Slavery: Its Origin, Nature, and History, Considered in the Light of Bible Teachings, Moral Justice, and Political Wisdom (Classic Reprint)

It cannot but be obvious to all intelligent minds, that among the complex questions which have so long agitated the whole land, and which have mingled their discordant elements in producing the present alarming political condition of the country, so deeply distressing to every patriotic mind, the moral and religious question of slavery stands forth most prominent. I ndeed, it is the fundamental question, and demands, first of all, a satisfactory settlement; for on the right decision of this moral and religious question depend all the other questions relating to slavery. Whether slavery, or the condition of being held in subjection to the will of another, is a divine institution, sanctioned by laws and commands, and regulated from the earliest times, or is forbidden as a sin as a violation of the laws of God is surely a fundamental question. Difference here, at the start, is antipodal. The course of conduct pursued by the believers in these two extremes, must of necessity lead to results as diverse as light from darkness. Until this point is satisfactorily settled we cannot reach the expediency or inexpediency, the advantage or disadvantage, of this system of servitude. If it is a sin, if the Bible shows it to be a sin, the controversy is settled; we can have no compromise with sin; we have nothing to do with it but to forsake it. Hence all whose consciences sustain them in that view of the question are at least consistent in their zealous opposition to slavery, and their determination to uproot it everywhere and at all hazards. On the other hand, if God has shown in his word and by his providence, that servitude or slavery, in its various modifications of form and duration, and of mild or severe character, has, from the beginning of the world, been an essential feature in His government of man ;that viewed from a loftier stand-point than is circumscribed by
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)