he could not, consistently
with his general character, have failed to expose and condemn it. The
oppression of the people by lordly ecclesiastics, of parents by their
selfish children, of widows by their ghostly counsellors, drew from his
lips scorching rebukes and terrible denunciations.[C] How, then, must he
have felt and spoke in the presence of such tyranny, if _such tyranny
had been within his official sphere_, as should _have made widows_, by
driving their husbands to some flesh-market, and their children not
orphans, _but cattle_?

[Footnote C: Matt. xxiii; Mark vii. 1-13.]

4. Domestic slavery was manifestly inconsistent with the _industry_,
which, _in the form of manual labor_, so generally prevailed among the
Jews. In one connection, in the Acts of the Apostles, we are informed,
that, coming from Athens to Corinth, Paul "found a certain Jew named
Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla;
(because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome;) and
came unto them. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them
and wrought: (for by their occupation they were tent-makers.")[A] This
passage has opened the way for different commentators to refer us to the
public sentiment and general practice of the Jews respecting useful
industry and manual labor. According to _Lightfoot_, "it was their
custom to bring up their children to some trade, yea, though they gave
them learning or estates." According to Rabbi Judah, "He that teaches
not his son a trade, is as if he taught him to be a thief."[B] It was,
_Kuinoel_ affirms, customary even for Jewish teachers to unite labor
(opificium) with the study of the law. This he confirms by the highest
Rabbinical authority.[C] _Heinrichs_ quotes a Rabbi as teaching, that no
man should by any means neglect to train his son to honest industry.[D]
Accordingly, the apostle Paul, though brought up at the "feet of
Gamaliel," the distinguished disciple of a most illustrious teacher,
practiced the art of tent-making. His own hands ministered to his
necessities; and his example in so doing, he commends to his Gentile
brethren for their imitation.[E] That Zebedee, the father of John the
Evangelist, had wealth, various hints in the New Testament render
probable.[F] Yet how do we find him and his sons, while prosecuting
their appropriate business? In the midst of the hired servants, "in the
ship mending their nets."[G]

[Footnote A: Acts xvii