Two Treatises, Commentary on verse · Verse 12
VERS. 12. Whom I hauehave ſent backe, Thou therefore receiue him, that is mine owne Bowels.
VNtoUnto the former Argument, drawne from the profitableneſſe of ONESIMVS, he addeth another in this Verſe, propounded in an Enthymene, that is, a ſhort and contract kind of reaſoning, in this manner: I hauehave ſent him vntounto thee; namely, to this verie end, that thou ſhouldeſt receiue him: Receiue him therefore. Now to the Concluſion, a new Argument is added, when he calls ONESIMVS his bowels; whereby he ſheweth how deare and tender hee was to him. But let vsus ſee wherein the force of this Argument conſiſts; in two things ſpecially.
Firſt, in this, that he ſent ONESIMVS, and that ONESIMVS came not of himſelfe; Whom I hauehave ſent: that the force of the Argument ſhould be in the word, I. As if he ſhould ſay, If ONESIMVS of himſelfe had come vntounto thee, ſubmitting himſelfe, Chriſtian compaſſion would hauehave taught thee to hauehave reſpected; much more then now, comming in my name, and with my Letters. So that wee are not eaſily to reiect thoſe that come graced and countenanced vntounto vsus with the commendations of godly and reuerent Miniſters.
Secondly, in that hee did not onelyonly ſend his Letters to PHILEMON, keeping ONESIMVS with him at Rome, till he had receiued an Anſwer from him, and ſo know whether he were willing to reaccept ONESIMVS, but together with his Letters had ſent ONESIMVS himſelfe; who hauing now gone ſo long a iourney, as betwixt Rome and Coloſſus, could not now, with any honeſtie, bee refuſed, leſt all his labour, in that ſo hard and tedious a iourney, ſhould be made fruſtrate. This latter I take to be the chiefe force of the Argument.
Here note then, that PAVL promiſing himſelfe much of PHILEMON, and truſting to the equitie of this cauſe, did not firſt write to PHILEMON, to know, if hee might, with his good leaue and liking, ſend ONESIMVS, but ſends both him and his Letters both at once. One would thinke, this was not ſo wiſely done of PAVL: For, firſt hee ſhould hauehave knowne, before he ſent him, whether his Maſter would giuegive any entertainment to him, being come. For how, if PHILEMON ſhould hauehave ſent him backe againe to PAVL, what a deale of toyle had ONESIMVS taken in vaine? It was eaſie for PAVL to foreſee this: Therefore PAVL ſending him in this manner, it is a manifeſt Argument, that hee did nothing doubt of PHILEMONS readineſſe to pleaſure him therein, which afterwards, Verſ. 21. he confeſſeth.
Hence then it is euident, that ſometimes Chriſtians, of ſpeciall acquaintance, in ſome cauſes may preſume one vponupon another; namely, when the cauſe is equall and honeſt; and then ſpecially, if we be their ſuperiors, vponupon whom we preſume, not onelyonly in calling, but alſo in well-deſeruing of them; as PAVL here was, ſee Verſe 19. Otherwiſe to preſume, is the part of a ſhameleſſe and impudent man.
Againe, wee are to learne, That when friends, well-deſeruing of vsus, ſhall in ſuch cauſes as this was, ſo farre preſume vponupon vsus, that great inconueniences will follow, if wee graunt not their deſire, wee are not then lightly to deceiue their hopes: As here, if ONESIMVS had beene refuſed, his iourney had beene loſt, and hee muſt hauehave gone backe againe to PAVL: For it is likely, hee knew not where elſe to beſtow himſelfe.
This is the ground of PAVLS Argument in this place.
In the Concluſion of the Argument, in the latter end of the Verſe, we are to obſerue in PAVLS example, calling ONESIMVS his owne bowels, what great account is to be made of the meaneſt, being truly conuerted. Though with PAVL we were Apoſtles, yet we might not diſdaine the baſeſt Bondſlaue, being the ſonne of God. IOB durſt not contend with his ſeruants, becauſe they had the ſame Creator with himſelfe, faſhioning them in the ſame manner in the Wombe, as himſelfe; much leſſe then would he hauehave contended with ſuch ſeruants as had the ſame Redeemer, CHRIST IESVS, with himſelfe. The grace of God is no leſſe grace, which reſides in a poore ſeruant, then that which is ſeated in a rich and mightie man. A Diamond will ſhine euen in the durt. And as with men, the more they demit and debaſe themſelues, the greater is their glory; ſo is it here alſo with the grace of God, by debaſing it ſelfe, as it were, to reſpect the low degree of ſeruants, and to dwell in the Cottages of Poore men, rather then in the Palaces of proud Kings and Emperors, the more glorious and goodly is it; ſo farre is it off, that the baſe and obſcure condition ſhould any thing at all obſcure the brightneſſe of Gods grace, that abideth in them. Away then with that vaine and proud partialitie, condemned by S. IAMES, Chap. 2. 1.