18
abolitionists excommunicating slaveholders, (as they openly do,) every abolitionist, every one who denies the authority of masters and their right to demand obedience and honour from their servants; every one who teaches that the slave is not bound to obey and honour his master, and who insists on the immediate abolition of slavery, is proud, knowing nothing; he does not consent to wholesome doctrine, even to the words of our Lord Jesus, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness,—and he ought to be cut off from the communion of the church; for, says the Apostle, from such withdraw thyself. So utterly untrue is it that slavery is inconsistent with the law of love.
These popular and oft-repeated objections being thus disposed of, we may safely maintain that a man may lawfully hold in bondage man like himself, to serve him. This institution is undeniably recognized in the Bible: it confers on the master certain rights, and it imposes on him also, certain peculiar obligations.
The master has a right of property in his servant, so that he may use him, lend him, bequeath him, or even sell him to another.[1] But this right
- ↑ It is surprising to observe how strong, how enduring, how far-reaching, are the prejudices of even good and intelligent men, respecting this subject. Some years since, when accosted by a well-known abolitionist, with reproaches as being guilty of countenancing slavery, and contributing to perpetuate the sin, by my residence at the South, I replied, that till he should convince me that slavery is a sin, all his admonitions were lost upon me; and I added, "So far as sin is involved in the transaction, I could, with as safe a conscience, purchase a good servant offered me, if I needed one, as I could purchase a horse, or any thing else." At this he expressed surprise and
of consequences. When pressed by arguments drawn from the Bible, they attempt to evade them, by shamelessly perverting Scripture, and making it bend to their views by a forced interpretation. When they find that still the authority of the Bible is, and ever must be, against them, they scruple not to deny its authority, and blaspheme its Author. An abolitionist, in a letter addressed to me while at the East last autumn, thus expresses himself: "Prove to me that the Almighly God sanctions slavery, and you prove that He out-herods Herod, He out-juggernauts Juggernaut, He out-satanizes Satan!" Can such language be the dictate of piety and love?
The disorganizing tendency of the fundamental principle on which abolitionism rests is sufficiently apparent in the excesses into which many of the ultra abolitionists have rushed. They deny revelation, they desecrate the Sabbath, they repudiate the church and the Christian ministry; nay, they would for ever blast the chief charm of woman, her retiring modesty, by teaching her to leave her proper sphere, refuse obedience, and demand equality with man, openly standing forth in large public assemblies, to speak, and argue as does man. Their fundamental position, that "all persons are on an entire equality; that no one person can rightfully exercise authority over another, except so far as that other may he pleased to allow it;" is obviously irrational and dangerous. Fully carried out, it would destroy all distinctions in society, break up every family, and spread disorder, wretchedness, and guilt all around. It cannot, then, be true.
