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SLAVERY ORDAINED OF GOD

By

Rev. Fred. A. Ross, D.D.


"The powers that be are ordained of God." Romans xiii. 1.


TO
The Men
NORTH AND SOUTH,
WHO HONOR THE WORD OF GOD
AND
LOVE THEIR COUNTRY.




Preface.



The book I give to the public, is not made up of isolated articles. It is
one harmonious demonstration--that slavery is part of the government
ordained in certain conditions of fallen mankind. I present the subject in
the form of speeches, actually delivered, and letters written just as
published. I adopt this method to make a readable book.

I give it to the North and South--to maintain harmony among Christians,
and to secure the integrity of the union of this great people.

This harmony and union can be preserved only by the view presented in this
volume,--_i.e._ that _slavery is of God_, and to continue for the good of
the slave, the good of the master, the good of the whole American family,
until another and better destiny may be unfolded.

The _one great idea_, which I submit to North and South, is expressed in
the speech, first in order, delivered in the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church, Buffalo, May 27, 1853. I therein say:--

"Let us then, North and South, bring our minds to comprehend _two
ideas_, and submit to their irresistible power. Let the Northern
philanthropist learn from the Bible that the relation of master and slave
is not sin _per se_. Let him learn that God says nowhere it is sin. Let
him learn that sin is the transgression of the law; and where there is no
law there is no sin, and that _the Golden Rule_ may exist in the
relations of slavery. Let him learn that slavery is simply an evil _in
certain circumstances_. Let him learn that _equality_ is only the highest
form of social life; that _subjection_ to authority, even _slavery_, may,
in _given conditions_, be _for a time_ better than freedom to the slave
of any complexion. Let him learn that _slavery_, like _all evils_, has
its _corresponding_ and _greater good_; that the Southern slave, though
degraded _compared with his master, is elevated and ennobled compared
with his brethren in Africa_. Let the Northern man learn these things,
and be wise to cultivate the spirit that will harmonize with his brethren
of the South, who are lovers of liberty as truly as himself: And let the
Southern Christian--nay, the Southern man of every grade--comprehend that
_God never intended the relation of master and slave to be perpetual_.
Let him give up the theory of Voltaire, that the <DW64> is of a different
species. Let him yield the semi-infidelity of Agassiz, that God created
different races of the same species--in swarms, like bees--for Asia,
Europe, America, Africa, and the islands of the sea. Let him believe that
slavery, although not a sin, is a degraded condition,--the evil, the
curse on the South,--yet having blessings in its time to the South and to
the Union. Let him know that slavery is to pass away in the fulness of
Providence. Let the South believe this, and prepare to obey the hand that
moves their destiny."

All which comes after, in the speech delivered in New York, 1856, and in
the letters, is just the expansion of this one controlling thought, which
must be understood, believed, and acted out North and South.

The Author.

Written in Cleveland, Ohio, May 28, 1857.




Contents.



Speech Before the General Assembly at Buffalo
Speech Before the General Assembly at New York
Letter to Rev. A. Blackburn
What Is the Foundation of Moral Obligation?

Letters to Rev. A. Barnes:--

  I.--Results of the slavery agitation--Declaration of Independence--
      The way men are made infidels--Testimonies of General Assemblies
 II.--Government over man a divine institute
III.--Man-stealing
 IV.--The Golden Rule




Speech Delivered at Buffalo, Before the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church.



To understand the following speech, the reader will be pleased to
learn--if he don't know already--that the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church, before its division in 1838, and since,--both Old
School and New School,--has been, for forty years and more, bearing
testimony, after a fashion, against the system of slavery; that is to say,
affirming, in one breath, that slave-holding is a "blot on our holy
religion," &c. &c.; and then, in the next utterance, making all sorts of
apologies and justifications for the slave-holder. Thus: this august body
has been in the habit of telling the Southern master (especially in the
Detroit resolutions of 1850) that he is a _sinner_, hardly meet to be
called a _Christian_; but, nevertheless, if he will only sin "from
unavoidable necessity, imposed by the laws of the States,"--if he will
only sin under the "obligations of guardianship,"--if he will only sin
"from the demands of humanity,"--why, then, forsooth, he may be a
slave-holder as long as _he has a mind to_. Yea, he may hold one slave,
one hundred or one thousand slaves, and till the day of judgment.

Happening to be in attendance, as a member of the body, in Buffalo, May,
1853, when, as usual, the system of slavery was touched, in a series of
questions sent down to the church courts below, I made the following
remarks, in good-natured ridicule of such preposterous and stultifying
testimony; and, as an argument, opening the views I have since reproduced
in the second speech of this volume, delivered in the General Assembly
which convened in New York, May, 1856, and also in the letters
following:--

BUFFALO, FRIDAY, May 27, 1853.

The order of the day was reached at a quarter before eleven, and the
report read again,--viz.:

"1. That this body shall reaffirm the doctrine of the second resolution
adopted by the General Assembly, convened in Detroit, in 1850, and,

"2. That with an express disavowal of any intention to be impertinently
inquisitorial, and for the sole purpose of arriving at the truth, so as to
correct misapprehensions and allay all causeless irritation, a committee
be appointed of one from each of the synods of Kentucky, Tennessee,
Missouri, and Virginia,