Mr. Barnes has devoted twenty-four pages of his book to the slavery of
the Hebrews in Egypt, wherein we find no instance that his _test_ is
applied with either fairness of deduction or logical accuracy. Indeed,
so far as our limited capacity can trace his application to the _test_,
he has made but two points:
I. After repeated judgments upon the Egyptians, for hesitating to set
the Hebrews free, God, in his providence, effected their deliverance
from slavery. Therefore, we are to infer the indignation of God against
the institution of slavery. What were the facts of the case? On account
of their sins rendering them unfit for the blessings promised their
fathers, God imposed on them slavery four hundred years,—at the
expiration of which time he delivered them from it. When a free negro
becomes a public nuisance, the court will give judgment that he shall be
sold to be a slave five years. The term having expired, if the purchaser
holds on, and refuses to let him go, the same court will interfere, set
him free, and impose heavy penalties on the master. Does the case show
that the court feels indignation against the institution of slavery? We
think it proves exactly the opposite!
If the four hundred years of slavery operated to fit the Hebrews for the
reception of the blessing; if the five years of slavery re-fitted the
negro for the rational enjoyment of liberty, we think the providence of
God places the institution of slavery in a valuable point of light.
II. In this review of the slavery of the Israelites in Egypt, Mr. Barnes
has noticed the fact of their rapid increase, to the extent of their
becoming dangerous to the Egyptian government; and he has compared it
with the more rapid increase of the slaves over the whites in the Slave
States; and suggests a similar danger to the government of the United
States,—adding, that such increase “can be arrested by nothing but
emancipation.” Now all this may be true; but in what light does it show
forth the institution of slavery? Does Mr. Barnes really mean to say,
what is the fact, that the condition of slavery is so well adapted to
the negro race, that, by it, their comforts, peace of mind, and general
happiness are made so certain and well-secured to them, that they
increase rapidly? And that, as they are a race of people whom we do not
desire to bear rule over us, or become more numerous than they now are,
it would be good policy, and he desires, to set them free, in order that
they may be deprived of their present comforts, peace of mind, and
happiness, with the view to lessen their increase, and waste them away?
If such really be his view, we may regard it as an extraordinary
instance of his Christian counsel, and form some idea of what he would
be as a slave-holder. But the same increase of the slaves happened in
Egypt in a different age, and in reference to a different class of men;
nor could any exertion correct it. We may apply the _test_, and safely
infer, THAT GOD SMILES ON THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY.
There is, in this chapter on the slavery of the Hebrews, an allusion
made to the States of Ohio and Kentucky, (see page 102;) the one
represented as “adorned with smiling villages, and cottages, and
churches, and the aspect of neatness, thrift, and order;” and that the
other wears “the aspect of ignorance, irreligion, neglect, and
desolation;” and that the reason of the difference is, because “God
smiles upon the free State, and frowns upon the one where slavery
exists.”
We do not deem it necessary to question or even examine the correctness
of the view of Kentucky, as presented to us by Mr. Barnes: so far as the
argument is concerned, we will take it as established. If the
institution of slavery is of Divine origin, or if we are to form a
notion of the will of God respecting it from his providences affecting
the institution, we must keep our eye upon the subject of slavery, not
upon those otherwise conditioned. We must look to the slave in Kentucky,
and compare his conditions there with his conditions in a state of
freedom; and Mr. Barnes has furnished us with data, proving that in
Kentucky the slaves are in a rapid state of propagation and increase.