you all
things: whom I have sent unto you for this very purpose, that ye may
know our state, and that he may comfort your hearts. Peace be to the
brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in
uncorruptness.

Tychicus was a native of Asia Minor[1], a companion and delegate of St.
Paul, like Timothy and others[2]. He was entrusted with the task
presumably of conveying this letter to the churches of Asia Minor, and
certainly of informing them as to the apostle's state in his Roman
imprisonment--information which could not fail to comfort and encourage
them.

St. Paul brings this wonderful letter to a conclusion with a brief
benediction to the brethren--an invocation upon them of divine peace,
and love with faith--an invocation of divine favour upon all that 'love
our Lord Jesus Christ in {249} uncorruptness.' Corruption is the fruit
of sin, the condition of the 'old man[3].' Incorruption is the state
of the risen Christ, and in Him the members of His body are to be
preserved, and at last raised 'incorruptible[4]' in body. But there is
a prior 'incorruptibleness' of spirit in which all Christians are to
live from the first[5], a freedom from all such doublemindedness or
uncleanness as can corrupt the central life of the man. And to love
Christ with this incorruptibility is the condition of the permanent
enjoyment of all that His good favour would bestow upon us.

[1] Acts xx. 4.

[2] 2 Tim. iv. 12.

[3] Eph. iv. 22

[4] Cor. xv. 52.

[5] 1 Pet. iii. 4.

{251}

APPENDED NOTES.

NOTE A. See p. 26.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE RECOGNIZED BY CHRISTIAN
WRITERS AS A DIVINE PREPARATION FOR
THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL.

(1) The Spanish poet Prudentius (_c._ A.D. 400) fully appreciates the
influence of the Roman Empire in welding together the world into a
unity of government, laws, language, customs, and religious rites, to
prepare the way for the universal Church. The stanzas are remarkable
and worth quoting. They are put as a prayer into the mouth of the
Roman deacon Laurence during his martyrdom. He recognizes what the
Roman Empire has done, and prays that Rome may follow the example of
the rest of the world in becoming Christian.

O Christe, numen unicum ut discrepantum gentium
O splendor, O virtus Patris, mores et observantiam,
O factor orbis et poli, linguas et ingenia et sac