it? There is some mistake in our
brother's theory.

"'I venture to state the distinction which I think he overlooks, and
which, if observed, will relieve his difficulty. Paul never denounces
government; "the powers that be are ordained of God." He appeals to
"Caesar"; he goes before "Nero"; he never counsels insurrection, nor
denounces government, in whatever hands or under whatever forms it may
be; but he enjoins principles and duties which, if observed, would make
"Caesars," even though they be "Neros," blessings, and their despotisms
even would cease to be a curse. So with slave-holding. It is
incorporated into the state of society; it is, moreover, a relation
which can exist and no sin be committed under the relation; hence, it is
not sin in itself, any more than the throne of Nero is sin in itself;
and the Apostle speaks to the slave-holding Philemon as he would to a
father receiving back a wayward son.

"'The claim of Philemon to Onesimus rests only on his having purchased
him. Who had a right to sell him? Trace the thing back, and you come to
fraud or violence, or some form of injustice to Onesimus in making him
a slave. Paul knew that this is the case with regard to every slave; yet
he does not "break every yoke," even when, as in this case, he had one
so completely in his hands, and could have broken it in pieces.

"'But we will suppose, with my brother, that the laws which God ordained
for slavery should prevail under Christianity, if slavery is to exist.
Let every Phrygian, then, a fellow-countryman who has lost his liberty,
go free at the end of six years; and at every fiftieth year, whether six
years be completed or not, since the last seventh year of release, let
all such go free. This, for argument's sake, we approve. But we must
take the whole code. Every foreigner who becomes a slave, and the child
of every such slave, was to be an "inheritance forever." Husbands, who
are Phrygians, must choose, in certain cases, whether to go out free by
themselves, or remain in perpetual bondage with their wives and their
offspring. Paul knew the Jewish laws with regard to slavery; he knew how
favorably they compared with our code; but he says not a word on that
score, and simply sends Onesimus back to his bondage.

"'Yet see how beautifully the spirit of Christ works itself into the
relation of master and slave, and into Paul's views and feelings with
regard to it. In his letter to our Church, he expressly names O