III. 15 ness.

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, unto which you have also been called in one body; 16 and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, 17 with gratitude singing in your hearts to God. And whatsoever you do in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

18

Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is becoming 19 in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not 20 irritable towards them. Children, obey your parents

in all things for this is well-pleasing in the Lord. 21 Fathers, provoke not your children, lest they be dis22 couraged. Bond-servants, obey in all things your

masters according to the flesh, not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart fearing 23 the Lord. Whatsoever you do, work from the heart 24 as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you shall receive the recompense of the in25 heritance; the Lord whom you serve is Christ. For he that does a wrong shall receive what he has done wrong, and there is no respect of the person. Iv. 1 Masters, afford to your bond-servants justice and equality, knowing that you also have a Master in

2

heaven.

Persevere in prayer, watching in it with thanks3 giving, praying at the same time for us also, that God may open to us a door of the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for the sake of which I am also 4 bound, that I may make it manifest as I ought to 5 speak. Walk in wisdom towards them that are with

out, buying up the right time. Let your speech be IV. 6 always with grace, seasoned with salt, to know how you ought to answer every one.

All about me Tychicus will make known to you, 7 who is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord, whom I have sent unto 8 you for this very purpose, that he may know about you and may comfort your hearts; with Onesimus, 9 the faithful and beloved brother, who is of you. They will inform you of everything here.

your

II

12

Aristarchus my fellow-prisoner salutes you, and 10 Marcus cousin to Barnabas, concerning whom you have received injunctions, (if he come to you, receive him,) and Jesus called Justus, who are of the circum- 11 cision, these alone being fellow-workers unto the kingdom of God, who have been a comfort to me. Epaphras fellow-townsman salutes you, a servant of Christ Jesus, always striving in your behalf in prayers, that you may stand perfect and fulfilled in all God's will. For I bear him witness that he has much labour for 13 you and those at Laodicea and those at Hierapolis. Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you. 14 Greet the brethren at Laodicea and Nymphas and 15 the church in his house. And when this letter has 16 been read amongst you, cause that it also be read in the Church of the Laodiceans and that you also read that from Laodicea. And say to Archippus, Look to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it.

17

The salutation of me Paul with my own hand. 18 Remember my bonds. Grace be with you.

INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE TO

PHILEMON.

THE chief interest of the short Letter to Philemon is in the light it throws on the social operation of the Gospel. The word preached by the Apostles, whilst it was unfolding the various relations which constitute Christian theology, was also working rapidly towards a social revolution through its personal and domestic influences. The Epistles to the Ephesians and the Colossians contain exhortations addressed both to masters and to slaves. Here in the Epistle to Philemon we have a living picture of the Gospel actually at work upon the institution of slavery. The picture includes the figures of Philemon the master, Onesimus the slave, and Paul the spiritual father of both. If we perceive in Ephesians some resemblance to a hymn, we may see in Philemon an idyll of the progress of Christianity.

The Epistle to Philemon was evidently written at the same time and sent by the same messenger as the Epistle to the Colossians. Philemon was a Christian of Colossæ, and the head of a considerable household, which may have included many slaves. He had received the Gospel either directly from the mouth of Paul himself, or by such a channel that he might virtually attribute his conversion to the Apostle (verse 19). Onesimus was a slave of his who had deserted him and made his way to Rome. There he was brought into contact with St. Paul, and became a

believer in Christ. It seems probable that he was a person of spirit, not corrupted by the baseness natural to the servile condition, and that he had rebelled against the restraints of slavery. Such a person was more likely to yield to the trying demand now made on him by the Apostle. His father in Christ bade him go back again and surrender himself to his master; and Onesimus, whatever struggles it may have cost him, was prepared to obey. The Apostle, having gained this submission from the slave, feels that he may count upon a corresponding advance from the master. He begs him to receive Onesimus no longer as a slave, but as a beloved brother, or fellow-Christian.

We do not feel, as readers of the Epistle, any doubt that Philemon would act according to the Apostle's wish Apart from his sense of what he owed to Christ and to St. Paul, he would be greatly moved by such an act as his slave's voluntary return to him. But St. Paul pleads earnestly with him, acknowledging that he had been wronged by the desertion of his slave, and making the kindness for which he asked altogether an act of favour on Philemon's part. And he appeals to the claims which he, the veteran Apostle, the sufferer, the prisoner, had on the allegiance of Philemon, with that tender personal exactingness which would have been egotism if it had not been guarded by such pure disinterestedness.

The history of the work of Christianity in suppressing slavery could not have been begun more nobly than by this proof that the new relations created by the Gospel were incompatible with the natural relations of slavery, and that, if slaves were taught by the Christian doctrine to submit to the law of the land without murmuring, masters were taught to acknowledge themselves as bound by a higher law which would compel them to renounce the legal rights of owners of their fellow-men.