From the outline on page 8, the relative positions of the genuine Pauline epistles may be readily ascertained, and such a scheme, as is now generally accepted, goes far to show us the unfolding of the Apostolic faith and the progressiveness of the Divine revelation as vouchsafed to the great apostle to the Gentiles. Our immediate purpose is to devote attention to group three, viz., The Prison Epistles, and more particularly to the Epistle to the Philippians. These letters, written during the first confinement of the apostle for "two whole years" in his own hired house, "with a soldier that kept him" (see Acts 28. 30), are amongst the precious things that smell of prison damp. The storm of controversy was for the moment past, his activities in the broader sense were curtailed, and the beloved apostle and devoted servant was granted a respite from travel with welcomed leisure to reflect. God, through him, has graciously enriched the Church, and in so doing gave to His choice vessel a vaster field of influence through the perpetuation and multiplication of his voice. It is often so, for
God gives "the best to those who leave the choice to Him." May we learn the beautiful and necessary lesson!