2. Bondmen and bondmaids might be bought from the heathen round about
them; these were left by fathers to their children after them, but
it does not appear that the _children_ of these servants ever were
reduced to servitude. Lev. xxv, 44.

I will now try the right of the southern planter by the claims of
Hebrew masters over their _heathen_ slaves. Were the southern slaves
taken captive in war? No! Were they bought from the heathen? No! for
surely, no one will _now_ vindicate the slave-trade so far as to
assert that slaves were bought from the heathen who were obtained by
that system of piracy. The _only_ excuse for holding southern slaves
is that they were born in slavery, but we have seen that they were
_not_ born in servitude as Jewish servants were, and that the children
of heathen slaves were not legally subjected to bondage even under the
Mosaic Law. How then have the slaves of the South been obtained?

I will next proceed to an examination of those laws which were enacted
in order to protect the Hebrew and the Heathen servant; for I wish you
to understand that _both_ are protected by Him, of whom it is said
"his mercies are over _all_ his works." I will first speak of those
which secured the rights of Hebrew servants. This code was headed
thus:

1. Thou shalt _not_ rule over him with _rigor_, but shalt fear thy
God;

2. If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve, and in
the seventh year he shall go out free for nothing. Ex. xxi, 2. [2]