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by the ministry of angels, and the special privileges with which it invested those who adhered to it. In answer to all arguments and insinuations of this kind, the apostle shews,

1. That in all these several articles Christianity had an infinite superiority to the law. Which topic he pursues from chapter the first to the ninth; reminding the believing Hebrews, that it was a most extraordinary favour that God had sent them a revelation by his own Son, whose glory was far superior to that of angels, [chap. i. throughout.] very naturally inferring from hence the danger of despising Christ on account of his humiliation, which, in perfect consistence with his dominion over the world to come, was voluntarily submitted to by him for wise and important reasons; particularly to deliver us from the fear of death, and encourage the freedom of our access to God. [chap. ii. throughout.] With the same view, he further magnifies Christ as superior to Moses their great legislator; and, from the sentence passed on those who rebelled against the authority of Moses, infers the danger of despising the promises of the gospel. [chap. iii. 1..13.] And as it was natural from hence to call to mind that rest in Canaan to which the authority wherewith Moses was invested was intended to lead them, the apostle cautions them against the sin of unbelief, as that would prevent their entering into rest; an expression which he shews to refer to a nobler state of rest than what the Jews enjoyed in Canaan, even on their most sacred days, and in their most prosperous ages. [chap. iii. 14, iv. 21.] Further inforcing this caution by awful views of the omniscience of God, and animating representations of the character of Christ as our high-priest, of whose divine appointment, gracious administration, and previous suffering, he goes on to discourse, and promises further illustrations of so important a topic. [chap. iv. 12, v. throughout.] Declaring that he would advance to sublimer truths, without dwelling upon the first principles, for the sake of those who might have apostatized from Christianity, and whose case he represents as very hopeless. [chap. vi. 1..9.] And then, for the establishment and comfort of sincere believers, he sets before them the consideration of the goodness of God, and his fidelity to his sacred engagements, the performance of which is sealed by the entrance of Christ into Heaven as our forerunner. [chap. vi. 9, to the end.] Further, to illustrate the character of our blessed Lord, the author and finisher of our faith, he enters into a parallel between Melchizedec and Christ, as agreeing in title and descent; and from instances in which the priesthood of Melchizedec excelled the Levitical priesthood, he infers the surpassing glory of the priesthood of Christ to the priesthood under the law. [chap. vii. 1..17. From these premises, which plainly manifested the defects of the Aaronical priesthood, he argues that it was not only excelled, but vindicated and consummated by that of Christ, to which it was introductory and subservient, and, by consequence, that the obligation of the law was henceforth dissolved. [chap. vii. 18 to the end.] He then recapitulates what he had before demonstrated of the superior dignity of Christ as the high-priest of Christians; and further illustrates the distinguished excellence of that new covenant which was foretold by Jeremiah as established in him, and plainly enriched with much better promises than the old. [chap. viii. throughout.] Illustrating further the doctrine of the priesthood and intercession of Christ, by comparing it to what the Jewish high-priest did on the great day of atonement. [chap. ix. 1..14.] And having enlarged on the necessity of shedding Christ's blood, and the sufficiency of the atonement made by it, [chap. ix. 15, to the end.] and proved that legal ceremonies could not by any means purify the conscience, aud from thence argued the insufficiency of the Mosaic law, and the necessity of looking beyond it, [chap. x. 1..15.] the apostle urges the Hebrews to improve the privileges which

such an high-priest and covenant conferred on them, to the purpose of approach to God with holy confidence, a constant attendance on his worship, and most benevolent regards to each other. [chap. x. 15..25.]

The apostle, having thus at length obviated the insinuations and objections of the Jews to the gospel of Christ as inferior to the Mosaic dispensation, by showing its transcendant excellence in a clear and convincing light for the satisfaction and establishment of the believing Hebrews, proceeds

2. To awaken their attention, and fortify their minds against the storm of persecution, which had come, and was further likely to come upon them for the sake of the Christian faith. To this end, he reminds them of the extremities they had already endured in defence of the gospel, and of the fatal consequences which would attend their apostacy [chap. x. 26, to the end.]; calling to their remembrance the renowned examples of the faith and fortitude which had been exhibited by holy men mentioned in the scriptures of the Old Testament, and particularly by Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah, [chap. xi. 1..16.] by Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses [chap. xi. 17..29.]; concluding his discourse with glancing on many other illustrious worthies; and, besides those recorded in scripture, referring also to the case of several who suffered under the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes. [chap. xi. 30, xii. 2.].

And, having thus executed his design in the argumentative part of the epistles, he applies the whole by exhorting the Hebrew Christians to sustain and improve the afflictions to which they were exposed, and to exert themselves vigorously to promote the united interests of peace and holiness [chap. xii. 3..14.]: cautioning them against disparaging the blessings of the gospel, and making them a sacrifice either to any secular views or sensual gratifications; representing the incomparable excellence of these blessings, and the wonderful manner in which they were introduced, which even the introduction of the Jewish economy, glorious and magnificent as it was, did by no means equal [chap. xii. 15..29.]: exhorting them to brotherly affection, purity, compassion, dependance on the divine care, sted fastness in the profession of the truth, and to a life of thankfulness to God and benevolence to man, from the consideration of the inestimable privileges derived to us from Christ, which ought always to encourage us resolutely to endure any infamy and suffering which we may meet with in his cause [chap. xiii. 1..16.] concluding the whole with recommending to them particular regard to their pious ministers, and intreating their prayers, adding some salutations and a solemn benediction. [chap. xiii. 17, to the end.]

The following remarks of Dr. Macknight, in his preface to the epistle of Titus, will serve to continue the history of the apostle after the expiration of his first imprisonment at Rome. The leaving of Titus in Crete is supposed to have happened some time in the year sixty-two, after the apostle was released from his first confinement in Rome. In the letters which he wrote about that time to the Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and the Hebrews, having promised to visit them, we may believe that, when at liberty to fulfil his promise, he sailed in the spring of sixty-two from Italy for Judea, accompanied by Titus and Timothy. In their way, touching at Crete, they went through the cities, and preached the gospel to the idolatrous inhabitants with such power and success, that great numbers of them were converted. However, although the apostle's success was so great in Crete, and his converts were not formed into churches, he did not judge it proper to remain in Crete; but, committing the care of the disciples there to Titus, with an order to ordain elders in every city, he sailed into Judea in spring, sixty-three, accompanied by Timothy. The brethren in that country, being greatly distressed by the troubles which preceded the war with the Romans, the apostle, if he heard in Crete of their distress, might think it necessary

to hasten his visit to them. Accordingly, as soon as he landed in Judea, he and Timothy went up to Jerusalem, and spent some time with the Hebrews, after which they proceeded to Antioch; and, in their progress through the churches, comforted and established them. From Antioch, the apostle set out on his fifth and last apostolical journey, in which he and Timothy travelled through Syria and Cilicia, and then came to Colosse in Phrygia early in the year sixty-four. And, seeing he had desired Philemon to provide him a lodging at Colosse, it is reasonable to think he abode there some time. On that occasion, as Benson and others conjecture, he may have written his epistle to Titus in Crete, in which he desired him to come to him at Nicopolis, because he proposed to winter there. [Tit. iii. 12.] From Colosse, the apostle went with Timothy to Ephesus, where, having inquired into the state of the church in that city, he gave the Ephesian brethren such exhortations as he judged necessary; then departed to go into Macedonia, leaving Timothy at Ephesus to charge some teachers not to teach differently from the apostles. [1 Tim. i. 3.]

In passing through Macedonia, the apostle, no doubt, visited the Philippians and the other brethren in that province, according to his promise, Phil. ii. 24. After that, he went forward to Nicopolis to winter there, as he proposed, being accompanied by Erastus and Trophimus, who, it seems, had joined him either at Ephesus or in Macedonia In the beginning of the year sixty-five, while the apostle abode at Nicopolis, taking in consideration the weight of the charge which he had devolved on Timothy, he wrote to him that excellent letter in the canon, called the first epistle to Timothy, in which he taught him how to discharge the duties of his function properly. It seems, that, in parting with Timothy, St. Paul had promised to return soon to Ephesus from Nicopolis. [1 Tim. iii. 14.] But he was disappointed in his resolution; for not long after writing his letter to Timothy, Titus came from Crete to Nicopolis, according to the apostle's order, [Tit. iii. 12.] and gave him such an account of the state of the churches in that island, as determined him to visit them immediately; so that, laying aside his purpose of returning to Ephesus, he left Nicopolis early in the year sixty-five, accompanied by Titus, Trophimus, and Erastus, the latter of whom went no further with him than to Corinth. [2 Tim. iv. 20.] At his arrival in Crete, he, no doubt, visited the churches, and rectified the disorders which had taken place in them. But while employed in that work, hearing of the persecution which Nero was carrying on against the Christians in Rome, on pretence that they had set fire to the city, and judging that his presence in Rome might be of use to the brethren in their distress, he resolved to go thither. I suppose the apostle sailed for Italy with Titus in the end of the summer sixty-five, leaving Trophimus sick at Miletus, a city of Crete. [2 Tim. iv. 20.] For that Titus was in Rome with Paul during his second imprisonment is certain from the 2 Tim. iv. 10, where the apostle informed Timothy that Titus was one of those who had fled from the city through fear, and had gone into Dalmatia; but whether with or without his approbation the apostle doth not expressly

say.

Continuing the same history, he proceeds to relate, in his preface to the second epistle of Timothy, that Paul, on his arrival at Rome, taking an active part in the affairs of the Christians, soon became obnoxious to the heathen priests and to the idolatrous rabble, who hated the Christians as atheists, because they denied the gods of the empire, and condemned the established worship. Wherefore, being discovered to the magistrates, probably by the unbelieving Jews, as the ringleader of the hated sect," he was apprehended, and closely imprisoned as a malefactor. [2 Tim. ii. 9.] This happened in the end of the year sixty-five, or in the beginning of sixty-six. The apostle has not informed us directly what the crime was which the heathen magistrates

laid to his charge. If it was the burning of the city, which the emperor falsely imputed to the Christians in general, his absence from Rome when the city was burnt being a fact he could easily prove, it was a sufficient exculpation of him from that crime. Probably, therefore, the magistrates accused him of denying the gods of the empire, and of condemning the established worship. In this accusation, it is natural to suppose the unbelieving Jews joined, from their hatred of Paul's doctrine; and, among the rest, Alexander, the Ephesian coppersmith, who, having, as it would seem, apostatized to Judaism, had blasphemed Christ and his gospel; and, on that account, had been lately delivered by the apostle to Satan. [ITim. i. 20.] This virulent judaizing teacher happening to be at Rome when Paul was apprehended, he, in resentment of the treatment received from the apostle, appeared with his accusers when he made his first answer, and, in the presence of his judges, contradicted the things which he urged in his own vindication. So the apostle told Timothy, 2 epist. iv. 14, Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: for he greatly opposed our words. The rest of the unbelieving Jews were not a little enraged against Paul for preaching that Jesus Christ, being lineally descended from David, was heir to his throne: that, being raised from the dead, his right to rule the Gentiles was thereby demonstrated and that the Gentiles were to be saved through faith in him, without obeying the law of Moses. These things they urged against Paul as crimes worthy of death, on pretence that they subverted not only the law of Moses, but the laws of the empire. The hints which the apostle hath given us of the things laid to his charge, and of the particulars which he urged in his own vindication, lead us to form these conjectures. [2 Tim, ii. 8.] Remember Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to any gospel. [9.] For which I suffer evil unto bonds, as a malefactor. [10.] For this cause I patiently bear all things, on account of the elected, that they also may obtain the salvation which is by Jesus Christ with eternal glory. Such were the crimes of which Paul was accused by his enemies. The answers which he made to their accusations are insinuated, 2 Tim. iv. 17, However, the Lord stood by me, and strengthened me, that through me the preaching might be fully declared, and all the Gentiles might hear. The Lord strengthened him fully to declare, in the presence of his judges and accusers, what he had preached concerning the supreme dominion of Christ, his right to rule all the Gentiles as the subjects of his spiritual kingdom, his power to save them as well as the Jews, together with the nature and method of their salvation.. He likewise told Timothy that the Lord strengthened him thus fully to declare what he had preached, that all the Gentiles might hear of his courage and faithfulness in maintaining their privileges. To this bold declaration of his preaching concerning Christ, the apostle told Timothy he was animated by considering, that if we die with him, we shall also live with him. If we suffer patiently, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. [2 Tim. ii. 11, 12.] To conclude the evident reasonableness of the things which the apostle advanced in answer to the accusations of his enemies, and the confidence with which he urged them, made, it seems, such an impression on his judges, that, notwithstanding they were greatly prejudiced against him, and showed themselves determined to take his life, they did not then condemn him; but sent him back to his prison, thinking it necessary to give him a second hearing.

How long the apostle remained in prison before he was allowed to make his first answer [doth not appear. Neither do we know what length of time elapsed between his first and second answers. Only from his desiring Timothy, after making his first answer, to come to him before winter, we may conjecture that he made his first answer:

early in the summer of the year sixty-six, and that he thought it might be a considerable time before he would be brought to a second hearing.

Soon after his first answer, therefore, in the year sixty-six, the apostle wrote his second epistle to Timothy, to inform him of what had happened to him since his coming to Rome, namely, that he was closely imprisoned as a malefactor, and that he had spoken for himself in the hearing of his judges. Also he gave him some hints of the crimes which his enemies laid to his charge, and of the answers which he had made to their accusations, and of the principles by which he was emboldened to make these answers. Moreover, he told him, that although his judges had not yet condemned him, he had not the smallest hope of escaping when he should be brought to a second hearing; that his accusers and judges had shewed themselves so enraged against him before he made his first answer, that when he was brought into the court, neither any of the Roman brethren, nor any of the brethren from the provinces, nor any of his own fellow-labourers who were then in the city, appeared with him; but all forsook him : that during his trial, his judges shewed such an extreme hatred of the Christians and of their cause. that all his assistants, except Luke, had fled from the city, fearing that they likewise would be apprehended and put to death: that being thus deserted by his friends and fellow-labourers, and having no hope of escaping, he had a great desire to enjoy Timothy's company during the short time he had to live. He therefore requested him to come to him before winter. Yet being uncertain whether he should live so long, he gave in this letter a variety of advices, charges, and encouragements, with the solemnity and affection of a dying parent; because, if he should be put to death before Timothy came, the loss would in some measure be made up to him by the things written in this letter.

These particulars, which are all either expressed or insinuated in the apostle's second epistle to Timothy, shew clearly that it was written not long before the apostle's death, the time of which may be determined with a good degree of probability by the following circumstances. The emperor Nero having set fire to the city on the tenth of July, A. D. 64, to remove the odium of that nefarious action which was generally imputed to him, he endeavoured to make the public believe it was perpetrated by the Christians, who, at that time, were become the objects of the popular hatred, on account of their religion. For, as if they had been the incendiaries, he caused them to be sought out, and put to death in the most barbarous manner. So Tacitus informs us, Annal. Lib. xv. c. 44, and Suetonius, Ner. c. 16. This is what is commonly called the first general persecution of the Christians. Wherefore, as the ancients, with one voice, have reported that the apostle Paul was put to death at Rome by Nero in this persecution, we cannot be much mistaken in supposing that his death happened in the end of the year sixty-six, or in spring sixty-seven, in the thirteenth year of Nero's reign.

Eusebius, Jerome, Maximus, and other antient authors, content themselves with doing little more than affirm that the apostle Paul was beheaded at Rome under Nero; so that the largest account concerning this event is taken from Abdius, a very suspicious author. He says, that after the crucifying of Peter, and the ruin of Simon Magus, Paul, yet remaining in free custody, was dismissed, and delivered at that time from martyrdom by God's permission, that all the Gentiles might be replenished by his preaching of the gospel. He says also, that while Paul was thus employed at Rome, he was accused to the emperor, not only for teaching new doctrine, but also for stirring up sedition against the imperial government. For this, he being called before Nero, and demanded to shew the order and manner of his doctrine, there declared what his