9 With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known unto you all things which are done here.



Ver. 9. With Onesimus a faithful] Once unprofitable, but now profitable, faithful, and beloved. Plato went thrice to Sicily to convert Dionysius, and lost his labour. Polemo of a drunkard, by hearing Xenocrates, became a philosopher. But Ambrose saith well of him, si resipuit a vino, fuit semper tamen temulentus sacrilegio, if he repented of his drunkenness, yet he continued drunk with superstition. Philosophia non abscindit vitia, sed abscondit. Paul’s convert proved better, a faithful preacher and a beloved brother.