am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage. Ex. vi, 2. 12. And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel, but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage. Ex. vi, 9, NOTES ON CHAPTER I. 1. I have surely seen the afflictions of my people. The people of God, at this time, were held in slavery by the Egyptians; and though the bondage which they were compelled to endure was certainly not so cruel and severe as that which nearly three millions of American citizens are now doomed to suffer; yet the Infinite Being manifested the most feeling pity for their sorrows. And how can a believer in the truth of the Bible suppose, for one moment, that this same unchangeable God is now an indifferent spectator merely, to the accumulated wrongs which thousands of the poor slaves are forced to endure in this Christian land, thousands who are his people, who love him, but who are not permitted to read his word, nor to worship him according to the dictates of their own consciences? 2. I have also seen their oppression. Oppression is the spoiling or taking another's goods, or the fruit of his own labor, by constraint, terror, or force; and men commit this crime whenever they offer any violence to the persons, or estates, or consciences of others. If the Israelites were oppressed by the Egyptians, what may be said of millions of the human species in this land, who are every day robbed of the fruit of their own labor? And does he not 3. And God heard their groanings. now hear the groanings of the enslaved? unto the sighings of millions who now cry unto him by reason of their chains? 4. Let my people go. And now, if God uttered his testimony against the slavery which his people endured thousands of years ago, and if he commanded their oppressors to let them go free, how can it be made to appear that he does not do this now? The 5. And Pharaoh commanded the task-masters. persons who were placed over the slaves in Egypt, were denominated "task-masters;" it was their office to appoint them their work, and exact its daily performance. In the Hebrew, they are called "princes of burdens," and in the Septuagint, 66 I overseers of the works;" in the dialect of this land, these officers are called "overseers," "" "masters," and "souldrivers " 66 6. Ye shall not diminish aught thereof. And how often Pharaoh has been denounced as a most unmerciful tyrant, for his having made this oppressive requisition! And this, too, by thousands who seem never to have thought that similar exactions have been imposed upon the slaves of this land. Their 99 masters tell us the slaves must not, and cannot, and shall not be set free, till they are fit, or prepared to make a good use of their freedom; and yet these very "masters "" are constantly devising means to strengthen the chains by which the slaves have been, and still are, degraded and made incapable (as they say) of taking care of themselves. Though these same slaves now support themselves and their " masters besides, with their chains on, yet we are told that if their chains were to be taken off, they could not and would not even take care of themselves! ,, That the people of the south are really desirous of prepar ing their slaves to enjoy their liberty, if, indeed, they should ever be favored with it, take the following in evidence; it is an act lately passed by the State of South Carolina, "To amend the laws in relation to the slaves and free persons of color." SEC. 2. Be it enacted by the Honorable, the Senate and House of Representatives, now met and sitting in General Assembly, and by the authority of the same; if any person shall hereafter teach any slave to read or write, or shall aid or assist in teaching slaves to read or write; or cause, or procure any slave to read or write; such person, if a free white person, upon conviction thereof, shall, for each and every offence against this act, be fined not exceeding one hundred dollars, and imprisoned not more than six months; or if a free person of color, shall be whipped not exceeding fifty lashes, and fined not exceeding fifty dollars, at the discretion of the Court of Magistrates and free-holders before whom such free person of color is tried; and if a slave, shall be whipped at the discretion of the Court, not exceeding fifty lashes; the informer to be entitled to one half of the fine, and to be a competent witness; and if any free person of color or slave shall keep any school or other place of instruction for teaching any slave or free person of color to read or write, such free person of color or slave, shall be liable to the same fine, imprisonment, or corporeal punishment, as are by this section imposed and inflicted on free persons, of color or slaves, for teaching slaves to read or write." "SEC. 2. If any person shall employ or keep as a clerk, any slave or free person of color, or shall permit any slave or free person of color, to act as a clerk or salesinan, in or about any shop, store, or house, used for trading, such person shall be liable to be indicted therefor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined for each and every offence, not exceeding one hundred dollars, and be imprisoned not exceeding six months ; the informer to be a competent witness, and to be entitled to one half of the fine " Sure enough they were. 7. They were in an evil case. The slaves of this age cannot be set free, because, forsooth, they are not properly instructed, and the above and many other similar laws declare, under the penalties of whipping, fine, imprisonment, and DEATH, that the slaves must not, and shall not be instructed, lest they should be set free, or by this means obtain their liberty! This is certainly an " evil case." 8. Ye have made our savour to be abhored in the eyes of Pharaoh. So it seems those Israelites did really find their bondage increased by the very efforts which God and his servants were making to get them free. But Moses did not consider this a sufficient reason why he should cease to plead for their freedom. And shall we, of the present age, forbear to preach the truth because some sinners will not repent? Does it alter the course of our duty, when some "harden their hearts," and "wax worse and worse,' ," after they "have received the holy commandment delivered unto them?" If not, why then should we be so often reproached with having retarded the abolition of slavery in this land? And this is the strongest, and in fact about the only objection which many serious and good people can bring against the Anti-Slavery movements of the present day. We try to do something, they do nothing, except to denounce our means and measures, yet we retard the abolition of slavery!" The I ord be judge between us and them. 66 There can be no doubt that the hearts of many masters," in this nation, are now hardened in precisely the same way that Pharaoh's was; and God has just as much agency in hardening their hearts now, as he ever had in hardening the heart of Pharaoh. God says now, as he has long been doing to them, "Let these slaves go free!" and they hear this voice of God in the dictates of reason and humanity, they hear it in the precepts of the Bible, and they acknowledge it in the great charter of our national existence; yet they refuse to obey it, and in doing so they harden their hearts. CHAPTER III. MOSES. The different kinds of servitude allowed among the Hebrews. 1. If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve; and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. Ex. xxi, 2. 2. And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the men-servants do. If she please not her master who hath betrothed her unto himself, then shall he let her be redeemed; to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing that he has dealt deceitfully with her. And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of his daughters. If he take him another wife, her food, her raiment, and |