ABSTRACT
Christian thought gave a new trend to the concept of progress. The Jewish controversies over political issues did not interest the early Christians, and the attempt to involve Jesus in them did not succeed: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's.” About the political oppression from which the Jews suffered, Jesus had nothing to say, nor had early Christian writers. “Servants obey your masters,” is the Pauline injunction.
It does not seem to have been the intention of Christianity to abolish the distinctions of rank, or to alter the civil rights of mankind which were already established. There is no precept of the gospel by which the authority of the master is in any respect restrained or limited; but, on the contrary, there are several passages from which it may be inferred that the slaves, even after they embraced the Christian religion, were not absolved from any part of the duties formerly incumbent upon them. 1
