miss the books, and the use Paul made of them, and treat

II. Of the parchments; by which I understand,

1st. The gospel written by Luke. This pious man soon found the apostle out after his conversion to the faith, and continued with him to the last, and was the only person that was now with him at Rome. He styles him the beloved physician; and, for the gospel which he had written, he owns that his praise was in all the churches; and it is thought by some that, whenever Paul mentions according to my gospel,' the gospel by Luke is intended, or referred to. This man was a beautiful penman; his style is elegant, and his strokes noble; and he seems to have been a man of eminence; and some note in the world, which appears by the dedication of his works to some great personage, as governor of some province, whom he addresses in his high office, Most excellent Theophilus.

2dly. By the parchments I understand the Acts of the Apostles, of whch Luke was the penman; and ́it seems as if he was both an eye and an ear witness of the signs, wonders, and mighty deeds, of which that parchment is a narrative and faithful history.

Luke, I believe, accompanied Paul in his voyage to Rome, suffered shipwreck with him, and seems to be appointed of God to be Paul's observer and scribe, as Baruch was to Jeremiah; he was a particular observer of the good hand and handy-works

of the Lord, and what he saw he penned; and so handed down to posterity the mighty acts, terrible majesty, and the loving-kindness, of the Lord.

3dly. The parchments also might contain the deeree and appointment of the apostles and elders assembled at Jerusalem about circumcision and keeping the whole law in order to obtain salvation, with which advocates for the law Paul had no small contention and disputation, till the matter was set1 ed by the whole synod of apostles at Jerusalem, which Paul delivered to every church that he visited. "And as they went through the cities they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem."

4thly. The parchments, no doubt, contained exact copies of all the epistles which God, by his apostle, had sent to the churches; to the church at Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Colosse, Philippi, Ephesus, to Thessalonica, and to the Hebrews. Paul was not ignorant of Satan's devices: he knew that the devil ever had been, and still was, God's ape as well as God's enemy; that in the prophetic age he had sent forth false prophets, and during the time of the Levitical priesthood, he had furnished the world with false priests; priests of Baal, and priests of Jupiter, and priests of nobody knows what, In Paul's days, when apostles, the highest officers that ever appeared, were sent out, false apostles were sent out by Satan also. In this age Satan trans

formed himself into an angel of light, and the ministers of Satan were transformed as the ministers of righteousness. In the future ages the apostles knew that ordinary teachers would succeed the extraordinary apostles, and that false teachers would be found among them, as false apostles were among these; and therefore, in order to forestall the devil's inarket, and to bring his infernal monopoly to nothing, to prevent the quackery of the devil's agents, and the circulation of their spurious medicines, Paul keeps exact copies of all his epistles written verbatim on vellum.

5thly. And, if the gospel of Matthew and Mark were now written, as most probably they were, though the gospel of John I believe was not, it is most likely that Paul had secured them; for, if he perused the heathen poets, it is not likely that he would let these escape his library. Peter was well acquainted with Paul's epistles, and no doubt but Paul had procured the gospels both of Matthew and Mark, and perhaps the epistles of all the other apostles extant at that time: and the apostle being now come to a point, he had long been in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better; yet the love of the churches held him by, the skirts, and made him confess that to abide in the flesh was better for them And, though formerly he had been undetermined, "which I shall choose I wot not," yet now he appears to have come to a determination, and chooses to

depart, and therefore wishes to set his house in order; and, like an affectionate father, who had laid up for the children, he gets his matters and effects together, which were out in the world; all his property seems to be with him, except his cloak, the books, and the parchments.

The cloak, I am inclined to think, was given to Timothy; the books were distributed to his fellowlabourers, whom he enjoins to speak the same things that he had spoken; the parchments seem to have been bequeathed to all the Gentile churches; and, as to the rest of his property, I believe that was nothing to nobody; which leads me

III. To consider the excellency of the parchments, or why such an especial charge is given concerning them. Bring the books, but especially the parchments. Now the apostle well knew that the books were greatly spread abroad in the world; they were in the royal library at Alexandria in Egypt, and in whatever city any number of the Jews were settled, and a synagogue of theirs was erected, that there the books were kept, for Moses of old time had in every city them that preached him; but the parchments were not so universally spread, and therefore the apostle concluded in his own mind that the devil himself could never destroy the books, but he chose to guard against all danger that might befall the parchments.

Besides, 2dly. The books were now in one sense out of date, and some of the contents of them, espe

cially those that contain the covenant of works, દ were waxed old, and were just ready to vanish away; for, when he saith a new covenant, he hath made the first old." Hebrews viii. 13. But the parchments were in their infant state, or state of minority. at least, and not quite completed, as the gospel by John, and the book of the Revelation, seem not as yet to be brought forth; so that, like a tender father, who often takes the greatest care of his little ones, Paul, having neither wife nor children in the flesh, employs his mind and care about the things, which, of all things beneath the sun, were the nearest to his heart, that is, the church of God, and the parchments.

3dly. The Jews, wherever they were scattered, whether they were religious or irreligious, were unie versal admirers of the books; but were the greatest enemies under heaven to the parchments. He knew that, like Herod, they would use their utmost endeavours against this young child; and, as they had killed the Lord Jesus, and some of his apostles, and aimed at the destruction of all the rest, it was not likely that the parchments should escape, if they should fall into their hands: for, if they excommunicated and cursed the followers of the Lamb, and forbad the preaching of his gospel, no doubt but they would blot out the contents of the parchments from under heaven.

4thly.The books, it is true, contain all the prophecies and promises of things to come, and what the Messiah was to do: but the parchments contain an account of his having appeared, and of what he has