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ENSLAVED AND FKEE 413
paralytic, and He will abundantly pardou. Hast thou, indeed,
sought Him ?
'
Nay, lather, I could not,' said Ouesimus. Ever since
'
'
that theft from Philemon, ever since that flight, I have
prayed but faintly I felt as if I could not
; pray, as if no
prayer of mine could be heard. A cloud of despair has
'
hidden God's face from me. Oh ! he cried, wringing his
hands, ' I am an outcast I am a castaway. I have no
part in Him. My lot is now with this world, of which I
have seen the infamies and loathe the crimes. It was but
two weeks ago that any gleam of hope came back to me.'
'
What gave thee '
hope ?
'
Lucas of Antioch, whom I
see with thee, gave some parts
of his records of Jesus to one of Octavia's slaves. I, too,
went with the unhappy Empress to Paudataria, and there
I read the Master's parable of the Prodigal Son, and I tried
"
to say, I will arise and go to my father, and will say
But here Onesimus stopped, and though he made an
effort, he was unable to proceed.
With all his heart the great Apostle pitied him ;
indeed
he pitied him so much that he found no words to speak.
He could only lay his hand gently on the suppliant's head,
and uplift his eyes to heaven in prayer.
'
So Luke spoke and said, I can tell thee, Onesimus, of
other words of the Master. He "
cried : Come unto me, all
that are weary and heavy-laden, and I will refresh "
you ;
and " him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." '
'
Did He say that ? Did He say that ?
'
asked
" '
Onesimus,
eagerly.
1
He did/ said Luke, ' and no word of His can pass away.'
The Praetorian Celsus had heard the conversation, and he
'
'
too was touched. Those words,' he said, called me from
Satan to God. I was as deep a sinner as any man in the
cohort, and no man can be much worse than that. I used to
shrink from no cruelty, and to abstain from no sin. I was
one of the soldiers employed in the massacre of the innocent
slaves of Pedanius Secundus. So deep was my misery that
one night I went in full armour to the Sublician Bridge,
meaning to end a life so shamed and empty. But as I
climbed the parapet, I was seized by the strong arm of a
man in a slave's dress. I drew my dagger and asked him,