Our Lord’s New Testament is the bulwark of human freedom. Its great, broad, solid truths constitute an impregnable foundation for a temple of liberty capacious enough to hold the entire human race. This is the last book in the world to search in order to find any thing favorable to oppression; and oppressors have usually preferred to “burrow amid the types and shadows of the ancient economy.” An effort has been made, however, to wrest a sanction for the abomination of slavery out of this last and best revelation from heaven, and to convert some passages found in the writings[Pg 125] of the apostles into chains and fetters to bind in hopeless bondage those very persons for whom Christ died.
We will quote the passages usually adduced to prove that it is the duty of some men to be slaves, and of others to be slaveholders.
“Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men; knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. 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.” Eph. 6: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. “Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God.” Col. 3: 22. “Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are[Pg 126] faithful and beloved partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort.” 1st Tim. 6: 1, 2. “Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; not purloining, but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.” Titus, 2: 9, 10. “Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.” Col. 4: 1.
We will inquire in the first place whether these passages teach that it is the duty of some persons to be slaves. And it may be remarked that if a class of human beings ought to sustain this horrible relation, the law requiring them to do so, should be written in the plainest possible manner. If any one should claim me and my family as slaves, upon a pretense that God had authorized our enslavement, I would demand a warrant for so terrible a degradation, which no reasonable man could question. Let us see whether the scriptures cited prove unquestionably that to live in a state of slavery is a duty which God requires.
1. It will be seen at a glance that there is not a word said about slaves in any of these quotations. The word slave or slaves is not once used! And yet these passages, inculca[Pg 127]ting the duties of servants, have been rung in the ears of our poor slaves for the last three hundred years, by hypocritical preachers and slaveholders, as if heaven were chiefly interested and delighted in the perpetuation of an institution which degrades millions of men to a point as low as manhood can possibly descend. The whole gospel preached to slaves is mixed up with this satanic perversion. Even the song of angels announcing “peace on earth and good will to men,” is accompanied to the ear of the American bondman, with the base, coarse corruption,—“Slaves, obey your masters.”
2. The word servants, used in these scriptures, is not synonymous with the word slaves, as the preachers of oppression assume. The word andrapodon means slave, but that word, the learned tell us, does not occur in the sacred writings. The word douloi, used in the above quotations, and translated servants, means precisely what our English word servants means, as that word is understood in free countries. “Our English word servant,” says a good authority, “is an exact translation of the Greek word doulos. And to translate it into the definite word slave is a gross violation of the original. Our translators of the scriptures have uniformly translated the word doulos into the[Pg 128] word servant, never into the word slave, and for the reason that it never means slave. The apostles addressed servants in general, but never slaves in particular; and therefore the term slave (andrapodon) is not found in apostolic writings.”
The word doulos occurs in the New Testament one hundred and twenty two times,[10] and in no case has it been translated slave. To show the utter fallacy of the assumption that it is synonymous with slave, permit us to supply slave in a few passages where doulos occurs, instead of servant, for if slave and servant mean the same thing, they may be used interchangeably without violating the sense. “Paul and Timotheus the slaves of Jesus Christ.” “These are the slaves of the Most High God which do show unto us the way of salvation.” “And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God all ye his slaves, and ye that fear him small and great.” “I am thy fellow slave.” We might extend these quotations indefinitely, but a sufficient number have been given to show the absurdity of the assumption that the words servant and slave describe the same relation. The pro-slavery rendering of doulos, would make slaves of all the redeem[Pg 129]ed, and of the holy angels, and would, as Mr. Smith remarks, extend the territory of slavery over heaven itself.
3. The phrase “servants under the yoke” means no more than obligation to perform service according to agreement or contract. He who had an engagement with an unbelieving master should perform his contract, or fulfill his obligation with scrupulous fidelity in order that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. The word “yoke” does not necessarily imply slavery. Our Savior said “take my yoke upon you,” but certainly he did not invite any one to become a slave. The word yoke is used in the scriptures to represent the ceremonial law; “dominion of Jacob over Esau, in the matter of his father’s blessing;” political subjugation of the Israelites; the authority of king David over his subjects, etc., etc.; but not in a single passage in the scriptures, unless it be in 1st Tim. 6: 1, does it describe the state of a domestic slave, and the assumption that it means slave in this place is altogether without proof to sustain it.
4. There is one passage in the New Testament addressed to servants which has not yet been quoted. “Servants be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is[Pg 130] thank-worthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.” 1st Pet. 2: 18, 19. In this passage doulos does not occur, but oiketes, which some suppose, means slave. But of this evidence is wanting. The same word is used four times only in the New Testament, and is, in no case, translated slave. (See Luke 16: 13. Acts 10: 7. Rom. 14: 4. 1st Pet. as above.) In one place it is rendered household-servant, and it seems to be used to distinguish house-servants from others. “The word comes from oikos, a house.”[11]
5. If the sacred writers above quoted had intended to address slaves, they would, in the first place, have done so plainly by calling them slaves. In the second place the directions would have been applicable to persons in a state of slavery. As to the terms used in the directions, we have seen that they do not apply properly to slaves; and the directions themselves afford proof that they were given to persons who were not chattel slaves. The advice and exhortations imply freedom from absolute authority and a power of choice not compatible with slavery. They are exhorted to perform service “As the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.” That[Pg 131] is, they were to be actuated by the highest motives, and were not to toil as the servants of men, but of God. Again, they are advised not to “DESPISE” their masters. Such directions have no pertinence, if addressed to human chattels. To whom then were they addressed? We answer, to voluntary laborers or servants who received a compensation for their work. The relations of servant and master or laborer and employer are necessary, legitimate and honorable relations. All men have not the skill to acquire or manage capital, and capital is essential to the accomplishment of great enterprises, to the march of improvement, and the progress of civilization. Capital invested in railroads, canals, machinery, factories, ships, merchandise, etc., requires many laborers to manage it; and the directions we are considering require that those laborers be honest, faithful, pleasant, and industrious in the discharge of the duties they engage to perform. And even though an employer be not a very good man, as is often the case with men of capital, christian servants or laborers are instructed to attend to their duties in the fear of God and in a manner that will recommend to those employers the religion which they profess. Yea, though servants have an engagement with a hard-hearted, overbearing, abusive heathen[Pg 132] master, the apostles would have them perform their part, with the utmost fidelity, suffering “wrongfully” if need be, for the sake of Christ. These directions are judicious, and their observance would work to the advantage of laborers in all countries.
Now it is clear that those scriptures do not teach unquestionably that it is the duty of some persons to be slaves. If the apostles had said, “slaves be obedient to your masters for you are their property and they have a right to you and all you can earn, because you are property,” then the matter would have been settled. Then we should admit that some men ought to be slaves, but upon the heels of this admission would follow a question very difficult to settle viz: Who is to obey the command to be a slave? How is it to be determined who shall become a human chattel and who the owner of said chattel?
But the assertion that God requires men to be slaves is a wicked assertion. It charges God with folly and inconsistency. He desires the elevation of man, but slavery brutalizes him. He encourages the enlightenment of the mind and the expansion of the understanding, but slavery darkens the mind and enchains the understanding. God cannot be pleased with the ignorance, stupor, injustice[Pg 133] and servile wretchedness which are necessary to the very existence of slavery, and hence he can not make it the duty of any man to be a slave, for this would be the same as to make it his duty to be stupid, ignorant and wretched. No, God does not will that any man or woman should be a slave. Man was made in the image of God’s independence and sovereignty. The instinct of freedom is strong in his bosom. It has resisted oppression in all ages, and it will resist it, with God on its side, until it shall triumph!
We will now inquire whether the apostolic addresses to masters authorize some men to sustain the relation of slaveholders. It should be observed that there are but two places in the New Testament in which the duties of masters are pointed out. Permit us to repeat those duties. “And ye masters do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening, knowing that your master also is in heaven.” “Masters give unto your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that ye also have a master in heaven.”
Is it possible that from these words men will take license to seize their fellows and convert them into property; despoil them of all their rights; deny them an education; banish them from courts of justice; break up their homes;[Pg 134] take their wages without compensation; drive them in chain-gangs from state to state, and whip, beat, and abuse them until they perish from the earth? Yes, it is possible. This has been done. “Was there ever,” said Dr. Wayland, “such a moral superstructure raised on such a foundation? * * If the religion of Christ allows such a license from such precepts as these, the New Testament would be the greatest curse that ever was inflicted on our race.” We remark
1. In these directions there is not the slightest intimation that the masters addressed were slaveholders and that the servants in their employ were slaves. The term slaveholders (andrapodistais,) is not used in the above passages, and this term is only once found in the apostolic writings.[12] It is found in the following text: “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 the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for andrapodistais, (slaveholders or menstealers) for liars, etc.” 1st Tim. 1: 9, 10.
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And it is not only a fact that slaveholders are not addressed in these passages, but the directions given are such as no slaveholder in the world can observe. How can a slaveholder give unto a slave that which is just and equal? The slave can own nothing, will nothing, inherit nothing, and hence it is impossible, in the very nature of the case, for his owner to give him a just compensation for his labor. And the slave has a just right to himself to liberty and the very first honest and enlightened effort of a slaveholder to give to his slave that which is just and equal would result in his emancipation! Justice and equality are incompatible with slaveholding. Injustice and inequality are its essential principles. Let us hear Mrs. Stowe’s comment on what Christian legislators have seemed to consider just and equal when making laws for slaves:—
“First, they commence by declaring that their brother shall no longer be considered as a person, but deemed, sold, taken, and reputed, as a chattel personal.—This is “just and equal!”
This being the fundamental principle of the system, the following are specified as its consequences:
1. That he shall have no right to hold property of any kind, under any circumstances.—Just and equal!
2. That he shall have no power to contract a legal marriage, or claim any woman in par[Pg 136]ticular for his wife.—Just and equal!
3. That he shall have no right to his children, either to protect, restrain, guide or educate.—Just and equal!
4. That the power of his master over him shall be ABSOLUTE, without any possibility of appeal or redress in consequence of any injury whatever.
To secure this, they enact that he shall not be able to enter suit in any court for any cause.—Just and equal!
That he shall not be allowed to bear testimony in any court where any white person is concerned.—Just and equal!
That the owner of a servant, for “malicious, cruel, and excessive beating of his slave, cannot be indicted.”—Just and equal!
It is further decided, that by no indirect mode of suit, through a guardian, shall a slave obtain redress for ill-treatment. (Dorothea v. Coquillon et al, 9 Martin La. Rep. 350.)—Just and equal!
5. It is decided that the slave shall not only have no legal redress for injuries inflicted by his master, but shall have no redress for those inflicted by any other person, unless the injury impair his property value.—Just and equal!
Under this head it is distinctly asserted as follows:
There can be no offence against the peace of the state, by the mere beating of a slave, unaccompanied by any circumstances of cruelty, or an intent to kill and murder. The peace of the state is not thereby broken.” (State v. Manner, 2 Hill’s Rep. S. C.)—Just and equal!
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If a slave stri............