and one slave of every fifty for the
Levites. These slaves he gave to the priests and Levites, who were his
representatives to be their property forever.--Numb. xxxi. These
scriptures palpably contradict the Dr.'s second assumption--that is,
that they were _prohibited by implication_ from enslaving the subjects
of any other nation. The Dr.'s assumptions being the antipodes of truth,
they cannot furnish a conclusion that is warranted by the truth.

The conclusion authorized by the truth, is this: that the making of
slaves by war, and the purchase of slaves with money, was legalized by
the Almighty in the Jewish commonwealth, as regards the subject of _all
nations except the seven_.

The second argument of the Dr.'s, as I remarked, is designed to
neutralize the sanction given to slavery in the New Testament.

The Dr. frankly admits that slavery was sanctioned by the Apostles in
the Apostolic churches. But to neutralize this sanction, he resorts to
two more assumptions, not only without proof, but palpably contradicted
by the Old and New Testament text. The first assumption is this--_that
polygamy and divorce were both sins under the law of Moses, although
sanctioned by the law_. And the second assumption is, that polygamy and
divorce are _known to be sins under the gospel_, not by any gospel
teaching or prohibition, but by the general principles of morality. From
these premises the conclusion is drawn, that although slavery was
sanctioned in the Apostolic church, yet it was a sin, because, like
polygamy and divorce, it was contrary to the principles of the moral
law. The premises from which this conclusion is drawn, are at issue with
the word of God, and therefore the conclusion must be false. The first
thing here assumed is, that polygamy and divorce, although sanctioned by
the law of Moses, were both sins under that law. Now, so far from this
being true, as to _polygamy_, it is a fact that polygamy was not only
sanctioned, when men chose to practice it, but it was expressly enjoined
by the law in certain cases, and a most humiliating penalty annexed to
the breach of the command.--Deut. xxv: 5-9. As sin is defined by the
Holy Ghost to be a transgression of the law, it is impossible that
_polygamy_ could have been a sin under the law, unless it was a sin to
obey the law, and an act of righteousness to transgress it. That
_polygamy_ was a sin under the law, therefore, is palpably false.

As to _divorce_, the Almighty g