_Teachings of Christ._
Ages pass, the Jews are restored to their land, but the Roman eagle
overshadows it and all the civilized world. Despotism is enthroned; and
the idea that the world and its people are the property of Rome and its
citizens is questioned only in murmuring whispers. All the relations of
Roman life partake of this idea of absolutism; slavery is every where,
liberty nowhere. Then the glad tidings of Messiah's coming is announced
to an expectant world. Whom will he side with--the crushed and
despairing millions, or the aristocratic and haughty few? Will he adopt
and develop the idea of equality found in Jewish law, or the principle
now ascendant,--"Might makes right,"--the Roman slave law? Let him
answer.
Standing in the synagogue at Nazareth, the home of his boyhood, amid his
expectant friends and relations, he reads (Luke 4:16-21) from Isaiah,
"The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to
_preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the
broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of
sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord_. And he closed the book and sat down,
... and began to say to them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in
your ears." There is his commission and the constitution of his kingdom.
Can any thing be more explicit?
Christ himself comes with glad tidings for the poor, to destroy slavery
and oppression, and establish liberty. Rejoice, ye poor, taught hitherto
that ye were made only for the service of the rich; there is glad
tidings for you. Rejoice, captives and slaves, "bruised" with the lash
and fetter; _God_ comes "to preach deliverance to the captives, liberty
to them that are bruised, and the acceptable year (the Jubilee) of the
Lord."
How did he fulfill this commission and pledge? No code of laws and
dogmas, terse and dry, were issued by him for the government of his
kingdom; but the great principle was proclaimed of a common brotherhood
as children of God our Father, and of love to him as such. In his sermon
on the mount, the parables of the lost sheep and silver piece, the good
Samaritan, the prodigal son, the Pharisee and the publican; in his
private teachings to his disciples; and, above all, by his daily example
he taught and illustrated, as the leading characteristics of his
kingdom, love to God, the brotherhood of man, the rights of all, however
poor, degraded, or despised. More, he makes this idea of brotherhood
and equality even with himself, the great test in the judgment. Matt.
25:40, 45: "And the king shall answer, and say unto them, Verily I say
unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my
brethren, ye have done it unto me." What will those who now boast of
their large churches, composed almost entirely of slaves, Christian
ministers, and church members, bought, sold, lashed, and treated like
cattle, answer the King in that great day?
But to return: the result of such teachings was soon evident. "The
common people heard him gladly," hung on his steps and words by
thousands, and hailed him as deliverer; while Scribes and Pharisees,
priests and rulers, denounced him as "a friend of publicans and
sinners," only seeking popularity among the masses, to disturb the
public peace, and revolutionize the government. Mark, it was not simply
religious, but _political_ interference and teaching they charged him
with, and on this charge they finally compassed his death.
In his private teachings to his disciples he strongly inculcated this
truth. Striving among themselves for the supremacy, he charges them,
Matt. 20:26-28, and many other places, "It shall not be so among you;
but whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant; even as
the Son of man came not to be ministered to, but to minister, and to
give his life a ransom for many." The law thus explicitly laid down, and
in John 13 enforced by his example, is the very opposite of chattelism.
In his church, none were to claim supremacy over others, much less
_enslave_ them; none to despise labor and the laborer, much less condemn
others to it while themselves lived in idleness.
Thus Christ, so far from sanctioning chattelism or property in man in
any shape or form, by precept and example taught the opposite, the
dignity of labor and the laborer, the common brotherhood of man, and
consequent equality, political and religious. Did his apostles indorse
this doctrine, or, fearing the result, did they side with the all
prevalent system of class legislation and slavery?
_Teachings of the Apostles._
The result of their teaching in Judea is given in Acts 4:32-35--"And the
multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul; neither
said any of them _that aught of the things he possessed was his own_;
but they had all things common. Neither was there any among them that
lacked; for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and
brought the prices of the things that were sold and laid them down at
the apostles' feet, and distribution was made to every man according as
he had need." They not only believed in "liberty, equality, and
fraternity," but practised its extreme--not only equality of rights, but
equality of property, among the brotherhood.
But this was comparatively easy in Judea, where the principle of
equality was already partly recognized, and the existence of chattelism
prevented by the action of the Mosaic code. The apostles only fairly
came in conflict with the spirit of caste and slavery when, filled with
love and the Spirit, they entered heathen countries, "preaching the glad
tidings of the kingdom," and establishing every where the glorious
brotherhood of humanity, whose primary law is, "A new commandment I give
unto you, That ye love one another as I have loved you. By this shall
men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." John
13:34-5. And Paul expounds it to the Gentiles, 1 Cor. 12:13--"For by one
Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or
Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink
into one Spirit." Gal. 3:26-28: "Ye are all the children of God by faith
in Christ Jesus; for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ
have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, _there is neither
bond nor free_, there is neither male nor female; _for ye are all one in
Christ Jesus_." Again, Col. 3:11, "There is neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free;
but Christ is all and in all."
Can language be more express and conclusive than this? The distinctions
here dissolved by the waters of baptism, and blended into "one in Christ
Jesus," are not, as our southern brethren assert, simply religious, but
NATIONAL, POLITICAL, AND SOCIAL--slavery, and the spirit of caste and
clan which upholds it, alike forbidden, and liberty, equality, and
fraternity, social, political, and religious, proclaimed as the rule of
Christ's kingdom.
Principles like these came upon the world like the morning sunlight,
scattering the mists of superstitious ignorance, melting the icy pride
and selfishness of the mighty, permeating all classes and relations of
society with their secret influence, and blending all into one
harmonious brotherhood of love and peace. Apparently they were subject
as others to the laws of the state, but in secret were bound by stronger
ties, and governed by higher, nobler laws, than the world outside
dreamed of.
Instead of the Roman law of marriage, regarding the wife as the
husband's slave, he must love her as himself; more, as Christ loved the
church. Instead of the tyranny on one side, and the retaliating
disobedience on the other, of the Roman parental relation, it became the
image of our heavenly Father's love, and our trusting obedience to him.
The relation of slave, "pro nullo, pro quadrupedo, pro mortuo," (as a
nobody, a quadruped, a dead man,) to his master, became the relation of
brethren, the one to render true and faithful service, Eph. 6:5, the
other never to threaten, Eph. 6:9, much less punish; not to regard them
as chattels, as under the Roman law, but to give them _just_ and _equal_
compensation for their service, Eph. 6:9; Col. 4:1, "knowing that ye
also have a Master in heaven," "neither is there respect of persons with
him." The legal deed of manumission was unnecessary; for as, when master
and slave land in England, they may remain connected as master and free
servant, _never_ as master and slave, so, on admission into the
brotherhood of the church, the waters of baptism, as shown above,
dissolved the relation of slavery, and substituted that of freemen and
brethren.
Again, believers were members of Christ's body. He dwelt in them; and
therefore every indignity and injury done to them was done to him in
their person. To enslave, buy, and sell them was to enslave, buy, and
sell Christ himself. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of
these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Who, then, would dare hold
a brother Christian as a slave? What! make merchandise of the person of
Christ? Never! the cry of Judas would ring around them as they were
driven ignominiously from the church.
"Why," it is objected, "did not the apostles preach immediate
emancipation, instead of indorsing slavery by defining its
duties--'Servants, obey your masters,' &c.? and Paul even sent back a
slave." 1. The primary object of the apostles was not simply "to preach
liberty to the captives;" this was but a branch of the tree planted "for
the healing of the nations." Their object was to sow the principles of
faith, love, justice, and equality, well knowing that, when these took
root and flourished, among the first fruit would be "liberty to all the
inhabitants of the land." 2. Had this been their great object, they took
the best and speediest plan for its accomplishment. Attacking the system
directly, the appearance of the Christian missionary would have been the
signal for servile war and untold bloodshed, the slave against the
master, the poor against the rich; and the heathen rulers, eager for a
pretext to crush them, would have denounced them as lighting the torch
of rebellion and war; and the further spread of the gospel would have
been drowned in the blood of its founders. But they took the very course
which God adopted among the Israelites in regard to servitude, not
directly prohibiting it, but inculcating principles of social equality
and progress, restricting the master's power, and protecting the
servant's rights, till, master and slave blended in one, the name of
slave was lost in that of Christian. 3. The relation and duties of
master and servant are defined by the apostles exactly as they might be
to-day in England or the free states--as those of men, _never_ as owner
and property; on the contrary, all ownership of man by other than God is
expressly denied. 1 Cor. 6:19, 20, "What! know ye not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost in you, which ye have of God, and _ye are
not your own_? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in
your body and your spirit, _which are God's_." There the ownership is
clearly asserted; how can man claim it? "Render to Cesar the things that
are Cesar's, _and to God the things that are God's_," lest you be found
robbing God himself. Again, 1 Cor. 7:21, 23, "Art thou called, being a
servant? care not for it; but, if thou mayst be made free, (+dynasai
genesthai+, canst become free,) use it rather." What can be more
explicit than this? First, ownership of man is denied even to _himself_,
much more to _another_. Next, the exhortation to slaves is, if they
_can not_ get free from this great wrong, to bear it as such, but, if
they _can_, "use it rather;" and the reason given is followed by a rule
of action to be adopted wherever possible. Verse 23, "Ye are bought with
a price; BE NOT YE THE SERVANTS OF MEN." If this be not express
prohibition of chattelism, and command to slaves to free themselves from
it, then the language is totally contradictory and unintelligible.
Contrast these laws of Paul with the laws of most of the southern
states, forbidding even the master to free his slaves, while states and
Congress unite in hounding back to whip and task the poor slave who
dares obey that command; nay, offer large rewards for men, even
Christian ministers, when attempting to obey it. "But Paul sent back
Onesimus to his master, and therefore sanctioned the sending back of
fugitives." We answer, there was no sending back at all. Paul, a
prisoner, could not send him back: a Jew, he was forbidden by his
religion to do so. Deut. 23:15. It was simply a recommendatory letter
sent with Onesimus, returning voluntarily to Colosse and his master. Let
us look at the letter. Verse 8 begins, "Wherefore, though I might be
much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient, yet, for
love's sake, I rather beseech thee. I beseech thee for my son Onesimus,
... _which in time past was to thee unprofitable_, but now profitable to
thee and to me; whom I have sent again, ... not now as a servant, but
above a servant, a brother beloved," &c. Here Onesimus is described as
having been, while heathen, an "unprofitable" trouble to his master, and
had either run away or been sent away by him. Converted at Rome, Paul
heard his story, and in his letter, instead of thinking he is doing
Philemon a favor, has to earnestly "beseech," almost command, his
reception as a favor to himself. Not one word of _property_ or _right_
in him, save the right of love as one of the brotherhood. "NOT NOW AS A
SERVANT, but _above a servant, a brother beloved, especially to me_, but
how much more to thee!" Onesimus had left the "slave" in his heathenism;
in Christ he became the "brother" of Philemon and Paul. Instead of
sanctioning chattelism, it positively denies it by affirming voluntary
service, the equality of men as brethren, to be loved as Christ
himself.
Thus Christ and his apostles, so far from upholding chattelism in their
teachings, denounced the ownership of man by any but God, and inculcated
its opposite--love, liberty, equality, and fraternity--by precept and
example. And subsequent history showed the result.
Christ said of the teachings of the Pharisees, "By their fruits ye shall
know them." Apply this test to the teachings of the apostles and the
primitive churches in regard to slavery. When they went forth, "darkness
covered the earth, and gross darkness the people;" slavery sat enthroned
in might over Europe; and the cries of the oppressed millions had only
had a hearing on the battle or before the throne of God.
When the Reformation came slavery had disappeared in Europe; and the
voice of the people was heard asserting their rights, feebly, indeed, at
first, but ever since growing stronger and stronger "as the voice of
many waters." What has caused this change?
Historians, Protestant and Catholic, ascribe it to the influence of the
church, not by direct emancipatory decrees, but, following the example
of God through Moses, by gradually restricting the master's power, and
protecting the slave; by girdling the poison tree till it withered and
fell, though, sad to say, the ruins still disfigure too much field, of
the fair fields of Europe and America.
No fact is more patent in history than the truth expressed by Paul to
the Corinthians: "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is LIBERTY."
The whole tendency of the Bible and true Christianity, direct and
indirect, is to the liberty and advancement, never the slavery and
degradation, of man; and those who have attempted to shield the monster
curse of our country and age with the garb of the gospel may find too
late, when that awful voice shall ring in their ears, "Inasmuch as ye
have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it
unto me," that Christ came not only "to preach deliverance to the
captives" and "to set at liberty them that are bruised," but also "the
day of vengeance of our God."
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AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY,
28 Cornhill, Boston.
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