St. Paul, his love and faith towards the Lord
Jesus, and his generous, unbounded charity
towards all the saints, or his fellow Christians
whom he relieved and comforted on all occa-
sions, gained him the confidence, esteem and
affection of the Apostle and of the whole
church at large.
" This primitive and exemplary Christian
had in his service one Onesimus, a slave."
Now, sir, no translator of the Bible, no
divine of any description, no church of any
description, ever doubted or denied that Ones-
imus was a slave to Philemon until abolition-
ists started this idea. The statement here is
the history which the church have always
received as authentic.
"This primitive and exemplary Christian
had in his service one Onesimus, a slave, who
as it is very strongly intimated by St. Paul,
having defrauded his master of some part, of
his property, and knowing the influence the
Apostle had over him, eloped from his master's
house, went to Rome where St. Paul was then
in prison, was converted by him, and received
into the communion of the Christian church ;
and having by his good services and conduct,
gained the apostles favor he seems to have
prevailed on him to write to his master Phil-
emon in his behalf.
"The letter, of which Onesimus himself ap-
pears to have been the bearer, is a master-
piece of eloquence, some of the finest compo-
sitions extant in the epistolary kind. Noth-
ing can be more tender, more pressing, more
animated and persuasive: entreaties and au-
thority, praises and recommendations, reli-
gious motives and motives of personal grati-
tude and integrity, are most inimitably well
tempered and alloyed together. In short,
almost every word of this concise epistle con-
tains some argument or reason to effect a
reconciliation between Philemon and Onesi-
mus, and to obtain from the master the read-
mission of his fugitive slave into his house
and service."
How different this from what we have
heard here said How widely different the
abolition translations to which we have been
referred !
Now, sir, these abolition translations are
made by men who have taken up the Bible
for a purpose, and against them I place the
opinions of men who have spent their lives in
its study, men who have had no other pur-
suit. men who never mixed politics and reli-
gion together, men who never preached poli-
tics and religion from the same desk, men
who have devoted themselves exclusively and
entirely to the work of studying the meaning
of the Scriptures, and of enlightening and
instructing others therefrom. And the inter-
pretation which they give is the same in all
time, from the earliest period down to the com-
mencement of this abolition feeling, of this
abolition translation of the Gospel, of this
abolition sentiment which says "if slavery |
or the gospel must perish, let the gospel go
by the board;" a sentiment which my friends
know as well as I do has been expressed by
those who now construe these passages in this
way, by such men as Wendell Phillips, Gar-
rison and others of their persuasion. When
we see these men picking out and perverting
isolated texts of the Bible to answer a partic-
ular purpose, in opposition to all precept and
practice, from the days erf the patriarchs down
to the inception of this mischievous doctrine, it
so palpably deprives them of all respect that
I need not further pursue this point. This
book refers to various other texts of Scrip-
ture; but I will not go over more of them.
I hold another book in my hand. Gentle-
men may well say they have never read Bish-
op Hopkins's "View of Slavery," I tell them,
notwithstanding any vituperation which this
book or its author may receive at their hands,
whatever offensive terms they may apply to
either, no man has ventured to reply to it,
and I venture to make the further assertion
with regard to it, that no man ever will make
a satisfactory reply to it. This book was writ-
ten in consequence of an attack upon him for
having republished his views upon the subject
of slavery, written years ago, agreeing with
those universally accepted from the commence-
ment of the Christian era down to a late peri-
od in the history of the church of God. The
opinions of some of the ancient patriarchs
who have been canonize I, and held invene-
ration, and whose opinions have never been
questioned until it became a political matter,
are here shown upon the question of slavery,
aswell as upon the meaning of texts of the
Bible; Augustine, who was one of the fathers
of the church while the church was a unit, and
other bishops, and most learned divines of in-
ferior grades. Here also we find the testi-
mony of Tertullian, who lived at a still earli-
er period. And Philo, who lived in the first
century, who says:
" There is one kind of slavery of the mind,
and another of the body. Men are the masters
over the bodies and the appetites, and vices
over file minds."
" The divine law accommodates the. mica
of right, not to fortune but to nature. There-
fore masters ought not to abuse their power
over their domestic servants, but should be-
ware of insolence, contempt, and cruelty.
For these are not the signs of a serene mind,
but of tyrannical weakness; exercising arbi-
trary licentiousness instead of judgment."
Pertullian, Jerome, Augustine, and other
early patriarchs of the church teach the same
doctrine of the power of the master over the
slave, and instruct the master how to use this
power. Councils in their edicts to the church
proclaim the same thing. It is not in my
power to read it in the time allowed me. It
is all given in this book; and I charge any
man who satisfies himself with a general de-
nunciation of the author of this book, with |
