e an abolitionist at heart, he
should have avoided the appearance of so great an evil. He should not,
for a moment, have permitted himself to stand before the world in the
simple and unexplained attitude of one who had sent back a fugitive
slave to his master. No honest abolitionist would permit himself to
appear in such a light. He would scorn to occupy such a position. Hence,
we repeat, if St. Paul were an abolitionist at heart, he should have let
it be known that, in sending Onesimus back, he was moved, not originally
by the principles of his own heart, but by the desire and request of the
fugitive himself. By such a course, he would have delivered himself from
a false position, and spared his friends among the abolitionists the
necessity of making awkward apologies for his conduct.

Thirdly, the positions of Mr. Barnes are not merely sheer assumptions;
they are perfectly gratuitous. For it is easy to explain the
determination of St. Paul to send Onesimus back, without having recourse
to the supposition that Onesimus desired him to do so. Such
determination was, indeed, the natural and necessary result of the well
known principles of the great apostle. He had repeatedly, and most
emphatically, inculcated the principle, that it is the duty of slaves to
"obey their masters," and to "count them worthy of all honor." This duty
Onesimus had clearly violated in running away from his master. If St.
Paul, then, had not taught Onesimus a different doctrine from that which
he had taught the churches, he must have felt that he had done wrong in
absconding from Philemon, and desired to repair the wrong by returning
to him. "It is," says Mr. Barnes, "by no means necessary to suppose that
Paul felt that Onesimus was under _obligation_ to return." But we must
suppose this, unless we suppose that Paul felt that Onesimus was under
no obligation to obey the precepts which he himself had delivered for
the guidance and direction of all Christian servants.

We shall now briefly notice a few other of Mr. Barnes' arguments, and
then dismiss this branch of the subject. "If St. Paul sent back
Onesimus," says he, "this was, doubtless, at his own request; for there
is not the slightest evidence that he _compelled_ him, or even urged
him, to go." We might just as well conclude that St. Paul first required
Onesimus to return, because there is not the slightest evidence that
Onesimus made any such request.

"Paul," says Mr. Barnes, "had no powe