ry consecrated temple. The wise and impartial Disposer,
therefore, makes the endowments of his creatures equal with their
responsibilities: to all those on whom he lays the obligations of
religion and of the family state, he gives the right of holding the
property on which the dwelling and the sanctuary must be founded. It is
a sacred right, a divine investiture, bearing the date of the creation
and the seal of the Creator.

The blessing of this institution, like that of the Sabbath and of the
family, has indeed been shattered by the fall of man; but when God said
to Noah and his sons, concerning the inferior creatures, "Into your hand
are they delivered; even as the green herb have I given you all things,"
it was reestablished and consecrated anew. The Psalmist repeated the
assurance to the world when he wrote, "Thou madest him to have dominion
over the works of thy hand; thou hast put all things under his feet."

We now advance to the second part of our proposition. Men have no such
right to hold property in men. Since the right is from God, it follows
immediately that they can hold in ownership, by a divine title, only
what he has given. But he has not given to men, as men, a right of
ownership in men. No one will contend for a moment that the universal
grant above considered confers upon them mutual dominion, or rightful
property in their species. The idea is not in the terms; it is nowhere
in the Bible; it is not in nature; it is repugnant to common sense; it
would resolve the race into the absurd and terrific relation of
antagonists, struggling, each one for the mastery of his own estate in
another,--I, for the possession of my right in you; and you, for yours
in me. Nay, the very act of entitling all men to hold property proves
the exemption of all, by the divine will, from the condition of
property. The idea that a man can be an article of property and an owner
of property by the same supreme warrant is contradictory and absurd.

We now have sure ground for objecting to the system of American slavery,
as such. It is directly opposed to the original, authoritative
institution of Jehovah. He gives men the right to hold property. Slavery
strips them of the divine investiture. He gives men dominion over
inferior creatures. Slavery makes them share the subjection of the
brute. That slavery does this, the laws of the States in which it exists
abundantly declare. Slaves are "chattels," "estate personal."
Slave-holder