Chap. xv. ver. 19.

"So that from Jeru

falem, and round about unto Illyricum, I "have fully preached the gospel of Christ."

I do not think that these words neceffa

rily import that St. Paul had penetrated into Illyricum, or preached the gospel in that province; but rather that he had come to the confines of Illyricum (μεχρι τα Ιλλυρικο), and that thefe confines were the external boundary of his travels. St. Paul confiders Jerufalem as the centre, and is here viewing the circumference to which his travels had extended. The form of expreffion in the original conveys this idea-απο Ιερεσαλημ και κυκλω μεχρι τε Ιλλυρικο. Illyricum was the part of this circle which he mentions in an Epistle to the Romans, because it lay in a direction from Jerufalem towards that city, and pointed out to the Roman readers the nearest place to them, to which his travels from Jerufalem had brought him. The name of Illyricum no where occurs in the Acts of the Apostles; no fufpicion, therefore, can be conceived that the mention of it was borrowed from thence. Yet I think it appears, from these fame Acts, that St. Paul,

before

before the time when he wrote his Epiftle to the Romans, had reached the confines of Illyricum; or, however, that he might have done fo, in perfect confiftency with the account there delivered. Illyricum adjoins upon Macedonia; meafuring from Jerufalem towards Rome, it lies clofe behind it. If, therefore, St. Paul traverfed the whole country of Macedonia, the route would neceffarily bring him to the confines of Illyricum, and these confines would be described as the extremity of his journey. Now the account of St. Paul's fecond vifit to the peninsula of Greece, is contained in these words: "He departed for to go into Macedonia; and "when he had gone over these parts, and had

66

66

given them much exhortation, he came "into Greece." Acts xx. 2. This account allows, or rather leads us to fuppofe, that St. Paul, in going over Macedonia (dieλowv тa μɛpη Exeva), had paffed fo far to the west, as to come into thofe parts of the country which were contiguous to Illyricum, if he did not enter into Illyricum itself. The history, therefore, and the epiftle fo far agree, and the agreement is much strengthened by a coinci

E

coincidence of time. At the time the epistle was written, St. Paul might fay, in conformity with the hiftory, that he had "come into Illyricum:" much before that time, he could not have faid fo; for, upon his former journey to Macedonia, his route is laid down from the time of his landing at Philippi to his failing from Corinth. We trace him from Philippi to Amphipolis and Apollonia; from thence to Theffalonica; from Theffalonica to Berea; from Berea to Athens; and from Athens to Corinth : which track confines him to the eastern fide of the peninfula, and therefore keeps him all the while at a confiderable diftance from Illyricum. Upon his fecond visit to Macedonia, the hiftory, we have feen, leaves him at liberty. It must have been, therefore, upon that fecond vifit, if at all, that he approached Illyricum; and this vifit, we know, almost immediately preceded the writing of the epiftle. It was natural that the apoftle should refer to a journey which was fresh in his thoughts.

No.

No. V.

Chap. xv. ver. 30. "Now I befeech you, "brethren, for the Lord Jefus Chrift's fake, "and for the love of the Spirit, that ye "ftrive together with me in your prayers "to God for me, that I may be delivered "from them that do not believe in Judæa." -With this compare Acts xx. 22, 23:

66

66

"And now, behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerufalem, not knowing the

things that shall befal me there, fave that "the Holy Ghoft witneffeth in every city, faying that bonds and afflictions abide

66

"me."

Let it be remarked that it is the fame journey to Jerufalem which is spoken of in thefe two paffages; that the epistle was written immediately before St. Paul fet forwards upon this journey from Achaia; that the words in the Acts were uttered by him when he had proceeded in that journey as far as Miletus, in Leffer Afia. This being remembered, I obferve that the two paffages, without any resemblance between them that could induce us to fufpect that they

were borrowed from one another, reprefent the ftate of St. Paul's mind, with respect to the event of the journey, in terms of fubftantial agreement. They both express his fense of danger in the approaching visit to Jerufalem; they both exprefs the doubt which dwelt upon his thoughts concerning what might there befal him. When, in his epiftle, he entreats the Roman Chriftians, "for the Lord Jesus Christ's fake, and for "the love of the Spirit, to strive together "with him in their prayers to God for him, "that he might be delivered from them "which do not believe in Judæa,” he sufficiently confeffes his fears. In the Acts of the Apostles we fee in him the fame henfions, and the fame uncertainty: "Igo "bound in the Spirit to Jerufalem, not "knowing the things that fhall befal me "there." The only difference is, that in the history his thoughts are more inclined to defpondency than in the epiftle. In the epiftle, he retains his hope "that he "fhould come unto them with joy by the "will of God;" in the hiftory, his mind yields to the reflection, "that the Holy

appre

"Ghost