y his
master to get a wife for his son Isaac, in order to prevail with the
woman and her family, states, that the man for whom he sought a bride,
was the son of a man whom God had greatly blessed with riches; which he
goes on to enumerate thus, in the 35th verse: "He hath given him flocks,
and herds, and silver, and gold, and men-servants, and maid-servants,
and camels, and asses;" then in verse 36th, he states the disposition
his master had made of his estate: "My master's wife bare a son to my
master when she was old, and unto him he hath given all that he hath."
Here, servants are enumerated with silver and gold as part of the
patrimony. And, reader, bear it in mind; as if to rebuke the doctrine of
abolition, servants are not only inventoried as property, but as
property which _God had given to Abraham_. After the death of Abraham,
we have a view of Isaac at Gerar, when he had come into the possession
of this estate; and this is the description given of him: "And the man
waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great; for
he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and _great store
of servants_."--Gen. xxvi: 13, 14. This state in which servants are made
chattels, he received as an inheritance from his father, and passed to
his son Jacob.

Again, in Genesis xvii, we are informed of a covenant God entered into
with Abraham; in which he stipulates to be a God to him and his _seed_,
(not his servants,) and to give to his _seed_ the land of Canaan for an
everlasting possession. He expressly stipulates, that Abraham shall put
the token of this covenant upon every servant born in his house, and
upon every servant _bought with his money of any stranger_.--Gen. xvii:
12, 13. Here again servants are property. Again, more than four hundred
years afterward, we find the _seed_ of Abraham, on leaving Egypt,
directed to celebrate the rite, that was ordained as a memorial of their
deliverance, viz: the Passover, at which time the same institution which
makes _property_ of _men_ and _women_, is recognized, and the _servant
bought with money_, is given the privilege of partaking, upon the ground
of his being circumcised _by his master_, while the hired servant, over
whom the master had no such control, is excluded until he _voluntarily_
submits to circumcision; showing clearly that the institution of
involuntary slavery then carried with it a right, on the part of the
master, _to choose_ a religion _for t