b

a

first time at Rome. In no one of these Epistles does he express any apprehension for his life; and in the two last mentioned we have seen that, on the contrary, he expresses a confident hope of being soon liberated; but in this Epistle he holds a very different language: "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day." The danger in which St. Paul now was, is evident from the conduct of his friends, when he made his defence: 66 At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me." This expectation of death, and this imminent danger, cannot be reconciled either with the general tenor of his Epistles written during his first confinement at Rome, with the nature of the charge laid against him when he was carried thither from Jerusalem, or with St. Luke's account of his confinement there; for we must remember that in the year 63 Nero had not begun to persecute the Christians; that none of the Roman magistrates and officers, who heard the accusations against Paul at Jerusalem, thought that he had committed any offence against the Roman government; that at Rome St. Paul was completely out of the power of the Jews; and so little was he there considered as having been guilty of any capital crime, that he was suffered to dwell "two whole

years (that is, the whole time of his confinement) in his own hired house, and to receive all that came in unto him, preaching the word of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him." a

2. From the inscriptions of the Epistles of the Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon, it is certain that Timothy was with Paul in his first imprisonment at Rome: but this Epistle implies that Timothy was absent.

3. St. Paul tells the Colossians, that Mark salutes them, and therefore he was at Rome with Paul in his first imprisonment, but he was not at Rome when this Epistle was written, for Timothy is directed to bring him with him."

C

4. Demas also was with Paul when he wrote to the Colossians: "Luke the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you." In this Epistle he says, "Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed into Thessalonica." d It may be said that this Epistle might have been written before the others, and that in the intermediate time Timothy and Mark might have come to Rome, more especially as Paul desires Timothy to come shortly, and bring Mark with him. But this hypothesis is not consistent with what is said of Demas, who was with Paul when he wrote to the Colossians, and had left him when he wrote this

sccond Epistle to Timothy; consequently the Epistle to Timothy must be posterior to that addressed to the Colossians. The case of Demas seems to have been, that he continued faithful to St. Paul during his first imprisonment, which was attended with little or no danger, but deserted him in the second, when Nero was persecuting the Christians, and Paul evidently considered himself in great danger.

5. St. Paul tells Timothy, "Erastus abode at Corinth, but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick" these were plainly two circumstances which had happened in some journey, which Paul had taken not long before he wrote this Epistle, and since he and Timothy had seen each other; but the last time St. Paul was at Corinth and Miletus, prior to his first imprisonment at Rome, Timothy was with him at both places; and Trophimus could not have been then left at Miletus, for we find him at Jerusalem immediately after Paul's arrival in that city, "for they had seen before with him in the city Trophimus an Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple." These two facts must therefore refer to some journey subsequent to the first imprisonment; and consequently this Epistle was written during St. Paul's second imprisonment at Rome; and probably in the year 65, not long before his death.

a iv. 20.

Acts, xxi. 29.

Dr. Lardner has laboured to that this Epistle was written during St. Paul's first imprison

prove,

ment at Rome; but his arguments are very well answered by Dr. Macknight in his Preface to this Epistle.

b

II. It is by no means certain where Timothy was, when this Epistle was written to him. It seems most probable that he was somewhere in Asia Minor, since St. Paul desires him to bring the cloak with him which he had left at Troas ; and also at the end of the first chapter, he speaks of several persons whose residence was in Asia. Many have thought that he was at Ephesus: but others have rejected that opinion, because Troas does not lie in the way from Ephesus to Rome, whither he was directed to go as quickly as he could.

III. St. Paul, after his usual salutation, assures Timothy of his most affectionate remembrance; he speaks of his own apostleship and of his sufferings; exhorts Timothy to be steadfast in the true faith"; to be constant and diligent in the discharge of his ministerial office; to avoid foolish and unlearned questions; and to practise and inculcate the great duties of the Gospel; he describes the apostasy and general wickedness of the last days, and highly commends the Holy Scriptures; he again solemnly exhorts Timothy to diligence; speaks of his own danger, and of his hope of future reward; and concludes with several private directions, and with salutations.

a iv. 13.

bi.

ii.

d iii.

e iv.

PART II.

CHAPTER THE TWENTIETH.

OF THE EPISTLE TO TITUS.

1. HISTORY OF TITUS.-II. FROM WHAT PLACE ST. PAUL WROTE THIS EPISTLE.-III. ITS DATE.

-IV. WHEN A CHRISTIAN CHURCH WAS FIRST FOUNDED IN CRETE. V. DESIGN AND SUBSTANCE OF THIS EPISTLE.

I. It is remarkable that Titus is not mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. The few particulars which are known of him, are collected from the Epistles of St. Paul. We learn from them that he was a Greek; but it is not recorded to what city or country he belonged. From St. Paul's calling him “his own son according to the common faith"," it is concluded that he was converted by him; but we have no account of the time or place of his conversion. He is first mentioned as going from Antioch to the council at Jerusalem in the year 49°; and upon that occasion Paul says that he would not allow him to be circumcised, because he was born of Gentile parents. He probably accompanied St. Paul in his second apostolical journey, and from that time he seems to have been constantly em

a Gal. ii. 3.

b Tit. i. 4.

Gal. ii. 1, &c.