Digest of Biblical Civil Law

For defenders of slavery to read from God's word that "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread,'' [Gen. 3:19] and to preach there-from that, "In the sweat of other mans faces you shall eat bread,'' is dishonest. Those who follow Him who said "As you wish all men to do unto you, do unto them'' [Matt. 7:12] insult God and His Church to ask the christian world to aid them in doing to a whole race of men as they would have no man do unto themselves.
- Abraham Lincoln, To George B. Ide, James R. Doolittle, and A. Hubbell, May 30, 1864, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln VII:368 (University of Michigan Digital Library Production Services, 2001), at http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=lincoln;idno=lincoln7;rgn=div1;view=text;cc=lincoln;node=lincoln7:822