out of the nature of society. The divine law is promulged in harmony with this condition of society, and based upon the recognition of it. And to this, we especially invite attention.
There is but one divine and absolutely perfect code of social duties; one absolutely perfect constitution of society in the world. The civilized world, without an exception, without a dissenting voice, assents to this law as the standard of moral perfection in the social system. It was written, and it is the only law ever literally written, by the hand of God. I need not say, that it was the magna charta of the only nation ever God placed under a theocratic form of government. It is, sometimes, emphatically called, the Law, or "the law often commandments." Its preamble is, "I am the Lord thy God, that brought thee out of the land of Egypt — out of the house of bondage." "Therefore, hear, O Israel!"
To one section of it, we emphatically invite attention. It is the consummating statute of the divine constitution: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, nor his man servant, nor his maid servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's" property. This is our first argument in demonstration of the divine recognition and acknowledgment of the relation of master and servant, or of one man having a rightful property in another. It is, therefore, all-important, that we understand the meaning of the word servant, as used by the Supreme Lawgiver and Judge of the world, in this case. That a man is here as fully recognized as property as a house, an ox, an ass, is indisputable. The term selected is as fully defined as any other term in the precept — as the term wife, and the term house. This, to some minds, may demand a word of explanation.
