Volume IV Part 6 (1/2)
Without repeating here what has already been offered in exposition of kindred pa.s.sages, it may be sufficient to say:--
1. That the relation of the servants here addressed, to their master, was adapted to make him the object of their heart-felt attachment.
Otherwise they could not have been required to render him an affectionate service.
2. This relation demanded a perfect reciprocity of benefits. It had its soul in _good-will_, mutually cherished and properly expressed.
Hence ”THE SAME THINGS,” the same in principle, the same in substance, the same in their mutual bearing upon the welfare of the master and the servants, was to be rendered back and forth by the one and the other. It was clearly the relation of mutual service. Do we here find the chattel principle?
3. Of course, the servants might not be slack, time-serving, unfaithful. Of course, the master must ”FORBEAR THREATENING.”
Slavery without threatening! Impossible. Wherever maintained, it is of necessity a _system of threatening_, injecting into the bosom of the slave such terrors, as never cease for a moment to haunt and torment him. Take from the chattel principle the support, which it derives from ”threatening,” and you annihilate it at once and forever.
4. This relation was to be maintained in accordance with the principles of the divine government, where ”RESPECT OF PERSONS”
could not be admitted. It was, therefore, totally inconsistent with, and submissive of, the chattel principle, which in American slavery is developed in a system of ”respect of persons,” equally gross and hurtful. No Abolitionist, however eager and determined in his opposition to slavery, could ask for more than these precepts, once obeyed, would be sure to confer.
”The relation of slavery,” according to Professor Stuart, is recognized in ”the precepts of the New Testament,” as one which ”may still exist without violating the Christian faith or the church.”[60]
Slavery and the chattel principle! So our professor thinks; otherwise his reference has nothing to do with the subject--with the slavery which the abolitionist, whom he derides, stands opposed to.
How gross and hurtful is the mistake into which he allows himself to fall. The relation recognized in the precepts of the New Testament had its basis and support in ”justice and equality;” the very opposite of the chattel principle; a relation which may exist as long as justice and equality remain, and thus escape the destruction to which, in the view of Professor Stuart, slavery is doomed. The description of Paul obliterates every feature of American slavery, raising the servant to equality with his master, and placing his rights under the protection of justice; yet the eye of Professor Stuart can see nothing in his master and servant but a slave and his owner. With this relation he is so thoroughly possessed, that, like an evil angel, it haunts him even when he enters the temple of justice!
[Footnote 60: Letter to Dr. Fisk, supra p. 7.]
”It is remarkable,” saith the Princeton professor, ”that there is not even an exhortation” in the writings of the apostles ”to masters to liberate their slaves, much less is it urged as an imperative and immediate duty.”[61] It would be remarkable, indeed, if they were chargeable with a defect so great and glaring. And so they have nothing to say upon the subject? _That_ not even the Princeton professor has the a.s.surance to affirm. He admits that KINDNESS, MERCY, AND JUSTICE, were enjoined with a _distinct reference to the government of G.o.d_.[62] ”Without respect of persons,” they were to be G.o.d-like in doing justice. They were to act the part of kind and merciful ”brethren.” And whither would this lead them? Could they stop short of restoring to every man his natural, inalienable rights?--of doing what they could to redress the wrongs, sooth the sorrows, improve the character, and raise the condition of the degraded and oppressed? Especially, if oppressed and degraded by any agency of theirs. Could it be kind, merciful, or just to keep the chains of slavery on their helpless, unoffending brother? Would this be to honor the Golden Rule, or obey the second great command of ”their Master in Heaven?” Could the apostles have subserved the cause of freedom more directly, intelligibly, and effectually, than _to enjoin the principles, and sentiments, and habits, in which freedom consists--const.i.tuting its living root and fruitful germ_!
[Footnote 61: Pittsburg pamphlet, p. 9.]
[Footnote 62: The same, p. 10.]
The Princeton professor himself, in the very paper which the South has so warmly welcomed and so loudly applauded as a scriptural defence of ”the peculiar inst.i.tution,” maintains, that the ”GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE GOSPEL _have_ DESTROYED SLAVERY _throughout the greater part of Christendom_”[63]--”THAT CHRISTIANITY HAS ABOLISHED BOTH POLITICAL AND DOMESTIC BONDAGE WHEREVER IT HAS HAD FREE SCOPE--_that it_ ENJOINS _a fair compensation for labor; insists on the mental and intellectual improvement of_ ALL _cla.s.ses of men; condemns_ ALL _infractions of marital or parental rights; requires, in short, not only that_ FREE SCOPE _should be allowed to human improvement, but that_ ALL SUITABLE MEANS _should be employed for the attainment of that end_.”[64] It is indeed ”remarkable,” that while neither Christ nor his apostles ever gave ”an exhortation to masters to liberate their slaves,” they enjoined such ”general principles as have destroyed domestic slavery throughout the greater part of Christendom;” that while Christianity forbears ”to urge”
emanc.i.p.ation ”as an imperative and immediate duty,” it throws a barrier, heaven high, around every domestic circle; protects all the rights of the husband and the father; gives every laborer a fair compensation; and makes the moral and intellectual improvement of all cla.s.ses, with free scope and all suitable means, the object of its tender solicitude and high authority. This is not only ”remarkable,” but inexplicable. Yes and no--hot and cold, in one and the same breath! And yet these things stand prominent in what is reckoned an acute, ingenious, effective defence of slavery!
[Footnote 63: Pittsburg pamphlet, p. 18, 19.]
[Footnote 64: The same, p. 31.]
In his letter to the Corinthian church, the apostle Paul furnishes another lesson of instruction, expressive of his views and feelings on the subject of slavery. ”Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Art thou called being a servant? care not for it; but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant. Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.” [65]
[Footnote 65: 1 Cor. vii. 20-23.]
In explaining and applying this pa.s.sage, it is proper to suggest:
1. That it _could_ not have been the object of the apostle to bind the Corinthian converts to the stations and employments in which the gospel found them. For he exhorts some of them to escape, if possible, from their present condition. In the servile state, ”under the yoke,”
they ought not to remain unless impelled by stern necessity.
”If thou canst be free, use it rather.” If they ought to prefer freedom to bondage and to exert themselves to escape from the latter for the sake of the former, could their master consistently with the claims and spirit of the gospel have hindered or discouraged them in so doing? Their ”brother” could _he_ be, who kept ”the yoke” upon their neck, which the apostle would have them shake off if possible?
And had such masters been members of the Corinthian church, what inferences must they have drawn from this exhortation to their servants? That the apostle regarded slavery as a Christian inst.i.tution?--or could look complacently on any efforts to introduce or maintain it in the church? Could they have expected less from him than a stern rebuke, if they refused to exert themselves in the cause of freedom?
2. But while they were to use their freedom, if they could obtain it, they should not, even on such a subject, give themselves up to ceaseless anxiety. ”The Lord was no respecter of persons.” They need not fear, that the ”low estate,” to which they had been wickedly reduced, would prevent them from enjoying the gifts of his hand or the light of his countenance. _He_ would respect their rights, sooth their sorrows, and pour upon their hearts, and cherish there, the spirit of liberty. ”For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman.” In _him_, therefore, should they cheerfully confide.