No Longer a Slave
Stories
Contents
"No Longer a Slave" by Frank Ramirez
* * * * * * * *
No Longer a Slave
by Frank Ramirez
Galatians 4:4-7
So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God. -- Galatians 4:7
At the time Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians slavery was a fact in the ancient world, and while it was still a great evil, it was based on economics, and not race. One was captured in war and forced to become a slave, one was born into slavery, or one was so mired in debts that slavery was accepted as a way to pay off your creditors.
But first in the American colonies and then in the United States slavery was based on the false belief that some people were inferior and destined to slavery. Most white people professing Christianity believed this way. But not all.
The old Dunkers were one of the groups identified as the Pennsylvania Dutch. In 1719 they came to American Colonies before they became the United States. The Dunkers settled in the Germantown, Pennsylvania region. With their plain garb, prayer coverings and bonnets for the women, and long beards (without mustaches) for the men, they were instantly recognizable.
Their method of church governance was to gather in what they called the Annual Meeting, at one of their meeting houses, and determine church policy and polity together. The first recorded Annual Meeting decision regarded slavery.
They were unequivocally against it.
Nevertheless there arose the case of a certain John Van Laschet, who was a member of the Conestoga, Pennsylvania, congregation. He owned a female slave, through whom he had fathered children. On June 24, 1775 he wrote a letter to his fellow Dunkers in the Germantown congregation, considered the mother church. Confessing that he had kept slaves, he wrote, "...I find myself needing to beg you, all together, brethren and sisters, in anything where I may have sinned against you or angered you, be it in words or works, or otherwise in my conduct. I fervently beg your forgiveness and hope in the future with the help of God to conduct myself better and more carefully.
"As far as I know, the greatest complaint was about a Negro woman, that I should let her go. That I have done, both her and her son. She wanted two of her children to be kept until they have earned some money, lest they become the wards of the township when they are old or ailing. And now I request you, dear brethren and sisters, to pray for me that God may forgive me, for I have strayed from the faith and caused myself great pain."
This raised the issue of how to insure that freed slaves were equipped economically and educationally to earn their living. The conversation must have continued among the Dunkers, for when they met in 1782 they returned to the matter of Van Laschet. Their official ruling read as follows:
"Concerning the unchristian negro slave trade, it has been unanimously considered, that it cannot be permitted in any wise by the church, that a member should or could purchase negroes, or keep them as slaves."
The Dunkers demanded that the woman be set free, and that if she preferred not to leave that Van Laschet pay her a salary. Furthermore the children were not simply to be released, but that he "is to have them schooled and provided with (food), raiment and bedding during the time, as it is just and proper; and when they are twenty one years old, he is to give them a free (new) outfit of clothing. "
Rulings in 1797, 1812, 1813, and 1837 confirmed the need to educate and train former slaves to become full members of society. As the Dunkers spread south into Virginia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas, rulings in 1853, 1854, 1857, and finally during the war years of 1863 and 1863 maintained the firm stance against slavery, which led to the arrest, imprisonment, and even murder of members of the fellowship.
In Paul's letter to the Galatians he speaks of a free-born child who is under the care of a Pedagogus who is responsible to raise him to the stage of adulthood, at which time he was to have become competent to manage his own affairs. The Old Dunkers wanted to make sure that freed slaves in America would have the training and the clothing to make it possible for them to navigate a life of freedom.
Certainly we as the church must be patiently teaching each other how to grow out of the bonds of false assumptions and beliefs about the world, in order to become mature believers in the world as it truly is.
*****************************************
StoryShare, December 31, 2017 issue.
Copyright 2017 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
"No Longer a Slave" by Frank Ramirez
* * * * * * * *
No Longer a Slave
by Frank Ramirez
Galatians 4:4-7
So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God. -- Galatians 4:7
At the time Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians slavery was a fact in the ancient world, and while it was still a great evil, it was based on economics, and not race. One was captured in war and forced to become a slave, one was born into slavery, or one was so mired in debts that slavery was accepted as a way to pay off your creditors.
But first in the American colonies and then in the United States slavery was based on the false belief that some people were inferior and destined to slavery. Most white people professing Christianity believed this way. But not all.
The old Dunkers were one of the groups identified as the Pennsylvania Dutch. In 1719 they came to American Colonies before they became the United States. The Dunkers settled in the Germantown, Pennsylvania region. With their plain garb, prayer coverings and bonnets for the women, and long beards (without mustaches) for the men, they were instantly recognizable.
Their method of church governance was to gather in what they called the Annual Meeting, at one of their meeting houses, and determine church policy and polity together. The first recorded Annual Meeting decision regarded slavery.
They were unequivocally against it.
Nevertheless there arose the case of a certain John Van Laschet, who was a member of the Conestoga, Pennsylvania, congregation. He owned a female slave, through whom he had fathered children. On June 24, 1775 he wrote a letter to his fellow Dunkers in the Germantown congregation, considered the mother church. Confessing that he had kept slaves, he wrote, "...I find myself needing to beg you, all together, brethren and sisters, in anything where I may have sinned against you or angered you, be it in words or works, or otherwise in my conduct. I fervently beg your forgiveness and hope in the future with the help of God to conduct myself better and more carefully.
"As far as I know, the greatest complaint was about a Negro woman, that I should let her go. That I have done, both her and her son. She wanted two of her children to be kept until they have earned some money, lest they become the wards of the township when they are old or ailing. And now I request you, dear brethren and sisters, to pray for me that God may forgive me, for I have strayed from the faith and caused myself great pain."
This raised the issue of how to insure that freed slaves were equipped economically and educationally to earn their living. The conversation must have continued among the Dunkers, for when they met in 1782 they returned to the matter of Van Laschet. Their official ruling read as follows:
"Concerning the unchristian negro slave trade, it has been unanimously considered, that it cannot be permitted in any wise by the church, that a member should or could purchase negroes, or keep them as slaves."
The Dunkers demanded that the woman be set free, and that if she preferred not to leave that Van Laschet pay her a salary. Furthermore the children were not simply to be released, but that he "is to have them schooled and provided with (food), raiment and bedding during the time, as it is just and proper; and when they are twenty one years old, he is to give them a free (new) outfit of clothing. "
Rulings in 1797, 1812, 1813, and 1837 confirmed the need to educate and train former slaves to become full members of society. As the Dunkers spread south into Virginia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas, rulings in 1853, 1854, 1857, and finally during the war years of 1863 and 1863 maintained the firm stance against slavery, which led to the arrest, imprisonment, and even murder of members of the fellowship.
In Paul's letter to the Galatians he speaks of a free-born child who is under the care of a Pedagogus who is responsible to raise him to the stage of adulthood, at which time he was to have become competent to manage his own affairs. The Old Dunkers wanted to make sure that freed slaves in America would have the training and the clothing to make it possible for them to navigate a life of freedom.
Certainly we as the church must be patiently teaching each other how to grow out of the bonds of false assumptions and beliefs about the world, in order to become mature believers in the world as it truly is.
*****************************************
StoryShare, December 31, 2017 issue.
Copyright 2017 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
