d Religion

OSES AND

om of Christ, slavery is distinctly recognized, carefully regulated, and unequivocally sanctioned; and hence, that it is an institution upon which Jehovah now looks

That law was imperfect in its character, limited in its application, and temporary in its design. It co

owed by the law under consideratio

fe and children living, to take the childless widow of a dec

allowed to make concubines, or wives for a limi

; provided he still continued his intercourse with the first as her

e and slay the murderer, unless he could escape to the city of refuge; and

xterminate the Canaanites, men, women

higher state of society might be introduced, belongs confessedly to that system which St. Paul says made nothing perfect. They are a part of the commandment which

rsue a neighbor who had committed accidental or intentional homicide, overtake and slay him? But the law of Moses justified the Jewish man-slayer as plainly as the most ultra defender of slavery maintains that it justified slaveholding. Suppose we admit, for argument sake, that slavery was authorized by the law of Moses, does it follow as a matter of course, that the law of Christ authorizes it? By no means; for we have seen th

the "chosen seed," as for instance, the forcible occupancy of the land of Canaan, and of the cities thereof. Now those grants were not made to Americans, but to the ancient Israelites, and it is neither modest nor sensible for citizens of the United States to act

rds has said, "a permission to every nation under heaven to buy slaves of the nations round about them; to us, to buy of our Indian neighbors; to them, to buy of us; to the French to buy of the English, and to the English to buy of the French; and so through the world. Thus according to t

ken separately, or together, destroy entirely the whole force of th

atute upon which the main reliance is placed, by the friends of slavery, and which is supposed to contain the b

f the children of strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they beget in your land: and they shall

by our translators, and is not in the original; and the word servants means no more than laborers or workers. All kinds of servants are described by the term here found, and hence from its use in this place, it cann

"of them shall ye buy" may be properly rendered, "of them shall ye get, or obtain servants." The word translated buy, in the passage before us, is in other places translated "get" or "getteth." Thus, "He that beareth reproof getteth understanding." Prov., 15: 32. "He that getteth wisdom, loveth his own soul." Prov., 19: 8. But the meaning of the word buy, and sell, as applied to the purchase and sale of men, is definitely settled by its use in the context of the passage which we are examining. It is used in verse 47, "if thy brother wax poor and sell himself" etc. In verse 39, the reading is, "and be sold." These passages are intended to convey an idea of the sa

ime to be punished with a still deeper degradation than idolatry can produce. "The word heathen," says

, as 'children of the East,' 'children of the Province,' 'children of the Ethiopians.' Hence, the Jews, instead of buying little boys and girls

ed opinions of the translators tempted them to give such a color to this sentence as best accorded with their proslavery theory. Hence this strong expression in the text, while in the margin the lit

ble for any one man literally to be a bondman forever, unless servitude could be continued in heaven or h

ious meaning:-"You may buy of themselves, for servants, men and women who are natives of the adjoining countries, just as you have already been authorized to buy your own countrymen

e of the rich and powerful, while it crushed the poor and defenseless into the dust, disregarding their interests and their sorrows, but it was a benificent

eth a man and (or it should be) selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. Ex. 21: 16. Now, as all t

God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water; that thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, and into his oath, which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day." Deut. 29. But conformity to the law of Moses was voluntary. We cannot conceive that a Jew was allowed to buy a heathen servant against his will, tie him, inflict upon him the rite of circumcision, and then compel him to observe the great feasts ordained by the law, and, otherwise conform to the Jewish religion. Hence the acceptance of a place as a servant in a Jewish family was a matter of choice. 3. Servant

servants were to be treated. "Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the s

the reading of the law, and in short enjoy all the advantages of the Jewish religion. Mr. Barnes estimates that in a period of fifty years, not less than twenty three were appropriated to the exclusive benefit of servants, during which time their

of a stranger." "Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger." "The Lord your God regardeth not persons. Love ye therefore the stranger." But does not American slavery vex and oppress the stranger and pervert

pledges, or presents. They never were sold or given away. The reason of this is found in the fact that they were not chattels,-they were recognized as men, an

ily, and inherit, under some circumstances, their master's property. Deut. 21: 10-14. A slave is not regarded as a man, can own nothin

ty was proclaimed throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof. Lev. 25: 10, 11. Contracts for service, under any circumstances, could not hold beyond that great jubilee. It was a glorious institution, and a type of the proclamation of the gospel. But Ameri

ject, we are fully satisfied that the 25th chapter of Lev. contains, as Mr. Smith has said, "the constitution of Heaven's first Missionary society,

iah; that the divinely appointed priesthood and sacrifices were in Jerusalem; and also that a renunciation of idolatry and hearty acceptance of the God and religion of the bible was absolutely required of those foreigners who desired to become servants; that when they did become servants they were blessed with all the precious privileges of the Jewish religi

would have said something about them. Do we find these facts in history? No, not one of them. Jerusalem, thank God, was a free city. Judea a free state. Foreigners were employed from age to age, as servants, but as was contemplated, they embraced the religion of God, became adopted citizens and were fully identified with the commonwealth of Israel. "After circumcision they were," as Jahn says, "recorded among the Hebrews," and after the jubilee they enjoyed all the immunities of the children of Abraham. Such was the intention, and such the results of Levitical servitude. Between that system and American slavery there is scarcely any thing in common. Slavery originated in piracy, is a syste