(17) Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. (18) Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly. (19) But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.
Still harping upon the pleasant string of brotherly love, we have here the same sweet notes sung over again, of the people's duty to their ministers, and the affectionate request of the ministers to their people, to be by them remembered in their prayers. And what a lovely sight to behold, the aged Apostle Paul, seeking from the Church as a boon, what, from his voluntary, and unrecompensed labors, he might have justly demanded as a tribute. Oh! the happiness of that Church, where minister, and people, are wrestling together in prayer, before the Lord, for each other? What spiritual blessings may not be expected from such an harmony of souls, knit together as one in Christ?