The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1859-07-28

master dies the right to the services of the
apprentice descends to the heirs, another
generation. For disobedience to the lawful
commands Of his master, he may be fiogged,
and in this respect the law gives to the mas
ter the same authority that the parent wields
over the child. This case Of the apprentice
shows the absurdity of the quotation made
by Mr.. F. to the effect that the servant who
disobeys the will of his lord, might be beat
en- with many stripes" The word lord
does by no means imply "slaveowner, for
we call Christ "Lord," and the practice is
not extinct even yet; and there were in the
sc-iptural times as under the monarclial
governments of the present day, a political
class, or nobility called "lords." Luke 10Th
therefore proves nothing whatever on the
subject of slavery. The apprentice of our
day is subject to the same conditions, and
he is no slave.
certainly did not expect that Mr.. F.
would be guilty Of the supreme foley Of re-
peating in your columns his peculiar illustra-
ton Of the Golden Rule by comparing the
slave with one convicted of some "henous
crime" 1t is, however, a matter of taste,
and if the poor fellow chooses to hold him
self up to the laughter of your readers, he
has the right to do so. .- g..
| have before shown that the same infer
ences cannot, must MT, be drawn from two
cases which are not parallels; few indeed
would have the hardihood to persist in it.
Mr.. F. makes tMe convict to be guilty o.
some "heinous 9fence;" very good; now
does not every man know that the reforma-
ton Of the offender; the placing 1t out of
his power to repeat the crime, and the force
of his example on others Of evil propensities,
all demand that his liberty be restricted p
His is not case for the exercise of the
Golden Rule at all, so far as his exemption
from punishment goes.
But the slave, guilty of no crime; often,
as white as Mr.. F. himself, is made to toll
that another may reap; can own nothing,
not even his childten, his wife, or himself;
labor and poverty is his portion; the springs
of the human mind pressed down; no enobl-
ing aspirations of the soul must rise; no ed
ucation to enable him to read the book oflife;
no religion but that which perhaps an inf
del master may teach him. Well and truly
did the immortal Mr.. Pinkney say "by the
laws Of eternal justice, you cannot hold such
a one in bondage"
Here, in case like this (no felon's casc)
the golden rule applies with all its vital pow
er; and loudly, sternly, knocking at mans
universal conscience, says, ''let the oppress-
ed go free; as you love the air of liberty
yourself, Withhold it not from one who in the
eye of God (who is no respecter Of
persons) is your equal' ah, too often in a
moral sense, the superior of the owner. In
the case of the convict, he knors that he has
violated the laws Of God and his country, and
that his sentence is just; knows that howev-
or much he might desire release. he has no
moral right to expect it; knows that his is
not case to which the golden rule is meant
to apply. With the alave it is far otherwise
he is unconscious of any crime from child
hood up; the universal feeling of the slave
wherever found is, that he is unjustly held
in bondage; and if Mr.. F. himself were now
slave, he would think so too nay, he void
knosc it as well as he knows noao. Here
then, is one of the most legitimate of all pos
sible cases for the application of the Christ.
ian's rule, whatsoever We would, &c.
Crime in the one case, and absence of it in
the other makes, Iapprehend, slight differ.
ence, and effectually destroys all similitude
between them. Seen through the goggles Of
slavery, this may not seem quite clear but
he who reads it by the light of freedoms
sun, will see it all. .. 49,. -... .
l shall enter no further into the applica,
ton of the golden rule to the case of slavery
in the United States, because, after the alb
surd manner in which Mr.. f. has treated it.
l can well afford to rest the merits with the
good sense and christian feeling Of your
readers. ...... -...
The subject of Polygamy was introduced
by Mr.. I. evidently for the purpose of show,
ing that there were sinful practices estab,
lished by law, either in Judea or out of it.
against which Christ issued no direct denun.
citation. This was certainly So 1t is vel
known that the two sexes are born in equa
numbers, and hense an appropriation of q
number Of females by one man, violates a
natural law, and is equally sin as the de
priving person (unaccused of crime), ofhi:
natural right to liberty. Mr.. F. evidently re
CARDS polygamy as no sin. shall not argue
that point with him & Co. merely turn
HIM over to the laws Of our country, which
punish it as crime and to the universe
voice Of Christendom. If he can silenct
these tribunals, must also bow. Backed
by the criminal laws Of our land, and by tn,
codes Of all our religious bodies, say it is Z
crime, and "crime" is only another name fo
''sin."
| Now, then, Mr.. F. admits that neithe