ministerial office by the laying on of hands of St. Paul, together with other ministers then assembled. From this time he acted as a minister of the gospel, generally attending on St. Paul, but sometimes employed by him in other places; he was very diligent and useful, and is always mentioned with great esteem and affection by St. Paul, who joins his name with his own in the inscription of six of his epistles.

25. Ecclesiastical history informs us that Timothy became bishop of Ephesus, and suf fered martyrdom in that city, some years after the death of St. Paul.

26. It is difficult to determine the date of the first epistle, although the most probable opinion is, that it was about A. D. 64. Timothy having been left at Ephesus, to regulate the affairs of the church in that city, St. Paul wrote this epistle chiefly to instruct him in the choice of proper officers in the church, as well as in the exercise of a regular ministry.

27. Another and very important part of the apostle's design was, to caution this young evangelist against the influence of those false teachers, who, by their nice distinctions and endless controversies, had corrupted the purity and simplicity of the gospel; to press upon him, in all his preaching, a constant regard to the interests of practical religion; and to animate him to the greatest diligence, fidelity, and zeal, in the discharge of his office.

28. It is evident that Paul was a prisoner when he wrote the second epistle, and proba

bly i was during his second imprisonment at Rome, and near the end of his life, about A. D. 65. The immediate design of Paul in writing this epistle to Timothy, was to apprise him of the circumstances that had befallen nim during his second imprisonment at Rome, and to request him to come to him before the ensuing winter.

29. Being uncertain whether he should live so long, he gives him in this letter a variety of advices, charges, and encouragements, for the faithful discharge of his ministerial functions, with the solemnity and affection of a dying parent.

30. "As this epistle was written to St. Paul's most intimate friend, under the miseries of a jail, and the near prospect of death, and was not by him designed for the use of others, it may serve to exhibit the temper and character of the apostle, and to convince us that he was no de ceiver, but sincerely believed the doctrines which he preached. This excellent writing, therefore, will be read by the disciples of Christ, to the end of the world, with the highest satisfaction. And the impression which it must have on their minds will often be recollected by them with the greatest effect, for the confirmation of their faith in the gospel, and their consolation under all the evils which their ad herence to the gospel may bring upon them.""

31. "Imagine," says Dr. Benson, "a pious father, under sentence of death for his piety and benevolence to mankind, writing to a duti

ful and affectionate son, that he might see and embrace him again before he left the world; particularly that he might leave with him his dying commands, and charge him to live and suffer as he had done-and you will have the frame of the apostle's mind during the writing of the whole epistle."

CHAPTER VI.

TITUS-PHILEMON-HEBREWS.

1. THE Epistle to Titus. The name of this disciple, and probable convert of St. Paul, does not occur in the Acts of the Apostles. The few particulars which are known of him are collected from the epistles of St. Paul.

2. From these we learn that he was a Greek, but it is not recorded to what city he belonged. St. Paul styles him "his own son according to the common faith," from which it is inferred that he was converted through his instrumentality, but when is not known.

3. He is first mentioned as going from Antioch to the council at Jerusalem, A. D. 49; and, upon that occasion, St. Paul says, he would not allow him to be circumcised, as 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 employed by him in the propagation of the gospel.

4. St. Paul sent him from Ephesus with his First Epistle to the Corinthians, and with a commission to inquire into the state of the church at Corinth; and send him thither again from Macedonia with his second epistle, and to forward the collections for the saints in Judea. From this time we hear nothing of Titus till he was left by St. Paul in Crete, after his first imprisonment at Rome, to "set in order the things that were wanting, and to ordain elders in every city."

5. It is probable that he went thence to join St. Paul at Nicopolis, that they went together to Crete, to visit the churches there, and thence o Rome.

6. During St. Paul's second imprisonment at Rome, Titus went into Dalmatia; and after the apostle's death he is said to have returned to Crete, and to have died there in the ninetyfourth year of his age.

7. Probably about A. D. 64, after Paul's liberation from his first imprisonment, and while Titus was preaching in the Island of Crete, this letter was sent to him by his father in the gospel.

8 It was intended to assist him, by proper counsels and exhortations, in his responsible office as a presiding minister, settling and arranging the several churches on the island, giving him also particular instructions concerning his behavior toward the Judaizing teachers, who endeavored to prevent the faith, and disturb the peace of the Christian church.

9. The Epistle to Philemon. Philemon was a wealthy Christian of Colossæ, whose slave, Onesimus, having fled from him to Rome, was converted by the preaching of St. Paul, and sent back to his master with the admirable etter that forms the Epistle to Philemon.

10 Very little is known definitely of Phile. mon, further than that he was a Gentile convert, converted under the ministry of Paul, on a visit to Ephesus, or under some one of Paul's assistants sent from Ephesus to Colossæ, to preach the gospel there.

11. The letter was probably written during the apostle's first imprisonment, near his release, A. D. 62 or 63, and was sent, together with the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, by Tychicus and Onesimus.

12. Whether Philemon pardoned or punished Onesimus, is a circumstance concerning which we have no information. From the earnestness with which the apostle solicited his pardon, and from the generosity and goodness of Philemon's disposition, it is conjectured that he not only pardoned Onesimus, but even gave him his freedom, in compliance with the apostle's expressed confidence, "that he would do more than he had asked." The primitive Christians preserving this epistle, and placing it in the canon, is an additional evidence of this.

13. "The whole of this epistle is indeed a most beautiful composition. Such deference and respect for Philemon, such affection and