That this is American slavery, is shown by the laws of slave states.  Judge Stroud, in his “Sketch of the Laws relating to Slavery,” says, “The cardinal principle of slavery, that the slave is not to be ranked among sentient beings, but among things—­is an article of property, a chattel personal, obtains as undoubted law in all of these states,” (the slave states.) The law of South Carolina thus lays down the principle, “Slaves shall be deemed, held, 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, CONSTRUCTIONS, AND PURPOSES WHATSOEVER.”  Brevard’s Digest, 229.  In Louisiana, “a slave is one who is in the power of a master to whom he belongs; the master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry, and his labor; he can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire any thing, but what must belong to his master.”  Civil Code of Louisiana, Art. 35.

This is American slavery.  The eternal distinction between a person and a thing, trampled under foot—­the crowning distinction of all others—­their centre and circumference—­the source, the test, and the measure of their value—­the rational, immortal principle, embalmed by God in everlasting remembrance, consecrated to universal homage in a baptism of glory and honor, by the gift of His Son, His Spirit, His Word, His presence, providence, and power; His protecting shield, upholding staff, and sheltering wing; His opening heavens, and angels ministering, and chariots of fire, and songs of morning stars, and a great voice in heaven, proclaiming eternal sanctions, and confirming the word with signs following.

Having stated the principle of American slavery, we ask, DOES THE BIBLE SANCTION SUCH A PRINCIPLE?[A][A]?  To the law and the testimony.  First, the moral law, or the ten commandments.  Just after the Israelites were emancipated from their bondage in Egypt, while they stood before Sinai to receive the law, as the trumpet waxed louder, and the mount quaked and blazed, God spake the ten commandments from the midst of clouds and thunderings. Two of those commandments deal death to slavery.  Look at the eighth, “Thou shall not steal,” or, thou shalt not take from another what belongs to him.  All man’s powers of body and mind are God’s gift to him.  That they are his own, and that he has a right to them, is proved from the fact that God has given them to him alone, that each of them is a part of himself, and all of them together constitute himself.  All else that belongs to man is acquired by the use of these powers.  The interest belongs to him, because the principal does—­the product is his, because he is the producer.  Ownership of any thing is ownership of its use.  The right to use according to will, is itself