The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1862-08-20
From the Con,,;,.,;,.

I to sustain slavery by arguments from the Bible.
| As Mr.. Kendall is endorsed BY the Democrat ss
man OF learning and ability, the article NAV
! from this consideration have more weight than
| its merits deserve. With your permission we
I will examine the arguments relied on to support
! the institution of Slavery from the Scriptures
The first we learn Of slavery in the Bible (says
Nr. kendalD Is the curse of Ham or Canaan BY
| Noah, Gen. tx, 90 "And he said cursed be
/ Canaan, servant of servants shall he be to his
! brethren" On this text the learned author re-
marks: Nov Noah wss selected by God to
I perpetuste the human race, and he was not pun
! ished or ceusured by his Maker for thus dooming
/ q portion of his race TO perpetual bondage"
The above is a sweeping assertion unsupported
by single particle Of proof It is sometimes
very inconvenient to prove assertions, and per-
haps it may be thought that the great learning
OF the author will atone for the want Of proof
We deny that anything in the text, or in the
subsequent history of the Csnaanites warrants
! the assertion that they were doomed to per.
| pctual bon lage." And if such we're the fact t
affords not particle of support to American
slavery.
Before II can be made 10 appear that the
above text gives any cou1teuance to the cor
rupt system of American Slavery, it will he ne
/ cessary to prove, beyond reasonable doubt, the
! following points, to-wit
|. That the term servant is Synonymous with
slave.
9 That the four million of slaves in the Uni
ted States are all the Descendants of Canaan
3. That every stakeholder in the United States
is a descendent from Shem or Jnpheth
4. That each descendent of hem nr Japheth
has right to reduce to DO dsge any descendent
of Canaan.
.. That every event God inspired men TO
make is evidence that the event predicted was
divinely appointed, and therefore right.
Now Mr.. Editor, no. one Of the above points
can be proved Take the first That servant
means save That system of servi.ude was
and is appreciated by God we admit But that
a system OF Slavery such as exists in the South
recognizing the right of property in human
flesh and blood we deny. Ii il slander upon
every attribute OF Jehovah, to say that he ap.
prohates the abominable system of slavery.
As to servitudc that has ever existed and will
continue to exist. The apprents is the servant
of his master The journeymau Of his employ
er. The lawyer of his client. The minister of
his congregation. If Iengage to labor for man
in any department of labor for stipulated
length OF time, am his servant for the time
agreed upon But no, his slave. But how as
to the scripture use OF the term. IL Is said
Gen. 1920. "And Jacob served seven years for
Rachel. But was he, Laban's slave liable to be
sold and separated forever from his wife, the
then does not necessarily mean slave. Hence
hr. Webster says, "every slave is servant, but
every servant s no a slave"
IL ia remarkable fact that the entire pro-
slavery argument from he Scriptures, is based
upon the groundless assumption that servant
means slave.
But we ask-2nd. Is it quite clear that the
four million of slaves in the United States are
all the descendants of Canaan Is it not essen.
tia fO hp mant hot 10 ha
the text referred to be Divine Warrant for en-
shaving the descendants of Canaan, will this
justify the enslaving of them that are not his
descendantse
Why has not some one 30 welded to the in
sttution of slavery, traced the line of descent
and settled this important link in the chain of
arguments?
Perhaps the decacy of the subject has deter.
mined them from the investigation. For what
ever other difficulties might be encountered in
the investigation of the subject, there is the Oh
vious one, patent to all that many of the slaves
are the immediate descendants of their mas
tiers. This is certainly very grave view of the
subject; Tor however it may be with Canaan's
descendants we look in vain to the 9th chapter
of Genesis for authority from God to Shem or
Japheth'to ensave their own offspring.
If the slaves of light hair, blue eyes, thin
lips, high foreheads are the descendants of Ca
naan so are their masters. Therefore If the
former should be doomed to perpetuate nvolun-
tary servitude so should the latter. DR.. Elliott
in his learned work on the snfulness of Ameri-
can slavery, says in regard to the curse of Ca
naan. We have NO ground to believe that the
curse respected any, particularly, than the pos
terity of Canaan" which is remote from the
great regions of Africa. We have particular
accounts that the sons of Canaan settled in the
land of Canaan, as may be seen from Gen. 10
1920. The posterity of Canaan settled the
land OF Canaan, and its neighboring countries.
Nor have we any account that any OF them set
tied ia Africa, except the Carthaginians. The
other sons of Ham. Mizraim and Cush, settled
in Africa. So that the negroes are the descen-
dents OF Cush, or the Ethiopians, and of Miz.
rain or the Egyptians
The history of Canasn's descendants, for more
than three thousand yenrs, records the fulfill
ment of the prophecy. First they were made
tributary to the lsraelitrs; then TO the Medes
aud Persaus then to the Macednnians, Gre
cians and Romans, suCcessively, and tihally TO
the Ottoman dynasty, where they remain. The
doom did not refer to individual slavery, but TO
national subecton. There we're so few of the
poSterity of Canaan reduced to individual slav-
cry, that we Can not reasonably suppose that tc
be the kind of servi ude predicted. Indeed, it
appears from sacred history that fewer of the
descendants of Canaan than those of Shem we're
reduced TO individual servitude. People who
are suhjugated and made tributary, must labor
ir order to pay tribute, and therefore are the
servants of their conquerors. This kind of SER
vitude the Canaanites endured to n great eG-
tent. This is evidently the kind Of servitude
particularly predicted in Noahs curse and our
kind OF ser7irude is not found in this ancient
prediction The Israelites were not command.
ed, not even permitted, to eDsave the Canaan
ties, but 10 eXterminste the national existence,
The curse, then had no reference to the inhabit-
ants OF Guinea, Africa in general, the great
slave macs of European and American Chris
tians.
Again Another poiut necessary to be proved
before the stakeholder (or his apoogist) can
lind any justification from Gen 9-25 is this
viz That they are the descendants of Shem
and Japheth, and that each of the descendants
of Shem and Japheth has moral right to re-
duce TO bondage any individual OF Canaan = des-
ceudents. Can this be provedY If so does it
not follow that the master and slave are first
cOusinsY But suppose all the above absurd and
untenable positions could be proved, still an
Other remains. That the prediction Of an act
or an event on the part of Jehovah is an ap-
proVal Of il. Ler us look at this 10 the light Of
the scriptures, God foretod to Abraham, "Thy
seed shall be a stranger in land that is not
theirs, and they shalt aftlict them four hundred
years." Gen. 1913
Will it be claimed that God appreciated the
tyranny and expressions of Pharao? The pre-
dicton was not the cause of the oppression, but
the injustice and sinulness of Pharoah and the
Egyptians was the cause of it? IL was predict
ed that Jesus would be crucihed. But was the
prediction the cause OF il? No. II was the de-
prsvity and wckedness of the Jews that caused
IL?
II therefore it could be proved that the slaves
of the South are the descendants of Canaan,
aud suffering under the curse, this no more jus.
ti6es Save holders, than the predictions. That
Jesus could be denied by Peter, betrayed into
the hands of his enemies by one of his deciples,
or that he would be crucifed by his prosecutors,
justlhes any or all Of the atrocous crimes.
So much for the Bible argument in support
Of Slavery deduced from the curse of Ca
naAn. Il affords no support 10 the system, and
yet il ia fair specimen of the Bible arguments