maid-servant, she shall not go out as the men-servants do. If she please
not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her
be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power,
seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her. And if he hath betrothed her
unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. If he
take him another wife, her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage
shall he not diminish. And if he do not these three unto her, then shall
she go out free without money." Now, sir, the wit of man can't dodge that
passage, unless he runs away into the Hebrew. (Great laughter.) For what
does God say? Why, this:--that an Israelite might sell his own daughter,
not only into servitude, but into polygamy,--that the buyer might, if he
pleased, give her to his son for a wife, or take her to himself. If he
took her to himself, and she did not please him, he should not sell her
unto a strange nation, but should allow her to be redeemed by her family.
But, if he took him another wife before he allowed the first one to be
redeemed, he should continue to give the first one _food_, her _raiment_,
and her _duty of marriage_; that is to say, _her right to his bed_. If he
did not do _these three things_, she should go out free; _i.e._ cease to
be his slave, without his receiving any money for her. There, sir, God
sanctioned the Israelite father in selling his daughter, and the Israelite
man to buy her, into slavery and into polygamy. And it was then right,
because God made it right. In verses 20 and 21, you have these
words:--"And if a man smite his servant or his maid with a rod, and he die
under his hand, he shall be surely punished; notwithstanding, if he
continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money."
What does this passage mean? Surely this:--if the master gave his slave a
hasty blow with a rod, and he died under his hand, he should be punished.
But, if the slave lived a day or two, it would so extenuate the act of the
master he should not be punished, inasmuch as he would be in that case
sufficiently punished in losing his money in his slave. Now, sir, I affirm