દ fame epiftle, and fpeaking alfo of the very fame event, he is content to ufe a language of fome doubt and uncertainty; "Him "therefore I hope to fend prefently, so foon "as I fhall fee how it will go with me; but "I truft in the Lord that I alfo myself shall "come fhortly." And a few verses preceding thefe, he not only feems to doubt of his fafety, but almoft to defpair; to contemplate the poffibility at least of his condemnation and martyrdom: "Yea, and if "I be offered upon the facrifice and fervice "of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you ❝ all." No. I. But can we fhow that St. Paul vifited Ephéfus after his liberation at Rome? or rather, can we collect any hints from his other letters which make it probable that he did? If we can, then we have a coincidence. If we cannot, we have only an unauthorized fuppofition, to which the exigency of the cafe compels us to refort. Now, for this purpofe, let us examine the epistle to the Philippians and the epistle to Philemon. "Thefe These two epiftles purport to be written whilft St. Paul was yet a prifoner at Rome. To the Philippians he writes as follows: "I truft in the Lord that I also myself "fhall come fhortly." To Philemon, who was a Coloffian, he gives this direction: "But withal, prepare me alfo a lodging, "for I trust that through your prayers I "fhall be given unto you." An inspection of the map will fhow us that Coloffe was a city of the Leffer Afia, lying eastward, and at no great diftance from Ephefus. Philippi was on the other, i. e. the western fide of the Ægean fea. If the apoftle executed his purpofe; if, in pursuance of the intention expreffed in his letter to Philemon, he came to Coloffe foon after he was fet at liberty at Rome, it is very improbable that he would omit to visit Ephefus, which lay fo near to it, and where he had spent three years of his ministry. As he was alfo under a promise to the church of Philippi to see them 66 shortly;" if he paffed from Coloffe to Philippi, or from Philippi to Colosse, he could hardly avoid taking Ephefus in his way. No. Chap. v. ver. 9. No. II. "Let not a widow be "taken into the number under threefcore 86 years old." This accords with the account delivered in the fixth chapter of the Acts. “And in "those days, when the number of the dif 66 66 ciples was multiplied, there arofe a mur muring of the Grecians against the He"brews, because their widows were neglected "in the daily miniftration." It appears that from the first formation of the Chriftian church, provifion was made out of the public funds of the fociety for the indigent widows who belonged to it. The history, we have seen, diftinctly records the existence of fuch an inftitution at Jerufalem, a few years after our Lord's afcenfion; and is led to the mention of it very incidentally, viz. by a difpute, of which it was the occafion, and which produced important confe quences to the Chriftian community. The epistle, without being fufpected of borrowing from the history, refers, briefly indeed, but but decifively, to a fimilar eftablishment, fubfifting fome years afterwards at Ephesus. This agreement indicates that both writings were founded upon real circumftances. But, in this article, the material thing to be noticed is the mode of expreffion : "Let not a widow be taken into the num"ber." No previous account or explanation is given, to which these words, “into "the number," can refer; but the direction comes concisely and unpreparedly. “Let 66 not a widow be taken into the number." Now this is the way in which a man writes, who is conscious that he is writing to perfons already acquainted with the subject of his letter; and who, he knows, will readily apprehend and apply what he fays by virtue of their being fo acquainted; but it is not the way in which a man writes uponany other occafion; and leaft of all, in which a man would draw up a feigned letter, or introduce a fuppofitious fact*. No. * It is not altogether unconnected with our general purpose to remark, in the paffage before us, the felection and reserve which St. Paul recommends to the go vernors 66 No. III. Chap. iii. ver. 2, 3. "A bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, vernors of the church of Ephesus, in the bestowing relief upon the poor, because it refutes a calumny which has been infinuated, that the liberality of the first Chriftians was an artifice to catch converts; or one of the temptations, however, by which the idle and mendicant were drawn into this fociety: "Let not a widow "be taken into the number under threefcore years old, "having been the wife of one man, well reported of for "her good works; if she have brought up children, if "fhe have lodged ftrangers, if the have washed the "faints' feet; if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work!, but the younger "widows refufe" (v. 9, 10, 11). And, in another place, If any man or woman that believeth have wi"dows, let them relieve them, and let not the church "be charged, that it may relieve them that are widows "< indeed." And to the fame effect, or rather more to our prefent purpose, the apostle writes in his fecond epiftle to the Theffalonians: "Even when we were "with you, this we commanded you, that if any would "not work, neither let him eat," i. e. at the public expence? "for we hear that there are fome which walk among you diforderly, working not at all, but are busy"bodies; now them that are fuch, we command and exhort, by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietnefs they |