Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1838-01-17

pions Sarah kneaded cakes for the angels,
and the modest Rebecca drew water for
the camels Of Abraham's servants. Since
such fashions ars rife in Chestnut-street
and Broadway no,O. they must have been
in Canaan and Padanaram four thous-
and years agol ....4 - ",
I Ill. /. The inference that the word
buy, used to describe the procuring Of ser
wants, means procuring them as ehGtteIs,
seems based upon the fallacy-that what
ever costs money IS money thatwhateyer
or whoever you pay money for, is an ar
tlcle OF property, and the fact of your pay
ing tor il process that it is property. The
children Of Israel were required to par-
chase their 6rst-born out from under the
obligations Of the priesthood, Numb. xviii.
Is, l6 /; Exod. xxxiv. 20. This custom
is kept up to this day among the Jews,
and the word bag is still used to describe
the transaction. Does this prove that their
6rst-born were, or are, held as property ?
They were bought as really as were SER
rants. So the Israelites were required to
pay money for their own souls. This is
called sometimes ran som, sometimes an
atonement. Were their souls therefore
marketable commodities
2 Bible saints bought their wives
Boaz bought Ruth. so Ruth the Moab
itess, the wife of Mahlon, have purchds.
ed to be my wife," Ruth iv. 10. Hosea
bought his wife. $50 / bought her to
me fol- fifteen pieces of silver, and for an
homer OF barley, and an half homer of
barley" Hosea iii @. Jacob bought his
wives Rachel and Leah, and not having
money. paid for them in labor-seven
years piece. Gen. xxx. 1919. Mos
es probably bought his wife in the same
way and paid for her by his labor, as the
servant of her father. Exod. ii. 21.-
Shechem, when negotiating with Jacob
and his sons for Dinab, says, What We
shall say unto me, will giue. Ask me
never so much dowry and gift, and l will
give according as We shall say unto me.p
Gen. xxxiv. IL, IL. David purchased
Michal, Saufs daughter, and Othniel,
Achsab, the daughter of Caleb, by per-
forming perilous services for the benefit
OF their fathers-in-law. Sam. xviii Is
-27 Judges j. IL, 10. That the pur-
chase offwiyes, either with money or bv
service was the general practice, is plain
IRON such passages as Exod. xxi. IL,
and Sam. xviii. 25. Among the Jews
of the present day this usage exists, tho
it is now mere form, there being no real
purchase. Yet among their marriage
ceremonies, is one called " marrying by
the penny" The condolences, not only
In the methods of procuring wives and
servants, and in the terms employed in
describing the transactions, but in the
prices paid for each, are worthy ofnotice.
The highest price of wives (virgins) and
servants was the same. Compare Deut
xxi. %, 90, and Exod, xxi. II, with
Lev xvii. 2-s. The medium price of
wives and servants was the same. Com
pare Hosea iii. 2, with aExod. xxi q
Hosea appears to have paid one half in
money and the other in grain. Further,
the Israelitish female bought-servants
were lOiUes, their husbands and then mas
tiers being the same persons. Exod. xxi
8, and Judges xix. 8, 81. If buving SER
wants among the Jews shows that they
were property, then buying tcires shows
that they We're property. The words in
the original used TO describe the one, de-
scribe the other. Why not contend that
the wives ofsthe ancient fathers Of the
faithful were their chattels, and used as
ready change at a pinch2 And thence
deduce the rights OF modern husbands
How far gone is the Church from prim-
tive purity How slow to emulate illus
trIous examples Alas Patriarchs and
prophets are followed afar off! When
will pious husbands live up to the Bible
privileges, and become partakers with
Old Testament worthless in the blessed
ness of a husbands rightful immunities
Surely professors of religion now, are
bound TO buy and hold their wives as
! property Refusing so to do is to ques-
ton the morality Of those "good old'
wife4rading patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob" with the prophets, and a
host ofwhom the world was no: worthy.
! = The use of the word buy, to describe
the procuring Of wives, is not peculiar to
the Hebrew In the Syriae language,
1.-The common expression for 'the married"
or "the espoused." is "the bought
Even so late a. the 18th century, the
common record of marriages in the old
German Chronicles was "A. BOUGHT B."
+ The Hebrew word translated buy, is,
like other words, modified BY the nature
ofthe subjectto which it is applied
Eve says, II have gotten (bought) a man
of the Lord" She named him Cain, that
is, bought. He that heareth reproof,
/ getteth (buyeth1 understanding, Prov. XIV.
80 Solin lisa. xi. IL. The Lord shall
set his hand again to recover 10 buy) the
remnant of his people" So Ps. ixxviiii
81. He brought them to this mountain
(which his right hand had purchased, i. e.