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Show 212 LIDERTY AND SLAVER~ point of view, all the profits would have been on the side of Oncsimus. "But," says Mr. Barnes, "he would now be more profitable as a Christian brother." It is true, Oncsimus had not been very profitable as a Christian brother before he ran away, for he had not been a Christian brother at all. But if he were sent back by the apostle, because he would be profitable merely as a Christian brother, we cannot sec why any other Christian brother would not have answered the purpose just as well as Onesimus. If such, indeed, were the apostle's object, he might have conferred a still greater benefit upon Philemon by sending several Christian brethren to live with him, and to feast upon his good things. Thirdly, the supposition that St. Paul thus announced the emancipation of Onesimus, is as inconsistent with the whole scope and design of the passage, as it is with the character of the apostle. If he would do nothing without the consent of Philemon, not even retain his servant to minister to himself while in prison, much less would he declare him emancipated, and introduce him to his former ma~ter as a freeman. We submit to the candid reader, we submit to every one who has the least percep- ARGUMENT FROM TIIE SCRIPTURES. 213 tion of the character and spirit of the apostle, if such an interpretation of his words be not simply ridiculous. It is certain that such an interpretation is peculiar to abolitionists. "Men," says Mr. Sumner, "are prone to find in uncertain, dis~ connected texts, a confirmation of their own personal prejudices or prepossessions. And I,"-he continues, "who am no divine, but only a simple layman-make bold to say, that whosoever finds in the gospel any sanction of slavery, finds there merely a reflection of himself." IIe must have been a very simple layman indeed, if he did not perceive how very easily his words might have been retorted. We venture to affirm that no one, except an abolitionist, has ever found the slightest tincture of abolitionism in the writings of the great apostle to the Gentiles. The plain truth is, that Philemon is exhorted to receive Onesimus "no longer as a slave ONLY, but above a slavc,-a brother beloved." Such is the translation of Macknight, and such, too, is the concurrent voice of every commentator to whom we have access. Pool, Clarke, Scott, Benson, Doddridge-all unite in the interpretation that Oncsimus was, in the heaven-inspired |