The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1859-06-02

ly cannot see why another curse might not be
brought about by the same means. And why
the curse of slavery or servitude might not
be entailed upon the posterity of an individ-
ual for deriding his father, with equal justice
that misery, toll and death, was visited upon
Adams posterity for simply eating an apple,
when forbidden. And in following up the
historical events recorded by the author
(Moses) from whom we get the narrative of
Adams sin and its fruits, we find the curse
of slavery: "Cursed be Canaan servant
of servants shall he be unto his bret ren.'
blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Ca
naan shall be his servant" "God shall en-
large Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents
OF Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant -
Gen. TX. 25, 26, 81. The word servant here
is defined by Covel, in his biblical dictionary
to mean slave. Though we need not intro
duce proof of the meaning of these terms
now, as they are amitted by "Qn -. i.
vat >, ,o+ters +, Jig And his only
a,,.,.,,---.-z5urrIsJ ft,-the source Of its emf
nation not being of divine authority,--hav-
ing only been pronounced by Noah, after
arising from his sleep of inebriation from
using too much wine. This argument of Mr..
rs. when we consider the connecting circum-
stances, appears to be as fallacious as it is
week.
This is the first slavery we have any record
of I,r =,
evils that had befell man up to that time
This curse was pronounced by Noah, { the
derided father of the disobedient son Ham,
preacher of Righteousness; the only right
eous patriarch and priest g of the most High;"
that was then living. And as he was a
preacher sent and approved of God, we may
readily conceive the idea .hat whatever act
he might do, or curse he might pronounce,
would be in accordance with the divine will,
as he was missionary of Gods will We
have no record of God ever having counter
manded that curse, nor of his ever having
reproved Noah for pronouncing it; therefore
we are logically led to conclude that the curse
was sent by divine will And under this
curse we find Canaan (the posterity of one
Of the sons of Ham) becoming the slave
property of other men.
In passing over a series of years, not nec-
essary for our present purpose, to trace the
Canaanites through, we find them inhabiting
the land of Canaan, and there doomed with
ont any new assigned cause to determination,
with the exception of those who were in
servitude, and that too by the descendants of
one whose posterity they were to serve. In
this there is volume for the moralist to
study. Would, that some Of the pretended
moralists would learn it.
Might not the curse pronounced against
Canaan with equal justice eminate from the
same source of that which was pronounced
on the posterity of Adam; and that we all
so sensibly feel and experience? "How un-
searchable is the wisdom of God, and his
ways past finding out" Again we find
slavery originating for the crime of theft
" Then he shall be sold for his theft" Elk. Xxx,
and might then 90 out free; but his children
if born of slave mother, had to remain in
slavery.-Ex. XI, 4. Slave property was also
obtained by captivity in war: "But the
women and the little ones, and the cattle, and
all that is in the city, even all the spoil there
of thou shalt take unto thyself-whch the
r ord tbx, EnJ IA, IA r;-o,, +hoo no,,. Wv
IA. Slaves were also the property of the
master by birth: "He armed his trained SER
wants born in his own house"-Gen. XIV,
IA. And also by purchase: "And Abra-
ham took Ishmael his son, and all that were
borne in his house, and all that were bought
with his money!" &c. We hereby discover
the various ways by which men may become
enslaved in accordance with the divine law.
We shall not stop here to enquire why God
has so arranged things; in the course ofevents
it is sufficient for our present purpose to
know that such are the facts, and proceed
with the question.
We find that when the Jews went into the
land of Canaan, certain laws were there given
them by Divinity himself: "And the Lord
spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai saying"
Lev. NXV. /. "And if thy brother that
dwell by thee be waxen poor, and be sold
unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve
as bondservant, but as an hired servant, and
as sojourner, he shall be with thee and
shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee
Lev. XIV, 80, 40. Here we find one class
of servants being of the same ration and.
people that their masters are, but in following
on in the same code of laws, we find another
class of slaves: "Both thy bondmen and thy
bondmaids which thou shalt have, shall be of
the heathen that are round about YOU; of
them shall We buy bondmen and bondmaids,
moreover, the children of the strangers that
do solourn among you, of them shall you buy
and of their families that are with you, which
they begat in your land; and they shall be
your possession. And We shall take them as
an inheritance for yor children after you to
inherit them for a possession: they shall be
your bondmen for ever, but over your breth-
rem the children of Israel ya shall not r4Ia