Negro Slavery Unjustifiable
James Dodson
"Am I Not A Man and A Brother?"
NEGRO SLAVERY UNJUSTIFIABLE HOMEPAGE.
“A Preacher of the Gospel ought not to be patiently listened to even, who eloquently depicts the blessings of that liberty with which Christ hath made us free, while he holds his fellow-disciple, him to whom he administers the symbols of a Saviour’s redeeming love, in a most dreadful and lacerating bondage.”—George Bourne, The Book and Slavery Irreconcilable (1816).
Discourses, Lectures and Sermons:
Negro Slavery Unjustifiable.-1802-Alexander McLeod.-A sermon on the unlawfulness of holding men in perpetual slavery through man-stealing.
Letter on the Relations of Covenanters to the Civil Government of America.-1833-Robert Gibson.-In this letter to the Albany Quarterly, a magazine produced by the “Old Lights,” Gibson corrects many errors espoused by Gilbert McMaster who had gone off with the “New Lights” and abandoned the testimony of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. It is notable because it spends time explaining how Covenanters viewed their relation to the civil government of the United States and has interesting remarks on the subject of slavery.
Tokens of the Divine Displeasure, in the Late Conflagrations in New-York, & Other Judgments, Illustrated.-1836-James R. Willson.-A sermon that calls attention to the several lamentable dispensations of providence as provoked by national infidelity and negro slavery.
An Address on West India Emancipation.-1838-James Renwick Willson.-This address by Willson contains a survey of a report by members of the Emancipation society. Willson, who was an ardent supporter of ending negro slavery, spends time vindicating people of African descent from many frivolous charges leveled to deny them freedom. This address is of interest both as a vigorous criticism of slavery while, at the same time, giving assurances that racial integration was not a recipe for miscegenation. Interestingly, Willson asserts that slavery was responsible mulattoes, quadroons, etc. because it degraded the morals of slave owners.
The Fugitive Slave Law.-1851-James Renwick Willson.-This address attacks the Fugitive Slave Act. Its value stands in its testimony against the practice of negro slavery, which was officially opposed by the Reformed Presbyterians in America as early as 1800. It also contains guidance on matters of civil disobedience and resistance to ungodly laws.
The Higher Law, or the Law of the Most High.-1851-William Louis Roberts.-A spirited postmillennial account of the mediatorial reign of Christ which seeks to answer the question of what we should do when man’s law conflicts with God’s law, discussed against the backdrop of the fugitive slave law.