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mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia," &c. 1 Tim. chap. i. 2, 3.

"To Titus, mine own son after the common faith : Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. For this cause left I thee in Crete." Titus, chap. i. 4, 5.

If Timothy was not to "give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions” (1 Tim. chap. i. 4.); Titus also was to "avoid. foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions" (chap. iii. 9.); and was to "rebuke them sharply, not giving heed to Jewish fables." (Chap. i. 14.) If Timothy was to be a pattern (TUTOÇ) (1 Tim. chap. iv. 12.); so was Titus. (Chap. ii. 7.) If Timothy was to "let no man despise his youth;" (1 Tim. chap. iv. 12.) Titus also was to "let no man despise him.” (Chap. ii. 15.) This verbal consent is also observable in some very peculiar expressions, which have no relation to the particular character of Timothy or Titus.

The phrase, "it is a faithful saying" (TOTOS O Aoyoç), made use of to preface some sentence upon which the writer lays a more than ordinary stress, occurs three times in the First Epistle to Timothy, once in the Second, and once in the epistle before us, and in no other part of St. Paul's writings; and it is remarkable that these three epistles were probably all written towards the conclusion of his life; and that they are the only epistles which were written after his first imprisonment at Rome.

The same observation belongs to another singularity of expression, and that is in the epithet "sound"

(vyawv), as applied to words or doctrine. It is thus used twice in the First Epistle to Timothy, twice in the Second, and three times in the Epistle to Titus, beside two cognate expressions, ύγιαίνοντας τη πίστει and λoyov vyın; and it is found, in the same sense, in no other part of the New Testament.

The phrase, "God our Saviour," stands in nearly the same predicament. It is repeated three times in the First Epistle to Timothy, as many in the Epistle to Titus, and in no other book of the New Testament occurs at all, except once in the Epistle of Jude.

Similar terms, intermixed indeed with others, are employed in the two epistles, in enumerating the qualifications required in those who should be advanced to stations of authority in the church.

"A bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity'." 1 Tim. chap. iii. 2-4.

"If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot, or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; but a lover

1 σε Δει εν τον επισκοπον ανεπίληπτον είναι, μιας γυναικός ανδρα, νηφάλιον, σωφρονα, κόσμιον, φιλοξενον, διδακτικον, μη παροινον, μη πλήκτην, μη αισχροκερδη" αλλ' επιεική, άμαχον, αφιλαργυρον το ίδιο οικο καλώς προϊσταμενον, τεκνα έχοντα εν ὑποταγῇμετα πασης σεμνότητος.”

of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate." Titus, chap. i. 6-8.

The most natural account which can be given of these resemblances is to suppose that the two epistles were written nearly at the same time, and whilst the same ideas and phrases dwelt in the writer's mind. Let us inquire, therefore, whether the notes of time, extant in the two epistles, in any manner favour this supposition.

We have seen that it was necessary to refer the First Epistle to Timothy to a date subsequent to St. Paul's first imprisonment at Rome, because there was no journey into Macedonia prior to that event which accorded with the circumstance of leaving "Timothy behind at Ephesus." The journey of St. Paul from Crete, alluded to in the epistle before us, and in which Titus "was left in Crete to set in order the things that were wanting," must, in like manner, be carried to the period which intervened between his first and second imprisonment. For the history, which reaches, we know, to the time of St. Paul's first imprisonment, contains no account of his going to Crete, except upon his voyage as a prisoner to Rome; and that this could not be the occasion referred to in our epistle is evident from hence, that when St. Paul wrote this epistle, he appears to have been at liberty; whereas, after that voyage, he continued for two years at least in con

2

“Ει τις εστιν ανεγκλητος, μιας γυναικος ανηρ, τεκνα έχων πιστα, μη εν κατηγορία ασωτίας, η ανυποτακτα. Δει γαρ τον επισκοπον ανεγκλητον είναι, ὡς Θεον οικονομον, μη αυθαδη, μη οργίλον, μη παροινον, μη πλήκτην, μη αισχροκερδη αλλα φιλοξενον, φιλαγαθον, σωφρονα, δικαιον, όσιον, εγκρατη.”

finement. Again, it is agreed that St. Paul wrote his First Epistle to Timothy from Macedonia: "As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went (or came) into Macedonia." And that he was in these parts, i. e. in this peninsula, when he wrote the Epistle to Titus is rendered probable by his directing Titus to come to him to Nicopolis: "When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent (make haste) to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter." The most noted city of that name was in Epirus, near to Actium. And I think the form of speaking, as well as the nature of the case, renders it probable that the writer was at Nicopolis, or in the neighbourhood thereof, when he dictated this direction to Titus.

Upon the whole, if we may be allowed to suppose that St. Paul, after his liberation at Rome, sailed into Asia, taking Crete in his way; that from Asia and from Ephesus, the capital of that country, he proceeded into Macedonia, and, crossing the peninsula in his progress, came into the neighbourhood of Nicopolis; we have a route which falls in with every thing. It executes the intention expressed by the apostle of visiting Colosse and Philippi as soon as he should be set at liberty at Rome. It allows him to leave "Titus at Crete," and "Timothy at Ephesus, as he went into Macedonia;" and to write to both not long after from the peninsula of Greece, and probably the neighbourhood of Nicopolis: thus bringing together the dates of these two letters, and thereby accounting for that affinity between them, both in subject and language, which our remarks have pointed I confess that the journey which we have thus

out.

traced out for St. Paul is in a great measure hypothetic but it should be observed, that it is a species of consistency, which seldom belongs to falsehood, to admit of an hypothesis, which includes a great number of independent circumstances without contradiction.

CHAP. XIV.

THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON.
No. I.

THE singular correspondency between this epistle and that to the Colossians has been remarked already. An assertion in the Epistle to the Colossians, viz. that "Onesimus was one of them," is verified, not by any mention of Colosse, any the most distant intimation concerning the place of Philemon's abode, but singly by stating Onesimus to be Philemon's servant, and by joining in the salutation Philemon with Archippus; for this Archippus, when we go back to the Epistle to the Colossians, appears to have been an inhabitant of that city, and, as it should seem, to have held an office of authority in that church. The case stands thus. Take the Epistle to the Colossians alone, and no circumstance is discoverable which makes out the assertion, that Onesimus was one of them." Take the Epistle to Philemon alone, and nothing at all appears concerning the place to which Philemon or his servant Onesimus belonged. For any thing that is said in the epistle, Philemon might have been a Thessalonian, a Philippian, or an Ephesian, as well as a Colossian. Put the two epistles together, and the matter is clear. The reader per

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