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

, !. AbelItiOnisT foundation
II II. principles have been promulgated Chiefly by
I misrep epresentation and abuse.
III. 1t leads in multiiudes OF cases, and by logcs
process, to utter iuideiiy.
" 1t is the chief cause o. the strife that agtaes
and the danger that threatens oar country.
! We copy his remarks only under the
first head, recommending to those who
desire to read the whole discourse to pro
+ cure pamphlet copy. 1t is for sale. we
believe, at the News Depot, next door to
the post office, in Ottawa.
I.-ABoLITIoSIsu mas 30 ForsDirIoS N 5ez.PkURE.
Passing by the records Of the patriarch
al age, and waving the question as 20 those
servants in Abraham family, who. in the
simple, but expressive language of Scrip
ture, were bought with his money, let
u come at once to the tribunal of that law
which God promulgated amid the solemn
ties cf Sinai What said the law and the
testimony TO that peculiar people over
whom God ruled. and for whose institu-
tions He has assumed the responsibility
The answer Is i'll the twcnty-iiith chapter
OF Leyiticus, in these words:
And If thy brother tha. dwelletL by
thee bc waXen poo, and be sold unto thee,
thou shalt not compel him to serve as
bond servant; but as hired servant and
i soiourner shall lie bc with thee. and
shall serve thee unto the year Of jubilee,
and then shall he depart from thee, both
he and hs children with him
So far, you viii observe, the law refers
TO the children OF Israel, who by reason
Of poverty were reduced TO servitude II
was their right to be free at the year Of ju-
bilee. unless they chose 10 remain in per-
petUal bondage; for which case provision
is made in other and distinct enactmcnts.
But not so with slaves of foreign birth.
There was no year Of jubilee provided for
them For what says the law ! Read the
fo;ty-fourth to iorty-sixth verses of the
chapter:
Both thy bondmen and thy bondmaids
which thou shalt have shall be Of the hea-
then that are round about you. OF them
shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.
Moreover OF the children Of the strangers
that do sojourn among you-of them
snail We buy and their families that are
with you, which they begct IN your land;
and they shall be your possession. And
We shall take them as an inheritance for
your children after you, to inherit them for
a possession; they shall be your bondmen
forever
There it is, plainly written in the Divine
law No legislative enactment, no statute
| framed by legal skill was ever more ex.
| plicit and incapable Of perversion. When
! the Abolitionist tells me that slavehoiding
| is sin, in the simplicity of my faith in the
| Holy Scripture, point him 10 this sacred
record and tell him, in all candor, as my
text does, that his teaching blasphemes the
| name OF cd and His doctrine When he
| begins TO dote about questions and strifes
! of words appealing to the Declaration OF
/ independence, and asserting that the idea
of property in man is an enormity and a
crime | still hold him 10 the record, say
ing, "Ye shall take them as an inheritance
for your children after YOU, to inherit them
for a possession" When he wakes warm
as he always does if his opponent quote
Scripture, (Which is the great test TO try
the spirits whether they be Of God-the
very spirit of Ithuriei to reveal their true
character) when he gets angry. and be
gins to pour out his eyi! surmisings and
| abuse upon slayeho olders, ! obey the pre-
cept which says, from such withdraw thy
self comforting myself with the thought
| that the wisdom Of God is wiser than men
| and the kindness of God kinder than men
| Philosophers may reason, and reformers
may rave till doomsday; they never car
convince me that God, in the Levitical law
or in any other law, sanctioned sinS and
as | know, from the plain passage have
quoted, and many more like it, that He dii.
sanction slaveholding among His ancient
people, know, also, by the logic Of thai
faith which believes the Bible to be Hi.
word, that slaveholding is not sin.
Abolitionists are accustomed to answer
this appeal to the Levitcal law, by assert
ing that the Old Testament gives the same
sanction to polygamy that it does to slave
holding; and | am sorry to observe thai
ministers of the gospel make this broao
assertion in the pulpit without condescerd
ing to give US the proof texts. Suppose
the Old Testament does sanction polyga
my, what then? What is the purpose O
the Abolitionist in making this assertion
Does he mean to cast contempt upon the
Levitical law, by proving that it sanction:
what all Christians under the gospel admi
to be wrong? Or does he mean to main
tain that both slaveholding and polygamy
are relations on which the Divine sanctio,
rests? If it can be proved that the law o
God, as promulgated by Moses. did sane
ton polygamy, | am prepared at once t.
say that poly gamy in itself is no sin; ant
if there has been no explicit repeal of tina
saction that it is still right to have plu
rality of wives: i know of nothing as sir
except that which transgresses Gods law
But the fact is, this attempt to offset slave
holding with poiygamy is mere assertion
We call for the proof Point us in thu
divine law which came by Moses, pas
sage in reference to plurality of wives
clear and explicit, like that we have quotee
in reference to the purchase of bondme,
for the heathen. 1t cannot be done. !
is true that some of the pstriarchs ha'
more wives than one: and this fact is re
corded. And SO David committed murde
and adultery; and that fact is recorded =
Aud did God sanction these sins for whicl
the sweet singer poured out his broke
heart in the fifty-frst Psalm, as He di'
sanction slaveholding, by inserting in Hi
> law exnress directions "A tA how they Wer