Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1861-03-07

punished as the judges might determine
loss of his property was held to be suf-
ficent penalty.
The next evidence furnished by the di.
vine law appears in the peculiar and adj
mirable appointment of the Jubilee "Ye
shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim
liberty throughout all the land to all the
inhabitants thereof it shall be Jubilee
unto you, and ye shall return every man
INTO lis possession, and ye shall return
eyery man to lis family" LEV. XIV. 10, }
This enactment, however, did not affect
the slaves, because it only extended, to
the lsraelites who had "a possession and
family" according to the original dis
tribution Of the land among the tribes
The distinction is plainly set forth in the
same chapter, viz:
eff thy brother that dwelleth by thee
be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee,
thou shalt not compel him to serve as q
bond servant, but as bond servant and
as soiourner he shall be with thee, and
serve thee unto the year of the Jubilee,
and then shall de depart from thee, both
he and his children with him, and shall
return unto his own family, and unto the
possession of his fathers shall he return.
/ For they are my servants which / bro't
forth out Of the land OF Egypt, they shall
not be sold as bondmen. Both My bond
men and Jondmoids, which thou shalt hare
ShoH be Of tie heathehs that are around
! ,,I,,,y xf .L,H L1, lima,
ondbondmaiaS. Moreover, Of the chill
dren of the strangers that do SVourn
among you, Of item shall ye buy, and Of
Meir families that are wjM you, aChich they
begat in your iond, and they shall be your
possession. And ye shall take them as
an inheritance for your children after you,
to inherit them for a possession, THEY
SHALL BE YOUR BoNDMEN FOR EVER; but
over your brethren, the children of Isracl, ,
ye shall not rule one over another with
rigor. For unto me the children of Isra-
el are servants; they are my servants
whom | brought forth out of the land of
Egypt: am the Lord, your God, -
Lev. XIV, 40-46, with v. IS.
The distinction here made, between
and the perpetual bondage of the heather
race, is too plain for controversy. And
this express and positive law furnishes the
true meaning of another passage which
the ultra aboltionist is very fond OF re-
peating. "Thou shalt not deliver unto
his master the servant he shall dwell with
the, which is escaped from his master un-
to thee, even among you, in that place
which he shall choose, in one Of thy gates
where lketh it him best: thou shalt not
oppress him" Deutss5xiii, 15.16)-
This evidently must be referred to the
case of slave who had escaped from a
foreign heathen master, and cannot, with
any sound reason, be applied to the slaves
Of the Isreaites themselves. For il is
manifest that if it were so applied, ii
would nullify the other enactments of the
divine Lawgiver, and it would have beer
absurdity to tell the people that they sho't
"buy bondmen and bondmaids of the
heather ard stranger, to be their posses
sion and the inheritance oftheir children
forever" while, nevertheless, the slaves
should be at liberty to run away and be
come frecmen, when they pleased. 1t i.
the wellknown maxim, in the interpret
alton of all laws, that each sentence shal
be so construed as to give consisten
meaning of the whole. And assuredly,
if we are bound to follow this rule in the
legislation of earth, we cannot be less
bound to follow it in the Legislation of tn,
Almighty. The meaning that ! have
) adopted is the only one which agrees will
the established principle oflegal construc
} ton, and it has invariably been sanction
cd by the doctors Of the Jewish law, an(
every respectable Christian commentator
/, Such, then is the institution of Slavery
laid down by the Lord God of IsraFfol
His chosen people, and continued for fif
teen centuries, until the new dispensatior
of the Gospel. What change did this
produce? grant. Of course thar we, Il,
Christians, are bound by the precept anC
example of our Savior and His apostles
Let us now, therefore proceed to the all
important inquiry whether we are author
lied by these to presume that the Mosai,
system was done away.
First, then, we ask what the divine Re
deemer said in reference to Slavery
And the answer is perfectly undeniable
liz piD NOT AI.LuDE TO IT AT ALL. No
one word upon the subec is recorded by
any of the four Evangelists who gave Hi
life and doctrines to the world Ne
Slavery was in full existence at the tim,
throughout Judea and the Roman En-
pirc, according to the historian, Gibbon
contained sixty millions of Slaves, on tn,
lowest probable computation How
prosperous and united would our glorious
Republic he at this hour. il the eloquen
and pcrtinacions decaimers against Sls'
very had been willing to follow thci
Savior'S example?
But did not our Lord substantially re
peal the old law, by the mere fact tina
he established new disponsation Ger
tainly not, unless they were incompati
ble And that lie did not consider then
Incompatible is clearly proven by His owl
express declaration. Think not" sale
lle that am come to destroy the law o
the prophets. ! am not come to destroy
but to fulfil" Mat, V, ~ On tha
point, therefore, this single passage il
conclusive.
1t is said by some, however, that the
great principle of the Gospel, love to Goo
and man, necessarily involved the con-
demnation of slavery. Yet how should
it have any such result, when we remom