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is thought to have composed this history in this interval'. Thus, while the active preaching of the Gospel, so far as any removal from place to place in the Apostle and his companion would have advanced it, might have been delayed, God was appropriating the time to the composition of some most valuable portions of His written word. The Gospel of St. Luke is thought to have been written during Paul's imprisonment at Cesarea. The Acts of the Apostles, as well as sundry Epistles, were written during their confinement at Rome'. Had they not been prisoners they might not have composed so large a portion of the sacred volume; and we have therefore to praise God that the leisure afforded them at Rome was so largely employed for our profit. SECT. CCLII.-Paul writes his Epistle to Philemon.— Philem. 1-25.

AMONG other of the Apostle's converts at Rome, was one Onesimus, who had formerly been a servant to Philemon, and having run away from his master, and taken things of value from him, had rambled as far as Rome; where, by St. Paul's means, he had been converted, instructed, and baptized. Philemon was an inhabitant of Colosse, and it is probable that he was a person of some consideration of that city, which was situated in Phrygia in Asia Minor. This Epistle has always been deservedly ad

9 Bp. Tomline.

Dean Howard. 2 Dr. Robinson. 3 Stackhouse.

mired for the delicacy and address with which it is written; and it places St. Paul's character in a very amiable point of view. He had converted a fugitive slave to the Christian faith; and he here intercedes with his master in the most earnest and affectionate manner for his pardon. It affords a plain proof that Christianity was not intended to make any alteration in the civil conditions of men. St. Paul considered Onesimus, although converted to the Gospel, as belonging to his former master; and, by deprecating the anger of Philemon, he acknowledges that Onesimus continued liable to punishment for the misconduct of which he had been guilty previous to his conversion. Whether Philemon pardoned Onesimus in consequence of this letter is not known. Only from the earnestness with which the Apostle solicited his pardon, and from the generosity and goodness of Philemon's disposition, we may conjecture that he did pardon him, and gave him his freedom. The name of Onesimus was not an uncommon one for a slave, as it signified profitable, to which the Apostle may possibly allude, when he says, "In time past he was to thee unprofitable; but now profitable both to thee and me." This man appears to have been afterwards sent back again to Rome that he might be serviceable to St. Paul in prison; and he conveyed to their respective Churches some of the Epistles Bishop Tomline.

which the Apostle wrote during his confinement. That he was a true convert to Christianity, and a sincere penitent for his private offences, may be concluded from the appellations which St. Paul gives him of "his son," "the son of his bonds," "his own bowels," and "his faithful and beloved brother "."

SECT. CCLIII.-Paul writes his Epistle to the Ephesians.— Eph. i.—v.

THE Epistle to the Ephesians was probably occasioned by some intelligence which the Apostle had received concerning them, from persons lately come out of Asia. It has been conjectured, from external evidence, that it was written during the early part of his confinement at Rome. St. Paul had for three

years

lived

at Ephesus, taking great pains in preaching the Gospel there, and was thoroughly acquainted with the state and condition of the place'. Yet he salutes no single person there, as was his general custom; so that, as the Epistle is so catholic in its general purport, it has been conjectured, that this was a circular letter designed for the use of all the Churches of Asia; for as Ephesus was the metropolis, most of the copies would have gone under its name: and this may account why some learned divines have concluded this Epistle to have been the one of which St. Paul speaks in the fourth chapter of the Colos sians, "as the Epistle to be read from Laodicea." * Mant and D'Oyly. Bp. Tomline. Stackhouse. Abp. Usher.

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7

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St. Paul endeavours in it to confirm both Jews and Gentiles in the belief and obedience of the Christian doctrine, and to instruct them fully in the great mysteries of the Gospel; their redemption and justification by the death of Christ; their gratuitous election; the calling of the Gentiles; their union with the Jews in one body, of which Jesus was the head; and the glorious exaltation of that Head above all creatures, both spiritual and temporal: together with many excellent moral precepts, both as to the general duties of religion, and the duties of their particular relations. It is written with great animation, and has been always much admired, both for the importance of its matter and the elegance of its composition ". This Epistle, as well as that to the Colossians, was sent by Tychicus, of whom St. Paul speaks as “a beloved brother;" and it appears the Apostle placed great confidence in him on account of his ability, faithfulness, and zeal, in the cause of Christ'. SECT. CCLIV.-Paul's abode at Rome.-Philem. 23, 24; Phil. iv. 22; Col. iv. 10-12.

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It would seem that when St. Paul had finished his Epistle to the Ephesians, but before he had written those to the Philippians and Colossians, his well-beloved friend and companion, Timothy, arrived at Rome; and the Apostle, encouraged by his assistance, (which was the

more opportune, as it supplied that of Epaphras, who had fallen dangerously sick,) and by the prospect of a speedy release from confinement, which he began now to entertain, redoubled his exertions to extend the knowledge of the Gospel as widely as possible through the imperial city, during the remainder of his stay therein. So that he was able, when he wrote to the Philippians, to appeal to the progress which God's word had made, not only in the city, but also in the very palace of the emperor; and to send them, amongst others, a salutation "from the saints that were of Cæsar's household"." His Epistles, indeed, enable us to gather some particulars of the residence of St. Paul at Rome, which history has not elsewhere recorded. He was by no means alone there; there were collected round him a faithful band ready to live or die with him: "Marcus, Demas, Lucas, his fellow-labourers, and Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision.” Aristarchus, whom with Epaphras he styles his "fellow-prisoners," and Tychicus, who conveyed his letter to the Churches; Timothy, "his own son in the faith," and Epaphroditus, "a brother and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier.' A further comfort was derived him, through the success which was every where granted to that cause on which his heart was

2 Dean Howard.