Page:Christian Marriage.djvu/106

 slavery as part of the natural order of human life, and adopted into its own discipline the rule that, apart from the master's consent, there could be no marriage of slaves. In the view of the ancients slaves and children stood in the same position so far as personal liberty went. Bingham says:

It is sufficiently evident that this could not be a final, and was never a satisfactory, solution of the problem; with the Gospel in its hands, and with its calendars of martyrs including names of slaves, it was not possible for the Church really to accept the view that slaves were not persons as well as other Christians. Yet it