Chapter IX: Part 9

Is it contended that God ever grants or denies, or, in other words, acts, except in conformity with some universal rule or law of his providence and government? For, to suppose otherwise, must involve the consideration of an inferior and capricious being. If God, on any occasion, permitted slavery, then it is deducible from the unchangeableness of God and his laws, that he always permits it, when all the circumstances and conditions shall be found to exist as they were when he did so permit it. The Jews, as a nation, were God’s people; his worshippers, his church. “And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.” _Exod._ xix. 6. “For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God: The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.” _Deut._ vii. 6.

But, in the order of God’s providence, other people were to be the recipients of the grace of God also: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills: all nations shall flow unto it.” _Isa._ ii. 2.

“Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people.” _Zech._ ii. 10, 11.

This is in strict conformity with the promise of Jehovah to Isaac: “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” _Gen._ xxvi. 4.

The time of this great enlargement of the church of God was the advent of the Saviour. The Christian church succeeded as heirs of all the promises, benefits, and free grace of the ancient church and people of God;—in fact, became heirs of Abraham;—“And the father of circumcision to them, who are not of the circumcision only, but who walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. For the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham, or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” * * * “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, (as it is written, I have made thee the father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not, as though they were.” _Romans_ iv. 11, 12, 16, 17.

“Therefore remember, that ye being in times past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands;

“That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.

“But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometime were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ; for he is our peace, who hath made both one; and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.” _Eph._ ii. 11, 12, 13, 14.

“Know ye, therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are children of Abraham. And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen by faith, preached before the gospel to Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.” _Gal._ iii. 7, 8.

And wherefore Peter very properly describes the Gentile church of Christ by similar language applied to the Jews, the chosen people of God to whom the promises of the law were made: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; which in time past were not a people, but are now a people of God; which had not obtained mercy, but have now obtained mercy.” 1 _Peter_ ii. 9, 10.

The theological student will recollect many more very pertinent proofs of the heirship of the Christian church to the chosen people of God. “Think not I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I come not to destroy the law, but to fulfil.” _Matt._ v. 17.

So far then as the Gentile nations have become Christianized, have become the followers of Christ, so far they have, through faith, become the peculiar people of God, and heirs and children of Abraham; and, as heirs, succeeded to all things resulting from the providence and grace of God to his peculiar people.

The broad and universal principle concerning slavery is, that a want of knowledge of the true God, a want of conformity to his law, have a constantly deteriorating effect, whereas, on the contrary, a knowledge of Jehovah and a conduct in conformity to his law, (since the fallen state of man renders him unable to comply with the law) the application of God’s grace, and free forgiveness through faith and repentance, shall have the redeeming effect of a full compliance with the law. As the one position is deteriorating, forcing as it were downward to destruction and death,—the other is as constantly elevating towards all perfection and life eternal.

Thus the mercy of God is manifested to the degraded and heathen nations, by substantially placing them under a protection and guidance, which, however slow may be the progress, must of necessity have an elevating influence on thousands, in proportion as they, with heart-felt willingness, yield themselves to it. “Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Such as sit in darkness and the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsels of the Most High: therefore, he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, there was none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he raised them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.” _Psa._ cvii. 8–15.

* * * * *

In conclusion, we may remark, that under this view of the law, the announcements of holy writ, so far as they regard the subject under consideration, are as applicable to the Christian people of the present day as they at any time were to the Hebrews themselves.

“Thus saith the Lord, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia, and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, _saying_, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, _there_ is no God” _beside_. _Isa._ xlv. 14.

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LESSON XIX.

Mr. Barnes has referred to Vatalbus, Rabbi Solomon, Abenezra Joh. Casp. Miégius, Constitutiones Servi Hebræi, Ugolin, Maimonides, Michaelis, John’s Archæology, Selden de Uxore Hebraica, and some other books which are not at hand, in support of his doctrine, and the points on which he predicates it. We did not doubt the accuracy of these references and quotations; but, page 149, we find the following in his book: “It would appear from Josephus, that on the year of jubilee _all_ slaves were set at liberty;” and he refers to “Antiquities,” vol. ii. chap. xii. sec. 3, which, so far as it refers to slavery, reads thus: “Accordingly I enjoin thee to make no more delays, but to make haste to Egypt, and to travel night and day, and not to draw out the time, and to make the slavery of the Hebrews and their sufferings to last the longer.”

We do not see how the passage warrants the assertion of Mr. Barnes, and apprehended some mistake, such as a young lawyer, willing to appear very learned, might make, by affixing to his brief a long list of authorities, merely from an examination of his index.

But the sentence here quoted from Mr. Barnes, containing the proposition that Josephus said, in his Antiquities, vol. ii. chap. xii sec. 3, that all slaves were set at liberty in the year of jubilee, is consecutively followed in his book, thus: “The fiftieth year is called by the Hebrews the _jubilee_, wherein debtors are freed from their debts, and slaves are set at liberty.” And this sentence is marked as quoted from Josephus, and as though it was the exact passage to be found in the place just before referred to. The fact is, this sentence is _nearly_ a _part_ of what may be found in book iii. chap. xii. sec. 3 of Antiquities, thus: “And that fiftieth year is called by the Hebrews the jubilee wherein debtors are freed from their debts, and slaves are set at liberty; which slaves became such, though they were of the same stock, by transgressing some of those laws whose punishment was not capital, but they were punished by this method of slavery.”

Suppose the mistake to be in the number of the book, still, does the passage, as fully quoted, give any authority for the assertion of Mr. Barnes? Thus the mind is led to inquire what credit is to be given to these references?

But we hasten to give a few extracts illustrative of Mr. Barnes’s thought and argument. He says, p. 126—

“Considering the universal prevalence of slavery when the gospel was preached, it is not probable that any considerable number would be found, who were masters and servants in the sense of a voluntary servitude on the part of the latter.” He says—

Page 273: “The permanency of the institution (slavery) can derive no support from what they (the apostles) said on the subject, and in no manner depends on it.”

Page 300: “It is only the antagonistic fanaticism of a fragment of the South, which maintains the doctrine that slavery is, in itself, a good thing, and ought to be perpetuated. It cannot by possibility be perpetuated.”

Page 301: “_The South, therefore, has to choose between emancipation, by the silent and holy influence of the gospel, securing the elevation of the slaves to the stature and character of freemen_, or to abide the issue of a long continued conflict against the laws of God.”

Page 306: “And if a Christian master at the present time * * * should be troubled in his conscience in regard to his right to hold slaves, there is no part of the apostolic writings to which he could turn to allay his feelings or calm his scruples.”

Page 311: “Now this undeniable fact, that the right of the master over the person and services of the slave, is never recognised at all in the New Testament.”

Page 312: “Whatever distinction of complexion there may be, it is the doctrine of the Bible that all belong to one and the same great family, and that, in the most important matters pertaining to their existence, they are on a level.”

Page 315: “Up to the time when its truths (the gospel’s) were made known, the great mass of mankind had no scruples about its propriety; they regarded one portion of the race as inferior to the other, and as born to be slaves. Christianity disclosed the great truth that all men were on a level; that all were equal.”

Page 317: “If a man should in fact render to his slaves ‘that which is just and equal;’ would he not restore them to freedom? Would any thing short of this be _all_ that is just and equal?”

Page 322: “No man has a right to _assume_ that when the word δοῦλος, _doulos_, occurs in the New Testament, it means a _slave_.”

Page 331: “No argument in favour of slavery can be derived from the injunctions addressed by the apostles to the slaves themselves.”

Page 340: “From the arguments thus far presented in regard to the relations of Christianity to slavery, it seems fair to draw the conclusion, that the Christian religion lends no _sanction_ to slavery.”

Page 341: “The Saviour and his apostles inculcated such views of man as _amount_ to a prohibition of slavery.” Page 345: “He (Jesus Christ) was not a Jew, except by the accident of his birth, but he was a _man_; in his human form there was as distinct a relation to the African * * * as there was to the Caucasian.”

We have understood that one popular clergyman at the North (an abolitionist) has gone so far as to say that Jesus Christ was a _negro_! To what folly and extravagance will not wickedness subject its slaves!

Mr. Barnes says, page 375—“These considerations seem to me to be conclusive proof that Christianity was _not_ designed to extend and perpetuate slavery; but that the spirit of the Christian religion would remove it from the world, _because it is an evil, and displeasing to God_.”

To all of which, worthy of answer, it may be well to apply the sentiment which he attributes to Dr. Fuller, that the New Testament is not silent on the subject of slavery; that it recognises the relation; that it commands slaves to obey their masters, and gives reasons why they should do so. And it may be steadily affirmed, if slavery be a sin, that such commands and counsels are not only a _suppressio veri_, but a _suggestio falsi_; not only a suppression of the truth, but a suggestion of what is false!

* * * * *

If it shall be said that God merely sanctioned or permitted slavery in the time of the patriarchs, who will say that he did not enjoin it in the time of Moses? A repeal of this injunction demanded a countervailing revelation of no equivocal character, clear and decided, without the admission of a doubt.

“And God spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai, saying, * * * But thy bond-men and bond-maids which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bond-men and bond-maids. Moreover, of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy and of their families, which they beget in your land; and they shall be your possession. And ye shall take them as an inheritance, for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession: they shall be your bond-men for ever.” _Lev._ xxv. 1, 44, 45, 46.

Mr. Barnes has adduced no proof that this law was ever repealed; nor do the holy books contain any evidence of such repeal; yet he has denied the existence of slavery in Judea, at the time of the advent of the Saviour. See pp. 228, 242, 244, and 249, before quoted, and, we trust, sufficiently refuted. But we now add, that at the time Jesus Christ and his apostles were on the earth, Judea was a province of Rome. Now, since it was clear that slavery was inculcated by the Hebrew laws, unless it was forbidden by the Roman, we could not come to the conclusion that slavery did not exist in Judea at their time, even if Jesus Christ and his apostles had never alluded to it.

But,—see _Matt._ xxvi. 51: “Behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant (δοῦλον, _doulon_, _slave_) of the high-priest,” then some suitable but different word would have been used, as in the following: “And the servants (δοῦλοι, _douloi_, _slaves_) and officers (ἱπηρέται, _hupēretai_, _attendants_, _persons who aid_, _assistants_) stood there,” _John_ xviii. 18; proving the fact that both slaves and other attendants were present, and that the _slave_ was named distinctly from such other attendants. There can be no doubt about these facts; and in proof that slavery was not forbidden by the Roman laws, we quote from Mr. Barnes, page 251: “In Italy, it was computed that there were three slaves to one freeman; and in this part of the empire alone, their numbers amounted to more than twenty millions.”

Page 252: * * * “The number of slaves could not have been less than sixty millions in the Roman Empire, at about the time the apostles went forth to preach the gospel.”

Page 254: * * * “The following places are mentioned, either as _emporia_ for slaves or countries from which they were procured: Delos, Phrygia, and Cappadocia, Panticapæum, Diascurias, and Phanagoria on the Euxine or Black Sea; Alexandria and Cadiz; Corsica, Sardinia, and Britain; Africa and Thrace.”

And does it astonish us that in these dark ages of human degradation, Britain helped to supply Rome with slaves? It should be remembered that conquest gave the right in ancient days to enslave all barbarous and deeply degraded nations; and it might be inquired whether such principle was not alluded to by the prophet: “Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered.” _Isa._ xlix. 24. History will inform us that all these nations were of the lowest order. St. Jerome, in his writings against Jovinian, informs us what were the morals of Britain. He says—“Why should I refer to other nations, when I myself, when a youth in Gaul, have seen the Atticotti, a British tribe, eating human flesh? Should they find shepherds tending their herds of swine or cattle, and flocks of sheep in the woods, they are wont to cut off the fleshy parts of the men, and the breasts of the women, which are esteemed the most delicious food.”

Who then is to say that Britain is not now indebted for her high state of intellectual improvement to the pike, bludgeon, and sword of the Roman, Dane, Saxon, and Norman? And can we say that the hand of God was not in this? The same providences and principles that have ever applied to degraded Africa apply to all degraded nations, and even to individual men. “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant (δοῦλος, _doulos_, _slave_) of sin.”

And it may be said that nations and individuals thus enslave themselves. “Behold, for your iniquities ye have sold yourselves.” _Isa._ l. 1. These principles may be seen every day operating among the most degraded of even the most enlightened nations. The history of the present day informs us of the deep degradation of the African tribes; and that even in their own country the great mass are slaves. Consistently with the laws of God, they could not be otherwise; and even slavery among themselves, subject to sacrifice and death as we have seen it, is yet better for them than a state of freedom. We have seen how the free hordes roam like the brutes, making that place home where night overtook them. Suppose such to be cannibals, of which we have proof, it might so happen, that, in one day, one half of their number would be destroyed by themselves. Therefore, as distressing as slavery must be among them, yet it is far preferable to their dejected condition of freedom.

We know of no one who pretends to believe that the masses of the African tribes have increased in number since the commencement of our era; whereas, a few scattering individuals, brought into slavery, within the last few generations, in these States, have increased to near four millions; nearly one-twelfth of the number of the entire population of Africa. However wicked may be the Christian master, how much more is slavery to be desired by the negro than any condition among these pagan hordes! We, therefore, do not deem it presumptuous to say, that so degraded is the condition of the African in his own land, that it has been elevated in proportion as it has been affected by the slave-trade, and more especially with Christian nations. The first tendencies towards civilization, and whatever dawning of mental development there may be now noticed among the African tribes, are traceable alone to that source. And the Christian philosopher might well inquire whether, in the providence of God, its existence, from the time of Noah to the present, has not been the saving principle which has alone preserved the tribes of Ham from the condition of Sodom and Gomorrah, and other nations long since wasted away.

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LESSON XX.

Mr. Barnes has quoted and adopted the following passage from President Wayland, page 310: “If the religion of Christ allows such a license (to hold slaves) from such precepts as these, the New Testament would be the greatest curse that ever was inflicted on _our race_.” On the account of the avowal of Dr. Barnes as to _his race_, heretofore noticed, we feel a degree of gladness that the above passage is not original with him: we should expect to find in him a sympathy on this subject, unpleasant to encounter, because legitimately acting on his mind. A man may be a philosopher or a Christian, yet the ties of nature, the sympathies of kindred are not abated.

We are informed that heretofore, written arguments in favour of abolitionism by Dr. Wayland and against it by Dr. Fuller, have been published. We have not seen the work; but are told that the abolitionists claim victory for Dr. Wayland, and that the opponents also claim it for Dr. Fuller; and from the foregoing passage as quoted, we conclude that Dr. Wayland found himself, at least, in _straits_ on the subject. If such be the fact, it may account why the abolitionists thought Dr. Barnes’s present work necessary. But, however these things may be, the passage from Dr. Wayland is a volume of deep instruction, announcing the feelings and theological consistency, we might say fanaticism, of, we hope, but a few extraordinary men, now appearing in our land; men, we doubt not, conscientious in their opinion that God designs the government of the world to be in strict conformity with human reason, and who cannot, therefore, pray in the spirit of the Son: “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done.” _Luke_ xxii. 42. “If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” _Rom._ viii. 9.

In the book before us, the author falls into one error, common to every writer on his side of the question: That slavery is the cause of the degradation of the Africans and the slaves generally. We maintain that the converse is the true state of the case. Another error is the substitution of what may be abuses of slavery for the institution itself. This author, like most of the abolition writers of whom we have any knowledge, evinces an inability to enter into an impartial consideration of the subject, from his deep and overshadowing prejudices against it. Indeed, the whole work, from page to page, carries proof of a previous determination to condemn, not less obvious than in the instance of the judge who, in summing up a case, said—“It is true, in this case, the accused has proved himself innocent; but, since a guilty man might prove himself so, and since I myself have always been of the opinion that he was guilty, it will be the safest to condemn.”

The style of the work before us is always diffuse and declamatory, sometimes elevated, but often cumbrous; still his language bears the impress of classical learning and a cultivated mind; but there is in the work a want of conciseness; it abounds in contradictory positions and a frequent inconclusiveness of deduction, which make it obnoxious to a charge of carelessness. But may we not account for these defects by the urgent solicitude of his readers?

The morbid appetite of the Northern abolitionists was probably hungry for the work. Having no wish to _oppose_ his pecuniary views, we refrain from further extracts, lest we should infringe his copyright. Nor did we at all contemplate a classical review of the work. The book contains about 400 pages. If it could be condensed, like a pot of new-brewed and foaming, into potable beer, to a fourth of that size, it might well claim such attention; and from the specimens of ability displayed, if it were proved that the doctor has suffered his zeal to run ahead of the truth in regard to his _race_, we should judge him fully competent to the task of such improvement.

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Study III.

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LESSON I.

“_The Works of William Ellery Channing, D.D.,” in six volumes. Tenth
Edition. Boston, 1849._

These volumes include essays, sermons, and lectures on various subjects. The style is easy, flowing, and persuasive; the language is generally clear, often elevated, sometimes sublime. Few can read the book and not feel the evidence, whatever may be the error of his doctrine, that the author added to his literary eminence a purity of intention. Such a work must always make a deep impression on the reader. It is this fact that prompts the present essay. It may be said of Channing what Channing said of Fenelon:

“He needs to be read with caution, as do all who write from their own deeply excited minds. He needs to be received with deductions and explanations. * * * We fear that the very excellencies of Fenelon may shield his errors. Admiration prepares the mind for belief; and the moral and religious sensibility of the reader may lay him open to impressions which, while they leave his purity unstained, may engender causeless solicitude.” Vol. i. p. 185.

Dr. Channing’s sympathies for every appearance of human suffering, for every grade of human imperfection, gave a peculiar phasis, perhaps most amiable to his intellect, religion, and writings. He sought perfection for himself—he was ardent to behold it universal. Heaven must for ever be the home of such a spirit. But the scenes of earth gave agitation and grief. Limited, in his earthly associations, to the habits of the North, the very purity of his heart led him to attack what he deemed the most wicked sin of the South. His politics were formed upon the model of his mind. Religion spread before him her golden wing, and science aided in the elevation of his view.

But, O thou Being, God Eternal! why not this earth made heaven? Why thy most perfect work imperfection? Why thy child, clothed with holiness or shod with the gospel, run truant to thy law, thy providence and government?

But, lo, we are not of thy council. We were not called when the foundations of eternity were laid. We are, truly, all very small beings. Our virtues, even purity, may lead in error. May not our best intentions lead down to wo?

“It is a fact worthy of serious thought, and full of solemn instruction, that many of the worst errors have grown out of the religious tendencies of the mind. So necessary is it to keep watch over our whole nature, to subject the highest sentiments to the calm, conscientious reason. Men, starting from the idea of God, have been so dazzled by it, as to forget or misinterpret the universe.” _Channing_, vol. i. p. 14.

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LESSON II.

Volume ii. page 14, Dr. Channing says—

“1. I shall show that man cannot be justly held and used as property.

“2. I shall show that man has sacred rights, the gifts of God, and inseparable from human nature, of which slavery is the infraction.

“3. I shall offer some explanations to prevent misapplication of these principles.

“4. I shall unfold the evils of slavery.

“5. I shall consider the argument which the Scriptures are thought to furnish in favour of slavery.

“6. I shall offer some remarks on the means of removing it.

“7. I shall offer some remarks on abolitionism.

“8. I shall conclude with a few reflections on the duties belonging to the times.”

In support of the first proposition, to wit, “I will show that man cannot be justly held and used as property,” the doctor has advanced seven arguments. He says, page 18—“It is plain, that, if one man may be held as property, then every other man may be so held.” * * * “Now let every reader ask himself this plain question: Could I, can I, be rightfully seized, and made an article of property,” &c. Page 19: “And if this impression be delusion, on what single moral conviction can we rely? * * * The consciousness of indestructible rights is a part of our moral being. The consciousness of our humanity involves the persuasion that we cannot be owned as a tree or brute. As men, we cannot justly be made slaves. Then no man can be rightfully enslaved.”

The first idea we find, touching property, is in _Gen._ i. 26: “And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” Verse 28th: “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

In _Lev._ xxv. 44: “Both thy bond-men and bond-maids which thou shalt have shall be of the heathen, that are round about you: of them shall ye buy bond-men and bond-maids.” Verse 45: “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 beget in your land, and they shall be your possession.” Verse 46: “And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession, they shall be your bondmen for ever.”

And if we look at the first verse of this chapter, that the foregoing was announced by God himself to Moses from Sinai; and from which it would seem that God and Dr. Channing were of quite a different opinion on this subject.

We know not what notion Dr. Channing may have entertained of “man’s indestructible rights.” But let us ask, what rights has he that may not be destroyed? The right to breath? Suppose, by his own wantonness, carelessness, or wickedness, he is submerged in water, what becomes of his right to breathe, since he can no longer exercise it? Can you name any right that, under the providence of God, may not be destroyed? Freemen have rights, but subject to alteration, and even extinction; slaves have rights, but subject to the same changes. There is no such thing as an “indestructible right” appertaining to any existence, save to the Great Jehovah! He must be an immortal God who can possess an _indestructible right_. We use the word “right” in Dr. Channing’s sense—just claim, legal title, ownership, the legal power of exclusive possession. You ask, has not man an _indestructible right_ to worship God? We answer, no! Man has no such right to worship God; such right would make him a partner. The worship of God is a _duty_ which man owes; the forbearance of which is forbidden by the moral law, by justice and propriety. Nothing can be forbidden or ordered touching an _indestructible right_; for such command, if to be obeyed, changes the quality of the right; or rather shows that it was not indestructible.

Such arguments may seem to give great aid and beauty to a mere rhetorical climax, but, before the lens of analyzation, evaporates into enthusiastic declamation,—which, in the present case, seems to be addressed to the sympathies, prejudices, and impulses of the human heart.

In his writings on slavery, in fact through all his works, we find a fundamental error, most fatal to truth. He makes the conscience the great _cynosura_ of all that is right in morals, and of all that is true in religion.

Hence, in the passage before us,—“The consciousness of _indestructible rights_ is a part of our moral being,”—the _consciousness_ of such rights is his proof that we possess them; therefore, “the consciousness of our humanity involves the persuasion (proof) that we cannot be owned;” and, therefore, “as men (being men) we cannot justly be made slaves.” So, page 25: “Another argument against the right of property in man, may be drawn from a very obvious principle of moral science, the conscience.” Page 33. “His conscience, in revealing the moral law, does not reveal a law for himself only, but speaks as a universal legislator. He has an _intuitive conviction_ that the obligations of this divine code press on others as truly as on himself. * * * There is no deeper principle in human nature than the consciousness of rights.”

Vol. iii. page 18: “By this I mean that a Christian minister should beware of offering interpretations of Scripture which are repugnant to _any clear discoveries_ of reason, or dictates of _conscience_.”

Page 93: “We believe that all virtue has its foundation in the moral nature of man; that is, conscience, or his sense of duty.”

Page 164: “One of the great excellencies of Christianity is that it does not deal in minute regulations; but, that, having given broad views of duty,” &c., * * * “it leaves us to apply these rules, and express their spirit, according to the promptings of the _divine monitor_ within us”—the conscience.

Vol. vi. page 308: “We have no higher law than our conviction of duty.”

“Conscience is the supreme power within us. Its essence, its grand characteristic, is sovereignty. It speaks with divine authority. Its office is to command, to rebuke, to reward; and happiness and honour depend on the reverence with which we listen to it.” Vol. iii. pp. 335, 336.

Such passages plainly expose the view of what Dr. Channing calls _conscience_: in answer to which we say, the conscience may be a poor guide to truth. The African savage feels a clear conscience when he kills and eats his captive. The Hindoo mother is governed by her conscience when she plunges her new-born infant beneath the flood, a sacrifice to her gods. The idolaters of Palestine were subdued by conscience when they thrust their suckling infants into the flames to appease Moloch; yet God did not think it was right, and forbade them to do so.

The truth is, the conscience is merely that part of the judgment which takes notice of what it deems right or wrong; consequently, is as prone to be in error as our judgment about any other matter.

For the accuracy of this definition, we refer to all the standard writers on logic, and those on the human understanding, treating on the subject. And in fact, Dr. Channing is forced to recede from his position when he finds that Abraham, Philemon, and some good men even of the present day, were slave-owners; and in vol. vi. page 55, he says—“It is a solemn truth, not yet understood as it should be, that the worst institutions may be sustained, the worst deeds performed, the most merciless cruelties inflicted by the _conscientious_ and the good.”

And again, page 57: “The great truth is now insisted on, that evil is evil, no matter at whose door it lies; and that men acting from conscience and religion may do nefarious deeds, needs to be better understood.”

Would it not have been more frank for Dr. Channing to have said, that the conscience would be an unerring guide so long as it agreed with his, but when it did not, why, then he would inquire into the matter?

* * * * *

It is to be lamented that, among the unlearned at the present day, a confused idea of something tantamount to the conscience being a divine monitor within us has taken a deep root among the minds of men; having grown out of the fact that such was the doctrine of some of the fanatical teachers of former days.

If we shall be permitted to speak of property, in reference to our and its relation to the Divine Being, then we cannot strictly say that man can _own property_. Jehovah stands in no need. Behold the cattle upon a thousand hills are his; all is the work of his hand; all, all is his property alone! At most, God has only intrusted the possession, the administration of the subjects of his creation, to man for the time being,—to multiply, to replenish and subdue. It is only in reference to our relation to one another that we can advance the idea of property. Man was commanded to have dominion over the whole earth, to replenish and subdue, in proportion to the talent bestowed on him for that purpose. This command presupposes such a state of things as we find, of advancement, progression, and improvement. But in the course of the Divine administration, God has seen fit to bestow on one man ten talents, and on another but one; and who shall stand upon the throne of the Almighty, and decide that he of the ten talents shall have no relation with the progression of him of but one talent?

“Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him of ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.” _Matt._ xxv. 28, 29; see also _Luke_ xvii. 24–26.

And what, in the course of Divine providence, is to become of him who buried his talent in the earth, and from whom it was taken away? “Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.” _Luke_ xii. 43, 44. “Jesus answered them, Verily I say unto you, whoever committeth sin is the servant (δοῦλος, _doulos_, _slave_) of sin.” _John_ viii. 34. “Behold for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves.” _Isa._ l. 1. “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.” _Gen._ ix. 25. עֶֽבֶד עֲבָדִים _ebed_, _ebedim_, a most abject slave shall he be!

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LESSON III.

The second argument in support of his first proposition is, “A man cannot be seized and held as property, because he has rights;” to enforce which, he says—“Now, I say, a being having _rights_ cannot justly be made property; for this claim over him virtually annuls all his rights.” We see no force of argument in this position. It is also true that all domestic animals, held as property, have rights. “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib.” They all have “the right of petition;” and ask, in their way, for food: are they the less property?

But his third argument in support of his first proposition is, that man cannot justly be held as property, on the account of the “essential equality of man.” If to be born, to eat, to drink, and die alike, constitutes an essential equality among men, then be it so! What! the African savage, born even a slave amid his native wilds, who entertains no vestige of an idea of God, of a future state of existence, of moral accountability; who has no wish beyond the gratification of his own animal desire; whose parentage, for ages past, has been of the same order; and whose descendants are found to require generations of constant training before they display any permanent moral and intellectual advancement; what, such a one essentially equal to such a man as Dr. Channing?

The truth is, such a man is more essentially equal with the brute creation. We shall consider the subject of the equality in another part of our study, to which we refer. We, therefore, only remark, that the doctrine is a chimera.

His fourth argument in support of the proposition is, “That man cannot justly be held as property, because property is an exclusive right.” “Now,” he says, “if there be property in any thing, it is that of a man in his own person, mind, and strength.” “Property,” he repeats, “is an exclusive right.”

If a man has an exclusive right to property, he can alienate it; he may sell, give, and bequeath it to others. If a man is the property of himself, suppose he shall choose to sell himself to another, and deliver himself in full possession to the purchaser, as he had before been in the full possession of himself—whose property will he be then? See a case in point in _Deut._ xv. 12–17; see also _Exod._ xxi. 1–7.

His fifth argument is that, “if a human being cannot without infinite injustice be seized as property, then he cannot, without equal wrong, be held and used as such.” If a human being shall be found a nuisance to himself and others in a state of freedom, then there will be no injustice in his being subjugated, by law, to such control as his qualities prove him to require in reference to the general good; even if the subject shall not choose such control as a personal benefit to himself.

The sixth argument is, that a human being cannot be held as property, because, if so held, “the latter is under obligation to give himself up as a chattel to the former.” “Now,” he says, “do we not instantly feel, can we help feeling, that this is false?” And that “the absence of obligation proves the want of the right.”

We suppose all acknowledge God as the author of the moral law. The moral law forcibly inculcates submission to the civil or political law, even independent of any promise to do so. Now, no one can have a right to act in contradiction to law. The absence of this right, then, proves the existence of the obligation.

For his seventh argument, he says—“I come now to what is, to my mind, the great argument against seizing and using a man as property. He cannot be property in the sight of God and justice, because he is a rational, moral, immortal being; because created in God’s image, and therefore in the highest sense his child; because created to unfold godlike faculties, and to govern himself by a Divine law, written on his heart, and republished in God’s word.”

Dr. Channing adds a page or two in the same impulsive strain, of the same enthusiastic character. We may admire his style, his language, the amiable formation of his mind, but we see nothing like precision or logical deduction in support of his proposition. We see nothing in it but the declamation of a learned, yet an over-ardent, enthusiastic mind. His whole book is but a display of his mental formation. He could love his friends; yea, his enemies. He could have rewarded virtue, but he never could have punished sin. He could have forgiven the greatest outrage, but he never could have yielded a delinquent to the rigid demands of justice. He was a good man, but he never could have been an unbending judge.

The laws of God have been made for the government and benefit of his creatures. God, nor his law, is, like man, changeable. His law, as expressed or manifested towards one class of objects, is also expressed and manifested towards all objects similarly situated. The law, brought into action by an act of Cain, would also have been brought into action by a similar act of Abel. The law condemnatory of the shedding of blood is still in fearful existence against all who shall have brought themselves within the category of Cain’s acts, the most of which have probably not been recorded.

We anticipate from another portion of our studies, that “sin is any want of conformity unto the law of God.” Sin is as necessarily followed by ill consequences to the sinner as cause is by effect. A man commits a private murder; think ye, he feels no horrors of mind—no regrets? Is the watchfulness he finds necessary to keep over himself for fear of exposure, through the whole of life, not the effect of the act? Is not his whole conduct, his friendships and associations with men, his very mental peculiarities, his estimate of others, often all influenced and directed in the path of his personal safety, the avoidance of suspicion? And is all this no punishment? Probably, to have been put to death would have been a much less suffering; and who can tell how far this long, fearful, and systematic working of his mind is to affect the mental peculiarities of his offspring? Shall he, who, by wanton thoughtlessness, regardless of propriety, the moral law, and the consequences of its breach, contracts some foul, loathsome, consuming disease, that burns into the bones, and becomes a part of his physical constitution, leave no trace of his sin on his descendants? Deteriorated, feeble, and diseased, they shall not live out half their days!

A long-continued course of sin, confined to an individual, or extended to a family or race of people, deteriorates, degenerates, and destroys. Such deterioration, continued perhaps from untold time, has brought some of the races of men to what we now find them; and the same causes, in similar operation, would leave the same effect on any other race; and Dr. Channing’s “child of God” ceases to be so. “Ye are of your father, the devil.” _John_ viii. 44. “And Dr. Channing’s man, created to unfold godlike faculties, and to govern himself by a Divine law written on his heart,” ceases to act as he supposes: “And the lusts of your father ye will do: he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth; because there is no truth in him.” _John_ viii. 44. And what saith the Spirit of prophecy to these degenerate sons of earth? “When thou criest, let thy companions deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them away; vanity shall take them; but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain.” _Isa._ lvii. 13.

“And if thou shalt say in thy heart, wherefore came these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare. Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil. Therefore will I scatter them as stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness. This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the Lord: because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood. Therefore, will I discover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy shame may appear.” _Jer._ xiii. 22–26.

“And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the Lord hath spoken it.” _Joel_ iii. 8.

And what saith the same Spirit to those of opposite character?

“The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet.” _Isa._ lx. 14.

“And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your ploughmen and your vine-dressers.” _Ibid._ lxi. 5.

“They (my people) shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth trouble; they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, before they shall call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” _Ibid._ lxv. 234.

What are the threatenings announced in prospect of their deterioration and wickedness?

“And thou (Judah) even thyself, shalt discontinue from thy heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee _to serve_ (עֲבַדְתִּיךָ _be a slave to_) thine enemies in a land which thou knowest not.” _Jer._ xvii. 4.

“Are ye not as the children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the Lord. * * * Behold the eyes of the Lord God are upon this sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.” _Amos_ ix. 7, 8.

The consequences of sin are degradation, slavery, and death:

“A righteous man hateth lying; but a wicked man is loathsome and cometh to shame.”

“He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind; and the fool shall be _servant_ (עֶֽבֶד _ebed_, _slave_) to the wise of heart.”

“As righteousness tendeth to life, so he that pursueth evil, pursueth it to his own death.” _Prov._

* * * * *

Dr. Channing has suffered his idea of property to bring him great mental suffering: he evidently associates, under the term _property_, those qualities and relations only, which are properly associated in an inanimate object of possession, or at most in a brute beast. He has, no doubt, suffered great misery from the reflection that a human being has ever been reduced to such a condition. But his misery has all been produced by his adherence to his own peculiar definition of the word _property_. His definition is not its exact meaning, when applied to a slave. Had the doctor attempted an argument to show that the word _property_ could not consistently be applied to a slave, he might, perhaps, have improved our language, by setting up a more definite boundary to the meaning of this term, and saved himself much useless labour.

Mankind apply the term _property_ to slaves: they have always done so; and since Dr. Channing has not given us an essay upon the impropriety of this use of the word, perhaps the accustomed usage will be continued. But we imagine that no one but the doctor and his disciples will contend that it expresses the same complex idea when applied to slaves, which is expressed by it when applied to inanimate objects, or to brute beasts. It will be a new idea to the slaveholder to be told that the word _property_, as applied to his slaves, converts them at once into brute beasts, no longer human beings; that it deprives them of all legal protection; and that he, the master, in consequence of the use of this word, stands in the same relation to his slave that he does to his horse; and we apprehend he will find it quite as difficult to comprehend how this metamorphosis is brought about, as it is for the doctor and his disciples, how the slave is property.

We may say a man has property in his wife, his children, his hireling, his slave, his horse, and a piece of timber,—by which we mean that he has the right to use them, in conformity to the relations existing between himself and these several objects. Because his horse is his property, who ever dreamed that he had therefore the right to use him as a piece of timber?

No man has a right to use any item of property in a different manner than his relations with it indicate; or, in other words, as shall be in conformity with the laws of God. Our property is little else than the right of possession and control, under the guidance of the laws by which we are in possession for the time being.

The organization of society is the result of the conception of the general good. By it one man, under a certain chain of circumstances, inherits a throne; another, a farm; one, the protection of a bondman, or whatever may accrue to these conditions from other operating causes; and another, nothing. If Dr. Channing and his disciples can find out some new principles by which to organize society, producing different and better results, they will then do what has not been done.

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LESSON IV.

The doctrine that slavery, disease, and death are the necessary effects of sin, we humbly claim to perceive spread on every page of the holy books. This doctrine is forcibly illustrated in the warning voice of Jehovah to the Israelites. They were emphatically called his children—peculiar people—his chosen ones. He made covenants with them to bless them; yet all these were founded upon their adherence to the Divine law. These promises repealed no ordinance of Divine necessity in their behalf. He expressed, revealed the law, so far as it was important for them at the time, and then says, _Deut._ xxviii. 14–68:—

“15. But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee:

“16. Cursed _shalt_ thou _be_ in the city, and cursed _shalt_ thou _be_ in the field.