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

| given; and their servitude was to expire al;
the year of jubilee; they were not to be sold
as bondmen were sold. "They shall hot be
sold as bondmen."-Lev XIV. 42.
As Mr.. Taunton has taken the position that
the right to sell is not granted by divine law:
1t may not be improper for US to inquire here
what was meant by the divine law-giver in
the phrase: "They shall not be sold as bond
men?" He evidently meant one of two
things; 1st: The Hebrew servant was not to
be sold by the first buyer to a third person,
but was to remain his property until the year
of jubilee and then 90 out free. Or, ID: He
shall not be sold for life, but only for a limit
ed time; time to expire at the year of iubi-
lee; one or the other of these ways is the
selfevident meaning of the law. Then it
naturally follows as self-evidently, that the
bondman by virtue of the law mi@c,hft. ,hft.r5 .,- -au
at the discretion ..3 OF the Or, that the pur-
.,s.s-.-t -" bondman was not limited but
perpetual, and might pass on down by heir
ship to the succeeding generations, or be
transferred by sale to third person, and so
on indefinitely. Thus, every rational, intelli-
gent mind must conceive the idea here con-
veyed to be, that of two classes of slaves here
spoken of, the one might by the right of ow-
nership be sold, and the right relinquished
up to the purchaser to be perpetual as was
that of the seller, to continue forever. While
in the other case, the purchase being for debt,
and by the terms of the law the right of prop
erty, was vested in the buyer for limited
time. Probably, transfer was prohibited,
and he served his master until the year of
jubilee and then went out Free
We have urged Mr.. T. to tell us how they
were sold, which he did not attempt to do
The only response was an attempt at retort
upon us, by saying we had added to the
scriptures and proceeded to tell us of dread
ful anathema to be brought down on the heads
of SUCH We leave this with those who heard
it and our answer, to Judge how sharply Mr..
I. feels the sting of his error at this point.
Let is investigate further the character of
the slavery of the bondman, bought of the
heather or surrounding nations, as we'll as
the same class bought of the strangers that
dwelt among them, that were begat in the
land. This class of slaves appears to be un-
derstood by the divine law-giver himself to
be the property of those who held them, from
the fact that he has given the Jews-his pc
culiar people-the privilege of buying them,
holding them as slaves, and ruling over them
with rigor. God in his divine nature would
not, most assuredly, command his people to
buy and permit them to use with severity
property that was held by iniquity, or that
was not property. We are forcibly led to the
conclusion that the slave is held as property
by divine law. And then if property, the
owner of that property has a right to the
benefit of that property, under the restric-
tons of the law by which he holds it,
:" And We shall take them as an inheritance
for your children after you, to inherit for a
possession. Lev. XIV. As. We find here,
by divine law, that the slave, the bondman,
bought of the heathen, &C., were given as
property possession, to descend on down from
one generation to another, and were not to
go out free at the year of jubilee, as the other
class of slaves were to do; but We're to be
perpetual possession, passing on down from
generation to generation; "Thev shall be
your bondmcn forever Here the word
forever is used in contra-distinction to the
word Jubilee or limited time when the
Hebrew servant is to go out free Mr.. T. has
asserted that the word forever here means the
Jubilee of the fiftieth year, yet he has bro't
no argument to sustain it. 1t rests upon his
bare assertion which we cannot afford to take;
he should have given us either argument or
authority, but as he has failed to do either, we
presume he has none. We cannot see how
a rational mind can draw a conclusion equal
to Mr.. rs. assertion. No, we cannot see how
a property that is to pass on down to sue
ceeding generations, can cease to be property
in less than one generation. 1t is problem
too gigantic for the feeble scope of our mind
to solve.
TO BE CONTINUED.
T,npr o,, y,a h;-sp,,,; Gl,,n -. I,,,-, ,,-o,,,