she
belonged to the husband, then this law gave freedom to her children; but
if she belonged to another man, then her children, though born in lawful
wedlock, were hereditary slaves.--Exod. xxi: 4. Again, if a man marries
his own slave, then he lost the right to sell her--if he divorced her,
then she gained her freedom.--Deut. xxi: 10 to 14, inclusive. Again,
there was a law from God which granted rights to Abraham's sons under a
matrimonial contract; for a violation of the rights conferred by this
law, a _free woman, and her seducer_, forfeited their lives, Deut. xxii:
23 and 24; also 13 to 21, inclusive. But for the same offense, _a slave_
only exposed herself to stripes, and her _seducer_ to the penalty of a
sheep.--Levit. xix: 20 to 22, inclusive. Again, there was a law which
guarded his people, whether free or bond, from personal violence. If in
vindictiveness, a man with an unlawful weapon, maimed his own slave by
knocking out his eye, or his tooth, the slave was to be free for this
wanton act of personal violence, as a penalty upon the master.--Exod.
xxi: 26 to 27, inclusive. But for the same offense, committed against a
free person, the offender had to pay an eye for an eye, and a tooth for
a tooth, as the penalty.--Levit. xxiv: 19, 20, and Exod. xxi: 24 and 25,
inclusive. Again, there was a law to guard the personal safety of the
community against dangerous stock. If an ox, known to be dangerous, was
suffered to run at large and kill a person, if the person so killed _was
free_, then the owner forfeited his _life_ for his neglect,--Exod. xxi:
29. But if the person so killed _was a slave_, then the offender was
fined thirty shekels of silver.--Exod. xxi: 32. In some things, slaves
among the Israelites, as among us, were invested with privileges above
hired servants--they were privileged to eat the Passover, but hired
servants were not, Exod. xii: 44, 45; and such as were owned by the
priests and Levites were privileged to eat of the holy things of their
masters, but hired servants dare not taste them.--Levit. xxii: 10, 11.
These are statutes from the Creator of man. They are certainly
predicated upon a view of things, in the Divine mind, that is _somewhat
different_ from that which makes an abolitionist; and, to say the least,
they deserve consideration with all men who worship the God of the
Bible, and not the God of their own imagination. They show very clearly,
that our Creator is the _author_ of social, moral,