The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1863-05-30

s.m. Last - erAs On 1yAsssy AAA an .
CharcA. gtz
From the caihoie Telegraph, Nay Isl
We Ma mol intesdsd 70 do more thsn
place hsslors bur readers the reasons Why
we MoHid not encourage Che restoration OF
Slavery, when we FIRST introduced the
Question, bdt Ne have been compelled, IN
self.defense, to enter moro fully on the
subject thar, We had intended In truth,
when ve began the discussion We had no
aderuate idea OF the immense and most
perssysriag efforts made by the Church
for the suppression Of domestic Slavery
We find the memorials OF her action on
this. subject in every century, and accu-
mulating Is we read.
The Church began the CREST work by
asserting, with the holy Scriptures, the
equality Of men before God, and the uni
ty Of the human race. Such was the
degradation Of the slave, and 80 thorough
was hjsmmd debassd. hke those Of the
presens day, that the Church began the
great work At the lowest point, and gradu-
ally elevated the recipients of het divine
charity, unth they were reinstatsd in an
theif natural liberty. Before this was nc
complished she had to preach patience.
SUBMISSION, endurance under griesous
oppression /; but this does not prove that
she favored Shvery, or even held II in
any other respect than detestatioT.l Spar
ticus, before Christ, called on the slaves
to "rise and revenge themselves" 1t was
the suggestion Of human passion; but
one afset Christ--Pe,er--says, "b!essed
are the poor, for they shall be comforted.'"
From this moment the work began. The
poor had the gospel presohsd % thsms-
Women resisted the brutal passions of
their masters in The name Of Christ, ~
ST. Poatamiana; other slaves gained by
the same blow, freedom, dsalh and
heaven. The slaves victorinus, Nervous
and Achilleus, whose names ere heard 1t
the altar in the offering of the holy sacrii-
Zee tb'fhis day, were martyrs. AsfcFsfhe
third century. says Noehler, servituae in
ChristiaSsGaMilies was completely tfans-
form6ds ylAstl1s "Ack Of The Martyrs
we Rod II Hasnss, the Project II Rome,
afterwsrd martyr, converted ny the
fifth SUCCESSOR Of Sc. Peter, bringing With
his fanil5 twelve hundred and fifth sinves
to be baptized--all Of whom b. feed
Chromacius, another Roman Project. re-
storing to liberty, after baptism BY o..
Sebastian; fourteen hundred slaves. ex-
claiming-.hose wAo begin 10 be children
of God should ~ longer be stauas Of
men. These are oaly few instances out
of thousands.
st. Plato and St. Theodore of the East
ern Church, says Cochin, imposed this
principle on their monasteries-"Yo on
should never employ slaves, either for
personal service or for conventual affairs,
or for the cultivation of the, land; the
siape rs a man created in ne image of
Godsr In, the West the Council OF
Epoam in SIT was forced to impose .
limit on the zeal Of the monks Tor the
abolition Of slavery in their converts, in
order not to risk becoming absorbed in An
exclusive work. St. Benedict would not
suffer slave to serve in his convents,
and if presented with one he set him at
liberty. From the third to the twelfth
century thirty seven councils are, cited BY
Blakey in his work on the temporal bene-
fit of Christianity. who rendered deci-
sions in favor Of slaves; and SO well
were they treated on the ecclesiastisal
domains, says Cochin in his treatiae ar
Christianity and Slavery, that il g,vs
rise to the German proverb "Unter deu
Krummstable list gut "a wohnen' '-it 1,
good to live xndey the croxiSr.
St. George the Great 10 his letter II
Maximiam, Bishop Of Syracuse, uses THU
language. (Bock 3, Lett. Isl
81 hear Of much evil committed in thil
province, that bslive, may God aver
the presags, that it, sins ere long vii
lead 10 its destruction. The bearer O
these letters came to me in tears 70 com
plain that, several years ago . man Of tn
Church of Messina had caused him to b.
bsptissd and marry ono Of his slaves, b,
whom lie had children. and that new b,
has violently separated this woman from
him and sold her to another. If this b,
true, Gays the holy Pope il Is : orae
and unheard 81 crime; 1--WE, therefore
enjoin it upon you to snaksa thorough in
vsstigation Of this great and heinous 81
fense," &c.
Had St. Gregory Lived ia. ons days, b
would no, have used tho words .sgrea
and unheard Of crime"-lor the infamou
scandal was almost universal throughou
the slave States before the decline Of tn
institstson.
St.AAassln LIB 1, Cap. XXvII), in
tsrdicted the traffic In slaves in th
twelftAssnsary. "Ne quis illud netari
am NegotiHm quo hactenus ia Anbfai &c
isbant homines sicut bruta animalia Va
numdary deinceps ulla tenus prasrmat.
The Civil Code Of LeuisIsna contain
the following article, number l82:
"Slaves cannot marry withAnA the CON
SAINT Of their masters, and their marriage
do ~ produce any Of tie civil effect
rhicA result from such contract"
- not haf. pioas law for . Chfistia,
State to adopt What 4 conscientiou
and learned Catholic he must be, VIII
maintains that the Church of God cal
encourage . system which promulsste
such law ~ that, and ssts the To,
Commandments 1t defiance 7 No wonde
Catholic Bishop, writing to the 6ociet,
Tor tne Propagation Of the Faith il
fnncei : Aw years ago. uses this Ian
guage !
sThe negross are TO me the subject
the saddeSt reflection and the most pain
al an - THAI E,xv,, ~>>,l- a.G ~