'
"Leaning on the arm of Onesimus, Philemon returned to bless his
household.
* * * * *
"Thus far," said I, "you have my Night Thoughts." I asked Mr. North if
he accepted the present New Testament Canon as correct? He said that he
did. I then inquired if he regarded the Scriptures as the only and
sufficient rule of faith and practice.
To this he also agreed. I then asked him if he did not think that, in
making up the canon, that is, in directing what books and epistles
should go into it, God had reference to the wants of all coming times?
He signified his assent. I then asked his attention to a few thoughts
connected with that point.
"Here is the Epistle to Philemon, placed by the hand of the Holy Spirit
himself in the Sacred Canon. It is on a small piece of parchment, easily
lost; the wind might have blown it from Philemon's table out of the
window, beyond recovery; it was not addressed to a Church, to be kept in
its archives; it is a private letter, subject to every change in the
condition of a private citizen. Yet, while the epistle to Laodicea, sent
about the same time, is irrecoverably lost, this little writing,
addressed to a private man, goes into the Bible, by direction of God!
"Do you not suppose," said I, "that God had a meaning in this beyond
merely informing us how a master received a servant back to bondage?"
"What further purpose do you think there was in it?" said he.
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