The Daily Dispatch: December 22, 1865., [Electronic resource]

The influence of the Christian Church on slavery in ancient times has been one of the most interesting subjects of theological discussion. There are those who maintain that the Scriptures directly oppose slavery — a theory which is plainly contradictory to hundreds of passages in the Old and New Testaments. There are others who insist as boldly that the Scriptures not only sanction, but enjoin slavery. Neither of these positions seems to be warranted by that interpretation of Scripture which is found in the faith and practice of the Christian Church. A brief statement of the position which the Church has occupied from the beginning may not be without interest to those who desire to know what are the real relations of religion to slavery.

It must be premised that slavery existed in ancient times, not only under the Jewish dispensation, when it had at least the sanction of the Divine Law-giver, for a time, but in almost every country of the ancient world. It not only existed, but there was an accredited error, somewhat akin to that which has been reproduced in late years, that slaves were an inferior race, degraded by their Creator himself, marked by a stamp of humiliation, and predestines to their stateof abjection and debasement. Homer, Plato and Aristotle distinctly taught this doctrine. All readers of history are well aware of the excessive rigor and cruelty with which slaves were treated in ancient times. Even the right of life and death, which was then placed in the master's hands, was often exercised.

The slavery of ancient times was not only cruel, but immense beyond our conception, prevailing everywhere, and so deeply rooted in laws, manners, ideas and interests, individuals social, that its immediate eradication might have convulsed the world. Such was the state of things which Christianity found upon the earth. Inspired by the ennobling impulses of humanity, and upheld by the courage which springs from the consciousness of strength, the Church could not be indifferent to any of the evils, whether small or great, under which humanity greened. War, Despotism and Slavery were then, as they always had been, the chief scourge of the human race. Whilst the Founder of Christianity declared that His kingdom was not of this world. His teachings deposited grams in the heart of society which, developed by time, must ultimately effect the removal of injustice, oppression and violence from the face of the earth. Whilst, in regard to Christianity, it is impossible to prove that the New Testament proclaimed freedom to the slave — for that would have been to convulse the world — its first words, nevertheless, declare that those men, whom ancient philosophers had pre born to obey, are equal to all men in be dignity of nature, and in the participation of the graces which the Divine Spirit diffuse upon earth. "For in one spirit were we all baptized in one body, whether Jew or Gentile, whether bond or free." "There is neither Jew nor Gentile; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus." Wherever Christian doctrines prevailed, slaves, for the first time, learned that, though they were unfortunate; though birth, poverty, or the reverses of war, had condemned them to misfortune, they were at least acknowledged as men and brethren, and that between them and their masters there was a reciprocity of rights and obligations. This was the germ which Christianity deposited of the ultimate enfranchisement of enslaved mankind.

Now, it is true, a class of texts may be found which seem to conflict with those we have quoted, but, as expounded by learned theologians, perfectly harmonize. It was natural that the passages already mentioned should be misunderstood and exaggerated, and it was to guard against this that Christianity exhorted servants to obey their masters, not as pleasing men, but as the servants of Christ. It had also, by its doctrines of peace, forgiveness and justice, prepared the way for the ultimate extinction of war and despotism, but the process in each and all must be necessarily gradual; and in the meantime it defined the duties of soldiers, and enjoined subjects to honor and obey their King.

It is matter of history that the first efforts of the Christian Church were directed to the mitigation of the cruel treatment of slaves and the improvement of their condition. The canons, decrees and other documents which show the solicitude of the Church on this subject would of themselves fill a volume. A perusal of them will refute the prevalent idea that the extinction of serfdom in Europe was accomplished by the force of interests, primarily, and not of ideas. Christianity made itself master of ideas and manners, communicated to them a new impulse, and gave them a different direction. The whole process, however, was, in the nature of things, gradual; the rigor of slave laws became relaxed, their observance was neglected, their equity doubted, their expediency questioned, until at length the institution crumbled to its downfall.

Slow and protracted, however, as was the movement, a great number of the slaves did not know the value of liberty, did not conduct themselves, in their new state, according to the dictates of reason; and while they enjoyed the rights, did not know how to fulfill the obligations of freedom. Not less prominent than her influence in producing emancipation were the efforts of the Church to secure the work she had accomplished, and to impart to the freemen that education and morality which are essential to the proper appreciation of their new condition. There is no brighter record in the annals of Christian civilization than the manner in which the Church triumphed over these inconveniences and difficulties, inseparable from the nature of things.

These reflections are not without interest in our present condition. The beneficent impulses and energies of Christianity have been brilliantly exhibited in the moral and physical elevation of the Southern slave under the slave institutions, now abolished. It would be impossible to find in the past ages any example of bondmen who received, with few exceptions, such humane and considerate treatment, and the hardships of whose lot were alleviated by so many sympathies. Their rapid multiplication proved their physical comforts. In health and manhood they were rarely over-worked; in infancy, sickness and old age, they were provided for and relieved. That their spiritual interests were not neglected is evident from the fact, first stated by Rev. Dr. Styles, of this city, that the number of communicants in the Southern churches is greater, in proportion to the population, than that of any other country, and the number of slaves in the South converted to Christianity greater than the sum total of all the heathens converted by the combined missionary societies of the United States and Great Britain. It cannot be doubted that the men who exhibited this practical benevolence to their former bondmen will prove their best friends, now that they are free, and will labor to exalt their moral condition, and to make them feel, by practical sympathy and Christian charity, that we desire their welfare and improvement.