ers who sojourned in the land?' They were remnants of nations, who had filled up the measure of their iniquity, and against whom the wrath of God was therefore revealed, even 'unto death.'

2d. They were the inhabitants of a land promised for many centuries to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. A land that was to be purged from the pollution of idolatry, and the most abounding profligacy, and become the theatre of the most stupendous events, and be peculiarly characterised by Holiness to the Lord.'

3d. The bond service to which they were subjected was almost, in all respects, perfectly dissimilar to the degrading slavery which now prevails in the West Indies. In the majority of instances being only the payment of tribute, leaving them at liberty to avail themselves of every just means of acquiring wealth; and only preventing them from becoming possessors of the soil which God had given to his peculiar people.' Purchased servants were to be treated with especia kindness, and seem, in most cases, to have been a superior order of dependants. Hired servants appear to have been among the meanest of those who bore the name of servants among the hoathon, and ally employed as hewers of wood, and drawers of water, or, in other words, as the bearers of burdens-persons engaged in the lowest occupations.

4th. Their treatment as servants was to be invariable distinguished by kindness; maltreatment entitled them to instant release; the Sabbath was theirs; the court of the Gentiles was theirs; the way of access to all the benefits temporal and spiritual of the Jewish religion was theirs; as heathens, they were to be treated with uniform justice and tenderness; as proselytes or converts, in all respects as brethren. I might, if I had time, and it were necessary, fully show you from the inspired volume, that, so far from magnifying the comforts and privileges of the bond servants, under the Mosaic economy, I have very much curtailed the list of their advantages. I might quote the laws which bound the Israelites, under the heaviest penalties, to observe a course of kindness to the slaves; I might specify the arrangements made for their instruction and conversion. I might enumerate the threatnings and denunciations of God against their oppressors, when they

the Israelite and the Jewish proselyte; and 'making merchandise,' as using a man against his will, as a servant lawfully purchased, yea, though he should use his services only to the value of a farthing, or use but his arm to lean upon or support him, if he be forced so to act as a servant, the person compelling him but once to do so, shall die as a a thief, whether he has sold him or not. These passages, I think, clearly point out to us what should be our conduct under ordinary circumstances. They teach us that we are not to steal at all, not to covet at all, and that the stealing of men, the making merchandise of men, the forcing of men to serve against their will, are crimes considered worthy of DEATH. The passage so often quoted, to prove that slavery is not sinful, is to be found in the 25th of Leviticus, from the 39th to the 46th verses, inclusive. It is, however, upon the 45th and 46th verses that the argument is principally built; they read thus:

'Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession. And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your possession; they shall be your bondmen forever; but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigor.

In reference to this passage I would observe, that, to me, it appears highly probable that the expression, for ever,' in the text before us, does not apply to the bondmen here spoken of individually, but collectively as the tenth verse seems to promise liberty to ALL, both Jew and Gentile, at the year of Jubilee.

And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto ALL the inhabitants thereof; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.'

From this passage I infer, that, although the Jews were to be permitted to obtain bondmen from among the strangers who sojourned in the land during the continuance of the Mosaic dispensation, yet at the year of general redemption those who had been reduced to active service were to share the benefit of the proclamation, leaving the Israelites to supply their places by others, who, there is no doubt, might be obtained without any difficulty. Let us for a moment look at this slavery.

1st. Who were the 'heathen round about?' 'the strang

ers who sojourned in the land?' They were remnants of nations, who had filled up the measure of their iniquity, and against whom the wrath of God was therefore revealed, even unto death.'

2d. They were the inhabitants of a land promised for many centuries to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. A land that was to be purged from the pollution of idolatry, and the most abounding profligacy, and become the theatre of the most stupendous events, and be peculiarly characterised by Holiness to the Lord.'

3d. The bond service to which they were subjected was almost, in all respects, perfectly dissimilar to the degrading slavery which now prevails in the West Indies. In the majority of instances being only the payment of tribute, leaving them at liberty to avail themselves of every just means of acquiring wealth; and only preventing them from becoming possessors of the soil which God had given to his peculiar people.' Purchased servants were to be treated with especia kindness, and seem, in most cases, to have been a superior order of dependants. Hired servants appear to have been among the meanest of those who bore the name of servants among the houthony and ally employed as hewers of wood, and drawers of water, or, in other words, as the bearers of burdens-persons engaged in the lowest occupations.

4th. Their treatment as servants was to be invariable distinguished by kindness; maltreatment entitled them to instant release; the Sabbath was theirs; the court of the Gentiles was theirs; the way of access to all the benefits temporal and spiritual of the Jewish religion was theirs; as heathens, they were to be treated with uniform justice and tenderness; as proselytes or converts, in all respects as brethren. I might, if I had time, and it were necessary, fully show you from the inspired volume, that, so far from magnifying the comforts and privileges of the bond servants, under the Mosaic economy, I have very much curtailed the list of their advantages. I might quote the laws which bound the Israelites, under the heaviest penalties, to observe a course of kindness to the slaves; I might specify the arrangements made for their instruction and conversion. I might enumerate the threatnings and denunciations of God against their oppressors, when they

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had any, and then, also, the execution of those threats in a variety of awful and premonitory instances; but I forbear, and earnestly reccommend all present to peruse with care the first five books of the Old Testament, and mark what is written respecting strangers,' 'strangers within the gate,' in contra-distinction to casual visitors,- -STRANGERS THAT SOJOURN AMONGST YOU,'-servants and bondmen,' for under these five denominations are, I believe, included all the bond-servants among the Hebrews, save those of their own nation.

5th. Having noticed the source from whence the Jews obtained their slaves-and the mode of treatment to which they were subjected, I proceed to observe that this institution was by direct appointment of the Almighty, and appears to have been a commutation of a sentence of death originally pronounced upon the Canaanitish and Philistine nations, the previous possessors of the soillet this be well remembered-the Divine head of the Jewish Theocracy, appointed, permitted, regulated, slavery. He was the God and Father and Legislator of the people of Israel. The God also of the heathen round about, though they huew him notiivi feared his name-remember, too, that he is a being above all law, save those eternal rules which are inseparable from his nature, that He is the source of law to the universe; that revealed codes are for man and not for God-and then, I think, you will perceive that slavery might exist among the Jews, and yet not furnish us with an example to be followed, nor do any thing towards establishing our right to be the holders of slaves. The appointment of slavery by God is one of the circumstances which justifies slavery-but the moment the sanction of God is withdrawn, the authority of man is at an end, and he is left to regulate his moral conduct by the revealed law, every violation of which is an offence against his Creator.

6th. It does not appear that to man was given a discretionary power to bring into bondage any portion of his fellow men-on the contrary-the most fearful punishments are assigned to those who are guilty of any infraction of the law in that respect. Had such a discretionary power been ever given in the day when it was so given, the moral law would have been in effect annulled. In all cases, howev

er, the Jews were but agents, instruments, and ministers of vengeance in the hands of the Almighty, and were repeatedly chastised for assuming and exercising a power not delegated to them by their Supreme Head. The Jews, however, were showing their obedience as much in the destruction of the Canaanites as in the offering of appointed sacrifices in the observance of arrangements regarding slavery, as in the performance of any religious service enjoined upon them. But what is the use made of the fact, that God commanded the enslavement of the Canaanitish nations? It is this—that therefore slavery is not sinful in the abstract, and therefore we may hold men in slavery and be guiltless. See, for a moment, where this would lead us. It would lead to the conclusion that the judgments and punishments which God has at any time commanded and authorised his own special people, his avowed and recognised servants, to inflict upon nations and individuals, may, in strict conformity with religion and morality, be inflicted by men upon their fellow-men at any time—at any place, and without any such authority or command. By the decree of the Most High, a father was commanded to sacrifice his son-Elijah was empowered to slay the false prophets, and the Israelites were enjoined to put to death some, and to enslave others of the idolatrous people whom they conquered in war, and, therefore, we have a moral and religious right to do any or similar things, without any similar warrant, sanction, or authority. Excellent logic! Excellent theology! To contend that the enslavement of men is not sinful from the circumstance of its having been permitted by God, in the case argued, is unreasonable, unscriptural, impious, and blasphemous.

Were the negroes of Western Africa in the same circumstances as the Canaanites?

Is the slavery in the West Indies like the slavery among the Jews? It is absurd and wicked to denote the two conditions by the same term. When light becomes darkness, and kindness becomes cruelty, and justice and mercy, injustice and oppression, then name them together, and not before, unless you be found guilty of upholding an abomination by the prostitution of the word of God.

Is Africa a land promised to us for a possession, and are we commanded to drive out and utterly destroy its inhabitants.?