PROPOSITION V.
A very considerable degree of severity, in the treatment of servants was indulged in during the Old Testament times.
Proof I. Gen. xvi : 6 — 9, "But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold thy maid is in thy hand ; do to her as it pleaseth thee : and when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. "And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou ? and whither wilt thou go 1 And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the Lord said unto her. Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands." On this remark, — 1st. There is strong presumption, that Hagar was a good and faithful servant, and stood high in the confidence of her mistress, until she was seduced by her from the path of rectitude. Sarai's choice is sufficient ground for this opinion. 2nd. She was in a delicate situation when she be- came the subject of this severity. All the circumstances, except the unfortunate outbreak of her own pride, seemed to call for peculiar tenderness, and kind treatment. Yet, — 3d. She was abused and maltreated to such a degree, as to induce her to flee to the wilderness. " Sarai dealt hardly with her;'' in the margin "afflicted her." We can form no idea of this affliction but by referring to other places where the word occurs. Isa. liii; 7, applies it as descriptive of the affliction of the Man of Sorrows. "He was oppressed and he was afficted” so Exod. i: 11, it is applied to the afflictions of Israel, " Therefore, they did set over them task masters, to affict them;" and Job describes by this word the sorrows he experienced at the hand of God, xxxi: 11, "Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me." We cannot but conclude that this affliction was corporeal, and exceedingly hard to bear. 4th. Hagar ran away from her mis- tress. The word describes the act of Shimei's servants, 1 Kin. ii: 39, who ran away to Gath. Shimei followed them at the peril and subsequent loss of his life and brought them back. Achish, the Philistine prince, gave them up at once. It seems he had a higher sense of justice, and the comity of international law, than prevails among our modern abolitionists. Hagar's was a simple case of a runaway slave. 5th. The angel of the Lord found her. This is none other but the angel Jehovah, the mighty Redeemer. He found her alone, it seems, in the wilder- ness, in a desolate and exposed condition. 6th. And what was God's message to her? Like a modern abolitionist, did he give her wings to fly, and bid her be off from such cruelty and op- pression? Did he hire some Vanzandt, to conceal her in his wagon, and hurry her away toward Egypt, on whose borders she then was — her native country; or toward some frozen Cana- da, to suffer in an inhospitable climate? Ah! no. Tell it not in Hamilton, publish it not in the streets of Cincinnati, lest the daughters of Kentucky rejoice; lest the enemies of religion triumph. "And the angel Jehovah said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands." Such is Jehovah's command, to a poor, abused and afflicted runaway African slave. How different the counsels of infinite wisdom, from those of modern abolitionism! Proof II. — Ex. xxi: 20, 21. " If a man smites his servant, or his maid with a rod, and he die under his hand, he shall be surely punished. Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money."
This phrase, under his hand, may throw some light on the instruction of the angel to Hagar, when he tells her to submit herself under the hands of her mistress. It undoubtedly implies the use of the hands in severe correction. Here, we see extremely violent whipping; and, if death follow, immediately, the master shall be punished, to what extent, the law does not define. But, if the slave survive the beating a day or two, the manslayer goes with impunity — " he shall not be punished." The reason of this law of impunity is stated — "for he is his money.' It is presumed, that the interest of the master will be, in ordinary cases, a sufficient guarantee to the safety of his own purchased slave. An appeal is made to the same source of protection in ver. 26th and 27th, where we are told, that if a master knock out a tooth or an eye of his servant, he shall manumit him: his freedom is the master's punishment. Thomas Clarkson, in Pt. I. Ch. iv, gives a short, and certainly not over-wrought account, of the cruelties practiced upon slaves. In all the world, until Christianity ameliorated their condition, the master exercised the power of life and death with perfect impunity, and often in brutal sport. It is so at the present day in Africa, as the Landers and other travelers have fully shewn. To my purpose, however, this is of no consequence. All I want, is to make it evident, that slavery was accompanied with great cruelties, in ancient times. This has been established beyond dispute. Into the details of its brutal horrors, it is not necessary to enter: humanity shudders at the recital, and Christianity eilone, can apply the remedy. Let us here sum up. Five propositions have now been demonstrated, from, and by the word of God. I. That slavery, existed, during the period over which the Old Testament history extends. II. That the law of Moses permitted the Hebrews to buy their brother Hebrews, and to retain them in bondage or slavery six years. III. That this state of servitude — this relation of master and slave, might, in certain cases, become perpetual for life.
That the Hebrews were permitted by their law to buy servants from the heathen; to hold them in perpetual servitude; and to transmit them as hereditary property to their children. And — Y. That a very considerable degree of severity in the treatment of slaves was indulged in, during the Old Testament times. I now add another, which, being a negative proposition, of course, I cannot prove; but which I commend to the very special attention of our brethren in the opposition. The contradictory of it, it is necessary for their cause to prove. Should any of them adventure upon that task, it is no boasting in me to say, they will find an opponent.
