Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1850-02-27

oe Sale rom arrest out In Inc grave. VI ne
small and great are there; and the servant
is free from his master''
have shown that The law we are con-
sidering did not confer freedom upon fugi-
tive servants whose masters were He
brews. This however was upon the sup
position that the previously enacted statutes
on servilude were in force. II remains that
we consider whether this law repeals them
We should naturally expect lha. so impor-
tant an intention, if entertained, would be
distinctly announced either in the preamble,
the body, or the conclusion of the act. But
no such announcement appears. Those
previous enactments had not yet been car
ried into practical effect And to the believer
in the inspired authority of the writings
of Moses, there arises difficulty in recon-
Cling the repeal of these laws, with the i'm
mulable wisdom of God.
A human legislature which should enact
laws, and then without any change having
taken place in circumstances which would
effect their operation, should repeal them
before they had been subjected to Pract-
cal test, would hardly do credit to its own
wisdom much less then is such suppo-
to prove conclusively that this enactment
in question did not repeal the previous acts
on servi,ude, quote from the writings of
the prophet jeremiah, who wrote eight hun
dred years after the death Of Moses. Jere-
miah XXAlV chapter. Sth verse-"The
word that came unto Jeremiah from the
LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made
a covenant with the people which were at
Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them ;
that every man should let his man-servan,
and every man his maid-servant, being an
Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that
none should serve himself of them, to acit,
of Jew his brother Now when all the
princes, and all the people, which had en-
tered into the covenant, heard that every
one should let his man-servant, and every
one his maid servant, 60 free, that none
should serve themselves Of them any more,
then they obeyed, and let them 60. Bu,
afterward they turned, and caused the ser
wants and the hand-maids, whom they had
lie. 60 free, to return, and brought them into
subjeclion for servants and for hand-maids.
Therefore the word of the LORD, came to
Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, thus saith
i
nant with your fathers in the day that ]
brought them forth out Of the land Of Egypt,
out Of the house of bonds men, saying, al,
the end OF seven years let ye 60 every man
his brother an Hebrew, which hath been
sold unto thee; and when he hath served
thee six years, thou shalt let him 60 free
from thee but your fathers hearkened not
unto me, neither inclined their ear"
Here the law which enacted six years Of
appealed to as Of the most binding influence.
The censure passed upon the Jews is not
because they held their brethren to service
for six years, but because they retained them
for longer period.
The law also which enac,s indefinite
bondage for boughten heathens, though not
in express terms, yet by the strongest I'M
plicaton, is here re-ahirmed. II was because
every man did not ''let his man-servant, and
every man his maid-servent, being all He
brew or an Hebrewess, 60 Free" but served
''himself Of Them, to wit, of a Jew his bro
lher," that the judgments Of God were de-
nounced against the Jews, and not because
they held healhens as slaves for life.
The law therefore in Deuteronomy which
we are considering, did not repeal the for
mer acts. And if Moses intended by it to
abolish slavery, it did not prosper in the
; thing whereto he sent it, for eight hundred
years afterwards the Jews were delivered
over 10 the Babylonish captivity because
they held their own brethren to bond-ser-
vice, and did not let them 90 out free for
Il. E I
ing TO the first commandment of the Judicial
law.
have shown that the law in question
could not apply to servants whose masters
were Hebrews, because lis provisions would
conflict with the previousl y enacted laws,
by virtue of which such servants were right
fully held BY Hebrews. | have shown that
this enactment was unapt, inappropriate, and
inadequate to the end intended, upon the
supposilion that il applied to servants,
whether Hebrew or hea.hen, whose masters
were Hebrews. ! have shown that it did
not repeal the previous enactments The
question now arises, to what class of SER
wants does this law apply /? have remark
ed that the Mosaic enactments on servtude
formed complete code. This code was
given to the Hebrews. ! have shown its
| legislation to be thorough and complete to
the end that Hebrews migh righlfully ac
ouire and hold both Hebrews and healhens
in servitude. One question more might
arise, and i. was the only one for which an
answer had not been furnished. Wha. shall
be done when heather slaves escape from
their masters and come among The Hebrews?
claim that the enactment we are consider
ieg is intended to apply to that class of
servants, because the code would be incom-
plete without such law, and is complete