Page:The duties of masters and slaves respectively (1845).djvu/22

18 abolitionists excommunicating slaveholders, (as they openly do,) every abolitionist, every one who denies the authority of masters and their right to demand obedience and honour from their servants; every one who teaches that the slave is not bound to obey and honour his master, and who insists on the immediate abolition of slavery, is proud, knowing nothing; he does not consent to wholesome doctrine, even to the words of our Lord Jesus, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness,—and he ought to be ; for, says the Apostle, from such withdraw thyself. So utterly untrue is it that slavery is inconsistent with the law of love.

These popular and oft-repeated objections being thus disposed of, we may safely maintain that a man may lawfully hold in bondage man like himself, to serve him. This institution is undeniably recognized in the Bible: it confers on the master certain rights, and it imposes on him also, certain peculiar obligations.

The master has a right of property in his servant, so that he may use him, lend him, bequeath him, or even sell him to another. But this right