The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1861-02-15

the very midst OF the alleged wickedness
and teach servants under the yoke' tina
they ought not to count their own master
worthy Of all honor-that liberty is thei
inalienable right-which they should main
tain, If necessary, even by the shedding o
blood. Now, it is not for me to decide who
of all these, are the truest to their owl
principles. It is not for me to decid
whether the man who breaches this doctrin,
in brave words, amid applauding multitude
in the City Of Brooklyn, or the one who, il
the stiffness of the night, and in the face o
the laws terrors, goes to practice tn,
preaching at Harper's Ferry, is the mos
consistent AbOlitionist, and the most heroic
man. 1t is not for me to decide which i.
the most important part of tree; and i
poisonous, which is the most injurious, the
root, or the branches, or the fruit. But
am here tonight, in God s name, and by his
help, to show that this tree of Abolitionism
is evil, and only evil-root and branch,
flower, and leaf, and fruit; that it springs
from, and is nourished by, an utter rejection
of the Scriptures; that it produces no real
benefit to the enslaved. and is the fruitful
source of division and strife, and infdelity,
in both Church and State. I have four dis.
tinct propositions on the subject to main.
tain-four theses to nail up over this pulpit
and defend with 1.-The word of God, which is
the sword of the Spirit
I.-Abolitionism has no foundation in the
Scriptures.
u.-1ts principles have been promulgated
chiefly by Misrepresentation and abuse.
III.-It leads, in multitudes of cases, and
by logical process, to utter infidelity.
IV.-It is the chief cause of the strife
that agitates, and the danger that threatens,
our country.
L-ABOLITIONIsM HAS NO FOUNDATION IN
SCRIPTURE.
Passing by the records of the patriarchial
age, and waving the question as to those
servants in Abraham's family who, in the
simple but expressive language of Scripture,
''were bought with his money" let us come
at once to the tribunal of that law which
Sinai. What said the law and the testi-
mony to that peculiar people over whom
God ruled, and for whose institutions He
has assumed the responsibility? The ans
wer is in the twenty-fifth chapter of Levitt
Gus, in these words
"And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee
be waxen poor and be sold unto thee, thou
shalt not compel him to serve as bond SER
want; but as hired servant and sojourner
he shall be with thee unto the year of jubi-
lee, and then shall he depart from thee,
both he and his children with him.
So far, you will observe, the law refers to
the children of Israel, who by reason Of
poverty were reduced to servitude. 1t was
their right to be free at the year of jubilee,
unless they chose to remain in perpetual
bondage; for which case provision is made
in other and distinct enactments. ~ But
not SO with slaves of foreign birth. There
was no year of jubilee provided for them. (c)
For what says the law? Read the forty
fourth to forty-sixth verses of the same chap
ter.
"Both thy bondmen and bondmaids which
thou shalt have shall be of the heather that
are round ABOUT you. Of them shall ye buy
bOndmen and bOndmaids Moreover, of the
children of the strangers that do sojourn
among you-of them shall we buy and of
their families that are with you, which they
beget in your land; and they shall be your
possession. And ye shall take them as an
for your children after you, to
inherit them a. possession, they shall be your
bondmen forever.
There it is, plainly written in the Divine
law. No legislative enactment, no statute
framed by legal skill, was ever more expli-
cit and incapable Of perversion. When the
AbOlitionist tells me that slaveholding is a
sin, in the simplicity of my faith in the Holy
point him to this sacred record,
and tell him, in all candor, as my text does,
that his teaching blasphemes the name of
dOte about questions and strifes of words,
appealing to the Declaration of Indepen.
dence, and asserting that the idea of prop
in ic ifvy T
still hold him to the record, saying, "Ye
shall take them as an inheritance for your
children after you, to inherit them for a
possession" When he WAKES warm, as he
always does, if his opponent quotes, Scrip
lures (Which is the great test to try the
spirits whether they be of God-the ve,y
great spear of Ithuriel to reveal their true
he gets angry, and begins
to pour out his evil surmisings and abuse
upon Shareholders, obey the precept which
says, ''from such withdraw myself" COM
forting myself with this thought-that the
wisdom of God is wiser than men, and the
kindness of God kinder than men. Phil
osophers may reason and reforrhers may rave
till doOmsday; they never can convince me
that God, in the Levitical law, or in any
other law, sanctioned sin; and as l know,
from the plain passage that l have quoted,
and many more like it, that he did sanction
among his ancient people, 1
know also by the logic of that faith which
believes the Bible to be His word, that slave
holding is not sin.
There are men, even among protesting
Christians, and not few ministers of the
gospel, who answer this argument from the
Old Testament Scriptures, by simple de-
NAL of their authority. They do not tell US
how God could ever or anywhere counten-
ance that which is morally wrong, but they
content themselves with saying that the
Levitical law is no rule of action for us; and
they appeal from its decisions to what they
consider the higher tribunal of the gospel.
(d) Let US, therefore, join issue with them
before the bar of the New Testament Scrip
lures. Here there is no lack of witnesses
in the case. 1t is historic truth, acknowl-
edged on all hands, that at the advent of
Jesus Christ slavery existed all over the
civilized world, and was intimately inter.
woven with it's social and civil institutions
In Judea, in Asia Minor, in Greece. in all
the countries where the Savior or his Apos-
ties preached the gospel, slaveholding was
just as common as it is to-day in South Caro-
lima. 1t is not alleged by any one, or, at
least, by any one having any pretentions to
scholarship or candor, that the Roman laws
regulating slavery were even as mild as the
very worst statutes which have been passed
upon the subject in modern times. 1t will
not be denied by any honest and well in.
formed man, that modern civilization and
the restraining influences of the gospel have
shed ameliorating influences upon the rela.
ton between master and slave, which were
utterly unknown at the advent of Christian
ity. And how did Jesus and his Apostles
treat this subject? Masters and slaves met
them at every step in their missionary work,
and were present in every audience to which
they preached. The Roman law, which gave
the full power of life and death into the
masters hand, was familiar to them; and
all the evils connected with the system sur.