As]) Sabbath Herald

AS]) SABBATH HERALD, " Here is the Pa,tierioe of the Saints: Here are they that keen the Commandments of God, and the Faith ofJers-ixs.” VOL. XXI: BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD—DAY, MAY 5, 1 8 6 3 . No. 2 3 . Tile Advent Review and Sabbath herald owe Philemon, as clearly and positively assumed that 3. With the above agrees the few facts known of he was not his chattel slave. This one consideration Onesimus. The subscription to the epistle to the Col- IS PEBLISIIED WEEKLY, BY is of itself sufficient to settle this controversy. There ossians reads thus, " Written from Rome to the Colos- The Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association. are other reasons which might be rendered in proof sians, by Tychicus and Onesirnus." From this it ap- Talt It A.—Two Dollars a year in advance. One Dollar to the poor and to those who subscribe one year on trial. Free to those that Onesimus was not a slave, but I will not urge them, pears that the same person was one of the bearers of unable to pay half price. but pass to take another and final view of this epistle. that important letter. This is confirmed in Chap. iv, t ti tress Eton, Jr1,4,11S MUTE, Battle Creek, Michigan. HI. If it were admitted that Onesimus was a lawful 7-9. Here both are said to be sent by Paul. Of Ones- chattel slave, when he ran away, it would be clear "God is Love." imus it is said, "With Onesimns a faithful and beloved from the language of the epistle, that Paul did not brother who is one of you." The most obvious sense send hint back as a slave, but commanded his freedom Tun following lines were written some years ago by is that Onesimus was a member of the Church at Co- to be given him. To contend that he was a slave, must my sister, Lucetta M. Castle, who now sleeps in hope. losse. He could not have been so when sent with the prove fatal to the right of slavery, since .Paul clearly They were composed before she made an open profes- letter to Philemon. He must then, after his reconcili- and unequivocally ordered his emancipation upon the sion of faith in Christ. Hoping they may be accepta- ation to Philemon through Paul's intervention, soon ble to the reader, I furnish them to the public. supposition that he was a slave. have returned to Rome, and been sent as a messenger The apostle specifies to Philemon too plainly how he F. C. CASTLE. to the Colossian Church. This proves clear enough Grass River, N. Y. was to receive Onesimus, to be misunderstood, and in that he was not a chattel slave, and here I rest my ar- such terms as to forever exclude chattel slavery from gument on this epistle. THE zephyrs sighing through the trees, the relation. With perfumes wafted on the breeze, Paul to Titus does not Justify Slavery. 1. He was to receive him "not now as a servant, The sun that shines so bright above, "Exhort servants to be: obedient unto their own but above a servant." Suppose then that he was a All speak to me that God is love. masters, and to please them well in all things; not an- slave, and that the word here used, doulos, means swering again; not purloining, but spewing all good The waving grass and fields of grain, slave, and the whole clause will read thus : " Perhaps fidelity ; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Wide scattered o'er the broad domain, he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest The birds that warble in the grove, Saviour in all things." Titus ii, 9, 10. receive him for ever; not now as a slave but above a _Do all proclaim that God is love. But little need be said on this text, after what has slave." Is not this making an end of all slavery in the preceded, for nearly every point has been treated, and The moon's calm, placid light, so fair, case? It certainly is, unless it can be proved that a it appears only necessary to remark that not a word is The stars that brightly glimmer there, man can be a slave, and above a slave at the same All seem like spirits from above, said which is not applicable to more or less persons time, which strikes me as impossible, unless a man And all are speaking God is love. in every community, where slavery has no existence, can get above himself. Paul cannot have sent him and of course, it cannot prove the existence of slavery. The rainbow's tint, the lightning's glare, back as a slave, and Philemon cannot have received him It will be observed that in the ninth verse the trans- The tulip bright, and lily fair, as a slave, unless a man can be received as a slave, lators have added four words not found in the original. On all we gaze wher'er we rove, and not be received as a slave at the same time ; for All things declare that God is love. They are, "exhort," "and," "them," & "things." Leav- the words are, " that thou shouldest receive him, not ing these words out the verse reads, "Servants to be obe- now as a slave." Such is the fatal consequence to sla- The earth, the ocean, and the sky, dient unto their own masters, to please well in all; not And all things spread before the eye, very if it be admitted that Onesimus was a slave, and answering again." This might all be said to hired la- With all things on the earth that move, if we, accordingly, render the word doulos slave. Are ever speaking, God is love. borers as has been shown in remarks already made 2. Paul instructed Philemon to receive Onesimus as upon other texts. The Christian's prayer, the Christian's faith, he would receive him. His words are, "If thou count But the language of the tenth verse clearly implies a The smile upon the face of death, me therefore a partner, receive him as myself." Verse state of things very different from slavery. These too do plainly to me prove 17. Here it is plain that Philemon was exhorted to There is a God, and God is love. "Not purloining." This is much more applicable to receive Onesimus as he would have received Paul him- a free agent with his own property interests, who has We seebut dimly through the glass self. Then must be have received him as an equal, charge of another man's business and funds, than it is That hides us from the Saviour's face, as a Christian brother, as a fellow laborer, and if so, to a slave, who can have nothing which he can call his But when we reach our home above, he could not receive him or regard him as his slave. own, and whose crime would be established, if aught We there shall know that God is love. It is not possible that he should receive him as a fugi- was found in his possession. The Greek word occ ars in tive slave ret irned, and at the same time receive him The Bible no Refuge for Slavery. but one other place, Acts v, 1, 2, where it is found twice as he would have received Paul. The expression, "if in the same connection, and is rendered, "keep back," thou count me a partner," places Onesimus on a per- and "kept back." The sense is plain ; in the connection (Concluded.) fect Christian level with Philemon. Paul here places in which it is applied to servants, it forbids the appropri- 2. THE offer of Paul to assume the pecuniary respon- himself before Philemon as his partner, and then re- ating of the property of their masters to their own use, sibilities of Onesimus to Philemon, proves that the quires him to receive One,simus as himself. The Greek which is a crime to which free hired agents are more former was not a chattel slave. His words are, "If word koinonos here rendered partner, occurs ten times, exposed than slaves. he bath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on in the Testament, and is translated as follows: The matter is made still more clear by the antithesis, mine account. I, Paul, have written it with mine own It is translated partners three times, twice besides "Not purloining, but showing all good fidelity." The hand. I will repay it." Verses 18, 19. The thing this text. James and John are said to have been part- word fidelity is not a true rendering of the original, it supposed here, is utterly impossible in the case of a ners with Peter in the fishing business. Luke v, 10. should be faith. Fidelity implies a simple discharge chattel slave. A slave cannot owe. The assumed Paul declares that Titus is his partner and fellow labor- of obligations on the part of any accountable agent, right of property in a man, so swallows up every right, er. 2 Cor. viii, 23. but "good faith," as it ought to read, implies a mutu- power and interest that can attach to the party thus It is rendered partaker five times. Matt. xxiii, 30 ; al treaty, covenant or trust reposed. " Gool faith" is held as property, that he must be incapable of owing. 1 Cor. x, 18 ; 2 Cor. 1, 7; 1 Peter v, 1 ; 2 Peter i, 4.

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