eneral maxims, the leading principles, the "great
commandments" of the gospel; amidst its comprehensive descriptions and
authorized tests of Christian character, we should take our position in
disposing of any particular allusions to such forms and usages of the
primitive churches as are supposed by divine authority. The latter must
be interpreted and understood in the light of the former. But how do the
apologists and defenders of slavery proceed? Placing themselves amidst
the arrangements and usages which grew out of the _corruptions_ of
Christianity, they make these the standard by which the gospel is to be
explained and understood! Some Recorder or Justice, without the light of
inquiry or the aid of a jury, consigns the negro whom the kidnapper has
dragged into his presence to the horrors of slavery. As the poor wretch
shrieks and faints, Humanity shudders and demands why such atrocities
are endured? Some "priest" or "Levite," "passing by on the other side,"
quite self-possessed and all complacent reads in reply from his bread
phylactery, _Paul sent back Onesimus to Philemon_! Yes, echoes the
negro-hating mob, made up of "gentlemen of property and standing"
together with equally gentle-men reeking from the gutter; _Yes--Paul
sent back Onesimus to Philemon_! And Humanity, brow-beaten, stunned with
noise and tumult, is pushed aside by the crowd! A fair specimen this of
the manner in which modern usages are made to interpret the sacred
Scriptures?

Of the particular passages in the New Testament on which the apologists
for slavery especially rely, the epistle to Philemon first demands our
attention.

1. This letter was written by the apostle Paul while a "prisoner of
Jesus Christ" at Rome.

2. Philemon was a benevolent and trustworthy member of the church at
Colosse, at whose house the disciples of Christ held their assemblies,
and who owed his conversion, under God, directly or indirectly to the
ministry of Paul.

3. Onesimus was the servant of Philemon; under a relation which it is
difficult with accuracy and certainty to define. His condition, though
servile, could not have been like that of an American slave; as, in that
case, however he might have "wronged" Philemon, he could not also have
"_owed him ought_."[A] The American slave is, according to law, as much
the property of his master as any other chattel; and can no more "owe"
his master than can a sheep or a horse. The basis of all pecuniary
obligations l