I shall now proceed to show, that the holding of slaves is not
necessarily sinful under all circumstances; or in other words, that
the relation of master and slave is not, under all circumstances,
inconsistent with, or in opposition to the revealed will of God. In
the discussion of this question it will be necessary, first to glance
at the origin and history of African slavery. I am apprised of the
difficulties which I shall encounter in the investigation of this
subject; and I am by no means blind, or insensible to my own
incompetency; but I set out with the determination to look the subject
of slavery full in the face, and fearlessly to express my opinions,
regardless of consequences; at least so far as my own personal ease,
interest, or reputation is involved; I shall, therefore, take the
responsibility of openly expressing such opinions and views, as I
conceive to be in accordance with the Holy Bible, and leave
consequences to a just, wise and righteous God. To Him, and to Him
alone, am I responsible for what I write.
God in his infinite benevolence and wisdom, and for the manifestation
of his own glory, created man in his own image, and placed him in the
garden of Eden, holy and happy. And he commanded him, "of every tree
of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of knowledge of
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Adam disobeyed the high mandate
of heaven; he ate of the forbidden fruit, and thus he fell by
transgression from his high and holy estate. He was our federal head;
and he fell not alone, for on all his posterity fell the withering
curse of Almighty God. "Curst is the ground for thy sake." "Thorns and
thistles shall it bring forth unto thee." "In the sweat of thy face,
shalt thou eat thy bread, till thou return unto the ground:--for dust
thou art and unto dust shalt thou return." The posterity of Adam soon
forgot God. Gross wickedness soon covered the earth. Vile and
depraved, the descendants of Adam went forth, perpetrating every act
of wickedness, every abomination that the heart of man could devise.
The world was soon filled with brutality, lust, and violence. "And God
looked down upon the earth and behold it was corrupt." "And God said
unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me." "And behold I,
even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all
flesh." Righteous Noah and his wife, and his son's and his son's wives
were preserved in the ark; "and the winds blew, and the rains
descended and the floods came;" "and all flesh died that moved upon
earth;" and God said unto Noah, "go forth of the ark, thou and thy
wife, and thy sons, and thy son's wives with thee." And God said unto
Noah, "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth."
The sons of Noah were Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and Ham was the father
of Canaan. And Noah drank wine and was drunken; and he was uncovered
within his tent; and Ham saw the nakedness of his father and told his
two brethren, Shem and Japheth; and they took a garment and covered
their father, without beholding his nakedness; "And Noah awoke from
his wine," and after being correctly informed as to the conduct of his
sons while he was intoxicated, "He said, cursed be Canaan; a servant
of servants shall he be unto his brethren."
We learn from the Sacred Record, that the curse of slavery fell on the
posterity of Ham in consequence of his dishonoring his aged father.
Every Bible reader must have noted the severe punishment of children,
under the Mosaic dispensation, for disobedience and disrespect to
parents. It appears to have been classed amongst the worst of crimes,
and death was the penalty. "Cursed be he," (said Moses on Mount Ebal,)
"that setteth light by his father or his mother." "Every one that
curseth father or mother, shall die the death." The children of Israel
were commanded to "stone a stubborn or rebellious son to death." "Honor
thy father and thy mother, that thy days maybe long in the land, which
the Lord thy God giveth thee," is one of the commands which was
delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai. Here is a command with a promise of
long life annexed to it on condition of obedience, and it is but a
fair inference, that those who disobey the command, will be cut off in
the prime of life. It appears that the punishment for disobedience to
parents, is the same under the gospel dispensation; for St. Paul says;
"Honor thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee, and
that thou mayest live long upon the earth." The language of Moses and
St. Paul suggests some solemn reflections, and I entreat my juvenile
readers to observe well the language; it is the voice of God that
speaks. Beware, lest you are brought to an untimely end, and the curse
of a sin-avenging God falls upon you. I cannot dwell on this subject,
but I entreat you, my young friends, to pause for a moment, and
reflect on the awful, the calamitous consequences of disobeying, or
otherwise dishonoring your parents. I must pass on.
We have no reason to believe that Noah was moved by resentment to
denounce the curse of slavery on the posterity of Canaan, in
consequence of the disrespect shown toward him by Ham. We have no
reason to suppose that there was any abatement of parental solicitude,
for the future welfare of this ungodly son and his posterity. He was
moved by the Holy Ghost, and uttered but a prophecy, which entailed
slavery on the posterity of Ham, as a consequence of wilful
disobedience of God's just and righteous laws. He uttered but a fact
_in futuro_, which had been revealed to him by an omniscient God. How
fully the above prediction has been verified, is familiar to every
historian. The continent of Africa was principally peopled by the
descendants of Ham; and for ages, the better part of that country was
under the dominion of the Romans; then of the Saracens; and more
recently of the Turks; and the fact, that the slave trade has been
carried on for hundreds of years with all its horrors, iniquities,
cruelties and abominations, is familiar to every one. A large portion
of the children of Ham have existed in a state of slavery for more
than three thousand years. It is said that more than nine-tenths of
the whole sixty millions of Africa are slaves. Negro slavery existed
in the colonies of Greece for ages before the Christian era. All other
races of mankind have enslaved the African. The phraseology of Noah's
prediction is a little remarkable. The children of Ham were not only
to be servants, but "a servant of servants." It is true that
unconnected with all other races, one portion of the negro race have
been enslaved to another, ever since the earliest dawn of history, and
that in a greater proportion too, than to any other race. It is
recorded by historians, that there are perhaps twenty negro masters in
Africa to every white one in the United States, and that they hold in
bondage at least ten times as many slaves. It is moreover stated, that
those portions of Africa where the slave trade with the white man is
unknown, are the most inveterate slave regions. In the negro islands
of the Indian Archipelago, the negro is enslaved to the negro.
Some are, no doubt, ready to ask, how is it that Africans became
slaves to their own race? Many of them were taken captives in war and
subjected to slavery. The different tribes in Africa have in all ages
engaged in predatory warfare, and the captives taken in those wars
became slaves. Necessity may have forced many of them to subject
themselves to servitude. Negroes have not that aversion to slavery,
that many suppose who are unacquainted with the peculiarities of negro
character. They are ignorant, indolent and improvident, and in many
instances are neither competent nor willing to provide for themselves;
and, therefore, they probably frequently became slaves to the more
highly gifted and fortunate of their own race from necessity, and it
may be from choice.
How is it that one nation acquires dominion over another? that one
nation falls a prey to another? that one nation makes slaves of
another? By what means were the posterity of Shem and Japheth enabled
to enslave the posterity of Ham? Some will say that God willed it
thus, and so it is. I consider the phraseology of this answer faulty.
It would, in my view, be more appropriate to say, God suffered it; or
permitted it; and so it is. I do not believe that Ham's crimes were in
accordance with the benevolent designs of Providence. The degradation
and slavery entailed upon his posterity, was but a necessary
consequence of his crimes, a just judgment, which a righteous God
suffered to fall on his posterity. It was a violation of God's laws,
which involved the African race in accursed slavery. God has attached
certain punishments to the violation of certain laws, in other words,
to the commission of certain crimes. The law is violated, otherwise,
the crime is committed, and the penalty, or punishment falls on the
head of the offender. Now all this is brought about in opposition to
the will of God; for when God gave laws, he willed that man should
obey those laws. If he says, "son honor thy father," and the son
dishonors his father, he acts in opposition to God's will. And to
secure obedience to his laws, and uphold moral order, he has attached
to every crime its appropriate punishment.
But every effect has a cause, and if one nation acquires an ascendancy
over another, there is a reason in the nature of things, _why it is
so_. There are reasons why individuals differ, and why they are found
under different circumstances and conditions in this world. Why one
becomes poor and another rich; why one acquires wealth and influence,
while another becomes poor, indigent and miserable--it may be a slave
to his wealthy neighbor. There is an internal cause; a constitutional
difference in individuals, physically, mentally, and morally. So it is
with nations. Locality, climate and other external causes have also
had much agency in shaping and moulding the characters, and
determining the destinies of nations. Nothing is more true than the
trite saying, "that knowledge is power." The Author of our existence,
"the giver of every good and perfect gift," conferred on Shem and
Japheth, or rather, on their posterity, superior mental endowments.
The African and the Anglo-Saxon races differ widely in their physical
organizations; their mental susceptibilities, and their moral natures;
and the advantages are in favor of the Anglo-Saxon. The Anglo-Saxons
are a superior race. They are the best specimens of humanity--the
noblest work of God. They excel in all those qualities and endowments
that raise man above his fellow man. The whole posterity of Shem and
Japheth are intellectually superior to the posterity of Ham. Locality
has had its influence. The human species degenerate mentally and
morally in a tropical climate.
Vice saps the foundation, and gradually impairs and undermines the
mental and moral constitutions of mankind. Ham being more vicious than
his brothers, the mental and moral deterioration of his race,
commenced in his own person, and was transmitted by him to his
posterity. A man transmits his intellectual powers, his moral nature,
or sentiments, as well as his physical organization to his progeny;
and this he does with positive certainty, unless the mother possesses
opposite qualities and properties. The children of the vicious are by
nature more vicious than the children of the virtuous. Hence, we see
that men by ordinary generation, transmit their own peculiar vices to
their offspring. Every innate principle, passion and propensity of
soul, body and mind, is transmitted from parent to child. This view of
the subject need strike us with no surprise, if we would reflect, that
men beget the souls, as well as the bodies of their children. I read
in Genesis, that God breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life,
"and that he became a living soul;" but I am not aware, that the
Divine Being has breathed a soul into any other living being since the
day he created Adam. No! When he breathed a soul into Adam he invested
him with the power to procreate the souls as well as the bodies of his
progeny. Hence, every man begets a soul and a body like his own,
except so far as his own qualities and properties come in contact with
opposite ones in the female; then, of course, some modification of the
foetus may be expected. If an acid and an alkali are brought in
contact, the result will be a neutral salt. We will generally find,
however, that in what are called neutral mixtures, there is either a
predominance of the acid, or the alkali. So it is with the children of
parents possessing opposite propensities and qualities, either those
of the father or the mother, are likely to predominate in the
offspring.
Slavery was entailed on Ham's posterity, in consequence of the
indignity with which he treated his aged and pious father. Ham was a
free agent; it was an act of his own. The Divine Being suffered him to
transgress his laws; and foreseeing that it would involve his
posterity in the curse of slavery, he foretold the result of the
transgression, by the mouth of Noah, Ham's father.
I have remarked in the preceding pages, that Ham was more wicked than
his brothers; and that he transmitted his own corrupt nature to his
offspring; and that in consequence of sin, his descendants sank into
ignorance, barbarism and brutality which subjected them to the
dominion of their more enlightened and virtuous brethren. Thus, we
see, that it was the wickedness of Ham, which involved his race in
ignorance, degradation and slavery. I repeat, that Ham entailed
slavery on his own race; it was an effect of the violation of
Jehovah's righteous laws; a just and righteous judgment. It is clear,
from the foregoing remarks, that Ham transmitted the germs of slavery
to his posterity, by ordinary generation.
God permitted the transgression, and he also permitted the penalty to
fall on the transgressors; and it then devolved on him, as Supreme
Ruler of the universe, to regulate, govern, and control the
transgressors, and the calamitous consequences of their transgression
according to his own righteous will. "Justice and judgment are the
habitation of his throne, and righteousness goeth before him." "The
wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath wilt thou
restrain." That the almighty and all-wise God governs both men and
devils, and the consequences of their acts, in accordance with the
strictest principles of righteousness, judgment and justice, we have
no right to doubt. He, in his amazing condescension, illimitable
goodness, and boundless mercy, has given us a revelation of his will,
to regulate, govern, and control our actions; and all that comports
with our best interests, or that is essential for us to know
concerning himself and his government of our world, is revealed in
this Holy Volume; and if there are some things in the moral government
of God, which we cannot comprehend, we have no right to cavil. "The
Judge of all the earth will do right."
If either masters or servants wish to know the will of God concerning
slavery--if they would learn their respective relations and duties, as
masters, and servants, I must refer them to the Bible. There they will
find a revelation of the will of God in relation to slavery, clearly
set forth. If we have any other authority, or guide, I am not aware of
it. I know of none. It is true, that I have heard something about a
_higher law_ but from whence it came, "to whom related, or by whom
begot," I know not. It is enough for us to know, that it did not come
from God. Christians must take the Bible as their guide, and God as
their master; and if others think that they can do better, let them
try. Poor old Ham, I suppose, thought that he could do better; and
he deserted the source of all mercy, goodness, truth, light and
knowledge; and what was the consequence? Ignorance, barbarism,
degradation and woe; ending in the accursed slavery of his race.
Accursed of God! A curse entailed on sin--an individual curse--national
curse! Too often, a curse to him that serves, and him that rules! God
be merciful to the slave and his master. The master, as well as the
slave, is entitled to our sympathies, and not to our maledictions.
Whether the mental powers of Shem and Japheth, were originally
superior to those of Ham, we know not. We know that the posterity of
Shem and Japheth, are mentally superior to the posterity of Ham, at
the present day. To me, it seems probable, that Ham came from the
hands of his Creator, in every respect equal to Shem and Japheth; and
that his mental and moral powers were debased by sin, and they thus
acquired a superiority over him. But, supposing that Ham was
originally inferior to his more fortunate brothers, he had no right to
complain. Suppose that the Divine Being gave Ham one talent, Japheth
two, and Shem four; he, in so doing, inflicted no wrong on Ham. To
whom much is given, of the same much is required. In order to secure
the blessing of God, it was only necessary for Ham to improve what he
had received. God required no more at his hands. But it is evident,
from the manner in which he conducted himself toward his heaven
favored and pious father, that he was an egregious sinner, and the
curse of God fell upon him, and his progeny. "The curse causeless
shall not come."
When the Almighty in his providence suffers a punishment to fall on a
man, or a race of men, he has a good and sufficient reason for it. If
He hides his face, or withhold his blessings, we may search for the
cause in our own hearts. "It is your iniquities," (said the prophet),
"that have separated you and your God." But to return to the
sovereignty of God. He has the power.--He has the right. He, alone, is
competent to decide what is best for us. "Hath not the potter power
over the same lump of clay, to make one vessel to honor, and another
to dishonor." He is under no obligation to any one; the best of us
having forfeited all right, title, or claim to his mercy. Whatever
mercies or blessings we may receive at the hands of Divine
Benificence, are unmerited; undeserved on our part. The Divine Being
is debtor to no one. There is no merit on our part, there can be none.
God nevertheless has respect to character. Shem and Japheth, acted in
accordance with Divine will, and He chose to confer on them certain
favors and benefits. Ham incurred his displeasure, by violating his
laws; and He left his posterity to those temporal misfortunes, which
must necessarily grow out of moral infirmities, and mental
disabilities.
I think I have clearly shown that African slavery originated in the
inferiority of the African race; and that the inferiority of the
African race, originated in the violation of God's laws. Slavery is
perpetuated by the cause that brought it into existence. I have
alluded in the preceding pages to the mental disabilities and the
moral defects and infirmities of the posterity of Ham; as subjecting
them to degradation and slavery. Physical conformation and color,
viz., the curly hair, the black skin, the flat nose, the broad flat
foot, &c., have had no small share in subjecting the negro race to
degradation and slavery. All other races of men shun and despise them
on account of their physical peculiarities. This is the key to that
universal prejudice against the African race, the world over. The
negro race are then, slaves from necessity, viz., they are slaves
because they are incapable of attaining to the rights and privilege of
free men. And those rights and privileges they never can enjoy in the
midst of the Anglo-Saxon race.
We have seen in the preceding pages, that slavery and all the evils
and calamities appertaining thereto, were entailed on Ham's posterity,
as a penalty for the wilful violation of God's laws; and, I shall
attempt to show before I bring this essay to a close, that in
consequence of disobedience on the part of masters, as well as
servants, that the evils and calamities of slavery fall not alone on
him who serves, but also on him who rules. Therefore, the evils of
slavery can only be mitigated, or removed by obedience to the
requisitions of Divine revelations, on the part of masters and
servants. This is the only remedy. There is no other. Here is a great
principle of God's moral government of the world, which we should
never lose sight of. It is a principle of universal application. All
those evils that befal mankind in consequence of transgression, may be
mitigated, or removed, or otherwise the penalty may be averted, by
repentance and obedience to the requisitions of the Holy Bible.