The attempts which are sometimes made to prove that δοῦλος, of the Septuagint, and _servus_, of the Vulgate version, translated indifferently _servant_ or slave, means only a _hired servant_, need only to be mentioned to be refuted. That these terms defined an actual state of slavery among the Greeks and Romans, no one acquainted with the facts will deny. But whatever might be their original meaning, they are to be understood, as Bible terms, in the sense of the original Hebrew, which they are employed to express. Now, nothing is more certain than this, that the Hebrew Bible (and the same is true of the English translation) speaks of _servants_, _hired_ servants, and _bond_ servants. The term servant is the generic form, and evidently means, a person who is controlled by the will of another: _hired_ servant is one who serves in that way by contract for a definite period; whilst _bond_ servant is one who has either contracted to do so through his whole life, or who, by the usages of war, or by inheritance, or by purchase from another, was so bound to service--(such as Paul calls a “servant under the yoke.” 2 Tim. vi. 1.) These different relations are distinctly marked by the use of these terms in the Bible, and especially the meaning of BOND SERVANT, in distinction from a HIRED SERVANT: “_If thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee, thou shall not compel him to serve as a_ BOND SERVANT, _but as a_ HIRED SERVANT, _and as a sojourner, shall he be_.” Lev. XXV. 39, 40. Thus we find that the Jewish constitution provided to protect the right of property in servants or slaves in the generic sense: that is, whether in the one form or the other; and that He who gave them their civil institutions, also provided under their constitution for the organization of a regular system of domestic slavery, in two distinct forms: the _one_, the enslavement, in the true generic sense, of Hebrews in given circumstances, for a definite period; and the _other_, the enslavement, in the same sense, of the neighboring heathen, _in perpetuity_.