The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-01-16
FOr The Nt0IsftN.
The Old Testament and slavery.

concede his position with reference to the
Old Testament. respecting so gross an
injustice as that of slavery, and thus i'm
pliedly admit the autagonism Of this por-
tsn of the Bible with the New Testa-
ment; and thus, also, grant contradic-
lion between them, and an inconsistency
ofprinciple,on the part of the God ofboth,
| must beg room in your columns, for
reply, and not suffer the Register to con-
tain an unanswered attack upon the con-
sistency of the Bible. or upon Jehovah
himself.
And first, maintain that the God of
the Old Testament. in dealing with slav-
cry, always put upon it the seal of his
disapprobation.
1t seems to be conceded by your cor
respondent, as far as the New Testament
record is concerned, that i,iy opposed both
in letter and spirit, to slavery. But | bid
him first observe, that Jesus Christ, who
by himself and his immediate apostles,
gave us that portion of the Bible, explic-
lily declares, that he came not to de-
stroy the law and the prophets, but to
fulfill - that therefore the New Testa-
ment is to be regarded as diviuely au-
thorized interpreter of the principles Of
the Old; that in other words, they are
consistent, and that the morals of the
one are the morals Of the other.
Then secondly, look at the overthrow
of Egypt for oppression, the prohib-
ition, by Moses, of all oppression even
of the stranger and the Egyptian, the re-
peated judgments and captivities OF the
jews because Of their expressions, the
doom of other nations for the same, the
bold and unceasing denunciations of them
by the prophets, the predicted dcstruc-
tions by Christ, of all the governments
and nations that will not obey and bow to
him.
Again, | ask him to study Gods les
son Of provIential retribution upon
Egypt. Slavery, properly speaking, was
not there for the Hebrews had their fam
lilies, flocks, and herds. 1t was only OPP
pressivc government, severe and terrible
to be sure, and Jehovah set his face
against it for this reason. Then too, |
would call attention to the prophetic de.
nunciations against Israel. But of what
were they guilty? "Put away" said Je.
hovah, 1.-THE evils of your doings from
mine eyes; cease to do evil d, > righter
(see margin) the oppressed judge the IA
theress ; plead for the widow" If ye
do so, he added, it shall De well, "but, il
ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured
with the sword for the mouth of the
Lord hath spoken it."
In Isaiah So, we find ian acceptable
fast" pointed out "The fast that | have
chosen" says God, is Ito loose the band.
Of wickedness,,,to to undo the heavy burdens
to let the oppressed 60 free, and that VI
break every yoke" etc and so fasting
"thc light" he says, "shall break forth a
the morning, and thy health shall spring
forth speedily and thy righteousness shal
go before thee; the glory of the Lore
shall be thy reward - thy light shal
rise in obscurity, and the darkness shal
be as the MONDAY
In Jer., 22, God speaks to king, no
bles, and people, Thus saith the Lord
execute ye judgment and Righteousness
and deliver the spoil out Of the hand O
the oppressor and do no wrong, do nj
violence to the stranger, the fatherless, no
the widow, neither shed innocent bloc,
in this place" He speaks also in sim
liar manner and style to the heather ma
tions, to Syria, Philistia, Tyre, ,Edom an,
Ammon. As proof read the lst chapte
of Amos After which, if you would i'm
prove your biblical knowledge on thi
subject, study also, Gods lesson of pro
pheic prediction as found in Malchia 3:
5. Likewise read the 18th chapter O
Ezekiel and see if individual transgressio
and the practice of social and govern
mental wrong are not grouped togethe
in common condemnation for the mar
row limits Of these columns will not alloy
me to quote all these passages.
But your readers have been relerre
! to the curse of Canaan, as if that was i
the interests Of injustice and initiate
against the merciful and benevolent char
, acter Of the God of the Old Testament
But what was this curse Of Canaan q? SUP
pose it to have been of political charat
ter, how has it any bearing upon tn
, question at issue How prove that it re
fered to the subjecton in slavery of til
Canaanites or Hamites Because tn
, Shareholders of America, or their apolc
/ gists, so held and applied it to Africa
Slavery, is no proof at all. That tha
curse had any political bearing or char
acter at all is very questionable. L
rather is to be looked upon, as Il predit
tion Of what subsequently occurred in tn
relative spiritual condition of the descent
, ants of Noah, when taken into accour
with the other predictions. connected wit
: it, relating to Shem and Japheth. Th
phrase, "servant Of servants must not mi
r lead US, for it is merely Hebraism dt
. noting, the most complete subjugation
, but has no such meaning as slave {
, slaves. There is no developed slave re
lation in it whatsoever. Geneses 9:25
therefore wholly irrelevant to the discu
sion.
So also is the quotation from Exodr
2l:l-7,2l-27 verses. The writer in tn
Register is wholly misled by the wort
t "buy," "serve," "free," "maid and mar
| servants master" etc. He takes thes
D words as if they were used in the sam
= sense, md had the meaning which the
received in the history and vocabulary
B. American Slavery. But such was nc
Q the case. The use of the term buy in til
e Hebrew Scripture conveys not the idea {
1 Hebrew servants being bought and sole
as under the system of modern slavery
5 There is no proof that Hebrew servant
$ were ever made such, or kept in that col
f dition by force, against their own consen
t except as a punishment for crime An
/. the presumption is that that is the mear
: ing here. So to give to the word servant,
y the meaning of "slave,r is gross an
t gratuitious assumption. Indeed all tn
q DruyisiOn herein meniioned so far fro,