"A slave is one who is in the power of his master, to whom he
belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry,
his labor; he can do nothing, possess nothing, acquire nothing, but what
must belong to his master."

South Carolina says, (Prince's Digest, 446,) "Slaves shall be deemed,
sold, taken, reputed, and adjudged in law, to be chattels personal in
the hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors,
administrators, and assigns, to all intents, purposes, and
constructions whatsoever."

Judge Ruffin, giving the opinion of the Supreme Court of North Carolina,
(case of State _v._ Mann,) says a slave is "one doomed in _his own
person_ and _his posterity_ to live without knowledge, and without the
capacity to make any thing his own, and to toil that another may reap
the fruits."

We now come to the point at issue: Does the Bible sanction this system?

OLD TESTAMENT.

1. _Hebrew Terms._

The Hebrew terms used in reference to this subject are #AUVADH#,
_auvadh_, "to serve;" the noun, #EVEDH#, _evedh_, "servant" or
"bondman," one contracting service for a term of years; #SAUKIR#,
_saukir_, a "hired servant" daily or weekly; #AUMAU#, _aumau_, and
#SHIPHECHAU#, _shiphechau_, "maid-servant" or "handmaid;" but there is _no_
term in Hebrew synonymous with our word _slave_, for all the terms
applied to servants are, as we shall show, equally applicable and
applied to free persons.

The verb #AUVADH#, _auvadh_, according to Gesenius, signifies primarily,
to labor; then, to labor for one's self, for hire, or compulsory labor
as a captive or prisoner of war. Gen. 2:5, 15; 3:23; 29:15. Ex. 20:9;
21:2. Next, national servitude as tributary to others; as Sodom and the
cities of the plain to Chedorlaomer, Gen. 14:4; Esau to Jacob, Gen.
25:23; the Israelites in Canaan to surrounding nations, Moabites,
Philistines, and others, Judg. 3:8; Jer. 27:7, 9. Next, national and
personal servitude or serfdom, as of the Israelites in Egypt. Lastly,
the service of God or idols, Judg. 3:7, &c. From these and similar
passages we see that neither the generic nor specific meaning of the
term, taken in its connections, implies chattel slavery, but labor,
voluntary, hired, or compulsory, as of tributary nations or prisoners of
war, whose claim to regain, if possible, their freedom and rights, is
ever admitted and acted on; showing that freedom is the normal state of
ma