slightest intimation that there were any higher, or more honorable prelates than themselves. Acts xx. 28: "Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you bishops,” ἐπισκόπους.

3. It is admitted by us, that Timothy subsequently was at Ephesus, and that he was left there for an important purpose, by the apostle Paul. This was

when Paul went to Macedonia. 1 Tim. i. 3. This is the only intimation, that we know of, in the New Testament, that Timothy was ever at Ephesus at all. It is important, then, to ascertain whether he was left there as a permanent bishop? Now in settling this, we remark, it is no where intimated in the New Testament, that he was such a bishop. The passage before us, 1 Tim. i. 3, states, that when they were travelling together, Paul left him there, while he himself should go over into Macedonia. The object for which he left him is explicitly stated, and that object was not that he should be a permanent bishop. It is said to be "to charge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither to give heed to endless genealogies," etc.; that is, manifestly to perform a temporary office of regulating certain disorders in the church; of silencing certain false teachers, of Jewish extraction; of producing, in one word, what the personal influence of the apostle himself might have produced, but for a sudden, and unexpected call to Macedonia. Acts xx. 1. Hence it is perfectly clear that the apostle designed this as a temporary ap.

pointment for a specific object, and that object was not to be prelate of the church. Thus he says, 1 Tim. iv. 13, "Till I come, give attention to reading," etc.: implying that his temporary office was then to cease. Thus too, referring to the same purpose to return and join Timothy, he says, 1 Tim. iii. 14, 15: "These things I write unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly; but if I tarry long, that thou mightest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God," etc.; implying that these directions were particularly to serve him during his appointment to the specific business of regulating some disordered affairs produced by false teachers, and which might require the discipline of even some of the bishops and deacons of the church. ch. v. vi. These directions, involving general principles indeed, and of value to regulate his whole life, yet had, nevertheless, a manifest special reference to the cases which might occur there, in putting a period to the promulgation of erroneous doctrines by Jewish teachers. 1 Tim. i. 3.

4. "That Paul and Timothy were together at Ephesus, and that Paul left him there when he went on some occasion into Macedonia, may be plainly inferred from 1 Tim. i. 3. "I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia." The time to which there is here an allusion is the more easily ascertained, because the apostle is recorded to have been twice only at Ephesus; on the first

occasion, he merely called on his voyage from Co. rinth and Jerusalem; on the second, he went from Ephesus into Macedonia, according to the words of the epistle.

"That Timothy was left at Ephesus, when Paul, expelled by the riot, went into Macedonia, obtains satisfactory proofs. Before he wrote his first epistle to the Corinthians, Paul sent Timothy and Erastus into Macedonia, but he himself remained in Asia for some time. Acts xix. 22. 1 Cor. iv. 17; xvi. 10. In the first letter to the Corinthians, which he wrote at Ephesus, and sent by Titus to Corinth, he mentioned his purpose of coming to them, but not immediately; of which Luke also informs us, Acts xix. 21, and desired them, if Timothy came to them, 1 Cor. xvi. 10, 11, to conduct him forth in peace, that he might come to Paul, then at Ephesus, for he looked for him, with the brethren. When he closed that letter, he was expecting Timothy's return, which that letter might also have hastened. Paul remained at Ephesus, on this visit, the space of three years. Acts xx. 31. There is therefore no reason to suppose, that he was disappointed in his expectation of the arrival of Timothy from Corinth at Ephesus, before he went into Macedonia; and if so, he might have left him there, as he at some period certainly did. 1 Tim. i. 3. He had intended to go by Corinth into Macedonia, 2 Cor. i. 15, 16, but changed his mind and went by Troas thither. 1 Cor. xvi. 5 ;

2 Cor. ii, 12, 13. Whilst in Macedonia, he wrote his first letter to Timothy, for he proposed to him to remain at Ephesus until he should call there on his way to Jerusalem. 1 Tim. i. 3; iii. 14, 15. The words imply, that Paul might tarry some time; and that he did so before he went into Greece, is fairly implied in the expression, " And when he had gone over those parts, and given them much exhortation, he came into Greece." Acts xx. 2. Timothy was advised, solicited, or besought (Tapexaλŋoa) to abide still at Ephesus, which gave him liberty to exercise his discretion, but several motives must have influenced him to go to the apostle. The enemies at Ephesus were numerous and violent; Timothy was young; his affection for Paul ardent; the request of Paul that he should abide at Ephesus was not peremptory; and Paul told him he expected to tarry a long time. Also Timothy had been, from their commencement, familiarly acquainted with the churches in Macedonia and Greece. Accordingly we find Timothy in Macedónia when Paul wrote his second epistle to the Corinthians. 1 Cor. i. 1. The apostle went from Macedonia into Greece, Acts xx. 2, as he had promised in that letter, chap. xiii. 1, and abode there three months. Acts xx. 3. Timothy was with him at Corinth, for he sends his salutations to the Romans, Rom. xvi. 21, in that famous epistle written from thence.*

*Compare Acts xviii. 2, with Rom. xvi. 3. Vide Acts 19, xviii. 26. I Cor. xvi. 19.

"That there was sufficient time for Paul to have written from Macedonia to Timothy at Ephesus, and for Timothy to have spent some months at Ephesus, before he came to Paul in Macedonia, appears from the time he waited for Titus at Troas, 2 Cor. ii. 12, 13, his determination not to go to Corinth till he could do it without heaviness, 2 Cor. ii. 1, his distress in Macedonia before Titus arrived, 2 Cor. vii. 5, and his success in raising charities for the saints in Judea, 2 Cor. viii. 2, 3; ix. 4. He had intended to tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost, 1 Cor. xvi. 8, but went sooner, Acts xx. 1. He passed on to Jerusalem at another Pentecost, Acts xx. 16; all which time he was in Macedonia, except three months. Acts xx. 3.

"That Paul expected to spend so much time in Macedonia and Greece, may be collected from his intimation, 1 Cor. xvi. 6, that he might spend the winter with the Corinthian church. The apostle's purpose of sailing from Corinth was disappointed by the insidiousness of his own countrymen; he therefore went up into Macedonia again, that he might pass over to Troas with his companions. Timothy was among those who crossed first. Acts xx. 3, 5. Paul's disappointment in sailing from Corinth, and his wish to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost, prevented the call he intended at Ephesus, 1 Tim. iii. 14, 15, but he landed at Miletus, and sent for the elders of the church at Ephesus.

"The directions of the apostle in the third chapter