The life and work of St. Paul

628 THE LIFE AND WORK Of ST. PAUL.
Pliny thinks that the young freedman may offend again. Pliny assumes that
Sabinianus is and will be angry; Paul has no such fear about Philemon.
Paul pleads on the broad ground of Humanity redeemed in Christ; Pliny
pleads the youth and the tears of the freedman, and the affection which his
master had once felt for him. Paul does not think it necessary to ask
Philemon to spare punishment ; Pliny has to beg his friend not to use torture.
Paul has no reproaches for Onesimns ; Pliny severely scolded his young
suppliant, and told him without meaning to keep his word that he should
never intercede for him again. The letter of Pliny is the letter of an excellent
Pagan but the ; differences which separate the Pagan from the Christian stand
out in every line. 1
CHAPTER LI.
THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON,
" Servi sunt ? immo conservi." SEN.
" Evangelico decore conscripta est." JER.
"
Epistola familiaris,
BENGEL.
mire aerrtTos summae sapientiae praebitura specimen.**
"
Ita modeste ct suppliciter pro infimo homine se dimittit ut vix alibi
rnagis ad vivum sit expressa ingenii ejus mansuetudo." CALVIN.
usquam
" PAUL, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy the brother, to Philemon, our
beloved and fellow- worker, and to Apphia the sister, 2 and to Archippus our fellowsoldier,
and to the Church in thy house ; grace to you, and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
" I thank my God always, making mention of thee in my prayers hearing thy
love, and the faith thou hast towards the Lord Josus and unto all the saints 3 that
the kindly exercise of thy faith may become effectual, in the full knowledge of every
blessing we possess, unto Christ's glory. For I had much joy and consolation in
thy love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by thee, brother.
"
Although, then, I feel much confidence in Christ to enjoin upon thee what is
fitting, yet I rather entreat thee for love's sake, being such an one as Paul the aged, 4
and at this moment also a prisoner of Christ Jesus. I entreat thee about my child,
whom I begot in my bonds Onesimus once to thee the reverse of his name profit-
1 A translation of Pliny's letter will be found in Excursus XI. (Ep. ix. 21.)
2 The reading is uncertain, but N, A, D, E, F, G (15 is here deficient) read aSetyrj, and
we from Theodore of
jud^e Mopsuestia that ayamjTT) may in his age, and perhaps in the
Apostle's, have given rise to coarse remarks from coarse mindft.
3 Ver. . . . 5, jrpbs tit.
4 Ver. 9, TOIOVTOS &v ws is not unclassical, as Meyer asserts. (See instances in Lightfoot,
Col., p. 404.) St. Paul must at this time have been sixty years old, and people of
that age, particularly when they have been battered, as he had been, by all the storms
of life, naturally speak of themselves as old. I cannot think that this means " an ambassador
(Eph. vi. 20). To say nothing of the fact that the reading is irpe