trous the consequences of arresting it, it must be arrested, be they what they may!

Such a course as this I say the Bible might have recommended. And why did it not recommend such a course? It was not from inadvertence, because it frequently adverted to the subject. It must have been from design. The evils of slavery were under the eye of the sacred writers, and met them every where. They were wise and good men, and under the plenary inspiration of the Holy Ghost. They were divinely instructed in the best method of fulfilling their great commission, and of carrying the designs of it into execution. The great Author of the Bible exercised his wisdom in this feature of his revelation as well as in every other. Nor can it be doubted by any, except those who would invalidate all confidence in his word, that he has selected the best method of instructing the world upon this important subject. There was in the nature of things, but one best method; and that method was not only known to God, but he was under a moral necessity of adopting it. Those who find fault with the instructions of the Bible in relation to slavery, directly arraign the rectitude, goodness, and wisdom of him who does all things after the counsel of his own will. Nor may it be supposed there was any want of sensibility in the sacred writers to the deplorable state of the slave population. Nor did they want firmness and energy of character; but were every where bold, determined, and steady to their purpose. They

were never rash, but never fearful of opposing themselves to the swelling, menacing tide of the corrupt propensities and passions of men, nor hesitated to do all that they could for truth and right, for religion and virtue, for order and happiness, and for the protection of the oppressed, however formidable the opposition they met with, however great the sacrifices, or however imminent the danger. The reason why they did not pursue the course to which we have referred, must have been that it was not the true and right course. It was neither right in itself, nor best for the master or the slave, for the church or the world.

What then was the course which the Bible pur sued? In giving this book to mankind, its wise and benevolent Author undertook the work of a great reformer. His object was to benefit the world, and subdue it ultimately to himself, by setting in motion a series of moral influences, that were silently to operate for good among the nations, and gradually to renew the face of the earth. His plans were vast and magnificent, and would not be accomplished in a day. Nor did he fail to count the cost of the enterprise. If there were evils in human society, he modified and mitigated them, because to have done more, would in the end have been to accomplish less. If there were existing institutions, long and deeply imbedded in the frame of human society, the abuse of which could not but be deplored, he so regulated the institutions themselves as to sever them from their

abuses, while he breathed into all his moral instructions and government, a spirit that should finally eradicate all evil, and fill the earth with holiness and salvation.

Nor is there any subject to which these remarks are more applicable than that of slavery. Let us turn our thoughts in the first place, to what may be gathered from the Old Testament in relation to this subject. In glancing at the early history of the Hebrews, and before the giving of the law to Moses, we have already seen that the fathers of that nation, the patriarchs, possessed slaves in great numbers. And yet we do not find that God reproved these holy men for being the proprietors of slaves. He did not at that time forbid slavery. Though, if he designed to do so at all, it would seem to us to have been the proper time for him to have required Abram to emancipate his slaves, yet he made no such requisition. He had just called him out from the corruptions of a pagan empire, for the purpose of founding in his family his visible church, and in them of setting an example to the world of a society that should be under his own guidance and direction. And yet he did not make it a condition of Abram's adoption into his family that he should give freedom to the servants, that were bought with his money, that were born in his house, or that were given to him by Abimelech. Instead of this, he so far recognizes and sanctions the proprietorship of this patriarch in his servants, that he required every male among

them to be circumcised, and claimed for them all the privileges of the covenant, of which circumcision was the seal.*

If we pass from the days of Abraham to those of Moses, we find a moral law revealed from heaven, and a code of civil statutes, in both of which the existence of a state of servitude is distinctly recognized, without being forbidden. In the fourth commandment it is written, "The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man servant, nor thy maid servant.” And in the tenth commandment it is written, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife, nor his man servant, nor his maid servant." If from the moral, we turn to the civil code of the Hebrews, we find the following facts. As one of its great and capital principles, it forbids the slave trade, or the seizing of those who are free and selling them as slaves. "He that stealeth a man and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death." This is the deliberate judgment of the divine mind in relation to every branch of this nefarious traffic. It is an offence punished with death. The original man-stealer and the receiver of the stolen person must lose their life under the Mosaic law. The slave сар

*Gen. 17: 10-13, and 27.

tain and the negro dealer are here admonished of their reward. This code also recognizes the distinction between slaves and hired servants. "It shall not seem hard unto thee when thou sendest him away from thee; for he hath been worth double a hired servant unto thee, in serving thee these six years."* So that when this code speaks of servants, it speaks of them not as hired freemen, but as slaves. The Mosaic law refers to the following ways in which a Hebrew might lose his liberty. In extreme poverty, he might sell himself. "If thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bond servant, but as a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of the Jubilee." A father might sell his children. "If a man sell his daughter to be a maid servant, she shall not go out as the men servants do." Insolvent debtors became the slaves of their creditors. "My husband is dead, and the creditor is come to take my two sons to be bondmen."|| A thief, if he had not the money to pay the fine exacted from him by the law, was by the sentence of the judge to be sold for the benefit of him whom he had robbed. "If a thief be found, he shall make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft."§ As the Hebrews were liable

*Deut. 15: 18. and Lev. 25: 39, 40. † Lev. 25: 39. Exod. 21: 7 || II Kings, 4: 1. § Exod. 22: 3.