Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1861-01-31
The gib1e and Slarery,
For the Yorkville Enquirer.

Que g1ble aaa SMpRfgg.
For the Yorkvlle Enquirer.
ARGUMENTS FOR SLAVERY.
SLAVERY EXISTED IN A PECULIAR FORM
IN APOSTOLIC TIMEs-wAs UNIVERSAL
hY OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES AND REG
ULATED BUT NOT CONDEMNED IN THE
NEW TEsTAMENT-AN IMPLICIT SANG
rIoN GIVEN BY INSPIRED WRITERS NOT
TO THE ABUSES, BUT TO THE FACT AND
RELATION OF sLAvERY-AN ARRAY OF
ILLUSTRATIVE FACTS GIVEN FROM THE
NEW TESTAMENT.
6. In the development of the Biblical
argument, we are now brought to consid-
eraeion of the attitude and treatment of
slavery in the New Testament.
] The fact of the existence of slavery, in
the times of our Saviour and the Apostles,
is known and admitted by every reader Of
profane history. Tacitus and other histo-
rians, inform us that when Vespacian's
army was at Cesarea, twenty.six miles from
Jerusalem, Simon, the son of Gorias, in
order to increase his party against John and
Eleazer in Jerusalem, resorted to a strata
gem, promising liberty to aNthe slaves that
would rally to his standard, and he was i'm
mediately surrounded by about t,oenty thous-
and slaves.
Here vas slavery among the Jews.
Gibbon tells us that in the reign ofClau-
dius, the contemporary of the Apostles, the
Roman Empire had sirty millions Of slaoes
and but t,oenty:tour millions Of free citi-
sens. Thus, with population of freemen
nearly, or about equal to that of the (late)
United States, it had fifteen times as many
slaves as are in this country. In Athens,
during the Governorship Of Demetrius,
there were four hundred thousand slaves,
and but t,oenty-one thousand free citizens;
and in Lacedemonia, and all over Greece,
the proportion of slaves to those who were
free, was greater than at Athens. The fol-
lowing extract from responsible source,
being New England Professor of Theol-
ogy, gives an idea of. the stringeDcy and
cruelty of the slave laws of that period
First-the master had the power of life and
death over the slave. Secondly-slaves
were not permitted to marry. Thirdly
they were permitted to hold no property of
their own; whatever they acquired being
the property of their masters. Fourthly-
they were exposed to the most unrelenting
barbarity, being perfectly unprotected by
law, and left entirely in the power of their
owners They were liable to everykind of
torture, and cruel masters sometimes kept
on their estates tormeutors by profession,
for the purpose Of furnishing their slaves.
Burning alive wss sometimes resorted to,
and cruci6xion was frequently made the fate
of slave for triAing misconduct or from
mere caprice. In fine, a slave was consid-
cred in no other light than as a representa-
tive of so much value; hence it is not woD.
derful that there should be slaves in order
to make food for fish, or that the question
should arise whether in storm, man
should sacrifice valuable horse, or less
valuable slave"
Regarding it as incontrovertibly certain,
that Christ and His Apostles were familiar
with these prominent facts connected with
slavery, which they encountered wherever
they went, it is evident that they did not
lack occasion to speak in some way of the
relation of master and slave, which they
saw fraught with abuses on every hand
As they enjoyed, at every point, the hosp
tality of slaveholders-lived and labored,
and founded the Christian Church in the
midst of slaveholding communities, they
had frequent opportunities for impartiug
such instructions upon the subject as would
set the institution of slavery in its proper
light, before the Church and the world.
The verdict that they passed upon the
system of slavery then existing, all might
readily consent to make q test of all simi-
lar systems. The inquiry is at once then
eagerly pressed, did Christ and His Apos.
ties speak at all of slavery? and, if so, did
they condemn it or sanction it 4? or, in other
words, how did they treat it viewed as so.
cial relation? That they did speak of it,
on many occasions, no reader of the New
Testament has ever doubted. That it did
not receive definite and explicit precep.
tive condemnation at their hands, is admit
ted by even the opponents of slavery. DR..
Wayland, an Ajax in the ranks of Aboli-
tionism, confesses that 'sit must be granted
that the New Testament contains no pre-
cept prohibitory of slavery" On the other
hand, we think it is evident, from the con-
duct and teachings of the Saviour and His
Apostles, that the relation of master aud
slave receives an implicit sanction in the
New Testament; but in this avowal, we
are far from endorsing the idea that the
aliases of the system, received either sane
ton or favor from the pen of inspiration.
This position can be best illustrated by ar
ranging the facts upon the subjectiu groups
l. The Saviour commends the Centurion
for his remarkable humility and faith and
healing his slave, thus both approves and
perpetuates the relation that bound master
aud slave. Mat 8: 6-13; Luke 7:1-
IN tt il certain too that this same rela