Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1852-03-31
roR fuE SPECTATORS.
f,efiefs to Northern UniOnists on
tho Scripture View of Slavery.
LETTER NO. IL.

LETTER NO. IL.
WEST VIRGINIA, March, 1852.
THE Mosaic LAw.-H expressly permitted
siateru.-S1ates dec7arcd 10 be property.
HeJre,c serrants.-Priests al'tnea 10 onn
slares.-Slapery recognized in The Deca-
loque.-Provision for the regulation OF
the Institution.
REspEtrED FRlEEbs, We will how ex.
anime the enacthents, Respecting slavery,
of that law which God gave by Moses 10
his ancient people. That law expressly att
thorized them TO purchase slaves of forergh'
nations, and to hold them as property, in
state of perpetual bondage. Lev. 25: 44-46,
"Both thy bondmen and thy bonamaids,
which thou shalt have, shall be of the hea-
then that are round about you Of them shall
ye bun bondmen and bondmaids. 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 begat in your land and they shall be
yodr possession. And ye shall take them
as an inheritance for your children after you,
to inherit them for possession they shall
be your bondmen forever" The Hebrew
terms applied to these slaves are e6ed and
amah. How could words express more
distinct permission Of slavery. But aboli.
tionists have said, that these Slaves were to
be held in bondage only for a limited peri
cd. answer, if that were the fact, it
would still prove, that righteous law could
-, ,ta mon nronarf,, Rnf tho Ia n oYfiSon ifysf
quoted plainly shows, that such was not the
fact. "They shall be your bondmen for
eter" By turning to the passage in the
Bible, it will be seen, that the slaves here
mentioned, are contrasied with those He
brew SERVANTS, who were TO be freed at the
year of jubilee.
The passage above quoted, explicitly de-
clares the persons spoken of TO be property,
"a possession )" and that as such they might
be bequeathed to children as an ''inhefi-
tance.' The same thing is declared still
more clearly, If possible, Ex. 81 21. 1t is
here said, in respect TO servant beaten to
death by his master, eff he Continue day
or two, he shall not be punished ); for he is
his money! Heb. sizuer.] Do the laws of
the Southern States say more than this,
when they delare slaves to be "chattels !"
The Jewish law considered the loss Of The
slave as sufficient punishment for the cru
city of the master but If there were no
right of property in the slave, then there
could be no loss to the master. Again, II
is provided, Ex. 21: 80, that if an OK "shall
push man-servant or maid-sertpht" the
owner of the Ok "shall give uhlo their mas
ter thirty shekels of silver" This was in
tended as a compensation to the master for
the loss Of his property and the provision
was grounded upon the assumption that the
slave was property, In view ofthese texts,
1 see not how it is possible to escape the
conclusion, that MAJ, h,ay hate property in
man; without denying both the truth and
justice Of God. 1t is in vain 10 say that the
law has been abrogated: 1t once existed:
Was it founded upon justice, or upon in
justice' Was the assertion-"he is his
money, "a truth or a falsehood! =
No Hebrew could become, in the fullest
SENSE of the term, i slave. Yet even He.
brews Gould be held In state of bohdage for
a limited time. Ex. 21:2, ,"If thou buy
an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve;
and in the seventh, he Shall go out free fot
nothing, The ways Iii which they might
become slaves were various. A thief who
was unable to make restitution; might be
sold for bis theft, Elk, %: g.. A debtot might
be s6la by his creditor, Lev. 25: 39-2
Kings 4 3: 1. A father might sell his child,
Elk. 2l: 7-Neh. S: S. A man might sell
himself Lev. 25: Al. If the person thus
sold should marry a, female slave belonging
to his master, neither she hor their chill
aten would go out free with him, but would
continue the property of the master; By
the Jewish law, as by those of the South
ern States the children of female slaves be-
longed to the owner Of the mother. They
wefe ''home borh slaves" "But if the ser.
want shall plainly say, / love my master;
my wife,. and my children 1 viii not go
5ht free;;" ''his master shall bore his ear
through with an awl; and he shall serve
him forever.' Ex. 21 3-6. In such cir
ctimstances, the servant could obtain his
freedom, only on the distressing condition
Of being separated from his family. On
every fiftieth year, the year of jubilee, all
Hebrew slaves were to be set free. whether
their prescribed time Of service were ex-
pired or not, Lev. 25: 99-43. Now it is
very remarkable; that 1sraelites should, by
the law Of God, be liable to become slaves
at all. They were privileged people. 1t
was not lawful to exact OF them interest up
on money lent. Deut. % 19, 20. sThou
shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother"
Unto stranger thou mayest lend uboh
usury but unto thy brother thou shalt not
lend upon ustlry." Their land could no!
be permanently alienated. That which had
been sold, reverted, on the year of jubilee,
to the original owner, or to his heirs. Lev.
25: 10, 13, %. Property and liberty were
held by the same tenure. Both were liza
BILE for debt: both, when aliehated, were
held BY reversionary title. .,, i
No Class Of men was prohibited, by the
Mosaic law, from owning slaves. The law
guarded with great strictness, the purity of
the priests, and especially that of the high
priest. They were forbidden TO dtihk wine
or strong drink, when about 10 go into, the
sanctuary, Lev. 10. 9-Eztk, A.: a.
Particular directions were glveh them re-
specting marriage, and respecting ceremo-
NAL dehIement. Lev. 81: 1-15-Ezek. A:
22-31. But so far was the law from inter-
dieting slavery to them, that it supposes
them to own home born slaves, and those
bought With money, Lev. %: II. If the
members who compose the Northern frag-
ment of certain church, had not taken un-
scriptural gtohhd on the subject of slave
holding by the ministry, they might have
avoided that disruption of their ecclesiasti-
cal body which has furnished such dan
oeroiIs precedent for the dissolution of our