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THE
CHEISTIAI DOCTEIIE
SLAVERY.
GEO. D. ARMSTRONG, D.D.,
PASTOR OP THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF NORFOLK, VA.
" Wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrina which is according to godliness."—^1 Tim. VI. 3.
NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER, 311 & 3l9 BROADWAY.
1857. p (/ " 2
Enterkd according to Act of Congress, in the year KST, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.
, TINdON, KTIKKOTYI-BK, -S:? CZNTKK «T. B. CRAlGHHAn, rUINTKE.
P E E F A C E.
With the hope of doing something toward bringing God's people,
North and South, to "see eye to eye" on the much vexed question
of Slavery, this little book has been written, and is now given to the
public.
Throughout, the author has kept these two ends in view :
—
1. A faithful exhibition of the doctrine respecting Slavery taught by Christ and his Apostles. Nothing which they taught, has been inten-
tionally omitted. No topic which they omitted—however essential to a full discussion of Slavery as a civil and poUtical question, it may
be—has been introduced. As the simplest method of exhibting the true meaning of the text, the author has given a paraphrase of each
passage of Scripture particularly examined, and in connection with
his own, the paraphrases of Whitby, McKnight, and Doddridge, ex-
positors of established reputation both for piety and learning, that the
reader may have at hand the means of determining whether or not he
is putting forth novelties in the interpretation of God's Word : to-
gether with such notes as seemed needful to illustrate and establish
the paraphrase.
2. An examination of the ^^false glosses,''^ as the author thinks them^
IV PREFACE.
which Dr. Barnes has put upon tJccse passages in his ^'- Notes^ Dr.
Barnes' Notes are the only exposition of Scripture, in common circu-
lation in our country, in which the attempt has been made, systema-
tically, to " wrest the Scriptures " respecting Slavery ; and on this
account, they are thus singled out for examination. Occasionally,
quotations are made from Dr. B.'s *' Scriptural Views of Slavery," and
his " Church and Slavery," for the purpose of showing how he him-
self would develop the doctrine laid down in his Notes.
"God's word is truth," and, as truth, will ere long govern the
world.
COE^TEI^TS.
CHAPTER I.
PRESUMPTIVE EVIDENCE. PA03
§ 1. Preliminary Statements.—Slave-holding not in any Catalogue of Sins or " Offences " given us in the New Testament, T
§ 2, These Catalogues full and minute, 9
§ 3. New Testament written in Slave-holding States, 10
§ 4. Nature of Slavery in Christ's day, 11
§ 5. Often referred to by Christ and his Apostles, 13
CHAPTER II.
APOSTOLIC EXAMPLE.
§ 6. DocLOS, .18 § 7. Slave-holders received and retained in the Church.—Eph. VI. 9 ; Col.
IV. 1 ; 1 Tim. VI. 2 ; Phil. I. 2., 21
§ 8. Case of Onesimus.—Phil. 10-19, 88
CHAPTER III.
APOSTOLIC PRECEPT.
§ 9. Duties of Masters and Slaves taught as Christian Duties.—Eph. VI. 5-9 ;
Col. III. 22-25, IV. 1 ; 1 Tim. VI. 1, 2 ; Titus II. 9, 10; 1 Pet. II. 18, 19, 50
§ 10. The Doctrine of Christ.—1 Tim. VI. 3, CI
§ 11. Slavery a Matter of Little Moment.—Gal. III. 2S ; 1 Cor. XII, 13 ; Col.
Ill, 11; 1 Cor. VII. 20,21, 05
V
VI CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.
APOSTOLIC INJCNCTIOK. PARB
§ 12. Doctrine to be taught in the Church.—1 Tim. TI. 4, 5 ; Titus II. 9, 10, 15, 75
§18. "Blasphemies," 82
§14. "Logomachies."—!. "Mere Property." 2. "A Chattel, a Thing." 8. " Unrequited Labor." 4. "Theft." 5. " Exclusion from the Pulpit.
"
86
CHAPTER V.
NATCRK AND ORIGIN OF SLAVKBT.
§ 15. Paul's Definition of Slavery. 102
§ 16. Bible Theory of the Origin of Slavery, 110
§ 17. Counter-arguments, 114
CHAPTER VI.
RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO SLAVERY.
§ 18. The Discipline of the Church, 117
§ 19. The Teaching of the Church, 122
§ 20. Church and State, 124
CONCLUSION.
God's Work in God's Way, 181
THE
CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF SLAVERY.
CHAPTEE I.
PRESUMPTIVE EVIDENCE.
§ 1. Preliminary Statements.
"^The Church is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Its officers are his servants, bound to exe-
cute his wilL Its doctrines are his teachings, which
he as a prophet lias given from God. Its discipline
is his law, which he as a king has ordained."
"The power of the Church accordingly, is only-
ministerial and declarative. The Bible, and the
Bible alone, is her rule of faith and practice. She
can announce what it teaches ; enjoin what it com-
mands ; prohibit what it condemns ; and enforce her
testimonies by spiritual sanctions. Beyond the Bible
she can never rightfully go, and apart from the Bible
T
y
8 THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF SLAVERY.
she can never rightfully speak. ' To the law and to
the testimony,' and to them alone, she must always
appeal ; and when they are silent, it is her duty to
put her hand upon her lips."
—
Synod of South Caro-
lina, 1848.
What do Christ and his Aposties—commissioned by him to complete the sacred canon, and perfect the
organization of his Church—teach respecting slavery, and the relation in which the Church stands to that
institution ?
We reply—^They teach that slave-holding is not a sin in the sight of God, and is not to be accounted an
"offence-'' by his Church. Having a regard to the
distinction between slavery and the incidental evils
which may attach to it in any particular country or
age, as fundamental to their doctrine ; and care^dly
defining slavery itself; they direct that the Church,
both by her teaching and her discipline, shall labor
to remove the incidental evil ; and this in a way
which they distinctly point out :—And, that, beyond this, the whole subject shall be left to be regulated
by the State, as other civil institutions are, under the
wholesome influence of God's providence, and his
gospel truth faithfully exhibited by the Church.
The evidence that this answer is according: to the
Word of God, we now proceed to set before the
reader.
PKESUMPTIVE EVIDENCE. V
Presumptive Evidence.
Slave-holding does not appear in any Catalogue
OF Sins or Disciplinable Offences given us in
THE ]^EW Testament.
This fact, which none will call in question, is pre-
sumptive proof that neither Christ nor his Apostles
regarded slave-holding as a sin or an " offence."
That we may give to this presumption its proper
weight, we must take account of such facts as the
following
:
§ 2. First.—The Gcutalogues of Sins and Discip- linable Offences^ given us in the New Testa- ment., are numerous^ and i7i some instances,
extended and minute.
In illustration of this statement, let the reader take
such as these :—" Being filled with all unrighteous- ness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, malicious-
ness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malig-
nity ; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despite-
ful ; proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobe-
dient to parents, without understanding, covenant
breakers, without natural affection, implacable, un-
merciful."—Eom. I. 29-31. "JN'ow the works of 1^-
10 THE CHKISTIAN DOCTRINE OF SLAVERY.
the flesh are manifest, which are these ; adultery, for-
nication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idohitry, witch-
craft, hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, strife, sedi-
tions, heresies, envjings, murders, drunkenness, re-
vellings, and such like."—Gal. Y. 10-21. See also Matt. XY. 19; Mark. YIL 21, 22; 1 Cor. Y. 11,
YI. 9, 10 ; Eph. Y. 5 ; Col. III. 8, 9 ; 1 Tim. I. 9,
10 ; 2 Tim. III. 2, 3, 4 ; Eev. XXI. 8 XXII. 15.
§ 3. Second. All the hooks of the N'ew Testament
were written in slave-holding states^ and were
origincdly addressed to j)ersons and churches
in slaveholding states : One of them—the epis- tle to Philemon—is addressed to a slave- holder.
Christ and his Apostles lived, and labored, and
founded the Christian Church, in the midst of slave-
holding communities. This, the Xew Testament itself, as well as the concurrent testimony of all his-
tory, places beyond reasonable question.
Slavery was expressly authorized by Moses' Law.
'* Both thy hond-men and thy hond-maids^ which thou
shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round
about you ; of them shall ye buy hond-men and ho7id-
maids. Moreover, of the children of the strangers
that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and
PKESDMPTIVE EVIDENCE. 11
of tlieir families tnat are with you, which they begat
in your land : and they shall be your possessions^''
(i. e.j your property.) " And ye shall take them as an inheritancef07' your children after you^ to inherit them for a possession, they shall he your londmenfor-
everJ^—Lev. XXY. 44-46. The number of slaves in Judea, in the days of Clirist and his Apostles, we
have no means of determining with certainty.
I?i Greece.—" When Demetrius the Phalerian was governor of Attica, the number of citizens in tliat
state was 21 thousand; the number of foreigners, 10
thousand ; and the number of slaves, 400 tliousand."—
Potter^s Gr. Ant. I. 9. And Gibbon estimates the number of slaves in the Koman Empire, in the days
of Claudius—the emperor contemporary with our Lord—at no less than 60 million.
—
Gibbori's Rome^
Vol. I., p. 26.
§ 4. Third. The condition of slaves in Judea^ in our
Lord'^s day^ was no better than it now is in our
Southern states^ lohilst in all other countries
it was greatly worse.
In Judea.—" Both the food and clothing of slaves were of the poorest description. All their earnings
went to their masters. The maid-servants were em-
ployed in domestic concerns, though not unfrequently
12 THE CHEISTIAN DOCTRINE OF SLAVERY.
tliej were compelled to engage in those duties wliich,
from tlieir nature, were more befitting the other sex."
" They commonly had the consent of their masters
to marry, or rather, to connect themselves with a
woman in that way wliich is denominated by a Latin
law term, contiihernium/^ The children that pto-
ceeded from this sort of marriages, were the property
not of the parents, but of their owners."
—
Jahi's
ArchcBology^ pp. ISO, 181.
In Borne.—" For slaves, the lash was the common punishment ; but for certain crimes they used to be
branded in the forehead, and sometimes were forced
to carry a piece of wood round their necks, wherever
they went. "When slaves were beaten, they used to
be suspended with a weight tied to their feet, that
they might not move them. When punished capi- tally, they were commonly crucified. If a master of
a family was slain in his own house, and the murderer
not discovered, all his domestic slaves were liable to
be put to death."
" There was a continual market for slaves at Rome.
Tlie seller was bound to promise for the soundness of
his slaves, and not to conceal their faults. Hence
* " Contuhernium was the matrimony of slaves, a permitted cohabi-
tation ; not partaking of lawful marriage, which they could not con-
tract."
—
Cooper's Justinian^ p. 420.
PRESUMPTIVE EVIDENCE. 13
they were commonly exposed to sale naked; and
tliey carried a scroll hanging at their necks, on which
their good and bad qualities were specified."
—
Adaim^s Rom. Ant.^ pp. 48, 51.
In Greece.—"The condition of slaves in Greece appears to have been much the same as at Rome."
—
Potter's Gr. Ant, I. 10.^
§ 5. Fourth. Slavery, and the relations which it
establishes are freciiiently sjpoken of, and yet
morefrequently referred to hy Christ and his
Apostles.
The passages in which they expressly treat of
slavery will be examined hereafter. As instances of
the incidental reference to it, on the part of Christ,
* As Rome, in our Lord's day, had extended her dominion over
the then known workl, her law was the supreme law in every country
in which the Apostles preached and planted a Christian chlirch.
Under the Roman civil law, "slaves were held j!??'o nullis : pro mor-
tuis : pro quadrupedibus ; nay, were in a much worse state than any
cattle whatsoever. They had no head in the state, no name, title, or
register ; they were not capable of being injured : nor could they
take by purchase or descent ; they had no heirs, and therefore could
make no will ; they were not entitled to the rights and considerations
of matrimony, and therefore had no relief in case of adultery : nor
were they proper objects of cognation or affinity, but of quasi-cogna-
tion only ; they could be sold, transferred, or pawned, as goods or
14 THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF SLAVERY.
we may cite—Luke XVII. 7-10, the parable of the improfitable servant {doulos, see § G) ; Luke !^X.
9-18, the parable of the wicked husbandmen, who
maltreat, first their lord's servant {doulos) and then
his sou ; Jno. VIII. 31:, 35, " Whosoever committeth
gill, is the servant of sin, and the servant {doulos)
abideth not in the house for ever, but the son abideth
ever ;''" Jno. XV. 15, '' Henceforth I call you not
i^crvaiits, for the servant {doulos) knoweth not what
his lord doeth, but I have called you friends."
Evident reference to slavery on the part of the
Apostles we have in 1 Cor. VL 20, VIL 22. '' St. Paul, in reference to the custom of purchasing slaves,
on whose head a price was then fixed, just as upon
any other commodity, and who, when bought, were
personal estate, for goods they were, and as such they were esteemed
;
they might be tortured for evidence, punished at the discretion of
tlieir lord, and even put to death by his authority ; together with
many'other civil incapacities which I have not room to enumerate."
—
Taylor's Elm. of Civil Law, quoted in Cooper's Justinian, p. 411.
* "Here we have an illustration drawn from what is usual in com-
mon life. The slave has no claim to remain continually in the same
family ; but may, at the pleasure of his owner, be sold unto another.
Not so the son; he cannot be alienated from the family. Thus it is
with the servants of sin, who may, at any time, be excluded from
God's house and favor, into outer darkness : whereas, those who have
the liberty of sons of God will abide in it for ever."
—
Bloowfeld's
N. T.
PRESUMPTIVE EVIDENCE. 15
tile property of the pnrcliaser, by a very beautiful
and ex23i'essive similitude, represents Christians as
the servants (douloi) of Christ. And in Gal. YI. 17, alluding to the signatures with which slaves in those
days were branded, writes :
—
'' From henceforth let no
man trouble me, for I bear in my body the metrics of the Lord Jesus.' "
—
Ilovneh Introduction. With
the Apostles the word servant [douloi) is a favorite
word for setting forth the relation Vvhich they sus-
tained to Christ, as persons entirely and for life
devoted to his service, and bound to implicit obedi-
ence.' (See Rom. I. 1 ; 2 Pet. I. 1 ; Jude, 1.)
But the most significant allusion to slavery—signi- ficant in so far as the point now under examination is
concerned—is that contained in 1 Tim. I. 9, 10 :
—
'' Knowing this, tliat the law is not made for a " righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient,
" for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and
" 2:)rofane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of
" mothers, for man-slayers, for whoremongers, , for
" them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-
" STEALERS (cindrcijoodistais)^ for liars, for perjured
" persons, and if there be any other thing that is con-
" trary to sound doctrine."
On the word andrajwdistcds Bloomfield remarks
:
" Expositors are agreed that the Vv^ord means kidnap-
ping free persons to be sold as slaves, a crime uni-
16 THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF SLAVERY.
versally regarded as of the deepest dye, and always
punished with death."
—
BloonifielcVs iV. T. And in
the countries adjacent to that in which Timothy was
when Paul wrote this epistle to him we have express
testimony that kidnapping prevailed. ^^
The distinction between slave-holding and kid-
napping is one always made, in so far as we know, in
the laws of slave-holding states. Under Moses' law
slave-holding was expressly authorized, (Lev. XXY. 44-J:G, quoted in § 3,) whilst kidnapping was made a
capital crime. " And he that stealeth a man and
selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, (i. e.
' though he had not actually sold him '
—
Bj). Patrick^
he shall surely be put to death."—Ex. XXL 16. See also Deut. XXIY. 7. Timothy, who " from a
child had known the Holy Scriptures,"—the Old Testament Scriptures, of course, for the New Testa- ment was not written in Timothy's childhood—must have been familiar with this distinction ; and when
Paul writes to him, and, in giving a catalogue of
sins to be condemned, mentions " man-stealing
"
among crimes of the deepest dye, whilst in the same
* "The Thessalians, according to Aristophanes, were notorious for
stealing persons of ingenuous birth and education, and selling them
as slaves. But if any person was convicted of having betrayed a
freeman, he was severely punished by Solon's laws."
—
Potter's Gr.
Ant. 1. 10.
PRESUMPTIVE EVroENCE. 17
epistle lie requires him to teach slaves to obey their
masters, and this the more heartily when the masters
are Christian men, and to withdraw himself from
any who should teach a different doctrine, (see
1 Tim. YI. 1-5,) the idea would be suggested inevit-
ably that the distinction made in Moses' law con-
tinued under the Gospel dispensation.
