[168] Ibid. iii. 7 pr.
[169] Institutiones, ii. 2. 1.
[170] Cf. Milman, History of Latin Christianity, ii. 14.
[171] Institutiones, i. 8. 2.
It is curious to note that the inconsistency of slavery with the tenet, “Do to others as you would be done by,” though emphasised by a pagan philosopher, never seems to have occurred to any of the early Christian writers. Christianity recognised slavery from the beginning. The principle that all men are spiritually equal in Christ does not imply that they should be socially equal in the world. Slavery does not prevent anybody from performing the duties incumbent on a Christian, it does not bar the way to heaven, it is an external affair only, nothing but a name. He only is really a slave who commits sin.[172] Slavery is of course a burden, but a burden which has been laid upon the back of transgression. Man when created by God was free, and nobody was the slave of another until that just man Noah cursed Ham, his offending son; slavery, then, is a punishment sent by Him who best knows how to proportionate punishment to offence.[173] The slave himself ought not to desire to become free,[174] nay, if the master offers him freedom he ought not to accept it.[175] Not one of the Fathers even hints that slavery is unlawful or improper.[176] In the early age martyrs possessed slaves, and so did abbots, bishops, popes, monasteries, and churches;[177] Jews and pagans only were prohibited from acquiring Christian slaves.[178] So little was the abolition of slavery thought of that a Council at Orleans, in the middle of the sixth century, expressly decreed the perpetuity of servitude among the descendants of slaves.[179] On the other hand, the Church showed a zeal to prevent accessions to slavery from capture, but her exertions were restricted to Christian prisoners of war.[180] As late as the nineteenth century the right of enslaving captives was defended by Bishop Bouvier.[181]
[172] Gregory Nazianzen, Orationes, xiv. 25 (Migne, Patrologiæ cursus, Ser. Graeca, xxxv. 891 sq.). Idem, Carmina, i. 2. 26. 29 (ibid. xxxvii. 853); i. 2. 33. 133 sqq. (ibid. xxxvii. 937 sq.). St. Chrysostom, In cap. IX. Genes. Homilia XXIX. 7 (ibid. liii. 270). Idem, In Epist. I. ad Cor. Homilia XIX. 5 (ibid. lxi. 158). St. Ambrose, In Epistolam ad Colossenses, 3 (Migne, op. cit. Ser. Lat. xvii. 439).
[173] St. Augustine, De civitate Dei, xix. 15 (Migne, op. cit. xli. 643 sq.).
[174] St. Ignatius, Epistola ad Polycarpum, 4 (Migne, op. cit. Ser. Graeca, v. 723 sq.). St. Augustine, Ennaratio in Psalmum CXXIV. 7 (Migne, op. cit. xxxvii. 1653).
[175] Laurent, Études sur l’histoire de l’humanité, iv. 117.
[176] Cf. Babington, Influence of Christianity in Promoting the Abolition of Slavery in Europe, p. 29.