Many of these servants were doubtless converts from idolatry, which had been made in Haran. In Gen. 12: 5, the fact is recorded of the removal of Abraham, Sarai, their effects, and of "the SOULS they had gotten." This word "gotten" is translated, says Mr. Carothers, from _osa_, which is used in Ezekiel 18: 31, to express the work of conversion. "Cast away from you all your transgressions, and make you a new heart and a new spirit." And this rendering of the word "gotten" is confirmed by the Chaldee paraphrase on this passage, which reads thus: "Souls they had instructed or turned from idolatry and taught in the true religion." "The Hebrews have a tradition," says Banberg, "that Abraham brought over many men, and Sarah many women from infidelity to the knowledge and worship of the true God; and thus _made_ them spiritually." A similar mode of expression is used by St. Paul: "I have _begotten_ you through the gospel." The idea that Abraham and Sarah made slaves of their converts is simply preposterous. From the foregoing facts and considerations it is perfectly clear to my mind, that the effort to find an apology for slaveholding in patriarchal servitude is a total failure. The charge that the patriarchs held slaves is _wholly_ without foundation,--is a disingenuous attack upon their reputation, and a miserable subterfuge for hard-hearted oppressors, who are seeking an apology or excuse for sins which loudly cry for the vengeance of heaven! Could Father Abraham arise from the dead, visit the South, and there behold thousands of his spiritual children toiling without remuneration, shut out from the blessings of family and home, denied an education and all means of intellectual improvement, driven by the keen lash of a brutal overseer, and then should he hear an appeal made to the patriarchs in justification of this system of unmingled tyranny, he would indignantly repel the appeal as a base calumny! It is surprising with what confidence the example of the patriarchs is urged in justification of slavery in the absence of all proof or semblance of proof, that they were implicated in this practice. But our surprise is increased when we consider that, even could it be made appear that the patriarchs did hold slaves, this fact of itself, would afford not the slightest apology for slaveholding now. The patriarchs, it is admitted, had a plurality of wives, but their example is not now a sufficient warrant for polygamy. There is not an ecclesiastical court in the United States and territories, if we may except the Mormon, Utah, which would accept the example of the patriarchs as an apology for the man who should stand up before that court with two wives leaning on his arms. The argument therefore appears utterly worthless and shallow from every point of view. CHAPTER IX. Slavery and Religion--Continued. LAW OF MOSES AND SLAVERY.