The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1859-08-04
To TIRE EDITOR OF THE COURIER,

Dear Sir ::
= In the case of Philomen and Onesmus,
Mr.. Fowler evidently thinks he has made a
strong pointl--he exults in what he calls my
admission that Onesimus was slaye. 1t is
quite usual in argument, to admit for the
moment, that which we deny in fact, and in
toto-thus for the purpose of showing the
effect of Christianity in the apostolic times,
it was admitted that Onasimus was slave
Mr.. F. claims him for slave, and to crafty
him. for the moment admit him to be So
but no reasonable man will really suppose
him to have been slave--every thing shows
to the contrary. Paul, in Philemon V l6.
calls Onesiinlis a brother to Philemon, ''both
in the flesh and in the Lord y from this we
are clearly to infer that so far from being
slave and slaveowner, they were relatives,
and probably near ones. Again Paul says
''if he OOnesimus) oweth the aught, put that
TO my account, will repay the" Does this
look like slavery? How can slace 0pe his
Tinaster any thing' Can my Horse oaoe me
any thing debt, implies mutual contract
AS slaves in the United States can enter
into no civil contract, any more than my
horse car-even his marriage contract, (if he
makes onc) is not valid in LAWN no slave
State in the Uuion can slave oaoe any
thing, or omn amy thlng--hc may have some
pr'pcrty in has possession by permission of
mastcr. but that master can take it from him
again at win or if his master dies or falls
into debt, not only the few trifies the poor
slave may have in possession, but his own
body also will be brought to the auction block.
In Mississippi, the master who permits his
slave to cultivate cotton, or own stock ofany
kind, incurs a penalty of $50, and in most
Of the slave States laws to this effect, more
or less stringent exist. The fact that Paul
alludes TO Oncsimus owiag Philemon, is the
clcarest possible evidence that he was not a
sieve, but merely hired servant, who, as
hired servants often do nova days, had
drawn his wages faster than they became
due, and then ran away; but falling in with
Paul, was converted after which acting upon
his new views of right and wrong, and by
the advice of Paul, he returned to fulfil the
term Of service for which he had at first
s~stipulated, and pay up his Indebtedness
:. re ID IN this light it all appears clear and
natural, but read in the slavish light, how
forced and difficult to reconcile in all, or any
Of its parts?
p,,f fha oy-o oft tt,n c1oM
admit again that Onesimus nas slave; what
y follows then? Why not negro slavery, but
'chite slavery follows; and that will not snit
Mr.. F. nor his friends. Paul wrote from
"Rome' to Philemon-qchere was Philemon
certainly not in Judea if we suppose him
to be in Judea, then Oncsimus would have
about 1900 miles to travel to reach Rome,
where Paul was fact which renders it
improbable that Philemon was in Judea
and it is further improbable from the fact,
that it is not yet proven that the Jews ever
held slaves at all after the Babylonish cap
tivtty, when God inflicted such an awful
punishment upon them for doing so. Again,
neither Onesimus nor Philemon are Jewish
names; they are evidently of Greek origin
they might have been Greeks, or in the time
ofPaul they might have been habitants Of
some one Of the Italian Roman provinces ;
for the Greeks and Romans had by that time
considerably amalgamated. Even admitting
for the argument (what ! deny in fact that
Onesimns was slave; the burden of proof
rested with Fowler to show, 1st That the
Jews held slaves in the time of the apostles !;
I'd. That Onesimus was negro for he does
not claim the Divine sanction to enslave
any but negroes. As he has failed in these
two vital points, the case he has cited, instead
Of sustaining, actually overwhelms him; and