rd, through Moses, freed the Hebrews from Egyptian enslavement. The Lord said, "For unto me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God." (Leviticus 25:55, 1965, p. 105). So whether or not a person is enslaved by man, we all are enslaved by God. While the Southern preachers were using the Bible to show their support for slavery, the abolitionist movement was growing in the North.The abolitionist movement rose up through the churches of the North. Unfortunately, by the mid-1830's, the church had distanced itself from the abolitionists. The church branded the abolitionists as "infidels," or nonbelievers, and they called them radicals. Many abolitionists remained faithful to their belief in God, though they were no longer accepted by the church. The abolitionists believed themselves to be the "righteous remnant" of the evangelical tradition; abolitionism became a surrogate religion. (Mathews, 1980, p. 209). Two radical abolitionists, William Lloyd Garrison and Theodore Dwight Weld, considered slavery a sin.Garrison and Weld felt that slavery was a rebellion against God, and all men were accountable to God. Both men thought that man was competing with God for control if he were to own another man. (Lewis, 1973). Garrison spoke about his beliefs in Thoughts on African Colonization, which he wrote in 1832. Garrison writes:Man is created a rational being; and therefore he is subject of moral government, and accountable. Being rational and accountable, he is bound to improve his mind and intellect.... The slaves are men; they were born, then as free as their masters; they cannot be property; and he who denies them an opportunity to improve their faculties, comes into collusion with Jehovah, and incurs a fearful responsibility. But we know they are not treated like rational beings, and that oppression almost entirely obliterates their sense of mo...
