This may be all true, but what is the indication of God’s will, as taught by these, his providences towards it? “And now I say unto you refrain from these men, and let them alone; for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.” _Acts_ v. 38, 39. -------------- LESSON XIII. Thus, it has pleased God, at an early age of the world, to reveal to the mind of man this mode of learning his will by the indications of Providence. But Mr. Barnes has given us further data, whereby we may be enabled to examine more deeply into the indications of God’s will touching the institution of slavery, by reference to his providences concerning it, growing out of the universality and ancientness of the institution. Thus, page 112, he says—“That slavery had an existence when Moses undertook the task of legislating for the Hebrews, there can be no doubt. We have seen that servitude of some kind prevailed among the patriarchs; that the traffic in slaves was carried on between the Midianites and the Egyptians, * * * and that it existed among the Egyptians. It was undoubtedly practised by all the surrounding nations, for history does not point us to a time when slavery did not exist. * * * There is even evidence that slavery was practised by the Hebrews themselves, when in a state of bondage and that though they were as a nation ‘bondmen to Pharaoh,’ yet they had servants in their families who had been ‘bought with money.’ * * * At the very time that the law was given respecting the observance of the passover, and before the exode from Egypt, this statute appears among others: ‘This is the ordinance of the passover: there shall no stranger eat thereof: but every man-servant, _that is bought for money_, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.’ It is clear, from this, that the institution was always in existence, and that Moses did not originate it.” Again, page 117: “A Hebrew might be sold to his brethren if he had been detected in the act of theft, and had no means of making restitution according to the provisions of the law. _Exod._ xxii. 3. ‘He shall make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.’” “This is in accordance with the common legal maxim, _Luat in corpore, qui non habet in aere_. The same law prevailed among the Egyptians, and among the Greeks also till the time of Solon. * * * By the laws of the twelve tables, the same thing was enacted at Rome. A native-born Hebrew might be a servant in a single case in virtue of his birth. If the master had given to a Hebrew, whom he had purchased, a wife, and she had borne him children; the children were to remain in servitude.” See _Exod._ xxi. 4. Again, page 250: “It is unnecessary to enter into proof that slavery abounded in the Roman Empire, or that the