I should have this opinion of you, being sensible you make the dispensation I am under a common concern, with respect to my confinement, and the defence and confirmation of the gospel.

that at the name of Jesus both angels and men, the living and the dead, should pay their adorations,

and that every nation should confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, to the glory of God the father.

that you may be without reproach, the inoffensive spotless children of God in the midst of a depraved and perverse generation (among whom you should shine as stars in the world,

and if my blood should serve as a libation to ratify your faith, I should rejoice and congratulate with you all thereupon;

and you too should be glad and congratulate me upon that account.

for he long'd to see you all, and was greatly concern'd, that you should hear he was sick. and indeed he was sick almost unto death:

but God had pity on him, and not on him only, but on me likewise, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.