PRO-SLAVERY PERVERSIONS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. Examination of Ex. xii. 43, 45, xx. 17, xxi. 2-6, 7, 11, 20, 21; Examination of Matt. xviii. 23, 25, xxii. 27; Rom. xiii. 1–7 ; CHAPTER XVIII. PRO-SLAVERY PERVERSIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. Examination of Eph. vi. 5-9; Col. iii. 22-25, iv. 1; Titus ii. 9, 10; 1 Tim. vi. 1; 1 Pet. ii. 18-20. CHAPTER XIX. PRO-SLAVERY PERVERSIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. Examination of the Epistle to Philemon. CHAPTER XX. CONCLUSION-REFLECTIONS. PAGE 73 77 A CONDENSED ANTI-SLAVERY BIBLE ARGUMENT. INTRODUCTION. THE belief was long nearly universal, and is yet very gene. ral throughout the Christian world, that the Scriptures do, to some extent, justify human slavery, as practised in this country. The object of the following chapters is to controvert this belief, and to prove that it is false and heretical, as well as dangerous and destructive to human happiness; that this belief is founded entirely on perversions of the true meaning of certain passages in the Scriptures, and is entirely contrary to the spirit of the divine volume, the letter of which condemns the practice with as much severity as it did that of any other crime. The following argument is presented for the calm and prayerful consideration of all Christians, both in the North and in the South. The time has come when (as a learned writer justly remarks*), " neither the evidences of the Gospel, nor the solemnities of religion; neither the constitution of the church, nor the rights of its members; neither the divine right of bishops, nor the value of holy orders; neither the spirituality of the soul, nor the materiality of the body, can escape the ordeal of free and full discussion. Shall we, then, think it strange that American slavery, with all its influences on the moral and political destinies of this great and mighty nation, shall, by the spontaneous concession of the whole civilized world, be allowed to escape inquiry, or be exempt from appearing in the presence of this august and powerful tribunal of FREE DISCUSSION? It cannot be imagined. Come it must, and come it will; and we may as well be prepared for it soon as late." *Millennial Harbinger, vol. ii., § 3, p. 50. |