of a master
towards his slaves. It does, indeed, prove that a man may be a
Christian, without ceasing to be a slaveholder in form; but not that a
master may indulge in all the legal barbarities of the system, and yet
be a Christian. Merely to sustain the relation of a Christian master for
the good of the slave, or from the necessity of the case, is one thing,
while to advocate and defend this chattel system, and hold in bondage
fellow human beings for personal and selfish ends, is quite another
thing. Nowhere do the Scriptures countenance, or even wink at, the least
degree of inhumanity or injustice in the treatment of servants. So far
from this, they expressly enjoin it on masters to "give unto their
servants that which is just and equal," all the law of disinterested
love would require; accompanying the injunction with the significant
hint, that they themselves have a Master, and that with him there is "no
respect of persons."

(3.) Though the Scriptures do not directly assail the system of slavery,
they indirectly and obviously condemn it, and that very abundantly.
Slavery is indirectly and yet strongly rebuked in such passages of
Scripture as the following: "Wo unto him that ... useth his neighbor's
service without wages." "Is not this the fast that I have chosen, ... to
undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye
break every yoke?" "What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do
justly, and to love mercy?" ... "Have we not all one Father? Hath not
one God created us?" ... "And hath made of one blood all nations of men,
for to dwell on all the face of the earth; ... that they should seek the
Lord." ... "God is no respecter of persons." "The people of the land
have used oppression, ... therefore have I poured out mine indignation
upon them." ... "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." "Therefore,
all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so
to them." It needs no unusual acuteness to see, that, were the spirit of
these and kindred passages (for numerous others of the sort might have
been cited) everywhere acted out, slavery would as readily vanish, as do
the icebergs of the North, if perchance they float away into milder
latitudes.

Fifth. To the four reasons already assigned for thinking that slavery
has not God's approbation, and ought not to be perpetuated, I will add
but one more,--its baleful effects. (1). As it respects worldly thrift,
or pecuniary prospe