favor of which I have produced a variety of texts; but as "the reason of the law," (according to a maxim of the English law,) "is the life of the law," we cannot with justice draw any conclusion from thence, in favor of the master's claim, till we have examined the principles, on which the doctrine of submission, in these several texts, is founded; and we shall find, upon a general view of the whole, that the principal reason of enforcing the doctrine was not so much because the persons addressed were slaves, as because they were Christians, and were to overcome evil with good, to the glory of God and religion.
These principles are clearly expressed in several of these very texts, and implied in all of them, viz: "That the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed." 1 Tim. vi. 1. And again, "That they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things! Titus ii. 10. So that a zeal for the glory of God, and of his religion (the principles of the first great commandment) is the apparent ground and sole purpose of the Christian slave's submission, which was therefore to be "with singleness of heart as unto Christ; not with eye service, as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free." Ephes. vi. 5—8. And again, the same apostle charges the servants among the Colossians, to obey "not as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God: and whatsoever they do, to do it heartily as unto the Lord, and not unto men." Coloss. iii. 2.
Thus it is plain that the service was to be performed "as to the Lord," and "not to men," and therefore it cannot be construed as an acknowledgment of any right, or property really vested in the master.—This will clearly appear upon a closer examination of some of these texts. In the first, for instance, though the apostle Peter enforces the necessity of the servants' submission to their masters, in the strongest manner, commanding them to be subject "not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward,"
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