The Democratic press. (Eaton, Preble County, Ohio) 1860-1865, 1863-12-24
SLAVERY, THE CONTROVERSY OF
THE SWORD

r.. O ~
! preston, and we are inclined /
thipkt that the thought ic adapte
to convey the exact definition {
5 the present American war. It
exactly what we state it to be
namely, the controversy of tn
sword.
d An our last sketch, we traced tn
history OF ancient and domesti
slavery, SO far as to satisfy an,
reasonable man, that Moses did NO
condemn an Institution which h,
found to have existed long beSor,
his own time. He only regulated
a state of bondage which no Aat
no right to abolish. IFe nigh.
nave sent forth his PROCLAMATION,
throughout the land, but he was too
I H |HH.HH. H" .Ls|HLf sH 81 k-. A-.|H
honest, too sincere, and too sagaci
Gus a ruler and lawgiyer, to DESTROY
an institution which he found tc
be beneficial to the then existing
state Of society. 1851 ..! u.s..
Tie question which presents ats it
self to our mind at this stage {
our MISREPRESENTATION did men
lose their freedom times ,
On examining the Old Testament
SCRIPTURES, ~e find that persons
taken capt; es in war, were fire.
quently reduced to a state of bon.
dage or slavery. See Deuteronomy,
goth and 14th verse, and also Deur
teronomy, 21st, 10th and 18th ".
Thus we see that God permitted
his ancient people to take and to
hold parties in a state of bondape.
BE it right or wrong, our assertion
is a Biblical fact. TO deny it, is
simply to refuse to give credence
to the statements made in what wa
have been trained to believe to be
the Word Of God.
Debts, as we'll as captivity in war,
led to the enslavement of many,
When the debt was too large for
the debtor to pay, he became tho
property of the creditor. See 2nd
Kings, 4th and Let v. ; Isaiah 5Otb.
LIST v, and Matthew 18th and 25tl
verse. I'D i-.H D 5.a-
a thief Was liable to be made 4
slave of. OF all the3thieyesl in
London, New York and Gin,
.clnnatl, were to be reduced to a
state of slavery, and planted iii the
Southern States. of America, We
well afford to spare the dar.
Sies.) Whcn the thief was unable
C repay the amount of the proper
-
y which ne had taken, he was liza
pie to be reduced to a state of bon.
lage. See Exodus, 22nd and Sd Y.
lso, Nehemiah, 5th, 4th and 5th v.
We srcin true faith bound to state
ere, that Moses enacted very Sc
ere laws against man stealing
hat ia to say, against those who
eized nponpersons by violence, in
inc of peace, and made them
Iaves. Crhe inhabitants of our
lmerican continent can not be
htadrged with this crime. What.
ver may be said for or against the
li'itHtion of slavery, it must be !
Omitted that the Southern slave. I
neither stole, nor kidnapped .
.elr slaves ryr, 81 AIN Igs.tsr 5I l.
The children of slayeA--such as !
ere born tnIthe house-or thelI
of maid servants, and as
icy are called in Hebrew, th1 the sons
the house, were not the property
their parents, but ofthAir own, q
s. We read in Genesis 18th aud u
Eth verse, that Abraham armed q
lsc trained servants (slavee) born 4
llis.own house, etc. But of all 81
e ways by which men and women il
came slaves, purchasing slaves d
aperson who owned them, was n
e most common method of OBJ O
ming them. 1t is for this reason il
at slaEes!are Hebrews d
the Hparchasc Of SilDer;;" that is b
49,, Al LEL -aL rIIrF.n 90 .Irrt ne s41I q