James Henley Thornwell
and the Biblical Defense of Slavery
Erik Grayson
History 447F Senior Seminar
Professor Robert Weyeneth
Fall 2010
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South Carolina College President James Henley Thornwell was one of the state’s
foremost biblical defenders of slavery. Thornwell, president from 1851 to 1854 of the institution
today known as the University of South Carolina, was a respected theologian and clergyman in
the Presbyterian Church. The views of this highly educated man were influential among students
in the college, parishioners, and South Carolinians.1 While his southern upbringing undoubtedly
played a role in the development of his religious thought, his theology should be considered on
its own terms.2 Exploring Thornwell’s theology of slavery will require an understanding of his
basic Christian doctrine. 3 One may suggest that Christian teaching is normative. While there
are certain ideas essential to all Christian traditions, such as the Son of God, the meaning of these
concepts can vary greatly.4 Thornwell’s slavery theology relies upon his particular approach to
foundational issues, approaches that differed from his contemporaries. To understand Thornwell
is to accept that his ideas fit consistently into a larger systematic framework. Thornwell’s
biblical defense of slavery is dependent on various fundamentalist and Calvinistic concepts. This
foundation allows him to create a biblical system that permited the white man to “responsibly”
maintain the slavery system.
Thornwell defines slavery as the non-contractual relationship between master and slave,
wherein the master is not beholden to the slave’s physical body, but to his work. This is a civil
relationship not unlike other relationships in society, argues Thornwell, including parent and
1
Daniel Hollis, The University of South Carolina, vol. 1: South Carolina College (Columbia: University of South
Carolina Press, 1951), 160 – 162.
2
More information about Thornwell’s adolescence, his personal life, and academic career can be found in the
aforementioned work by Hollis, The University of South Carolina. Other information can be found in Life and
Letters of James Henley Thornwell, edited by John Adger, and in Lawrence McCormick’s “James Henley Thornwell
and the Theological Justification of Slavery,” both of which are located in the South Caroliniana Library.
3
As a student at South Carolina College, Thornwell already had firm convictions in favor of slavery. In an
anonymous article to the Columbia Hive, Thornwell, as a student, decried attacks on southern slavery and
nullification specifically.
4
Belief in Christ is a normative Christian teaching; however, what does that belief entail: Jesus Christ was a real
historical person born of the Divine, Jesus Christ was a creation of the tradition, Christ was merely an ethical
teacher, etc. Ancient Christian creeds established orthodoxy, but many questions arise about the very basic ideas
these creeds sought to establish.
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child, employer and employee, and commander and soldier.5 Ideally, the relationship between
master and slave is reciprocal, the slave gives his or her services to the master; the master in turn
provides food, shelter, and other essentials to the slave.6
Who are the slaves? Thornwell refers to the “enslaved,” the “Negroes,” and the
“Africans.” While it may be no secret to modern audiences that African descendents were the
enslaved population in the antebellum American south, the greater question is who were the
enslaved to Thornwell the theologian. How does a pro-slavery theologian view enslaved
peoples? This two-part answer relies upon the concepts of sin and salvation.
Thornwell understands all humanity in terms of its relationship with God. This
relationship is a fallen one, wherein humanity is no longer in the perfect Adamic state. Humans
are sinners. Thornwell recognizes this classic definition, but he goes further to describe
humankind’s situation as utterly hopeless, completely separated from God. This Calvinistic
doctrine, known as total depravity, states that humans can do nothing that is truly good or of
God. Thornwell admits that people volunteer at hospitals, donate money to worthy causes, care
for the sick, and perform all manner of other worthy services; however, none of these are truly
good if the person performing the deed is not right with God.7 “Depravity consists in a total
defection from the authority of God – in an alienation of the heart from its Maker.” 8 The real
sinfulness of humanity is a corrupt heart. “The heart is yet at enmity with God, and until this
enmity is slain our very best actions are only splendid sins.”9 The hearts of all men, slave and
5
James Thornwell, The Rights and Duties of Masters: A Sermon Preached at the Dedication of the Church Erected
in Charleston, S.C., for the Benefit and the Instruction of the Coloured Population. (Charleston: Press of Walker and
James, 1850), 23.
6
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 21.
7
James Thornwell, The Nature of Salvation, in The Collected Works of James Henley Thornwell, vol. 2, ed. John
Adger (Richmond: Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 1871-1873), 374.
8
Thornwell, The Nature of Salvation, 374.
9
Thornwell, The Nature of Salvation, 375.
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master alike, are enslaved to wickedness. Thornwell suggests that slavery to sin is the truest
form of bondage.10
Slave and master share a sinful nature, but what unites the two is salvation in Jesus
Christ. Christ came to “deliver His followers from the ruin and misery of sin,” offering eternal
life to those who believe in him. 11 Humanity and God are no longer separated because of Christ.
In this relationship the bondage and slavery to sin is broken. In Christ, sinners are no longer
guilty of transgressing the law. Thornwell terms this the Principle of Imputation.
Jesus Christ
imputes upon depraved humanity, slave and free, righteousness through the perfect sacrifice of
himself. 12 This is extended to all humanity. “[The slave] has sinned as we have, and he has an
equal interest with us in the great redemption.”13 All humankind, slave and master, is enslaved
to sin; likewise, all humankind can receive Christ’s redemption.14
This remarkable notion reflects a commonality between the two races. Slaves and
masters are, by salvific standards, alike. “That our Negroes are not of the same blood with
ourselves,” Thornwell asserts, “if it had been admitted, would have justly drawn down the curse
of God.”15 Thornwell also denies scientific “findings” linking the slave with the “brute.” Slaves
and free men are the same spiritually and biologically. “The instinctive impulses of our nature,
combined with the plainest declarations of the word of God, lead us to recognize in his form and
lineaments –in his moral, religious, and intellectual nature –the same humanity in which we
glory as the image of God.” According to scripture, there is nothing separating the slave and the
white man in terms of biblical or biological superiority.
10
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 28. Thornwell, The Nature of Salvation, 372.
12
Thornwell, The Nature of Salvation, 377.
13
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 11.
14
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 11.
15
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 10.
11
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If slaves and freemen are alike, why did slavery ever begin? Thornwell offers a few
theories to answer this question; however, Thornwell’s answers are cursory at best and tend to be
defensive generalizations. One of his theories is that the practice of slavery is possibly as old as
society. Thornwell cites early Jewish law codes that prescribe the enslavement of various
lawbreakers and offenders. This type of slavery, Thornwell posits, could be how the slavery
institution initially began. According to the Old Testament law codes, enslavement was a
punishment, and the slave a guilty party.16 In some forms of slavery, when a slave would have
children, the children would also be enslaved. This point is particularly important for Thornwell,
because here he finds grounds to justify his current slavery institution. “The criminal act,
whatever it may have been, by which a man was reduced to the condition of bondage, can never
cease to be otherwise than criminal, but the relations to which that act gave rise, may themselves,
be consistent with the will of God and the foundation of new and important duties.”17 Children
born to slave parents were slaves nonetheless, but not by virtue of an offense. They were born
into an existing system. If this system was established by God’s law, can slavery be offensive?
While the question of how the institution began requires Thornwell to look into antiquity, it
poses the more important question of slavery in perpetuity.
Slavery in perpetuity raises many questions for Thornwell, including simply, why keep
the institution? The theologian has several answers to the question, including biblical references,
inheritance, and its economic viability. One may be surprised to hear a theologian espousing
economic growth and development, but Thornwell was insistent that the progress of civilization
was important and dependent on the continuation of slavery. The institution is a “needful
16
17
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 32.
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 45. Grayson 6
stimulus to industry,” whose collapse would mean the “stagnation of all enterprise.”18 Not only
does slavery support economic growth, it preserves the “principles of social order” and the
“development of humanity.”19 Slavery represents an established and properly ordered society.20
While others may not think that slavery is a progressive part of society, it is the southern system
and should be the South’s responsibility to deal with.21
Thornwell and his contemporaries did not institute slavery. It was an inherited system in
existence for several generations in the American South, recognized legally in South Carolina.
This system legally protects the slave from want, abuse, and cruelty, according to slavery
proponents.22 Having received the system, Thornwell does not intend to change it. He and his
peers intended to pass along southern culture and slave society to the next generation. “All ‘we’
ask is that ‘their brethren would leave it where God has left it, and deal with it, where it is found,
as God dealt with it.’”23
Slavery continues because Thornwell and contemporaries see the system as beneficial for
both master and slave. The slave is well suited for a life of service. Subjection to a master is
“the state in which the African is most effectually trained to the moral end of his being.”24 The
African has the opportunity of moral development from the institution of slavery, but what about
other races? Slavery would not work for the American and English peoples, because it “would
defeat [their] individual development.” Likewise, “The governments of Asia may be the only
ones consistent with the moral development of their people.” In other words, different peoples
18
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 32.
Duties of Masters, 15; Thornwell claims the destruction of economic and social order will follow the removal of
slavery; however, he offers very few details to how and specifically why this will occur.
20
Lacy Ford, Deliver Us From Evil: The Slavery Question in the Old South (New York: Oxford University Press,
2009), 513.
21
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 8.
22
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 26.
23
James Thornwell, The Church and Slavery, in The Collected Writings of James Henley Thornwell, vol. 4, ed. John
Adger (Richmond: Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 1871-1873), 387.
24
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 34.
19
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respond to different social structures. Thornwell suggests that one race may be well suited to a
particular way of life that others could not tolerate. The African, at the time of the conception of
southern slavery, was well suited for service. When Thornwell was delivering his defense of
slavery, he and others still felt that the slave was beneficial to southern culture, and southern
slavery had benefits for the slave.
The crux of Thornwell’s insistence that slavery should be maintained is the Bible.
Slavery is referred to multiple times in scripture and is never condemned throughout the biblical
narrative. These include the enslavement of the patriarch Joseph, the people of Israel, and the
mother of Abraham’s first son, Hagar. There is a whole letter in the New Testament devoted to
the topic of slavery. In the letter, Paul requests that Philemon release the slave Onesimus for the
sake of his fellowship. Paul does not assert or insinuate that slavery is incompatible with
Christian practice. Throughout the Bible, accounts of slavery are acknowledged as simply part
of the social fabric.25 The presence of these affirmative accounts is particularly powerful for
Thornwell’s arguments because of his literal interpretation of the scriptures. If the Bible records
slavery on numerous occasions without a single condemnation, then the enterprise must be
acceptable.
Biblical examples are authoritative in Thornwell’s theology because he understands the
Bible to be infallible. The scriptures are the cornerstone of Thornwell’s thought, irrefutable in
their authority. The Bible is the only source of Truth and Revelation for the Christian and it
should act as its own interpreter; Thornwell insists that it is the guide of the faith, a “fixed and
unalterable constitution.”26 Biblical texts that proclaim the Divine origin of the scriptures and
25
26
Thornwell, The Church and Slavery, 385.
Thornwell, The Church and Slavery, 383.
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their usefulness as teaching tools were likely sources of this conclusion.27 In addition to
accepting the literal interpretation of the scriptures, as a scholar, Thornwell also emphasizes
logic and reason. Revelation and reason are to be kept in balance with one another.28 However,
when logic or reason directly conflicts with the testimony of scripture, the scriptures take
precedence.29 “Reason is not a perfect law, because all of our thoughts are conditioned by the
fallen world.”30 Knowledge and reason are good, says the scholar of theology, but only the
Word of God is perfect. 31 The infallibility of scripture means that when the Bible approves of
slavery, Thornwell is not going to contradict this claim.
It is the duty of the church to maintain the scriptures, in this case, the sanction to practice
slavery. This sanction fits into the more general idea of church, a concept that relies upon three
previously explored ideas. First, the church is interested in sinners. Second, the church is a
place primarily for the spiritual salvation of souls through Christ. Third, the inerrant Bible
governs the church. The church’s mission is “to promote the glory of God and the salvation of
men from the curse of the law.”32 The role of scripture in the church is to guide its actions in the
world. The church speaks when the scriptures speak, but it may have no opinions.33 The church
may proclaim the Bible’s teachings, but where the texts are silent, “it is her duty to put her hand
on her lips.”34 In theory, this notion safeguards the church from ever speaking against slavery.
27
Scriptures like 2 Timothy 3:16 are often interpreted in support of a literal and infallible reading of the Bible. This
text states, “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in
righteousness.”
28
James Thornwell, The Ethical System of the Bible, in The Collected Writings of James Henley Thornwell, vol. 2,
ed. John Adger (Richmond: Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 1871-1873) 456.
29
Thornwell, The Church and Slavery, 389.
30
Thornwell, The Ethical System of the Bible, 457.
31
Thornwell, The Ethical System of the Bible, 457.
32
James Thornwell, Speech on African Colonization, in The Collected Works of James Henley Thornwell, vol. 4, ed.
John Adger (Richmond: Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 1871-1873) 473.
33
Thornwell, The Church and Slavery, 385.
34
Thornwell, The Church and Slavery, 384.
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A second distinction exists for the role of the church on slavery, this one dependent on the role of
Christ.
Thornwell makes an important distinction on the redemptive work of Christ: Jesus’s
primary concern is not social. The gospels record Christ performing healings, breaking cultural
taboos, and expressing compassion for the downtrodden, in addition to his teachings and his
death and resurrection. Thornwell highlights the latter as Christ’s foremost concern.
While he
restored sight to the blind and fed the poor, the greatest of his deeds was his resurrection. Social
reform and ethics pale in comparison to returning from the dead. “Valuable, however, as the
moral teachings of Jesus unquestionably are, His salvation includes something higher and more
difficult.” 35 Thornwell is emphatic that the role of Christ is not liberator, emancipator, or any
other epithet that may fall under the category of social reformer or ethical teacher. To
Thornwell, Christ’s purpose was to bring humanity into right relations with God. 36
The church’s ministry is a reflection of the ministry of Christ. If Christ’s primary
concern was spiritual, then the church’s mission must also be spiritual. Thornwell is insistent
that the church does not associate with any secular or temporal entity, or undertake social
concerns. It “does not build asylums.” It is not a “moral institute of universal good, whose
business it is to wage war upon every form of human ill.” The church does not seek to make
society better. The church does not “patronize every expedient …to contribute to greater human
comfort, or to mitigate the inconveniences of life.”37 The church is not concerned with the
institution of slavery because her primary responsibility is the souls of individual slaves.38 It is
35
Thornwell, The Nature of Salvation, 372.
By prioritizing the roles of Christ, Thornwell also orders the priorities of the Christian: the eternal and spiritual
first, the social and temporal second.
37
Thornwell, The Church and Slavery, 382.
38
This disassociation with the secular world was not limited to the institution of slavery; Thornwell notes in his
“Speech on the Colonization of Africa,” that the church recently voted against all affiliations with secular
36
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unacceptable for the church to become involved in the emancipation of slaves because this is
“outside of her pale.”39
While the church has no interest in slavery as an institution, it does have a word of
caution for slave masters: treat your slaves well. The master has an obligation to his slaves as a
father does to his children. The master must treat slaves properly, because he too has a Master in
Heaven.40 The church instructs slaveholders to “give them what justice, benevolence, [and]
humanity would demand even for a stranger, an enemy, a persecutor.”41 The church charges the
master to care for his slave because the church is responsible for the “emphatically poor of the
land.” 42 The slave must have his basic needs provided for. The church teaches the slave
obedience and the master responsibility. This is a relationship of mutual reciprocity,
Thornwell’s ideal for southern slavery.
The church, and by extension Christian masters, are responsible for evangelizing the
slaves. Masters should share the knowledge of salvation not only because the slave soul’s needs
redemption, but because the slave has been a faithful and loyal servant. “From infancy to age,
they attend on us –they greet our introduction into the world with a smile of joy, and lament our
departure with a heartfelt sorrow; and every motive of humanity and religion exacts from us, that
we should remunerate their services by putting within their reach, the means of a blessed
immortality.”43 During a sermon to an all-white Charleston congregation, Thornwell exhorted
masters on their duties to slaves. The occasion of the sermon was the dedication of a new
sanctuary to the religious instruction of the slave community, “without which life will be a
organizations and goals, including the Presbyterian Historical Society, an organization committed to the history of
the Presbyterian Church.
39
Thornwell, Speech on African Colonization, 473.
40
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 7.
41
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 49.
42
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 5.
43
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 47-48.
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curse.”44 The construction of the slave church was not well received by all. In the text of his
sermon, Thornwell denounces fears surrounding the new church, assuaging concerns of an
uprising. “Insurrection, anarchy and bloodshed –revolt against masters, or treason against States,
were never learned in the school of Him, whose Apostles enjoined subjection to the magistrate,
and obedience to all lawful authority, as characteristic duties of the faithful.”45 Religious
education will instruct the slave in various Christian virtues, including love, honesty, and fidelity
to one’s master.
If the church is concerned about the salvation of the slaves, what is their specific spiritual
condition? Is it possible that slavery contributes to or takes away from the spiritual life of the
individual? Not important, suggests Thornwell. While the church is concerned about salvation,
it is not because slavery to an earthly master endangers the individual; Thornwell is concerned
about slavery to sin. As mentioned earlier, true slavery is of the heart. “It is that which
degrades, which renders man unfit for the improvement of his nature, the society of angels, and
the favour of God.” It is not important “the number and variety of their civil and social
privileges, the outward advantages of rank, birth or fortune, these are not the things which
ennoble or depress us in the scale of excellence.”46 The slave may very well be in a perfect place
for the advancement of his or her spiritual journey. Theirs is a state with little concern for the
affairs of the world, including business, war, and politics. They are free to cultivate the interior
life through what God may use as a spiritual discipline, slavery itself.47 It is possible among the
slaves to see a saint adorned in rags or a holy woman dirty in the fields. “The monarch on his
throne, with prostrate millions around him, may be little, mean, despicable in the sight of the
44
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 48.
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 49. 46
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 28.
47
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 32.
45
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holy and the good, while the poor slave, in his humble hovel, or on his pallet of straw, may
possess a dignity and moral grandeur which assert his affinity with heaven.”48 The slave is not at
a spiritual disadvantage; in fact, if there is any discrepancy, the slave is likely to have an even
greater disposition toward spiritual perfection because of his or her humble state.
The changing and perfecting of the slave raises an important topic: does the institution of
slavery change over time? Thornwell suggests that it does. Slavery can continue right until the
final days, but once the Christ returns at the end of time, slavery will be no more. Slavery
cannot exist in heaven because it is a place free of bondage. If slavery will not exist in heaven –
a place where all is in proper order – how can it be permitted by people of faith in the present?
Thornwell argues that while slavery is not a perfect system, it is neither sinful. Many things
exist in this world that are imperfect but not sinful. Consider broken legs, blindness, the flu, and
baldness.49 These things are not bad, but they will know a higher and more complete state of
existence in Christ’s coming at the Parousia. Slavery is similar. It is not perfect, but neither is
there any biblical injunction against it, it serves an economic function, and it may possibly serve
for the spiritual edification of those enslaved.
Thornwell’s major points in defense of slavery have been explored; however,
Thornwell’s theology did not develop independent of outside influences. Rather, his theological
development and arguments were in the midst of an ongoing dialogue on the issue of church and
slavery. Abolitionists raise important issues to which Thornwell must respond.
Abolitionists disagree with Thornwell’s treatment of the biblical texts on two counts.
First, they claim that an infallible interpretation of the scriptures is not faithful to the intent of the
greater Christian story of redemption. “While they admit that the letter of the Scripture is
48
49
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 29.
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 31. Grayson 13
distinctly and unambiguously in our favour,” Thornwell writes, “they maintain that their spirit
was against us.”50 Abolitionists focus not on stories and accounts of slaves, but on various
maxims that exhort kindness, charity, and brotherly love. These maxims are elevated above the
narrative and deemed the “spirit” of the scriptures. “Love thy neighbor,” “turn the other cheek,”
and “do unto your others as you would have them do unto you” become standards of right and
wrong against which narratives of slavery are discarded. Thornwell rejects these claims. First,
these arguments make the Bible dependent on human reason and make their reading dependent
on a particular system or pattern through which to read it, rather than letting the Bible be its own
interpreter. Second, Thornwell rejects these pleas on the basis that they are hypocritical. Unless
the abolitionist is willing to sacrifice his own wealth to alleviate the suffering of the
impoverished, he should not demand that the slaveholder do the same for the slave.51 Thornwell
declares abolitionists hypocrites for “overlooking, with a rare expansion of benevolence, the
evils which press around their own doors.”52
A second abolitionist rebuttal to Thornwell’s straightforward interpretation of the
scriptures is that the work of Christ is to set the captive free. When John the Baptist sent
messengers to enquire as to Jesus’s work, Christ’s own words were, “The blind receive sight, the
lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good
news is preached to the poor.”53 It would seem that Christ cared for the oppressed, a proposition
Thornwell readily admits. However, Thornwell maintains his stance that Christ came first for
the purpose of the salvation of souls. Second, the true problem for the slave is his spiritual state,
not his physical one. Thornwell is particularly apt at taking an argument and imbuing it with
50
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 16.
Thornwell, The Church and Slavery, 391.
52
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 7.
53
Matt. 11:5, New International Version.
51
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deeper spiritual meaning, thus changing the terms of the debate. Slavery is not the real issue;
rather, it is the spiritual state of the slave, with whom we should share the love of Christ. Any
other debate is less important.
A third argument against the institution of slavery is that of human rights. First, the
abolitionist asserts that the slave is robbed of his or her labor. Thornwell replies by denying that
labor is a right of man. Nowhere in scripture or moral philosophy does this notion appear,
according to Thornwell.54 Second, the slave is not treated with absolute equality, rights and
privileges are withheld. However, there is no example of absolute equality in nature, Thornwell
argues. Furthermore, the notion of equal rights and privileges is not guaranteed to all humanity.
Some rights are situational, Thornwell points to the right of men to vote and not women or
children. These rights are not granted by humanity, but by the culture and circumstance in which
one finds oneself.55 Thornwell argues that slaves are given all the rights humanity affords them,
but not all the privileges afforded to higher levels of society. The relationship of slave and
master is a civil one and a political one. Men and women serve various roles in a society, like
members of a body. Each one does not serve the same function or have the same honors, but
each has an important part to play.56
Abolitionists decry slavery because it is a violation of human rights and is abusive to the
humanity of the enslaved. Freedom is restricted by bondage and is enforced with violence.
Thornwell utterly rejects these claims; the slave is as free as other men in regards to morality and
freedom of personal growth, the greater aims of society.57 “The slave has rights – all the rights
which belong essentially to humanity, and without which his nature could not be human, nor his
54
Thornwell, The Church and Slavery, 391.
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 40.
56
Thornwell, The Church and Slavery, 394.
57
Thornwell, Duties and Masters, 31.
55
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conduct susceptible of praise or blame.”58 Furthermore, true freedom is not a matter of being
able to move about as one desires, but the ability to exist within a system for the improvement of
oneself and others. In terms of happiness, true happiness is not a result of physical status, but
spiritual edification in Christ.59 On the other hand, claims of abuse are not normative. While
from time to time various slave masters may err in a violent or abusive way, this is not the
normal expression of the slave system. Individual shortfalls are not reflective of the larger
system. Abolitionists respond that putting men in the position of “master” over other men is a
certain way to make him stumble spiritually. The theologian disagrees; men and women may
fall to sin in any circumstance. The flawed element is human nature, not the social system. If
abuses occur, it is not reflective of the slavery system, but of the flawed men and women
involved in the system.
The enemies of slavery are “atheists, socialists, communists, red republicans, [and]
jacobins.”60 Thornwell is not pleased with attacks on the slavery system and is disturbed by
abolitionist efforts. Abolitionists that invoke the Bible are atheists because they have rejected
the inerrancy of the scriptures; to reject the blatant references to slavery and declare it sinful is
not only a denial of the Holy Scriptures, but of God himself. This is a very serious offense to
southern culture and to Christ. “If slavery be indeed consistent with the Bible, their
responsibility is tremendous, who, in obedience to blind impulses and visionary theories, pull
down the fairest fabric of government the world has ever seen, rend the body of Christ in sunder,
and dethrone the Saviour in His own Kingdom.”61 Thornwell makes the debate not merely over
the system of slavery, but a religious war between faithful slaveholders and wicked abolitionists,
58
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 40.
Thornwell, The Ethical System of the Bible, 373.
60
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 14.
61
Thornwell, The Church and Slavery, 395. 59
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between Christians and atheists.62 The church has a responsibility to fight in this war not for the
sake of slavery, but for the validity of the scriptures themselves. Thornwell exhorts all
Christendom against the heresy of the abolitionists.
If not a war with the atheist, Thornwell’s Christians are battling against communists and
socialists, his epithet for those who insist on absolute equality. “The argument, fully and
legitimately carried out, would condemn every arrangement of society, which did not secure to
all its members an absolute equality of position; it is the very spirit of socialism and
communism.”63 Thornwell is adamant that there has never been a system of real equality and
will not be until Christ’s return. While in heaven there will not be bondage, Thornwell does not
believe that the scriptures teach the present perfectibility of society.64 It is not possible in this
world to have a system of complete equality. Instead, a system of slavery with reciprocal rights
and mutual respect, founded on Christian concepts of love and charity, would foster healthy
relationships. If all parts of this system are working properly, then “true progress consists.”65
Slavery is not an evil, but it is rather a biblically sanctioned reciprocal relationship
between slave and master where service is rendered in exchange for daily provisions. The
slavery system benefits all who are involved. It is an economic driving force and a stimulant of
cultural progress. It is a civil relationship wherein masters can fulfill the call to care for the least
of these, and slaves are free to pursue the spiritual life free of worldly burden. The greatest
benefit of the slavery system is the promulgation of the gospel; lost souls that otherwise may
never find faith are coming to salvation. With all of these apparent benefits, how could the
slavery system be anything but good?
62
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 14.
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 35.
64
Thornwell, Duties of Masters, 32.
65
Thornwell, The Church and Slavery, 394. 63
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Thornwell defends the integrity of the institution of southern slavery from the foundation
of a theological system well suited for this particular task. His interpretation of and insistence
upon the supremacy of scripture makes claims to the contrary attacks against divine revelation.
The church, who could never oppose the teachings of scripture, is now the enemy of the
abolitionist who claims the Bible as his authority. Furthermore, the church would have no
interest in reforming the slave system even if it were not contrary to scripture, for the church has
no business in the affairs of political structures and economic systems. The church is primarily
interested in the spiritual, as is Thornwell’s Christ. The primary spiritual role of Christ is
decisive for Thornwell to declare spiritual slavery to sin more dire than the accused abuses of a
physical system of bondage. The slave is in good hands, however, because the church will
evangelize him, and the Christian master will lead him with all manner of Christian charity and
good will. Thornwell’s theology presents an ideal system of slavery dedicated to the well fare of
all involved.66
66
Thornwell was very vocal about his proslavery sentiments. At South Carolina College, Thornwell was most vocal about all issues of a theological nature during his time as professor and chaplain. While Thornwell maintained his pro-­‐slavery views during his presidency, administrative duties occupied most of his time. He did, however, continue to exert considerable influence over the South Carolina presbyter and the larger Presbyterian Church. Thornwell’s correspondence on academic and church issues are contained in Life and Letters of James Henley Thornwell, edited by B.M. Palmer, located at the South Caroliniana Library. Grayson 18
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Thornwell, James. The Church and Slavery, in The Collected Writings of James Henley
Thornwell, vol. 4, edited by John Adger. Richmond: Presbyterian Committee of
Publication, 1871 – 1873.
---. The Ethical System of the Bible, in The Collected Writings of James Henley Thornwell, vol.
4, edited by. John Adger. Richmond: Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 18711873.
---. Life and Letters of James Henley Thornwell. Edited by B.M. Palmer. Richmond: Whittet and
Shepperson, 1875.
---. The Nature of Salvation, in The Collected Writings of James Henley Thornwell, vol. 2,
edited by. John Adger. Richmond: Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 1871 – 1873.
---. “Nullification,” Columbia Hive, June 2, 1832.
---. The Rights and Duties of Masters: A Sermon Preached at the Dedication of the Church
Erected in Charleston, S.C., for the Benefit and the Instruction of the Coloured
Population. Charleston: Press of Walker and James, 1850.
---. Speech on African Colonization, in Collected Writings of James Henley Thornwell, vol. 4,
edited by. John Adger. Richmond: Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 1871 – 1873.
Secondary Sources
Ford, Lacy. Deliver Us From Evil: The Slavery Question in the Old South. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2009.
Hollis, Daniel. The University of South Carolina, vol. 1: South Carolina College. Columbia:
University of South Carolina Press, 1951.
Matt. 11:5 New International Version.