The Developing of Morals 



yet Abraham was a slave owner. Some of his slaves were 

 "born" such and others were "bought with money." God 

 called Job "his servant," yet Job was a slave owner. When 

 Christ came into the world preaching a new philosophy of 

 life, he found slavery on every hand, yet he makes no defi- 

 nite mention of the relation of involuntary servitude. Of 

 a certain Centurian he said, "I have not found so great 

 faith, no not in Israel," yet that man of such great faith 

 was a slave owner. It must not be inferred that Christ's 

 teachings did not encompass the wrong of slavery, for it did. 

 He was dealing in spiritual matters which would correct all 

 human wrongs when pointed out and followed. St. Paul 

 condoned the institution of slavery by saying, "Slaves, be 

 obedient to your masters." Onesimus was an escaped slave 

 of Philemon. Both were converted under the preaching of 

 Paul and Paul sent Onesimus back to his master. Martin 

 Luther wrote: "He that says slavery is opposed to Chris- 

 tianity is a liar." It will thus be seen that the leaders of 

 moral thought at the beginning of our Christian era and 

 long thereafter accepted the institution of human slavery as 

 a condition established in the social order of mankind. The 

 early laws of many of the ancient nations permitted parents 

 to sell their children into slavery and this was a common 

 practice in Babylon, Assyria and other nations. These laws 

 also provided that if a person borrowed money which he 

 could not repay, the creditor, by due process, could make 

 the debtor his slave. These added greatly to the slave 

 population. They were bought, sold and traded as chat- 

 tels the same as are domestic animals today. Only a com- 

 paratively few of the population of any of the ancient 



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