Part 18 (1/2)

(6.) _They seem to have had in a considerable measure, the disposal of their own time_,--Ex. xxiii. 4, and iii. 16, 18, and xii. 6, and ii. 9, and iv. 27, 29-31. Also to have practised the fine arts. Ex. x.x.xii. 4, and x.x.xv. 32-35.

(7.) _They were all armed_. Ex. x.x.xii. 27.

(8.) _All the females seem to have known something of domestic refinements; they were familiar with instruments of music, and skilled in the working of fine fabrics_. Ex. xv. 20, and 35, 36.

(9.) _They held their possessions independently, and the Egyptians seem to have regarded them as inviolable_. This we infer from the fact that there is no intimation that the Egyptians dispossessed them of their habitations, or took away their flocks, or herds, or crops, or implements of agriculture, or any article of property.

(10.) _Service seems to have been exacted from none but adult males_.

Nothing is said from which the bond service of females could be inferred; the hiding of Moses three months by his mother, and the payment of wages to her by Pharaoh's daughter, go against such a supposition. Ex. ii. 29.

(11.) So far from being fed upon a given allowance, their food was abundant, and had great variety. ”They sat by the flesh-pots,” and ”did eat bread to the full.” Ex. xvi. 3, and xxiv. 1, and xvii. 5, and iv.

29, and vi. 14. Also, ”they did eat fish freely, and cuc.u.mbers, and melons, and leeks, and onions, and garlic.” Num. xi. 4, 5, and x. 18, and xx. 5.

(12.) _That the great body of the people were not in the service of the Egyptians, we infer_ (1) from the fact, that the extent and variety of their own possessions, together with such a cultivation of their crops as would provide them with bread, and such care of their immense flocks and herds, as would secure their profitable increase, must have furnished constant employment for the main body of the nation.

(2.) During the plague of darkness, G.o.d informs us that ”ALL the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.” We infer that they were _there_ to enjoy it.

(3.) It seems improbable that the making of brick, the only service named during the latter part of their sojourn in Egypt, could have furnished permanent employment for the bulk of the nation. See also Ex.

iv. 29-31.

Besides, when Eastern nations employed tributaries, it was, as now, in the use of the levy, requiring them to furnish a given quota, drafted off periodically, so that comparatively but a small portion of the nation would be absent _at any one time_.

Probably there was the same requisition upon the Israelites for one-fifth part of the proceeds of their labor, that was laid upon the Egyptians. See Gen. xlvii. 24, 26. Instead of taking it out of their _crops_, (Goshen being better for _pasturage_ than crops) they exacted it of them in brick making; and it is quite probable that only the _poorer_ Israelites were required to work for the Egyptians at all, the wealthier being able to pay their tribute, in money. See Exod. iv.

27-31.

This was the bondage in Egypt. Contrast it with American slavery. Have our slaves ”very much cattle,” and ”a mixed mult.i.tude of flocks and herds?” Do they live in commodious houses of their own? Do they ”_sit by the flesh-pots_,” ”_eat fish freely_,” and ”_eat bread to the full_?” Do they live in a separate community, at a distance from their masters, in their distinct tribes, under their own rulers and officers? Have they the exclusive occupation of an extensive and fertile tract of country for the culture of their own crops, and for rearing immense herds of _their own_ cattle--and all these held independently of their masters, and regarded by them as inviolable? Are our female slaves free from all exactions of labor and liabilities of outrage?--and whenever employed, are they paid wages, as was the Israelitish woman, when employed by the king's daughter? Exod. ii. 9. Have the females entirely, and the males to a considerable extent, the disposal of their own time? Have they the means for cultivating social refinements, for practising the fine arts, and for intellectual and moral improvement?

THE ISRAELITES, UNDER THE BONDAGE OF EGYPT, ENJOYED ALL THESE RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES. True, ”_their lives were made bitter, and all the service wherein they made them serve was with rigor_.” But what was that, when compared with the incessant toil of American slaves, the robbery of all their time and earnings, and even the ”power to own any thing, or acquire any thing”--the ”quart of corn a day,” the legal allowance of food[A]!--their _only_ clothing for one half the year, ”_one_ s.h.i.+rt and _one_ pair of pantaloons[B]!”--the _two hours and a half_ only for rest and refreshment in the twenty-four[C]!--their dwellings, _hovels_, unfit for human residence, commonly with but one apartment, where both s.e.xes and all ages herd promiscuously at night, like the beasts of the field.

Add to this, the mental ignorance, and moral degradation; the daily separations of kindred, the revelries of l.u.s.t, the lacerations and baptisms of blood, sanctioned by the laws of the South, and patronized by its pubic sentiment. What, we ask, was the bondage of Egypt when compared with this? And yet for _her_ oppression of the poor, G.o.d smote her with plagues, and trampled her as the mire, till she pa.s.sed away in his wrath, and the place that knew her in her pride, knew her no more.

Ah! ”_I have seen the afflictions of my people, and I have heard their groanings, and am come down to deliver them_.” HE DID COME, and Egypt sank, a ruinous heap, and her blood closed over her.

[Footnote A: The law of North Carolina. See Haywood's Manual, 524-5]

[Footnote B: The law of Louisiana. See Martin's Digest, 610.]

[Footnote C: The whole amount of time secured by the law of Louisiana.

See Act of July 7, 1806. Martin's Digest, 610-12]

If such was G.o.d's retribution for the oppression of heathen Egypt, of how much sorer punishment shall a Christian people be thought worthy, who cloak with religion, a system, in comparison with which the bondage of Egypt dwindles to nothing?

Let those believe who can, that G.o.d gave his people permission to hold human beings, robbed of _all_ their rights, while he threatened them with wrath to the uttermost, if they practised the _far lighter_ oppression of Egypt--which robbed its victims of only the _least_ and _cheapest_ of their rights, and left the _females_ unplundered even of these. What! _Is G.o.d divided against himself_? When he had just turned Egypt into a funeral pile; while his curse yet blazed upon her unburied dead, and his bolts still hissed amidst her slaughter, and the smoke of her torment went upwards because she had ”ROBBED THE POOR,” did He license the VICTIMS of robbery to rob the poor of ALL? As _Lawgiver_, did he _create_ a system tenfold more grinding than that, for which he had just hurled Pharaoh headlong, and cloven down his princes, and overwhelmed his hosts, and blasted them with His thunder, till ”h.e.l.l was moved to meet them at their coming?”

Having touched upon the general topics which we design to include in this inquiry, we proceed to examine various Scripture facts and pa.s.sages, which will doubtless be set in array against the foregoing conclusions.

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED.

The advocates of slavery are always at their wits end when they try to press the Bible into their service. Every movement shows that they are hard-pushed. Their odd conceits and ever varying s.h.i.+fts, their forced constructions, lacking even plausibility, their bold a.s.sumptions, and blind guesswork, not only proclaim their _cause_ desperate, but themselves. Some of the Bible defences thrown around slavery by ministers of the Gospel, do so torture common sense, Scripture, and historical fact, that it were hard to tell whether absurdity, fatuity, ignorance, or blasphemy, predominates, in compound. Each strives so l.u.s.tily for the mastery, it may be set down a drawn battle.