FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   609   610   611   612   613   614   615   616   617   618   619   620   621   622   623   624   625   626   627   628   629   630   631   632   633  
634   635   636   637   638   639   640   641   642   643   644   645   646   647   648   649   650   651   652   653   654   655   656   657   658   >>   >|  
amilies, they were described as carried on by hired servants; and the question of slavery "in Judea," so far as the seed of Abraham were concerned, is very easily disposed of. With every phase and form of society among them slavery was inconsistent. The position which, in the article so often referred to in this paper, the Princeton professor takes, is sufficiently remarkable. Northern abolitionists he saw in an earnest struggle with southern slaveholders. The present welfare and future happiness of myriads of the human family were at stake in this contest. In the heat of the battle, he throws himself between the belligerent powers. He gives the abolitionists to understand, that they are quite mistaken in the character of the object they have set themselves so openly and sternly against. Slaveholding is not, as they suppose, contrary to the law of God. It was witnessed by the Savior "in its worst form,"[A] without extorting from his lips a syllable of rebuke. "The sacred writers did not condemn it."[B] And why should they? By a definition[C] sufficiently ambiguous and slippery, he undertakes to set forth a form of slavery which he looks upon as consistent with the law of Righteousness. From this definition he infers that the abolitionists are greatly to blame for maintaining that American slavery is inherently and essentially sinful, and for insisting that it ought at once to be abolished. For this labor of love the slaveholding South is warmly grateful and applauds its reverend ally, as if a very Daniel had come as their advocate to judgment.[D] [Footnote A: Pittsburgh pamphlet p. 9.] [Footnote B: The same p. 13.] [Footnote C: The same p. 12.] [Footnote D: Supra p. 61.] A few questions, briefly put, may not here be inappropriate. 1. Was the form of slavery which our professor pronounces innocent _the form_ witnessed by our Savior "in Judea?" That, _he_ will by no means admit. The slavery there was, he affirms, of the "worst" kind. _How then does he account for the alledged silence of the Savior?--a silence covering the essence and the form--the institution and its "worst" abuses?_ 2. Is the slaveholding, which, according to the Princeton professor, Christianity justifies, the same as that which the abolitionists so earnestly wish to see abolished? Let us see. _Christianity in supporting _The American system for Slavery, according to Prof. supporting Slavery,_ Hodge,_ "Enjo
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   609   610   611   612   613   614   615   616   617   618   619   620   621   622   623   624   625   626   627   628   629   630   631   632   633  
634   635   636   637   638   639   640   641   642   643   644   645   646   647   648   649   650   651   652   653   654   655   656   657   658   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

slavery

 
Footnote
 

abolitionists

 

Savior

 
professor
 

Slavery

 
witnessed
 

supporting

 

slaveholding

 

Christianity


abolished

 

definition

 

American

 

silence

 

Princeton

 

sufficiently

 

Pittsburgh

 
pamphlet
 

advocate

 

judgment


easily
 

disposed

 
questions
 
briefly
 

Daniel

 

insisting

 

inherently

 

essentially

 
sinful
 

reverend


applauds

 
grateful
 

warmly

 

inappropriate

 

justifies

 

abuses

 

covering

 

essence

 

institution

 

earnestly


servants

 

system

 

Abraham

 

alledged

 

innocent

 
pronounces
 

concerned

 
society
 

account

 

affirms