ry recommendation, full of affection as it is,
virtually recognises the moral rights of Philemon to the services of his
slave." Mr. Benson apparently feels this himself. "Christian tradition,"
he says, "declares that Philemon at once set Onesimus free." But
"tradition" can hardly be cited as a fact. Mr. Henson says "it is more
than probable," or, in other words, _certain_; yet he cannot expect me
to follow him in his illogical leap. Nor, indeed, is the "traditional"
liberation of Onesimus of much importance to the argument. Not
Philemon's but Paul's views are in dispute; and if Philemon did liberate
Onesimus--which is a pure assumption--Paul certainly did not advise him
to do anything of the kind.

Paul's epistle to Philemon does not, from its very-nature, seem intended
for publication. Why then, in the ease of private correspondence, did
he not hint that Slavery was only tolerated for the time and would
eventually cease? Instead of that he sent back Onesimus to a servitude
from which he had fled. How unlike Theodore Parker writing his
discourse, with a runaway slave in the back room, and a revolver on his
desk! How unlike Walt Whitman watching the slumber of another fugitive,
with one hand on his trusty rifle!

Mr. Henson lives after the abolition of Slavery, and as he clings to his
Bible as God's Word he reads into it the morality of a later age. Let
him consult the writings of Christian divines on the subject, and
he will see that they have almost invariably justified Slavery from
scripture. Ignatius (who is said to have seen Jesus), St. Cyprian, Pope
Gregory the Great, St. Basil, Tertullian, St. Isidore, St. Augustine,
St. Bernard, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Bossuet, all taught that Slavery is
a divine institution. During all the centuries from Ignatius to Bossuet,
what eminent Christian ever denounced Slavery as wicked? Even the
Christian jurisprudists of the eighteenth century defended negro
slavery, which it was reserved for the sceptical Montesquieu and the
arch-heretic Voltaire to condemn. Montesquieu's ironical chapter on the
subject is worthy of Molliere, and Voltaire's is an honor to humanity.
He called Slavery "the degrada of the species"; and, in answer to
Puffendorff, who claimed that slavery had been established by the
free consent of the opposing parties, he exclaimed, "I will believe
Puffendorff, when he shows me the original contract."

Negro slavery was defended in America by direct appeal to the Bibl