The Placer herald., 1863-06-27
From the "Old Guard."l
Political Preachers VS.. Christ and the
Apostles.


to my letter published in the New York Express
of December 9Th. did not expect you would
You could not vindicate your present bloody and
inhuman attitude before the country, without as
sailing the Word Of God and falsiiying the apos-
tolic history of the Church. If the spirit Of
charity, forgiveness, and Of non,resstant peace
preached by james, was of God, then it is evi.
dent that your savage war-cres, your impacabe
resistance Of evil to evil is OF the Devil You
perceive, Gentlemen, whose children you are not;
and, by Implication, whose children you are.
The kind Of Gospel you preach goes out like the
Scythan AGrs, on n poisoned arrow. You
have set men on to fight about negroes You
people to fall down before it. Do you remember
that Pope once asked this question: "What must
be the priest, where the monkey is god?" You
have turned the world upside down, and shouted
In delirous glee to see your country plunged into
gulf of death. Then you have dared to lift up
your bloody hands in prayer to Heaven. You
have raved about liberty of negroes, while ap.
plauding the destruction of white men, Forgive
me II am reminded OF what Macauley says Of
George Fox with an intellect the most unhap.
py OF all states; that is to say, too much disor-
dered for liberty, and not sufficiently disordered
for bedlam"
In my first letter, pointed out your wide de-
parture from the spirit of the gospel of peace"
in bringing on this horrid war. In this one
wish to show you that you set yourselves up to
be reiormers OF the teachings of Jesus Christ
ou declare that to be sin which the Savior
never pronou ced to be so; and you are willing
to deluge the land with blood to push forward
your slupendous assumption. Where, Gentle
men, do the Christian Scriptures pronounce
slave-holdinga sin? Point to single text. At
the advent OF Christ, slavery existed all over the
civilized world The Roman Empire was at the
zenith Of its civilization and power. 1t had
sixty millions of slaves 1t was not IN unusual
thlng Tor one man to own ten thousand or even
twenty thousand slaves. History informs US that
Seaurus had four thousand domestics, and Us
many rural slaves. 1t WAS fashionable for man
to go abroad surrounded by his slaves, rs gen
eral is by his army Horace made this custom
the subject OF one of his Sltres. From the
days OF Augustus TO that of Justinian, there were
in Italy twenty millions Of slaves to six millions
OF ireemen These slaves were acquired 10y war;
ny commerce, or 10y purchase, and by being born
in state of Slavery. Such was the extent of
slavery in the Roman En- pire, when Jesus and his
apostles preached the gospel over its wide domain.
At the same time, there were in Greece four
slaves to one freeman. The city OF Corinth, in
which the Apostle Paul founded church Of be-
LEVERS was the chief slave mart for Greece, and,
IN consequence OF its communication with Brun
dusium and other ports on the eastern side of
Italy, of Rome also. TimGus asserts that Cor
inh. ut one time. had four hundred and sixty
thousand slaves.
Though Christ and his apostles were thus sur
rounded by shareholders, they never once de-
nounced the institution rs IL sin. While they
protessed to teach all godiiness and to denounce
al sin, they never inlmlted that the institution
OF slavery WAS what you Gentlemen call it
"the sum of all vllainies." Both Jesus and his
apostles denounced idOiatry, the State religion
of imperial Rome though it was as much inter
woven with all the interests Of the State as slave
ry, which shows that they did not hold their
n intI mi DAFT
Even yon, Gentlemen. are not deluded enough to
pretend that the Son OF Man was restrained by
motives Of policy or fear from denouncing slave
holding. if he had believed it u sin. 1t is certain
Gentlemen. that if you had been there, with
your present opiEions, you would have raised
sucn storm about the ears OF the imperial slave
holders. as would have made Rome howl again"
What! will you say that Jesus Christ refused to
denouncc asn? Did he come to pronounce the
whole counsel of God, and then fail in his mission
so fatally as to leave wide spread and damn
ing wrong unrebuked? You will not deny that
IN almost every Instance, where the word servant
occurs in the New Testament means IL slape-.a
miln held rs the property of another. When
se'uant does not mean sldue, it is usually con-
ncctcd with an adjective which shows its signif-
caiion-as, hirrd seruamt; the Greek word is
m,sfhOiS, which means one hired But the word
translated seruanf is doulos, which you,
Gentlemen will not deny means II siaue-one
every man Christ met, during his earthly mission
was either STAKEHOLDER or u slave. never once
did he Intimate a dsapprobation of such u rell-
tion. Aud it is certain that he never taught his
disciples to condemn Shareholders and slavehold-
ing. The teaching of the apostles is evidence OF
that, for they directly command slaves to be
"obedent" to their masters. For example,
Ephcsians vi. 5-"Servants, (doulos) be obedent
to them that are your masters" Titus ii. 9
"EXhort servants (dOuios) to be obedent unto
their own masters" l Timothy vi. Let as
many servants (dOuios) as are under the yoke
count their own masters worthy of all honor
that the name Of God and his doctrine MAY not
he blasphemed." The eminent Scotch divine
and commentator, Mcknight, explaining this
text, says:
Because the law of Moses allowed no Israel
itc to be made slave for life without his own
consent, the Judaizing teachers, to allure slaves
to their own party. taught that under the gospel
likewise, Involuntary slavery is unlawful. This
doctrine the apostle condemned here, as in his
other Epistles. by enjoining Christian slaves 10
honor and obey their masters, whether they were
believers or unbelievers and by assuring Timo-
thy that if any person taught otherwise, he
oppos d The wholesome precept OF Jesus Christ,
and the doctrine of the gospel, which in all
points is cOnlormable to godlness or sound moral
ity, and was puffed up with pride, without pos
sessing any true knowledge either OF Jewish or
Christian revelation"
Ministers OF your principles and behavior,
Gentlemen, certainly fare roughly at the hands
OF your own standard commentator, Mcknight.
But not more roughly than at the hands OF the
apostle who declares that 1.-THE name of God is
blsphemed" by all who teach slaves insubordina-
tion to their mast RS.
Read Whtby's comment on the same texts
"Let as many masters MS are under the yoke
(of bondage to the heathen) count their own
masters worthy o. all (due) honor, that the name
OF God and his doctrine be not blasphemed, or
evu spoken Of. as tending to dissoiue those evil
obligations, but rather honored in all estates Of
men, as tending to make them better in their
several re/dti0ns."
Gentlemen, it is not much comfort that preach
ers OF your conduct Can find in the writings of
the great Christian commentators - of men OF
learning and piety of all denominations. And
the Scripture is still more against you. The
New Testament commands the slave to obey, and
exhorts the master to he kind. In this the recog-
nlzed lawuness OF the relation is established.
Have you forgotten what an exalted commitment