It is to be regretted that their letter has not come down to us; but, we can gather what it contained, from the answer of St. Paul: “Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me.” 1 _Cor._ vii. 1. Touching the subject before us, see his answer in the 20th to the 25th verse; and the same subject continued in _Eph._ vi. 5–10; also _Col._ iii. 22–25; he found it necessary to instruct Titus on this subject: see _Tit._ ii. 9–15, and, finally, as in the passage before us, and also vi. 1–15. St. Peter also found it necessary to correct the errors of these abolitionists, and to give them instruction on this subject. 1 _Pet._ ii. 18–25. Had St. Paul regarded slavery as an evil, he certainly had no excuse for not denouncing it. Nor do we know of any of the early fathers of the church that did so. St. Ignatius, in his second epistle to Polycarp, says—“Overlook not the men and maid _servants_. Let them be the more subject to the glory of God, that they may obtain from him a better liberty. Let them not desire to be set _free_ at public cost, that they be not slaves to their own lusts.” See also, _General Epistle of Barnabas_, xiv. 15: “Thou shalt not be bitter in thy commands towards any of thy servants that trust in God, lest thou chance not to fear him who is over both; because he came not to call any with respect to persons, but whomsoever the Spirit prepared.” Such is the construction of the human mind, and of human language, that whenever a thing is made a subject of remark, or merely brought to mind, it, of necessity, must be so, in one of three positions: either a thing to be commended; to be reprehended; or as a thing of total indifference. A glaring sin and gross evil could not have been a thing of indifference to Jesus Christ and his apostles. They, therefore, cannot be supposed to have acted honestly in not condemning a sin, when by them mentioned, or brought to mind. It is a supposition too gross for refutation! But it is conceded by Mr. Barnes, page 260, that “the apostles did not openly denounce slavery as an evil, or require that those who were held in bondage should be at once emancipated. * * * These things seem to me to lie on the face of the New Testament; and whatever argument they may furnish to the advocates of slavery in disposing of these facts, it seems plain that the facts themselves cannot be denied.” The facts, then, must stand in commendation and approval. They cannot be got rid of by arguing ever so ingeniously, that Jesus Christ and his apostles were cunning; that they acted with prudence; that they dexterously taught it to be an evil by implication; or that they acted with deep-seated and far-reaching expediency; nor by any other subterfuge by which the enemies of God are striving to mould his essence and character into an idol to suit themselves. ------------------ LESSON XVIII.