Philemon

 Owing Ourselves To Christ

I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto Me even thine own self besides.'--Philemon. 19.

THE incomparable delicacy of this letter of Paul's has often been the theme of eulogium. I do not know that anywhere else in literature one can find such a gem, so admirably adapted for the purpose in hand. But beyond the wonderful tenderness and ingenuity born of right feeling and inbred courtesy which mark the letter, there is another point of view from which I have been in the habit of looking at it, as if it were a kind of parable of the way in which our Master pleads with us to do the things that He desires. The motive and principles of practical Christianity are all reducible to one--imitation of Jesus Christ. And therefore it is not fanciful if here we see, shining through the demeanour and conduct of the Apostle, some hint of the manner of the Master.

I venture to take these words as spoken to each Christian soul by a higher and greater voice than Paul's. I will repay it: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto Me even thine own self besides.'