mperor,
_i. e._ the master of millions of slaves.

The consideration of the Old Testament economy leads us to the same
conclusion on this subject. It is not denied that slavery was tolerated
among the ancient people of God. Abraham had servants in his family who
were "bought with his money," Gen. xvii: 13. "Abimeleck took sheep and
oxen and men servants and maid servants and gave them unto Abraham."
Moses, finding this institution among the Hebrews and all surrounding
nations, did not abolish it. He enacted laws directing how slaves were
to be treated, on what conditions they were to be liberated, under what
circumstances they might and might not be sold; he recognizes the
distinction between slaves and hired servants, (Deut. xv: 18); he speaks
of the way by which these bondmen might be procured; as by war, by
purchase, by the right of creditorship, by the sentence of a judge, by
birth; but not by seizing on those who were free, an offense punished by
death.[268] The fact that the Mosaic institutions recognized the
lawfulness of slavery is a point too plain to need proof, and is almost
universally admitted. Our argument from this acknowledged fact is, that
if God allowed slavery to exist, if he directed how slaves might be
lawfully acquired, and how they were to be treated, it is in vain to
contend that slaveholding is a sin, and yet profess reverence for the
Scriptures. Every one must feel that if perjury, murder, or idolatry had
been thus authorized, it would bring the Mosaic institutions into
conflict with the eternal principles of morals, and that our faith in
the divine origin of one or the other must be given up.

Dr. Channing says, of this argument also, that it proves too much. "If
usages, sanctioned under the Old Testament and not forbidden under the
New, are right, then our moral code will undergo a sad deterioration.
Polygamy was allowed to the Israelites, was the practice of the holiest
men, and was common and licensed in the age of the apostles. But the
apostles no where condemn it, nor was the renunciation of it made an
essential condition of admission into the Christian Church." To this we
answer, that so far as polygamy and divorce were permitted under the old
dispensation, they were lawful, and became so by that permission; and
they ceased to be lawful when the permission was withdrawn, and a new
law given. That Christ did give a new law on this subject is abundantly
evident.[269] With regard to divorc