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"I was not disobedient unto the heavenly "vifion; but fhewed firft unto them of "Damafcus, and of Jerufalem, and through

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out all the coafts of Judea, and then to "the Gentiles, that they should repent and "turn to God, and do works meet for "repentance. For thefe caufes the Jews "caught me in the temple, and went about "to kill me." The feizing, therefore, of St. Paul's perfon, from which he was never discharged till his final liberation at Rome; and of which, therefore, his imprisonment at Rome was the continuation and effect, was not in confequence of any general perfecution fet on foot against Christianity; nor did it befal him fimply, as prefeffing or teaching Christ's religion, which James and the elders at Jerufalem did as well as he (and yet for any thing that appears remained at that time unmolefted); but it was diftinctly and fpecifically brought upon him by his activity in preaching to the Gentiles, and by his boldly placing them upon a level with the oncefavoured and ftill felf-flattered pofterity of Abraham. How well St. Paul's letters,

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purporting to be written during this imprisonment, agree with this account of its caufe and origin, we have already feen.

No. II.

Chap. iv. ver. ro. "Ariftarchus my fel"low-prifoner faluteth you, and Marcus, fifter's fon to Barnabas, touching whom

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ye received commandments; if he come "unto you, receive him, and Jefus, which "is called Juftus, who are of the circum*cifion."

We find Ariftarchus as a companion of our apostle in the nineteenth chapter of the Acts, and the twenty-ninth verfe; " And "the whole city of Ephefus was filled with "confusion; and having caught Gaius and Ariftarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's "companions in travel, they rushed with one "accord into the theatre." And we find him upon his journey with St. Paul to Rome, in -the twenty-feventh chapter, and the fecond verfe: "And when it was determined that

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we should fail into Italy, they delivered Paul

"Paul and certain other prifoners unto one "named Julius, a centurion of Auguftus's “band; and, entering into a ship of Adra"myttium, we launched, meaning to fail

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by the coaft of Afia; one Ariftarchus, a "Macedonian of Theffalonica, being with us.” But might not the author of the epiftle have confulted the history; and, obferving that the historian had brought Ariftarchus along, with Paul to Rome, might he not for that reafon, and without any other foundation, have put down his name amongst the falutations of an epiftle, purporting to be written by the apostle from that place? I allow fo much of poffibility to this objection, that I fhould not have proposed this in the number of coincidences clearly undefigned, had Ariftarchus ftood alone. The obfervation that ftrikes me in reading the paffage is, that together with Ariftarchus, whofe journey to Rome we trace in the hiftory, are joined Marcus and Juftus, of whofe coming to Rome the history fays nothing. Ariftarchus alone appears in the hiftory, and Ariftarchus alone would have appeared in the epistle, if the author had

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regulated himself by that conformity. Or you take it the other way; if you fuppofe the history to have been made out of the epistle, why the journey of Ariftarchus to Rome should be recorded, and not that of Marcus and Juftus, if the groundwork of the narrative was the appearance of Ariftarchus's name in the epiftle, seems to be unaccountable.

Marcus, fifter's fon to Barnabas." Does not this hint account for Barnabas's adherence to Mark in the conteft that arose with our apostle concerning him; "And fome days after Paul faid unto Barnabas, Let us

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go again and vifit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word "of the Lord, and fee how they do: and "Barnabas determined to take with them

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John, whofe furname was Mark but "Paul thought not good to take him with "them, who departed from Pamphylia, and "went not with them to the work; and the ❝contention was fo fharp between them,that "they departed afunder one from the other; "and fo Barnabas took Mark and failed unte

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the dispute has not preserved the circumftance of Mark's relationship to Barnabas. It is no where noticed but in the text before us. As far, therefore, as it applies, the application is certainly undefigned.

"Sifter's fon to Barnabas." This woman, the mother of Mark, and the fifter of Barnabas, was, as might be expected, a person of some eminence amongst the Christians of Jerufalem. It fo happens that we hear of her in the history. "When Peter was de"livered from prison, he came to the house "of Mary the mother of John, whofe fur"name was Mark, where many were ga"thered together praying." Acts xii. 12. There is fomewhat of coincidence in this ; somewhat bespeaking real transactions amongst real perfons.

No. III.

The following coincidence, though it bear the appearance of great nicety and refinement, ought not, perhaps, to be deemed imaginary. In the falutations with which this, like most of St. Paul's epiftles, concludes, we have "Ariftarchus and Marcus,

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