Aunt Philliss Cabin | Page 4

descended in dreams, to ensure the protection of his life
against the king who sought it. He emerged from infancy, and grew in
favour with God and man. He was tempted but not overcome--angels
came again from heaven to minister to him. He fulfilled every jot and
tittle of the law, and entered upon the duties for which he left the
glories of heaven.
That mission was fulfilled. "The people which sat in darkness saw great
light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is
sprung up."
Look at his miracles--the cleansing of the leper, the healing of the sick,
the casting out unclean spirits, the raising of the dead, the rebuking of
the winds and seas, the control of those possessed with devils--and say,
was he not the Son of God--yea, was he not God?
Full of power and goodness he came into the world, and light and glory
followed every footstep. The sound of his voice, the glance of his eye,
the very touch of the garment in which his assumed mortality was
arrayed, was a medicine mighty to save. He came on an errand of
mercy to the world, and he was all powerful to accomplish the Divine
intent; but, did he emancipate the slave? The happiness of the human
race was the object of his coming; and is it possible that the large
portion of them then slaves could have escaped his all-seeing eye! Did
he condemn the institution which he had made? Did he establish
universal freedom? Oh! no; he came to redeem the world from the
power of sin; his was no earthly mission; he did not interfere with the
organization of society. He healed the sick servant of the centurion, but
he did not command his freedom; nor is there a word that fell from his
sacred lips that could be construed into a condemnation of that
institution which had existed from the early ages of the world, existed
then, and is continued now. The application made by the Abolitionist of
the golden rule is absurd: it might then apply to the child, who would
have his father no longer control him; to the apprentice, who would no

longer that the man to whom he is bound should have a right to direct
him. Thus the foundations of society would be shaken, nay, destroyed.
Christ would have us deal with others, not as they desire, but as the law
of God demands: in the condition of life in which we have been placed,
we must do what we conscientiously believe to be our duty to our
fellow-men.
Christ alludes to slavery, but does not forbid it. "And the servant
abideth not in the house forever, but the son abideth ever. If the Son
therefore shall make you free, you are free indeed."
In these two verses of the Gospel of St. John, there is a manifest
allusion to the fact and condition of slaves. Of this fact the Saviour took
occasion, to illustrate, by way of similitude, the condition of a wicked
man, who is the slave of sin, and to show that as a son who was the heir
in a house could set a bondman free, if that son were of the proper age,
so he, the Son of God, could set the enslaved soul free from sin, when
he would be "free indeed." Show me in the history of the Old
Testament, or in the life of Christ, authority to proclaim as a sin the
holding of the race of Ham and Canaan in bondage.
In the times of the apostles, what do we see? Slaves are still in bondage,
the children of Ham are menials as they were before. Christ had come,
had died, had ascended to heaven, and slavery still existed. Had the
apostles authority to do it away? Had Christ left it to them to carry out,
in this instance, his revealed will?
"Art thou," said Paul, "called being a slave? care not for it; but if thou
mayest be made free, use it rather. Let every man abide in the same
calling wherein he is called." "Let as many servants as are under the
yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God
and his doctrines be not blasphemed. And they that have believing
masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren, but
rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers
of the benefit."
It is well known and often quoted that the holy apostle did all he could
to restore a slave to his master--one whom he had been the means of

making free in a spiritual sense. Yet he knew that God had made
Onesimus a slave, and, when he