commentators and religions writers, the latter of whom
have, I believe, for the most part, adopted the term "slave," or used
both terms indiscriminately. If, then, these Hebrew and Greek words
include the idea of both systems of servitude, the conditional and
unconditional, they should, as the major includes the minor proposition,
be always translated "slaves," unless the sense of the whole text
forbids it. The real question, then is, what idea is intended to be
conveyed by the words used in the commandment quoted? And it is clear to
my mind, that as no limitation is affixed to them, and the express
intention was to secure to mankind the peaceful enjoyment of every
species of property, that the terms "men-servants and maid-servants"
include all classes of servants, and establish a lawful, exclusive, and
indefeasible interest equally in the "Hebrew brother who shall go out in
the seventh year," and "the yearly hired servant," and "those purchased
from the heathen round about," who were to be "bond-men forever," _as
the property of their fellow-man_.

You cannot deny that there were among the Hebrews "bond-men forever."
You cannot deny that God especially authorized his chosen people to
purchase "bond-men forever" from the heathen, as recorded in the
twenty-fifth chapter of Leviticus, and that they are there designated by
the very Hebrew word used in the tenth commandment. Nor can you deny
that a "BOND-MAN FOREVER" is a "SLAVE;" yet you endeavor to hang an
argument of immortal consequence upon the wretched subterfuge, that the
precise word "slave" is not to be found in the _translation_ of the
Bible. As if the translators were canonical expounders of the Holy
Scriptures, and _their words_, not _God's meaning_, must be regarded as
his revelation.

It is vain to look to Christ or any of his apostles to justify such
blasphemous perversions of the word of God. Although slavery in its most
revolting form was everywhere visible around them, no visionary notions
of piety or philanthropy ever tempted them to gainsay the LAW, even to
mitigate the cruel severity of the existing system. On the contrary,
regarding slavery as an _established_, as well as _inevitable condition
of human society_, they never hinted at such a thing as its termination
on earth, any more than that "the poor may cease out of the land,"
which God affirms to Moses shall never be: and they exhort "all servants
under the yoke" to "count their masters as worthy