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of Timothy at all. What appears concerning Timothy in the history, so far as relates to the present subject, is this: "When Paul came to Derbe and Lystra, behold a cer"tain disciple was there, named Timotheus, whom Paul "would have to go forth with him." [A. xvi. 1.] The narrative then proceeds with the account of St. Paul's progress through various provinces of the Lesser Asia, till it brings him down to Troas. At Troas he was warned in a vision to pass over into Macedonia. In obedience to which he crossed the Egean sea to Samothracia, the next day to Neapolis, and from thence to Philippi. His preaching, miracles, and persecutions at Philippi, follow next; after which Paul and his company, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, came to Thessalonica, and from Thessalonica to Beræa. From Beræa the brethren sent away Paul; "but Silas and "Timotheus abode there still." [A. xvii. 14.] The itinerary, of which the above is an abstract, is undoubtedly sufficient to support an inference that Timothy was along with St. Paul at Philippi. We find them setting out together upon this progress from Derbe, in Lycaonia; we find them together, near the conclusion of it, at Beræa, in Macedonia. It is highly probable, therefore, that they came together to Philippi, through which their route between these two places lay. If this be thought probable, it is sufficient. For what I wish to be observed is, that in comparing, upon this subject, the epistle with the history, we do not find a recital in one place of what is related in another; but that we find, what is much more to be relied upon, an oblique allusion to an implied fact.

No. V.

Our epistle purports to have been written near the conclusion of St. Paul's imprisonment at Rome, and after a residence in that city of considerable duration. These circumstances are made out by different intimations, and the intimations upon the subject preserve among themselves a just consistency, and a consistency certainly un

meditated. First, the apostle had already been a prisoner at Rome so long, as that the reputation of his bonds, and of his constancy under them, had contributed to advance the success of the gospel: "But I would ye should un"derstand, brethren, that the things which happened "unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of "the gospel; so that my bonds in Christ are mani"fest in all the palace, and in all other places; and "many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident "by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word "without fear." [i. 12.. 14.] Secondly, the account given of Epaphroditus imports, that St. Paul, when he wrote the epistle, had been in Rome a considerable time: "He longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, be"because that ye had heard that he had been sick.” [ii. 26.] Epaphroditus was with St. Paul at Rome. He had been sick. The Philippians had heard of his sickness, and he again had received an account how much they had been affected by the intelligence. The passing and repassing of these advices must necessarily have occupied a large portion of time, and must have all taken place during St. Paul's residence at Rome. Thirdly, after a residence at Rome thus proved to have been of considerable duration, he now regards the decision of his fate as nigh at hand. He contemplates either alternative, that of his deliverance, ii. 23, "Him therefore (Timothy) "I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how "it will go with me; but I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly:" that of his condemnation, 17, " Yea, and if I be offered* upon the sacrifice and ser"vice of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all." This consistency is material, if the consideration of it be confined to the epistle. It is farther material, as it agrees, with respect to the duration of St. Paul's first imprisonment at Rome, with the account delivered in the Acts, which, having brought the apostle to Rome, closes the history by telling us "that he dwelt there two whole 66 years in his own hired house."

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* ̓Αλλ ̓ εἰ καὶ σπένδομαι ἐπὶ τῇ θυσίᾳ τῆς πίστεως ὑμῶν, if my blood be poured out as a libation upon the sacrifice of your faith.

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Chap. i. 23.

No. VI.

“For I am in a strait betwixt two,

having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which "is far better."

With this compare 2 Cor. v. 8.

"We are confident "and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to "be present with the Lord."

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The sameness of sentiment in these two quotations is obvious. I rely however not so much upon that, as upon the similitude in the train of thought which in each epistle leads up 'to this sentiment,' and upon the suitableness of that train of thought to the circumstances under which the epistles purport to have been written. This, I conceive, bespeaks the production of the same mind, and of a mind operating upon real circumstances. The sentiment is in

both places preceded by the contemplation of imminent personal danger. To the Philippians he writes, in the twentieth verse of this chapter, "According to my earnest "expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now

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The

also, Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it "be by life or by death." To the Corinthians, "Troubled "on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not "in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, "but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body "the dying of the Lord Jesus." [2 Cor. iv. 8.. 10.] This train of reflection is continued to the place from whence the words which we compare are taken. two epistles, though written at different times, from different places, and to different churches, were both written under circumstances which would naturally recal to the author's mind the precarious condition of his life, and the perils which constantly awaited him. When the Epistle to the Philippians was written, the author was a prisoner at Rome, expecting his trial. When the Second Epistle to the Corinthians was written, he had lately escaped a danger in which he had given himself over for lost. The epistle opens with a recollection of this sub

ject, and the impression accompanied the writer's thoughts throughout.

I know that nothing is easier than to transplant into a forged epistle a sentiment or expression which is found in a true one; or, supposing both epistles to be forged by the same hand, to insert the same sentiment or expression in both. But the difficulty is to introduce it in just and close connection with the train of thought going before, and with a train of thought apparently generated by the circumstances under which the epistle is written. In two epistles, purporting to be written on different occasions, and in different periods of the author's history, this propriety would not easily be managed.

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No. VII.

Chap. i. 29, 30; ii. 1, 2. "For unto you is given in “the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also "to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me. If there be, "therefore, any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and "mercies; fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like minded, having "the same love, being of one accord, of one mind."

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With this compare Acts xvi. 22: "And the multitude (at Philippi) rose up against them (Paul and Silas); "and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and com"manded to beat them; and when they had laid many

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stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging "the jailer to keep them safely; who, having received "such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and "made their feet fast in the stocks.'

دو

The passage in the epistle is very remarkable. I know not an example in any writing of a juster pathos, or which more truly represents the workings of a warm and affectionate mind, than what is exhibited in the quotation before us. * The apostle reminds his Philippians of their

* The original is very spirited. Ει τις οὖν παράκλησις ἐν Χριστῷ, εἴ τι παραμύθιον ἀγάπης, εἴ τις κοινωνία πνεύματος, εἴ τινα σπλάγχνα καὶ οἰκτιρ μοι, πληρώσατέ μου τὴν χαράν

being joined with himself in the endurance of persecution for the sake of Christ. He conjures them, by the ties of their common profession and their common sufferings, to " fulfil his joy;" to complete, by the unity of their faith, and by their mutual love, that joy with which the instances he had received of their zeal and attachment had inspired his breast. Now if this was the real effusion of St. Paul's mind, of which it bears the strongest internal character, then we have in the words "the same conflict "which ye saw in me," an authentic confirmation of so much of the apostle's history in the Acts, as relates to his transactions at Philippi; and through that of the intelligence and general fidelity of the historian.

CHAP. VIII.

THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS.

No. I.

THERE is a circumstance of conformity between St. Paul's history and his letters, especially those which were written during his first imprisonment at Rome, and more especially the epistles to the Colossians and Ephesians, which, being too close to be accounted for from accident, yet too indirect and latent to be imputed to design, cannot easily be resolved into any other original than truth. Which circumstance is this, that St. Paul in these epistles attributes his imprisonment not to his preaching of Christianity, but to his asserting the right of the Gentiles to be admitted into it without conforming themselves to the Jewish law. This was the doctrine to which he considered himself as a martyr. Thus in the epistle before us, i. 24. (I Paul) "who now rejoice in my sufferings for you "for you," i. e.. for those whom he had never seen; for a few verses afterwards he adds, "I would that

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