Volume ii. page 14, Dr. Channing says—
“1. I shall show that man cannot be justly held and used as property.
“2. I shall show that man has sacred rights, the gifts of God, and inseparable from human nature, of which slavery is the infraction.
“3. I shall offer some explanations to prevent misapplication of these principles.
“4. I shall unfold the evils of slavery.
“5. I shall consider the argument which the Scriptures are thought to furnish in favour of slavery.
“6. I shall offer some remarks on the means of removing it.
“7. I shall offer some remarks on abolitionism.
“8. I shall conclude with a few reflections on the duties belonging to the times.”
In support of the first proposition, to wit, “I will show that man cannot be justly held and used as property,” the doctor has advanced seven arguments. He says, page 18—“It is plain, that, if one man may be held as property, then every other man may be so held.” * * * “Now let every reader ask himself this plain question: Could I, can I, be rightfully seized, and made an article of property,” &c. Page 19: “And if this impression be delusion, on what single moral conviction can we rely? * * * The consciousness of indestructible rights is a part of our moral being. The consciousness of our humanity involves the persuasion that we cannot be owned as a tree or brute. As men, we cannot justly be made slaves. Then no man can be rightfully enslaved.”