Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1861-02-12

1 tnN 1cANl kNaefaAly gilc4 IN GEetAs tS ClNN
Fulsn who caFtaialy cid not claiEa the Tight
OF proPerty In thsiE sab leeta, and still farther
iiy meaning inlIt iiinlied by The other pafs
y Ia tbs relation, called Doplos,a term whicE
rom is general spplicationin the New Teslaz
meat must signify stats Of involuntary ssrss
ifuds Thus PAnl''ealt himself again and sgsln
che SdoelOs oF ths servant Of Jesus Christ.
But ID direct opposi ition TO the pro-slAvory
Interpretation ot this passage we object lst,
That this view would place Il in. entire con-
tlict With ihe splrit and tenor of Revelation,
which according 70 our Lefd's exposition Is
this e WhAtsovsf yeWould that Iaah should
do 70 you do ye even 90 % them, and again
Thou shalt love thy neighbOr e thysSlfp--
On these fundamental principles % Az as our
duty 70 man Is concerned, hang al the law
4ad the prophets Noohe, We think, will pie.
tend 70 cay, that slavery harmoRiass with this
We object again that We hEye noeTidence
either in this or any other passage Of the NeW
Testament, we say the New testament boz
cause Se are speaking df 1t, the same will be
found 70 be true Of the Old, we have ne ey-
idehce of the existence Of 0neor two Of what
may be termed the essential features Ipf sla-
very purchase, and sale, and trensmission by
legacy TO posterity, These ere not only es@
seatiai bat gfieviOua features 0f slavery. and
we can hardly suppose the Apostle To have
overlooked them had be bsen addressing slave
holders aud slaves, and the R5ssnce Of any
reference 10 these In any part 9f the Apos-
tolic writings must be viewed as an alnostin
tallible proof that whatever be the relation Of
master and servant here, it was voluntary,
and did not descend to their children. We
object agRiny that she very character Of
slavery 10 thai dsy precludes the idea that
this OF any other passage Of scripture could
sanction il Here let me Introduce one or
two sentences from Poteer's Grecian Antiqui-
ties which describe Il, They were wholly
| (he saysl at the command Of their masters 70.
De employed as they saw conVenient, in the
worst and most wretehed drudg cries; to be
pinchad, starved, beaten, in most places with
on any appeal, and to be Punished even with
death; and again; that they 'Vers'in the habit
Of instilling into them q mean opinion Of
themselves, debasing their nature and eXtin-
gushing in them as much as possible all
sparks Of gensrosity and manhood, 10 short,
% use them almost II the same manner, nay,
sometimes worse than We do brute animals
Add to this that instead of marriage there
was nothing among slaves bat Wholesale
system of concubinagS, and can we row for
moment suppose the Ap5stle has defled the
pure pages OF Divine Revelation even With a
quasi appreciation. Of a system so cruel, degfad
lng and impure. Weohiect again 70 such an
Hterpretation that slaves could not have
been members of the church they could not
have attended It's meetings, they could not
have assisted il its beneEolent enterprises,
nor could they have exenlpli6ed almost any
Of its wholesome instructions. There was
then no Sabbath established by Law, no
marriage among them, no public sentiment
o sustain any Of the Christian institutions
/ II then, slaves were members Of the church,
they must have been allowed to work on the
/ sabbath live in the neglect of marriage,
and to do any ether unchristian act at the
will Of their master. Whatever might be
he effect Of this now, that christianity Is
I better understood, such license, even among
;laVes then, would certainly have been fatal
to the purity Of the church then and ever
after. We object again, TO such an interpret
stions that slavsry Is at best but a money
interest, as much so as a banking institution
or railroad corporation, or any other Of the
| thousand merely secular concerns Of men
Vow if it were even in ITSELF right, could we
suppose that the Bible, freightsd with su
pretne regard to man higher destiny, should
slip down from its high position to become
the charter Of a mere worldly interest, and
from its broad character AS the universal
friend of man, TO become the advocate OF .
limited class interest and that class proVerb.
ial for its aristocracy and disregard Of the
interests of other men -1 gus.
So far we have proceeded on the suppOsi-
tion that slavery existed at the time in al
those places to which the epistles Of the New
Testament were addressed IA supposition
which. it it can be shown to be false, will
leave the pro-slavery interpretation OF this
passage without the shadow Of foundation.-
It has been affirmed by those who have sI-
amined this subject extensively y--and 1 believe
never been successfully denied-that while
slavery prevailed extensively in the Roman
and Grecian states in Europe, no evidence
can be adduced of its existence in any part
Of Asis Minor, and this position is strength
| ened by reference to the epistles themselves
In the epistle 10 the Romans, where one in
iividuAl held slaves 10 the number of thous-
ands and in the epistles to the Corinthians.
whose slave population was reckOned to
amount to FIVE hundred thousand; and in the
.pistles to the PHILIPPIANS and Thesialouians,
both Of them, doubtless. large slaEeboldidg
,iistricts--in word, in none of the epistles
addressed to churches in Europe where sls .
very is conceded to have existed, though they
are far the most lengthy of the spistles, is
there the least attempt to regulate the Fela-
ton of master and servant; but in the epistle
to the Ephesians and to the Oolossaus, and
in Peters address 10 the strangers scattered
throughout Pontus, Galatia, CspadOcis, Asia
and Bithynia--all places located in Asia
Minor-and in Timothy aRd Titus, whose
labors, at least at the time their epitles were
addressed to them, were confined 10 Ephesus
and Crete, the one aprominept city of Asia
Minor and the other an adjacent Island; in
these epistles alOre do we End any attempt
TO regulate this relation Let those who
plead that slavery existed in all these places
70 which the epistles were addressed, account
| for this marked distinction. Is it not the
most reasonable conclusion, that IN the Euro
pean epistles addressed to churches where
slavery existed, no sttempt Is made to regu-
ate the sinful relation but in thoss addressed
to the churches In Asia Minor, where slavery
! did not exist, but where servant and master
stood in the laRfnl relation Of Employer and
Employed, this relation could properly re-
ceive the Divine sanction7 This distinction
of free and slave districts, so near to each
other and even under the same government,
ought not to sppear strange 70 rs who have
been accustomed to sec slavery and freedom
separated completely By the marrow bounds of
a geographical line. u"
! One thing mora We must state before
we leave this part Of the subject: thar
if this passage sanctions slavery d al, it is
white slavery, for none pther so far as we are
aware, existed at that day. The slaves of the
Greeks AMI Romans were white men and
white women be much as their masters
l When listening to the attempts of ProslaYe-
/ ry divines TO prove that the Bible teaches
slavery, we are accustomed By an Illusion Of
| logic to suppose that i IS African slavery Of
which they are speaking, and lt is this alone
that shields them from the Just Indignation
Of an outraged humanity. BUTT Is not so !;
they are sndeaEoring to prove Che enslave-