Page:An essay on the origin and relative status of the white and colored races of mankind.djvu/11

 together in the same tents, whereby Canaan could serve them the more conveniently. And, moreover, there is nothing in that curse, to indicate that either Ham, or his son Canaan, or the posterity of either of them, were to be made black by it. And the expression that Canaan should be "a servant of servants unto his brethren," evidently means that he was to be so humbled, in the sight of his Father, Ham, on whose account the curse was pronounced, as to give, even the servants of Shem and Japheth, authority over him as their subordinate; and hence, the idea of construing that curse, with its limited purpose, so plainly indicated on the face of it, so as to account for the origin and status of the black man, and consigning him thereby to perpetual slavery, is simply as absurd as it is untenable. There are others who claim the descent of the Black man from Cain; who murdered Abel, his brother; and, for which God pronounced a curse on him, as is shown in the following Biblical account of the fratricidal crime and consequent curse: "And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. "And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?

"And he said. What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. "And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. "When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength: a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

"And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear, "Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid: and I shall be a