No. V.

he must have personally known. * The Epistle of that place, the letter with which he was to the Romans was written before St. Paul had charged? And might not copies of that letter be been at Rome; and his address to them runs in multiplied and preserved at Ephesus? Might not the same strain with that just now quoted; "I some of the copies drop the words of designation thank my God, through Jesus Christ, for you all, ty Azodine,* which it was of no consequence that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole to an Ephesian to retain? Might not copies of world:" Rom. ch. i. 8. Let us now see what was the letter come out into the Christian church at the form in which our apostle was accustomed to large from Ephesus; and might not this give ocintroduce his epistles, when he wrote to those with casion to a belief that the letter was written to that whom he was already acquainted. To the Co-church? And, lastly, might not this belief prorinthians it was this: "I thank my God always duce the error which we suppose to have crept on your behalf, for the grace of God which is into the inscription? given you by Christ Jesus," 1 Cor. ch. i. 4. To the Philippians: "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you," Phil. ch. i. 3. To the Thessalonians: "We give thanks to God, always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering, without ceasing, your work of faith, and labour of love," 1 Thess. ch. i. 3. To Timothy: "I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers, night and day," 2 Tim. ch. i. 3. In these quotations, it is usually his remembrance, and never his hearing of them, which he makes the subject of his thankfulness to God.

As our epistle purports to have been written during St. Paul's imprisonment at Rome, which lies beyond the period to which the Acts of the Apostles brings up his history; and as we have seen and acknowledged that the epistle contains no reference to any transaction at Ephesus, during the apostle's residence in that city, we cannot expect that it should supply many marks of agreement with the narrative. One coincidence however occurs, and a coincidence of that minute and less obvious kind, which, as hath been repeatedly observed, is of all others the most to be relied upon.

As great difficulties stand in the way supposing the epistle before us to have been written to the Chap. vi. 19, 20, we read, "praying for me, church of Ephesus, so I think it probable that it that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known is actually the Epistle to the Laodiceans, referred the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am an amto in the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Co-bassador_in_bonds." "In bonds," ev xơ, in a lossians. The text which contains that reference is this: "When this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea," ch. iv. 16. The "epistle from Laodicea was an epistle sent by St. Paul to that church, and by them transmitted to Colosse. The two churches were mutually to communicate the epistles they had received. This is the way in which the direction is explained by the greater part of commentators, and is the most probable sense that can be given to it. It is also probable that the epistle alluded to was an epistle which had been received by the church of Laodicea lately. It appears then, with a considerable degree of evidence, that there existed an epistle of St. Paul's nearly of the same date with the Epistle to the Colossians, and an epistle directed to a church (for such the church of Laodicea was) in which St. Paul had never been. What has been observed concerning the epistle before us, shows that it answers perfectly to that character.

chain. In the twenty-eighth chapter of the Acts
we are informed, that Paul, after his arrival at
Rome, was suffered to dwell by himself with a
soldier that kept him. Dr. Lardner has shown
that this mode of custody was in use amongst the
Romans, and that whenever it was adopted, the
prisoner was bound to the soldier by a single
chain: in reference to which St. Paul, in the
twentieth verse of this chapter, tells the Jews
whom he had assembled, "For this cause there-
fore, have I called for you to see you, and to speak
with you, because that for the hope of Israel I
am bound with this chain," την αλυσιν ταύτην περικ
μ. It is in exact conformity therefore with the
truth of St. Paul's situation at the time, that he
declares of himself in the epistle, TÕSUW EV XAVOSI.
And the exactness is the more remarkable, as
Avis (a chain) is no where used in the singular
number to express any other kind of custody.
When the prisoner's hands or feet were bound
together, the word was eu (bonds,) as in the
twenty-sixth chapter of the Acts, where Paul re-

And it is remarkable that there seem to have been

Nor does the mistake seem very difficult to account for. Whoever inspects the map of Asia Minor will see, that a person proceeding from some ancient copies without the words of designation, Rome to Laodicea, would probably land at Ephe-either the words in Ephesus, or the words in Laodicea, sus, as the nearest frequented sea-port in that St. Basil, a writer of the fourth century, speaking of the direction. Might not Tychicus then, in passing writing to the Ephesians, as truly united to him who is present epistle, has this very singular passage: "And through Ephesus, communicate to the Christians through knowledge, he (Paul) calleth them in a peculiar

Mr. Locke endeavours to avoid this difficulty, by explaining their faith, of which St. Paul had heard," to mean the steadfastness of their persuasion that they were called into the kingdom of God, without subjection to the Mosaic institution. But this interpretation seems to me extremely hard; for, in the manner in which faith is here joined with love, in the expression your faith and love," it could not be meant to denote any particular tenet which distinguished one set of Christians from others; forasmuch as the expression describes the general virtues of the Christian profession. Vide Locke in loc

sense such who are; saying, to the saints who are and (or eren) the faithful in Christ Jesus; for so those before us have transmitted it, and we have found it in ancient copies." Dr. Mill interprets (and, notwithstanding some objections that have been made to him, in my opinion rightly interprets) these words of Basil, as declaring that this father had seen certain copies of the epistle in which the words "in Ephesus" were wanting. And the passage, I think, must be considered as Basil's fanciful way of explaining what was really a corrupt and defective reading; for I do not believe it possible that the author of the epistle could have originally written ays Torg Dury, without any name of place to follow it.

plies to Agrippa, "I would to God that not only | bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both Gospel, ye all are yoUNVOI MOU THE XHCITOS, joint almost and altogether such as I am, except these contributors to the gift which I have received."* bonds,” παρεκτος των δεσμών τούτων. When the Nothing more is said in this place. In the latter prisoner was confined between two soldiers, as in part of the second chapter, and at the distance of the case of Peter, Acts, chap. xii. 6, two chains half the epistle from the last quotation, the subject were employed; and it is said upon his miracu- appears again: "Yet I supposed it necessary to lous deliverance, that the "chains" (axud, in send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and comthe plural) "fell from his hands." As, the panion in labour, and fellow-soldier, but your noun, and the verb, being general terms, messenger, and he that ministered to my wants: were applicable to this in common with any other for he longed after you all, and was full of heavispecies of personal coercion; but x, in the ness, because that ye had heard that he had been singular number, to none but this. sick for indeed he was sick nigh unto death; but If it can be suspected that the writer of the God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but present epistle, who in no other particular ap-on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorpears to have availed himself of the information row. I sent him therefore the more carefully, concerning St. Paul, delivered in the Acts, had, that when ye see him again ye may rejoice, and in this verse, borrowed the word which he read that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him in that book, and had adapted his expression to therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold what he found there recorded of St. Paul's treat- such in reputation: because for the work of Christ ment at Rome; in short, that the coincidence here he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life to noted was effected by craft and design; I think it supply your lack of service toward me," chap. a strong reply to remark, that, in the parallel pas- ii. 25-30. The matter is here dropped, and no sage of the Epistle to the Colossians, the same farther mention made of it till it is taken up near allusion is not preserved; the words there are, the conclusion of the epistle as follows: "But I "praying also for us, that God would open unto rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at the last us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of your care of me hath flourished again, wherein ye Christ, for which I am also in bonds," do XX were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. Not J. After what has been shown in a preceding that I speak in respect of want; for I have learned number, there can be little doubt but that these in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. two epistles were written by the same person. If I know both how to be abased, and I know how the writer, therefore, sought for, and fraudulently to abound; every where and in all things, I am inserted, the correspondency into one epistle, why instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both did he not do it in the other? A real prisoner to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things might use either general words which compre- through Christ which strengtheneth me. Notwithhended this amongst many other modes of cus-standing, ye have well done that ye did communitody; or might use appropriate words which specified this, and distinguished it from any other mode. It would be accidental which form of expression he fell upon. But an impostor, who had the art, in one place, to employ the appropriate term for the purpose of fraud, would have used it in both places.

CHAPTER VII.

The Epistle to the Philippians.

No. I.

cate with my affliction. Now, ye Philippians, know also, that in the beginning of the Gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me, as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you," chap. iv. 10-18. To the Philippian reader, who knew that contributions were wont to be made in that church for the apostle's subsistence and relief, that the supply which they were accustomed WHEN a transaction is referred to in such a to send to him had been delayed by the want of manner, as that the reference is easily and im- opportunity, that Epaphroditus had undertaken mediately understood by those who are before- the charge of conveying their liberality to the hand, or from other quarters, acquainted with the hands of the apostle, that he had acquitted himfact, but is obscure, or imperfect, or requires in- self of this commission at the peril of his life, by vestigation, or a comparison of different parts, in hastening to Rome under the oppression of a order to be made clear to other readers, the trans-grievous sickness; to a reader who knew all this action so referred to is probably real; because, had it been fictitious, the writer would have set forth his story more fully and plainly, not merely as conscious of the fiction, but as conscious that his readers could have no other knowledge of the subject of his allusion than from the information of which he put them in possession.

The account of Epaphroditus, in the Epistle to the Philippians, of his journey to Rome, and of the business which brought him thither, is the article to which I mean to apply this observation. There are three passages in the epistle which relate to this subject. The first, chap. i. 7, "Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my

beforehand, every line in the above quotations would be plain and clear. But how is it with a stranger? The knowledge of these several particulars is necessary to the perception and explanation of the references; yet that knowledge must be gathered from a comparison of passages lying at a great distance from one another. Texts must be interpreted by texts long subsequent to

Pearce, I believe, was the first commentator, who gave this sense to the expression; and I believe also that his exposition is now generally assented to. He interprets in the same sense the phrase in the fifth verse, which our translation renders "your fellowship in the Gospel;" but which in the original is not ovvia 15 to jużggiklov. του ευαγγέλιον, Οι κοινωνία εν τω ευαγγελίω ; but κοινωνί

in which he felicitates himself upon the recovery
of Epaphroditus, in terms which almost exclude
the supposition of any supernatural means being
employed to effect it. This is a reserve which
nothing but truth would have imposed.
No. III.

Chap. iv. 15, 16. "Now, ye Philippians, know also, that in the beginning of the Gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me, as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity."

It will be necessary to state the Greek of this passage, because our translation does not, I think, give the sense of it accurately.

Οίδατε δε και υμείς, Φιλιππησίοι, οτι εν αρχή του ευαγγελίου, ότε εξήλθον απο Μακεδόνιας, ουδεμία μου εκκλησία εκοινωνησεν, εις λόγον δοσεως και ληψεως, οι μη υμείς μόνον ότι και εν Θεσσαλονικη και απαξ και δις εις την χρείαν μοι επεμψατε.

them, which necessarily produces embarrassment for the safety of his friend, yet acknowledging and suspense. The passage quoted from the be- himself unable to help him; which he does, almost ginning of the epistle contains an acknowledg-expressly, in the case of Trophimus, for he "left ment, on the part of the apostle, of the liberality him sick;" and virtually in the passage before us, which the Philippians had exercised towards him; but the allusion is so general and indeterminate, that had nothing more been said in the sequel of the epistle, it would hardly have been applied to this occasion at all. In the second quotation, Epaphroditus is declared to have "ministered to the apostle's wants," and "to have supplied their lack of service towards him;" but how, that is, at whose expense, or from what fund he "ministered," or what was "the lack of service" which he supplied, are left very much unexplained, till we arrive at the third quotation, where we find that Epaphroditus "ministered to St. Paul's wants" only by conveying to his hands the contributions of the Philippians: "I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you:" and that "the lack of service which he supplied" was a delay or interruption of their accustomed bounty, occasioned by the want of opportunity: “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last The reader will please to direct his attention and OTI your care of me hath flourished again; wherein to the corresponding particulars ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity." which connect the words sexy TOU SURggexIOU, OT The affair at length comes out clear; but it comes εξήλθον απο Μακεδονίας, with the words εν Θεσσαλονική, out by piecemeal. The clearness is the result of and denote, as I interpret the passage, two distinct the reciprocal illustration of divided texts. Should donations, or rather donations at two distinct peany one choose therefore to insinuate, that this riods, one at Thessalonica, is, the other whole story of Epaphroditus, or his journey, his after his departure from Macedonia, στο εξηλθον απο errand, his sickness, or even his existence, might, Maxidovs. I would render the passage, so as to Now, ye for what we know, have no other foundation than mark these different periods, thus: " in the invention of the forger of the epistle; I an- Philippians, know also, that in the beginning of swer, that a forger would have set forth his story the Gospel, when I was departed from Macedonia, connectedly, and also more fully and more per- no church communicated with me, as concerning spicuously. If the epistle be authentic, and the giving and receiving, but ye only. And that also transaction real, then every thing which is said in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my concerning Epaphroditus, and his commission, necessity." Now with this exposition of the paswould be clear to those into whose hands the sage compare 2 Cor. chap. xí, 8. 9: "I robbed epistle was expected to come. Considering the other churches, taking wages of them to do you Philippians as his readers, a person might na-service. And when I was present with you and turally write upon the subject, as the author of the epistle has written: but there is no supposition of forgery with which it will suit.

No. II.

The history of Epaphroditus supplies another observation: "Indeed he was sick, nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow." In this passage, no intimation is given that Epaphroditus's recovery was miraculous. It is plainly, I think, spoken of as a natural event. This instance, together with one in the Second Epistle to Timothy ("Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick,") affords a proof that the power of performing cures, and, by parity of reason, of working other miracles, was a power which only visited the apostles occasionally, and did not at all depend upon their own will. Paul undoubtedly would have healed Epaphroditus if he could. Nor, if the power of working cures had awaited his disposal, would he have left his fellowtraveller at Miletum sick. This, I think, is a fair observation upon the instances adduced; but it is not the observation I am concerned to make. It is more for the purpose of my argument to remark, that forgery, upon such an occasion, would not have spared a miracle; much less would it have introduced St. Paul professing the utmost anxiety

wanted, I was chargeable to no man; for that which was lacking to me, the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied."

It appears from St. Paul's history, as related in the Acts of the Apostles, that upon leaving Macedonia he passed, after a very short stay at Athens, into Achaia. It appears, secondly, from the quotation out of the Epistle to the Corinthians, that in Achaia he accepted no pecuniary assistance from the converts of that country; but that he drew a supply for his wants from the Macedonian Christians. Agreeably whereunto it appears, in the third place, from the text which is the subject of the present number, that the brethren in Philippi, a city of Macedonia, had followed him with their munificence, TE SEASOν anо Maxdovias, when he was departed from Macedonia, that is, when he was come into Achaia.

The passage under consideration affords another circumstance of agreement deserving of our notice.

* Luke, ch. ii. 15. Και εγένετο, ως απήλθον απ' αυτών 815 TOV Beavor of ayy, "as the angels were gone away," i. e. after their departure, OF OLIVES ON Pos ous. Matt. ch. xii. 43. Orav ds To xxxPTOR THEME εξέλθη από του ανθρωπου, " when the unclean spirit is gone," i. e. after his departure, Spar. John, ch. xiii. 30. Ors (Loudes) when he was gone," i. e. after his departure, y nous, Acts, ch. x. 7, de axisy which spake unto him was departed," i. e. after his deο αγγελος ο λαλων τω Κορνηλία, "and when the angel parture, vnas duo Tæv DIXITOV, &c.