knew what was in man; he knew that a servant who had felt the oppressions of slavery would be under a strong temptation to despise the authority of a penitent master, and hasten away from his service as soon as possible. He therefore exhorts them to a more Christian spirit—to stay cheerfully, and labor in his service from love, because the master is now a brother. You see this carries out the contrast between the servants under the yoke and servants who had believing masters. It shows that it was expected as a matter of course, that when a slave-holder became a believer he would let his slaves go free, so far as he had any authority or ownership over them, and therefore the former slaves are exhorted still to do them service, and to promote their interests. His exhortation to this class is to do them service,' which shows that they were free to serve them or not. În the other case, his exhortation refers to the manner and temper in which they should serve, showing that as to the service itself, those who were under the yoke had no option.

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But, it will be said, the Apostle calls them believing des potes, and therefore we must infer that a man might be a believer and still remain a despotes or slaveholder. But it does hot follow. The term despotes, therefore, is proper to de scribe the person and the former relation. If we should say such a man was a reformed drunkard, we should not intend to be understood that he is a drunkard still, but only describe his former condition. If the speaker should say that as an abolitionist, he is a converted slave-holder, it would be a case ex actly parallel.

"It is said that the word rendered servant means slave; but it is not so; the word is doulos, and it means servant. It is true, all slaves are servants, but all servants are not slaves. The Apostle in the sixth chapter of Timothy, when he wishes to address Christian servants who were slaves, adds the de

scription' under the yoke.' And in 1 Peter, ii, 18, where he is addressing the servants of despotes, he uses a different word, not douloi, but oiketai—and it ought to read, Slaves, obey your masters with all respect, not only the kind and good, but the cruel.'

"The Apostle Paul often calls himself the servant (doulos) of his brethren. Was he their slave, their property? Christians call themselves the servants of Jesus Christ. What is the allusion here? Is it to degrading heathen slavery? Not at all. In Romans xiv, 19, the Apostle Paul says, 'For to this end Christ both died and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living' — that is, that he might stand in the relation and exercise the office of a master, (kyrios.) What does it mean? That Jesus might have a right of property in them? He had that before, in perfec

tion. It is an allusion to the Jewish law of redemption. When one of the younger members of a family had become embarrassed and in debt, and obliged to sell or rather hire himself out as a servant, the elder brother, or head of the family, had the legal right at any time to buy him out of this servitude to a stranger, or redeem him, and then he became his lord (kyrios) and was bound to employ him and furnish him with all that he needed, till the day of release. Jesus Christ, then, by his death and resurrection, acquired a right which he had not before, to be an elder brother, and to exercise this lordship, in preparing them for that enlarged and glorified state in Heaven. Is there anything in this that looks like slavery? When the Apostles and primitive Christians called themselves the servants of Jesus Christ, and called him their Lord, there was something in it that thrilled their hearts. It was not the forbidding allusion to the idea of a slave-holder buying poor wretches in the market as property, but the idea of an elder brother sacrificing himself to become the redeemer

of his brethren. O, how I long to see this precious Bible rescued from the slanders (which are heaped upon it. Men, with their minds filled with the ideas of American slavery, perfect heathenism in all its principles, undertake to interpret the Bible on such principles, and they derive doctrines from it, from which human nature starts back with horror. Those no

tions are all wrong, reproachful to the Scriptures, and exceedingly prejudicial to Christianity itself."-[Rev. James H. Dickey.]

22. Above a servant, a brother.

And if all the slaves in this land were to run away from their masters, there is not a true abolitionist in the world, but who would consent for them to return again, on the conditions that they should be received and treated by their former master, as Philemon is here commanded to receive Onesimus. It seems that Onesimus had been a servant to Philemon, and that, for some cause which is not mentioned, he left his master while in his debt. "If he hath wronged thee or oweth thee aught, put that to mine account." But having been converted to God under the labors of St. Paul, he directed him to return, and he wrote this Epistle in order to facilitate the adjustment of their difficulty. But Onesimus was not now to be received as a slave, but above a slave, as a brother beloved, even as the "aged Apostle" himself.

23. Remember them that are in bonds.

Those that are imprisoned for the testimony of Jesus, and all such as are kidnapped from their birth, and held during their whole lives in an unjust and violent bondage. Remember the rights, the privileges and the blessings of which they are deprived; remember it is the natural and direct tendency of the system which oppresses them, to keep from their undying souls the lights of science and religion, to crush their immortal minds, and shut them out of Heaven. Remember

them, feel for them as you would wish others to feel for you, were you in their condition; pray for them, pray for those who oppress them, and pray for all those who do not remember them, but who censure and oppose those who endeavor to obey this command of the infinite God. Remember them that are in bonds!

CHAPTER XII.

ST. JAMES, ST. PETER, AND ST. JOHN.

Slave-holding is further shown to be a sin, by others

of the Apostles and we have the testimony of God, that the system shall finally and utterly come to an end.

1. Do not rich men oppress you? If ye fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture - Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself—ye do well; but if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin; and are convinced of the law as transgressors. James ii, 6.

2. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. James ii, 10.

3. For he shall have judgment without mercy,

that hath showed no mercy, and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. James ii, 13.

4. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. James iii, 17.

5. Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. James v, 1.

6. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them which have reaped, are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. James v, 4.

7. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. James v. 5.

8. And many shall follow their pernicious ways: by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you; whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. 2 Peter ii, 2.

9. Servants, be subject to your masters with all