e was _taken from the master_, and
_committed to the magistrate_; that about sixty millions of souls were
held as property in this abject condition; that the price of a slave was
four times that of an ox; that their punishments were very sanguinary;
that in the second century, when their condition began to improve a
little, emancipation was prohibited, except for great personal merit,
or some public service rendered to the State; and that it was not until
the third or fourth generation after freedom was obtained, that the
descendants of a slave could share in the honors of the State. This is
the _state, condition_, or _relation_ among the _members of the
apostolic churches_, whether among _Gentiles_ or _Jews_; which the Holy
Ghost, by Paul for the Gentiles, and Peter for the Jews, recognizes as
lawful; the mutual duties of which he prescribes in the language above.
Now, I ask, can any man in his proper senses, from these premises, bring
himself to conclude that slavery is _abolished by Jesus Christ_, or that
obligations are imposed by him upon his disciples that are subversive of
the institution? Knowing as we do from cotemporary historians, that the
institution of slavery existed at the time and to the extent stated by
Gibbon--what sort of a soul a man must have, who, with these facts
before him, will conceal the truth on this subject, and hold Jesus
Christ responsible for a scheme of treason that would, if carried out,
have brought the life of every human being on earth at the time, into
the most imminent peril, and that must have worked the destruction of
half the human race?

At Rome, the authoritative centre of that vast theater upon which the
glories of the cross were to be won, a church was planted. Paul wrote a
long letter to them. On this subject it is full of instruction.

Abolition sentiments had not dared to show themselves so near the
imperial sword. To warn the church against their treasonable tendency,
was therefore unnecessary. Instead, therefore, of special precepts upon
the subject of relative duties between master and servant, he lays down
a system of practical morality, in the 12th chapter of his letter, which
must commend itself equally to the king on his throne, and the slave in
his hovel; for while its practical operation leaves the subject of
earthly government to the discretion of man, it secures the exercise of
sentiments and feelings that must exterminate every thing inconsistent
with doing t