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CHAP. XI.

THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY.

ROM the third verfe of the first chap

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ter, "as I befought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia," it is evident that this epiftle was written foon after St. Paul had gone to Macedonia from Ephefus. Dr. Benfon fixes its date to the time of St. Paul's journey, recorded in the beginning of the twentieth chapter of the Acts: "And after the uproar (excited

by Demetrius at Ephefus) was ceafed, "Paul called unto him the difciples, and "embraced them, and departed for to go "into Macedonia." And in this opinion Dr. Benfon is followed by Michaelis, as he was

which had not been received" to whom they gave no "fuch commandment." And thus Dr. Benson interpreted the pallage μητε θροεισθαι, μητε δια πνεύματος, μητε δια λογο, μητε δι επιτολής, ως δι ημων,

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nor be difmayed by any

revelation, or discourse, or epiftle, which any one "fhall pretend to have heard or received from us."

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preceded by the greater part of the commentators who have confidered the question. There is, however, one objection to the hypothefis which these learned men appear to me to have overlooked; and it is no other than this, that the fuperfcription of the fecond epistle to the Corinthians seems to prove, that at the time St. Paul is fuppofed by them to have written this epiftle to Timothy, Timothy in truth was with St. Paul in Macedonia. Paul, as it is related in the Acts, left Ephefus "for to " for to go into Mace"donia." When he had got into Macedonia he wrote his fecond epiftle to the Corinthians. Concerning this point there exists little variety of opinion. It is plainly indicated by the contents of the epiftle. It is also strongly implied that the epistle was written foon after the apoftle's arrival in Macedonia; for he begins his letter by a train of reflection, referring to his perfecutions in Afia as to recent tranfactions, as to dangers from which he had lately been delivered. But in the falutation with which the epistle opens Timothy is joined with St. Paul, and confequently could not

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at that time be "left behind at Ephefus." And as to the only folution of the difficulty which can be thought of, viz. that Timothy, though he was left behind at Ephefus upon St. Paul's departure from Afia, yet might follow him fo foon after, as to come up with the apostle in Macedonia, before he wrote his epistle to the Corinthians; that fuppofition is inconfiftent with the terms and tenor of the epiftle throughout. For the writer speaks uniformly of his intention. to return to Timothy at Ephefus, and not of his expecting Timothy to come to him in Macedonia: "These things write I unto "thee, hoping to come unto thee fhortly; but "if I tarry long that thou mayest know "how thou oughtest to behave thyfelf" (chap. iii. ver. 14, 15). Till I come give "attendance to reading, to exhortation, to "doctrine" (chap. iv. ver. 13).

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Since, therefore, the leaving of Timothy behind at Ephesus, when Paul went into Macedonia, fuits not with any journey into Macedonia recorded in the Acts, I concur with Bishop Pearfon in placing the date of this epiftle, and the journey referred to in

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it, at a period fubfequent to St. Panl's first imprisonment at Rome, and confequently fubfequent to the æra, up to which the Acts of the Apostles brings his history. The only difficulty which attends our opinion is, that St. Paul muft, according to us, have come to Ephesus after his liberation at Rome, contrary as it should seem to what he foretold to the Ephefian elders, "that they should fee his face no more." And it is to fave the infallibility of this prediction, and for no other reason of weight, that an earlier date is affigned to this epiftle. The prediction itself however, when confidered in connection with the circumftances under which it was delivered, does not feem to demand fo much anxiety. The words in question are found in the twenty-fifth verfe of the twentieth chapter of the Acts: "And now be

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hold, I know that ye all, among whom "I have gone preaching the kingdom of "God, fhall fee my face no more. In the twenty-second and twenty-third verses of the fame chapter, i. e. two verfes before, the apoftle makes this declaration: "And "now behold, I go bound in the fpirit

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"unto Jerufalem, not knowing the things "that shall befall me there; fave that the "Holy Ghost witneffeth in every city, fay"ing, that bonds and afflictions abide me. This "witneffing of the Holy Ghost" was undoubtedly prophetic and fupernatural. But it went no father than to foretel that bonds and afflictions awaited him. And I can very well conceive, that this might be all which was communicated to the apoftle by extraordinary revelation, and that the reft was the conclufion of his own mind, the defponding inference which he drew from strong and repeated intimations of approaching danger. And the expreffion "I know," which St. Paul here ufes, does not perhaps, when applied to future events affecting himself, convey an affertion fo pofitive and abfolute as we may at first fight apprehend. In the first chapter of the epiftle to the Philippians and the twentyfifth verse, "I know,” says he, “ that I shall "abide and continue with you all for your "joy and furtherance of faith." Notwithftanding this ftrong declaration, in the fecond chapter and twenty-third verse of this

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