The life and work of St. Paul

8T. PATJI, AKD ONESIMUS. 625
" There stands Dama a twopenny stable-boy, and a pilfering scoundrel ; the
Praetor touches him. with his wand, and twirls him round, and
" Momento turbinis, exit
MARCUS Dama ! . . . . Papae ! Marco spondente recusas
Credere tu nummos P Marco sub judice palles ? " 1
But the difference between Dama the worthless drudge and Marcus Dama the
presumably worthy citizen was absolutely infinitesimal compared to the real
and unsurpassable difference which separated Onesimus the good-for-nothing
Phrygian fugitive from Onesimus the brother faithful and beloved.
And thus the Epistle to Philemon becomes the practical manifesto of
Christianity against the horrors and iniquities of ancient and modern slavery. 3
From the very nature of the Christian Church from the fact that it was " a
kingdom not of this world
"
it could not be revolutionary. It was never
meant to prevail by physical violence, or to be promulgated by the sword. It
was the revelation of eternal principles, not the elaboration of practical details.
It did not interfere, or attempt to interfere, with the facts of the established
order. Had it done so it must have perished in the storm of excitement
which it would have inevitably raised. In revealing truth, in protesting
against crime, it insured its own ultimate yet silent victory. It knew that
where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. It was loyal to the powers
that bo. It raised no voice, and refused no tribute even to a Gaius or a Nero.
It did not denounce slavery, and preached no fatal and futile servile war. It
did not inflame its Onesimi to play the parts of an Eunus or an Artemio. Yet
it inspired a sense of freedom which has been in all ages the most invincible foe
to tyranny, and it proclaimed a divine equality and brotherhood, which while
it left untouched the ordinary social distinctions, left slavery impossible to
enlightened Christian lands.3
This delicate relation to the existing structure of society is admirably
illustrated by the Letter to Philemon. The tension always produced by the
existence of a slave population, vastly preponderant in numbers, was at that
moment exceptionally felt. Less than two years before St. Paul wrote to
1 Pers. Sat. v. 7680.
2 "
Omnia in servum
"
licent (Sen. Clem. 1. 18). For an only too vivid sketch of what
those horrors and iniquities were, see Dollinger, Judenth. u. Heidenth. be. 1, 2 ; Wallon,
Hist, de VEsclavage dans I'AntiquitS. The difference between the wisdom which is of the
world and the wisdom which is of God may be measured by the difference between the
Epistle to Philemon and the sentiments of heathens even so enlightened as Aristotle
(Polit. i. 3 ; Eth. Nic. viii. 13) and Plato (Legg. vi. 777, seq. ; Rep. viii. 549). The difference
between Christian morals and those of even such Pagans as passed for very models
of virtue may be estimated by comparing the advice of St. Paul to Christian masters,
and the detestable greed and cruelty of the elder Cato in his treatment of his slaves
(Pint. Cat. Maj. x. 21; Plin. H. N. xviii. 8. 3). See too Plautus, passim; Sec.
Up. xlvii. ; Juv. Sat. vi. 219, scq. ; Tac. Ann. xiv. 42 45 ; and Plut. Apophthegm, vi.
778 (the story of Vedius Pollio).
3 On the relation of Christianity to slavery see Lecky, Hist, of Rationalism, ii. 258 ;
Troplong. De Vlnflumce du Christ sur le Droit civil, &c. ; Gold. Smith, Docs the Bible
sanction American Slavery f De Broglie, L*E