The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1859-03-24

acter. There can be no mistake abou
. the rightful ownership of a human being
t He belongs to himself. Because my faith
er or mother was reduced to the condition
, of slave, does that justify NY being re
} duced to the same condition of brutism
Does the continuance of wrong take away
its guilt / repeat, there can be no doub
as to the ownership of any human being
The title is in himself To take it from
him is robbery. But We have specific
statute on this subject. "He that stealeth
a mau and selleth him, or if he be found
in his hands," that is, in his possession
she shall surely be put to DEATH" This
enactment takes. this transaction out ID
the catalogue of ordinary crime, and
brands it with peculiar reprohation. 9th.
er forms of theft could be atoned for by
returning four-fold; this claimed the for.
feiture of life itself, thus m aking it cap
ital offence. No squirmipg of sophistry
can get round this. There it stands, the
estimate of the Jewish Scriptures of the
crime of tt raficking in human fesh. So
once thought the Presbyterian church,
when they declared slaveholding to be a
violation Of the eighth commandment
So thought President Edwards, when be
declared the STAKEHOLDER guilty of man
stealing every day. This was the consti-
tutional law of the Jewish Commonwealth.
No other statute could contrayene it, any
more than q State or Territorial law could
annul provision of the Constitution of
the United States. All the instances of
buying and selling relied upon by the ad
voeates of Slavery are confined to the per-
son bought and the person sold. A per-
son 'Jal1img into decay" sold himself, not
as chattel or slave, but as servant for
term of years; and when the jubilee
came round, liberty was proclaimed
throughout all the land, to all the Dhab.
itants thereof. When there was failure
on the part of the people to proclaim this
liberty, promised and secured by law,
then God proclaimed liberty to them
to the sword, and to the pestilence, aud
those other judgments that fell swift and
terrific from the hand of an incensed God.
1t was this providential retribution which
made Jefferson tremble for his country,
when be remem bered that God was Just,
and that his justice would not sleep forev-
er. In the uprising of these oppressed
millions, be ayerred that no attribute of
Jehovah could take sides with the oppres-
-sor. ----..------
Honor thy father and thy mother, is
the requirement of the Bible. Slavery
utterly annuls this command. The own
or claims honor and obedience, to the ut.
ter disregard of parental authority anG
parental claims. Whoever thinks of
slave child obeying his parent in prefer
ence to his masterl The very suggestion
is preposterous. Does the Bible sanction
a system that abrogates its own iDjuDc-
tionsl
There stands that slave mother, press
ing with a mothers love her own child
to her heart To whom does it belong!
Is it not hers against the universe Is
there any being, this side the throne of
God, that has the right to take it from
her Has the master the right to come
and tear it away from her embrace, and
claim it as bis property And is this
robbery sanctioned by the Bible, and that
Bible the word of God I know the peo-
pie are taught this by a ministry that |
dislike to characterize as I think they de-
serve.
"Wealth, lust, and fashion, bid them still to
bleed,
And holy men quote Scripture for the deed"
but these men do not truly interpret the
Bible. They teach for doctrinces the
mandmeDts of men, and make the
word of cd Of none effect through their
traditions. How dare these men make
the Bible lend its sanction to system
that abrogates parental authority and FL
ial dutyl
So, also, with the copjugal relation
The Bible everywhere represents this as
the most sacred, inviolate, and indissolu-
Bile of all human relations. Father and
mother are to be forsaken, in obedience
to the claims of this still higher and holi-
er relation. Now, what does Slavery do
with this domestic institution Leave
God and the parties perfectly free to reg
ulate it in their own wayl No; with i'm
pious and brazen front, it steps in and
utterly annihilates the marriage relation,
so far as its victims are concerned There
is no more any legal marriage among the
three or four millions of slaves in the u
nited States, than there is among so ma
ny cattle. Slaves 10 the eye Of the law
are cattle, and their union is that of brutes.
They are declared to be goods, chattels
personal, to all iutents, constructions, and
purposes, whatever. The civil law which
prevails in some of the States takes the IN
pro nuLlsS, pro nlortusS, pro .QuaGtrupetls-
6us
Would it not be an interesting specta-
Gle to see one of these clergymen, who
teach that the Bible sanctions Slavery,
called in to attend the wedding of bu-
reau and chest of drawers The chairs,
shovel, and tongs, are invited as guests.
After ferrent prayer for the divine bles-
sing, the clergyman says:
..Ry the old Levitical laws,