way mentioned by which a foreigner could be made a slave; that is, by purchase, Lev. xxv. 44; and it is remarkable that the Hebrews were not permitted to make slaves of the captives taken in the war"-will compare with Deut. xx. 10–16: "And when thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, * * * "And it shall be, if it then proclaim peace unto it." make answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein, shall be tributaries unto thee, and shall serve thee" (77) va abaduka, shall be slaves to thee). “And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it." And when the hand of thy God hath delivered it into thy hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword." "But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is within the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee." "Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of those nations." It is evident that the captives here allowed to be made were to be slaves, from what follows on the same subject, in the same book, xxi. 10–15: When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the Lord thy God hath delivered them into thy hands, and thou hast taken them captive, and seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldst have her to thy wife: then thou shalt bring her home to thy house, and she shall shave her head and pare her nails and she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thy house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that, thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money: thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her." : Thus the fact is proved, that if he had not thus made her his wife, she would have been his slave and an article of merchandise. LESSON XI. In the introductory part of Mr. Barnes's book, he makes some remarks in the nature of an apology for his undertaking to examine the subject of slavery. Page 20, he says Belonging to the same race with those who are held in bondage. We have a right, nay, we are bound to express the sympathies of brotherhood, and 'to remember those who are in bonds as bound with them. We were not aware of any fact relating to Mr. Barnes's descent; nor did we before know from what race he was descended. We were truly much surprised at this avowal, and endeavoured to imagine that he had used the word in some general and indefinite sense, as some do when they say animal race, and human race. But on examining his use of the word, page 20: "How is a foreign race, with so different a complexion, and in reference to which, so deep-seated prejudices and aversions exist, in every part of the land, to be disposed of if they become free.?"-and page 27: "And the struggles which gave liberty to millions of the Anglosaxon race did not loosen one rivet from the fetter of an African;" page 83: "The Hebrews were not essentially distinguished from the Egyptians, as the Africans are from their masters in this land, by colour;" and page 86: "They were a foreign race, as the African race is with us;" and page 96: "There are in the United States now, according to the census of 1840, 2,486,465 of a foreign race held in bondage ;" and page 97: "It would have been as just for the Egyptians to retain the Hebrews in bondage as it is for white Americans to retain the African race;" were forced to conclude that the author understood his language and its meaning. Such, then, being the fact, we cannot find it in our heart to blame him for "expressing the sympathies of brotherhood." But we feel disposed with kindness to relieve his mind from the burthen of such portion of sympathy for those of his race who are in slavery, as he may conceive to be a duty imposed by the injunction, "Remember those who are in bond, as bound with them." We will quote the passage, Heb. xiii. 3: "Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them." It is translated from the Greek Μιμνήσκεσθε τῶν δεσμίων ὡς συνδεδεμένοι, Mimnêskësthe ton degmiōn hōs sunděděměnoi. The words translated "bonds," "bound with," &c. are derived from the root déw, deo, and signifies to bind, to bring together, to chain, to fetter, to hinder, to restrain, &c., which meaning falls into all its derivations. When one was accused of some offence, and was, on that account, restrained, so that he might be surely had at a trial for the same, such restraint would be expressed, as the case required, by some of its derivations. Hence we have dέois, desis, the act of binding; dέoμa, desma, a bond, a chain; déoulos, desmios, chained, fettered, imprisoned, &c. ; Seouòs, desmos, a bond, chain, knots, cords, cables; Seouów, desmoō, to enchain, to imprison; deoμopúλağ, desmophulax, a jailer, &c. The word is used, differently varied, in Matt. xvi. 19; xviii. 18; Acts viii. 23; xx. 23; xxiii. 21; xxvi. 29; Rom. vii. 2; 1 Cor. vii. 39; Eph. iv. 3; Philip. i. 16; Col. iv. 18; 2 Tim. ii. 9; Philem. 10; Heb. x. 34; xi. 36; and never used, in any sense whatever, to express any condition of slavery. St. Paul was under the restraint of the law upon a charge of heresy. All the Christians of his day were very liable to like danger. His only meaning was that all such should be remembered, as though they themselves were suffering a like misfortune. Suppose he had expressed the idea more diffusely and said, "Remember all Christians who, for teaching Christ crucified, are persecuted on the charge of teaching a false religion, as though you yourselves were persecuted with them." Such was the fact. Surely no one, by any course of rational deduction, could construe it into an injunction to remember or do any thing else, in regard to slavery or its subjects, unless upon the condition that the slave was, by some means, under restraint upon a similar charge. St. Paul was never married; cannot be said to have looked with very ardent eyes upon the institution of marriage; by many is thought to have been unfavourably disposed towards it. We have among us, to this day, some who pretend that they think it a great evil, are its bitter enemies, and give evidence. that, if in their power, they would totally abolish it. Suppose such a man should say that, because he belonged to the same race with those who were bound in the bonds of wedlock, it was his privilege to express the sympathies of brotherhood, and expostulate against that evil institution; nay, that he was enjoined by St. Paul to do so in this passage, "Remember those who are in bonds, as bound with them,"-what would be the value of this appeal to St. Paul? But the very word he uses, in the passage quoted, is also used, almost invariably, in the gospels, to express the restraint imposed by matrimony; yet it is never used to express any condition, or quality, or station, in regard to slavery. The naked, unadorned proposition presented by Dr. Barnes is, that, because St. Paul enjoined the Hebrew Christians to sympathize with, to remember all those who were labouring under persecution on the account of their faith in Christ, they were also bound to remember, to sympathize with the slaves, on the account of their being in slavery, as though they were slaves themselves. We feel that such argument must ever be abortive. From the delicacy of Dr. Barnes's situation, as "belonging to the same race with those held in bondage," we feel it a duty to treat the position with great forbearance. Had it come from one of the more favoured race of Shem, or the still more lofty race of Japheth, we should have felt it an equal duty to have animadverted with some severity. It would have appeared like a design to impose on those ignorant of the original; and might have put us in mind of the cunning huckster, with his basket of addled eggs,-although unexpectedly broken in the act of their delivery to the hungry traveller; yet the incident was remembered by the recorder of propriety. LESSON XII. It ANTIOCH is said to have been the birthplace of St. Margaret,of which there are many legends, to one of which we allude. brings to mind some early views of Christianity; besides, at her time, a large portion of the population of Antioch were slaves, and are alluded to in the legend. She was the daughter of the priest of Apollo, and was herself a priestess to the same god. She is said to have lived in the time and under the authority of the Præfect Olybius, who became devoted to her mental and personal accomplishments and very great beauty. He is said to have sought her in marriage, and, after great labour and exertion, to have brought about such a state of affairs as to insure her approval and consent. But, although thus the affianced bride of Olybius, by some means she had held intercommunior with the private teachers of Christianity, and was converted to its faith; a fact known only to her and them. Upon such a state of things, arrives from Probus, Rome's imperial lord, Vopiscus, charged to admonish the præfect how fame bore tidings of the frequent apostasy from the true religion of the gods, and the increase of the unholy faith of the Galileans at Antioch; and that the laws were made to be executed upon the godless, whose wicked and incestuous rites offend the thousand deities of Rome. Olybius well knows that the least faltering on his part would probably be followed by his being shown the mandate for Vopiscus to supersede him in the government; for which he determines to not give him the least pretence: hence he orders the immediate arrest. of all suspected; convenes his council in the halls of justice, and announces thus his views: "Hear me, ye priests on earth, ye gods in heaven! By Vesta, and her virgin-guarded fires; By Mars, the sire and guardian god of Rome; By Antioch's bright Apollo; by the throne Of him whose thunder shakes the vaulted ekies; And that dread oath I add, that binds the immortals, Last, by the avenger of despised vows, Even if my father's blood flowed in their veins, MILLMAN. * * * The prisoners are ushered in, heard, and ordered to death; among whom a female veiled, as if Phoebus-chosen! "What! dare they rend our dedicated maids, Even from our altars? Haste! withdraw the veil, In which her guilty face is shrouded close. Ha! their magic mocks my sight! I seem to see Answer, if thou art she!" |