AN

INQUIRY

INTO

THE SCRIPTURAL VIEWS

OF

SLAVERY.

BY

ALBERT BARNES.

Τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἑλοίμην ἂν ἀντὶ ὧν ἔχω πάντων καὶ ἄλλων πολλαπλασίων.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by

ALBERT BARNES,

in the Clerk's Office of the Listact Court of the Fastern District of Pennsylvania.

•Printed by T. K. & P. G. Collins.

STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON & CO., PHILADELPHIA.

CHAP. I. Reasons why the appeal on the subject of Slavery should

be made to the Bible

1. The Bible is the acknowledged standard of morals in this

21

nation

2. The subject of slavery is one on which the Bible has legis-

lated, and there is, therefore, a propriety that we should

ascertain its decisions

3. The question whether slavery is right or wrong can only

be settled by an appeal to the Striptares

3

4. Great reforms, or moral subjects, do not occur except under

the influence of religious principle

5. Because it is by such an appeal that the advocates of slavery

endeavour to defend the system

CHAP. II. What constitutes Slavery?

(1.) Not a mere condition of apprenticeship

(2.) Not to be confounded with the condition of a minor.

(3.) Not merely a governmental affair

(4.) Not a mere relation in which legislative bodies alone are

concerned

(5.) Does not pertain wholly to a legislature to regulate

(6.) Not a condition like that of the serfs of Russia, &c.

(7.) Not the kind of property which a man has in his wife or

1. Is wholly involuntary on the part of the slave

2. Is property claimed in that which belongs to him, but which

he is not at liberty to resume to himself

3. Is a right of property in all that pertains to the slave

4. Is a right of property in his services without equivalent or

compensation

5. Involves the right to sell him as the master pleases