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George Bourne and the Book and Slavery Irreconcilable
206 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1969
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August 28, 2018
This book is in the spirit of “The Antislavery Impulse” written by Gilbert Barnes a generation prior. That book sought to temper the reputation of William Lloyd Garrison as leader of the abolitionist movement by placing him in the context of others, namely Theodore Weld, said to have been more influential. This book also seeks to prove that Garrison “has steadily lost ground in the overall picture of the movement.” Where historical consensus as of 1969, per the authors, held that Garrison’s chief contribution was limited to being the first to call for immediate uncompensated emancipation, the authors argue that even this claim goes too far. The first such abolitionist, they argue, was George Bourne.
This is really two books. The more important of the two is a reprint of Bourne’s 1816 volume, “The Book and Slavery Irreconcilable.” In this book, Bourne engages in an extensive scriptural exegesis to condemn slavery as the sin of “man-stealing.” He holds the institution as against the law of God and also against the law of man — as articulated in the American Declaration of Independence. Given that slavery is sinful, Bourne concluded that it must be stopped immediately. More, as minister to a Presbyterian congregation, he concluded (in a decision that would prove troublesome for him) that slave owners could not be members of the church.
The second book is an account by Christie and Dumond of the life and influence of Bourne — his early journalistic provocations, his experience as a seminarian discovering an overlooked teaching against man-stealing, and his controversial defrocking for closing his congregation to slaveholders. The book he wrote in the wake of that ordeal would later prove to be one of the critical inspirations for Garrison, and Bourne himself would be a mentor and partner to Garrison — but one who would later tell Garrison he had gone too far.
This is really two books. The more important of the two is a reprint of Bourne’s 1816 volume, “The Book and Slavery Irreconcilable.” In this book, Bourne engages in an extensive scriptural exegesis to condemn slavery as the sin of “man-stealing.” He holds the institution as against the law of God and also against the law of man — as articulated in the American Declaration of Independence. Given that slavery is sinful, Bourne concluded that it must be stopped immediately. More, as minister to a Presbyterian congregation, he concluded (in a decision that would prove troublesome for him) that slave owners could not be members of the church.
The second book is an account by Christie and Dumond of the life and influence of Bourne — his early journalistic provocations, his experience as a seminarian discovering an overlooked teaching against man-stealing, and his controversial defrocking for closing his congregation to slaveholders. The book he wrote in the wake of that ordeal would later prove to be one of the critical inspirations for Garrison, and Bourne himself would be a mentor and partner to Garrison — but one who would later tell Garrison he had gone too far.
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