Philippi, and then failed from Philippi to Corinth, and fo from Corinth to Troas; and that in all this voyage from Philippi to Corinth (where too he must have had time to receive the collections, and write his epiftle to the Romans), and from Corinth to Troas, he fhould take up but five days, which is all the time that the Acts allow for it. And that which demonftrates Dr. Lightfoot's miftake here, and fhews that Paul did not fail from Philippi to Corinth, is, that Timothy was with him at Corinth, when he writes to the Romans from thence, as we learn from that epiftle; fince he fends Timothy's falutation to the Romans f: whereas Timothy did not accompany him in the five days voyage fuppofed by Dr. Lightfoot from Philippi, but went with the reft before Paul to Troas . But though Paul's first intention was to have failed from Corinth to Syria in his way to Jerufalem, which was the reafon of Timothy's and Sopater's coming to him to Greece (with the reft of the meffengers, as I fuppofe); yet, on finding that the Jews laid wait for him, he went round by Greece and Macedonia, and fo to Philippi, and ftaid there during the days of unleavened bread. From thence he and Luke go to Troas, where the mef • Acts xx. 6. Acts xx, 4, 5. f Rom. xvi. 21. Ibid. fengers fengers went a little before, and ftaid for him. From Troas he goes to Affos on foot, thence fails to Samos (having hired a fhip), goes to Trogyllium, and thence to Miletus in Afia. And haftening to get to Jerufalem at the feast, and being apprehenfive of the fury of his enemies at Ephefus, does not go thither; but fends for the elders of that church to meet him at Miletus, where he could give them a charge as fully to his purposes as by going in perfon to Ephefus: thereby fhewing us how we ought to “redeem "the time" when "the days are evil;" the apostle fummoned thefe elders to give them a ftrict and folemn. charge: finding it, I fuppofe, very neceffary, from the account that Timothy brought him to Greece, to charge them, that, like paftors after God's own heart, they should feed the church of God with found knowledge, fuch as he had taught them (who had kept nothing that was profitable from them, but had declared to them the whole counsel of God *), without fwerving or turning afide from it to vain jangling, fruitlefs genealogies, profane fables, idle traditions, bodily exercife, and corrupt doctrine. Such danger was there then, and fuch did he forefee, coming to this church'; and Acts xx. 20. 1 Ver. 29. * Ver. 27. therefore therefore gives them the most serious warning to watch against them, and the rather, because he tells them that " they fhall fee ❝his face no more." From hence it appears farther, that the first epiftle to Timothy was written before Paul fent for the elders of Ephesus to meet him at this place; because he tells Timothy in the first epistle directed to him at Ephefus, that he (Paul)" hopes to "come to him (Timothy) fhortly m" THUS, I think, St. Paul's ftory is well connected, and agrees with the defign, and with fome paffages, of his firft epiftle to Timothy. BISHOP Pearfon's only objection is, that Paul had fent Timothy with Eraftus to Macedonia; and that therefore Timothy could not be with him, or be defired by him then to abide at Ephefus. But what fhould hinder us from fuppofing, that Timothy, after he had been fent with Eraftus to Macedonia, and to Achaia, by Paul, returned to Paul at Ephefus, before Paul left that place; as we find Paul expected he would. And the Bishop gives us no argument for fixing 65 for the time of writing this epiftle, but only be m 1 Tim. iii. 14. 1 Cor. xvi. II. Acts xix. 21. #aufe cause that from this objection he thinks Paul could not write it in (58 or) 57. DR. Whitby indeed fays, in his Preface to the first epistle to Timothy, that Timothy went with Paul from Macedonia to Achaia and Corinth; and that therefore he could not be left at Ephefus. That Timothy was with Paul at Corinth is certain, as I have juft now proved; but the Doctor offers nothing in fupport of his affertion, that he went with Paul thither from Ephefus, through Macedonia and Achaia. Nor do I apprehend there is any thing that can fhew that he accompanied Paul in that journey. Why might not Timothy, after he was left at Ephefus for two or three months, crofs the gean fea (a fhort cut) to Greece, to join Paul, in order to accompany him in his journey to Jerufalem, whither he was to go with him, and to join with him in receiving the Corinthian contributions; especially when Paul's defign was to fail from Corinth to fome port of Palestine, or near it, in his way to Jerufalem? This will connect the whole ftory, and reconcile it to that paffage in the epiftle (namely," Let no man defpife thy youth"), on which I think there is fo much stress to be laid; and to which Bishop Pearton's, Bifhop Lloyd's, Dr. Whitby's, and Mr. Pyle's hyVOL. I. pothetis, pothefis, of this epiftle being written in 65, can never be made to agree. I AM likewife of opinion, that the whole ftrain of this epiftle exactly fuits the state of things in 58: whereas it does not feem to fuit the state of things in 65. For this epiftle feems to have been written to advife Timothy how to behave againft errors and corruptions that were then juft creeping into the church, rather than against those that were become inveterate; which he foretells would arife foon after his leaving them?, in a specch he makes to them fome fhort time (as I apprehend) after his writing his first epiftle to Timothy. Thefe errors and corruptions ftill increased ann. 63. when, as I fuppofe, from the reasons Sir I. Newton has given us in his Obfervations on the Apocalypfe, p. 235-247. St. John wrote the Apocalypfe, as appears by Revel. ii. 2-7. Dr. Benfon there fuppofes me in that place to have been of opinion, that Timothy was at Ephefus when the fecond epistle was written, though I fay otherwise in the First Eflay. Timothy, for all that is faid here, might be at Lyftra or Derbe, when Paul directed this epiftle to him. But as Paul ! P Acts XX. 29, 30. See the Abstract, and Dr. Benfen on the 2d Epift. to Timothy, p. 6. See the First Effy. |