Washington telegraph., 1850-07-03

times darkest just before day.
Thus far l have treated only of He
brewS. made slaves among Hebrews, witt
the exception of one peculiar case of for
| eign refugee. / now come, after exhibit
ing the full state of things among the
Jews in respect to slaves Of Hebrew ori
gin, and the many notifications which
Moses inserted in his laws to molify the
hardships and rigors of their condition
to consider the condition of slaves. who
were of heather origin.
Here the abettors of the proposition
that all slavery is a n1aLunl IN Sc and is
to be ranked with murder and robbery
will find matter of serious difficulty
With not a few of the high toned Aboli-
tionists, I fear | shall bring Moses into
much discredlt, by quoting his enact.
ment. But here it is, and it would not
become me to offer an apology for him.
Let him speak for himself
"T4ev. 25: IA. Both thy bondmen and
thy bondmaids which thou shalt haze
shall be of the heather that are round
about you, Of them shall We buy bond
men ana bondmaids. (45) Moreover, of
the children of the strangers that do So
Journ among you, of them shall ye buy,
and of their families, that are with you,
which they bega; in your land: and they
shall be your possession. (46) And ye
shall take them as an Inheritance for your
children after you, to inherit them for a
possession, they shall be your bondmen
forever"
What now have we here? Simply
and plainly, an unlimited liberty TO pur-
chaSe-not 10 steal-bondmen and bond
MAIDS of the heather around and cut of
Palestine, or of heathen dwelling within
it, But when Moses says: Ye shall buy
bondmen and bondmaids, he is rot to be
understood as giving command, but per-
mission Our translators have here
the, and as it were .IusSive;; but every
one acquainted with the Hebrew knows,
that the future tense is very often pe'n11S-
SaUe, l. e., it is used as subjunctve mood.
However, on the liberty to buy, there is
no restraint whatever Wnen bought,
slaves are declared to be heritable prop
erty, to belong TO the children of the own
Then follows the clause which rivets fast
the tenure of the property: "They shall
be YOur bondnen forever" The heath
en- bondmen are not put on level with
them. The tenure OF them is perpetual,
the tenure as ofAeritable property. "The
middle wall of partition between Jews
and Gentiles," was not yet broken down,
but Just erected. The time for declaring
that there was one God and Father OF
the Jews and Gentiles, to whom all
stood in the same common relation, was
yet far distant.
There then stands the Mosaic statute
which was the perpetual law OF the
Jews There it stands, not to be erased
10y the hand of the most Jealous Aboli-
tionis.s. He will prob ably think very ill
of Moses and not to be very courteous
toward me for venturing to quote him.
However, if there is any blame here. it
falls on the great Jewish legislator him
self, and not on me. He, moreover, can
atfordto bear it,
In the name of all that is called rea-
soniny now, in morals or religion, how is
the ownership of slaves which heaven
has gwen express leave TO purchase, to
be deemed crime of the deepest dye: a
NAHUM IN Sc, an offence to be claSsed
with murder and treason? Let those an
swer this question, who decide q praOr1
what the Bible ought to speak, and then
turn i over IN order 10 see how they can
make it speak what they wish. But
there is no bending or twisting of Moses
words. There they are, so plain that
"he who runneth may read" If Aboli-
tonis:s are right in their position, then
Moses is greatly in the wrong. More
than this; then has the God of the He
breWs sanctioned, with his express leave,
the commission of a crime as great as
that which is forbidden in the sixth or sew
enth commandment, There is no retreat
from this. The position of the Aboli-
tionlsts plainly taxes high Heaven with
msdemeanor-with encouragement to
commit one among the foulest crimes.
What shall we say then? Shall we
consign Moses over to rep:obation! Or
are we to regard him as an agn0rdns~S!
One or the other. or both, follow from
the reasoning and the premises OF heated
Abolitonsts.
After exposing the relation of servants
to their masters, in the time when 81.
Paul preached, the learned Professor
goes on to say:
"What have we then, on the whole!
Plainly this, viz, that servants are not
to be anxious and uneasy and discontent-
ed because they are servants. Ii they
can easily and peacebly obtain their hb-
erty. then they should accept the boon
But they are forbidden TO I've fractions,
and querulous, and uneasy, merely be-
cause they are in bondage. 1t should
suffice that they are the Lords freemen.
Certainly this is not much like the ad-
vice or the conduct of most Of the Aboli-
tion:sts among US They excite slaves