IF this "sacred" book teaches man to enslave his brother, it is not
inspired. A god who would establish slavery is as cruel and heartless as
any devil could be.
"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 begat 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 bondmen forever.
"Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, _shall be_
of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen
and bondmaids."--Leviticus xxv.
This is white slavery. This allows one white man to buy another, to buy
a woman, to separate families and rob a mother of her child. This makes
the whip upon the naked backs of men and women a legal tender for labor
performed. This is the kind of slavery established by the most merciful
God. The reason given for all this, is, that the persons whom they
enslaved were heathen. You may enslave them because they are not
orthodox. If you can find anybody who does not believe in me, the God
of the Jews, you may steal his wife from his arms, and her babe from
the cradle. If you can find a woman that does not believe in the Hebrew
Jehovah, you may steal her prattling child from her breast. Can any one
conceive of anything more infamous? Can any one find in the literature
of this world more frightful words ascribed even to a demon? And all
this is found in that most beautiful and poetic chapter known as the
25th of Leviticus--from the Bible--from this sacred gift of God--this
"Magna Charta of human freedom."
2. "If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve; and in the
seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
3. "If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were
married, then his wife shall go out with him.
4. "If his master have given him a wife, and she hath borne him sons or
daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall
go out by himself.
5. "And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and
children; I w ill not go out free:
6. "Then his master shall bring him unto the judges: he shall also bring
him to the door, or unto the door-post; and his master shall bore his
ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him forever."--_Exodus,
xxi._
The slave is allowed to have his liberty if he will give up his wife and
children. He must remain in slavery for the sake of wife and child. This
is another of the laws of the most merciful God. This God changes even
love into a chain. Children are used by him as manacles and fetters,
and wives become the keepers of prisons. Any man who believes that such
hideous laws were made by an infinitely wise and benevolent God is, in
my judgment, insane or totally depraved.
These are the doctrines of the Old Testament. What is the doctrine
of the New? What message had he who came from heaven's throne for the
oppressed of earth? What words of sympathy, what words of cheer, for
those who labored and toiled without reward? Let us see:
"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."--_Ephesians, vi._
This is the salutation of the most merciful God to a slave, to a woman
who has been robbed of her child--to a man tracked by hounds through
lonely swamps--to a girl with flesh torn and bleeding--to a mother
weeping above an empty cradle.
"Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the
good and gentle, but also to the fro ward."--_I Peter ii., 18_.
"For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure
grief, suffering wrongfully."--_I Peter ii., 19_.
It certainly must be an immense pleasure to God to see a man work
patiently for nothing. It must please the Most High to see a slave with
his wife and child sold upon the auction block. If this slave escapes
from slavery and is pursued, how musical the baying of the bloodhound
must be to the ears of this most merciful God. All this is simply
infamous. On the throne of this universe there sits no such monster.
"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. iii., 22_.
The apostle here seems afraid that the slave would not work every moment
that his strength permitted. He really seems to have feared that
he might not at all times do the very best he could to promote the
interests of the thief who claimed to own him. And speaking to all
slaves, in the name of the Father of All, this apostle says: "Obey in
all things your masters, not with eye-service, but with singleness of
heart, fearing God." He says to them in substance, There is no way you
can so well please God as to work honestly for a thief.
1. "Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters
worthy of all honor, that the name of God and _his_ doctrine be not
blasphemed."
Think of serving God by honoring a robber! Think of bringing the name
and doctrine of God into universal contempt by claiming to own yourself!
2. "And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them,
because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are
faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and
exhort."
That is to say, do not despise Christians who steal the labor of others.
Do not hold in contempt the "faithful and beloved, partakers of the
benefit," who turn the cross of Christ into a whipping post.
3. "If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words
_even_ to words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is
according to godliness.
4. "He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes
of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
5. "Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the
truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself."
This seems to be the opinion the apostles entertained of the early
abolitionists. Seeking to give human beings their rights, seeking to
give labor its just reward, seeking to clothe all men with that divine
garment of the soul, Liberty,--all this was denounced by the apostle as
a simple strife of words, whereof cometh envy, railings, evil surmisings
and perverse disputing, destitute of truth.