The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1861-01-19

permission that man may have two wIve!
= or any direction as to how he shall Obtain
them. The nearest approach to such
4 precept is found in Deut. xxi -, where
says, ''if a man have two wives" he shall
do thus and with the children. If
man have two wives Is that the sam
thing as to say that man may have tw,
!, wives? When the law says, "uf me /
smIte his servant till he die is that th'
same as to sanction the beating Of a slav,
to death?
The most that has ever been claimed fc
polygamy under the Levitical law is Jar
liberation. Michaelis, who is the great au
therity on that side Of the question, says
1t does not appear that Moses permitted
peiygamy willingly, or as matter ofindif
ference, in either moral or political view
bat, as Christ expressed it, merely on &C
count of the hardness of their hearts In
other words, he did not approve, but found
1t advisable to tolerate it as point of civil
expediency. ."-Commc,ataries on Tie Lars OF
Noses, vol. Up. 8.
Now, even if we admit that for expedi.
ency sake the inspired law giver tolerated
posygamy, it must be evident to every caa.
did reader that slaveholding holds a very
different position under the divine law
Slaveholding is there not merely by 81
ience which gives consent, but it is there
as matter OF express enactment It was
anticipated by the law. 1t is not true, as
is often asserted that Moses found slavery
among the lsraeites At tho time when
he came TO set up their nationality under
the most perfect theocracy the world ever
saw, they had themselves been slaves for
generations. When they went out of Egypt,
they had no social or commercial ties to
! bind them to a relation which the cruelty
oi their heather masters had so long used
as an instrument of oppression. There
was not one slave in all this mighty host
who gathered around Mount Sinai to re
ceive the law by which their future institu-
/ tons Were to be moulded
Regarding Moses (as Mchaelis and
other rationalistic commentators do) mere
iy in the light of q human lawgiver, how
easy would it have been for him, by the
insertion of one positive prohibition into
hls code, or even by the preaching Of one
abolition sermon, to put the stigma Of his
dlsapprobatlon forever upon Elaveholding?
low easy for him TO keep silence as it :
alleged he did in reference TO polygamv
and thus leave siaveholding on the footing
of an ecH toirztsi far ,Jps1t5.,c,, s9ksi Or
/ to speak more like Christian minister
( how easy it would have been for God. If he
days when his chosen people treInbled be-
fore Sinai, under the utterance of that ia'v
which was to shape their character and
destiny nation, TO write the doctrine
of ab0liticnisin IN his holy law. and grave
i, indclibly upon the inspired records of
the world Tie fact that ne uttered no
such doctrine, but, on the coGt-aTy. .as'r'S-t-
ed the chosen Se,i 20 purctI.s I.I h0t! and te-
q'tsatk thc'r 5oaasG..5 10 their pos,>rity. shuts
every man NJ to their alternative, either
to reject abolitionism or reject Mo-cs as an
inspired lawgiyer.
Ii must be admitted tia: the Jewish
rabbis, vino taught for commandments the
doctrines Of men. construed the law into
= sanction of polygamy. But Christ, the
true expounder, showed :henl how their
traditions made void the law. Read hi.
deiiyerance on the subject in Matt yix 80;
Mark Y. IL; Luke xvi Is lie admits that
Moses suffered q man to marry q second
wiiesproyided be had previously divorced
the use but declared that even tais f..--
mission WAS because Of the hardness of
their hearts and then referring them to
the original and model marriage by which
twain were made one flesh. he promulgates
that erea. divine law, which, however it is
trampled on now by the legislatures Cf no.
Tninally Christian States. was strictly OBJ
served IN the apostolic church, so that
Christian man a. well as Christian minis
ter was the husband of one wife.
Admitting FOR the sake of the argument
that the Leyiticai laws give 20 more sane
tion 10 slayeholding than It did TO poiyga-
my, We ask the advocates Of Abolitlonism
If Christ ever rebuked the prevailing prsc-
tice in regard 10 the one, a. he d.d in re-
ference TO the other? Leaving Noses and
the prophets, let Us turn now to Jesus and
his apostles.
There are men, even among processing
Christians, and not few ministers Of the
gospel who answer the argument from
the Old Testament scriptures. by simple
denial of their authority They do not
tell Us how God could ever or anywhere
ceuntsnance that which is morally wrong
but they content themselves with saying
that the Levitical law is no rule Of action
I for US; and they appea! from lite decisions
( TO what they consider the higher tribunal
OF the gospel Let Us. therefore. join is
sue with them before the bar of the New
Testament scriptures. Here there is no
lack of witnesses in the case. 1t is & his
toric truth, acknowledged on all hands
that at the advent of jesus Christ slavery
existed all over the civilized world and
was intimately inteTwoyen with its social
and civil institutions. In Judea, in Asia
Minor, III Greece, in all the countries
where the Savior or his apostles preached
the gospel, slaveholding was just as COM
mon as it is to-day in South Carolina. 1t
is not alleged 10y any one, or, at least, by
any one having any pretcnsions TO scholar
! ship or candor, that the Roman laws regu-
lating slavery We're even as mild as the
very worst statutes which have been pass
/ / Il. II
will not be denied by any honest and well
/ informed man, shat modern civilization
and the restraining influences OF the gos-
pei have shed ameliorating influences up
on the relation between master and slave,
which were utterly unknown at the advent
of Christianity. And how did Jesus and
his apostles treat this subject? Masters
and slaves met them ct every step, in
their missionary work. and were present
in every audience to which they preached.
The Roman law, which gave the full pow
er Of life and death into the master s
hand. was familiar to them; and all the
evils connected with the system surround
ed them every day, as obviously as the
light of heaven. And yet it is remarka-
bic fact. which the Abolitionist does not,
because he cannot deny, that the New
Testament is utterly silent in regard to
the alleged sinfulness OF slaveholding. In
all the instructions of the Savior, in all
the reported sermons of the inspired apos.
ties. in all the cpistles they were moved
by the Holy Spirit to write for the instruc-
ton of coming generations, there is not
one distinct and explicit denunciation Of
slaveholdng, nor one precept requiring
the master to emaneipate his slaves Eve
ry acknowledged sin is openly and repeat.
edlv condemned, and in unmeasured
terms Drunkenness and adultery, theft
and murder-all the moral wrongs which
ever have been known to atiiict society, are
forbidden by name; and yet, according
to the teaching of Abolitionism, this great