Ah!  We remember his jealousy for religion—­his holy indignation when he found that his “GODS” were stolen!  How he mustered his clan, and plunged over the desert in hot pursuit, seven days, by forced marches; how he ransacked a whole caravan, sifting the contents of every tent, little heeding such small matters as domestic privacy, or female seclusion, for lo! the zeal of his “IMAGES” had eaten him up!

No wonder that slavery, in its Bible-navigation, drifting dismantled before the free gusts, should scud under the lee of such a pious worthy to haul up and refit; invoking his protection, and the benediction of his “GODS!”

OBJECTION 2. Servants were enumerated in inventories of property.  If that proves servants property, it proves wives property. “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s WIFE, nor his man servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s” EXODUS xx. 17.  An examination of all the places in which servants are included among beasts, chattels, &c., will show, that in inventories of mere property, servants are not included, or if included, it is in such a way, as to show that they are not regarded as property.  Eccl. ii. 7, 8.  But when the design is to show, not merely the wealth but the greatness of any personage, that he is a man of distinction, a ruler, a prince, servants are spoken of, as well as property.  In a word, if riches alone are spoken of, no mention is made of servants; if greatness, servants and property.  Gen. xiii. 2. "And Abraham was very rich in cattle, in silver and in gold." No mention of servants.  So in the fifth verse; Lot’s riches are enumerated, “And Lot also had flocks, and herds, and tents.”  In the seventh verse servants are mentioned, “And there was a strife between the HERDMEN of Abraham’s cattle and the HERDMEN of Lot’s cattle”.  See also Josh. xxii. 8; Gen. xxxiv. 23; Job. xlii. 12; 2 Chron. xxi. 3; xxxii. 27-29; Job 1. 3-5; Deut. viii. 12-17; Gen. xxiv. 35, and xxvi. 13, and xxx. 43.

Divers facts dropped incidentally, show that when servants are mentioned in connection with property, it is in such a way as to distinguish them from it.  When Jacob was about to leave Laban, his wives say, “All the riches which thou hast taken from our father, that is ours and our children’s.”  Then follows an inventory of property.  “All his cattle,” “all his goods,” “the cattle of his getting,” &c.  He had a large number of servants at the time, but they are not included with his property.  Compare Gen. xxx. 43, with Gen. xxxi. 16-18.