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SERMON IX.

ONESIPHORUS.

2 TIMOTHY i. 16, 17.

"The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus, for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain: but when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me."

"BEAR ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ," is one of the most important precepts of our holy religion-a religion which aims at uniting men in one blessed communion and fellowship, and which teaches them to regard themselves as members of one mystical body, whereof the Lord Jesus is the exalted and living head. The new commandment of the Saviour, that men should "love one another," is insisted on with peculiar force by his apostles, and the practical effect which the commandment was

designed to produce is beautifully exemplified in the character of Onesiphorus.

The passage before us is important in two particulars; first, as bearing testimony to the christian conduct of this friend of St. Paul; and, secondly, as showing the grateful sense entertained by the apostle of that kindness, and his eager anxiety for the truest interests of his benefactor. It is to the former of these points that our attention is now to be directed, and it may. be useful for us in the first place to advert to the character and conduct of Onesiphorus, and in the second, to point out wherein their peculiar excellence consisted, concluding with such practical considerations as the subject is calculated to suggest.

I. Though little is stated respecting Onesiphorus, he appears to have been an Ephesian of wealth and distinction, who in different ways, and on different occasions, ministered to the necessities of St. Paul, testifying a deep and anxious concern for his welfare, and acting a very different part from those of Asia, referred to in the preceding verse, who had turned away from him, of whom were Phygellus and Hermogenes. The apostle had experienced the kindness of Onesiphorus at Ephesus, but more especially at Rome.

It is a point not altogether settled, when St. Paul wrote this second Epistle to Timothy; but it is most probable that it was during his second imprisonment at Rome. His first abode in that city, which lasted two years, was after his appeal as a citizen to Cæsar, when he was sent thither with other prisoners under the care of Julius the centurion, and suffered shipwreck; and was at length restored to freedom by the emperor's command. His second abode was after an absence of three years, when, having returned from labouring for the extension of his Master's kingdom, he was cast into prison, probably on the ground that he had been concerned in setting fire to the city. His situation and his prospects now were widely different from what they had been during his former residence. On that occasion he dwelt "in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him ;" and the success which attended his ministrations was powerfully demonstrated by the increase of converts who embraced the gospel, and were added to the church, of whom some were inmates in the royal palace. He then also, as is obvious from many expressions in his epistles, entertained the most sanguine hopes of a speedy release, and

that he should soon be permitted to visit other churches, and be more actively useful in publishing the glad tidings of salvation.

When he wrote this epistle, however, his situation and his prospects were widely different. He suffered trouble even unto bonds, not merely as a preacher of strange doctrines, but as a malefactor, and an enemy of the state. He had incurred the severe displeasure of the emperor, and he was fully convinced that he should not regain his liberty, but that the time of his departure was at hand. Onesiphorus sought him out, and found him while in this wretched condition, wretched, as far as temporal comforts were concerned, but not so in a spiritual point of view; for no man can justly be esteemed wretched, however adverse his worldly circumstances, who has a sense of the pardoning mercy of God vouchsafed to him, and who can look beyond the trammels of an earthly prison to a land of perfect freedom, not only from the fury of an earthly oppressor, but from the more debasing and galling oppression of sin. Though sorrowful, the apostle was always rejoicing; though having nothing, he yet possessed all things. In the multitude of his thoughts within him, the divine comforts delighted his soul. Having learned in whatsoever state he was, therewith to be content, and knowing how to be

abased, and how to abound, he enjoyed an inward peace and satisfaction, to which his adversaries were total strangers; a vivid and transporting hope of glory, honour, and immortality, of which his adversaries could not deprive him, and which had supported him " in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in cold and nakedness." This hope had shed cheerfulness around the prison walls of Philippi, when with Silas he sang praises at midnight; and had enabled him thus to address the elders of Ephesus in language of joyful submission; "And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there; save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying, that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God."

The expression, "sought him out," leads us to suppose that the apostle was closely confined in some obscure prison when Onesiphorus showed him kindness; that so far from being permitted as before, publicly to proclaim the glad tidings of the gospel, the very circumstance of his being at Rome, or at least the place of his confinement, was unknown to the majority of the

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