Can slavery, however modified, be consistent with such a gospel?—­a gospel which requires us, even amidst the highest forms of social life, to exert ourselves to raise the depressed by giving our warmest sympathies to those who have the smallest share in the favor of the world?

Those who are in “bonds” are set before us as deserving an especial remembrance.  Their claims upon us are described as a modification of the Golden Rule—­as one of the many forms to which its obligations are reducible.  To them we are to extend the same affectionate regard as we would covet for ourselves, if the chains upon their limbs were fastened upon ours.  To the benefits of this precept, the enslaved have a natural claim of the greatest strength.  The wrongs they suffer spring from a persecution which can hardly be surpassed in malignancy.  Their birth and complexion are the occasion of the insults and injuries which they can neither endure nor escape.  It is for the work of God, and not their own deserts, that they are loaded with chains. This is persecution.

Can I regard the slave as another self—­can I put myself in his place—­and be indifferent to his wrongs?  Especially, can I, thus affected, take sides with the oppressor?  Could I, in such a state of mind as the gospel requires me to cherish, reduce him to slavery or keep him in bonds?  Is not the precept under hand naturally subversive of every system and every form of slavery?

The general descriptions of the church, which are found here and there in the New Testament, are highly instructive in their bearing on the subject of slavery.  In one connection, the following words meet the eye:  “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."[21] Here we have—­

1.  A clear and strong description of the doctrine of human equality.  “Ye are all ONE;”—­so much alike, so truly placed on common ground, all wielding each his own powers with such freedom, that one is the same as another.

  2.  This doctrine, self-evident in the light of reason, is affirmed on
  divine authority.  “IN CHRIST JESUS, ye are all one.”  The natural
  equality of the human family is a part of the gospel.  For—­

3.  All the human family are included in this description.  Whether men or women, whether bond or free, whether Jews or Gentiles, all are alike entitled to the benefit of this doctrine.  Whether Christianity prevails, the artificial distinctions which grow out of birth, condition, sex, are done away. Natural distinctions are not destroyed. They are recognized, hallowed, confirmed.  The gospel does not abolish the sexes, forbid a division of labor, or extinguish patriotism.  It takes woman from beneath the feet, and places her by the side of man; delivers the manual laborer from “the yoke,” and