Squatter sovereign., 1855-06-12

fancy. "For now," says he, ssshould l
have lain still and been quiet, I should
have slept: then had been at rest. There
(meaning the grave) the wicked cease
from troubling, and there the weary be at
rest. There the prisoners rest together;
they hear not the voice of the oppressor.-
The small and the great are there; and the
servant is tree from his master" Job Iii.
II, 1872, Is, 10. Now, ask any COM
nonsense man to account for the express
sion in this connection, ssfhere the servant
is free from his MASTER Affections are
referred to, arising out of states or conds-
fions, from which ordinarily nothing but
death brings relief. Death puts an end TO
Affections of hody that are incurable, as he
took his own to be, and therefore he de-
sired it.
The troubles brought on good men by
wicked, prosecuting world, last for life
but in death ends that relation or state out
of which such troubles grow. The prison.
ers of the oppressors, in that age, stood in
relation to their oppressor, which led the
oppressed to expect they would hear the
voice of the oppressor until death. But
death broke the relation, and was desired,
because in the grave they would hear his
voice no more.
All the distresses growing out of inc.
qualities IN human condition; as wealth
and power on one side, and poverty and
weakness on the other, were terminated
by death; the grave brought both to level:
the small and the great are there, and
there, (that is, in the grave he adds, the
servant is free from his master; made so,
evidently, by death. The relation, or state
out Of which his oppression had arisen, be-
ing destroyed by death, he would be freed
from them, because he would, by death, be
freed from his master who inflicted them.
This view of the case, and this only, will
account for the use of such language
But upon a suppostion that a state OF rela-
ton among men is referred to, that is vol
untary, such as that between hired Ser
want and his employer, that can be dissol-
we'd at the pleasure Of the ssruant, the Ian
guage is without meaning, and perfectly
unwarrented; while such a relation as that
Of involuntary and hereditary servitude,
where the master had unlimited power over
his servant, and in an age when cruelty
was common, there is the greatest propri-
ETY. in making the servant, or slave, a COM
panio,a arith hinaself an affection, as well
as the oppressed and afflicted, in every
class, where death alone dissolved the state,
or condition, out of which their Affections
grew. Beyond all doubt, this language
refers TO state Of hereditary bondage
from the affections of which, ordinarily
nothing in that day brought relief but
death.
Again, In chapter 7th, he goes on to de-
fend himself in his eager desire for death
in an address to God. He says, it is ma.
tural for servant to desire the shadow, and
as the hireling looketh for the reward OF
his work." so it is with me, should be sup
piled. Job vii. 2. Now, with the previ-
Gus light shed upon the use and meaning
of these terms in the patriarchal Scrip
lures, can any man of candor bring him
self to believe that two states or condi-
tions are not here referred to, in one OF
which, the highest reward after toll is mere
rest; in the other of which, the reward was
wages? And how appropriate is the Ian
qua ge in reference to these two states.
The slave is represented as earnestly
desiring the shadow, because his condition
allowed him no prospect of anything more
desirable; but the hireling as looking for
the reward OF his work, because that will
be an equivalen, for his fatigue.
So Job looked at death, as being to his
body as the servants shade, therefore he
desired it; and like the hireling's wages
because beyond the grave, he hoped torear
the fruit of his doings. Again, Job (xxxi.
finding himself the subject of suspicion
(see from verse one to 30) as TO the recti-
tude of his past life, clears himself of vari-
Gus sins, in the most solemn manner, as
unchastity, injustice in his dealings, adul-
terry, contempt of his servants, unkindness
to the poor, covetousness. the pride OF
wealth, sc. And in the 18th, 14th, and
18th verses, he thus expresses himself: ''Ii
l did despise the cause of my man-servani
or my maid-serrant, when they contended
with me, what then shall, I do when God
rises up? and when he yisiteth, what shall
| | answer him? Did not he that made me
in the womb, make hilns And did not one
fashion US IN the wombz" Taking this