Before me lies a boys’ “Annual” open at a page upon which appears a number of small pictures, illustrating some of the horrors of slavery. The pictures can easily be visualised from the following letterpress:
“From 1562 onwards millions of African negroes were shipped to America, after their villages were burned; they were chained together, and driven to the slave ships; they were packed in the ship’s hold like sardines in a tin, and manacled together; a big proportion died, and not only these, but also many who were diseased were cruelly pitched overboard still in chains; every slave was branded with red hot irons; if they gave trouble, boiling water was thrown over them; those who lived to work on plantations wore collars to prevent escape to the woods; in the Wilber-force Museum in Hull is a slave trader’s ledger shewing that slaves were sold for as low as 6d. each.”
During the above years, both in the British Empire and in America, slavery reached its worst stages of barbarity, even exceeding that of the ancient world. Largely owing to the efforts of Wilber-force, Livingstone and others, slavery in the British Empire was abolished in 1807, but the Act of Parliament was systematically evaded until 1833, when all slaves were fully emancipated.
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Author: C. H. Arnold
Keywords: slave, servant, bond servant, bondservant, Slavery, freeman, servitude, bond servant of Christ, bondservant of Christ, servants of Christ, servant of Christ
Bible reference(s): Matthew 8:6, Matthew 8:8, Matthew 8:9, Matthew 8:13, Matthew 10:24, Matthew 10:25, Matthew 12:18, Matthew 18:26, Matthew 18:27, Matthew 18:28, Matthew 18:32, Matthew 20:27, Matthew 23:11, Matthew 24:45, Matthew 24:46, Matthew 24:48, Matthew 24:50, Matthew 25:21, Matthew 25:23, Matthew 25:26, Matthew 25:30, Matthew 26:51, Mark 9:35, Mark 10:44, Mark 12:2, Mark 12:4, Mark 14:47, Luke 1:54, Luke 1:69, Luke 2:29, Luke 7:2, Luke 7:3, Luke 7:7, Luke 7:8, Luke 7:10, Luke 12:43, Luke 12:45, Luke 12:46, Luke 12:47, Luke 14:17, Luke 14:21, Luke 14:22, Luke 14:23, Luke 16:13, Luke 17:7, Luke 17:9, Luke 19:17, Luke 19:22, Luke 20:10, Luke 20:11, Luke 22:50, John 8:35, John 12:26, John 13:16, John 15:15, John 15:20, Romans 1:1, 1 Corinthians 7:21, 1 Corinthians 7:22, 1 Corinthians 9:19, 1Co 12:13, Galatians 1:10, Gal 3:28, Galatians 4:1, Galatians 4:7, Eph 6:6, Eph 6:8, Philippians 2:7, Col 3:11, Colossians 4:12, 2 Timothy 2:24, Titus 1:1, Philemon 1:16, Hebrews 3:5, James 1:1, 2 Peter 1:1, Jude 1:1
Source: “God’s Slave,” The Testimony, Vol. 8, No. 88, April 1938, pp. 161-3.
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