I have confidence that my brother
will not again class slavery with polygamy, for it would be a reflection
upon divine wisdom and justice.
"'One thing more. My brother says slavery is the sum of all villanies.
"'But did not the Most High God place his people in slavery for seventy
years, in Babylon? This does not prove that slavery is a good thing, in
itself; for by the same proof heathenism might be shown to be a
blessing. Slavery was a curse, a punishment; but still, God would not
have made use of slavery to punish his people, if, theoretically and
practically, it is by necessity all which my brother alleges. It surely
did not, in that case, prove a "villany" to Babylon. They were the best
seventy years of their probationary state, when that people held the
Jews in captivity. Now I beg not to be misunderstood nor to have my
meaning perverted. I am not pleading for slavery. I simply say that God
would not have put his people, whom He had not cast off forever, into
slavery, if slavery, _per se_, were the sum of all villanies, or, if the
practical effect of it on them would be, necessarily, destruction, or
inconsistent with his purposes of benevolence.
Pages:
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311