The life and work of St. Paul

ST. PAUL AND ONESIMTT8. 627
Apostle in his affliction which he himself was unable to render.1 But Paul
was too much of a gentleman 2 to presume on the kindness of even a beloved
convert. And besides this, a fault had been committed, and had not yet been
condoned. It was necessary to show by example that, where it was possible,
restitution should follow repentance, and that he who had been guilty of a
great wrong should not be irregularly shielded from its legitimate conse-
quences. Had Philemon been a heathen, to send Onesimus to him would have
been to consign the poor slave to certain torture, to possible crucifixion. 3 He
would, to a certainty, have become henceforth a "branded runaway," a
stigmatias,* or liave boon turned into the slave-prison to work in chains. But
Philemon was a Christian, and the " Gospel of Christ, by Christianising the
master, emancipated the slave." 6 Paul felt quite sure that he was sending
back the runaway who had become his dear son, and from whom he could not
part without a violent wrench to forgiveness, to considerate kindness, in all
probability to future freedom; and at any rate right was right, and he felt that
he ought not to shrink from the personal sacrifice of parting with him. He
therefore sent him back under the kind care of Tychicus, and happily for us
with a " commendatory Epistle," which even Baur apologises for rejecting,
and which all the world has valued and admired. 6
It has been compared by
Grotius and others with the graceful and touching letter written by the
younger Pliny to his friend Sabinianus to intercede for an offending freeclman,
who with many tears and entreaties had besought his aid,
That exquisitely
natural and beautifully-written letter does credit both to Pliny's heart and to
his head, and yet polished as it is in style, while St. Paul's is written with a
sort of noble carelessness of expression, it stands for beauty and value far
below the letter to Philemon. In the first place, it is for a young freedman
who had been deeply beloved, and not for a runaway slave. In the next place,
it is purely individual, and wholly wanting in the large divine principle which
underlies the letter of St. Paul. And there are other marked differences.
but
Paul has no doubt whatever about the future good conduct of Onesimus ;
1 Philem. 13, fra vnep