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1. The love which St. Paul felt towards his convert, the yearning desire with which he longed for his good. He overlooked all distinc tions of rank; all that was swallowed up by a deeper bond of sympathy, namely, that St. Paul had been the means of bringing him out of darkness, and of teaching him the gospel of Christ Jesus. I believe there is no union more lasting and true than the spiritual union which exists between those who have done and those who have received good. It is what every clergyman longs for, that he may know that his ministrations have been a blessing to those among whom he ministers. No encouragement, no praise, will compare for a moment with the joy of feeling that he has souls for his hire. No grief is so heavy as the fear of an unblessed ministry, of souls not drawn towards himself, because not drawn by him to Christ Jesus.

2. St. Paul quite foresaw that it might be hard for Philemon to receive back his slave in a forgiving spirit, and to look on him as a brother through faith in Christ, and as an equal in the sight of God. And is not that same difficulty of daily occurrence among us? People always like to keep up the notion of their own superiority over others that they are above, and others below them. And we stand on our rights, and we resent an injury, and we remember a wrong that has been done us, and we should be as likely as Philemon was to speak in disparagement of the change which is said to be wrought in any one who once has done us harm. And here comes up the evidence of a truly Christian spirit. To forgive those who have injured us; to care not for our own, but for another's wealth; to do to others as we would be done by; to think no evil, to bear no malice, to rejoice in any one's conversion to Christ; here are the signs of a heart renewed and sanctified by the grace of the Holy Ghost.

3. The words of St. Paul may remind us how careful we ought to be, how much of pains and thought we ought to take about those who are closely connected with us in the affairs of our daily life. Just think of the relations which should exist between masters and servants, between employers and employed. As a matter of fact, how little there is for the most part of mutual interest in each other's welfare beyond the mere giving and receiving of wages, and the good-natured liking which may exist between the one and the other. How seldom the matter is looked on from a Christian point of view. How seldom the master cares for more than to prevent dishonesty and vice, and to avoid scandal in his house, Is he really anxious about the spiritual welfare of his dependents? Or take the opposite side. For those who go out to service, how little thought is given to any part of the engagement beyond the amount of wages, or the lightness of the work, or the pleasantness of the place. Whether the household be one where God is really served is a less common question. Everything seems to be remembered but the one chief thing of all, the care of the soul. And the same thought may be applied to other relations of life, to parents and children, to acquaintances and neighbours and friends. God allows us to have such relations one to another, but God requires that He should stand first in everything. We cannot be serving God in sincerity and truth; we cannot be fulfilling the charge which God has committed to us, unless we be anxious for others as well as for ourselves, unless we would depart with them from evil, and increase with them in good. And when we heartily desire and pray that others, as well as ourselves, may have God's highest blessing, we shall find how wonderfully the Lord answers that wish. How strange that the running away of Onesimus from his master should have led to his conversion, and so to his return. But not one whit more strange than are the great results which have come to us all from what seemed the smallest and most unimportant events. A word will change the current of a man's life, will lead to the awakening of conscience, to the searching for and finding salvation.

(H. R. Nevill.)

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KJV: I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds:

WEB: I beg you for my child, whom I have become the father of in my chains, Onesimus,