, 1857-05-22
Slavery in our SaviOur's Day.

Abolition being set down by some as
! thc christians mission in this, onr day, and
as about his Oniy mission, it becomes often
necessary to recall the fact that slavery Of
the worst sort existed in the Roman En-.
pire in our Sayioar's day, and that he no.
where preached abolition" nor civil nor
servile war; but on the contrary, ser
wants obey your masters" We do not
mean to say our Saviour loved or defended
slavery, for we have no revelation or rca-
son to say so, and, perhaps, reasons to say
the very reverse but we do mean to say,
christianity in his day consisted in render.
ing to Caesar the things that were Caesars,
and letting civil and servile institutions
alone.
When Christ was on earth, He rebuked
Gin of all classes and kinds, and dared to
rebuke the Jewish Priest in his temple, or
titled Roman Gentle, if they were guilty
Of sin slavery was all about Him, neither
He nor His apostles ever preached an abo-
liton sermon. The slavery Christ saw
daily was that under which a master could
sell a slave, work him as many hours as he
pleased, or put him 10 DEATH A Roman
slave could not contract marriage His
cohabitation with woman was cOntuJer-
MUM, and no legal relation between him
and children was recognized. A Roman
slave could not have property. A runa-
way slave could not be lawfully received or
harbored to conceal him was furrun
The master was entitled to pursue him
wherever he pleased, and it was the duty
of all authorities to give him aid in recov-
ering the slave. A person became a slave
by capture in war. .....
A free woman WHO co-habited with a
slave, might be reduced to slavery. The
immense number Of prisoners taken in the
constant wars of the Roman Republic, and
the increase Of wealth and luxury In the
Roman Republic, in Christ's day, augment
ed the number of slaves to prodigious
extent Very many Romans possessed
10 900 and 10000 slaves. A freed man,
under Augustus, who had lost much prop
erty in the civil wars, left nt his death
4,ll6 slaves. The games of tho amphi-
theatre required an immense number Of
slaves. The gladiators in Italy ibefore
Christ, 73) rose under Spartacus, and we're
not defeated by the Romans till $4,000
slaves were said to have fallen in battle.
Slave dealers usually accompanied an army,
and frequently after a great battle had
been gained, many thousands were sold at
once at very cheap rates. 1ti
In the midst of this system of slavery
was the Christian era inaugurated. Christ
preached principles which 'subVerted the
atrocities Of slavery-as Of every other
system of government, OF life-but aboli-
tionism was not bis mission. Christians in
the Apostles day owned slaves, and con-
sidered it no crime to own them. What
we mean to infer from these facts is-that
if slavery was the sin and crime the aboli-
tionists Of this dag say It is-Christ saw Il
in worse point Of view, and never preach
cd an abolition sermon against it--never
warred upon the government that recog-
nzed and supported it-but on the con-
trary, taught obedience to that govern
ment. His mission was to bring sinners
to repentance, not to concentrate all mems
minds upon the abolition Of slavery, nor to
divide society, or a country, only upon that
issue. I,r....s .... ....,-...r ... ..-.
If we could only impress upon our Abo-
ltion preachers Of what they call the
Gospel" the example OF Christ when on
earth in the midst Of Roman savery-in
itself indefensible. because of its atrocities
we might, perhaps, make them useful in
melorating African slavery in the United
States The early christian writers, after
Christ's day, inculcated the duty-not Of
abolition, but Of acting toward slaves as
masters in their condition would be acted
by--and thus they did much toward pro-
noting the ultimate extinction of slavery,
or in the end Of merging slaves into the
adScript gLebde, or serfs Of the middle ages
If our Northern Abolitionists would obly
reason with, instead of cursing our South
ern countrymen, the rights and duties of
slaves, husband and wife, might be legally
established in our Southern States-divis-
ions Of families under executions might be
done away with, and system of education
be insttuted-but their railing and eursiNg
for twenty years have only strengthened
slavery in the United States and drawn
tighter the bonds of the master over the
slave. Suppose, then, our Abolition Tbeo-
logians should spend q month or two in
studying the system Of slavery Christ and
his Apostles saw on earth, when they
preached servants obey your masters -
and "render unto Cesar the things that
are Cesar's and when they returned
fugitive slaves, as in the case of 0nesimus,
Tney have tried the earsing, now, for a
quarter Of century, and it has done no
good. Suppose, now, they try the chris
tan creed of Love one another" =" Do
unto others as you would have others do
unto you" etc and there is no knowing
but that you may conquer the world, as
Christ did.