“_Barnes on Slavery. An Inquiry into the Scriptural Views of
Slavery._” By ALBERT BARNES. _Philadelphia_, 1846.
In his fourth chapter, on the slavery of the Israelites in Egypt, Rev.
Mr. Barnes says—
“The will of God may often be learned from the events of his providence.
From his dealings with an individual, a class of men or a nation, we may
ascertain whether the course which has been pursued was agreeable to his
will. It is not, indeed, always safe to argue that, because calamities
come upon an individual, they are sent as a punishment on account of any
peculiarly aggravated sin, or that these calamities prove that he is a
greater sinner than others;—but when a certain course of conduct
_always_ tends to certain results—when there are laws in operation in
the moral world as fixed as in the natural world—and when there are,
uniformly, either direct or indirect interpositions of Providence in
regard to any existing institutions, it is not unsafe to infer from
these what is the Divine will. It is not unsafe, for illustration, to
argue, from the uniform effects of intemperance, in regard to the will
of God. These effects occur in every age of the world, in reference to
every class of men. There are no exceptions in favour of kings or
philosophers; of the inhabitants of any particular climate or region of
country; of either sex, or of any age. The poverty and babbling, and
redness of eyes, and disease, engendered by intemperance, may be
regarded without danger of error, as expressive of the will of God in
reference to that habit. They show that there has been a violation of a
great law of our nature, ordained for our good, and that such a
violation must always incur the frown of the great Governor of the
world. The revelation of the mind of God, in such a case, is not less
clear than were the annunciations of his will on Sinai.
“The same is true in regard to cities and nations. We need be in as
little danger, in general, in arguing from what occurs to them, as in
the case of an individual. There is now no doubt among men why the old
world was destroyed by a flood; why Sodom and Gomorrah were consumed;
why Tyre, Nineveh, Babylon, and Jerusalem were overthrown. If a certain
course of conduct, long pursued and in a great variety of circumstances,
leads uniformly to health, happiness, and property, we are in little
danger of inferring that it is in accordance with the will of God. If it
lead to poverty and tears, we are in as little danger of error in
inferring that it is a violation of some great law which God has
ordained for the good of man. If an institution among men is always
followed by certain results; if we find them in all climes, and under
all forms of government, and in every stage of society, it is not unsafe
to draw an inference from these facts on the question whether God
regards the institution as a good one, and one which he designs shall be
perpetuated for the good of society.
“It would be easy to make an application of these undeniable principles
to the subject of slavery. The inquiry would be, whether, in certain
results, always found to accompany slavery, and now developing
themselves in our own country, there are no clear indications of what is
the will of God.”
We subscribe to the doctrine that God often reveals his will concerning
a thing by the acts of his providence affecting it. But we contend that
God has extended the field of Christian vision by a more direct
revelation, and by the gift of faith; and that the mind which can
neither hear the revelation, nor feel the faith, is merely the mind of a
philosopher, not of a Christian: he may be a believer in a God, but not
in the Saviour of the world.
The direction contained in the foregoing quotation, by which we are to
discriminate what are the will and law of God, may be considered, when
presented by the mere teacher of abolition, among the most artful,
because among the most insidious, specimens of abolition logic. It is
artful, because, to the unschooled, it presents all that may seem
necessary in the foundation of a sound system of theology; and, further,
because every bias of the human heart is predisposed to receive it as an
entire platform of doctrine. It is insidious and dangerous, because,
although the mind acquiesces in its _truth_, yet it is _false_ when
proposed as the lone and full foundation of religious belief. On such
secret and hidden rocks, infidelity has ever established her _lights_,
her _beacons_ to the benighted voyager; and, in their surrounding seas,
the shallops of hell have for ever been the most successful wreckers, in
gathering up multitudes of the lost, to be established as faithful
subjects of the kingdom of darkness.
The religious fanatical theorists of this order of abolition writers
have further only to establish their doctrine about the “conscience,”
“inward light,” or “moral sense,”—that it is a distinct mental power,
infallibly teaching what is right, intuitively spreading all truth
before them,—and they will then succeed to qualify man, a being fit to
govern the universe, and successfully carry on a war against God!
The man thus prepared, if an abolitionist, reasons: “My conscience or
moral sense teaches me infallible truth; therefore, my conscience is
above all law, or is a ‘higher law’ than the law of the land. My
conscience, feelings, and sympathies all teach me that slavery is wrong.
Thus I have been educated. My conscience or moral sense teaches me what
are the laws of God, without _possible mistake_; and according to their
teaching, slavery is forbidden.”
In short, he thinks so; and, therefore, it is so. He “is wiser in his
own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.”
But we proceed to notice how the doctrine of the author most distinctly
agrees with the precepts of infidelity.
“The deist derives his religion by inference from what he supposes
discoverable of the will and attributes of God, from nature, and the
course of the Divine government.”_Watson’s Theo. Inst._ vol. ii. p. 542.
This learned theologian differs widely from Mr. Barnes. When treating of
slavery, Watson frankly admits that we are indebted to direct revelation
for our knowledge on the subject.