d Religion

SERVITUDE

the patriarchs were slaveholders, and particular stress is placed upon the example of Ab

t slavery has existed from the days of those good old

of slavery is clearly recognized. Abraham the friend of Go

xample was a sufficient warrant for slaveholding in all ages. The same position was taken by Dr. Rice in his d

usive evidence in the case. If it should appear after an examination of the case, that none of the patriarchs owned slaves, or that the example of a pa

r patriarch, ever owned a slave; and as evidence in support o

driver, slave-trader, or by any other name indicative of such a relation. Nor is any man, or woman in their employ, eith

hich slaveholding may be legitimately inferred. Those inseparable concomitants of slavery, th

their consent, he hastened unto the tent to Sarah and requested her to bake some cakes with all possible dispatch, while he should run to the herd and fetch a calf tender and good and have it dressed. The repast was soon provided, the guests were seated around the wholesome meal, and Abraham stood by them under the tree while they ate. Now, I submit, had this patriarch been a slaveholder, he would have ordered "C

eath of Noah, and when as yet the postdiluvian world was in its infancy, and it is not probable, leaving history out of view, that slavery could have been instituted at so early a peri

his descendants, had a law against slavery; for no person among them could absolutel

ually a sort of Saturnalia, or feast, instituted most probably in commemoration of the original state of freedom, in which men lived before servitude

dom of his descendants; and absolutely prohibited their enslavement. And it also appears that those institutions were for a long period observed, and finally incorporated by Moses into the Law for the preservation of the liberties of the Israelites. Now, Abr

the time of Joseph, that Joseph was sold as a slave, and that the

"true and full" account of the ancient Egyptians, specifies with great care the various classes of men, but does not men

for believing that the wholesome institutions of Noah were preserved for a long time in Egypt. That a system of servitude existed in that country is true, but absolute slavery was not permitted. Parents possessed great authority over t

or a limited period, and evidently that period had expired befo

property, and were not distributed throughout the country, as chattel slaves are. Their servitude was national. Their

e; and as the patriarchs flourished in that period, the inference is clear that they did not own slaves, and were not slaveholders. Those holy me

said that Abraham had servants, it is assumed that he had SLAVES. Now, although what has been proved, is altogether sufficient to exculpate that good man and all the patriarchs from

xed the word bond, and made it read bond-servant, but this was done without authority, as precisely the same word is used in the original. The original word is used to denote the following kinds of service: To work for another; Gen. 29: 20. To serve or be servants of a king; 2d Sam., 16:

rve or dress the garden as a SLAVE, but as a man. The same word is used to express the service performed for Laban by Jacob. The relation

of chattel slavery is not found in it. It is used to express all ki

Zilpah, and evidently mean no more than our English word servant in its usual acceptation. Those women were not slaves, they were free women. It has been very properl

ed here to express the manner in which Boaz obtained his wife, that is used in Gen. to show how a part of Abraham's servants were obtained. But the beautiful Ruth was not a slave. Jacob purchased his beloved Rachel, and less beloved Leah, but those wives and mothers of the twelve patriarchs could not have been slaves. Had they been chattels, why, then, according to an essential feature of the American slave code, the twelve patriarchs would all ha

are not authorized to infer that the persons purchased became

to a distant location, desired to accompany him, to receive the benefits of his friendship and counsels, live under his patriarchship, as he was a prince, (see Gen., 23: 6,) and enjoy the protection of his power. Some of

version. "Cast away from you all your transgressions, and make you a new heart and a new spirit." And this rendering of the word "gotten" is confirmed by the Chaldee paraphrase on this passage, which reads thus: "Souls they had instructed or turned from idolatry and taught in the true religion." "The Hebrews have a tradition," says Ba

iserable subterfuge for hard-hearted oppressors, who are seeking an apology or excuse for sins which loudly cry for the vengeance of heaven! Could Father Abraham arise from the dead, visit the South, and there behold thousands of his spiritual children toiling without remuneration, shut out from the bl

e patriarchs did hold slaves, this fact of itself, would afford not the slightest apology for slaveholding now. The patriarchs, it is admitted, had a plurality of wives, but their example is not now a sufficient warrant for polygamy. There is not an ecclesiastical court in the United Stat