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Show 178 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY. tirely won." Is there any thing like this in the Epistle to Philemon? Is there any thing like it in any of the epistles of St. Paul? Is there anywhere in his writings the slightest hint that slavCJy is a sin at all, or that the act of holding slaves is in the least degree inconsistent with the most exalted Christia11 purity of life? We may safely answer these questions in the negative. '£he very epistle before us is fi'Om "Paul, a prisoner of J esns Christ, and Timothy om· brother, unto Philemon, our dearlybeloved, and fellow-laborer." The inspired writer then proceeds in these words : "I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers. llearing of thy love and faith, which thou bast toward the Lord Jesus, and tmvard all saints; that the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because tl1e bowels of the saints are reti·eshed by thee, brother." Now if, instead of leaving out this portion of the epistle, Mr. Sumner bad pronounced it in the hearing of his audience, the suspicion might have arisen in some of their minds that the slaveholder may not, after all, be so vile a ARGUMENT FROM TUE SCRIPTURES. 179 wretch. It might eYcn have occurred to some, perhaps, that the Christian character of Philemon, the slavcholdc•·, might possibly have been as good as that of those by whom all shweholders are excommunicated and consigned to perdition. It might have been supposed that a Christian man may possibly hold slaves without being "" bad as robbers, or cut-throats, or murderers. We do not say that Mr. Sumner shrunk f1·om the reading of this pol'tion of the epistle in the hearing of his audience, lest it should seem to rebuke the violence and tho uncharitableness of his own sentiments, as well as those of his brother abolitionists at theN orth. We do say, however, that Mr. Sumner had no sort of usc for this passage. It could in no way favor the imp•·ession his oration was designed to make. It breathes, indeed, a spirit of goodwill towa!'d the Christian master as clifi'crcnt from that which pervades the speeches of the honol'able Scuatol', as the prn·e chal'ity of heaven is from the dire malignity of earth. "It might be shown," says Mr. Sumner, "that the pl'esent epistle, when truly intcrp,.cted, is a protest against slavery, and a voice for freedom." If, instead of merely asserting that this "might be done," the accomplished omtor hac! actually |
