crees of the Council, Titus went with him all the way to Corinth, and laboured with him in the conversion of the inhabitants of that city. This appears from 2 Cor. viii. 23. If any inquire concerning Titus, he is my partner and fellow-labourer in the gospel towards you. The reason is, the apostle before he wrote to the Corinthians, having not visited them since their conversion, the fellow-labouring of Titus with him towards the Corinthians, must have happened at the time they were converted.If this reasoning be just, we must suppose, that after the Council, when Paul set out from Antioch with Silas to visit the churches, Titus either went with them, or was sent away before them with the apostle's letter to the Galatians, which I think was written from Antioch soon after the Council. See the Preface to Galatians, sect. 2. In that case, when the apostle went through Galatia with the decrees, he may have met Titus, and have taken him along with him. Or, during his eighteen months abode at Corinth, he may have sent for Titus, to come and assist him in converting the Corinthians. After the apostle had planted the gospel in Corinth, he went to Jerusalem. But whether Titus abode at Corinth, or accompanied him to Jerusalem, is not said. This however we know, that he came to the apostle, as many others did, during his long residence at Ephesus, mentioned Acts xix. 10. For, by him he sent his first epistle to the Corinthians, which was written in Ephesus about the time of the riot of Demetrius. This service the apostle assigned to Titus, because being well known to, and much respected by the Corinthians, on account of his former labours among them, he hoped he might have influence in composing the disturbances which had taken place in their church. On his return from Corinth, Titus met the apostle in Macedonia, and gave him such an account of the good disposition of the Corinthians, as filled him with joy, and induced him to write them a second letter, which he employed Titus likewise to carry. At the same time, he requested him to excite the Corinthians to finish their collections for the saints in Judea, which they had begun during Titus's former visit to them. In prosecution of this design, Titus abode at Corinth till the apostle himself came and received their collections, and the collections of the other churches in Achaia.-On that occasion, Paul spent three months at Corinth, Acts xx. 3. then set out for Jerusalem, taking Macedonia in his way. His companions, in his journey to Jerusalem, are mentioned, Acts xx. 4. and though Titus is not named as one of them, it does not follow that he was not of the number. He is not said by Luke to have been with the apostle in Macedonia, in his way to Corinth. Yet, from the apostle's sending him from Macedonia to Corinth with his second epistle to the Corinthians, we learn that he was one of his chief assistants at that time. Wherefore, notwithstanding Luke, in his account of the apostle's return from Greece, hath not mentioned Titus among those who accompanied him to Jerusalem with the collections, he may have been one of them; and having gone with him to Jerusalem, he may have ministered to him during his imprisonment there, and in Cesarea; nay he may even have sailed with him to Rome. These, however, are only conjectures; for from the time Titus delivered the apostle's second letter to the Corinthians, in the year 58, we hear nothing of him till the year 62, when he was left by the apostle in Crete, to set in order the things that were wanting, and to ordain elders in every city, Tit. i. 4. The leaving of Titus in Crete, is supposed to have happened some time in the year 62, after the apostle was released from his first confinement in Rome.In the letters which he wrote about that time to the Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and the Hebrews, having promised to visit them, we may believe, that when at liberty to fulfil his promise, he sailed in spring 62. from Italy for Judea, accompanied by Titus and Timothy. In their way, touching at Crete, they went through the cities, and preached the gospel to the idolatrous inhabitants with such power and success, that great numbers of them were converted. See sect. 2. of this Pref. However, although the apostle's success was so great in Crete, and his converts were not formed into churches, he did not judge it proper to remain in Crete ; but committing the care of the disciples there to Titus, with an order to ordain elders in every city, he sailed into Judea in spring 63, accompanied by Timothy. The brethren in that country being greatly distressed by the troubles which preced ed the war with the Romans, the apostle, if he heard in Crete of their distress, might think it necessary to hasten his visit to them. Accordingly, as soon as he landed in Judea, he and Timothy went up to Jerusalem, and spent some time with the Hebrews, after which they proceeded to Antioch; and in their progress through the churches, comforted and established them.-From Antioch, the apostle set out on his fifth and last apostolical journey, in which he and Timothy travelled through Syria and Cilicia, then came to Colosse in Phrygia early in the year 64. And seeing he had desired Philemon to provide him a lodging in Colosse, it is reasonable to think he abode there some time. On that occasion, as Benson and others conjecture, he may have written his epistle to Titus in Crete, in which he desired him to come to him at Nicopolis, because he proposed to winter there, Tit. iii. 12.-From Colosse, the apostle went with Timothy to Ephesus, where having inquired into the state of the church in that city, he gave the Ephesian brethren such exhortations as he judged necessary, then departed to go into Macedonia, leaving Timothy at Ephesus, to charge some teachers not to teach differently from the apostles, 1 Tim. i. 3. In passing through Macedonia, the apostle, no doubt, visited the Philippians, and the other brethren in that province, according to his promise, Philip. ii. 24. After that he went forward to Nicopolis to winter there, as he proposed; being accompanied by Erastus and Trophimus, who, it seems, had joined him, either at Ephesus or in Macedonia.-In the beginning of the year 65, while the apostle abode at Nicopolis, taking into consideration the weight of the charge which he had devolved on Timothy, he wrote to him that excellent letter in the canon, called, The first epistle to Timothy, in which he taught him how to discharge the duties of his function properly.-It seems, that at parting with Timothy, St. Paul had promised to return soon to Ephesus from Nicopolis, 1 Tim. iii. 14. But he was disappointed in his resolution. For not long after writing his letter to Timothy, Titus came from Crete to Nicopolis, according to the apostle's order, Tit. iii. 12. and gave him such an account of the state of the churches in that island, as determined him to visit them immediately; so that laying aside his purpose of returning to Ephesus, he left Nicopolis early in the year 65, accompanied by Titus, Trophimus, and Erastus: the latter of whom went no farther with him than to Corinth, 2 Tim. iv. 20.—At his arrival in Crete, he no doubt visited the churches, and rectified the disorders which had taken place in them. But while employed in that work, hearing of the persecution which Nero was carrying on against the Christians in Rome, on pretence that they had set fire to the city, (See Pref. to 2 Tim. sect. 3. last paragr.) and judging that his presence in Rome might be of use to the brethren in their distress, he resolved to go thither. I suppose the apostle sailed for Italy with Titus, in the end of summer 65, leaving Trophimus sick at Miletus, a city of Crete, : 2 Tim. iv. 20. For that Titus was in Rome with Paul during his second imprisonment, is certain, from 2 Tim. iv. 10. where the apostle informed Timothy, that Titus was one of those who had fled from the city through fear, and had gone into Dalmatia but whether with, or without his approbation, the apostle doth not expressly say.-What became of Titus afterwards, is no where told us in scripture. But some ancient writers mentioned by Whitby, in his Pref. to Titus, say that he died in the 94th year of his age, and was buried in Crete : From which they conjecture, that he returned to Crete after St. Paul's death: for the time of which, See Pref. to 2 Tim. sect. 3. last paragraph. SECTION Ir. Of the Introduction and Progress of the Christian Faith in Crete. Among the three thousand who were converted by Peter on the memorable day of Pentecost, Cretes, that is, Jews, natives of Crete, who had come up to Jerusalem to worship, are mentioned, Acts ii. 11. These, being of the same disposition with the Jewish converts, who, after the death of Stephen, preached the word to none but to the Jews only, Acts xi. 19. would, after their return home from Jerusalem, confine their preaching to the Jews, who, as Josephus informs us, were very numerous in Crete. We may therefore believe, that the first Christians in Crete, were mostly of the Jewish nation. It is true, Barnabas went into Cyprus, after he separated himself from Paul. But it is not said that he went into Crete, either on that or on any other occasion. And even though he had preached in Crete, as he had not the power of imparting the spiritual gifts to his converts, it cannot be thought that his preaching in that country would be attended with very great success. The same may be said of any other Evangelist or Christian prophet, who happened to preach the gospel to the Cretians. I therefore think the numerous conversions of the inhabitants of Crete, which made it necessary that elders should be ordained in every city, must be ascribed to the labours of some apostle, who, by working miracles, and conferring the spiritual gifts on his converts, made such an impression on the minds of the Cretians, that many of the idolatrous inhabitants, and some of the Jews embraced the Christian faith. Now, that St. Paul was this apostle, seems probable from his leaving Titus in Crete, to set in order the things wanting among the Christians there, and to ordain elders in every city. The modelling and governing the Christian churches, certainly belonged to the persons who had planted them. Accordingly, most of the churches in the Gentile countries having been planted by the apostle Paul, he modelled, corrected, and governed the whole, either in person, or by his assistants, without any interference from his brethren apostles; just as the apostles of the circumcision, modelled, corrected, and governed the churches planted by them, without any interference from him. If the foregoing reasoning is just, the account given in sect. 1. may be admitted; namely, that St. Paul sailed into Crete, after he was released from his first confinement at Rome; that at his landing in Crete, he went through the different cities, and converted many of the inhabitants; and that being in haste to perform his intended visit to the Hebrews, he committed the care of modelling and settling the churches in Crete to Titus, and then set out with Timothy for Judea.-These transactions I think happened after the apostle's release from his first confinement at Rome, because, though he touched at Crete in his voyage to Rome to prosecute his appeal to the Emperor, being a prisoner, he would not be allowed to go through the island to preach consequently, if he made any converts on that occasion, thay must have been but few. SECTION III. Of the Island of Crete, and of the Character and Manners of its Inha bitants. Crete, where Titus exercised his ministry when the apostle wrote his letter to him, is one of the largest islands in the Mediterranean, and lies to the south of the Archipelago. In length from west to east, it is about 250 miles, in breadth about 50, and in circuit about 600.-Anciently it was famous for its hundred cities; for the arrival of Europa on a bull from Phoenicia; for the laws of Minos, one of its kings; for the loves of Pasiphae, the wife of Minos, and of his daughter Ariadne; for the labyrinth, the work of Dædalus; for the destruction of the Minotaur; but above all, for the sepulchre of Jupiter, with his name inscribed upon it. it. See Titus i. 12. note 2. And to finish the mythological history of Crete, it was famous for mount Ida,' |