old us, and these Hebrews bought us. We were betrayed; we were
driven out of our homes; unjust wars were made upon us, to make us
captives, that we might be sold. And 'the Lord's people' bought us, by
his special edict (Lev. xxv. 44). Our brother-servants, unfortunate
Hebrews, get released in the jubilee year, except these poor creatures
who were so unfortunate as to be married in slavery, and, not being
willing to be divorced, had their ears fastened, with the ignominious
'awl,' to their master's door-post. God could have ordained that they,
with their wives and children, and we, with ours, should have release in
the fiftieth year. But, no! our bondage is forever, and so is theirs;
and our children and their children are to be servants forever. But we
hold it to be a self-evident truth that all men are born free and equal,
and have an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness. Slavery is the sum of all villanies. Our master's will is our
law; we are subject to his passions; we are chattels; we 'are his
money.' This is the language of your God,--the God whom you worship; and
not only so, but you circumcise us to worship Him!

"Some benevolent Levite, jealous for the character of his Maker,
replies, 'But God did not institute slavery; He found it in existence,
and he only legislates about it, and regulates it.'

"A thousand groans are the prelude to the withering answer which the
slaves make to this apology for oppression.

"'He broke your bonds, it seems,' they cry, 'in Egypt, and in the Red
Sea. Did He "find slavery" on the opposite shore of the Red Sea? Why did
he not merely "legislate for it, and regulate it?" No, He enacted it.
How dare you apologize for your God with such a miserable pretext? He
made the ordinance separating a husband from wife and children, unless
the husband would submit to the indignity of having his ear bored and to
the doom of perpetual bondage, in case his wife was a Gentile. If he
goes away, he must leave his wife and children. Great indulgence have
you in multiplying wives; that is winked at "for the hardness of your
hearts;" but the poor Hebrew must abandon his wife and family if he
chooses freedom! They are his master's "property," "his money," and God
gave the servant these children, knowing that they would be the
"property" of another, and that he would have no unencumbered right to
them; and down through all ages they and their descendants must be
servants. And