No man has a right to use any item of property in a different manner than his relations with it indicate; or, in other words, as shall be in conformity with the laws of God. Our property is little else than the right of possession and control, under the guidance of the laws by which we are in possession for the time being.

The organization of society is the result of the conception of the general good. By it one man, under a certain chain of circumstances, inherits a throne; another, a farm; one, the protection of a bondman, or whatever may accrue to these conditions from other operating causes; and another, nothing. If Dr. Channing and his disciples can find out some new principles by which to organize society, producing different and better results, they will then do

what has not been done.

LESSON IV.

THE doctrine that slavery, disease, and death are the necessary effects of sin, we humbly claim to perceive spread on every page of the holy books. This doctrine is forcibly illustrated in the warning voice of Jehovah to the Israelites. They were emphatically called his children-peculiar people-his chosen ones. He made covenants with them to bless them; yet all these were founded upon their adherence to the Divine law. These promises repealed no ordinance of Divine necessity in their behalf. He expressed, revealed the law, so far as it was important for them at the time, and then says, Deut. xxviii. 14-68:

"15. But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee:

"16. Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.

"17. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.

"18. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. "19. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

"20. The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thy hand unto for to do, until thou be

destroyed, and until thou perish quickly: because of the wickedness of thy doings whereby thou hast forsaken me.

"21. The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.

"22. The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew : and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.

"23. And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.

"24. The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

"25. The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them; and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.

"26. And thy carcass shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away. "27. The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.

"28. The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:

"29. And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways; and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.

"30. Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her thou shalt build a house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.

"31. Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thy ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them.

"32. Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thy eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thy hand.

"33. The fruit of thy land and all thy labours shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up: and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed always :

"34. So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thy eyes which thou shalt see.

"35. The Lord shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.

"36. The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, and there shalt thou serve (ve abadta, and shall slave yourselves to) other gods, wood and stone:

"37. And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee. "38. Thou shalt carry much seed out unto the field, and shalt gather but little in: for the locust shall consume it.

"39. Thou shalt plant vineyards and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes: for the worms shall eat them.

"40. Thou shalt have olive-trees throughout, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil: for thine olive shall cast his fruit. "41. Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them, for they shall go into captivity."

(Into captivity is translated from bashshebi; the prefix preposition in, into, &c. here makes bash. The root is shebi.

The

translation is correct, but the idea extends to such a possession of the captive as includes the idea of a right of property. The same word is used when dumb beasts are taken as spoil in war; thus, Amos iv. 10, DDD shebi susekem, I have taken your horses, i. e. I have captured your horses,—the right of property in the horses is changed. The idea in the text is, they shall go into slavery.) "42. All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust con

sume.

"43. The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.

"44. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.

"45. Moreover, all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed: because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee.

"46. And they shall be upon thee for a sign, and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever."

(For a sign in oth, a mark, sign, &c. It may be noted that this word is used in Gen. iv. 15: "And the Lord set a mark upon Cain," in oth, mark, sign, &c.)

"47. Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things.

"48. Therefore shalt thou serve (y be a slave to) thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.

"49. The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth, a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;

"50. A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young:

"51. And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee.

"52. And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all chy land which the Lord thy God hath given thee.

“53. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege and in the straitness wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:

"54. So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave.

"55. So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates.

"56. The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,

"57. And toward her young one that cometh out from between

her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.

"58. If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name THE LORD THY GOD.

“59. Then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses and of long continuance.

"60. Moreover, he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of, and they shall cleave unto thee.

"61. Also every sickness, and every plague which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

"62. And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the Lord thy God.

"63. And it shall come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.

"64. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people from the one end of the earth even to the other, and thou shalt serve (y, be slave to) other gods which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.

"65. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind.

"66. And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy

life:

"67. In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even shalt thou say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thy heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.

"68. And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee. Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bond-men and bond-women, and no man shall buy you."

Ye shall be sold, i. e. be exposed to sale, or expose yourselves to sale, as the word hith maccartem may be rendered;