"And the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the son abideth ever.

If the Son therefore shall make you free, you are free indeed." In these two verses of the Gospel of St.John, there is a manifest allusion to the fact and condition of slaves.

Of this fact the Saviour took occasion, to illustrate, by way of similitude, the condition of a wicked man, who is the slave of sin, and to show that as a son who was the heir in a house _could_ set a bondman free, if that son were of the proper age, so he, the Son of God, could set the enslaved soul free from sin, when he would be "free indeed." Show me in the history of the Old Testament, or in the life of Christ, authority to proclaim _as a sin_ the holding of the race of Ham and Canaan in bondage.
In the times of the apostles, what do we see?
Slaves are still in bondage, the children of Ham are menials as they were before.

Christ had come, had died, had ascended to heaven, and slavery still existed.

Had the apostles authority to do it away?
Had Christ left it to them to carry out, in this instance, his revealed will?
"Art thou," said Paul, "called being a slave?
care not for it; but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.