in 1888!

In the "Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics" is found: "There is no
explicit condemnation in the teaching of our Lord.... It remains true
that the abolitionist could point to no one text in the Gospels in
defense of his position, while those who defended slavery could appeal
at any rate to the letter of Scripture."

It is true that slavery existed under Pagan civilization, but there it
represented a phase of social development, while Christian slavery stood
for a deliberate retrogression in social life. It was Seneca who said,
"Live gently and kindly with your slave, and admit him to conversation
with you, to council with you, and to share in your meals."

Think of what would have occurred if one of our philosophers had
admonished a slave-holding Christian in the above manner.

"We are apt to think of the ancient slave as being identical with the
miserable and degraded being that disgraced Christian countries less
than a century ago. This, however, is far from the truth. The Roman
slave did not, of necessity, lack education. Slaves were to be found who
were doctors, writers, poets, philosophers, and moralists. Plautus,
Phaedrus, Terence, Epictetus, were slaves. Slaves were the intimates of
men of all stations of life, even the emperor. Certainly, it never
dawned on the Roman mind to prohibit education to the slave. That was
left for the Christian world, and almost within our own time." (For a
good account of the close association of Christianity with slavery see,
"_Christianity, Slavery, and Labor," Chapman Cohen._)

In Rome, the slave kept his individuality, and outwardly there was no
distinction in color and clothing; there was very little sound barrier
between the slave and the freeman. The slave attended the same games as
the freeman, participated in the affairs of the municipality, and
attended the same college. The ancients kept the bodies of their slaves
in bondage, but they placed no restraint upon the mind and no check upon
his education. It has even been said that the slave class of antiquity
really corresponded to our free laboring class. It is also well known
that a well-conducted slave, by his own earnings, was able to purchase
his freedom in the course of a few years.

There can be no comparison, therefore, between Pagan and Christian
slavery, except to the detriment of the latter. The Christian slave
trade represents one of the most frightful and systematic brutalities
the world has ever k