In answer to this question, we have to reply 
 that no system of slavery existed among the Jews from 
 the delivery of the Mosaic code to our Lord. We find 
 no class of persons among the Jews to correspond with 
 our slaves, or with the Helots among the Greeks. We 
 
WORKING OF THE MOSAIC CODE. 213 
 
 seek in vain, from tlie historical writings of the prophets, 
 for the shave system. Indeed, the prophets, where refer- 
 ence is had to service, denounce every thing of the nature 
 of slavery as fully as Moses did. 
 
 2. Had the Mosaic institutions contemplated slavery, 
 we should certainly look that the Canaanites would he 
 reduced to that condition. Yet none of them were to he 
 spared. (Deuteronomy vii, 1-6.) They were an idola- 
 trous, wicked people, who were heyond the reach of refor- 
 mation, like the antediluvians and Sodomites, and they 
 must, therefore, be cut off. The reason, too, is given ; 
 namely, that they would, like all hardened sinners, lead 
 the Israelites astray. They w^ere to he destroyed as na- 
 tions or bodies politic. Yet, had they forsaken their 
 idolatries and become converts to the true religion, they 
 would be, what God required, true penitents, and ]3roper 
 objects of forgiveness. For this rule is laid down in 
 Scripture and founded in reason. (Jeremiah xviii, 7, 8.) 
 No permission was given to kidnap the Canaanites, or, 
 when they were captured, to sell them as slaves. None 
 of them were sold as slaves, nor were they attached as 
 serfs or villains to the soil, nor exported to be sold in a 
 foreign market. 
 
 Two exceptions to this have been quoted. The one 
 was the case of the Gibeonites, the other those whom Solo- 
 mon made tributary. 
 
 3. The Gibeonites were a portion of the Canaanites, 
 w^ho, by stratagem, obtained protection from Joshua. 
 The history is given in Joshua, chapter ix. Through 
 false pretenses they secured their lives. Joshua and the 
 princes SM^ore to spare and protect them. They were 
 then made hewers of wood and drawers of water in the 
 public service of the temple. The error of Joshua and 
 the princes was, that they asked not counsel of God. 
 Had the Lord been consulted there is no doubt but the 
 
214 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 GIbeonites would have been spared by bis approbation, 
 because they feared the Lord and embraced the true relig- 
 ion. The manner of making the league appears to have 
 been wrong. That the league itself was lawful appears, 
 1. Because Joshua and the princes, on reviewing it, con- 
 cluded it to be so, and spared them accordingly. 2. Be- 
 cause God punished the violator of it long after. (2 
 Samuel xxi, 1.) 3. Because the other nations hardened 
 their hearts — Joshua xi, 19, 20 — which went to say that 
 their destruction was the result of their own obstinacy 
 and wickedness. All these circumstances laid together 
 show that the command of God to destroy the Canaan- 
 ites was not so absolute as some suppose, and should be 
 understood as referring rather to the 'political existence of 
 their nations than to the destruction of their lives. (See 
 Deuteronomy xx, 10, 17.) 
 
 The Gibeonites possessed four cities : Cephirah, Bee- 
 rath, Kirjath Jearim, and Gibeon their capital. All 
 these cities were given to Benjamin, except Kirjath Jea- 
 rim, which fell to Judah. The Gibeonites embraced cor- 
 dially the Jewish religion, but continued subject to the 
 burdens which Joshua imposed on them, and were faith- 
 ful to the Israelites. When they were cruelly treated by 
 Saul, their wrong was avenged by David at the command 
 of God. (2 Samuel xxi, 1, 2, 3, 4.) From this time 
 they ceased to form a separate people, or were classed 
 among the Nethinim, as given up to the public service of 
 the temple. (1 Chronicles ix, 2.) Afterward those of 
 the Canaanites who were subdued and had their lives 
 spared were added to the Gibeonites. We see that — 
 Ezra ii, 58 ; viii, 20 ; 1 Kings ix, 20, 21— David, Solo- 
 mon, and the princes of Judah gave many such to the 
 Lord. These Nethinim being carried captive with Judah 
 and the Levites, returned with Ezra, Zerubbabel, and Ne- 
 hemiah., from the Babylonian captivity, and continued in 
 
WOEKING OF THE MOSAIC CODE. 215 
 
 the temple in the temple service under the priests and 
 Levites. 
 
 Now let ns see what ground the case of the Gibconites 
 gives to support slavery among the Jews. The condition 
 of the Gibeonites under the Israelites will not comport 
 with a state of slavery. 
 
 Their service was voluntary. It was their owm propo- 
 sition to Joshua to become servants. '* We are your serv- 
 ants ; therefore now make ye a league with us." Joshua 
 ix, 11. They wished to make a league or contract, and 
 become the servants or subjects and allies of the Hebrews ; 
 and for this protection they were, of course, to pay tribute 
 as a consideration for the protection. 
 
 They were not slaves, nor even domestic servants in 
 the families of the Hebrews. They still resided in their 
 own cities, cultivated their own fields, tended their flocks 
 and herds, and exercised the functions of a distinct, though 
 not fully an independent community. When attacked by 
 the Ammonites they were protected by Joshua. (Joshua 
 X, 6-18.) The whole transaction was a formal recogni- 
 tion of the Gibeonites as a distinct people. There is no 
 intimation that they served families or individuals of the 
 Israelites, but only "the house of God," or the taberna- 
 cle. This service was their national tribute to the Israel- 
 ites for the privilege of residence and protection under 
 their government. The services seem to have been per- 
 formed by rotation, and each class served a few weeks at 
 a time. No service was required of females. The only 
 service imposed on them was the menial service of the 
 temple. This service was performed by a small number 
 of their males, drafted from time to time for that purpose. 
 Hence, only a small part of them could be employed at 
 once on ordinary occasions. Bishop Patrick thinks that 
 they "came up with the priests and Levites, in their 
 cmirses, to serve at the altar." 
 
216 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 There is clear evidence from the history, that the Gib« 
 eonites were not reduced to slavery properly so called. 
 They were not held as property. They were not bought 
 and sold, nor does it appear that the servitude descended 
 indefinitely to their children ; for in time they became 
 incorporated with the Jews. No argument can be derived 
 from this that the Hebrews designed to perpetuate the 
 institution of slavery. 
 
 4. In the days of Solomon, or about one thousand years 
 before Christ, he imposed a service or tribute of labor on 
 the remnants of the Canaanites who w^ere then in the 
 land. ''Upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bond- 
 service unto this day. But of the children of Israel did 
 Solomon make no bondmen ; but they were men of war, 
 and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and 
 rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen." 1 Kings ix, 
 21, 22. The descendants of the Amorites, at this time, 
 it is believed, became proselytes to the Jewish religion, 
 like the Gibeonites, as they renounced idolatry. The 
 command to destroy them, in consequence of incurable 
 depravity, did not apply to tliat generation in the time of 
 Solomon. These Solomon employed in menial services, 
 because they seemed best fitted for such services. But the 
 Hebrews were employed in more honorable pursuits, be- 
 cause they were better c^ualified to be soldiers, overseers, 
 and rulers than the descendants of the Amorites. But 
 we can see no ground for slavery here. The Hebrews 
 and the descendants of the Canaanites were equally bound 
 to perform their respective parts of service. The Canaan- 
 ites, as being less qualified, were put to the more labori- 
 ous and less honorable public duties, while the Jews 
 were put to the most responsible and reputable services. 
 Both were bound to sei've^ but in different sorts of service. 
 At any rate, there are none of the elements of slavery 
 here, such as making property of men ; selling them ; 
 
WORKING! OF THE MOSAIC CODE. 217 
 
 breaking np tlie social relations. Besides, no class of 
 slaves, answering to tlie enslaved descendants of the Ca- 
 naanites, were to be found among the Jews. Solomon 
 employed both Hebrews and strangers in the public serv- 
 ice of the country; to the one he assigned the more 
 honorable service, to the other the less honorable. The 
 Irish and German laborers, now in this country, without 
 any element of slavery leading to it, perform the less 
 reputable services of the country. The native Americans 
 generally fill the more reputable positions. The descend- 
 ants of the Amorites were pressed into the public service, 
 for the procuring of materials for building the temple, 
 and were doubtless dismissed as soon as the temple was 
 finished. The phrase, ''unto this day," verse 21, proves 
 only that they were held till that part of the book of 
 Kings was composed. 
 
 Observe, also, 1. Till this time the descendants of the 
 Amorites were not slaves ; and the bond service now 
 pressed on them was only temporary. 2. Slavery was 
 not then in existence. It was prohibited by the law of 
 Moses. Solomon had no slaves of his own. He was, 
 therefore, compelled to call upon the services of freemen, 
 as a species of taxation, to perform public service for the 
 country. 
 
 5. An occurrence that happened in the year before 
 Christ 893, will show the spirit of the Jewish people as 
 taught by the prophet Elisha. The King of Syria had 
 invaded the land of Israel with a great army. They were 
 smitten with blindness at the prayer of Elisha, and de- 
 livered into the hand of the King of Israel in the midst 
 of the city of Samaria, and there restored to sight. 
 When the King inquired of the prophet whether he 
 would smite them or not, the prophet answered: "Thou 
 shalt not smite them : wouldest thou smite those whom 
 thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy 
 
218 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 "bow ? set "bread and water before them, that they may eat 
 and drinkj and go to their master. And he prepared 
 great provision for them : and when they had eaten and 
 drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. 
 So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of 
 Israeh" 2 Kings vi, 22, 23. The prophet here presented 
 in this practical way the true spirit of the Hebrew insti- 
 tutions. Had slavery had a hold in the nation, either by 
 law or custom, there certainly would have been pursued a 
 different course toward the captives, as the general custom 
 of heathen nations was to make slaves of those not killed 
 in war. The Jews would not make slaves of strangers. 
 
 6. A similar event occurred about the year 761 before 
 Christ. Because Ahaz and the people of Judea sinned 
 against God, they were delivered into the hand of the 
 Syrians, and many of them were made captives. They 
 were also delivered into the hand of the King of Israel, 
 who slew 120,000 valiant men in one day, "because they 
 had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers." The Israel- 
 ites carried away captive 200,000, and brought them to 
 Samaria. But the prophet Oded protested against this 
 and said: "Because the Lord God of your fathers was 
 wroth with Judah, he hath delivered them into your hand, 
 and ye have slain them in a rage that reacheth up unto 
 heaven. And now ye purpose to keep under the children 
 of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen 
 unto you : but are there not with you, even with you, 
 sins against the Lord your God ? Now hear me there- 
 fore, and deliver the captives again, which ye have taken 
 captive of your brethren : for the fierce wrath of the 
 Lord is upon you." 2 Chronicles xxviii, 9-11. To this 
 the Israelites consented at the expostulation of heads of 
 certain tribes, so that they came to the following conclu- 
 sion ; namely : " So the armed men left the captives and 
 the spoil before the princes and all the congregation. 
 
WORKING OF THE MOSAIC CODE. 219 
 
 And the men wliicli were expressed by name rose up, and 
 took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were 
 naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, 
 and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, 
 and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and brought 
 them to Jericho, the city of palm-trees, to their brethren : 
 then they returned to Samaria." Verses 14, 15. 
 
 We can scarcely find a parallel to this in the history 
 of the wars which those nations carried on which were 
 in the practice of slavery. This history settled one im- 
 portant point, that the Mosaic institutions did not allow 
 that any portion of the Hebrews should make slaves of 
 their brethren who might be taken in war. The general 
 law of the world then was, that captives in war were to 
 be enslaved. This settled the question that the Mosaic 
 institutions did not sanction slavery. And when, in any 
 instance, there were any leanings to slavery or oppres- 
 sion among the Jews, it was at variance with the law of 
 Moses. 
 
 7. In the year before Christ 712, the prophet Isaiah, 
 in the plainest terms, denounces slavery in the following 
 language: "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to 
 loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy bur- 
 dens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break 
 every yoke?" Isaiah Iviii, 6. The meaning of this 
 passage is that they would loose the bonds of wickedness, 
 or cease to do wrong. They were to " undo the heavy 
 burdens ;" they were to release captives or slaves, as the 
 Scripture phraseology means. <*He sent a man before 
 them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant: whose 
 feet they hurt with fetters : he was laid in iron : until the 
 time that his word came : the word of the Lord tried 
 him. The king sent and loosed him ; even the ruler of 
 the people, and let him go free." Psalm cv, 17-20. 
 *'The Lord looseth the prisoners." Psalm cxlvi, 7. 
 
220 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 The instructions of the prophet were, that the Jews should 
 observe the Mosaic code, so as to set free any that had 
 been enslaved, or had been detained in service beyond the 
 time of contract. 
 
 8. We have another historical narrative, pertinent to 
 our subject, which took place before Christ 589, as penned 
 by Jeremiah. "This is the word that came unto Jere- 
 miah from the Lord, after that the king Zedekiah had 
 made a covenant with all the people which were at Jeru- 
 salem, to proclaim liberty unto them ; that every man 
 should let his man-servant, and every man his maid- 
 servant, being a Hebrew or a Bebrewess, go free ; that 
 none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his 
 brother. Now when all the princes, and all the people 
 which had entered into the covenant, heard that every 
 one should let his man-servant, and every one his maid- 
 servant, go free, that none should serve themselves of 
 them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go. But 
 afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the 
 handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and 
 brought them into subjection for servants and for hand- 
 maids. Therefore the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah 
 from the Lord, saying, Thus saith the Lord, the God of 
 Israel ; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day 
 that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out 
 of the house of bondmen, saying, At the end of seven 
 years, let ye go every man his brother a Hebrew, which 
 hath been sold unto thee ; and when he hath served thee 
 six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee ; but your 
 fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear. 
 And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, 
 in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor; and 
 ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is 
 called by my name : but ye turned and polluted my name, 
 and caused every man his servant, and every man his 
 
wo Tt KINO OF THE MOSAIC CODE. 221 
 
 liandmaid, whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure, 
 to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto 
 you for servants and for handmaids. Therefore thus 
 saith the Lord ; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in pro- 
 claiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man 
 to his neighbor: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, 
 saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the 
 famine ; and I will make you to be removed into all the 
 kingdoms of the earth. And I will give the men that 
 have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed 
 the words of the covenant which they had made before 
 me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between 
 the parts thereof, the princes of Judah, and the princes of 
 Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the peo- 
 ple of the land, which passed between the parts of the 
 calf; I will even give them into the hand of their ene- 
 mies, and into the hand of them that seek their life : and 
 their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the 
 heaven, and to the beasts of the earth." Jeremiah xxxiv, 
 8-20. 
 
 In the foregoing passage of holy Scripture there is a 
 plain recognition of the Mosaic code respecting Hebrew 
 service which could never legally become perpetual. The 
 Jews are severely censured for breaking that law ; yet 
 through the persuasion of the prophet they were induced 
 to observe its precepts and release the servants from the 
 unjust service continued beyond the sixth year. They 
 were threatened with the most severe judgments should 
 they compel the servants to become slaves, by continuing 
 them servants for life. They were to be subject "to the 
 sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine," and to be 
 removed "into all the kingdoms of the earth." The 
 whole shows that the believers were not to be made slaves 
 according to the interpretation and practice which the 
 prophets insisted oij under the Mosaic law. There was a 
 
222 THE BIBLE AND SLAVEKY. 
 
 conformity between their crime and punishment. As 
 they promised to give liberty to their brethren, the Al- 
 mighty promised to give liberty to the sword, pestilence, 
 and famine to destroy them. 
 
 9. There existed among the Jews neither a domestic nor 
 foreign slave-trade, and, therefore, there was no slavery 
 among them, because all slave nations have a slave-trade 
 of some sort or other. 
 
 We can find no traces of a domestic slave-trade among 
 the Jews from Moses to Christ. There were, we allow, 
 such compacts as were necessary in fixing the terms of 
 service between the different classes of servants and their 
 masters, in reference to the various times and conditions 
 of service. But there were no sales of men as property 
 among the Jews, so as to make merchandise of men. 
 There is a total absence of any account of such traffic in 
 the Jewish writings. 
 
 Nor was there any foreign slave-trade between the Jews 
 and other nations ; although this trade existed in all the 
 nations around them. To facilitate trade Solomon built 
 Tadmor or Palmyra, and Ezion-Geber on the Red Sea. 
 Yet, in every allusion to the trade carried on with these 
 and other nations, there is no allusion to the traffic in 
 slaves. There is mention of gold, silver, ivory, apes, 
 and peacocks ; but no allusion to a commerce in slaves. 
 (Compare 1 Kings ix, 26; x, 22 ; 2 Chronicles ix, 21.) 
 
 A part of the commerce of the Syrians consisted in 
 slaves. Yet, though the Jews traded with them, there 
 is no mention of slaves, though other articles of com- 
 merce are mentioned. (Ezekiel xxvii, 13, 17 ; Compare 
 Revelation xviii, 13.) 
 
 In the whole history of the Jews, there is no mention 
 of slaves as an article of commerce. There is no men- 
 tion of them in the goods received. There is no instance 
 of public sale of slaves. We have no mention of either 
 
WORKING OF THE MOSAIC CODE. 223 
 
 a market-place for slaves, nor of slave-mercliaiits. If 
 slavery existed among the Jews, there must have been 
 some account of the traffic in slaves ; hut, as there is an 
 absence of all this, the conclusion is, that the trade did 
 not exist ; for slavery could not exist without a slave- 
 trade of some sort. 
 
 Indeed, the prophets f]-eely denounced every step in 
 which Hebrew service might degenerate into slavery. 
 This is manifest from the historical passages we have 
 already quoted and considered. The conclusion is, that 
 the Mosaic institutions did not favor slavery, but were 
 inconsistent with it. Hence, slavery altogether ceased out 
 of the land of Palestine. 
 
 10. In the period elapsing from the close of the Old 
 Testament canon, till the birth of Christ, there are no 
 declarations to be found in the apocryphal books, or in 
 Josephus, which declare or intimate that slavery existed 
 among the Jews. Hence, our Savior, as his ministry 
 was exercised among the Jews, never came in contact 
 with slavery among them. 
 
224. THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 
 
 1. The origin of slavery in tlie world may be briefly 
 sketched as follows : 
 
 The merchandise of men is said to commence in the 
 days of Nimrod. It was coeval with man, and we read of 
 wars as early as the days of Abraham. The history of 
 Joseph shows that it existed in those days. Egypt seems 
 to have been the first market for the sale of human be- 
 ings. Homer mentions Cyprus and Egypt as the common 
 market for slaves about the time of the Trojan war, be- 
 fore Christ 1184-1194. (Odyssey, Lib. XVII, 48; and 
 Lib. XXVL) The Odyssey shows further, that this traffic 
 was practiced in many of the islands of the ^gean Sea. 
 The Iliad informs us that it had taken place among the 
 Grecians on the continent of Europe, who had embarked 
 for the Trojan war. At the end of the "seventh book of 
 the Iliad we learn this was the case. Tyre and Sidon 
 were noted for the prosecution of this trade. (Joel iii, 
 3, 4, 6.) This custom, too, appears to have existed in 
 all countries of the world, previous to the coming of 
 Christ — the land of Judea excepted. 
 
 In the most ancient times there are said to have been 
 no slaves in Greec^. In after times they became very 
 numerous. At Athens, three hundred and nine years 
 before Christ, the slaves are computed by some authors 
 to have been at four hundred thousand, by others they 
 were reckoned at forty thousand, while the freemen were 
 said to be only twenty-one thousand, and the metics, 
 
THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 225 
 
 or sojourners, ten thousand. The other Grecian states 
 abounded in slaves. 
 
 Among the Eomans slavery abounded. Gibbon — Fall 
 and Decline, Chapter I — estimates the population of 
 Kome, in the days of Claudius, at one hundred and 
 twenty millions. One half of these, according to Gib- 
 bon, or two-thirds, according to Robertson, were slaves. 
 They were found in every province of the empire, Judea 
 excepted. At the coming of Christ, and when the New 
 Testament was written, the sway of Rome extended over 
 the civilized world ; and with it its laws, and those on 
 slavery as well as other laws. 
 
 2. On this account we will, so far as our limits will 
 allow, present the Roman code on slavery ; as this, more 
 than any other source of information, will give us an 
 accurate view of the subject, e^ecially as it is connected 
 with the Church. The Justinian law consists of four 
 principal parts — the Institutes, the Digest or Pandects, 
 the Code, and the Novellce. The Institutes are an abridged 
 digest of the whole. To the Justinian law is also added 
 the Imperial Constitutions, and other additions of subse- 
 quent times. 
 
 The Emperor Justinian, in the year of Christ 528, 
 ordered the compilation, which was performed and pub- 
 lished the year following, by Tribonian, and other emi- 
 nent lawyers. As the Institutes are a pretty full outline of 
 Roman law, we make our extracts from them, and refer 
 to the Pandects, Codex, and other parts of the civil law, 
 when necessary. We give all we can find in the Insti- 
 tutes on slavery, so that our selections are full, if not 
 complete ; for it would require an unnecessary minuteness 
 to enter into all the nice legal details of the Pandects, 
 Code, NovellfE, etc. 
 
 It is, however, proper to state, that the Institutes give 
 quite too favorable a view of the legal ameliorations of 
 
226 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 the slave system, as it existed in the days of Christ and 
 his apostles. The reason is, that the Institutes construe 
 the Christian elements diffused into the old law, as they 
 were introduced by Constantine, Justinian, and other 
 Christian Emperors. For instance, the law empowering 
 the ministers of religion to emancipate, by vindida, at the 
 churches, is a Christian element, and did not exist in 
 the days of Christ. This is a mere specimen, as will be 
 seen in our chapter on the effect of Christianity on Roman 
 civil law. 
 
 1. LEGAL DEFINITIONS. 
 
 "Justice is the constant and perpetual disposition to 
 render every man his due." (Institutes, Lib. I, Tit. 1.) 
 
 ** Jurisprudence is the knowledge of things divine and 
 human; the science of what is just and unjust." (Insti- 
 tutes, Lib. I, Tit. 1, Sec. 1.) 
 
 " The precepts of the law are, to live honestly, to hurt 
 no one, to give every one his due." (Institutes, Lib. I, 
 Tit. 1, Sec. 3.) 
 
 ** The law of nature is a law not only to man, but, 
 likewise, to all other animals, whether produced on the 
 earth, in the air, or in the waters. From hence proceeds 
 that conjunction of male and female, which we denomin- 
 ate matrimony ; hence the procreation and education of 
 children." (Institutes, Lib. I, Tit. 2.) 
 
 " Civil law is distinguished from the law of nations, 
 because every community governed by laws uses partly 
 its own, and partly the laws which are common to all 
 mankind. The law which a people enacts for its own 
 government, is called the civil law of that people. But 
 that law which natural reason appoints for mankind, is 
 called the law of nations, because all nations make use 
 of it." (Institutes, Lib. I, Tit. 2, Sec. 1.) 
 
 "The law of nations is common to all mankind, and 
 
THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 227 
 
 all nations have enacted some laws, as occasion and 
 necessity required ; for wars arose, and the consequences 
 were captivity and slavery ; both of which are contrary 
 to the law of nature ; for by that law all men are born 
 free." (Institutes, Lib. I, Tit. 2, Sec. 2.) 
 
 **The laws of nature, observed by all nations, inas- 
 much as they are the appointment of a certain divine 
 providence, remain fixed and immutable. But the laws 
 which every city has enacted for itself, sufter frequent 
 changes, either by tacit consent of the people, or by some 
 subsequent law." (Institutes, Lib. I, Tit. 2, Sec. 11.) 
 
 2. OF THE RIGHT OF PERSONS. 
 
 "The first general division of persons, in respect to 
 their rights, is into freemen and slaves." (Institutes, Lib. 
 1, Tit. a. See Digest, Lib. I, Tit. 5.) 
 
 "■ Freedom, or liberty, from which we are denominated 
 free, is the natural power of acting as we please, unless 
 prevented by force or by the law." (Institutes, I, 3, 1.) 
 
 " Slavery is when one man is subject to the dominion 
 of another, according to the law of nations, though con- 
 trary to natural rights." (Institutes, I, 3, 2.) 
 
 ** Slaves are denominated servi, from the practice of 
 our generals to sell their captives, and thus preserve — 
 servare — and not slay them. Slaves are also called 
 mancijna, in that they are taken from the enemy, by 
 hand." (ManucapL) (Institutes, I, 3, 3.) 
 
 " Slaves are born such, or become so. They are born 
 such, or of bondwomen. They become so either by the 
 law of nations, that is, by captivity, or by the civil law, 
 as when a free person, above the age of twenty, suffers 
 himself to be sold, for the sake of sharing the price given 
 for him." (Institutes, I, 3, 4.) 
 
 " There is no difference in the condition of slaves ; but 
 among free persons there are many ; thus some are 
 
228 THE BIBLE AND SLAVEKY. 
 
 ingenui, or freemen, otliers, libertiniy or freed-men.'* (In- 
 stitutes, I, 3, 5.) 
 
 3. OF INGENUI, OR FREEMEN. 
 
 *' A freeman is one who is born free, by being born in 
 matrimony, of parents who are both free, or both freed ; 
 or of parents, one free, the other freed. But one born of 
 a free mother, although the father be a slave, or unknown, 
 is free, notwithstanding he was conceived discreditably. 
 And if the mother is free at the time of the birth, al- 
 though a bondwoman when she conceived, the intant 
 will be free." (Institutes, I, 4. Cod., Lib. VII, Tit. 14. 
 De iiigenuis manumissis.) 
 
 4. OF LIBERTINI, OR FREED-JklEN— MANUMISSION. 
 
 ** Freed-men are those who have been manumitted from 
 just slavery. Manumission — manu-datio — implies the 
 giving of liberty ; for whosoever is in servitude, is sub- 
 ject to the hand and power of another ; but whosoever 
 is manumitted is free from both." 
 
 "Manumission took its rise from the law of nations; 
 for all men, by the law of nature, are born free ; nor was 
 manumission heard of while slavery was unknown. But 
 when slavery, under sanction of the law of nations, 
 invaded liberty, the benefit of manumission became then 
 a consequence ; for all men, at first, were denominated 
 by one common appellation, till, by the law of nations, 
 they began to be divided into three classes, namely, into 
 liberi, or freemen, servi, or slaves, and libertlni, or freed- 
 men, who have ceased to be slaves." (Institutes, Lib. I, 
 Tit. 5.) 
 
 5. IN WHAT MODES AND TIMES THEY ARE MANUMITTED. 
 
 ** Manumission is effected by various ways; either in 
 the face of the Church, according to the imperial consti- 
 
THE KOMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 229 
 
 tiitions, or by tlie vindicta, or in the presence of friends, or 
 by letter, or by testament, or by any other last will. Lib- 
 erty may also be conferred upon a slave by divers other 
 methods, some of which were introduced by former 
 laws, and others by our own." (Institutes, Lib. I, Tit. 
 5, Sec. 1.) 
 
 "Slaves maybe manumitted by their masters at any 
 time, even on the v/ay, as while the preetor, the governor 
 of a province, or the proconsul is going to the bath or 
 the theater." (Institutes, I, 5, 2.) 
 
 On manumission, see C, Lib. VII, Tit. 15. Conimunia 
 de manumissionibus. 
 
 6. THE DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN FREED-MEN ANNULLED. 
 
 **Freed-men were formerly distinguished by a three- 
 fold division. Those who were manumitted, sometimes 
 obtained the greater liberty, and became Roman citizens ; 
 sometimes only the lesser, and became Latins, under the 
 law Ju7iia Xarhonia ; and sometimes only the inferior 
 liberty, and became Dedltitil, by the law ^lia Sentia. 
 But the condition of the Dedititii, differing but little from 
 slavery, has been long disused ; neither has the name of 
 Latins been frequent. Our piety, therefore, leading us to 
 reduce all things into a better state, we have amended our 
 laws by two constitutions, and re-established the ancient 
 usage ; for, anciently, liberty was simple and undivided ; 
 that is, it was conferred upon the slave as his manumittor 
 possessed it ; admitting this single difference, that the per- 
 son manumitted became only a freed-man, although his 
 manumittor was a freeman. We have abolished the 
 Dedititii by a constitution published among our decis- 
 ions, by which, at the instance of Tribonian, our Qusestor, 
 we have suppressed all disputes concerning the ancient 
 law. We have, also, at his suggestion, altered the con- 
 dition of the Latins, and corrected the laws which related 
 
230 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 to them, hy another constitution, conspicuous among the 
 imjDerial sanctions, and we have made all the freed -men 
 as general citizens of Rome, regarding neither the age of 
 the manumitted, nor of the manumittor, nor the ancient 
 forms of manumission. We have, also, introduced many 
 new methods, by which slaves may become Roman citi- 
 zens ; the only liberty that can now be conferred." (In- 
 stitutes, I, 5, 3.) 
 
 7. WHO CAN NOT MANUMIT, AND FOR WHAT CAUSES. 
 
 (Institutes, Lib. I, Tit. 6. Compare and consult D., 
 XL, Tit. 9, Qui et a quibus ; C, VII, Tit. 11, Qui manu- 
 mittere non possunt.) 
 
 THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE ^LIAN LAW, CONCERNING MANU- 
 MITTING IN FRAUD OF CREDITORS. 
 
 "Every master may not manumit by will ; for, if done 
 with intent to defraud his creditors, it is void ; the law 
 ^lia Sentia restraining this liberty." 
 
 CONCERNING A SLAVE INVESTED WITH LIBERTY. 
 
 ** Section 1. A master who is insolvent, may appoint a 
 slave to be his heir with liberty, that thus the slave may 
 obtain his freedom, and become the only and necessary 
 heir of the testator, provided no other person is also heir 
 by the same testament ; and this may happen, either be- 
 cause no other person was instituted heir, or because the 
 person so instituted is unwilling to act. This privilege 
 of masters was, for wise reasons, established by the law 
 ^lia Sentia. For it became necessary to provide, that 
 indigent men, to whom no man would be a voluntary 
 heir, might have a slave for a necessary heir, to satisfy 
 creditors ; or that the creditors should sell the hereditary 
 effects in the name of the slave, lest the deceased should 
 suffer ignominy." 
 
THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 231 
 
 OF A SLAVE MADE AN HEIR WITHOUT LIBERTY. 
 
 '* Section 2. A slave also becomes free by being insti- 
 tuted an heir, although his freedom be not mentioned ; 
 for our constitution respects not only the insolvent mas- 
 ter, but, by a new act of humanity, it extends generally ; 
 so that the institution of an heir implies the grant of 
 liberty. For it is highly improbable, that a testator, 
 although he has omitted to mention liberty in his will, 
 could mean that the person instituted should remain a 
 slave, and himself be destitute of an heir." 
 
 3. WHAT IS MANUMISSION IN FRAUD OF CREDITORS. 
 
 ** Section 3. Manumission is in fraud of creditors, if the 
 master is insolvent when he manumits, or become so by 
 manumitting. It is, however, the prevailing opinion, 
 that liberty, when granted, is not impeached unless the 
 manumittor meant to defraud, although his goods are 
 insufficient for the payment of his creditors ; for men fre- 
 quently hope better than their circumstances really are. 
 We, therefore, understand liberty to be then only impeded, 
 when creditors are doubly defrauded, by the intention of 
 the manumittor, and in reality. 
 
 *' Section 4. By the same law, ^lia Sentia, a master, 
 under the age of twenty years, can not manumit unless 
 for some good reason to be approved by a council, and 
 then by the vindicta." 
 
 9. WHAT ARE JUST CAUSES FOR MANUMISSION. 
 
 *' Section 5. Just reasons for manumission, are, that 
 the person to be manumitted is father or mother to the 
 manumittor, his son or daughter, his brother or sister, 
 his preceptor, his nurse, his foster-child, or his foster- 
 brother, or to constitute him his proctor, or his bond- 
 woman, with an intent to marry her, provided the mar- 
 
232 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 :i 
 
 riage is performed within six montlis. But a slave who j 
 is to be constituted proctor, can not be manumitted for ! 
 that purpose, if under seventeen." 
 
 A REASON ONCE ADMITTED. 
 
 ** Section 6. A reason once admitted in favor of lib- 
 erty, be it true or false, can not be recalled." 
 
 10. ABROGATION OF THE LAST CHAPTER OF THE LAW 
 iELIA SENTLl. 
 
 ** Section 7. When certain bounds were prescribed by 
 the law ^lia Scntia, to all minors under twenty, with 
 regard to manumission, it was observed that any person 
 who had completed fourteen years might make a testa- 
 ment — institute an heir, and bequeath legacies, and yet 
 that no person under twenty could confer liberty, which 
 was not longer to be tolerated ; for, can any just cause be 
 assigned why a man permitted to dispose of all his effects 
 by testament, should be debarred from enfranchising his 
 slaves ? But liberty being of inestimable value, and our 
 ancient laws prohibiting any person to make a grant of 
 it, who is under twenty years of age : we, therefore, make 
 choice of a middle way, and permit all who have attained 
 their eighteenth year to confer liberty by testament. For 
 since, by former practice, persons at eighteen years of age 
 were permitted to plead for their clients, there is no reason, 
 why the same stability of judgment which qualifies them 
 to assist others should not enable them to be of service to 
 themselves also, by having the liberty of enfranchising 
 their own slaves." (Institutes, Lib. I, Tit. 6. Consult 
 D., XL, Tit. 9 ; and C, VII, Tit. 11.) 
 
 11. THE POWER OF MASTERS OVER SLAVES. 
 
 ** All slaves are in the power of their masters, a power 
 derived from the law of nations : for it is observable 
 
THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 238 
 
 among all nations, that masters had the power of life 
 and death over their slaves, and that whatever the slave 
 acquires is acquired by the master/' (Institutes, Lib. I, 
 Tit. 8, L. 1.) 
 
 *' All our subjects are now forbidden to inflict any 
 extraordinary punishment upon their slaves, without legal 
 cause. For, by a constitution of Antoninus, whoever 
 causelessly kills his own slave, is to be punished equally 
 as if he had killed the slave of another. The too great 
 severity of masters is also restrained by another constitu- 
 tion of Antoninus, who, being consulted by certain gov- 
 ernors of provinces concerning slaves, who take sanctu- 
 ary in temples, or at the statues of the emperors, ordained, 
 that, if the severity of masters should appear excessive, 
 they might be compelled to make sale of their slaves on 
 equitable terms, so that the masters might receive the 
 value, and properly, inasmuch as it is for the public 
 good that no one should be permitted to misuse even his 
 own property." (Institutes, I, 8, 2. See, also, on this, 
 Dig., I, Tit. 6.) 
 
 12. THE POWER OF PARENTS OYER CHILDREN. 
 
 *' Our children, begotten in lawful wedlock, are under 
 our power. 
 
 *' Section 1. Matrimony is a connection between a 
 man and woman, implying a mutual and exclusive co- 
 habitation during life. 
 
 '* Section 2. The power which we have over our chil- 
 dren is peculiar to the citizens of Rome ; for no other 
 people have the same power over their children which 
 we have over ours. 
 
 *' Section 3. The child of you and your wife is under 
 your power. The issue of your son and his wife, that is, 
 your grandsons or granddaughters, are equally so ; so 
 are vour great grandchildren, etc. But children born of 
 
 20 
 
234 THE BIBLE AND SLAVEKY. 
 
 a daughter are not in your power, but in the power of 
 their father or grandfather." (Institutes, Lib. I, Tit. 9. 
 See, also, C, VIII, Tit. 47.) 
 
 "Illegitimate children, or those born out of wedlock, 
 are looked upon as having no father : they are, therefore, 
 called, in Latin, spurii, and in Greek artaropfj, avatores ; 
 that is, without a father. They are, therefore, not under 
 the power of the father." (Institutes, Lib. I, Tit. 10, 
 L. 12.) 
 
 But natural children become legitimate whenever the 
 parents become married, and they are then under the 
 power of the father. (L. 13.) 
 
 Adopted children are also under the power of the 
 father. (Institutes, I, 11.) 
 
 "The following answer of Cato was approved by the 
 ancient lawyers, namely, that slaves adopted by their 
 masters obtain freedom by the adoption. Thus in- 
 structed, we have ordained, that a slave whom any mas- 
 ter nominates to be his son, in the presence of a magis- 
 trate, becomes free by such nomination, although it does 
 not confer on him any filial right." (Institutes, I, 
 11, 12.) 
 
 ** A man may, by testament, assign his own slave to 
 be a tutor with liberty. But note, that, if a slave be 
 appointed tutor by testament, without mentioning liberty, 
 he seems tacitly to be enfranchised, and is thus legally 
 constituted a tutor." (Institutes, I, 14, 1.) 
 
 "Although civil policy may extinguish civil rights, 
 yet over natural rights it has no such power." (Insti- 
 tutes, I, 15, 3.) 
 
 13. OF DIMINUTION. 
 
 " Diminution is the change of a man's former condi- 
 tion, and this is threefold — the greater, the less, and the 
 least." (Institutes, Lib. I, Tit. 16.) 
 
THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 235 
 
 "The greater diminution is, when a man loses both 
 the right of a citizen and his liberty, as they do who, by 
 rigor of their sentence, become the slaves of punishment ; 
 and freed-men, who are condemned to slavery for in- 
 gratitude to their patrons ; and all such who suffer 
 themselves to be sold, to share the price." (Institutes, 
 
 I, 16, 1.) 
 
 " The manumission of a slave produces no change of 
 state in him, because he had no state, or civil capacity.'* 
 (Institutes, I, 16, 4.) 
 
 "By the greater diminution, as by slavery, the right of 
 cognation is wholly destroyed, even so as not to be recov- 
 ered by manumission." (Institutes, I, 16, Sec. 6.) 
 
 " Patrons and their children shall succeed to the inher- 
 itance of their freed-men, or freed-women, who die intes- 
 tate." (Institutes, I, Tit. 17.) 
 
 CHILDREN INHERIT THE SLAVES OF THEIR PARENTS. 
 
 "The condition of a slave is not altered at the death 
 of his master ; for he then becomes a slave to the children 
 of the deceased." (Institutes, Lib. I, Tit. 19.) 
 
 " When a tutor under the greater diminution of state 
 loses his liberty and his citizenship, his tutelage is extin- 
 guished." (Institutes, Lib. I, Tit. 22, Sec. 4.) 
 
 "Males arrived at puberty, and females marriageable, 
 do, nevertheless, receive curators till they have completed 
 their twenty-fifth year ; for they are not yet of an age to 
 take proper care of their own affairs." (Institutes, I, 
 Tit. 23.) 
 
 " What we take from our enemies in war, becomes 
 instantly our own by the law of nations ; so that free- 
 men may be brought into a state of slavery by capture ; 
 but, if they afterward escape, and return to their own 
 people, they obtain again their former state." (Insti- 
 tutes, II, Tit. 1, Sec. 17.) 
 
236 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 14. WHAT ARE FRUITS. 
 
 " Among the produce of animals, we not only reckon 
 milk, skins, and wool, but also their young ; and, there- 
 fore, lambs, kids, calves, colts, and pigs appertain by 
 natural right to the usufructuary ; but the offspring of a 
 female slave can not be thus considered, but belongs to 
 the proprietor of such slave ; for it seemed absurd, that 
 man should be enumerated among the articles of produce, 
 seeing that for his use nature hath furnished all kinds 
 of produce." (Institutes, II, Tit. 1, Sec. 37.) 
 
 ** Things corporeal are tangible ; as lands, slaves, vest- 
 ments, gold, silver, and others innumerable." (Insti- 
 tutes, II, Tit. 2.) 
 
 ''The usufruct not only of lands and houses is granta- 
 ble, but also of slaves, cattle, and other things, except 
 those which are consumed by use." (Institutes, II, Tit. 
 4, Sec. 2.) 
 
 WHAT MAY NOT GIVE THE EIGHT OF POSSESSION. 
 
 " No length of time will be sufficient to found a pre- 
 scription ; as when a man holds a free person, a thing 
 sacred or religious, or a fugitive slave." (Institutes, Lib. 
 II, Tit. 6, Sec. 1.) 
 
 ** No prescription lies for things that have been stolen, 
 or seized by violence, although they have been possessed 
 bona fide, during the length of time required by our con- 
 stitution ; for prescription to things stolen is prohibited 
 by a law of the twelve tables, and by the law of Atilia ; 
 and the laws of Julia and Plantia forbid a prescription 
 to things seized by violence. Whosoever hath know- 
 ingly sold or transferred the goods of another, upon what- 
 ever consideration, is guilty of theft." (Institutes, 11, 
 Tit. 6, Sec. 2.) 
 
THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 237 
 
 15. SLAVES CAN HAVE NO PROPERTY— ALL BELONGS TO 
 THE MASTER. 
 
 ** Section 3. Whatever your slaves have at any time 
 acquired, whether by delivery, stipulation, donation, be- 
 quest, or any other means, is acquired by you ; although 
 you may be ignorant of or even averse to the acquisition ; 
 for he who is a slave can have no property ; and if a 
 slave be made heir, he can not otherwise take upon him- 
 self the inheritance than at the command of his master ; 
 but if commanded so to do, the inheritance is as fully ac- 
 quired by the master as if he had been himself made heir, 
 and consequently a legacy left to a slave is acquired by 
 his master. Moreover, masters acquire by their slaves 
 not only the property of things, but also the possession ; 
 for whatever is possessed by a slave is deemed to be pos- 
 sessed by his master, who may found a prescription to it 
 by means of his slave." (Institutes, Lib. II, Tit. 9.) 
 
 ** Section 4. As to slaves of whom you have the usu- 
 fruct only, it hath seemed right that whatever they earn by 
 means of your goods, or by their own work or labor, ap- 
 pertains to you ; but whatever they earn by other means 
 belongs to the proprietor. Therefore, if a slave be made 
 heir, or legatee, or donee, the inheritance, legacy, or gift 
 will not be acquired by the usufructuary master, but for 
 the proprietor." (1(1-) 
 
 " Section 5. The same rule is observed as to the hona-jide 
 possessor of a slave, whether he be a freeman or the slave 
 of another ; for the same law prevails respecting a usu- 
 fructuary master and a hona-jide possessor. Therefore, 
 whatever is acquired otherAvise than by the two causes 
 above mentioned, either belongs to the person possessed, 
 if he be free, or to the proprietor, if he be a slave. But 
 a hona-jide possessor, who hath gained a slave by usucap- 
 tion or prescription — inasmuch as he thus becomes the 
 
238 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 absolute proprietor — can acquire by means of such slave, 
 by all manner of ways. But a usufructuary master can 
 not prescribe : first, because he can not be strictly said 
 to possess, having only the power of using ; and because 
 he knows the slave belongs to another. We nevertheless 
 may acquire not only property, but also possession, by 
 means of slaves whom we possess hona fide, or by usu- 
 fruct, and even by a free person, of whom we have hona- 
 fide possession. But in saying this, we adhere to the 
 distinction before explained, and speak of those things 
 only of which a slave may acquire the possession, either 
 through the goods of his master or by his own industry." 
 (Id., Sec. 4.) 
 
 16. WHO ARE WITNESSES. 
 
 '* Those persons are good witnesses who can legally 
 take by testament; but no woman, or minor under pu- 
 berty, or slave, no person mad, mute, or deaf, no inter- 
 dicted prodigal, nor any whom the laws have reprobated 
 and rendered intestable, can be admitted a witness to a 
 testament." (Institutes, Lib. II, Tit. 10, Sec. 6.) 
 
 17. OF ^lAKLNG WILLS— PECULnJM. 
 
 " The right of making a will is not granted to all. 
 Persons under the power of others, have not this right ; 
 so that, although parents have given permission, this will 
 not enable their children to make a valid will." (Insti- 
 tutes, 11, 12.) 
 
 THE PECULIUM. 
 
 ** By the civil law, peculia, or estates of those who are 
 under power, are reckoned among the wealth of their 
 parents, in the same manner as the peculium of a slave 
 is esteemed the property of his master." (Institutes, 
 IT, 1, 2.) 
 
THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 239 
 
 18. OF HEIRS. 
 
 *' A man may appoint slaves, as well as freemen, to he 
 liis heirs by testament, and may nominate the slaves of 
 another as well as his own ; yet, according to the opinion 
 of many, no master could formally make his own slaves 
 his heirs without freeing them ; hut at present, by our 
 Constitution, masters may do this, which we have intro- 
 duced not for the sake of innovation, but because it 
 seemed most just, and because Paulus, in his commenta- 
 ries upon Sabinus and Glautlus, affirms that this was also 
 the opinion of Atilicinas. We call a slave proprius ser- 
 vus if the testator had only a naked property in him, the 
 usufruct being in another. But in a Constitution of the 
 Emperors Severus and Antoninus there is a case in which 
 a slave was not permitted to be instituted heir by his 
 owner, although his liberty was expressly given to him. 
 The words are, ' It is consonant to right reason that no 
 slave, accused of adultery with his mistress, shall be 
 allowed, before a sentence of acquittal, to be made free 
 by that mistress, who is alleged to be a partner in the 
 crime. Hence, if a mistress institute a slave such to be 
 her heir, it is of no avail.' Alienus servus is one of whom 
 the testator has only the usufruct." (Institutes, II, 14.) 
 
 "A slave instituted an heir by his master while he is a 
 slave, becomes free at the death of his master, as well as 
 his necessary heir by virtue of the will. But if he be 
 manumitted in the lifetime of his master, he may accept 
 or refuse the inheritance ; for he does not become a nec- 
 essary heir, since he does not obtain both his liberty and 
 the inheritance by virtue of the testament. But if he 
 should be aliened he can not enter upon the inheritance, 
 unless at the command of his new master, who, though 
 his slave, may become the heir of the testator. For a 
 slave aliened can not obtain his liberty, nor take an 
 
240 THE BIBLE AND SLAVEKY. 
 
 inheritance to his own use, by virtue of the testament 
 of the master who transferred him, although his freedom 
 was expressly given by such testament ; because a master 
 who has aliened his slave seems to have renounced the 
 intention of enfranchising him ; and when the slave of 
 another has been appointed heir, but remains in slavery, 
 he can not take the inheritance but by his master's order ; 
 and if the slave be aliened in the lifetime of the testator, 
 or even after his death, before he has actually taken the 
 inheritance, he must accept or refuse it at the command 
 of his new master. But if the slave be enfranchised 
 while the testator is alive, or after his death, before he 
 has accepted the heirship, he may enter upon the inherit- 
 ance or not, at his option." (Institutes, II, Tit. 14, 
 Sec. 1.) 
 
 *' The slave of another may legally be instituted an 
 heir after the death of his master ; for slaves of an inher- 
 itance not entered upon may take by testament ; for an 
 inheritance not yet entered upon represents the person of 
 the deceased, and not of the future heir. Thus the slave 
 even of a child in the womb may be constituted an heir." 
 (Id., Sec. 2.) 
 
 *' If the slave of many masters, all capable of taking 
 by testament, is instituted heir by a stranger, he acquires 
 a part of the inheritance for each master, who com- 
 manded him to take it, according to the several propor- 
 tions of property." (Id., Sec. 3.) 
 
 THE SUBSTITUTION OF HEIRS. 
 
 ** A man by will may appoint many degrees of heirs, 
 and in default of all others he may constitute a slave his 
 necessary heir." (Institutes, II, Tit. 15.) 
 
 ** If a testator constitute the slave of another his heir, 
 supposing him free, and add. If he does not become my 
 heir, I substitute Mcevius in his place, then, if that slave 
 
THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 241 
 
 should enter on the inheritance at the command of his 
 master, Ma^vius, the substitute, would he admitted to a 
 moiety." (Id., Sec. 4.) 
 
 DIVISION OF HEIRS NECESSAEY HEIRS. 
 
 ** A slave, instituted an heir by his master, is a neces- 
 sary heir ; and he is so called because, at the death of 
 the testator, he becomes instantly free, and is compellable 
 to take the heirship ; he, therefore, who suspects his cir- 
 cumstances, commonly institutes his slave to be his heir 
 in the lirst, second, or some other place ; so that, if he 
 does not leave a sum equal to his debts, the goods which 
 are seized, sold, or divided among his creditors, may 
 rather seem to be those of his heir than his own. But a 
 slave, in recompense of this inconvenience, is allowed 
 whatever he hath acquired after the death of his patron ; 
 for such acquisitions are not to be sold, although the 
 goods of the deceased should ever be so insufficient for 
 the payment of his creditors." (Institutes, II, 19, 1.) 
 
 ** If a testator bequeath his female slaves and their off- 
 spring, although the slaves die, their issue becomes due 
 to the legatee ; and so if ordinary slaves are bequeathed 
 together with vicarial ; for although the ordinary slaves 
 die, yet the vicarial slaves will pass by virtue of the be- 
 quest. But where a slave is bequeathed with his pecullumy 
 and afterward dies, or is manumitted or aliened, the leg- 
 acy of the pecuUum becomes extinct. The consequences 
 will be the same if a piece of ground is bequeathed with 
 the instruments of improving it ; for if the testator aliens 
 the ground, the legacy of the instruments of husbandry 
 is, of course, extinguished." (Institutes, II, 20, 17.) 
 
 19. OF THE PECULHIM. 
 
 *' When the pecuUum of a slave is- bequeathed, it is 
 certain that the increase or decrease of it in the life of 
 
 21 
 
242 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 the testator "becomes the loss of the legatee ; and if the 
 2Jeculium of a slave he left to him with his liberty, and 
 he increase the peculium subsequent to the death of the 
 testator, and before the inheritance is entered upon, it 
 is the opinion of Julian tliat the increase will pass to him 
 as a legatee ; for such a legacy does not become due but 
 from the day of the acceptance of the inheritance ; but 
 should the peculium of a slave be bequeathed to a 
 stranger, an increase, acquired within the period above 
 mentioned, will not pass under the legacy, unless the 
 acquisition were made by means of something apper- 
 taining to the peculium; for the peculium of a slave does 
 not belong to him after he is manumitted by testament, 
 unless expressly given ; although if a master in his life- 
 time manumit his slave, his peculium will pass to him, 
 of course, if not excepted. And such is the rescript of 
 the Emperors Severus and Antoninus, who have also de- 
 clared that when a peculium is bequeathed to a slave, it 
 does not seem intended that he should have the right of 
 demanding what he may have expended for the use of 
 the master. The same princes have further declared that 
 a slave seems entitled to his j^^culium if his liberty be left 
 him, on condition that he will bring in his accounts, and 
 supply any deficiency out of the profits of the peculium.'* 
 (Institutes, II, 20, Sec. 20.) 
 
 "A freed-man might formerly, with impunity, omit in 
 his will any mention of his patron ; for the law of the 
 twelve tables called the patron to the inheritance only 
 when the freed-man died intestate without proper heirs ; 
 but when the freed-man left only an adopted son, it was 
 manifestly injurious that the patron should have no 
 claim." (Institutes, III, 8.) 
 
 ** The law was therefore amended by the edict of the 
 praetor ; for every freed-man who made his testament was 
 commanded so to dispose his effects as to leave a moiety 
 
THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 243 
 
 to Ills jiatron ; and if the testator left nothing, or less 
 than a moiety, then possession of half was given to the 
 jjatron contrary to the will ; and if a freed-man die intes- 
 tate, leaving an adopted heir, the possession of a half 
 was given to the patron ; but disinherited children by no 
 means repelled the patron." (Id., Sec. 1.) 
 
 " But afterward the rights of patrons who had wealthy 
 freed-men Avere enlarged by the Paphian law, which pro- 
 vides that he shall have a man's share out of the effects 
 of his freed-man, whether dying testate or intestate, who 
 hath left a patrimony of a hundred thousand sestertii and 
 fewer than three children ; so that, when a freed-man hath 
 left only one son or daughter, a half is due to the patron, 
 as if the deceased had died testate without either son or 
 daughter. But when there are two heirs, male or female, 
 a third part only is due to the patron ; and when there 
 are three, the patron is wholly excluded." (Id., Sec. 2.) 
 
 *' But our Constitution ordained that if a freed-man or 
 freed-woman die possessed of less than one hundred arvreif 
 the patron shall not be entitled to any share in a testate 
 succession. But where a freed-man, or woman, dies in- 
 testate and without children, we have reserved the right 
 of patronage entire as it formerly was, according to the 
 law of the twelve tables. But if a freed person die worth 
 more than a hundred arvrei, and leave one child or many 
 of either sex or degree as the heirs and possessors of his 
 goods, we have permitted that such child or children 
 shall succeed their parent to the entire exclusion of the 
 patron and his heirs ; and if any freed persons die with- 
 out children and intestate, we have called their patrons or 
 patronesses to their whole inheritances ; and if any freed 
 person, worth more than a hundred arvrei, hath made a 
 testament, omitting his patron, and left no children or 
 hath disinherited them ; or if a mother or maternal grand- 
 father, being freed persons, have omitted to mention their 
 
244 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 cliildien in their wills, so that such wills can not he 
 proved to be inofficious, then, by virtue of our Constitu- 
 tion, the patron shall succeed, not to a half, as formerly, 
 hut to a third part of the estate of the deceased, by pos- 
 session contra tabulas ; and, when freed persons leave less 
 than the third part of their effects to their patrons, our 
 Constitution ordains that the deficiency shall be sup- 
 plied." (Id., Sec. 3.) 
 
 The foregoing relates to the more modern freed-men of 
 Rome, who were all Roman citizens ; for previous to Jus- 
 tinian — or A. D. 527 — the DediUtii and Lat'ini never en- 
 joyed any right of succession ; for though they led the 
 lives of freed-men, at death they lost their liberties ; for 
 their possessions, like the goods of slaves, were seized by 
 their manumittor, who possessed them as peculium by 
 virtue of the law Junia Narhona. But Justinian decreed 
 that all freed-men might become freemen of Rome or 
 Roman citizens. (Id., Sec. 4.) 
 
 OF THE ASSIGNMENT OF FKEED-MEN. 
 
 "Although the goods of freed-men belonging equally 
 to all the children of the patron who are in the same de- 
 gree, yet it is lawful for a parent to assign a freed-man to 
 any one of his children." (Institutes, III, 9.) 
 
 "Freed persons of either sex are assignable, not only 
 to a son or grandson, but to a daughter or grand- 
 daughter." (Id., Sec. 1.) 
 
 "The power of assigning freed persons is given to him 
 who hath two or more children unemancipated, so that a 
 father may assign a freed-man or freed-woman to chil- 
 dren retained under their power ; hence, if a father would 
 assign a freed-man to his son, and afterward emanci- 
 pate that son, the assignment would be good." (Id., 
 Sec. 2.) 
 
THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 245 
 
 20. A NEW SPECIES OF SUCCESSION. 
 
 ** A new species of succession hath taken its rise from 
 the Constitution of Marcus Aurelius ; for if those slaves 
 to whom freedom hath been bequeathed are desirous, for 
 the sake of obtaining it, that the inheritance which hath 
 not been accepted by the written heir, should be adjudged 
 for their benefit, they shall obtain their request." (Insti- 
 tutes, III, 13.) 
 
 By the rescript of the Emperor Marcus to Pompilius, 
 Rufus declares, respecting Virginius Valeus, who by will 
 bequeathed to certain persons their freedom, it was en- 
 acted, 
 
 "All those to whom freedom was directly given shall 
 then become free, as if the inheritance had been entered 
 upon by the written heirs ; but those whom the heir was 
 ordered to manumit shall obtain their freedom from the 
 testator only. . . . And lest the use and emolument of 
 this our rescript should be frustrated by any means, be it 
 known to the officers of our revenue that whenever an 
 exchequer lays claim to the estate of a deceased person, 
 the cause of liberty is to be preferred to any pecuniary 
 advantage ; and the estate shall be so seized as to pre- 
 serve the freedom of those who could otherwise have ob- 
 tained it, and this in as full a manner as if the inherit- 
 ance had been entered upon the testamentary heir." (Id., 
 Sec. 1.) 
 
 '' This rescript is introduced in favor of liberty, and 
 also for the benefit of deceased persons, lest their effects 
 should be seized and sold by their creditors ; for it is cer- 
 tain that, when goods are adjudged to a particular man 
 for the preservation of liberty, a sale by creditors can 
 never take place ; for he to whom the goods are adjudged 
 is the protector of the deceased, and must be a person 
 who can give security to the creditors." (Id., Sec. 2.) 
 
246 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 *' This rescript takes place whenever freedom is con" 
 ferred b}' testament. ... If a master die testate, and by 
 codicil bequeath freedom, the rescript shall be in force/' 
 (Id., Sec. 3.) 
 
 *' Freedom once obtained shall not afterward be re- 
 voked." (Id., Sec. 5.) 
 
 " This Constitution was made for the protection of 
 liberty ; and, therefore, when freedom is not given the 
 Constitution has no effect." (Id., Sec. 6.) 
 
 21. THE DECREE MIRABILIS. 
 
 **If a free woman had debased herself by cohabiting 
 with a slave, she lost her freedom by the Claudian decree, 
 and, together with her freedom, her estate and substance. 
 But this Avas, in our opinion, unworthy of our reign, and 
 ought to be expunged ; hence, we have not permitted it 
 to be inserted with the digests." (Institutes, Lib. Ill, 
 Tit. 13.) 
 
 22. OF A SLAVE HELD IN COMMON. 
 
 ** If a slave, who is in common to several masters, 
 stipulate, he acquires a share of each master, according 
 to the proportion which each has in the property of him. 
 But if such slave should stipulate- at the command of any 
 particular master, or in his name, the thing stipulated 
 will be acquired solely for that master." (Institutes, III, 
 18, 3.) 
 
 " A freeman may become a slave." ''Ex lihero servus 
 fieri potest:' (Institutes, III, 20, Sec. 2.) 
 
 **A slave is incapable not only of entering into an 
 obligation with his master, but of binding himself to any 
 other person." (Id., Sec. 6.) 
 
 " A promise made for a bad purpose, such as to com- 
 mit murder or sacrilege, is not binding." (Institutes, 
 III, 20, Sec. 23. See, also, Cod., VIII, Tit. 39.) 
 
THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 247 
 
 *' A slave, a piece of ground, or a relic, can be paid as 
 the price of a tiling." (Institutes, III, 24, 2.) 
 
 23. OF RUNAWAY OR STOLEN SLAVES. 
 
 '*If a slave who is sold should run away or be stolen, 
 and no fraud or negligence can be imputed to the seller, 
 it must be incj.uired whether the seller undertook the safe 
 custody of the slave till delivery should be made ; if he 
 did, he is answerable : if not, he is secure." (Institutes, 
 111,24, 3.) 
 
 " Whoever knowingly purchases a sacred, religious, or 
 public place, such as a forum or court of justice, it is 
 void. But if he purchased them as profane or private, 
 being imposed upon by the seller, then such purchaser, 
 not being able to obtain possession, may have an action 
 ex empto against the seller, and recover damage for the 
 deceit. The law is the same if any person should mis- 
 takingly buy a freeman instead of a slave." (Id., Sec. 5.) 
 
 ** Species of commerce, as that of buying and selling 
 slaves, oil, wine, or corn." (Institutes, III, 26. See, 
 also. Dig., XVII, Tit. 2; and Cod., Lib. IV, Tit. 37.) 
 
 24. OBLIGATIONS FROM THOSE UNDER OUR POWER, AS 
 SLAVES OR CHILDREN. 
 
 " Whatever is acquired by our slaves is wholly our 
 own ; but what is acquired by children under our power, 
 by means of their contracts, must be divided according 
 to our Constitution, which gives to the father the usu- 
 truct, but reserves the property to the son." (Institutes, 
 III, 29.) 
 
 "It is certain that a slave, who is in common between 
 two or more, acquires for hie masters in proportion to 
 their property in him, unless he stipulate or receive in 
 the name of them only ; as. Do you 2^romis€ to give such 
 a thing to Titius, my master ? for although it was a doubt 
 
248 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 in times past whether a slave, when commanded, could 
 stipulate for one of his masters, yet it is now settled by 
 our decision that a slave may acquire for him only who 
 hath ordered the stipulation." (Id., Sec. 3.) 
 
 25. DEFINITION OF THEFT. 
 
 ** Theft is the taking, using, or possessing any thing 
 by fraud for the sake of gain ; and this is prohibited by 
 the law of nature." (Institutes, IV, 1, 1. See, also. 
 Dig., XL VII, Tit. 2 ; Cod., Lib. VI, Tit. 2.) 
 
 " A theft can never be committed unless there appear 
 to have been an intention of stealing." (Id., Sec. 7.) 
 
 *• The words of the law, AquiUa, let him who kills a slave 
 or beast of another forfeit the greatest iwice which either 
 could have been sold for that year, mean this : If Titius 
 accidentally kill a slave, who was then lame, or wanted a 
 limb, or an eye, but had been within the space of a year 
 perfect in all its parts, and valuable, then Titius shall be 
 liable, not merely to his value on that day, but to his 
 highest value at any time within a year preceding his 
 death." (Institutes, IV, 3, 9.) 
 
 *' It hath prevailed by construction, though not by the 
 express word of the law, that not only the value of the 
 slave is to be computed, as we have already mentioned, 
 but that an estimation must be made of whatever further 
 damage is occasioned by his death." (Id., Sec. 10.) 
 
 " The master of a slave who is killed may bring a civil 
 action of damages founded on the law AquiUa, and at 
 the same time prosecute the offender for a capital crime." 
 (Id., Sec. 11.) 
 
 '' The first chapter of the law \^Aquilia'\ subjects every 
 man to an action who, through design or negligence, kills 
 the slave or beast of another, and that the third part gives 
 a remedy for any other damage, so occasioned." (Id., 
 Sec. 14.) 
 
THE KOMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 249 
 
 26. AN INJURY TO A SLAVE. 
 
 " An injury is never considered as done to a slave, but 
 through him to the master ; not, however, in the same 
 manner as through a wife or child, as when some atro- 
 cious injury is done to the slave, manifestly in despite of 
 the master, as if any one should cruelly beat the slave of 
 another ; but if a man should give ill language to a slave, 
 or strike him with his list, the master is entitled to action 
 against him." (Institutes, IV, 4, 3.) 
 
 ON THE PECULIUM. 
 
 **The prfetor hath also given actions de j^ecuUo against 
 fathers and masters, who, although they were not legally 
 bound by the contracts of their children and slaves, ought, 
 in equality, to be bound to the extent of a peculium, 
 which is, as it were, the patrimony and separate estate of 
 a son, a daughter, a slave." (Institutes, IV, 6, 10.) 
 
 27. LLA.BILITY OF THE JklASTER FOR THE SLAVE. 
 
 ** For any business negotiated by a slave acting under 
 the command of his master, the praetor will give an 
 action against the master for the whole value of the 
 transaction ; for, whoever contracts with a slave, is pre- 
 sumed to have done it on a confidence in the master." 
 (Institutes, IV, 7, 1.) 
 
 28. NOXAL ACTIONS OF SLAVES. 
 
 "Noxal actions are given on account of the offenses of 
 slaves, as when a slave commits a theft or robbery, or 
 does any damage or injury. And, when the master or 
 owner of a slave is condemned upon this account, it is in 
 his option either to pay the estimate of the damage done, 
 or deliver up his slave as a recompense." (Institutes, 
 IV, 8. See, also, Dig., IX, Tit. 4 ; and Cod., Ill, Tit. 41.) 
 
260 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 '* Noxa is tlie slave or tlie offender. Noxia is the 
 offense, whetlier theft, damage, rapine, injury." (Id., 
 Sec. 1.) 
 
 ** It is reasonably permitted to the master to deliver up 
 the offending slave, for it would be unjust to make the 
 master liable beyond the body of the slave himself." 
 (Id., Sec. 2.) 
 
 "No real actions follow the person ; thus, the master 
 is liable while the slave belongs to him. If the slave 
 become subject to a new master, then he becomes liable ; 
 but if the slave be m.anumitted, he may be prosecuted by 
 direct action ; and the nox(£ deditio is extinguished. 
 But an action which was at first direct, may afterward 
 become noxal ; for if a freeman, guilty of malfeasance, 
 become a slave — and our first book shows in what cases 
 this may happen — then the direct action against the slave 
 is changed into a noxal action against the master." (Id., 
 Sec. 5.) 
 
 *' Although a slave commit a malfeasance against his 
 master, yet no action can arise, for no obligation can 
 arise between a master and his slave. And, although a 
 slave hath passed out of your power, you can not sue 
 him, neither can a slave who hath been aliened or manu- 
 mitted, bring any action against his late master." 
 (Id., Sec. 6.) 
 
 III. As we have given from the Institutes of Justinian, 
 collated with the other parts of the civil law, all the laws 
 on slavery in the Institutes, we Mnll now present a 
 brief digest of these laws, so that the reader may perceive 
 clearly in connection their different parts, and thus 
 be the better prepared to judge of their character. 
 
 1. The first division of persons is into freemen and 
 slaves. (Institutes, I, 3; Dig., I, Tit. 5.) Freedom is 
 defined to be " the natural power of acting as we please, 
 imless prevented by force or by law." (Institutes, I, 
 
THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 251 
 
 3, 1.) Among free persons there are many differences, 
 such as ingenui, llberti, and libertini ; but among slaves 
 there is none, as they are all reduced to the lowest level. 
 (Institutes, I, 3, 5.) A freeman is one born of free 
 parents. But if the mother be free, and the father a 
 slave, the child is free. (Institutes, I, 4 ; Cod., VII, 14.) 
 
 2. Justinian thus defines : *' Slavery is when one man 
 is subject to the dominion of another, according to the 
 law of nations, though contrary to natural right." (In- 
 stitutes, I, 3, 2.) 
 
 The following is a condensed view of the state of 
 slavery in Rome, as drawn by Taylor: (Elem, Civ. 
 Law, 429, from the Roman code ; Dig., Lib. L, Tit. 17, 
 Law 32 and 209.) 
 
 " Slaves Avere held pro nuUis, pro moriuis, pro quadru- 
 pedibus ; nay, they were in a much worse state than any 
 cattle whatsoever. They had no head in the state — no 
 name, title, or register ; they were not capable of being 
 injured, nor could they take by purchase or descent ; they 
 had no heirs, and, therefore, could make no will, exclu- 
 sive of what was called their pecidium ; whatever they 
 acquired was their master's ; they could not plead, nor be 
 pleaded for, but were excluded from all civil affairs what- 
 ever; they could not claim the indulgence of absence, 
 reipubliccB causa ; they were not entitled to the rights 
 and considerations of matrimony, and, therefore, had 
 no relief in case of adultery ; nor were they proper ob- 
 jects of cognation or affinity, but of quasi-cognation 
 only ; they could be sold, transferred, or pawned as goods 
 or personal estate, for goods they were, and as such they 
 were esteemed ; they might be tortured for evidence, and 
 punished at the discretion of their lord, or even put to 
 death by his authority." The quotations we have given 
 from the civil law sustain this picture of it drawn by 
 Dr. Taylor. 
 
252 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 3. As we have given the proper definition of slavery, 
 and the picture of it as drawn from the Roman law, let us 
 now notice the various ways by which men became slaves. 
 
 (1.) Bi/ war. Captives taken in war were sold. (In- 
 stitutes, Lib. I, Tit. 3, L. 3. Also, Institutes, I, Tit. 23.) 
 They were sold as belonging to the treasury, or dis- 
 tributed among the soldiers by lot. In reference to the 
 practice of selling prisoners with a crown on their heads, 
 we find the expression sub corona venii'e, vendere. (Gall., 
 YII, 4 ; Liv., V, 22 ; Cos. Bell, Gall., Ill, 16.) - After 
 the fall of the Samnites, thirty-six thousand captives 
 were sold as slaves, for two millions, thirty-three 
 thousand pieces of brass. Lucretius, in the Volscian 
 war, in one town, took four thousand prisoners. The 
 Romans in the first Punic war took twenty thousand 
 prisoners. Augustus having taken the Salassi, sold, as 
 slaves, thirty-six thousand, of whom eight thousand were 
 capable of bearing arms. Csesar, in the Gallic wars, 
 took more than four hundred thousand prisoners." 
 
 (2.) By kidnapping and commerce. The slave-trade 
 began as early as the days of Joseph. Among the 
 Egyptians, Cyrenians, and Carthaginians, the slave- 
 trade flourished. They were chiefly drawn from the in- 
 terior, where kidnapping was carried on as now. The 
 Grecian Isles were leaders in this course, by a regular 
 business of commerce and piracy united, depending 
 greatly on kidnapping as supplying the resources. 
 
 (3.) Some were born slaves. They were born such of 
 bond-women. (Institutes, I, 3, 5.) It became a maxim 
 of common law, that the child follows the condition of 
 the mother — Partus sequitur ventrem. 
 
 (4.) By selling themselves. Free-born citizens some- 
 times sold themselves for the sake of sharing the price. 
 (Institutes, I, 3, 4.) This was permitted by a law of 
 Claudius, about A. D. 32, though manifestly contrary to 
 
TflE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 253 
 
 the general rule, that no man can change his condition 
 by his own authority. (Dig., XL, Tit. 12, Law 37.) 
 The person selling himself was required, 1. To be at least 
 twenty years of age. (Dig., XL, 12, 7.) 2. With a 
 certain knowledge of his birth and condition. (Dig., 
 XL, Tit. 14 ; and Dig., XL, 12, 14.) 3. The purchaser 
 must act hona fide. (Ibid., Laws 7, 16.) 4. The price 
 was completely at his disposal. (Dig., XL, Tit. 12, L. 
 1 and 5.) The Emperor Leo VI, Philesophus, between 
 A. D. 886 and 908, the duration of his reign, abrogated 
 this law of Claudius by his Novel. 59, and the reasons for 
 the abrogation are that the law should be, in the place of 
 a father, to protect, and the man is to be considered as in- 
 sane who would change freedom for slavery, and such an 
 act is, therefore, null and void. See the Constitution of 
 Leo, in the 16th chapter, on the effects of Christianity on 
 the Roman civil law. 
 
 (5.) Some, from being free, became slaves by the oper- 
 ation of certain laws. " A freeman may become a slave.'* 
 (Institutes, III, 20, 2.) 
 
 Thieves were made slaves according to the twelve tables. 
 " If the robbery be committed by day, and if the robber 
 be taken in the act, let him be beaten with rods, and be- 
 come the slave of him whom he robbed." (Table II, 
 Law 2.) 
 
 A free woman who cohabited with a slave might be 
 reduced to the same condition with the slave. 
 
 Under the empire the rule became established that per- 
 sons condemned to death, to the mines, and to fight with 
 wild beasts, lost their freedom, and their property was 
 confiscated, so that they could make no will. (Dig., Lib. 
 XXVIII, Tit. 1, Sec. 8.) But this was not the earlier 
 law. 
 
 By a constitution of Claudius, a freed-man who mis- 
 conducted himself toward his patron was reduced toward 
 
254 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 his former state of slavery. (Suet. Claud., 25.) But 
 this was not the law in the time of Nero. (Tac. Arm., 
 XIII, 27.) Criminals of various classes were doomed to 
 servitude, and deprived of citizenship. They were then 
 termed servi poence, and during the commonwealth were 
 the property of the Eepublic. But this mode of enslav- 
 ing was abolished by Justinian. 
 
 (6.) By diminution. This is the change of a man's for- 
 mer condition, and is threefold — the greater, the less, and 
 the least. The greater is when the man loses both the 
 right of a citizen and his liberty, such as those who be- 
 come slaves of punishment, or freed-men for ingratitude 
 to their patrons, and such as suffer themselves to be sold 
 for the sake of sharing the price. The right of cognation 
 is also lost. (Institutes, I, 16, Law 4 and 6.) In many 
 instances freed-men might still be retained in a state of 
 servitude bordering on slavery. (Institutes, II, 19, Sec. 
 3 and 4.) 
 
 4. Slaves are in the power of their masters. The mas- 
 ters had the power of life and death over them, and what- 
 soever the slave acquired belonged to the master. (Insti- 
 tutes, I, 8, 1.) The slave had no personal rights. In 
 the legal sense he had no caput, no legal rights, no legal 
 capacity, so that he could be sold, or bartered, or paw^ned 
 at the pleasure of his master. Still, positive morality in 
 the social life had its effects in meliorating the condition 
 of the slaves. This — the right of life and death — contin- 
 ued down to a late time, or to the end of the Republic. 
 This power was gradually limited by the Lex Petronia, 
 which forbade slaves to be arbitrarily punished, without 
 the decision of a judge. By a constitution of Antoninus 
 whoever carelessly killed his slave was punished as if he 
 killed the slave of another. Justinian laid further restric- 
 tions on cruel treatment. (Institutes, I, 8, 2 ; Dig., I, 6.) 
 A constitution of Claudius enacted, that if a man exposed 
 
THE ROMAN LAW ON 
 
 his infirm slaves, thev slionltl become free ; and the consti- 
 tution also declared that, if they were put to death, the act 
 should be murder. (Suet, Claud., 25.) It was also en- 
 acted by Constantine, A. D. 334— Cod., Ill, Tit. 38, L. 
 11 — that in sales of division of property, slaves, such as 
 husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sis- 
 ters, should not be separated. This was a Christian ele- 
 ment, unknown to the real civil code of heathen Rome. 
 
 5. Slaves can have no property. Whatever they have 
 at any time acquired, by delivery, stipulation, donation, 
 bequest, or by any other means, belongs to the master. 
 (Inst., II, Tit. 9,'L. 3.) The slaves, however, possessed 
 as their private property the peculium, such as they ac- 
 quired independently of the service they rendered to their 
 masters. Still, even this was mostly under the control 
 of their masters, and it could be seized by them as a mat- 
 ter of right, though under some restrictions, more by cus- 
 tom, however, than by law. (Institutes, II, 12 ; also II, 
 Tit. 20, Sec. 2; and III, Tit. 29.) 
 
 6. A slave can make no contracts. The law says, *' A 
 stipulation is also void if made with one who is under 
 your power, or if he stipulate with you ; for a slave is 
 incapable not only of entering into an obligation with 
 his master, but of binding himself to any other person." 
 (Institutes, III, Tit. 20, Sec. 6.) 
 
 7. Slaves had no connubium, or marriage. Their union 
 with a person of their own rank was called contubernium. 
 This name was also applied to other cases of unlawful 
 connection. (Cod., II, 21, 4; Cod., V, 5, 3 ; Cod., V, 
 5, 9 ; Cod., YI, 59, 9.) Hence, there was no process for 
 adultery in favor of a slave. (Cod., IX, 9, 23 ; Dig., 
 XL VIII, 5, 6.) But though civil forms might be disre- 
 garded among slaves, the laws of nature as to incestuous 
 commerce were held in full force, as it is said, "For 
 although civil policy extinguish civil rights, yet over 
 
256 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 natural riglits it lias no such power." (Institutes, I, 15, 
 3. See, also, Dig., XXIII, Tit. 2, L. 14, Sec. 2.) 
 
 Concubinage is fully described in the last title of Di- 
 gest XXV. It was entered into before witnesses, other- 
 wise it became prostitution. (Dig., XXV, 7, 3.) The 
 parties might dissolve the contract and cohabitation at 
 pleasure. (Dig., XXV, 7, 1.) It did not admit of adul- 
 tery. (Dig., XXV, 7, 3.) As marriages were discour- 
 aged between officers of state in the provinces and the 
 female inhabitants, they were permitted to take concu- 
 bines in the provinces. (Dig., XXV, L. 5 ; Dig., XXIII, 
 2, 38 and 57.) It was regulated by Constantine — Cod., 
 V, 26— and Justinian. (Nov., 18, 74 and 89.) 
 
 The following from Ulpiran, collated with the notes of 
 Gothofredus — Tit. 5, de Ids qui in potestate sunt — will give 
 the exact view of marriage, according to Roman law : 
 "■ Children born of lawful matrimony are in the power 
 of their parents. It is a law of matrimony, if among 
 those who contract the nuptials there is a marriage — con- 
 nuhium — and the male and female have the power, and 
 each consent, if they are in their own power, or their par- 
 ents, if in the power of parents. Marriage — connuhium — 
 is the power of lawfully taking a wife. Roman citizens 
 can contract marriage with Roman citizens, and with 
 Latins or strangers, if it is granted. With slaves there 
 is no marriage — connuhium.^'' On the foregoing Gotho- 
 fredus remarks, confirming his notes with citations from 
 various parts of the civil law : ** What is marriage — 
 connuhium? It is this: The male ought to be of age, 
 the female marriageable, or more than twelve years of 
 age. Three things are required in matrimony : First, 
 that those who contract are Roman citizens ; that they 
 are of due age ; that there is a lawful consent, either by 
 themselves, if they have the right, or by the consent of 
 their parents." 
 
THE KOMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 257 
 
 8. Slaves are transmitted by inheritance from parents 
 to children, like other property. (Institutes, I, Tit. 19.) 
 
 9. A slave can not be a witness legally. (Institutes, 
 II, Tit. 10, Sec. 6 ; Nov. Just., 90, C. 6 ; Leonis Const. 
 49.) But in those cases in which no other witness can 
 be had, the testimony of a slave can be admitted — Dig., 
 XXII, 7 ; Cod., IV, 20 — under certain restrictions. The 
 reason for refusing the testimony was that they could not 
 act independently, because they Avere slaves. 
 
 10. A runaway slave — -fugitivus — could not be lawfully 
 received or harbored ; for to conceal him was furtum — 
 theft. The master was entitled to pursue him wherever 
 he pleased, and it was the duty of all authorities to give 
 him aid in recovering slaves. The rights of the mas- 
 ter were in no wise affected by his running away. (Insti- 
 tutes, III, 13, 3 ; Dig., XI, Tit. 4, De Fugltlvis.) He 
 that concealed him was, by law, pronounced and treated 
 as fur, or thief. Is, qui fugitivum celavit, fur est. The 
 secreter of a fugitive is liable to death also. (Cod., IX, 
 20, 7.) 
 
 11. An injury is never considered as done to a slave, 
 but through him to the master — Institutes, IV, 4, 3 — and 
 the master alone can seek and obtain redress. 
 
 12. The state of slavery among the Romans was term- 
 inated by manumission. It was also terminated by 
 various positive enactments, either by way of reward to 
 the slave or punishment to the master. The Senatus Con- 
 sultuni Silanianum is an example of the former ; and va- 
 rious subsequent constitutions gave freedom to slaves 
 who discovered the perpetrators of certain crimes. (Cod. 
 Theod., Tit. 21, C. 2.) After the establishment of Chris- 
 tianity, liberty, under certain restrictions, could be ac- 
 quired by becoming a monk or clergyman. (Novel., 5, 
 C. 2 ; and Nov., 123, C. 17, 35.) Every individual mas- 
 ter possessed the power of manumitting his slave, if he 
 
 99 
 
258 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 chose to do so, and this manumission could be executed 
 in several forms. 
 
 Manumission was not heard of while slavery was un- 
 known ; but when slavery, in violation of the law of 
 nature, was introduced by unjust human laws, and in- 
 vaded liberty, the benefit of manumission became then a 
 consequence. (Institutes, I, Tit. 5.) 
 
 Manumission was effected by various ways. Cicero 
 mentions three principal ones ; namely, by the census, by 
 vindida, and by iviU. The civil or Roman law enumerates 
 twelve modes of emancipation, without giving a complete 
 list. (Cod., VII, Tit. 6 and 7.) We will select the 
 most usual modes of manumission, as it would be un- 
 necessary for our purpose to trace all the various forms 
 and circumstances, as they would not instruct our read- 
 ers, seeing there are many legal distinctions which are 
 unintelligible to most readers of our times, without much 
 discussion. We will give the leading forms and the most 
 important circumstances of each, avoiding obscure and 
 intricate legal distinctions. 
 
 (1.) By the census. A man was said to be free by the 
 census when his name was inserted in the censor's roll, 
 with the approbation of his master at the public census. 
 
 (2.) By the vindicta. This, perhaps, was the oldest 
 form of manumission. It obtained its name from Yin- 
 dicius, who made known the conspiracy of the Tarquins 
 and was freed on that account. The form was as follows : 
 The master, placing his hand upon the head of the slave, 
 said in presence of the prsetor, "It is my will that this 
 man should be free." The lictor, placing his staff on 
 the head of the slave, said, " I pronounce this man to be 
 free." Then followed congratulations from the master 
 and others to the newly-freed man. (Dig-, XL, 2 ; Cod., 
 VII, 1.) 
 
 (3.) By will or testament. The slave was freed either 
 
THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 259 
 
 directly or by an express clause of the will, and it was 
 left to the heir to eficct the emancipation. Sometimes 
 conditions were annexed, as the payment of a certain 
 sum to the heir, serving the heir during youth, or for 
 a number of years, and often, to some degree, during life. 
 (Institutes, I, 5, 1 ; Dig., XL, Tit. 4 ; Cod., VII, Tit. 2.) 
 (4.) By epistle. Slaves were also manumitted by letter, 
 signed by the master in presence of five witnesses, or be- 
 fore his friends, five witnesses being present at the decla- 
 ration. (Institutes, I, 5, 1.) 
 
 (5.) By adoption. The ancient lawyei-s of Rome de- 
 cided that " slaves" adopted by their masters obtain free- 
 dom by their adoption ; and Justinian ordained, in pur- 
 suance, that " a slave whom any master nominates to be 
 his son, in the presence of a magistrate, becomes free by 
 such nomination, although it does not confer on him any 
 filial relation." (Institutes, I, 11, 12.) 
 
 (G.) By making him tutor. A man, by will, may as- 
 sign his own slave to be a tutor, with liberty ; or if a 
 slave be appointed tutor by testament, without mention- 
 ing liberty, he is tacitly enfranchised, and is therefore 
 legally constituted a tutor. (Institutes, I, 14, 1.) 
 
 (7.) A slave may be made free by being made an heir, 
 and if he be made an heir without liberty, he becomes 
 free of consequence. (Institutes, II, Tit. 14 ; also Tit. 
 14, Sec. 1, 2, 3.) 
 
 (8.) When Christianity prevailed, slaves could be 
 emancipated in the face of the Church by imperial con- 
 stitution. (Institutes, I, 5, 1.) By a constitution of 
 Justinian, a master could set free both his wife who was 
 a slave, and her children, so that they might enjoy free- 
 dom as if born free. (Novel., 78, Cap. 3 and 4.) 
 
 The foregoing comprise the principal modes of eman- 
 cipation ; and yet there seems to have been great latitude 
 given by the Bom an law, and great encouragement to 
 
260 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 emancipation. If the fact of emancipation was duly 
 tested, and the emancipation was not against the few 
 restrictions, the mere form was a secondary matter. The 
 twelve modes or cases given in the Codex — Lib. VII, Tit. 
 6 and 7 — furnish the elucidation of this remark, as only 
 few of them can be reduced to the modes mentioned 
 above; although they are all such as to require legal 
 causes and proper testimonials, according to Roman law. 
 
 13. There were, however, certain restrictions on eman- 
 cipation. It could not take place in fraud of creditors. 
 (Institutes, Lib. I, Tit. 6 ; Dig., XL, 9 ; Cod., YII, 11.) 
 A master under twenty years of age could not manumit 
 without the approbation of his guardian or a court. (In- 
 stitutes, I, 6, 4.) Augustus restrained the right of indis- 
 criminate and unlimited manumission. A slave who 
 was ill treated could compel the master to sell him to 
 another. The power of life and death over slaves was 
 first sought to be legally abolished by Adrian and Anto- 
 ninus Pius. Constantine restrained the power of life 
 and death over the slave. 
 
 The freed-man, though legally and practically free, still 
 retained a relation of dependence on his former master. 
 He received, however, a name which showed he was a 
 Roman citizen. He also wore the to(/a, the dress of the 
 free-born Roman. He was obliged to observe a respect- 
 ful demeanor toward his former master, assist him in 
 misfortune, and not sue him in law. Freed-men who 
 had grossly violated these obligations were punished, and 
 were sometimes again reduced to slavery. 
 
 The freed-men, in certain periods of the Roman gov- 
 ernment, were divided into the Dedititii, the Latini, and 
 the elves Romani. 
 
 The Dedititii were those who were merely subjects of 
 the Roman government. They were neither slaves, citi- 
 zens, nor Latini. Their civil condition was that of a 
 
THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVEUY. 261 
 
 conquered people, who did not individually lose tlieir 
 freedom, but as a community had no political existence. 
 
 The Latini had not the conmuhmm, and were wanting 
 in various characteristics belonging to a Roman citizen. 
 But he could obtain citizenship in several ways. 
 
 In considering the legal condition of the libertini, or 
 freed-men, it is proper to remark that, though they might 
 become cives Romani, their patrons had still certain rights 
 over them. Their state did not allow them to make a 
 will, nor take property under a will, nor of being named 
 tutors to a will. They could take, however, by way of 
 Jidei commissum. The sons of libertini were innenui ; but 
 they were sometimes taunted with their servile origin. 
 
 Paternal power among the Romans extended to the 
 life, death, or condition of the children and grandchil- 
 dren. The father could also sell his children, and other- 
 wise control them. (Institutes, I, Tit. 9 : Cod., VIII, 
 Tit. 47.) 
 
 The act of manumission created a new relation between 
 the manumittor and the slave, which was analogous to 
 that between father and son. The manumittor became, 
 with respect to the freed-man, his patron, and the manu- 
 mitted person became the Ubertus, or freed-man, of the 
 manumittor. The word patronus — from pater — indicates 
 the nature of the relation. The freed-man became the 
 client of the patron. He adopted the Gentile name of 
 the patron. Cicero's freed-man. Tyro, was called M. 
 Tullius Tyro. The patron, too, might punish him sum- 
 marily for neglect of the duties of his station. A law 
 was prepared in the time of Xero, and passed under the 
 later Emperors, to authorize the patron for certain crimes 
 to re-enslave the freed-man. The Lex uElia Sentia gave 
 the patron the right of prosecuting the freed-man for in- 
 gratitude, Ut mgratum acciisare. (Dig., XL, Tit. 9, L. 
 30.) An ivgratus was called liberties impius, as being 
 
262 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 deficient in piety. The freed-man could not, as a general 
 rule, institute a capital charge against his patron. The 
 freed-man was bound to support the patron and his chil- 
 dren in case of necessity, and the management of his prop- 
 erty and the tutelage of his children ; and if he refused, 
 he was called ingratus — ungrateful. (Dig., XXXVII, Tit. 
 14, L. 19.) 
 
 There are many intricate points in the Roman law in 
 reference to the relations of patrons and freed-men. The 
 object we have in view renders it unnecessary to pursue 
 the subject further. (See the various parts of the civil 
 law on this subject, and Anthon's Dictionary of Greek 
 and Roman Antiquities, on the words, Latlnus, Libertus, 
 JDedititli, Patronus.) 
 
 The reader will perceive the vast difference between the 
 Roman laws on emancipation and those of our slave 
 states. In most states an especial act of the Legislature 
 is to be had for each proposed case. In other states, ex- 
 patriation is mostly exacted. So that Christian America, 
 in the matter of emancipation, is infinitely behind heathen 
 Rome in awarding to men the exercise of natural rights. 
 
 IV. We will now consider the actual condition of 
 slaves as history depicts it, in connection with the legal 
 enactments. 
 
 1. Slaves existed at Rome from the first ; but they were 
 not numerous under the kings and in the earlier ages of 
 the Republic. The different trades were carried on chiefly 
 by the clients of the patricians, and the small farms were 
 cultivated by the proprietors and their children. But 
 when new territories were conquered, and the patricians 
 obtained large estates, slaves came into requisition. (Liv., 
 V, C. 12.) Through wars and commerce slaves could 
 easily be obtained at a cheap rate, and their number soon 
 became so great that the poor freemen v/ere thrown out 
 of employ. Julius Csesar endeavored, but in vain, to 
 
THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 263 
 
 enact that of those who attend cattle, one-third should he 
 freemen. (Suet. Jul., 42.) In Sicily, the great corn re- 
 gion for Kome, the numher of agricultural slaves was 
 immense. 
 
 2. As to the numher of slaves, we remark : Though 
 large numbers were soon employed in agriculture, the 
 numher of those who served as personal attendants still 
 continued to he small. But as luxury increased the num- 
 ber of slaves also increased. Atheneeus states that some 
 Romans possessed ten or twenty thousand slaves, or even 
 more. Two hundred was no uncommon number for one 
 person. From the time of Augustus to Justinian we 
 may allow three slaves to one freeman. The free pop- 
 ulation of Italy was then said to be 6,944,000, and the 
 slaves 20,832,000, making a total of 27,776,000. Gib- 
 bon says, ''After weighing every circumstance which 
 could influence the balance, it seems probable that there 
 existed twice as many provincials as there were citizens 
 of either sex and of every age, and that the slaves were 
 at least equal in number to the free inhabitants of the 
 Roman world. The total amount of this imperfect cal- 
 culation would rise to about 120,000,000 of persons.'' 
 
 According to this the number of slaves and free per- 
 sons was each 60,000,000. 
 
 3. Masters were responsible for the acts of their slaves ; 
 yet the master acquired no rights against the slave in 
 consequence of his derelicts. Other persons might obtain 
 rights against a slave in consequence of his wrong acts, 
 but their right could not be prosecuted against him till he 
 was manumitted. The slave was protected against inju- 
 ries from other persons. If the slave was killed, the mas- 
 ter might either prosecute the killer for a capital offense, 
 or sue for damages under the Lex Aquilia. (Dig., IX, 
 Tit. 2.) The master had also a pmtoi'ia actio to twice 
 the amount of the estimated damage against those who 
 
264 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 corrupted his slave, and led him into bad practices. 
 (Dig., XI, Tit. 3, Sec. 1, where the words of the text 
 are given.) He had also an action against a person 
 who committed stuprum with his female slave. (Dig*, 
 XL VII, Tit. 10, Sec. 25.) In all these guards there was 
 no reference to the benefit of the slave, but to the master 
 only. 
 
 4. On the punishment of slaves we refer to the laws 
 and the history of facts, as recorded by ancient authors. 
 The treatment of slaves varied greatly, according to the 
 dispositions of thei^; masters ; but they appear, on the 
 whole, to have been treated with greater severity and cru- 
 elty than among the Athenians. Originally the master 
 could use the slave as he pleased. Under the Republic 
 the law does not seem to have protected the person or life 
 of the slave at all ; but the cruelty of masters was to 
 some extent restrained* under the empire. The general 
 treatment of slaves, however, seems to have been but 
 little affected by legislative enactments. In early times, 
 when the number of slaves was small, they were treated 
 with more indulgence and more like members of the fam- 
 ily. (Hor., Ep. II, 1, 162.) But with the increase of 
 numbers and luxury the scene was changed. 
 
 The obedience of slaves was enforced with severe disci- 
 pline. The masters availed themselves of the latitude of 
 the law in this respect to the utmost extent. One of the 
 most easy punishments was their removal from the city 
 to the country, where they were obliged to work in chains 
 and fetters. (Plant. Mort., I, 1, 18.) They were fre- 
 quently beaten with sticks, or scourged with the whip ; 
 but these were so common as to create no sensation, as 
 Chrysalus says. (Plant. Bacchid., I, 3, 131.) Runa- 
 ways, who were also called fures — thieves — were branded 
 on the forehead with a mark, or stigma, and Avere there- 
 fore called notati, or inscripti. (Mort., VIII, 75, 9.) They 
 
THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 265 
 
 were sometimes luuig up Ly tlic hands with weights tied 
 to their feet. (Phmt. Asin., IT, 2, 37, 38.) A blow with 
 the hand was a ready discipline. (Juv., 9, 5.) If a slave 
 spoke or coughed at a forbidden time he was flogged by a 
 severe master. (Sen., Ep. 47.) The dress of Roman 
 ladies when not duly adjusted by the slaves, gave occa- 
 sion to severe correction on the slave's back. (Mort., Lib. 
 n, Ep. 66.) Burning alive was resorted to, and Tertul- 
 lian says it was first used for slaves alone. ( Tertul. de 
 anima, 1.) But it w^ere endless to go through the varied 
 modes which a cruel ingenuity invented to torture and 
 keep in subjection the poor slaves. (See Bibl. Repos. for 
 1835, Vol. VI, pp. 422-424.) The laws which abolished 
 the master's power of life and death were obeyed with 
 great reluctance, and virtually repealed by an increase 
 in inferior punishments. 
 
 5. The principles of justice, however, comprised in the 
 civil law, seem to have made their impression from time 
 to time on the Roman mind, so as to produce enactments 
 restraining the cruelties toward slaves. And though the 
 remedy was not sufficient to cancel the evil, it was, at 
 least, a pretext against the system. The first law in their 
 favor was the lex Cornelia de siccariis, under the dictator- 
 ship of Tulla, about eighty years before Christ, by which 
 the killing even of a slave became punishable. (Dig-, 
 XL VIII, Tit. 8.) The power of life and death was 
 restrained by Claudius the successor of Caligula, about 
 A. D. 43. (Dig., XL VIII, Tit. 8, Law 2.) Nero, in 
 A. D. 61, by the Lex Petronia deprived masters of the 
 power of sending their slaves to fight wild beasts at the 
 public shows. The Emperor Adrian, about A. D. 120, 
 prohibited generally cruel treatment toward slaves, and he 
 banished Umbricia, a lady of quality, for five years, be- 
 cause, for slight causes, she treated cruelly her slaves. An- 
 toninus Pius, about A. D. 140, applied the lex Cornelia de 
 
 23 
 
266 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 siccariis, especially to masters of slaves ; and the sairiQ 
 law was strengthened by Severns, A. D. 195, and by Con- 
 stantine. (Cod., IX, Tit. 14.) Slaves might always in- 
 duce an investigation by flying to the statutes of the 
 princes, according to the decision of Valentinian, Theo- 
 dosius, and Arcadius, A. D. 386. (Cod., I, Tit. 25.) 
 And Arcadius and Honorius, A. D. 397, ordained that 
 all who fled to the churches were protected. (Cod., I, Tit. 
 12.) Nevertheless, slaveholders who were ill-disposed, 
 had no very effectual restraint on them in consequence of 
 these restraining laws. Yet the prevalence of Christianity 
 greatly relieved the slaves and procured for them the ces- 
 sation of many cruelties, and the mitigation of most, as 
 we shall see, when w^e come to consider the discipline of 
 the primitive Church. 
 
 6. The slave-trade of Rome was a large business. The 
 traders called manganes were held in disrepute, and were 
 distinguished from the merchants. The civil law de- 
 scribes them thus : *' Men are not to be considered as 
 merchandise ; on this account the traders are called man- 
 ganeSy or venal persons, but not merchants." Manganes 
 non mercafores, sed venaliciarii ajjpellati stmt, (Dig., L, 
 Tit. 16, Law 207.) The trade was lucrative, and great 
 fortunes, then as now, were accumulated by it. The 
 slave-dealers usually accompanied an army, and pur- 
 chased the prisoners for a small sum, and sold them at 
 advanced prices. The trader Thoranius, who lived in the 
 time of Augustus, w^as well known. (Suet. Octav., 69; 
 Macrob. Sat., II, 4.) Martial — VIII, 13 — mentions an- 
 other great dealer in slaves, named Gargilianus. Slaves 
 were sold at auction at Rome, and were exposed on scaf- 
 folds, and exhibited for examination. Purchasers took 
 care to have the slaves stripped naked in order to detect 
 the defects which the dealers endeavored to conceal. 
 Slaves of great beauty sold at extravagant prices. The 
 
THE BOM AN LAW ON SLAVERY. 267 
 
 characters of the slaves were written on scrolls and placed 
 ion their necks. 
 
 7. The value of slaves varied with circumstances. At 
 the camp of Lnciilhis slaves sold for four drachmae each. 
 Under the empire, or on the increase of wealth and lux- 
 ury, slaves brought a very high price. Beautiful slaves 
 always sold highest. Slaves who brought a profit to the 
 owners brought a high price. Literary men, doctors and 
 stage-players, brought a high price. 
 
 8. The customary allowance for a slave was a modius 
 or peck of corn a week. Salt and oil were commonly 
 allowed, and, occasionally, vinegar, salt-fish, and olives. 
 They had daily a pint and a half of wine. Slaves near 
 towns procured for themselves other necessaries and even 
 luxuries. 
 
 9. They were not permitted to wear the toga or citi- 
 zen's gown and other badges of citizenship. In most 
 other respects they were clothed like others, till Alexander 
 Severus appointed a certain garb for them. This was 
 soon abandoned, because it showed to the slaves the supe- 
 riority of their numbers. 
 
 10. Masters could work their slaves as many hours in 
 the day as they saw fit, but they usually allowed them the 
 holy days and festivals. The laborers on the great farms 
 were shut up at night in an egastulicmy or work -house, 
 resembling a prison. Each slave had a separate cell. 
 Public holidays, amounting to about thirty in a year, 
 were allowed them. 
 
 11. There were, however, certain privileges awarded to 
 slaves. They were permitted to follow any religion they 
 pleased. Public slaves were employed about temples. 
 The customary rights of burial were allowed them, be- 
 cause death put an end to all human distinctions. It was 
 the duty of the master to bury the slave. (Dig., XI, Tit. 
 7, Sec. 31.) At the festival of Saturn special indulgen- 
 
268 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 ces of speech and conduct were callowed them. But all 
 such privileges and indulgences depended on the mere 
 will of the master, and were never considered as a matter 
 of right. 
 
 12. Masters were often at great pains to teach slaves 
 various occupations, and even accomplishments ; and 
 instructors were chosen often for this purpose. The 
 ohject of the education was the mere benefit of the mas- 
 ter, and not the mental or moral culture of the slaves. 
 There was, however, no law that prevented the instruc- 
 tion of slaves in any branch of learning. The employ- 
 ments of slaves, therefore, corresponded to all the profit- 
 able pursuits in which the master could advantageously 
 employ him. 
 
 13. Slaves were divided into various classes. They 
 were either public or private. Public slaves were thoso 
 which belonged to the state or to public bodies, such as 
 provinces, mu7ucipia, collegia, decuria, etc., or to the em- 
 peror in his sovereign capacity, and employed in public 
 duties, and not attached to his household or private 
 estate. These were acquired by war or purchase. Public 
 slaves of an inferior character were employed as rowers 
 in the fleet and in the servile public occupations. (Dig., 
 I, Tit. 5, Sec. 1.) 
 
 A body of slaves belonging to one person were called 
 familia. (Dig., L, Tit. 16, Sec. 40.) When there were 
 many in one house they were frequently divided into 
 decuria, or tens. But independent of this division they 
 were divided into certain classes of a higher or lower 
 rank, such as Ordinarii, Vtdgares, Mcdiastirii, Quales- 
 quotes. (Dig., XLVIT, Tit. 10, Sec. 15.) It is doubtful 
 whether the literary slaves, or literati, were comprised in 
 any of these classes. 
 
 V. We may now take a survey of the evil nature and 
 effects of Roman slavery. The nature of the evil is man- 
 
THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 269 
 
 ifest from the foregoing survey, and wc need not dwell on 
 it ; yet some of the evil effects may here be noticed. 
 
 1. We may consider the condition of slaves in the 
 latter days of the republic, and during the empire previ- 
 ous to Constantine, as one of great hardship. Their lot 
 was depending on the temper of their masters, not on the 
 laws nor on humane and enlightened public opinion. 
 Even the classical authors give mostly the fair side of 
 their state, as they wrote mostly about household slaves, 
 whose condition was far above those in the country. The 
 sufferings from the egastida of the country are rarely 
 noticed. Slaves were valued only as they represented 
 money. Hortensius cared less for the health of his slaves 
 than for that of his fish. It was a question, in time of a 
 storm, w^hether slaves, horses, or other freight should be 
 cast into the sea to save the ship. 
 
 2. The insurrections of the slaves, from time to time, 
 were constant causes of alarm. The days of revolt were 
 lessened from the close supervision over the slaves — from 
 their ignorance, and the impossibility of harmony among 
 them. As many were emancipated, and all might be, 
 this led the more intelligent to wait their time with some 
 degree of patience, yet there were several insurrections 
 which greatly disturbed Rome. 
 
 As early as 458 before Christ Appius Herdonius cre- 
 ated a revolt among the slaves. (Liv., Ill, C. 15.) In 
 the year 415 before Christ it was announced that the 
 servile bands had conspired against the city in several 
 places. (Liv., IV, 45.) In the year 271 before Christ 
 twenty-five slaves were crucified for a conspiracy. (Liv., 
 XXI, 33.) In 184 B. C. a great servile commotion 
 arose in Apulia — Liv., XXXIX, 29 — in which seven 
 thousand men were condemned. In 135 B. C. a great 
 insurrection of slaves happened in Sicily, amounting to 
 seventy thousand, of whom twenty thousand are said to 
 
270 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 have fallen in the defeat. The famous servile war in the 
 time of Crassiis and Pompey, occasioned the slaughter of 
 one hundred and five thousand slaves, besides many 
 others not enumerated. The history of the insurrections 
 of slaves in Italy would fill a volume. 
 
 Besides these insurrectionary and political troubles, 
 slavery was the parent of many moral and social evils. 
 We will place this before our readers, from the pen of 
 Mr. George Bancroft, former Secretary of the Navy : 
 
 "3. ROMAN SLAVERY IN THE RURAL DISTRICTS. 
 
 ** When Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, on his way to 
 Spain to serve in the army, before Numantia traveled in 
 Italy, he was led to observe the impoverishment of the 
 great body of citizens in the rural districts. Instead of 
 little farms, studding the country with their pleasant 
 aspect, and nursing an independent race, he beheld nearly 
 all the lands of Italy engrossed by large proprietors, and 
 the plow was in the hands of the slave. In the early 
 periods of the state, Cincinnatus at work in his field was 
 the model of patriotism ; agriculture and war had been 
 the labor and office of freemen ; but of these, the greater 
 number had now been excluded from employment by the 
 increase of slavery, and its tendency to confer the ex- 
 clusive possession of tiie soil on the few. The palaces of 
 the wealthy towered in the landscape in solitary grandeur ; 
 the plebeians hid themselves in miserable hovels. De- 
 prived of the dignity of freeholders, they could not even 
 hope for occupation ; for the opulent land-owner preferred 
 rather to make use of his slaves, whom he could not but 
 maintain, and who constituted his family. Excepting 
 the small number of the immeasurably rich, and a feeble 
 but constantly-decreasing class of independent husband- 
 men, poverty was extreme. The King of Syria had rev- 
 erenced the edicts of the Koman envoys, as though they 
 
THE K I\I A N LAW ON S L A V E 11 Y .. 271 
 
 had been the commands of Heaven ; tlie rulers of Egypt 
 had exalted the Romans above the immortal gods, and 
 from the fertile fields of Western Africa, Masinissa had 
 sent word that he was but a Roman overseer. Yet a 
 great majority of the Roman citizens, now that they had 
 become conquerors of the world, were poorer than their 
 forefathers, who had extended their ambition only to the 
 plains around Rome. 
 
 "4. INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY ON FREE LABOR. 
 
 ** Philanthropy, when it contemplates a slaveholding 
 country, may have its first sympathies excited for the 
 slaves ; but it is a narrow benevolence which stops there. 
 The needy freeman is in a worse condition. The slave 
 has his task, and also his home and his bread. He is the 
 member of a wealthy family. The indigent freeman has 
 neither labor, nor house, nor food ; and, divided by a 
 broad gulf from the upper class, he has neither hope nor 
 ambition. He is so abject that even the slave despises 
 him. For the interest of the slaveholder is diametrically 
 opposite to that of the free laborer. The slaveholder is 
 the competitor of the free laborer, and by the lease of 
 slaves takes the bread from his mouth. The wealthiest 
 man in Rome was the competitor of the poorest free car- 
 penter. The patricians took away the business of the 
 sandal-maker. The existence of slavery made the opulent 
 owners of bondmen the rivals of the poor — greedy after 
 the profits of their labor, and monopolizing those profits 
 through their slaves. In every community where slavery 
 is tolerated, the poor freeman w^ill always be found com- 
 plaining of hard times. 
 
 «5. INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY ON DOilESTIC LIFE. 
 
 " The great servile insurrection w^as designed to effect 
 the emancipation of slaves^ and both were unsuccessful. 
 
272 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 But God is just, and his laws are invincible. The social 
 evil next made its effects apparent on the patricians, and 
 began with silent but sure influence to corrupt the virtue 
 of families, and even to destroy domestic life. Slavery- 
 tends to diminish the frequency of marriages in the class 
 of masters. In a state where emancipation is forbidden, 
 the slave population will perpetually gain in relative 
 numbers. We will not stop to develop the three or four 
 leading causes of this result — pride and the habit of 
 luxury — the facilities of licentious gratification — the cir- 
 cumscribed limits of productive industry — some of which 
 causes operate exclusively and all of them principally on 
 the free. The position is certain, and is universal ; no 
 where was it more amply exemplified than in Rome. 
 The rich preferred the dissoluteness of indulgence to mar- 
 riage ; and celibacy became so general, that the aristoc- 
 racy was obliged by laAV to favor the institution which, 
 in a society where all are free, constitutes the solace of 
 labor and the ornament of life. A Roman censor, in an 
 address to the people, stigmatized matrimony as a 
 troublesome companionship, and recommended it only 
 as a patriotic sacrifice of private pleasure to public duty. 
 The depopulation of the upper class was so considerable, 
 that the waste required to be supplied by emancipation ; 
 and repeatedly there have been periods when the majority 
 of the Romans had once been bondmen. It was this 
 extensive celibacy and the consequent want of succession 
 that gave a peculiar character to the Roman laws relating 
 to adoption. 
 
 "6. INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY ON CIVIC VIRTUE. 
 
 " If a mass of slaves could, at any moment, on break- 
 ing their fetters, find themselves capable of establishing a 
 liberal government — if they could at once, on being 
 emancipated, or on emancipating themselves, appear pos* 
 
THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 273 
 
 sessed of civic virtue, slavery would be deprived of more 
 tnan half its horrors. But the institution, while it binds 
 the body, corrupts the mind. The outrages which men 
 commit when they first regain their freedom, furnish the 
 strongest argument against the condition which can ren- 
 der human nature capable of such crimes. Idleness, and 
 treachery, and theft are the vices of slavery. The fol- 
 lowers of Spartacus, when the pinnacles of the Alps were 
 almost within their sight, turned aside to plunder ; and 
 the Roman army was able to gain advantage when the 
 fugitive slave was changed from a defender of personal 
 liberty into a plunderer. 
 
 «7. INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY ON PUBLIC MORALS- 
 
 **In like manner the effect of slavery became visible 
 on public morals. Among the slaves, there was no such 
 thing as the sanctity of marriage ; dissoluteness was 
 almost as general as the class. The slave was ready 
 to assist in the corruption of his master's family. The 
 virtues of self-denial were unknown. But the picture of 
 Roman immorality is too gross to be exhibited. Its 
 excess can be estimated from the extravagance of the 
 reaction. When the Christian religion made its way 
 through the oppressed classes of society, and gained 
 strength by accj^uiring the affections of the miserable 
 whose woes it solaced, the abandoned manner of the 
 cities excited the reproof of fanaticism. When domestic 
 life had almost ceased to exist, the universal lewdness 
 could be checked only by the most exaggerated eulogies 
 of absolute chastity. Convents and nunneries grew up 
 at the time when more than half the world were excluded 
 from the rites of marriage, and were condemned, by the 
 laws of the empire, to promiscuous indulgence. Vows 
 of virginity were the testimony which religion bore 
 against the enormities of the age. Spotless purity could 
 
274 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 alone fitly rebuke the sliamefulness of excess. As in 
 raging diseases the most violent and unnatural remedies 
 need to be applied for a season, so the transports of en- 
 thusiasm sometimes appear necessary to stay the infection 
 of a moral pestilence. Thus riot produced asceticism ; 
 and monks, and monkish eloquence, and monastic vows, 
 were the protest against the general depravity of man- 
 ners." 
 
 VI. We will here adduce some of those great legal and 
 moral principles of justice in the Roman code which are 
 at variance with the system of Roman slavery, and with 
 the legal principles on which it is founded. These have, 
 or ought to have, the same weight in forming laws, that 
 postulates and axioms have in geometry, or the fixed 
 principles of any art or science have in discussions on 
 the arts and sciences to which they relate. 
 
 1. Without going over the entire range of the civil 
 law we will adduce those we find in the Institutes of 
 Justinian, which are an abridgment of the Pandects and 
 the Code, and contain the leading elements of the Roman 
 law. Although these are already quoted as they occurred 
 in the selections we have given from the Institutes, we 
 will here place them in juxtaposition, so that we may at 
 once see their force and meaning. 
 
 ** Justice is the constant and perpetual disposition to 
 render to every man his due." (Institutes, Lib. I, 
 Tit. 1.) 
 
 The object of the science of law is what is ** just and 
 unjust." (Institutes, I, 1, 1.) 
 
 ** The precepts of the law are, to live honestly, to 
 hurt no one, and to give every one his due." (Institutes, 
 1,1,3.) 
 
 "Liberty, from which we are denominated free, is the 
 natural power of acting as we please, unless prevented 
 by force or by the law." (Institutes, I, 3, 1.) 
 
THE ROJtIAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 275 
 
 ■ ^' Captivity and slavery are contrary to tlic law of na- 
 ture ; for by that law all men arc born free." (Institutes, 
 Lib. I, Tit. 2, L. 2.) 
 
 "All men, by the law of nature, are born free." (In- 
 stitutes, I, 5.) 
 
 ** Slavery is contrary to natural right." (Institutes, 
 I, 3, 2.) 
 
 ** Although civil policy may extinguish civil rights, 
 yet over natural rights it has no such power." (Insti- 
 tutes, I, 16.) 
 
 *' No length of time will be sufficient to found a pre- 
 scription ; as when a man holds a free person as a slave, 
 a thing sacred or religious, or a fugitive slave." (Insti- 
 tutes, II, 6, 1.) 
 
 *' Freedom once obtained shall not afterward be re- 
 voked." (Institutes, III, 13, 5.) 
 
 2. In connection with the foregoing, drawn from the 
 Institutes, we will give the following regulce juris an- 
 tiqui — rules of ancient law — as they are found among the 
 collection of two hundred and eleven rules at the close 
 of the Digest or Pandects, Lib. I, Tit. 17. As these are 
 few and short, and the Latin very expressive, we will give 
 both the Latin and our translation of these rules, or legal 
 maxims, or acknowledged first principles, which are in 
 force in all courts in which justice and equity have sway. 
 
 Rule 20. " Quotiens dubia interpretatio libertatis est, 
 secundum libertatem respondendum est." " Whenever 
 there is a doubtful interpretation about liberty, the decis- 
 ion is to be in favor of liberty." 
 
 Rule 32. '' Quod attinet ad jus civile, servi pro nullis 
 habentur ; non tamen et jure naturali : quia, quod ad jus 
 naturale attinet, omnes homines ajquales sunt." ** Slaves 
 are estimated pro nullis, [as nothing,] as it respects civil 
 right, but not by natural right, because, as it concerns 
 natural rights, all men are equal." 
 
276 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 Rule 90. **Iu omnibus quidem, maxime tamen in jure 
 sequitas spectanda sit," *' In all things, especially those 
 of civil right, equity is to be observed." 
 
 Rule 106. " Libertas insestimabilis res est." ** Liberty 
 IS a thing most to be esteemed." 
 
 - Rule 122. "Libertas omnibus rebus favorabilior est ;" 
 or, "Favorabilis semper libertas." "Liberty in all things 
 is more favorable than slavery;" or, "Liberty is always 
 favorable." 
 
 Rule 146. " Quod quis, dum servus est, egit : proiicere 
 libero facto not potest." " Whatever a person has done 
 while a slave, he can not profit by it when he becomes 
 free." 
 
 Rule 206. " Jure natura3 jequum est, nominem cum alte- 
 rius detrimento et injuria fieri locupletiorem." " By the 
 law of nature it is just that no one, by the loss or injmy 
 of another, should become richer." 
 
 Rule 209. " Servitutem mortalitati fere comparamus." 
 *' We may almost compare slavery to death." 
 
 3. We will now show how these elementary principles 
 of natural law, of justice, and of liberty in the Roman 
 civil code conflict with the system of Roman slavery as 
 established by the statutes of the Roman law. 
 
 According to the civil law, the law of nature is of su- 
 preme authority, and civil law has no power over it ; yet 
 Roman slavery is in direct conflict with the law of nature, 
 and is in opposition to its decisions. 
 
 Slavery is contrary to the law of nature or to natural 
 right ; yet the Roman code, through the viciousness of 
 men, has established slavery, contrary as it is to natural 
 law and the principles of right in its own body of law. 
 
 All men are born free ; yet, in opposition to this law 
 of nature, the common law maxim obtained, that the 
 child follows the condition of the mother ; so that if the 
 mother be a slave, the child is also a slave. 
 
THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 277 
 
 Justice renders to every man his due. Its object is 
 whatever is just and right. Slavery deprives men of 
 their due, such as personal liberty, personal security, and 
 the pursuit of happiness. It also infringes on the princi- 
 ples of what is just and right, and introduces injustice 
 and wrong in treating men as slaves. 
 
 The precepts of justice are to live honestly, to hurt no 
 one, and render to all their due. But the precepts of 
 slavery teach practices dishonorable to man, as exhibited 
 in the slave system. It injures men in their persons, 
 property, and good name, in making them slaves and 
 treating them as such. It withholds from men their 
 proper rights of liberty, security, and happiness. 
 
 ** Liberty is the natural power to act as we please, un- 
 less prevented by force or law." Slavery divests of this 
 liberty, so that its subjects can not act according to their 
 own wills, but according to the will of others. To de- 
 prive persons of liberty there is no recurrence to justice 
 or right, but to force or violence ; or, which is the same, 
 by laws that are enforced with the entire power of the 
 army, navy, and municipal power of the state, compris- 
 ing also the judicial, legislative, and administrative pow- 
 ers of all civil officers. 
 
 <'No length of time can give a prescriptive right to 
 enjoyment of a thing unjustly acquired." This is not 
 so with slavery. Long possession is a plea in the dave 
 code. 
 
 In all doubtful matters about liberty, decisions are to 
 be on the side of liberty. This is not so, at least in prac- 
 tice, in the slave code. 
 
 '' All men are equal by natural law and right." This 
 is the principle adopted by Jefferson in the Declaration 
 of Independence, and it was the boast of the Roman law. 
 Slavery in all its codes, whether Egyptian, Grecian, Ro- 
 man, or American, ignores this great first truth, though 
 
278 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 it requires no argument, to establish it, it being a moral 
 and legal maxim incontrovertible in its principle. 
 
 " Liberty is always favorable in all tilings." This law 
 maxim was overlooked by the civil code of Kome, first 
 admitting and then legalizing slavery. 
 
 " A freed person can derive no benefit from what he 
 did while a slave." The disabilities of slavery, even 
 when a man is emancipated, follows him to the end of 
 his life. 
 
 *' Slavery may be almost compared to death." The 
 Roman code considered slaves as nulli, mortui, quadru- 
 pedes — as nothing, dead, beasts. 
 
 The great moral, legal principles of justice and right 
 in the Homan code condemned the system which was 
 established under its statutes ; or, in other words, the 
 statutory laws which established slavery were at variance 
 with the constitutional principles of justice and right in 
 the Roman civil law. It is the same with the United 
 States and every slave state ; those laws which establish 
 or tolerate slavery are in opposition to the great princi- 
 ples of justice in the Declaration of Independence, the 
 Constitution of the United States, and the constitutions 
 of all the states, Avhether free or slave states. 
 
 VII. It remains now to present a comparison between 
 the Roman and American codes on slavery, and point out 
 wherein they agree and wherein they differ. 
 
 1. There are several points in which the two systems 
 agree. 
 
 (1.) In the common principles of the system they are 
 agreed. These may comprise, as principal, depriving hu- 
 man beings of their natural rights, of personal liberty, 
 personal security, and the pursuit of happiness. They 
 agree in giving the master the complete control over the 
 slave, so as to make him property, deprive him of mar- 
 riage, and degrade him, mentally and bodily, in his social. 
 
THE ROMAN LAW ON SLAVERY. 279 
 
 civil, and ecclesiastical relations. In these respects there 
 is a most perfect agreement between the slave codes of 
 Rome and the United States. 
 
 (2.) Both codes adopt prin"ciples subversive of slavery. 
 That all men are created free and equal is taught by both 
 codes, and other great principles of justice in accordance 
 Avith them. And some of the American principles are 
 directly taken from the civil law, as will be seen by those 
 who w^ill examine the extracts we have given from the 
 civil code. Hence, neither system can be supported with- 
 out nullifying the great principles of justice and right 
 contained in their respective codes. 
 
 2. There are also some respects in which the two codes 
 materially differ. We will mention the following : 
 
 (1.) We have no statute or recognized custom of the 
 Roman law by which the slave was forbidden the use of 
 letters. Although no provision was formally made for 
 his instruction, there was no prohibition by which he was 
 debarred from the pursuit of any branch of knowledge 
 which his circumstances enabled him to pursue. It was 
 reserved for our Christian country, in nearly all the slave 
 states, to forbid and prevent slaves from learning or from 
 improving their minds. Here is a barbarism in a Chris- 
 tian country unknown in a heathen. 
 
 (2.) Our laws prohibit emancipation. In some of the 
 states the few cases occurring must be by special legis- 
 lation for the specified cases. In the border states, where 
 emancipation is allowed by conformity to the statutes, 
 the freed person must leave the state, and the mode of 
 procedure is both intricate and vexatious. In heathen 
 Rome, as we have seen, every one w^as at liberty to set 
 his slaves free for any reason he saw fit, and the restric- 
 tions were so few that, in almost all cases, emancipation 
 might be easily effected. Our slave laws pay no regard 
 to the conscientious scruples of masters, but coerce them 
 
280 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 to retain their slaves whether they will or no ; and in en- 
 deavoring to relieve themselves from the embarrassment, 
 good men are restrained with oppressive restraints, in- 
 fringing on the sacred rights of conscience. 
 
THE NEW TESTAMENT. 281 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 1. When our Savior appeared, slavery reigned tlirongh- 
 out the whole Roman empire, which then embraced the 
 civilized w^orld and much of the barbarous portions of it. 
 Under the first Caesars slavery reached its higlit of enor- 
 mity. No part of the empire, except Judea, was free 
 from the evil. " The Sicilian dungeons were full. Medi- 
 ans, M^esians, Bithynians, were driven in crowds to the 
 Roman metropolis. Men-stealers were on the alert in 
 the fastnesses of the African Troglodytes. The voice of 
 the slave auctioneer was heard, early and late, at Corinth 
 and Delos. From Britain to Parthia, and from the 
 woods of Sweden to the great African desert, the cries 
 of the bondman went up to heaven." (Biblical Repos- 
 itory for 1835, p. 428.) From one-half to two-thirds 
 of the people of Rome and its provinces were slaves. 
 
 2. In Judea slavery did not exist before it came under 
 the Roman Government ; and even then it does not seem 
 to have been introduced in any formal way. Yet that 
 there were some slaves in possession of the civil func- 
 tionaries of Rome is pretty certain. The resident Ro- 
 mans doubtless brought with them their slaves, as a part 
 of their domestic arrangement. King Agrippa exhibited 
 at one time, in Judea, seven hundred pairs of slaves as 
 gladiators. (Joseph. Hist., 19.) We find in the history 
 of the New Testament two centurions who had servants, 
 or slaves, in all probability, as waiters, One is men- 
 
 24 
 
282 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 tioned by our Lord — Matt, viii, 5-13 — whose servant our 
 Lord healed. The other is mentioned in Acts x, xi, who 
 had devout soldiers, or servants, as waiters. 
 
 There was no very express mention of slavery in the 
 Gospels, although there are allusions and references to it. 
 The message of our Lord was first to the Jews, and as 
 they had no slaves he did not come in contact with the 
 system in ministering to them. Besides, as Paul was the 
 apostle to the Gentiles at large, though Peter opened the 
 door to them, we have in the Pauline teachings, in regard 
 to slavery, slaves, and slaveholders, the inspired instruc- 
 tions that are to govern the Church. And as Paul was 
 the apostle to the Gentiles, and a free-born Eoman citi- 
 zen, it was fitting that he should give to the Gentiles the 
 Christian instructions adapted to them which he actually 
 did, a full digest of which we will present in future pages. 
 
 The state of the question here seems to be briefly thus : 
 
 1. As slavery had never been permitted by the Jewish 
 law in the Hebrew commonwealth, our Savior never came 
 into contact with the system among his Jewish brethren. 
 
 2. The incidental reference to it in regard to the centu- 
 rions did not bring the subject before him. 3. And the 
 legal or Christian teaching on this Avas reserved for Paul, 
 as the future history plainly shows. 
 
 It is proper, however, further to remark on this subject, 
 (1.) Nothing can be inferred, from our Lord's silence 
 on the subject, in favor of slavery. Are we to infer that 
 he approved of the sports of the amphitheater at Rome, 
 of the conflicts of gladiators, fighting with wild beasts, 
 the scenes of the Saturnalia, the worship of the Acropolis 
 at Corinth, because he was silent in regard to them ? 
 
 (2.) He never uttered any thing that can be construed 
 in favor of slavery ; and its advocates find no utterance 
 of his to support the system. 
 
 (3.) There are fundamental principles in the teachings 
 
THE N E W TESTAMENT. 283 
 
 of our Savior wliich arc opposed to tlic wliolc system of 
 .slavery, and wliich arc violated in perpetuating slavery, 
 as we shall have occasion to show. 
 
 3. Both Christ and his apostles expressly condemn the 
 practice of hnnian slavery as a great sin. 
 
 Our Lord solemnly reaffirmed the Levitical moral law 
 of Moses. (Matt, v, 17, 18; Luke xvi, 17.) And the 
 moral law condemns slavery in all its constituent parts. 
 
 The apostles also pronounced the same condemnation 
 by their similar ratification and confirmation of the moral 
 law. (See Eom. iii, 31; vii, 12; x, 4 ; Gal. iii, 24; 
 1 Tim. i, 8-12.) The whole scope of their teaching fully 
 shows this. 
 
 After such repeated ratifications of the moral law, there 
 w^as no necessity that each of the specific crimes should 
 be enumerated. Hence, the mode of illustration was 
 mostly used in the New Testament, in reference to the 
 Mosaic code, as in the case of man- stealers, or slave-deal- 
 ers — 1 Tim. i, 10 — who are considered, morally, as in 
 the same class with liars, perjured persons, '* and if there 
 be any other thing which is contrary to sound doctrine." 
 
 That they did not condemn slavery by name is most 
 true, because, we suppose, there was no one word in the 
 Greek language which as definitely signifies slavery as in 
 our language. At any rate, this was not the chosen mode 
 of Christ and his apostles, although they took a more 
 effectual and plainer method, by forbidding all the con- 
 stituent elements of slavery, and enjoining those moral 
 observances that are destructive of it. (See Sinfulness 
 of American Slavery, by the author of this volume, I, 
 310-343.) 
 
 4. The law of love is against slavery. This was given 
 to the Hebrews in these words : " Thou shalt love thy 
 neighbor as thyself: I am the Lord." Lev. xix, 18. 
 This law is repeated by our Lord. (Matt, xxii, 39.) It 
 
284 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 requires masters to render a just equivalent to tlieir serv- 
 ants ; but slavery refuses to do this. "Love worketh no 
 ill to his neighbor." This is not true in regard to slav- 
 ery. (Id., I, 275.) 
 
 5. The golden rule prohibits slavery. " Therefore, all 
 things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, 
 do ye even so to them ; for this is the law and the proph- 
 ets." Matt, vii, 12. No one under the influence of 
 this rule would make a slave, or continue another in that 
 state, nor would he willingly subject himself and children 
 to that state. (Id., I, 278-280.) 
 
 6. The brotherhood of man, as laid down in the New 
 Testament, is against slavery. " One is your master, or 
 leader, and all ye are brethren." Matt, xxiii, 8. To 
 apply the term brethren to those who are slaves, is a per- 
 version of language. The very word brother implies 
 father, and son, and endearing, kindred relationship. 
 Slavery confesses no father, nor brother, nor sister — not 
 even a mother, except as a person to give the title to the 
 property of the progeny, as a chattel. The Christian 
 brotherhood is totally at variance with the illegitimacy 
 of slavery, which knows no father, brother, or sister, in 
 their proper acceptations. Cognation, agnation, or affin- 
 ity, is totally disowned by slavery, as slaves are all sjm- 
 rii, or bastards, or apatres, without fathers. 
 
 7. There is, indeed, an equality in Christianity at vari- 
 ance with the inequality of slavery. " Neither be ye 
 called master, [leader,^ for one is your master, even 
 Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your 
 servant, and Avhosoever shall exalt himself shall be 
 abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be ex- 
 alted." Matt, xxiii, 10-12. The Declaration of In- 
 dependence declares, "All men are created free and 
 equal." The Roman law, v\hen uttering the principles 
 of justice, declares, "All men, from the first, were born 
 
THE N E AV TESTAMENT. 285 
 
 free;" and elsewhere, "All men are born equal." In 
 Christianity there is neither Greek nor Jew, bond nor 
 free; but all are one in Christ. (Col. iii, 11. Sec the 
 author, on Slavery, I, 307.) 
 
 8. Such distinctions of inequality as slavery includea 
 are forbidden in the New Testament. ** Ye know that 
 the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, 
 and they that are great exercise authority ujjon them. 
 But it shall not be so among you ; but whosoever will be 
 great among you, let him be your minister ; and whoso- 
 ever will be chief among you, let him be your servant; 
 even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, 
 but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." 
 Matthew XX, 25-28. The dominion of the Gentiles is 
 identical with the dominion of slavery. Therefore, the 
 domination of slavery, wdiich reduces persons to things 
 and to property, is at war with Christianity. While 
 Christianity admits the official positions necessary in 
 Church and state, it excludes from the one and the other 
 the servility of slavery, and in its place our holy religion 
 establishes the proper equality of the human family, both 
 in Church and state, without interfering with the just ex- 
 ercise of civil and Church officers. The necessary des- 
 potism of the slave master, and the degradation oi the 
 slave, are at war with the spirit and right practice of our 
 holy religion, which places men on the common platform 
 of Christian equality and brotherhood. 
 
 9. The redemption of our race is antagonistic to slav- 
 ery. Because the Israelites were redeemed by the power 
 of God, slavery was prohibited forever among the He- 
 brews. (Lev. XXV, 42.) And Paul declares that slavery 
 is opposed to Christ's redemption : *' Ye are bought with 
 a price, do not become the slaves of men." 1 Cor. 
 vii, 23. Civil slavery is unbecoming the freed-man 
 of Christ: "For ye are bought with a price; therefore, 
 
286 THE BIBLE AND SLAVEEY. 
 
 glorify God in your body and spirit, wliicli are God's.*' 
 1 Cor. vi, 20. The privileges of redemption elevate men 
 to the high moral station of " kings and priests unto 
 God." With the exercises of such stations slavery con- 
 tinually interferes. In this light the primitive Christians 
 viewed the subject, and acted accordingly. Hence, Con- 
 stantine the Great, in 330, made a decree that no Jew or 
 pagan could retain a Christian as a slave. (Cod., Lib. 
 I, Tit. Ne Christlanum.) The three sons of Constantine, 
 Gregory the Great, the Council of Toledo enacted sim- 
 ilar laws. 
 
 10. The great Gospel jubilee, prophesied of by Isaiah, 
 before Christ 698, and with which our blessed Savior 
 opens his great mission, pronounces the final overthrow 
 of slavery, and all other such evils, through the influence 
 and operations of the Gospel in the salvation of men, 
 first from sin, and then, as a result, deliverance from 
 t^avery and other evils. This glorious announcement is 
 in the following words : *' The Spirit of the Lord is upon 
 me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to 
 the poor ; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, 
 to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of 
 sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 
 to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." Luke iv, 
 18, 19. 
 
 Our blessed Savior here opens his ministry, and in 
 general terms proclaims his mission. On this we make 
 the following observations : 
 
 The great and first object in view was the salvation of 
 the soul, by the Gospel as the means, through the re- 
 demption of Christ and the agency of the divine Spirit. 
 Thus the broken-hearted sinner, enlightened by the truth, 
 was bound up and saved from the darkness, guilt, power, 
 and pollution of sin. The poor are mentioned because 
 they composed the greater part of the human race ; and a,? 
 
THE NEW TESTAMENT. 287 
 
 they were the most needy there was the utmost fitness in 
 commencing with them. Thus, when they became en- 
 lightened, purified, and elevated by Christianity, the way- 
 was prepared for their deliverance from slavery, and all 
 degrading evils and oppressions. In regard to slavery, 
 the Gospel provides, first, by removing the causes of 
 slavery ; and, secondly, by removing the slavery that 
 exists, after the usual causes of it arc removed. 
 
 First. The Gospel removes the causes of slavery, and 
 hence it is an extirpator of it, by destroying its roots or 
 seeds, or living germs. We mention the following, and 
 we substantiate them as matters of fact established by 
 historical proofs that can not be denied : 
 
 Poverty, in ancient and modern times, has been one of 
 the great sources of slavery. Because many men were 
 poor, as they were especially in all heathen countries, 
 they sold themselves and their families in order to obtain 
 a living, or to discharge debts. The remedy of the Gos- 
 pel here was indirect, yet efficient. When the masses 
 became enlightened and moralized by the Gospel, they 
 became industrious, intelligent, avoided wasting sins, 
 saved their earnings, and rose above poverty, so that they 
 were not compelled now to sell themselves to obtain a 
 subsistence. And any poor Christians, who, by provi- 
 dential circumstances, were poor, were provided for by the 
 benevolence of their fellow-Christians. It was the lead- 
 ing spirit of primitive Christianity. ** Ye are bought 
 with a price, do not become the slaves of men." "If 
 thou canst, [not mayest,] or art able, or hast it in thy 
 power to be made free, use freedom," not slavery. It 
 was the watchword of early Christianity — Let no one 
 bought with the blood of Christ, if possible, either be- 
 come or continue a slave, if he can secure, lawfully, his 
 freedom. This was the common sentiment and practice 
 of the first Churches of Christ. This cut off one princi- 
 
288 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 pal source of the slave traffic. This effect of Christianity, 
 raising the multitudes above the pressure of poverty, cut 
 off the principal source of slavery. Were- the Africans 
 Christians, they would not sell their children or friends 
 for slaves, and the African trade would cease at once. 
 
 Another source of slavery in heathen lands, since wars 
 hegan, was to sell the captives taken in war, and make 
 slaves of them. Through the influence of Christian 
 nations, imbued with Christian principles, in the place 
 of selling the captives, the practice was established of 
 sending them back to their own country for a redemption 
 price ; and thus, though slowly, yet surely, Christianity, 
 in its whole range, has cut off this source of slavery. 
 Our Lord's commission comprises this literally, *'To 
 proclaim liberty to the captives." It were useless to 
 quote historical facts to show how literally this was ful- 
 filled. And we can not allow that this phrase meant 
 spiritual liberty, but civil liberty, as the effect of the mis- 
 sion of Christ. For our Lord uses here the very terms 
 of the Roman law on slavery. " Slaves are denominated 
 servl, from the practice of our generals to sell their cap- 
 tives, and thus preserve — servare — and not slay them. 
 Slaves are also called mancip'ia, in that they are taken 
 from the enemy by hand — manucaptiJ^ (Institutes, I, 
 Tit. 3, Sec. 3.) Our holy religion proclaimed liberty — 
 not slavery — to captives. 
 
 The religion of Christ not only struck at the very 
 sources of slavery, but, where it was already established, 
 it provided for its destruction. " To set at liberty them 
 that are bound," is a phrase that means this much. 
 This must be taken in its literal sense, for so history 
 clearly proves. Primitive Christianity gradually set at 
 liberty the slaves. It not only dried up the principal 
 sources of slavery, in respect to poverty and captives, 
 but also assailed the heathen maxim, the child follows the 
 
THE NEW TESTAMENT. 289 
 
 condition of the mother. Christianity established mar- 
 riage, so that the chikiren all became free ; and those 
 bruised or downtrodden, by the system, were set at liberty. 
 The free states of this country are examples of this. 
 Emancipation by Britain and other nations, fm-nish nota- 
 ble examples of the same result. 
 
 In short, our blessed Savior proclaims a general jubilee 
 by "preaching the acceptable year of the Lord." The 
 great design of the Gospel is the salvation of the soul. 
 The results of this are to do away all those great moral 
 evils that result in society from sin, and among them 
 slavery holds a principal place. The full results of our 
 religion will not only banish slavery, infanticide, war, 
 etc., from our earth, but it will exclude all those moral 
 evils which become incorporated with the social and civil 
 institutions of man. To have preached the emancipation 
 of slaves, by the apostles, would have been the same as to 
 attempt an overthrow of the Roman Government. And 
 this civil emancipation would not strike at the root of 
 the evil. Our Lord and his apostles, therefore, went to 
 the source of the evil, by preaching the Gospel to both 
 slaves and masters ; so that, in carrying out the moral 
 principles of our holy religion, and a moral practice 
 under it, the great moral evils of the world were under- 
 mined. And the process is still in motion, and will con- 
 tinue till our earth shall be filled with the knowledge of 
 God, as the waters cover the face of the deep. 
 
 25 
 
290 THE BIBLE AND SLAVEBY, 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 
 
 In our previous chapters we have presented the princi- 
 ples of the Abrahamic covenant, in reference to slavery, 
 in which it was shown that slavery under the patriarchs 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, found no support, although 
 a just service obtained. Subsequently, however, a system 
 of slavery flourished in the world, as in the case of Jo- 
 seph, the bondage of Egypt and other nations. It was 
 shown, too, that the Mosaic code excluded slavery from 
 the Hebrew commonwealth, and preserved the Jewish 
 nation as a free people, up to the time of our Lord ; and, 
 indeed, the Jews were the only free nation then in the 
 world. The great moral principles in the Mosaic law 
 that excluded slavery, in common with its other moral 
 laws, were recognized in the New Testament. Our blessed 
 Savior proclaimed, in general terms, the great Christian 
 jubilee for the whole world ; so that his religion, just 
 in proportion as it prevailed in its purity, Avould dry up 
 the sources of slavery, and abolish the remnants of it on 
 the earth. 
 
 In accordance with these views we might expect, that, 
 in the development of the Christian system, we should 
 find the principles and practice of an accurate Christian 
 discipline on the subject of slavery. This we find laid 
 down most exactly, yet briefly, by the apostle Paul, in 
 his epistles to the Corinthian, Ephesian, and Colossian 
 Churches, as well as in his epistles to Timothy and Titus. 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 291 
 
 Tliis discipline is applied in the case of Onesimus. Wo 
 call this the Pauline dis(npline in regard to slavery, slave- 
 holders, and slaves. It is true that Peter adds a little ; 
 yet, on the whole, we may call it the Pauline discipline 
 on slavery. Paul was the apostle of the Gentiles, and 
 he was, therefore, the right apostle to teach the Gentiles 
 the proper principles and practice in regard to slavery. 
 He was also by birth a Roman citizen, and was well 
 acquainted with the Roman laws on slavery, as his in- 
 structions plainly show. In treating on the Pauline dis- 
 cipline on slavery we shall take occasion to present, 
 
 I. The principles and rules he lays down in reference 
 to slavery, slaveholders, and slaves. 
 
 II. The exercise of this discipline in the case of Ones- 
 imus, which became the model of the Christian Church 
 in succeeding times. 
 
 III. That this discipline, in principles and practice, was 
 effectually antislavery, and laid the foundation for the 
 extirpation of slavery by the working of moral princi- 
 ples, and all for the good of Church and state. 
 
 I. We will first present the Pauline discipline in refer- 
 ence to slavery, slaveholders, and slaves, as to its prin- 
 ciples and rules. 
 
 1. In order to present the subject clearly, we will quote 
 all the laws, regulations, or principles, which he lays 
 down on this topic, with direct reference to it, not inci- 
 dentally, but with the express design to govern the whole 
 subject. 
 
 1 Corinthians vii, 20-24, A. D. 59. 
 
 ** 20. Let every man abide ** 20. "Exa^foj h tfj x'Kria^t, 
 
 in the same calling wherein J ix-hrfir^^ h tavfri ^^^i•rw. 
 he was called. 
 
 *' 21. Art thou called, be- " 21. AovTloj ixXrier^^ ; fi^ 
 
 ing a servant ? care not for dot ^^'Kitui- (^oxk^ si xai dvvaaat, 
 
292 
 
 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY, 
 
 it ; but if thou mayest be 
 made free, use it rather. 
 
 "22. For he that is called 
 in the Lord, being a servant, 
 is the Lord's freeman ; like- 
 wise also he that is called, 
 being free, is Christ's serv- 
 ant. 
 
 "23. Ye are bought with 
 a price ; be not ye the serv- 
 ants of men. 
 
 "24. Brethren, let every 
 man, wherein he is called, 
 therein abide with God." 
 
 COLOSSIANS III, 
 
 " 22. Servants, obey in 
 all things your masters ac- 
 cording to the flesh ; not 
 with eye-service, as men- 
 pleasers ; but in singleness 
 of heart, fearing God : 
 
 " 23. And whatsoever ye 
 do, do it heartily, as to the 
 Lord, and not unto men ; 
 
 "24. Knowing that of 
 the Lord ye shall receive 
 the reward of the inherit- 
 ance : for ye serve the Lord 
 Christ. 
 
 "25. But he that doeth 
 wrong, shall receive for the 
 wrong which he hath done : 
 and there is no respect of 
 persons." 
 
 oat.) 
 
 " 22. 'O yap £f Krpt'cjj xT^tj- 
 Osii SovXoj arCtTuvQspoi Kvplov 
 idtiv' o^ot'wj xal o iXivQhpoi 
 x'Kr^Osii dovXoi icsft XptOT'ov. 
 
 " 23. Tcfxtji i^yopdaOt^ts' fi^ 
 yivEoOs BovT^oi avdpuiTtoiv. 
 
 " 24. "Ejcactfoj iv 9 ixX'^O'rj 
 
 22-25, A. D. 64. 
 
 ** 22. *Ot 6ov%oc vriaxovffs 
 xata Ttdvta I'otj aca-ra adpxa 
 xvpioi^, [xri iv 6^9a%fXo8ov7^SLa 
 wj avOpoiTtdpsOxoif a>.^ iv art- 
 TuOtr^rt, xapSi-aj ^ojiovftevot, tov 
 Qsov. 
 
 " 23. Kttfc Ttdv 6 ii Idv ftoi- 
 ^tsj £x -^vxiis ipyd^eaOs, wj I'm 
 Kvpicf, xai ovx di'^pcortotj. 
 
 " 24. Eibotfi oto dnb K.vpiov 
 a.TtoT^ri'^saOs triv avtartoboaiv ryji 
 xXrjpopOjXiai' t'w yap Kojptco 
 XpKJrw 8ov%avst£. 
 
 " 25. *0 6f tt5fcxu>v xofi(,£itai 
 o ■;^8ixrja8, xCn ovx eaft Ttpocfw- 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVEKY. 293 
 
 COLOSSIANS IV, 1, A. J). 64. 
 
 '* 1. Masters, give unto " 1. *Ot «vptot, ■to ^Uaiov 
 
 your servants that which is [xara to S(,xaLov~\ xal tr^v iao- 
 
 just and right, knowing that tr^ta toti SovXaii ?tap£;j^f(j0f, 
 
 ye also have a Master in h86tsi, oVc xat vixsli txits 
 
 lieaven." xvptov £v ovpavotj.'' 
 
 Ephesians VI, 5-9, A. D. 64. 
 
 ** 5. Servants, he obedi- *' 5. Ot SovXoi, irtaxovete 
 
 ent to them that are your rotj xvptotj xata adpxa fista 
 
 masters according to the ^o,3ov xai tpofxov, iv krCkotrit^ 
 
 flesh, with fear and trem- T^rj^apStajr^wr, tloj^wXptafw. 
 bling, in singleness of your 
 heart, as unto Christ : 
 
 '* 6. Not with eye-serv- " 6. MiJ xar' 6<j5^a?i;tto5ov- 
 
 ice, as men-pleasers ; but as 'k^Icv wj av^pwrtcipffyxot, d7t?t', 
 
 the servants of Christ, do- tb$ hovXoc tov XptoT'ov, notoiv- 
 
 ing the will of God from rfj to ds^r^fia toi, ©fov ix 
 
 the heart ; -^vxrjii 
 
 *' 7. With good will do- ** 7. Met'' Evvojaj, 8ov^.£vov- 
 
 ing service, as to the Lord, r? j 'wj t^ Kvptw xai ovx df^pw- 
 
 and not to men : rtots* 
 
 ** 8. Knowing that what- ** 8. EiSots^ otc S iuv ti 
 
 soever good thing any man exaato^ rcoiri^rj a/yaOov, tovto 
 
 doeth, the same shall he re- xo^iultai Ttapatov Kvptov, aVe 
 
 ceive of the Lord, whether hov'Koi nt£ ixsvdspos. 
 he be bond or free. 
 
 ** 9. And, ye masters, do *' 9. Kai ol xvptot, rd avta 
 
 the same things unto them, rcovslts rtpb^ avtov^,aviivteit7jv 
 
 forbearing \jnoderatin(/l^ arieiT^riv, sidots^ 6tc xai vixuiv 
 
 threatening : knowing that avt^v 6 Kvpto? sativ iv ovpa- 
 
 your Master [war. both your votj, xai rcpoacoTioXr^'^La ovx sato 
 
 and their Master] also is in Ttap' avtM.** 
 heaven ; neither is there re- 
 spect of persons with him." 
 
294 
 
 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY, 
 
 1 Timothy i, 9, 10, A. D. 65. 
 
 "9. Knowing this, that *' 9. Etawj t-ovto, 6Vt Stxatw 
 
 the law is not made for a v6/.ioi ov xeltai, dj/o^otj 8s xal 
 
 righteous man, but for the awTtotdxtoiij aufjSicfi xai d^tap- 
 
 lawless and disobedient, for t-wW?, avoaioii xal ^hSTi^Koii* 
 
 the ungodly and for sinners, Ttupa^toiatj xal ^j^rpax^atj, av- 
 
 for unholy and profane, for ^po^o^otj, 
 murderers of fathers, and 
 murderers of mothers, for 
 manslayers, 
 
 ** 10. For whoremongers, *' 10. Ilopt'otj, a^otvoxoitav^, 
 
 for them that defile them- avSpartoSKyratj, -^svatai^, ijt' 
 
 selves with mankind, for lopxot^, xal, n to etspov t^ 
 
 men-stealers, for liars, for vytawova'yj ^cSacfzaXta avtlxsi' 
 
 perjured persons, and if tat,.*' 
 there be any other thing 
 that is contrary to sound 
 doctrine." 
 
 1 Timothy vi, 1, 2, A. D. 65. 
 
 ** 1. Let as many serv- "1. "Otjot slslv vrto ^vyov 
 
 ants [slaves] as are under 8ov?^oc, Totjf ibvovg StaTioTfas 
 
 the yoke count their own Ttdcirj^ ti/Mrj^ a^lov^ ^^ysta^wtrav, 
 
 masters worthy of all honor, iva /xri to oi^o/^a tov &sov xal 9j 
 
 that the name of God and 8i8aaxaKla ^^.aai>ri^rjtac, 
 his doctrine be not blas- 
 phemed. 
 
 ^'2. And they that have "2. Ol 8£ rtiatovs exoptsi 
 
 believing masters, let them SfcfTtoraj, ^jj xa-ta-^povsitaaavf 
 
 not despise them, because 6tt aSfT^^ol flaov' a'KT.a ixaM.ov 
 
 they are brethren ; but rath- 8ov7>.sv£tu,ciav, 6tc motol slac 
 
 er do them service, because xal oyartT^tol ol trj? svepyssia^ 
 
 they are faithful and be- dvrtXa^ujSttid^jvot." 
 loved, partakers of the ben- 
 efit. These things teach and 
 exhort." 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 295 
 
 Titus ii, 9, 
 
 " 9. Exhort servants to 
 be obedient unto their own 
 masters, and to please them 
 well in all things ; not an- 
 swering [mar. gainsaying] 
 again ; 
 
 " 10. Not purloining, but 
 shewing all good fidelity ; 
 that they may adorn the 
 doctrine of God our Savior 
 in all things." 
 
 1 Peter ii, 
 
 ** 18. Servants, be subject 
 to your masters with all 
 fear ; not only to the good 
 and gentle, but also to the 
 froward." 
 
 10, A. D. 65. 
 
 " 9. /\ov'kovi ibioig bsnrto- 
 sva^y^atovi nvac, y-r^ avtCkiyov- 
 
 ''10. M/^ voaipL^oixivovi, 
 aXXa TitatLv riasav ivBsixvvfii- 
 vovs ayaOr^V 'iva, f/jv 5t5aijxa- 
 Xtav tov auityjpo^ r^fiuiv @£0v 
 xoofiMdtv iv rcarsw.'^ 
 
 18, A. D. 60. 
 
 ** 18. Ot olxitai, VTiotatSGo- 
 I.18V01 iv Ttavtl ^oQui 'toii^ Sfcfrto- 
 taii ; oi) jxovov T'otj 'ayaOois xao 
 tTti^iCXiGiv^ 'aX%a xal toi^ cxo%- 
 
 2. We will now survey each of the foregoing passages 
 of Scripture in order to collect from them the teachings 
 intended to be communicated. 
 
 Corinth was long the chief slave mart of Greece, and 
 abounded in slaves. They were distinguished by the 
 name of choenix measurers. Many of them, doubtless, 
 embraced the Gospel when preached by Paul, Apollos, 
 and others. It is manifest, from the language used by 
 Paul, that many slaves were converted. On this account 
 he gives them the instructions quoted above. (1 Cor. 
 vii, 20-24.) From these instructions we think the fol- 
 lowing points are established : 
 
 (1.) The renewed Christian shonid not anxiously desire 
 to change the outward state in which he was when God renews 
 or calls him, without clear direction from Providence. 
 
296 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 "Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he 
 was called." Verse 20. ''Brethren, let every man, 
 wherein he is called, therein abide with God." Verse 
 24. This is illustrated by circumcision and uncircum- 
 cision, or the state of a Jew, or Gentile, which is set 
 down as nothing compared with "keeping the command- 
 ments of God." Verses 18, 19. The reason is, that a 
 man will enjoy more comfort, and can be more holy and 
 useful, in a situation to which he is accustomed than in 
 any other to which he is a stranger. And the apostle re- 
 peats the injunction because of its great importance ; for 
 they who are so unsettled in their minds as to be contin- 
 ually changing from one condition of life to another sel- 
 dom make progress, or are of much use to themselves or 
 others, in any one. But they were instructed " therein to 
 abide with God," doing all things as unto God, and as 
 in his immediate presence. They who thus abide with 
 God preserve a holy indifference with regard to outward 
 things. 
 
 L'Enfant thinks the apostle repeats the advice here "to 
 correct some disorders among the Christian slaves in Cor- 
 inth, who, agreeably to the doctrine of the false teachers, 
 claimed their liberty, on pretense that, as brethren in 
 Christ, they were on an equality with their Christian 
 masters." 
 
 (2.) Christian slaves should not he discontented with 
 their state of slavery, nor be very anxious for obtaining lib- 
 erty, on the siqjjyosition that this condition renders them un- 
 acceptable to God, or is incompatible vrith their being Chris- 
 tians. 
 
 ** Art thou called, being a servant, [6w?iof, doulos, slave, 
 or bondnfian,^ care not for it." Verse 21. " For iio 
 that is called in the Lord, being a servant, [6orXo$, dou- 
 los, slave,^ is the Lord's [aTtfyifD^fpos] freed-maii.'" Verse 
 22. He is now the Lord's freed-man, being delivered 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 297 
 
 fiom the slavery of sin and Satan, and therefore pos- 
 sesses the greatest of all dignities. The apostle exhibitfl 
 the small importance of human distinctions, when speak- 
 ing of the most miserable lot, even that of a slave. He 
 says, Care not for it. The sense is, "For the Christian 
 slave is the Lord's freed-man ; that is, in a moral and 
 spiritual sense ; and, in like manner, the Christian free- 
 man is the slave of Christ ; that is, metaphorically, by 
 being bound to obey his precepts. Comp. Rom. vi, 
 20-22." (Bloomfield on 1 Cor. vii, 22.) 
 
 (3.) The freedom of the Christian is to be prized far 
 above the state of civil or human freedom. 
 
 " For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, 
 \doulos, slave, ^ is the freed-man of the Lord. Likewise 
 also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant." 
 Verse 22. The Christian, though a slave, is the freed- 
 man of Christ, is the brother of all Christians, and an 
 heir of heaven, as well as the willing servant of Christ 
 on earth. And even the converted freeman is no longer 
 his own ; he is bought with a price, and is Christ's serv- 
 ant. He is not free in this respect, nor at his own dis- 
 posal, nor at liberty to do his own will, but bound to be 
 obedient and subject to Christ. 
 
 (4.) Every Christian slave should do his utmost to become 
 a freeman, by usin^ all laivful means, and embracing all 
 ^proper opportunities. 
 
 ** But if thou mayest [fixac hwa-aat. e^fvdspo^ ysi'iaOai, 
 canst, or art able to] become a freeman, use it rather." 
 Verse 21. If they can avoid it, they are commanded not 
 to continue the slaves of men. This state of being slaves 
 places them wholly under the dominion of another, de- 
 grades them, and places them under great disabilities. 
 It is, therefore, a state which every Christian ought to 
 get out of as soon as he conveniently could, though while 
 he remains in it, he should not be excessively anxious in 
 
298 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 regard to his condition. Yet Christian slaves are bound 
 as Christians to do their utmost to be free. " If thou 
 mayest be free," is no adequate sense of the original ; ft 
 xat 8vva<jaL, if tkou canst, or art able also to become a freed- 
 man, conveys the force of the text. Every Christian 
 slave ought to use all lawful means to become a freed- 
 man, that he might be a better Christian. The reasons 
 for this preference are beyond number. As a slave he 
 could not be a minister of Christ, because the services 
 due his master would not allow him to discharge a min- 
 ister's duties. If \\\Q Christian slave were a mother, and 
 she became free, her children would be free. If the slave 
 were single, he or she could marry, and would not be 
 subject to the beastly contuhernium of slavery. Free per- 
 sons could go to school, could go to Church, would not 
 be sold, nor bartered, nor given by will, nor put up on 
 the auctioneer's block, nor parents and children sepa- 
 rated. Hence the apostolic command to all slaves, "If 
 it is in thy power to become a freed-man, use or enjoy 
 freedom " in preference to slavery. 
 
 (5.) Every free Christian is commanded, hy Paul, not to 
 hecome a slave by any act or will of his own. 
 
 "Be ye not the servants of men:" much more prop- 
 erly, M.YI ylvsaOs Sov%oL, " Do not become the slaves of 
 men." Wesley's translation is, "Do not become the 
 bond-slaves of men." Freemen among the Romans 
 could become slaves by their own will and acts, in at 
 least two ways. Some, who were poor, sold themselves 
 for the sake of present relief. But a Christian would be 
 guilty for doing so, because by his industry and economy 
 he ought not to be poor, and thus compelled, like wicked 
 persons, to have resort to slavery for relief ; and were he 
 poor without his own fault, his fellow-Christians would 
 aid him, so that he need not become a slave on account 
 of his poverty. A free person, by his crimes, as for 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 299 
 
 theft, could be made a slave. Hence the force of the 
 command in the text, ** Do not become the slaves of 
 men;" as no Christian could become a slave for any 
 of the causes mentioned without doing wrong, whether 
 on account of poverty, which he could provide against, 
 or for theft, or any other crime. The teaching of the 
 apostle was, that no free person, on any account, should 
 consent to return to slavery. And those slaves in the 
 south who contentedly remain slaves, w4ien their masters 
 would set them free, exhibit specimens of ill-taught 
 Christians, who are misled by false teaching, and over- 
 look the instructions of Paul, **Do not become the slaves 
 of men ;" or, in other words, you refuse to become free 
 when you have it in your power, and, therefore, you are 
 wrong ; because you ought to become free if you can. 
 And those teachers who say the slaves are better off than 
 if they were free, teach false doctrine ; for Paul teaches 
 slaves to become free, if they can procure their freedom 
 lawfully, or by contract with their masters. 
 
 But Paul is especially peremptory against freemen be- 
 coming slaves ; and his argument is the strongest in the 
 world, even the argument of redemption : "Ye are bought 
 with a price." Some paraphrase it thus : " Are ye bought 
 with a price from slavery ? Do not become the slaves of 
 men. Never sell yourselves. Prefer and retain your lib- 
 erty, now that you have obtained it." The law taught in 
 regard to the Hebrews, '' They are my servants which I 
 have brought out of the land of Egypt ; they shall not 
 be sold with the sale of a bondman " — Lev. xxv, 42 — 
 Paul applies this to Christians : " For ye are not your 
 own ; ye are bought with a price ; therefore glorify God in 
 your body and in your spirit, which are God's." 1 Cor. 
 iv, 20. Christians are bound to devote their bodies and 
 all their members as instruments of righteousness, as well 
 as their souls and all their faculties. A state of slavery. 
 
300 THE BIBLE AND SLAVEBY. 
 
 if it does not prevent this, greatly hinders it. There are 
 many evils and snares incident to a state of slavery. The 
 bodies of Christians are the temples of God, and are to 
 he consecrated to him in temperance, chastity, and purity. 
 Their spirit, too, is to be consecrated to God, by faith, 
 hope, love, meekness, and all the graces of the Holy 
 Spirit. The express command, therefore, of Paul is to 
 all. If you can become free, enjoy this freedom. If you 
 are free, never, on any account, become a slave. 
 
 (6.) The persons here called 8ov-kut were slaves. The 
 word 6or?ioj itself signifies either a hired servant or slave, 
 according to the usus loquendi of the writer. That the 
 meaning of doulos here is slave is proved from the follow- 
 ing considerations : 1. The servants generally, if not all, 
 at Corinth, were slaves. They were called choenix meas- 
 urers. This is plain from the very language employed by 
 Paul in describing the social condition of the Corinthian 
 converts, as well as the particular vices to which they 
 were exposed : " Behold your calling, brethren, that not 
 many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not 
 many noble are called ; but God hath chosen the foolish 
 things of the world to confound the wise ; and God hath 
 chosen the weak things of the world to confound the 
 things that are mighty. And base things of the world, and 
 things that are despised, hath God chosen ; yea, things that 
 are not, to bring to naught the things that are." 1 Cor. i, 
 26-29. The terms, ignoble, unwise, weak, foolish, base 
 things, things that are not, here expressed or implied, will 
 apply to slaves, though inaptly to free persons. 2. The 
 name doulos, meaning one in bondage, is in the passage 
 constantly put in contrast with i-kivOi^o^ yfviaOai, to he 
 made free, as well as the whole spirit of the passage. 
 Such is the usual style of Paul on this subject, as will 
 appear from the following quotations : *' Whether bond 
 
 or FREE." ** Etffi hovT-oi, £its a'ksvdepot,.'* 1 Cor. xii, 13, 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 301 
 
 *' There is neitlier boxd nor free.'* **Ovx svt hovVM^, ovSs 
 fXfu^fpof." Gal. iii, 28. " The same shall he receive 
 from the Lord, whether he be bond or free." " lurf 6ov- 
 >.o?, (Its f^ED^fpoj." Eph. vi, 8. *' Where there is neither 
 Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircnmcision, barba- 
 rian, Scythian, bond nor free." ** AoiXoj f^ifr^fpoj." 
 Col. iii, 11. The common 2isus loqiiendi of Paul, when 
 treating on the subject, was to use the word 6ov7.oj in the 
 sense of slave, in direct distinction from a freeman ; and 
 the above texts prove this without doubt. 3. The per- 
 sons addressed are exhorted to get free from their present 
 state, if they possibly can. This will show that their 
 state was not one of freed-men, as we have no exhorta- 
 tions in Scripture that exhort men to get rid of freedom. 
 
 4. Besides, the apostle exhorts, or rather commands, the 
 Corinthians not to become the doulol, or slaves, of men. 
 Such an admonition can not apply to hired servants, as 
 theirs is a service which has little in it in common with 
 slavery, as to its proper state in society, except the labor 
 performed. The state of a voluntary hired laborer is no 
 where, as far as we can learn, presented in Scripture as 
 one into w^hich Christians are exhorted not to enter. 
 
 5. Bagster, in his admirable Bible, gives the following 
 note on 1 Corinthians vii, 21 : " Being a servant ; rather 
 a slave — hoxxoc, — the property of another, and bought with 
 his money." 
 
 (7 ) The instructions of Paul to the Corinthian Chns- 
 tian slaves gives no sanction to slavery, hut, on the contrary ^ 
 condemns the system. 
 
 The reasons are the following, legitimately drawn from 
 the passage : 1. Slaves are exhorted to obtain freedom, if 
 it be in their power. If slavery were a good state, it 
 would not be proper to get rid of it ; and because Chris- 
 tians are exhorted to choose freedom and avoid slavery, 
 the consequence is that slavery is wrong. 2. Freed per- 
 
302 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 sons are taught by the apostles not to become slaves, 
 seeing they are now free. Therefore, what Christians are 
 instructed to avoid can not be right. 3. The moral prin- 
 ciples inculcated in the epistles to the Corinthians go to 
 the same purpose. But the conclusion is plain from the 
 two foregoing considerations, that because slavery is to 
 be got rid of, if possible, by those involved in it, and to 
 be avoided by persons free from it, that it is not of God. 
 4. It were easy to show that, as the Old Testament con- 
 demned the slavery of Egypt and of the other nations, 
 and that no slavery was allowed to be established among 
 God's ancient people, Christians could not be induced to 
 believe that Roman slavery was right. 
 
 (8.) Corollary 1. Every Christian should do his utmost 
 to induce slaves to become Christia7is, and to esteem freedom 
 from sin above civil freedom. 
 
 This is a plain consequence from the foregoing. The 
 freedom of Christ is of more value than freedom from 
 slavery. Christianity is even, in an important sense, a 
 substitute for freedom. It is even more, as it alone pre- 
 pares adequately the slave to enjoy freedom to advantage. 
 The great work of the Church and of Christians is to 
 lead men, whether bond or free, masters or slaves, to be 
 Christians, and then every secondary benefit, as civil free- 
 dom, and the like, will follow, provided the appropriate 
 exertions be made. 
 
 (9.) Corollary 2. Every Christian citizen is morally bound 
 to use all proper means as a citizen to promote freedom from 
 slavery, yet as secondary to freedom from sin. 
 
 This is another consequence from the preceding. The 
 first object is the salvation of the soul from the igno- 
 rance, guilt, power, and pollution of sin. The next, or 
 secondary object, is to deliver from slavery, or degrada- 
 tion, that the Christian may not be impeded by slavery 
 or any degrading condition of life. As the slave can not 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 303 
 
 plead his cause, the free Christian is to plead for him. As 
 the slave can not redeem himself, his Christian brother 
 should do it for him. As the slave can not vote or hold 
 any civil office, the free Christian citizen should come 
 forward and do all this for his poor Christian brother, or 
 for any enslaved human being, whether Jew, Gentile, 
 Christian, or infidel. 
 
 3. Instructions for slaves and masters directed to the 
 Church at Colosse. 
 
 Colosse was an ancient and populous city of the 
 Greater Phrygia, an inland country in the Lesser Asia. 
 This city and region abounded with slaves ; and Phile- 
 mon is said to have been the first bishop or pastor of 
 the Church of the Colossians. The epistle was written 
 in Rome about A. D. 64, and sent to the Colossians by 
 Tychicus and Onesimus, and at the same time in which 
 the epistle to Philemon was written. In the epistle to 
 the Colossians the instructions to slaves and masters are 
 contained, which we have quoted above, and on which 
 we make the ensuing remarks. (Colossians iii, 22-24.) 
 On the duties of slaves we have the following : 
 
 (1.) Obedience to their masters in all things was 
 required. ** Servants, obey in all things your masters, 
 according to the flesh." They were required to execute 
 all the lawful commands of their masters, but to do noth- 
 ing contrary to the law of God, because the authority of 
 God was greater than that of the master, for it controlled 
 both master and slave. They were to obey their masters 
 not through the fear of their masters, but through the fear 
 of God. 
 
 (2.) The properties of this obedience from servants to 
 masters are presented thus. 1. Xot lo'itli eye-service — being 
 more attentive under the eye of the master than at other 
 times, as mere men-pleasers. 2. But "in singleness of 
 heart, fearing God." They were to serve with great sim- 
 
304 THE BIBLE AND SLAVEHY. 
 
 plicity and sincerity of spirit, so as to eye their Master in 
 heaven with an eye to his presence — -his command — his 
 assistance — his honor and glory. It was to he done 
 heartily, as unto Christ, as supreme, and not to men. 
 Thus the authority of God as over all is recognized in 
 this obedience, so as to be influenced by his fear, and to 
 be done as "to the Lord and not to man." Thus the 
 commands of God were to rise superior to those of the 
 master. 
 
 (3.) A glorious reward is held out to the slave from 
 God, in pursuance to his obedience to his master. "■ Of 
 the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance.*' 
 And the service to the master in performing his daily 
 tasks, is set down to the slave, as ** serving the Lord 
 Christ." 
 
 (4.) But the slave is not allowed to do wrong, though 
 he may be wronged. " He that doeth wrong shall receive 
 for the wrong that he hath done." Slaves were notable 
 for fraud, lying, and stealing, and masters for cruelty and 
 injustice. The instruction here shows the impartiality of 
 the divine justice. God will avenge the wrong by whom- 
 soever done. He will do this impartially and proportion- 
 ally. " There is no respect of persons with God." So 
 that he that doeth wrong, whether master or slave, will 
 give an account to God for his deeds. 
 
 (5.) That the persons here called douloi, servants or 
 slaves, were not hired servants but truly slaves, we justly 
 conclude, because, 1. The Greeks and Romans had 
 scarcely any servants but slaves. 2. The contrast be- 
 tween these douloi and their masters was great, and was 
 such as exists between slaves and masters, and not such 
 as exists between hired servants and masters. 
 
 The duties of masters are given in the epistle to the 
 Colossians as follows : " Masters, give unto your serv- 
 ants [douloi, slaves] that which is just and eq^ual ; 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 305 
 
 knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven." Col. 
 iv, 1. 
 
 First. Masters were to render to their slaves to Sixator, 
 that which is just, or as Griesbach and most others read, 
 xata to hixaiov, accordinc/ to that which is just. Robinson 
 renders to 8txaiov that which is right, just, fit, quoting 
 this text as an example of this meaning. St. Paul refers, 
 we think, to the legal use of the word, or its synonym, 
 justitia, justice, in the Roman law, on the subject of slav- 
 ery, on which he was then formally treating, as he was 
 giving instructions to both slaves and masters. 
 
 The Roman law defines justice thus: ** Justitia est 
 constans et perpetua voluntas jus suum cidque tribuenti.'^ 
 " Justice is the constant and perpetual disposition to ren- 
 der every man his own." (Institutes Just., Lib. I, 
 Tit. 1.) And juris prudentia, or the knowledge of justice, 
 he defines to be, "justi atque injusti scientia.'* *'The 
 science of what is just and unjust." (Id., Sec. 1.) The 
 precepts of law or of justice, the same high authority 
 defines, " honeste vivere, alterum non loedere, suum cuique 
 tribuere:' " To live honestly, to hurt no one, to give 
 to every one his own." (Id., Sec. 3.) As to the origin 
 of slavery he says, " Wars arose, and the consequences 
 were captivity and slavery, both which are contrary to 
 natural law ; for, by natural law, all men from the be- 
 ginning were born free." (Id., I, 2, 2.) ''Jure enim 
 naturali omnes homines ab initio liberi nascebantur.'' 
 
 Justinian defines liberty thus, ''Liberty is the natural 
 power of acting as we please, unless prevented by force 
 or by the law." (Id., I, 3, 1.) '' Slavery is when one 
 man is subject to the dominion of another, according to 
 the law of nations, though contrary to natural right." 
 (Id., Sec. 2.) 
 
 According to the Roman law all men were bom free. 
 Slavery is induced contrary to the law of nature, by 
 
 26 
 
306 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 force, so that each man has by nature a right to himself, 
 or to personal liberty, personal security, the acquisition 
 of property, and the pursuit of happiness. Justice ren- 
 ders to every man his own ; and it will especially give to 
 every one the possession of himself, comprising his lib- 
 erty, security, the fruit of his own labor and skill, and all 
 other natural and just conventional rights growing out 
 of these. Hence the precepts of justice teach each to live 
 honestly as to himself, to hurt no one, and to render to 
 each his own. So that justice in the Roman sense would 
 never allow a man to be a slave. And the law enacting 
 slavery is contrary to natural law, to the divine law, and 
 to just human laws. The right to a slave is an unjust 
 right, and is founded on an unjust law — the law of mere 
 force, or some civil law which is itself contrary to 
 justice. 
 
 The command of Paul to masters is to render to their 
 slaves to bixaiov, that which is just, or rather xata to 
 bLxaiov, according to that vMch is just. This teaches the 
 master to render to the slave his own, or, in other words, 
 to give him liberty, and, with the least delay, to secure 
 to him his civil liberty, and release him from the power 
 of the slave laws, by legal process. By this the master 
 ackno\srledges to the slave that he has no just right to 
 him as property, or to control him, as to liberty, security, 
 labor, or the like ; and that the slave owns himself, just as 
 much as the master owns himself. The same demand of 
 doing that which is just on the part of the master, w^ill 
 require that he remove the unjust impediment of slavery 
 from the slave, and place him in possession of himself. 
 And the slave has the right to demand, in due time, this 
 act of justice, as soon as may be, that neither he nor his 
 wife and children may lie under the disability of slavery, 
 but that they may enjoy liberty. The right of a master 
 to a slave may be illustrated by a case or two. It may 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 807 
 
 bo compared to tlic liglit wliicli a man lias to an cstray 
 wliich he linds on his premises. He has a just right to 
 hokl this estray till he can restore it to the owner and no 
 longer. So the master has no other right to the slave 
 than to hold him safely till he can restore him to the 
 owner. And every man is his owm owner. The master 
 owns and holds the slave only in trust till he can give him 
 his liberty, and in the mean time he must render him an 
 equivalent for his labor, as the slave is bound to render 
 to the master an equivalent for his care and maintenance. 
 Or the right to a slave may be illustrated by finding lost 
 property. The finder may hold it till he can get the true 
 owner. In the case of the slave, the true owmer of him 
 is the slave himself, so that no dispute can arise about 
 the proper owner. 
 
 Second. The master is to render to the slave that which 
 is equal, triv lao-tyjta, equality, or, rather, xara Kjorj^ra, ac- 
 cording to equality, or that which is equal. For iaotr^i 
 means equality/, equity, or what is equitable, and Robinson 
 gives it this meaning in the text under consideration. 
 And the root t^oj means equal, like, alike. In conse- 
 quence of the process of law, or the minority, or other 
 circumstances of the slave, the master may not be able, 
 or it might not be best, to emancipate the slave imme- 
 diately. Yet he is to render no unjust act toward him, 
 though full justice can not be now awarded. But in his 
 treatment of him in the mean time, he is bound to ren- 
 der to him that which is equitable, on the principle of 
 equality and equity. The law of strict equity is to gov- 
 ern here so that the master will render to the slave a full 
 equivalent for the slave's services to him, till he can ren- 
 der to him the act of justice which emancipates him. 
 The laws of the slave system can not govern here. They 
 are null and void as to the Christian master and his 
 legal slave. The law- of reciprocal right must rule. 
 
308 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 ** Do unto all men as ye would tliey should do unto 
 you," is now the standard, till the law of love shall 
 break off the last link in the slave's chains. 
 
 Third. The duties of justice and equity to the slave are 
 here enjoined on the master by the argument — knowing 
 that ye also have a Master in heaven. God is supreme 
 over both masters and slaves. God treats none of his 
 creatures as slaves, neither should masters treat any as 
 slaves, but as brethren — the children equally of one com- 
 mon Father who is in heaven, and to whom we all can 
 pray and call him our Father. No rigorous rule is 
 compatible with the Christian relation of master and 
 slave. And till the justice of liberty is awarded, let 
 the brotherhood of humanity and of Christianity treat 
 the legal slave as a human being or Christian brother, 
 disusing the unjust rights that the slave system may 
 confer on the master, and using the power as master only 
 for the protection of the slave and his final liberation. 
 
 In these instructions both to slaves and masters, we 
 have neither sanction, support, nor durability awarded to 
 the slave system of Rome, of America, or of any other 
 country. This will appear fully on briefly surveying the 
 duties of slaves, the reasons for performing them, and 
 the duties of masters, and the reasons enjoining these 
 duties. Christian slaves, while they are slaves, are bound 
 to obey their masters in every thing not sinful — they were 
 to do so not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in 
 singleness of heart, doing it heartily. This service they 
 were to render as to Christ the Lord, with the fear of 
 God. They were to look for a great inheritance from the 
 Lord. No wrong act was allowed to be done by the slave, 
 however much he might be wronged himself. And he 
 was taught that there was no respect of persons to be 
 exercised to the sinning slave any more than to the sin- 
 ning master. Such conduct on the part of the slaves, 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 309 
 
 founded on such principles, would necessarily produce 
 conviction in the mind of the slaveholder as to his duty, 
 and to the wrongs of slavery itself. 
 
 Fourth. Thus the master was hound to do according to 
 justice, so as to free the slave as soon as the law and the 
 circumstances would call for. And in the mean time, the 
 law of equity and reciprocal right must govern him till 
 justice would have its demands answered. And the 
 awful consideration hung over him that he was equally 
 as much sulject, or under the dominion of God, as the 
 slave was, and both must render an account to Him. 
 
 These reciprocal duties of each would shortly lead 
 toward placing the slave in the relation of a hired serv- 
 ant, to whom was rendered a just equivalent. Christian 
 marriage, too, was to be introduced, and the parental and 
 filial relations were to be sustained. No master could 
 sell his brother on any account. No trading of human 
 beings could exist under this regimen. And as the 
 Roman laws, in almost all cases, allowed of legal eman- 
 cipation, there was no difficulty, under the Pauline code, 
 in carrying it out. This discipline was transferred to the 
 first Christian Churches. And slavery, under this benign 
 discipline, melted gradually away in the Roman Empire ; 
 though the remains continued for many centuries. Such 
 is the course now for the Christian Church. This is slav- 
 ery extirpation. Much of extirpation may take place 
 before legal emancipation may take place. And, after 
 legal emancipation, there may be much need of extirpa- 
 tion ; so that the roots or bad effects of it may be done 
 away, and no new forms of slavery may arise, such as 
 the American slavery among professed Christians, after 
 Christianity itself had done it away in former centuries. 
 4. We next come to the epistle to the Church at 
 Ephesus, to which Paul addressed an epistle, A. D. 64. 
 Ephesus was the metropolis or chief city in Asia. Paul 
 
310 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 preached here three years — Acts xx, 31 — and from hence 
 the Gospel spread throughout the whole province. (Acts 
 xix, 10.) In his epistle to the Ephesians, Paul's 
 instructions to servants or slaves, as recorded in Ephe- 
 sians vi, 5-9, comprise the following : 
 
 (1.) The duties enjoined. *' Servants, be obedient to 
 your masters according to the flesh." Obedience to the 
 masters is here enjoined — according to the Jlesh ; that is, 
 in temporal things, or things pertaining to this world, 
 leaving the soul and conscience to God only, who alone 
 is the sovereign Lord over them. Christian liberty is not 
 inconsistent with civil subjection, for such as are God's 
 freemen may be the legal slaves of men, and as such 
 obedience is their duty in all lawful things. "Even a 
 slave, if a Christian, was bound to serve him faithfully 
 by whose money he was bought, however illegal that 
 traffic may be considered." [Dr. A. Clarke.) "The 
 Gospel does not cancel the civil rights of mankind; 
 according to the flesh — that is, who have the command of 
 your bodies, but not of your souls and consciences ; or, 
 who are your masters according to the present state of 
 things." (Benson.) Bengel, on this text says, " It was 
 not proper after mention of the true Lord, in verse 4, 
 that others should be called absolutely xvptot, lords, there- 
 fore, he adds, according to the Jlesh.' ^ 
 
 (2.) The manner of performing this obedience is 
 pointed out. It is to be "with fear and trembling;" 
 that is, with fear of displeasing them ; yet they must act 
 not barely out of fear, but out of love both to God and 
 their master. It is a proverbial expression, however, 
 implying the utmost care and diligence. They should 
 obey, " because the law gives the master power to pun- 
 ish for every act of disobedience." (^Dr. A. Clarke.) 
 
 The obedience must be, " in singleness of heart," 
 in great simplicity and sincerity of spirit, without guile, 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 311 
 
 hypocrisy, or dissimulation. Not from mere fear, but 
 from a principle of uprightness, serving them as you 
 would serve Christ. *' Not with eye-service," in serving 
 their masters when present, but neglecting it when they 
 are absent. They should not be " men-pleasers," who 
 have no regard to pleasing God, but as the ''servants 
 of Christ," who do ''the will of God from the heart." 
 
 The service must come from the heart, and with good 
 will or cheerfulness. 
 
 (3.) The authority and will of God are to control the 
 slave in his service to his master. The " will of God " 
 is to govern the slave, and overrides all commands of the 
 master which would enjoin any thing morally wrong, or 
 forbid doing right. But as the slave is in a state of serv- 
 itude, it is the will of God that the slave should act con- 
 scientiously in that state. The service should be as unto 
 Christ, with sincerity and honesty of heart, with regard 
 to the honor and cause of Christ. It should be as to the 
 Lord and not to men — regarding God more than men, 
 and obeying him beyond any master, when God's will 
 or command so require it. "The authority of Christ 
 ought to control and govern all men, even those in exter- 
 nal slavery." (Bengel.) 
 
 (4.) A glorious reward is secured to slaves in the per- 
 formance of their duties. " Knowing that whatsoever 
 good thing any man doth, the same shall he receive of 
 the Lord, whether he be bond or free." Verse 8. The 
 service of slaves to their masters, for the time being, is a 
 good work on their part. Any good thing done, by bond 
 or free, will meet with a reward from God. He is the 
 universal guardian and protector of all his people. Ac- 
 cording to the Roman and all slave codes, the slave could 
 claim no wages as reward for his work. All he could 
 have was his pecidium, or little earnings arising from his 
 extra work done bevond his exacted task. And this, too, 
 
312 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 could be taken by the master, as far as the laiu of slavery 
 was concerned. God here secures to the slave the full 
 reward, through grace, of all the good he will do, in com- 
 mon with the freeman. And this indirectly teaches the 
 master, in its principle, in doing justice to the slave, to 
 give him wages for his work, and even liberty also, with- 
 out any unnecessary delay. And in this kind and indirect 
 yet plain way, the master is instructed to take the yoke 
 from off the neck of the slave. 
 
 (5.) That the douloi, or servants mentioned here, were 
 slaves we maintain, because, 1. The names bov^.o^, bond^ 
 and fTtfv^Epof, free, are placed in contrast. 2. Both masters 
 and servants are placed here correlatively, so as to show 
 that the service is not that of freemen, but of slaves, as 
 the absence of temporal remuneration in the relation is 
 noticed, though introduced by spiritual reward, so as 
 clearly to convert, in the issue, the state of slavery into 
 that of equitable service. 3. The temper of the service, 
 as with fear and trembling, though it may be accommo- 
 dated to hired servants, does not comport with them as 
 it does to slaves. Their servile state allows of this tem- 
 per, as a natural moral disease of slavery, and, for the 
 time, unavoidable, till, by Christianity, a more elevated 
 feeling comes in, as it must, when the slave shall have 
 passed fully from slavery to a state of freedom. 4. 
 "Wages or reward is supposed to be absent from the 
 relation here regulated ; though it is to be introduced 
 through the spiritual teaching, and ultimately to prevail, 
 and, therefore, do away the state of slavery in the end. 
 5. This is confirmed by the constant reference to God, 
 and Christ, as governing and controlling, so that this 
 high motive is put in as more than a substitute for the 
 present servile condition. And the hopes of a glorious 
 future held out, are here dwelt on in a manner to suit 
 slavery, but not to suit a state of complete freedom. 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 313 
 
 In the instructions to masters of the Ephesian Church 
 we have the following: "And, ye masters, do the same 
 things unto them, forbearing threatening ; knowing that 
 your Master also is in heaven ; neither is there respect of 
 persons with him." On this we observe, First. That the 
 masters are required to ** do the same things unto them.'* 
 This does not mean to render the servants the same khid 
 of service, but the manner of treating them ; that is, in 
 obedience to the same command of God, with an eye to 
 the same glory of God, wdth the same singleness of heart, 
 with the same love and good will. On the words ra avta^ 
 eadern, the same things, Bengel remarks, in his Gnomon, 
 ** Compensate them with those things that benevolence 
 enjoins. Love should moderate the duties of slaves and 
 masters, as one and the same light does the various colors. 
 Equality of nature and of faith is superior to the differ- 
 ence in states of life." 
 
 This is a reciprocal demand on the master, and it must 
 imply just and equitable returns to slaves for their serv- 
 ice, or an equivalent answering to wages. The master, 
 too, is not to be the sole judge here according to the slave 
 system, as the slave, or his chosen arbiter, is to decide the 
 reciprocal duties of the master to the slave. Here will 
 come in, in good place, the injunction to the masters at 
 Colosse, in which the masters were to render to the slave 
 according to justice, and according to the rule of an 
 equivalent from them to the slaves. This rule, as we have 
 shown, would sooner or later secure freedom, and in the 
 mean time either wages or an equivalent to the slave for 
 his services to his master. 
 
 Second. Masters should *' forbear threatening." The 
 words aviBvtsi tTfV ariiCKriv mean rather to mitigate, relax, 
 or not exact threatening ; that is, the threatened punish- 
 ment. Masters were not to exercise their authority by 
 cruelty or severity ; but they should govern with mildness 
 27 
 
314 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 and moderation. Masters were not allowed by the apos- 
 tle to exercise cruelty to their slaves, nor even threats. 
 They were to govern, says a Lapide, " with the same 
 humanity, benignity, love, sincerity, and fidelity to the 
 servants as the servants were required to serve them.'* 
 We take it that the master was neither to inflict nor even 
 threaten corporeal punishments to his slaves, because both 
 were now under the teachings of the Gospel, and sup- 
 posed to be governed by its spirit. Of course, the corpo- 
 real punishments of the slave system must cease, and the 
 Christian spirit of love must govern, which does not com- 
 port with the use of the whip, stocks, and the like. And 
 this is enforced by the consideration that the God of 
 heaven was Lord both of the master and slave. 
 
 Third. Besides, " God is no respecter of persons." The 
 rich master and poor servant stand before him on the 
 same level, and both shall be rewarded according to their 
 works ; yet God will especially remember the oppressed, 
 and will hear their cry. 
 
 Fourth. That the masters here spoken of were slavehold- 
 ers we can not doubt. As the servants were slaves, the 
 masters were slaveholders ; for the terms here are correl- 
 ative, the one corresponding to the other. They were mas- 
 ters according to the jflesh, or according to the Roman law 
 under which they lived, and at the time the masters were 
 generally slaveholders and the servants were generally 
 slaves. 
 
 The instructions of Paul to the Church of Ephesus 
 gave no sanction or support to slavery ; but, on the other 
 hand, they were subversive of it. The instructions to 
 both slaves and masters were moral and religious, and 
 every thing wrong was forbidden. The slaves must not 
 steal, or lie, or commit any wrong act. The masters 
 were also forbidden to do wrong, and required to do 
 right. The spirit of love and reciprocal good, to each 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 315 
 
 other was enjoined. No person was to be sold, or beaten, 
 or injured, or deprived of just rights. By this discipline, 
 founded on brotherhood and love, slavery must die, and 
 die it did. 
 
 We do not find, however, that immediate emancipation 
 M'as enjoined, though in most, or many cases, emancipa- 
 tion followed. 1. All the sul)jects of the Roman empire 
 were completely under the power of the Emperor and 
 other subordinate tyrants, so that the state of slaves and 
 free persons was very much alike in many respects. Yet 
 there was always, as there is now, an essential difference 
 between freedom and slavery. 2. The apostle knew well 
 the obstacles in the way of general emancipation under 
 the Roman law. Therefore, Paul more immediately en- 
 joined on masters and slaves the moral and social duties 
 rather than emancipation. And the performance of these 
 reciprocal duties, more speedily than emancipation, were 
 beneficial to both parties, and hastened the time for a 
 safer and more advantageous liberty. 3. The instructions 
 to masters and slaves are mostly connected with instruc- 
 tions to parents and children, to husbands and wives. 
 The moral duties enjoined on these relations w^ere de- 
 signed to secure the proper duties belonging to each. The 
 prohibitions and commands to slaveholders and slaves 
 were manifestly designed to restore and establish the rela- 
 tion of hired or remunerated servants, and do away the 
 abuse of just service ; and slavery was that abuse or per- 
 version of it. Slavery is such a perversion of service as 
 concubinage, or contuhernium^ is of lawful marriage. 
 Hence, most, if not all, the instructions concerning the 
 slave-master and the slave will apply to the Scriptural 
 relation of master and servant. There is, too, a total ab- 
 sence of the principal elements of the slave system in these 
 instructions respecting slaves and masters, and this goes 
 to say that slavery is disowned by Paul as an institution 
 
316 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 that could not be regulated, but must be destroyed. There- 
 fore, the want of instructions, by Paul, as to the support 
 of it in its leading elements, is the death-warrant of the 
 whole system. 4. Besides, the instructions to parents and 
 children, husbands and wives, are subversive of slavery, 
 if observed. Children are required to obey their parents ; 
 but in the slave code they must obey their masters. 
 Wives are required to obey their husbands ; but by the 
 laws of slavery they must obey their masters. Wives 
 and husbands are to be married ; but slavery ignores mar- 
 riage, and substitutes contubernium. 
 
 5. We have two passages which concern the subject 
 of slavery in Paul's instructions to Timothy. The first 
 is as follows : ''Knowing this, that the law is not made 
 for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, 
 for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, 
 for murderers of fathers, and murderers of mothers, for 
 manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile them- 
 selves with mankind, for men-stealers, for liars, for per- 
 jured persons, and if there be any other thing that is con- 
 trary to sound doctrine." 1 Tim. i, 9, 10. 
 
 The Greek word ai'6parto6tor»;? is, according to Robin- 
 son and all the lexicons, a slave-dealer, a man-stealer. 
 Bengel says of such, that they are ''those who, by force, 
 make men slaves. They are not unlike those who enlist 
 soldiers by fraud, cheats, and force, or press them." 
 They are those who abduct the slaves of another, or who 
 reduce or retain free men in slavery. The word is derived 
 from avb^artohov, a slave, which is from a^j/p, a man, and 
 Tiovi, a foot, or, in other words, a downtrodden man. The 
 postfix i(jtr^iJ.i, to stand, forming avSpaTtobtatrn, is, there- 
 fore, one who stands on the trampled man, and disposes of 
 him as he will, by force, fraud, law, or any other means, 
 so as to have him under his dominion, and make him a 
 slave, or aiidrapodon, a downtrodden man. These slave- 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 317 
 
 dealers, or man-stealers, are those who carry on a traffic 
 in human beings, by purchase, sale, or use, either in 
 reducing freemen to slaves, or continuing slaves as slaves, 
 except so far as is necessary to free them. The nations 
 or states that legalize slavery, or connive at it, are also 
 to be classed among slave -dealers, or man-stealers, in the 
 strict moral sense of the term. 
 
 And this is the Scriptural view of the slave-dealer, 
 ** And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be 
 found in his hand, shall surely be put to death." Exod. 
 xxi, 16. *' If a man be found stealing any of his breth- 
 ren of the children of Israel, and maketh merchandise 
 of him, or selleth him, then that thief shall die, and thou 
 shalt put evil away from among you." Deut. xxiv, 7. 
 Thus the merchant in human beings is condemned, 
 whether the stealer, the seller, or user of a man as prop- 
 erty, excepting always, as far as is necessary, to pursue 
 a legal course in order to restore the man to liberty. 
 
 The Latin Vulgate translates the Greek word by Pla- 
 giarii. And the Roman lawyers and law applied this 
 name to slave-dealers, and denominated their theft ^^^a- 
 ffium, because the law pronounced those worthy of death 
 who were guilty of dealing in slaves. 
 
 And these slave-dealers are classed with the worst sin- 
 ners. They are ranked morally with the lawless, disobe- 
 dient, ungodly, sinners, profane, murderers, liars, per- 
 jured persons, and the like. ''Man-stealers — the worst 
 of all thieves, in comparison of whom highwaymen and 
 house-breakers are innocent. What, then, are most trad- 
 ers in negroes, procurers of servants for xVmerica, and 
 all who enlist soldiers by lies, tricks, or enticements ?" 
 (Wesley.) 
 
 Observe, too, here, that the masters of slaves, who, as 
 above, retain them only so far as is necessary to free 
 them, whether these masters are xrptot or beanotat, are not 
 
318 THE BIBLE AND SLAVEBY. 
 
 to be classed with slave-dealers, and Paul does not place 
 them without distinction on the same list. The mere 
 master, or owner, may have obtained his slaves by inher- 
 itance, and is contemplating their freedom, or he may 
 have purchased slaves with the same view ; namely, 
 freedom ; and, hence, such may be brethren beloved, faith- 
 ful, good. Hence, also, instructions are given to such 
 slaveholders or masters, the observance of which would 
 preserve them from being on the list of slave-dealers, or 
 mercenary slaveholders. But Paul gives no instructions 
 how these latter classes should conduct themselves in their 
 profession, or business, any more than he does to liars, 
 murderers, and the like, with whom he associates them. 
 But if the master, whether kurios or despotes, it matters 
 not, is a slave-dealer, or becomes such, he is then to be 
 classed w^ith the liars and murderers, and to be treated as 
 such, and the law is against him. 
 
 There is another passage in the first Epistle of Timothy 
 which teaches the duties of slaves to their masters, and 
 incidentally presents the character of Christian masters, 
 whose duties are clearly defined in the Epistles to the 
 Colossians and Ephesians. It reads as follows: "Let 
 as many servants [bov^oi, slaves^ 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 serv- 
 ice, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of 
 the benefit. These things teach and exhort." 1 Tim. 
 vi, 1, 2. 
 
 (1.) The servants, or slaves, were enjoined to be obe- 
 dient to their unbelieving masters. They were to '* count 
 them worthy of all honor" — all the honor due from a 
 servant to a master — and show it by obedience and re- 
 spectful behavior. The reason for this was, that the 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 319 
 
 name of God, or God himself, and his doctrine, or Chris- 
 tianity, be not blasphemed, or spoken evil of, as tending 
 to destroy the political rights of mankind. " Civil rights 
 are never abolished by any communications from God's 
 Spirit. The civil state in which a man was before his 
 conversion is not altered by that of his conversion ; nor 
 does the grace of God absolve him from any claims 
 which either the state br his neighbor may have on him. 
 All these outward things continue unaltered." (Dr. A. 
 Clarke.) The service is not enjoined on the score that 
 the masters had a right in justice to the services, but that 
 God and Christianity might not be evil spoken of. The 
 obedience and services of slaves have often been influen- 
 tial in the conversion of their masters and the promotion 
 of religion. The conduct of stubborn and disobedient 
 slaves would have a very different effect. The honor of 
 the Gospel was concerned in the rendering, on the part 
 of the slave, a prompt obedience to the commands of his 
 master. 
 
 (2.) Servants, or slaves, are also instructed to obey 
 their believing or Christian masters ; that is, those who 
 hold them for the slaves' own good, and with a view to 
 their freedom. These are not to despise their masters, 
 because they are brethren in Christ, and on that account 
 on a level with them. Christian brotherhood consists 
 with inequality of place and relation, and with subjection 
 of one to another ; but they ought to do them service be- 
 cause they are faithful and beloved, and partakers jointly 
 of the common salvation. 
 
 (3.) The servants, or 6oiXot, mentioned in this passage, 
 were slaves. In the first verse they are said to be vno 
 ^vyov bov7Mi, Servants under the yoke. A servant under the 
 yoke is a slave, or a servant in a state of slavery. When 
 the Romans and others intended to deprive men of their 
 liberty, they made them pass under the yoke. ''The 
 
320 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 yoke is formed of three spears, two being fixed upright 
 in the ground, and the other tied across between the 
 upper end of them. Under this yoke the Dictator sent 
 the ^quani." (Tit. Liv., Lib. Ill, C. 8.) Slavery in 
 Scripture is called a yoke. (Lev. xxvi, 13 ; Isaiah ix, 4, 
 andx, 27.) 
 
 (4.) It follows that some, holding the legal relation 
 of masters, were Christians and members of the Church. 
 Thus they were rciatoi, faithfidy or believers. They were 
 hrethren in the Christian sense of the term, and brethren 
 to their Christian slaves ; they were ayanritoi, beloved of 
 God, and his followers ; they were ** partakers of the ben- 
 efit," or, according to Wesley on the place, they were 
 "joint 2^arta1cers of the great benefit of salvation." These 
 believing masters had slaves when they became believers ; 
 yet it should be carefully understood that their Christian- 
 ity taught them to give full civil liberty to the slaves as 
 soon as it could be done to the best advantage of the 
 slave, the master retaining the legal tenure only till that 
 could be accomplished. In the mean time, the slave was 
 a brother, and treated as such. This is the true state of 
 the question, as both the apostolic discipline and the 
 workings of it in the primitive Church fully show. 
 
 (5.) Hence, the instructions of Paul to Timothy give 
 no support to the system of slavery ; because, 1. He con- 
 demns the man-stealeTy or, rather, slave-dealer, whether the 
 seller, purchaser, or user of the slave, andrapodoUy or 
 downtrodden man, classing him with the worst sinners. 
 And this character embraces all who make merchandise 
 of men, in any sense, except to free them. 2. The in- 
 junction to slaves to honor unbelieving masters gives no- 
 countenance to the system as good, as it enjoins honor or 
 obedience because God and Christianity would be evil 
 spoken of. 3. The obedience to believing masters con- 
 siders Christian slaves as brethren — a condition at war 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 321 
 
 with slavery and utterly subversive of it. 4. The Chris- 
 tian masters were believers, beloved, brethren to the slaves, 
 partners in the same Christian cause. Such, therefore, 
 could not hate but love their servants, who were their 
 brethren, and, being Ephesians, observing the instructions 
 given by Paul to that Church, in which he required mas- 
 ters to treat the slaves with reciprocal kindness, to avoid 
 threatening, that the Master of both was in heaven, and 
 there is no respect of persons with God. 5. And though 
 emancipation is not mentioned in terms, it was to follow 
 as soon as justice and equity could accomplish it ; but till 
 that point of time the slave was to be treated as a brother. 
 6. The subsequent history of the Church shows that such 
 was the true position of master and slave in the time of 
 the apostles and in the Churches organized and governed 
 by them, as the Churches of Corinth, Colosse, Ephesus, 
 and Crete. 
 
 6. Titus was left by Paul in the island of Crete "to set 
 in order the things that were wanting, and ordain elders 
 in every city.** Chapter i, 5. Crete was a large island, 
 two hundred and fifty miles long and about fifty wide. 
 It became a Roman province and abounded in slaves, as 
 the greater part of the world then did. In it there were 
 many churches, and as Titus was the chief pastor, Paul 
 instructs him in the difiicult matter connected with slav- 
 ery in exercising Church discipline. 
 
 The following is the Pauline teaching to the Churches 
 in Crete : ** Exhort servants to be obedient to their own 
 masters, and to please them well in all things ; not an- 
 swering again ; not purloining ; but showing all good 
 fidelity ; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our 
 Savior in all things." Titus ii, 9, 10. On the forego- 
 ing passage we remark : 
 
 (1.) The general duty enjoined on servants, or slaves, 
 "obedience to their own masters." This extends to all 
 
822 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 honest and lawful things, whether their masters be pagans 
 or Christians ; if pagans, not assuming that Christianity 
 freed them from their ordinary commands ; if Christian 
 masters, not thinking that they had a greater liberty to 
 be disobedient. They were, therefore, to please their mas- 
 ters well in all things lawful, or wherein it can be done 
 without sin. 
 
 (2.) The particular duties enjoined on servants are the 
 following : Not answering again, or not contradicting or 
 gainsaying the master's just commands, or even when 
 blamed unjustly. The state of the servant calls for great 
 moderation. 
 
 Servants should be honest, not purloining ; that is, not 
 stealing the least thing, nor taking any thing that is their 
 master's, which is not allowed by their consent, but 
 showing all honesty in every thing. Among the heathen 
 slaves theft was so common, that fur, a thief, was com- 
 monly used to signify a servant, because slaves were gen- 
 erally thieves. Paul teaches that slaves should be strictly 
 honest in all things, both as it respects their masters and 
 others. 
 
 Fidelity was enjoined on slaves. They were to show 
 " all good fidelity " in every trust reposed in them, so as 
 to speak the truth, and discharge all their duties punctu- 
 ally and advantageously to their masters. 
 
 (8.) The reason for this conscientious discharge of 
 their duties was, that they might *' adorn the doctrine of 
 God their Savior in all things." This would render their 
 religion amiable and honorable in the eyes of their hea- 
 then masters and others, when they would see its influ- 
 ence on its professors, especially on those in the lower 
 walks of life. The history of Christianity furnishes many 
 illustrious examples of the conversion of multitudes by 
 the Christian walk and conversation of slaves. 
 
 (4.) That the relation of master and slave is the one 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 323 
 
 here intended, is manifest from the very instructions given 
 to the slaves. The duties enjoined were designed to cor- 
 rect ivils inherent in slavery, such as insubordination, 
 stubbornness, impertinence, theft, and perfidy. These 
 were leading vices of the system of slavery, and not of 
 services done for wages. Such, at least, were not the 
 prominent vices of hired servants, as they were of slaves. 
 The conclusion is, that the masters and servants spoken 
 of here were slaveholders and slaves. 
 
 7. Although we have given the entire of the Pauline 
 instructions respecting slaves and their masters, with the 
 exception of the Epistle to Philemon, we may also em- 
 brace, in connection with the teachings of the missionary 
 to the Gentiles, those given by the missionary of the cir- 
 cumcision. 
 
 Peter says, *' Servants, [ut otxstai, house-slaves, 1 be sub- 
 ject to your masters [6f ^Ttoratj, desjyots'] with all fear ; not 
 only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward [axo- 
 ^totj, perverse;] for this is thank-worthy, if a man for 
 conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrong- 
 fully.'* 1 Peter ii, 18, 19. This is the same in sub- 
 stance that Paul gives to Timothy, chapter vi, 1, 2. 
 
 (1.) The slave is bound to obey his master w-hile under 
 his authority, not because of any just right the master 
 has to hold him in bondage, but because of the benefits 
 he receives from him. The master is all the civil magis- 
 trate the slave has to protect him, to feed and clothe him. 
 For this cause the slave is as much bound to obey his 
 master as the subjects of a tyrant are while they enjoy 
 his protection. And till Providence presents some way 
 of relief, there is no essential difference between the rela- 
 tion of a slave to his despotic master, and that of a sub- 
 ject to a despotic king. Hence, Peter commands sub- 
 jects to submit themselves to every ordinance of man 
 for the Lord's sake. (Verse 13.) After continuing the 
 
324 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 exhortation to some length, he presently recognizes the 
 duties of servants, or slaves, to their masters. 
 
 Obedience was enjoined not only to the good and gen- 
 tle, but also to the froward or perverse master. Submis- 
 sion is not enjoined on the ground that the institution 
 was right, but for conscience' sake. The obligation to 
 relative duties does not depend on the character of the 
 persons to whom they are rendered, or on the performance 
 of the duties they owe to us, but on the unalterable rela- 
 tions of things as established by God. It was praise- 
 worthy for a person to suffer wrongfully, after the manner 
 of Christ, *' who, when he was reviled, reviled not again." 
 Verse 23. The apostle refers to those punishments suf- 
 fered by slaves as contrary to justice and mercy, while 
 they are exhorted to endure them, and suffer patiently, 
 though suffering wrongfully. 
 
 (2.) That the servants mentioned here were slaves, we 
 have full proof. 1. The epistle was addressed to persons 
 scattered throughout Pontus, Gallatia, Cappadocia, Asia, 
 Bythinia, provinces in Asia Minor, where the Grecian 
 and Koman systems of slavery prevailed. The word 
 dixf-fjyj here means any one under the authority of an- 
 other, particularly household slaves, or servants, as verna^ 
 familia, domestici, famuli. It is used but four times in 
 the New Testament — here, and in Luke xvi, 13, Acts x, 
 7, Rom. xiv, 4. The strong presumption is that, in all 
 these places, slaves were intended, as they generally per- 
 formed the duties now performed by hired servants among 
 us. 2. In this passage the house servant must have been 
 a slave, because he is instructed to obey with all fear, for 
 conscience toward God, to endure it as a grief, and suffering 
 wrongfidly, after the example of Christ. Surely these 
 accidents can not apply to hired servants, who served by 
 contract for wages. 
 
 (3.) The masters, also, or despotaiy must have been 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 325 
 
 slave-owners or slaveholders, as master is the correspond- 
 ing relation to slave^ or one under the power of another, 
 whether he is called doulos, oiketes, or andrapodon, as 
 among the Greeks, or servus, mancijnum, ancilia, verna, 
 famulus, as among the Latins, or slave, or servant, 
 among us, when the servant is the property of a master. 
 
 There were two classes of masters here mentioned ; the 
 one class comprised the good and gentle, who were Chris- 
 tians, Avho treated their slaves well, held them in trust till 
 they could safely emancipate them in conformity to jus- 
 tice and rendering them an equivalent for their services 
 till that point of time, according to the Pauline discipline 
 to the Colossians. (Col. iv, 1.) The other class of des- 
 potai were the froward — the axo-kioi, the perverse, severe, 
 and uvjust masters, who treated their slaves according to 
 the law^s of slavery, with little regard to justice. The 
 "good and gentle" class of slaveholders might he called 
 masters, but not andrapodistai, slave-dealers. The had 
 men might be called andrajyodistai, slave-dealers, properly 
 and characteristically, as well as slaveholders, masters, 
 or slave-owners. The master might be a Christian, the 
 slave-dealer, or the mercenary slaveholder, never, as Paul 
 ranks him with murderers and liars. But he never places 
 the mere master — him who sustains that relation w^ith the 
 simple view of the slave's good, and his freedom — in this 
 category. 
 
 (4.) Surely the apostle Peter gives no support here to 
 slavery. The slave is represented as suffering wrongfully, 
 and he is exhorted, by the example of Christ, to endure 
 this as a lurong, and not that which is just, or according 
 to justice. Can any language more directly than that 
 of Peter express the injustice of slavery ? We think not. 
 
326 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PAULINE DISCIPLINE — CASE OF ONESIMUS. 
 
 The case of Onesimus will furnish us with an example 
 in which the instructions laid down by Paul were applied, 
 and which became the model for the Christian Church in 
 after times. 
 
 The Epistle to Philemon was not addressed to Phi- 
 lemon alone, but also to Apphia, supposed to be his wife, 
 and to Archippus, who is supposed to be his son, and to 
 the Church in his house. (Verse 1.) It was written 
 from Rome, and sent by Paul to Philemon, his family, 
 and the Church in his house at Colosse. It appears, from 
 verses 1, 10, 13, 23, that it was written when Paul was a 
 prisoner, and when he had hopes of obtaining his liberty. 
 (Verse 22.) It was written at the same time with the 
 Epistle to the Colossians, or about the end of A. D. 63, 
 or beginning of 64. For Timothy joins him in both 
 epistles. And in both the epistles, Epaphroditus, Mark, 
 Demas, and Luke join in the salutations. And Ones- 
 imus, who carried this Epistle, was one of the messen- 
 gers by whom the Epistle to the Colossians was sent. 
 (Col. iv, 9.) The general instructions, therefore, re- 
 specting masters and slaves in the Epistle to the Colos- 
 sians, must be taken into the account with the particular 
 teachings given in the one sent to Philemon, to his wife, 
 son, and the Church in his house. 
 
 Philemon appears to have been a person of considera- 
 tion in the Church at Colosse, and was converted by the 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 327 
 
 ministry of Paul — verse 19 — about the time when he ex- 
 ercised his ministry at Ephesus. (Acts xix, 10.) He 
 had a Church in his house — verse 2 — and was so opulent 
 as to be extensive in works of charity, and in entertain- 
 ing those Christians who had occasion to visit Colosse. 
 (Verses 5-7.) He was a man of influence in the Church, 
 and the historians place him as bishop or chief pastor 
 of the Church at Colosse. 
 
 The occasion of writing this letter was the following : 
 Onesimus, the servant of Philemon, had, on some pre- 
 tense, run away from his master and come to Kome, 
 where Paul was then a prisoner. It is likely he was led 
 to visit Paul, from having seen him in Colosse at his 
 master's house. He became a genuine convert to Chris- 
 tianity, and was sedulous to serve Paul in promoting his 
 comfort. 
 
 1. The circumstances of this case seem to show that, 
 at the date of this Epistle, Onesimus w^as the legal slave 
 of Philemon. As such Paul resolved to send him back 
 to his master ; and, to remove all difficulties, wrote to 
 the latter this special Epistle. 
 
 2. Let us now examine how Philemon was, by Paul's 
 instruction, required to receive and treat this slave on his 
 return to his master. 
 
 (1.) Philemon was to receive him in the following man- 
 ner : "Not now as a servant, [6od>\.oj, a slave,^ but above 
 a servant, a brother beloved, especially to me, but how 
 much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord ? 
 If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as my- 
 self. ... I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also 
 do more than I say." Verses 16, 17, 21. 
 
 Although Philemon could receive him as his legal slave, 
 yet he was besought by Paul to receive him "not now as 
 a slave, but above a slave." Formerly, when neither of 
 them were Christians, Philemon might receive him as a 
 
328 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 slave ; but lie could not do that noiu, as both were Chris- 
 tians, as he must be received above a slave. He must 
 receive him — ovxeux^^ 8ov%ov — not now, no more, no farther', 
 no longer, as a slave ; that is, he was now to be elevated 
 above the condition of a slave. A slave -was in the low- 
 est condition in which a human being could be placed, 
 and so low were slaves in the eye of the law that they 
 could be placed no lower nor no higher, and among them 
 there was nothing like grade, or higher or lower, but one 
 dead level of the lowest possible position. So says the 
 Roman law. "In the condition of slaves there is no 
 difference ; but among free persons there are many divers- 
 ities. Thus some are Imjenui, or freemen, others Ubertini, 
 or freed- men." (Institutes, Lib. I, Tit. 3, Sec. 5.) Thus 
 the first step was taken to rescue a man from slavery 
 when he was to be considered above a slave. Thus the 
 destruction of slavery commenced when the man was 
 only one step raised above this condition, however small. 
 All the rest was to follow. He was to be a brother, and 
 a brother beloved, both to Paul the apostle and to Phile- 
 mon the master. He was to be such in the flesh, or while 
 his legal service existed, but especially in the Lord, or as 
 a Christian. He was to be received as Paul was received, 
 and this was the forerunner of liberty, not by constraint, 
 but willingly ; for Philemon was expected to do more 
 than Paul said he should do. Let us look at the Chris- 
 tian state of brotherhood to which the Christian slave 
 was elevated, as a first-fruit of religion. 
 
 (2.) Onesimus is now the brother of his master, the 
 brother of Paul, Christ being the elder brother of the 
 family. God is the common Father, to whom they are 
 all to pray. Our Father. All are redeemed by Jesus 
 Christ ; all are sanctified by the same Spirit. Onesimus, 
 the slave of Philemon according to the flesh, or Roman 
 law, now worships with him in the Church in his house. 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 329 
 
 and he is considered as much a Christian and a beloved 
 brother as Paul himself. The term hrotker is a new term 
 to be introduced between slave and master. It gives the 
 death-blow to slavery, and it is a relation never known 
 or used in the slave system. 
 
 (3.) As Philemon was a membel' of the Church at 
 Colosse, and from the Epistle conveyed to that Church 
 by Onesimus and Tychicus — Col. iv, 7, 10 — he learned 
 the instructions given to slaves and masters, he there 
 found his own duty laid down in these words, "Masters, 
 give to your servants [slaves] that which is just and 
 equal, knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven." 
 Col. iv, 1. Justice, according to its demands, would re- 
 quire that he should dissolve his relation as master ; and 
 equity required that, till this act of justice could take 
 place, reciprocal duties and relations should control the 
 matter. And the Church, to whom the Epistle was sent, 
 was bound to see that this healthy discipline was carried 
 out in reference to slaves and masters. 
 
 3. Let us see here the leading points in Paul's argu- 
 ment in favor of Onesimus, Paul had given command on 
 the subject of slavery in his Epistle to the Colossians, 
 and which was addressed to Philemon as well as other 
 members of the Church at Colosse. He was, therefore, 
 in possession of this special law, command, or injunction, 
 in regard to the matter, w^hich required justice and equity 
 on his part toward Onesimus. Paul, in his letter to Phi- 
 lemon, omits the injunction as unnecessary to be repeated, 
 and proceeds to entreaty : "I rather beseech thee." He 
 brings to view the Christian character and privileges of 
 Philemon, and calls him dearly-beloved and fellow- 
 laborer. He congratulates him for the *' Church in his 
 house," for his love and fidelity to Christ and all saints, 
 and that the bowels of the saints were refreshed by his 
 bounty. He represents himself as prisoner of Jesus 
 
 28 
 
330 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 Christ, and Paul the aged. Onesimus is his son, who 
 was converted by his ministry, who was once unprofita- 
 ble as a servant, but now may be relied on for honesty, 
 veracity, and fidelity, that he is now a Christian and a 
 beloved brother. He then pleads that Onesimus should 
 be received as Paul himself, and treated with brotherly 
 regard. He promises to pay for any wrong done by 
 Onesimus, or had he improperly, in his days of sin, 
 squandered his peculium, that he would repay all. He 
 expresses his confidence that Philemon would do more 
 than he requested him to do ; and, to enlist him fully, he 
 requests him further to provide a lodging for him, as he 
 trusted that, through the prayers of Philemon, he would 
 be permitted to pay him the intended visit. It was with 
 such addresses as this that the primitive Christians made 
 their pleas in behalf of those who were in bonds, as 
 bound with them ; and all know how admirably they 
 succeeded in promoting freedom and the elevation of 
 their race. 
 
 4. Now what was the effect of the instructions of Paul 
 in this case, in reference to the freedom of Onesimus ? 
 The result was his emancipation from slavery. Of this 
 we have sufficient historical data to assure us of it as a 
 matter of fact. This is attested by the apostolical con- 
 stitutions, and apostolical canons, which we have already 
 quoted. And this is the concurrent testimony of antiq- 
 uity on the subject. This is delicately hinted at by Paul, 
 where he says, "Knowing that thou wilt also do more 
 than I say." Verse 21. He did not in terms enjoin 
 emancipation, but he knew, that this result would follow, 
 and he therefore leaves it to be wrought out from the 
 moral and religious principles which he inculcated on the 
 subject, and the spirit of Christianity ; for as there was a 
 will, there would be found a ico.y, to execute it. This the 
 history of Christianity attests. 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 331 
 
 5. The disciplinary example of the case of rhilemon 
 and Onesimus, gives no support to slavery, but on the 
 other hand is subversive of it. If those who are slaves 
 would become Christians, and their masters would treat 
 them not noio, or no more as slaves, but brethren beloved, 
 as above slaves, the result would be freedom. And though 
 the slaves, under the teachings of Christianity, would be 
 more faithful slaves while they were slaves, the treatment 
 of them as brothers would soon lead to freedom. This, 
 too, is history. 
 
 What would we tbink of Philemon, had he neglected 
 Paul's instructions and entreaty, and treated Onesimus 
 according to the slave laws ? For example, had lie 
 w^hipped him first for running away, and then sold him 
 to a slave-dealer, and sold his wife and children to the 
 highest bidder, would he be tolerated in the Christian 
 Church, after selling his brother and putting the money 
 in his pocket ? By no means. The primitive Church, 
 had no such custom among them, and no such conduct 
 would be tolerated. And can our Christians who reject 
 tbe discipline and principles laid down by Paul, be con- 
 sidered as any other than wicked, who buy and sell their 
 fellow-men, and live on their labor without remunera- 
 tion ? Every Christian is bound to do like Philemon, to 
 treat the slave as a brother, while he is a slave, and grant 
 him his freedom with as little delay as the law will allow, 
 or the circumstances of the case require. Nothing short 
 of this is Christianity. How can any Christian come to 
 his dying pillow, and leave slaves to others to inherit 
 them, when emancipation is within his reach, even 
 though it would be necessary to remove them to an- 
 other country or state? Even this is not too much to 
 do for freedom. 
 
332 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 PAULINE DISCIPLINE— GENERAL SURVEY. 
 
 It is time now to take a general survey of the princi- 
 ples and discipline of the Pauline instructions to masters 
 and servants. 
 
 1. The apostle acknowledged some masters to be true 
 Christians — such masters as sustained the legal relation, 
 not for gain, but with a view to the good of the slave, 
 and his ultimate freedom. 
 
 2. It appears evident that such masters were admitted 
 to Church membership in the Churches founded and 
 governed by the apostles. 
 
 3. The great endeavor of the apostolic preaching, as 
 relating to slavery, seems to have been to bring slaves 
 and masters to an intellectual, experimental, and prac- 
 tical knowledge of the truth — to assign to each their 
 respective duties, and lay down those great principles of 
 right and wrong, which would inevitably issue in eman- 
 cipation, and meanwhile correct, so far as possible, the 
 moral evils of the system in reference to slaves and mas- 
 ters, respectively. 
 
 If, in their preaching, the apostles seem not to dwell 
 largely on the evils of slavery itself, this may, in part at 
 least, be accounted for from the fact that these evils were 
 evident to all persons taught in the principles of the 
 Gospel. The influence of the perfect love of God and 
 man — the comprehensive beneficence begotten by Chris- 
 tianity — the union in one common brotherhood — having 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE aN SLAVERY. 333 
 
 one God — one Savior and Sanctifier — one common inher- 
 itance of grace here, and of glory hereafter — all con- 
 spired to bring about one result — the civil freedom of the 
 slave, and the elevation of both slave and master to the 
 higher freedom of the sons of God. 
 
 4. Paul enjoined duties to masters and slaves while 
 both remained in this relation of master and slave to 
 each other. The passages quoted, at a preceding page, 
 from Paul, show that certain duties were required from 
 masters and slaves while in that relation, or while it con- 
 tinued. Masters are enjoined — Ephesians vi, 9 — to do 
 the "same things" to their slaves which had been en- 
 joined on them ; that is, they were to exhibit the same 
 kindness, fidelity, and regard to the will of God. They 
 were to ''forbear threatening," or to "disuse threaten- 
 ing," and not govern by terror, but by love and kindness. 
 They were urged by the consideration that they had a 
 Master in heaven, who had no respect of persons. 
 
 Masters were required to " give unto their servants that 
 which is just and equal, remembering that they had also 
 a Master in heaven." Colossians iv, 1. 
 
 Philemon was entreated by Paul to receive his slave 
 Onesimus not now, or ovxtti, no more, no longer, as a 
 slave, but above a slave, a brother beloved, the brother 
 of himself and Paul — as Paul himself. As a member 
 of the Colossian Church he was commanded to render to 
 him according to justice and equity. He was entreated 
 to receive him as a beloved Christian brother, with the 
 command to render to him afterward that which was 
 just and equal. (Philemon 16.) 
 
 5. The duties of slaves to their masters show that these 
 duties were enjoined on them while in a state of slavery, 
 to be performed to their legal masters, whether Christians 
 or heathen. The texts enforcing those duties have been 
 quoted. Obedience or all honor to the masters is enjoined 
 
334 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 in all things. This is limited to the will of God, or the 
 precepts of morality. Service is a labor to be rendered 
 to the master, with the same restraint as it is to be unto 
 Christ, as unto the Lord. Fidelity or trustworthiness for 
 the interests of the master is required, so as to be honest 
 and faithful to all trusts reposed in them. 
 
 Besides, these slaves were slaves properly so called, 
 and though they became brethren to their masters, they 
 still continued to be legal slaves till emancipation took 
 place. 
 
 6. In the list of duties of slaves and their masters in 
 reference to each other, we have certain privileges belong- 
 ing to each in this relation. The master was privileged 
 with obedience, service, and fidelity from the slave, in con- 
 formity to the moral laws of God and Christianity ; and 
 the slave had his pj-ivilcges also. He looked for justice, 
 equity, and love, or brotherhood, from the master, and the 
 cessation of threatening, or the use of the whip. 
 
 But these mutual duties and privileges would reduce 
 slavery gradually to lawful service, which was certainly 
 the intention of Paul in his code, as was the intention 
 in the Abrahamic administration. Emancipation would 
 come in, as a consequence. 
 
 As Paul, in giving his instructions to masters and 
 slaves, does it in connection with his instructions to hus- 
 bands and wives, parents and children, it is inferred by 
 some, that he therefore sanctions slavery. But the con- 
 trary will appear on careful examination. It is true that 
 he gives the instructions to slaves and masters in connec- 
 tion with the relations of husbands and wives, parents 
 and children, in the following places, namely : In his 
 Epistle to the Corinthians, Ephesians, and Colossians. 
 It is confessed on all hands that the parental and filial 
 relations were established by almighty God. And if the 
 instructions and laws of these relations are subversive of 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 335 
 
 slavery, the latter can not be of God. Now this is the 
 case. Marriage is appointed of God, or the union of one 
 man and one woman till death. Wherever legal mar- 
 riage is there is no slavery, properly so called, at least no 
 Roman slavery. This cuts up by the roots the contiiher- 
 n'lum, or polygamy, of slavery. Besides, children are to 
 obey their parents in preference to their masters. They can 
 not obey both ; therefore, they must obey their parents. 
 Parents, too, are to bring up their children in the nurture 
 and admonition, or in the instruction and discipline, of 
 the Lord. This takes them away from the hands of all 
 others. So that the establishment of marriage and the 
 parental and filial relations are at irreconcilable variance 
 with slavery. And as God has established these he never 
 established nor sanctioned slavery, which is a perversion 
 of just service, as polygamy, concubinage, and contuher- 
 nium are perversions of lawful marriage ; and lawful mar- 
 riage being established, the others necessarily are annihi- 
 lated or entirely superseded, as enormities that can not be 
 tolerated by the morals of the Gospel. 
 
 7. Hence, the legislation of Paul in reference to 
 slavery would restore service to its original and just con- 
 dition, by removing those abuses which slavery intro- 
 duced. This was done, as we have seen, by the Mosaic 
 code. The instructions of Paul to masters and slaves 
 would apply substantially to employers and hired serv- 
 ants ; and, indeed, most theologians have applied the 
 instructions, with great propriety, to masters and hired 
 servants in countries where slavery does not exist. All 
 employers are bound to render to persons in their employ 
 according to justice and equity, as well as to forbear or 
 disuse threatening, and treat them as brethren, fellow- 
 men, with civility and love. They are privileged, too, to 
 have their commands about their business executed as 
 they wish, and they ought to have the proportion of labor 
 
336 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 or service agreed on performed. All servants or persons 
 in employ are also bound to bhey these commands, to do 
 the amount of work, and to do it honestly and with 
 fidelity. They are privileged, too, to receive their wages 
 and civil and respectful treatment. 
 
 Besides, the apostle Paul lays down no laws or rules 
 to institute or maintain slavery proper. He lays down 
 no rules about buying and selling men, and the endless 
 moral wrongs of the slave system. And while he omits 
 all such rules and enjoins only what is just and right, he 
 neither sanctions, supports, nor sustains slavery by any 
 instructions he has given to slaves and masters. Does 
 Paul give instructions to man-stealers or slave-dealers to 
 prosecute their business ? Certainly not, as these were 
 willful transgressors. But some masters, or owners of 
 slaves, may have no act whatever or no will, in becoming 
 slaveholders ; and such, so far, can not be guilty of any 
 willful, wrong act. Their future course is to decide this 
 question of right and wrong on their part. 
 
 Paul made laws for the master, as responsible to God, 
 and not for slavery. He made laws for the slave as a 
 redeemed man and a sufferer, but not for the perpetuity 
 of the system which oppressed him. This does not prove 
 that Paul approved of the system. Paul made a law 
 respecting the relation between Nera and his subjects — 
 Romans xiii, 1-7 — yet he certainly did not teach by this 
 that his government and laws were good and just. Paul 
 considered slavery as a hard condition, from which he 
 exhorts all who can to be free, and that none who are 
 free from it should willingly enter on it. So he ex- 
 horted Christians to bear persecution ; but certainly he 
 did not approve of persecution. 
 
 8. Paul, in his instructions to slaves and masters, gives 
 no sanction or approval to the system of slavery. 
 
 (1.) In order to present the subject clearly, let us select 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 337 
 
 some of the leading elements of the slave system that 
 then prevailed, which was Roman slavery, seeing Rome 
 then governed the civilized world, comprising all the ter- 
 ritory in which Churches were formed, and, of course, 
 those Churches which Paul instructs on this subject. In 
 our chapter on Roman slavery we gave a pretty full out- 
 line of the system. We may select the leading points. 
 The principal modes by which persons became slaves 
 were, by war in selling the captives, by kidnapping and 
 commerce ; some were born slaves ; some sold them- 
 selves for slaves ; others became slaves in consequence 
 of their crimes. 
 
 As to the state of the slaves, they were held pro nullis, 
 pro mortuis, pro quadriipedihus . They were entirely under 
 the power of their masters, who could put them to death, 
 torture, correct them, or dispose of them at pleasure. 
 They were property, and could be sold, bartered, leased, 
 given by will, or otherwise disposed of. They could have 
 no property, and could not take by will, purchase, or 
 descent. They were not entitled to the rights of matri- 
 mony, had no relief in case of adultery, nor were they 
 proper objects of cognation, so as to stand in the relation 
 of parent and child, husband and wife. They could not 
 be witnesses. The master might or might not manumit, 
 so that the slave could not secure freedom without the 
 consent of his master. Such are some of the leading 
 elements of Roman slavery. 
 
 (2.) Now, we ask, where did Paul, in treating on this 
 subject, expressly say any thing to support this system ? 
 Certainly no where. He does not, it is true, single out 
 these points, as all such were clearly, in many places, de- 
 nounced by the word of God. And yet, in classing the 
 slave-dealer with the worst of men, he condemns the 
 whole system in which he traffics. The instructions of 
 Paul, without exception, give no countenance to the 
 29 
 
838 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 leading elements of slavery — where does he sanction any- 
 one of the modes of enslaving men ? — while his teach- 
 ings to masters and slaves would do away the essential 
 parts of slavery, and would, by this means, transform 
 it into a just service, and thus supersede slavery by that 
 which slavery had perverted from its just and original 
 condition. 
 
 (3.) The instructions to masters give no countenance 
 to slavery. 
 
 The duties of masters are given in two short texts — 
 Eph. vi, 9 ; Col. iv, 1 — which require that masters should 
 treat slaves as they would be treated, that they should not 
 threaten or whip, that they would render justice and equity 
 to the slave ; and the reasons for their course were, that 
 they had a Master in heaven over them, whose laws must 
 be obeyed, and with whom there was no respect of per- 
 sons, so as to distinguish between master and slave. 
 None of these precepts teach or tolerate that masters 
 should consider their legal slaves as nothing, as dead 
 persons, as beasts ; that they had any moral right to 
 hold them in bondage ; to annul marriage, and break up 
 the parental and filial relation ; to put them to death, 
 torture, and whip them ; to sell, give, barter, or will 
 them ; to receive the profits of their unrequited labors ; 
 to make all their religious privileges to depend on his 
 will, etc. The teachings of Paul grant no such rights to 
 masters ; and though, while the relation must exist, the 
 master has the power to govern and to require service, ac- 
 cording to the rule of reciprocal right only, yet Paul's 
 laws of privileges and duties to the master give him not 
 one of those as rights which go to constitute slavery 
 proper. And the lessons given the masters will, in due 
 time, lead to emancipation, as an inevitable result, by 
 the application of the principles and duties laid down. 
 It is preposterous to think that Paul's instructions to 
 
TAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 339 
 
 masters would tolerate them in treating a brotlier Chris- 
 tian, or a brother man, as property, or a thing, so as to 
 sell his brother, or treat him as the slave system of Rome 
 allowed him to be treated. 
 
 (4.) No argument in favor of slavery can be drawn 
 from the instructions of Paul to slaves themselves. The 
 passages have all been already quoted, and are the fol- 
 lowing : 1 Corinthians vii, 20-24 ; Ei3hesians vi, 5-8 ; 
 Colossians iii, 22-25; 1 Timothy vi, 1-5; Titus ii, 9, 
 10. In the first passage the slaves are taught to obtain 
 their freedom, if they lawfully can, and if they are free 
 not to consent to be slaves. In the other passages they 
 are taught to be obedient to the lawful commands of their 
 masters, to render service to them with fidelity. The 
 main duties are patience, meekness, fidelity, kindness, 
 truth, and honesty — duties obligatory to all men. There 
 were vices which they were to avoid, such as pilfering, 
 lying, and eye-service ; and the apostle enjoins on them, 
 as Christians, to avoid these. They were to do all this 
 in obedience to God, or "as unto Christ," ** as the 
 servants of Christ," *' as to the Lord," "fearing God." 
 They were to do right — to do no wrong. They, too, had 
 the privileges from their Christian masters, to be treated 
 as brethren, according to the law of love, with justice, 
 equal rights, etc. 
 
 (5.) Surely these duties enjoined on slaves, and the 
 privileges growing out of the instructions of Paul, never 
 could recognize the claim that these slaves should still be 
 considered and treated as things — as property — as beasts, 
 as having no right to marriage, or that their children 
 must not obey them — that they may be sold, bartered, 
 killed, tortured, whipped, work for nothing, etc. All 
 this is simply preposterous. Indeed, the right of the 
 master to slaves is never conceded or even referred to. 
 The obligation of obedience is never based on the ground 
 
840 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 that slavery is right, but, on the other hand, that it is 
 wrong, being unjust and unequal. 
 
 9. The principles and duties prescribed by Paul, in 
 referonce to masters and slaves, are opposed to slavery, 
 and, if carried out, would secure its abolition. 
 
 The supreme sovereignty of God over all human be- 
 ings, and the laws he has given to govern mankind, pre- 
 sent a direct antagonism to slavery. The instructions of 
 Paul very clearly bring this to view. He addresses mas- 
 ters thus : "Knowing that your Master also is in heaven;'* 
 or as some copies read, ''Knowing that both your and 
 their Master is in heaven." Ephesians vi, 9. Servants 
 are to be " obedient, as unto Christ." Verse 5. They 
 are to serve, but it is " as the servants of Christ." Verse 
 6. They are to serve and " do the will of God from the 
 heart." Verse 6. The servant is represented as "called 
 in the Lord ;" is the " Lord's freed-man," am-Kevdspog ; is 
 "Christ's doulos, or slave." 1 Corinthians vii, 22. In 
 his service he is " therein to abide with God." Verse 24. 
 To the Colossians Paul says, in referring to the obedience 
 of slaves, " Servants, obey — fearing God." Colossians 
 iii, 22. " Do it heartily as to the Lord and not to man." 
 Verse 23. They will " receive the inheritance from the 
 Lord ;" and they " serve the Lord Christ." Verse 24. 
 They are exhorted to honor their masters, "that the 
 name of God and his doctrine be not blamed." 1 Tim. 
 vi, 1. They are exhorted to obey for the sake of religion, 
 or that " they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior 
 in all things." Titus ii, 10. Onesimus was " a brother 
 beloved in the Lord." Philecion 16. Paul beseeches 
 Philemon, in regard to his slave Onesimus, " let me 
 have joy of thee in the Lord," and " refresh my bowels 
 in the Lord." Verse 20. And Peter exhorts slaves to 
 endure their hard lot, "for conscience toward God, 
 enduring grief, suffering wrongfully." 1 Peter ii, 19. 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 341 
 
 From the foregoing it M'ill be seen that the obedience 
 and service of the slave must be referred to the sovereign 
 authority of God, with no reference to any rights of the 
 master other than as governed by the will of God, in 
 honor of him, for the sake of religion, as a matter of 
 conscience. And all this in reference to those things 
 which comprise moral or social acts, as of obedience to 
 just commands, and rendering a reasonable service. And 
 all this, too, only for a time, or till freedom could inter- 
 vene. The leading elements of slavery are here neces- 
 sarily omitted, such as unequaled toil, rejection of mar- 
 riage and filial or parental obligations, sale and purchase 
 of the slaves, that they are j>ro nulliSt pro mortuis, pro 
 guadrujjedibus, and the like. 
 
 Chrysostom, on 1 Corinthians vii, 23, has a very 
 appropriate remark on this point. ** There are limits set 
 to slaves by God himself; and up to what point one 
 ought to keep them, this is also exacted, and to transgress 
 them is wrong ; namely, when your master commands 
 nothing which is unpleasing to God, it is right to follow 
 and obey, but no further. For thus the slave becomes 
 free. But, if you go further, even though you are free, 
 you are become a slave.** 
 
 10. Doing good is enjoined on all, both slaves and 
 masters, as part of the system of instructions given on 
 the subject. "Knowing that whatsoever good thing any 
 man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord.'* 
 Ephesians vi, 8. Our blessed Lord went about doing 
 good. Christians are to be employed in well-doing. 
 We might simply ask, if only good acts were to be per- 
 formed, how could slavery ever have existed ? Or, how 
 long would it last in the performance of that which is 
 good on the part of masters and slaves ? It was a law- 
 ful act, under Roman slavery, to kill the slave. Surely 
 this was not good. And if well-doing were applied to 
 
342 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 the system of Roman slavery, nothing of it would be 
 left, but that of which it was a perversion ; namely, 
 legitimate, honest, free labor. The same text applied to 
 American slavery, would issue in the same result entirely. 
 " Cleave to that which is good," is a command that 
 ■would annihilate the system in short order. 
 
 11. The apostle of the Gentiles, the Roman citizen, 
 too, in his official teaching concerning slavery, masters, 
 and slaves, declares that no one, whether slave or master, 
 can do wrong without suffering the penalty inflicted on 
 sinners. *' But he that doeth wrong shall suffer for the 
 wrong; and there is no respect of persons." Colossians 
 
 iii, 25. Or, 'O 8a a6ix<x>v, xo/xthtai 6 iq^ixriOB. "He that 
 doeth unjustly, shall suffer for the injustice." Doing 
 wrong, or acting unjustly, is condemned, whether to 
 masters or slaves. Slavery is contrary to natural law, or 
 to justice, which "renders to every man his due." The 
 precepts of justice are, " to live honestly, to hurt no one, 
 to give every one his due." (Institutes, I, 1, 1.) Now, 
 injustice, or wrong, is the opposite of justice, or right. 
 Slavery does not give every one his own, as it de- 
 prives the slave of his liberty, his personal security, 
 and the fruit of his labors. It furthermore hurts the 
 slave, by stripes, severe labor, degradation, and dishonor. 
 It hurts him in his good name, his property, and his per- 
 son. The slaveholder does not live honorably, as he lives 
 by injuring others, and by their labor, skill, and suffer- 
 ings. Hence he is said to be 6 aStxwv, one who doeth 
 wrong, or who acts unjustly, from a, not, and Stxw, to be 
 just. Or he acts avtv biX7]v, contrary to justice, or avtv to 
 Stpcatoi^, contrary to that which is just. The voluntary slave- 
 holder acts contrary to justice, and Paul requires all 
 slaveholders to act according to justice, or according to that 
 which is just. And slavery is contrary to jus naturale, 
 natural right or justice, and is therefore unjust. All men 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 343 
 
 are born free. He that makes slaves of children, as soon 
 as they are born, whether by the help of law, or by theft, 
 or force, is unjust. 
 
 Now, it is God's law, that ''he who does wrong will 
 suffer for the wrong," and as a confirmation of it there 
 is **no respect of persons." Slaves are poor, and God 
 will punish those who make or keep them poor by en- 
 slaving them. Especially will God avenge the contu- 
 hemium of slavery, the ignoring the paternal and filial 
 relations, selling men, women, and children, like beasts, 
 and all the other wrongs of the system of slavery, which 
 is properly a malum in se. Now, separate doing ivrong 
 from the system of slavery, and the system is destroyed 
 by the process. 
 
 12. The equality of the human race, or the common 
 nature of man, is taught by Paul in his instructions to 
 slaves and masters. In regard to slaves he says, when 
 teaching that he who does wrong shall receive for the 
 wrong, that "there is no respect of persons." Colos- 
 sians ii, 25. In enjoining on masters reciprocal acts of 
 justice to the slaves, he says, " Neither is there respect of 
 persons with him." Ephesians vi, 9. Human nature is 
 one, and it is a common possession. Hence, according 
 to natural law, all men are born equal, and have equal 
 rights. Hence, all men are entitled to their natural rights 
 of personal liberty, personal security, and the right of 
 holding property. With God there is no such respect 
 of persons as slavery induces. All have one common 
 father — all are partakers of the same nature — all are 
 equally redeemed — all partake of a common salvation, 
 and all are heirs to the same inheritance. The teaching 
 of Paul to slaves and masters, in declaring, in reference 
 to this very point, that there is no respect of persons, 
 shows plainly, though in general terms, that slavery does 
 respect persons in an unjust way, and is therefore wrong. 
 
844 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 13. Paul strictly enjoins the brotherhood of man, in 
 reference to slavery. ** And they that have believing 
 masters, let them not despise them, because they are 
 brethren." 1 Timothy vi, 2. Paul teaches Philemon to 
 receive or treat his slave Onesimus, not now, ovxitt, not 
 any more, " as a slave, but as a brother." Philemon 
 verse 16. All Christians are to be regarded as brethren. 
 ** One is your master [xaOt^yritTji, leader,'] and all ye are 
 brethren." Matthew xxiii, 8. This is the uniform lan- 
 guage of the New Testament. To apply the terms breth- 
 ren and sisters to slaves, initiates a new element into the 
 subject unknown to all slave laws, and all slavery princi- 
 ples. In the West Indies the pro-slavery men, during the 
 controversy there from 1808 to 1833, ridiculed the idea 
 of brothers and sisters among the missionary Churches. 
 They asked, ** Can you make your negroes Christians, 
 and use the words dear brother or sister, to those you hold 
 in bondage ? They would conceive themselves, by possi- 
 bility, put on a level with yourselves, and the chains of 
 slavery would be broken." It would be strange work in 
 a Christian Church to see Christians killing, beating 
 severely, selling, giving away to prostitution, their slaves, 
 as the Roman laws authorized. Indeed, the exercise of 
 the slavery code of any law is at variance with the broth- 
 erhood of man and of Christianity. And so Paul 
 teaches, when he says, receive him no longer as a slave, 
 but above a slave, a brother beloved. 
 
 14. Paul introduces redemption as a reason why no 
 freed-man, or freeman, should agree to become a slave. 
 He says, '* Ye are bought with a price ; do not become 
 the slaves of men." 1 Corinthians vii, 23. The rea- 
 sons for this are obvious. Slavery sits very uneasily on 
 the freed-man of Christ, as it brings with it many evils, 
 snares, dangers, and disabilities. Because Christians are 
 bought with a price they are bound to " glorify God in 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 345 
 
 their body and spirit, wliicli are God's." Their bodies 
 are represented to be the ** temple of God;" ''the tem- 
 ple of the Holy Ghost;" which show they are bodily 
 consecrated to God. It is hard to approve of a Christian, 
 redeemed by Christ, as holding his brother in bondage, 
 regarding him as property, and proceed to prostrate in 
 the dust the relation of husband, father, son, and Chris- 
 tian, In connection with slavery Paul says, '* The grace 
 of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 
 or all conditions of men." Titus ii, 11. The following 
 addresses to Philemon do not well comport with the 
 exercise of slave laws : "1 beseech thee for my son 
 Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds ;" **Ee- 
 ceive him as myself ;" ** He is my bowels." 
 
 15. If we examine the instructions given by Paul to 
 masters, we shall find nothing in them that would either 
 establish or continue any length of time the system of 
 slavery, but on the other hand, that which would gradu- 
 ally destroy it as a system, and in the mean time would 
 commence and carry on the good work of emancipation. 
 We arrange here, as follows, the instructions given to 
 slaveholders : 1. They were to render to their slaves 
 according to justice. 2, They were to render to them 
 equity, or reciprocal rights. 3. They were to disuse 
 threatening, or the use of the whip. 4. And the privileges 
 due them growing out of the duties enjoined on slaves. 
 
 (1.) Masters are taught to render to their slaves, to 
 Svxaiov, that which is Just, or rather xata to Stxatovf accord- 
 ing to that which is just. The Stxaio?, just, upright, is one 
 who does rigM ; while o aya^o?, the good, is one who does 
 good, a benefactor. Cicero defines justice thus, ** Justice, 
 from which virtue alone men are called good" — ^'justitia, 
 ex qua una virtute boni viri appellaniur.'" (Cicero Oif., 2, 
 10.) ''Justice, to w^hich belong piety, goodness, liber- 
 ality, benignity, comity, and others of the like sort" — 
 
 30 
 
346 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 ^^justitia . . . cui adjunda sunt piefas, honitas, Uberali' 
 taSy benignitas, comitas, quaque sunt genus ejusdem." (De 
 Fin., 5, 23.) Justice, according to the Roman law, as we 
 liave seen, is the ** constant and perpetual disposition to 
 render to every man his due.'* It has respect to "what 
 is just and unjust." Its precepts are " to live honestly, 
 to hurt no one, to give every one his due." The slave- 
 holder is required to render to the slave his due, not to 
 hurt him, and to live honorably in respect to him. 
 
 Besides, all are instructed, in regard to slavery, to do 
 no wrong, or no injustice. For o aStxwr, he that doeth 
 unjustly, shall receive or bear the sin of doing unjustly. 
 
 Hence, in regard to slaveholders, they are required to 
 do justly toward their slaves, and to do them no wrong. 
 In the last verse of chapter iii, to the Colossians, all 
 aScxia, injustice y or ivrong, is expressly forbidden. And 
 then in the following verse — chapter iv, 1 — the slave- 
 holder is instructed to render to the slave that which is 
 just, or according to that which is just. Justice secures to 
 all life, liberty, personal security, the right of property, the 
 pursuit of happiness. To these we may add the rights 
 of marriage, of parents and children, of husbands and 
 wives, of worship, of education, etc. 
 
 According to justice the life of man is sacred and 
 inviolable. The Roman master could kill the slave wh^n, 
 and as he chose. He could throw him to the fishes — 
 make him fight with wild beasts — convert him into a 
 gladiator — expose him, on an island of the Tiber, to 
 starve, or kill or maim him in any other way. This was 
 the Roman law in Paul's day. In after times this power 
 was restrained, although the restraint was inefficient. 
 Was this murder of God ? Personal liberty is the right 
 of all men, and required by justice. All men are born 
 free and equal, according to the Roman law, and accord- 
 ing to the Bible, and the Declaration of Independence, 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 347 
 
 and the Constitution of the United States. The slave- 
 holder is bound to give liberty to the slave, as his deten- 
 tion is an act of injustice, a wrong ; and he that doeth 
 wrong shall receive for the wrong. 
 
 The slave, according to justice, is entitled to personal 
 security. Slavery assaults his person often with stripes, 
 hunger, cold, degradation, and exposure. Justice forbids 
 this ; therefore, the slaveholder is bound to restore and 
 secure to the slave his security from the insults of the 
 overseer, himself, or any other in his name. 
 
 According to justice, a man who earns property by his 
 skill, his labor, his self-denial, and economy is entitled to 
 own that property. But slavery allows no property to 
 belong to the slave, as a matter of right, or justice, al- 
 though it is earned by his industry or skill. As to the 
 peculium of Roman slavery, it was allowed by indulgencCt 
 and not by right, and was always liable to be seized by 
 the master. Justice gives to the slave his own earnings, 
 and this being granted, the master must relinquish all 
 right to the slave's earnings beyond an equivalent for 
 what he gives him. 
 
 All men have the right of marriage, by the law of 
 God. The master must grant this in justice, and do 
 away with servile contuhernium. Then husbands and 
 wives must remain united, performing the duties of each. 
 Children must obey their parents, and parents must gov- 
 ern their children. All this is according to justice, and 
 it grants this to all men. This undermines completely 
 the power of the master, and restores it to the original 
 owners. The master must not separate man and wife by 
 sale, or otherwise. The parents must teach and govern 
 their children, which overthrows greatly the power of the 
 master. Indeed, slavery, whether Roman or American, 
 knows no father, no marriage, no husband, no wife, no 
 child of any father; and as justice secures these rela- 
 
848 THE BIBLE AND SLAVEKY. 
 
 tions, and masters are bound to render it, slavery perishes 
 under the administration of justice, in following out the 
 precepts of the marriage relation in regard to husbands 
 and wives, parents and children. 
 
 Now, as the exercise of justice secures to slaves life, 
 liberty, security, property, marriage, and what belong to 
 them, it is plain that it is against slavery. And as it is 
 wrong, or unjust, to deprive any one of these, the re- 
 quirements of justice are against slavery. 
 
 (2.) The master is taught to observe the golden rule 
 in regard to any slave he may by law possess : * All things 
 whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even 
 so to them." Matt, vii, 12. This law is enjoined on the 
 slaveholder. He is bound to render to the slave that 
 which is equal — isotr^ta, equality ^ or an equivalent, from 
 toof, equal, the same. Masters are required to render their 
 slaves a just equivalent for their services. This is further 
 confirmed by the command to masters, ** Do the same 
 things to them." Eph. vi, 9. No one under the influ- 
 ence of the law of love or the law of reciprocal right 
 would ever make a man a slave, or continue him as a 
 slave, or treat him as a slave, except just so far as to 
 release him from slavery. The relation itself, if volun- 
 tarily assumed, and with recognition of property in the 
 slave, is sinful, and this relation is always to be dissolved 
 with the least possible delay, and can not be sustained 
 except to destroy it. 
 
 (3.) Masters are required to "forbear [or moderate] 
 threatening." Eph. vi, 9. Robinson renders the phrase, 
 avfrfj/T'f J tYiv aHsc^T^v, leaving of, or ceasing from threatening. 
 Dr. Clarke says the words *' signify to mitigate, relax, or 
 not exact threatening ; that is, the threatened punish- 
 ment." This teaches the disuse of threats and punish- 
 ments, and calls for the substitution of love and remu- 
 neration. The whip, stocks, screws, hand-cuffs, chains. 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 349 
 
 prisons, patrols, are the necessary accompaniments of 
 slavery. Paul commands tlie disuse of tliese among 
 Christians, and in doing so, lie commands the disuse of 
 slavery, practically, immediately, and legally, as soon as 
 the nature of the case will allow, and the interests of the 
 slave demand. 
 
 (4.) As to the privilege of the masters corresponding 
 to the obedience enjoined on slaves, and the services of 
 labor to the masters, we observe that the system of slav- 
 ery can find no support from these privileges ; because 
 the master is not allowed to command any thing wrong, 
 false, immoral, oppressive, or at variance with justice ; 
 and the servant must obey God rather than man in all 
 these things. And as to services rendered, they must be 
 also tempered with justice, and a just remuneration must 
 be given to the slave. This would reduce slavery to law- 
 ful and just service in its practical operation. 
 
 On the part, therefore, of the master, he is to render, 
 give, to his slaves, according to the demand of justice, 
 which renders to each his own, and hurts no one. This 
 secures to the slave the rights of life, liberty, personal 
 security, the ownership of the property secured by his 
 skill and labor, the rights of marriage, of husbands and 
 wives, of parents and children, and the rights of educa- 
 tion and religion. It is unjust to withhold or wrest away 
 any of these rights, according to Paul's teaching to 
 masters and slaves. So the right to hold a slave is an 
 unjust, usurped right, though established by law. The 
 master is bound to relinquish at once the justice of his 
 claim, and, till it is in his power to free him, render to 
 the slave a just equivalent for his labors as to a hired serv- 
 ant, and never attempt by gift, will, sale, or otherwise, to 
 transfer the servant, bound in chains, to any human being, 
 whether son, daughter, or other person. Such is the 
 jEliuount of Paul's instructions to slaveholders. 
 
360 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 16. If we consider tlie instructions given to slaves by 
 Paul, we shall find nothing in them that would originate 
 or continue slavery any longer than to dissolve its bonds 
 in the manner best calculated to set at liberty the captives. 
 This will appear if we consider, 1. The obedience en- 
 joined ; 2. The service or work to be rendered ; 3. The 
 vices they are to shun ; 4. And their privileges, arising 
 from the injunctions to their masters. 
 
 (1.) The duty of obedience or submission to the com- 
 mands of their masters is enjoined on slaves in the fol- 
 lowing lessons of teaching : ** Servants, be obedient to 
 your masters according to the flesh," Eph. vi, 5 ; *' Serv- 
 ants, obey your masters in all things according to the 
 flesh," Col. iii, 22 ; "Count your masters worthy of all 
 honor. . . . Let them not despise believing masters ;" 
 «1 Tim. vi, 1, 2 ; ** Exhort servants to be obedient to their 
 own masters," Titus iii, 9 ; ** Servants, be subject to your 
 own masters with all fear ; not only to the good and gen- 
 tle, but also to the froward," 1 Peter ii, 18. 
 
 Now, look at the motives or reasons for this obedience 
 to the commands of masters. They were to consider 
 themselves as the " servants of Christ ;" that they were 
 *' bought with a price ;" were ** heirs of an inheritance ;" 
 they were to do the ''will of God," to obey as "unto 
 Christ," and " to the Lord ;" they were to obey, that the 
 " name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed," and 
 that they might adorn the doctrine of " God their Savior 
 in all things." 
 
 Obviously, here is no riffht of the master recognized 
 in all this ; but the supreme law of God is to govern in 
 all things ; and the interests of religion, and not the mere 
 commands of the master, are the controlling reasons. 
 God's laws of right and wrong must govern the slave as 
 well as the master. No wronff or injustice is to rukv 
 The motives are all moral and religious ones, such as are 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 351 
 
 incumbent even on persons suffering persecution, or living 
 under unjust laws. 
 
 (2.) The duty of service, or laboring for tbc master, is 
 pointed out in the following language : " With good will 
 doing service," Eph. vi, 7 ; "Not with eye-service," Col. 
 iii, 22; ** Rather do them service," 1 Tim. vi, 2; "To 
 please them well in all things," Titus ii, 9. The motives 
 or reasons connected with this service are of the religious 
 and moral sort. There is nothing like a debt or moral 
 obligation to serve their masters, other than the reciprocal 
 obligations of justice and remuneration demand. 
 
 (3.) Honesty, fidelity, and honor were enjoined on the 
 slaves. These are enjoined on all relations. And as 
 theft, treachery, and insubordination are the vices insep- 
 arable from slavery, the slaves are commanded to shun 
 these because they are wrong in themselves ; they are con- 
 trary to the rule of reciprocal retribution to the masters 
 for food, clothing, protection, etc., and it is necessary for 
 them to shun these vices, as they disqualify them for free- 
 dom, to which they were now on the way, through the 
 influence of their religion. 
 
 (4.) As to the privileges of slaves, growing out of the 
 daties of masters toward them, they were entitled to jus- 
 tice, as we have seen, to kindness, remuneration, broth- 
 erhood, and other benefits, as well as the disuse of the 
 lash and all bodily punishments. 
 
 17. As to emancipation, some observations may be 
 given here on that subject. It is worthy of remark that, 
 among the direct instructions given to masters, there is 
 no injunction requiring, in terms, the civil emancipation, 
 although the duties of masters, as enjoined by Paul in 
 requiring justice, equity, the disuse of cruelty, the require- 
 ment of what is right, and the absence of what is wrong, 
 would end in civil freedom, as far as it was in the mas- 
 ter's power. On this point we offer a few remarks. 
 
852 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 As we have seen, in quoting the Eoman law on slav- 
 ery, there were few obstacles in the way of legal emanci- 
 pation, as any master could set his slaves free, with some 
 exceptions. We refer to what is given in a preceding 
 chapter on this point. 
 
 Yet there were some cases in which the owner could 
 not set the slave free. Emancipation could not take 
 place in fraud of creditors. (Institutes, I, Tit. 6 ; Dig., 
 XL, 9.) A master under twenty years of age could not 
 manumit without the leave of his guardian. (Institutes, 
 I, 6, 4.) Augustus restrained the right of indiscriminate 
 manumission, so that no one could set free more than a 
 certain proportion of his slaves at any one time. 
 
 At the first, under the Republic, emancipation was 
 complete whenever effected. But under the emperors 
 there were great differences existing as to the degrees of 
 freedom. In the time when Paul wrote, the state of the 
 Roman law was as follows : The freed-man, though 
 legally and practically free on the whole, still depended 
 on his former master. He could wear the toga and have 
 a name, mostly of his master. He was compelled to 
 honor his master, assist him in misfortune, and not sue 
 him in law. Freed-men who violated these obligations 
 were punished, and were sometimes reduced to slavery, as 
 these requirements were the conditions on which they 
 were freed. 
 
 Freed-men, in Paul's time, were divided into Dedititii, 
 Latini, and cives Romani. The first were subjects or trib- 
 utaries of the Roman Government, and were neither 
 slaves, citizens, nor Latins. The Latins could not enjoy 
 the legal rights of the connuhium, and they were otherwise 
 disabled as to rights of citizens, because they were not 
 citizens. But they could obtain citizenship in several 
 ways. 
 
 Although the freed-men might become Roman citizens, 
 
PAULINE DISCIPLINE ON SLAVERY. 353 
 
 their patrons had certain rights over them. They could 
 not make a will, nor take property under a will, nor be 
 named tutors to a will. They could take, however, by 
 way oi fidei commissum. Yet the sons of freed-men were 
 ingenui, or freemen, but often taunted on account of their 
 servile origin. 
 
 The act of manumission created a new relation, similar 
 to that between father and son. The manumittor became 
 the patron of the freed-man, and the latter was the Ub- 
 ertus, or freed-man, of the former. The freed-man adopted 
 the Gentile name of the patron, was his client, must re- 
 spect him, and render him aid, if necessary. The patron 
 claimed a right to all these. There are many intricate 
 points in the Roman law in reference to the relations of 
 patrons and freed-men. The further pursuit of them 
 would not be relevant to our purpose. (See Dig., XL, 
 Tit. 9, L. 30 ; and XXXVII, Tit. 14, L. 19 ; and other 
 parts of the civil law connected with these. Compare 
 Anthon's Dictionary on Latinus, Libertus, Dedititiiy Fat- 
 Tonus, etc., with Roman historians, philosophers, etc.) 
 
 The state of the question, in reference to the Church, 
 was the following : In some cases, legal freedom could 
 not be given, though in most cases it could. When 
 given, the freed-men were still subject to their patrons, 
 and owed them such services as tributes to their former 
 relation, and this remained till death. Besides, the moral 
 reasons were also in the way of Christians, such as the 
 case of minors, of aged and disabled persons, the ties of 
 marriage which bound Christians, of parents and chil- 
 dren. On these accounts no law of emancipation, espe- 
 cially immediate, could apply as a general law. Hence 
 the absence of such a law in the Pauline code. Yet the 
 principles laid down by Paul Avould lead to emancipation 
 in all those cases that were practicable and just ; and, in 
 the mean time, the Pauline code, by instituting the law 
 
354 THE BIBLE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 of love, of justice, of remuneration, and discarding all 
 injustice and wrong, inducing the Christian brother- 
 nooD, was a noble substitute for freedom, as well as a 
 guarantee for it in tke future as soon as it could be con- 
 ferred. 
 
 18. Furthermore, all Christians had the history of 
 God's providence before them in reference to freedom and 
 slavery. They found slavery condemned in the case of 
 Joseph, and in the bondage of the Hebrews in Egypt, as 
 well as by the principles of right and wrong in the Old 
 Testament. They found freedom approved and main- 
 tained in the families of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, under 
 whose administration it gradually disappeared, so that, 
 on the descent to Egypt, it ceased to exist. In the Mo- 
 saic code the laws on bond-service rooted out the ele- 
 ments of slavery from among the Hebrews, and inherent, 
 too, in depraved human nature, and established freedom. 
 Hence, the Jews could say, as a nation, in our Lord's 
 time, ** We were never in bondage to any man." Our 
 Lord's great commission in general terms proclaimed 
 liberty, not slavery, to the captives, and freedom to all 
 whom it found to be slaves, by its holy influences and 
 heavenly brotherhood. And Paul, the apostle of the 
 Gentiles, the Eoman citizen, gave such instruction to 
 masters and slaves as would gradually undermine the 
 system, so as to establish in all Christian lands, in the 
 issue, full civil freedom, as well as freedom from the 
 service of sin. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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