ic warrant, his
deed of conveyance.

Let us be understood here. We are not educing from the Bible a doctrine
which would level society, by giving to all men equal shares of
property; but a doctrine which extends equal divine protection over the
right of every man to hold that amount of property which he earns by his
own faculties, in consistency with all divine statutes.

This right is indeed argued from nature; and justly; for God's
revelations in nature and in his word coincide. It is, however, a right
of so much consequence to the world, that, where nature leaves it, he
incorporates it, and gives it the force of a law; so that in the sequel
we can with propriety speak of it as a law, as well as an institution.
To the believer in the Bible, this law is the end of argument.

It will have weight with some minds to state that this position is
supported by the highest legal authority. In his Commentaries on the
Laws of England, Blackstone quotes the primeval grant of God, and then
remarks, "This is the only true and solid foundation of man's dominion
over external things, whatever airy metaphysical notions may have been
started by fanciful writers upon this subject. The earth, therefore, and
all things therein, are the general property of all mankind, exclusive
of other beings, from the immediate gift of the Creator."[A]

It will enhance the force of this argument to remember that this
universal right of property is one of what may be called a sacred
trinity of paradisaical institutions. These institutions are the
Sabbath, appointed in regard for our relations to God as moral beings;
marriage, ordained for our welfare as members of a successive race; and
the right of property, conferred to meet our necessities as dwellers on
this material globe. These three are the world's inheritance from lost
Eden. They were received by the first father in behalf of all his
posterity. They were designed for all men as men. It is demonstrable
that they are indispensable, that the world may become Paradise
Regained. "Property, marriage, and religion have been called the pillars
of society;" and the first is of equal importance with the other two;
for all progress in domestic felicity and in religious culture depends
on property, and also on the equitable distribution or possession of
property, as one of its essential conditions. Property lies in the
foundation of every happy home, however humble; and property gilds the
pinnacle of eve