was so preposterous that he would be an infidel, nay, he would go farther, he would be an atheist, rather than believe it.  Our moral instincts are our guide.  They are the highest source of evidence that there is a God, and they are a perfect indication as to what God and his requirements should be.  He was for passing a vote of disapprobation at the act of Paul the Apostle in sending back Onesimus into bondage.  Tell me not, said he, that the Apostle calls him ’a brother beloved,’ and ‘one of you;’ these honeyed phrases are but coatings to a deadly poison.  Slavery is evil, and only evil and that continually.  Disguise it as you will, Philemon holds property in Onesimus.  By the laws of Phrygia, he could put Onesimus to death for running away.  He deplored the act as a heavy blow at Christianity.  It would countervail the teachings of the Apostle.  He sincerely hoped that the Epistle to Philemon would not be preserved; for should it be collected hereafter, as possibly it may, among Paul’s letters, unborn ages might make it an apology for slavery, it would abate the hatred of the world against the sum of all villanies.  He would even be in favor of a vote requesting Philemon to give Onesimus his liberty at once, even without his consent, sending him back, with this most unwise and unblest epistle to Philemon, to Paul, who says that he ’would have retained him,’ but would not without Philemon’s consent.  He did hope that the brethren would speak their minds, be open-mouthed, and not be like dumb dogs.  For his part he wanted an anti-slavery religion.  He acknowledged that the truths of the Gospel needed the stimulant of freedom to give them life and power.

“His remarks evidently produced a great sensation, for a variety of reasons, as we may well suppose.

“A man took the floor in opposition to this Laodicean brother.  He was a Jewish convert, a member of the Colossian Church.  His name was Theodotus.  Born a Jew, he had renounced his religion and became a Greek Sophist, practised law at Scio, and heard Paul at Mars Hill, where, with Dionysius the Areopagite, with whom he was visiting, he was converted.  He had established himself at Colosse, in the practice of law.  He was unusually tall for a man of his descent, had beautifully regular Jewish features, and was a captivating speaker.

“He said that they had ’heard strange things to-day.  If they are true, we have no foundation underneath our feet.  Every man’s moral sentiments, it seems, are to be his guide.  Where, then, is our common appeal?  For his part he believed that if God be our heavenly Father, he has given his children an authentic book, a writing, for their guide, unless he prefers to speak personally with them, or with their representatives.  When he ceased to speak by the prophets, he spoke to us by his Son; and now that his Son is ascended, I believe,’ said he, ’that inspired men are appointed to guide us, and seeing that they cannot reach all by their living