EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 31 



if at all, that he approached Illyricum; and this visit, we 

 hnow, almost immediately preceded the writing of the epis- 

 tle. It was natural that the apostle should refer to a jour- 

 ney which was fresh in his thoughts. 



V. Chap. 15: 30: "Now I beseech you, brethren, foi 

 the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of tha Spirit, 

 that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for 

 ine, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe 

 in Judea." With this compare Acts 20 : 22, 23 : 



" And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jeru- 

 jialem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there, 

 save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying, 

 that bonds and afflictions abide me." 



Let it be remarked, that it is the same journey to Jeru- 

 salem which is spoken of in these two passages ; that the 

 epistle was written immediately before St. Paul set forward 

 upon this journey from Achaia ; that the words in the Acts 

 were uttered by him when he had proceeded in that journey 

 as far as Miletus, in Lesser Asia. This being remembered, 

 1 observe that the two passages, without any resemblance 

 between them that could induce as to suspect that they were 

 borrowed from one another, rej^resent the state of St. Paul's 

 mind, with respect to the event of the journey, in terms of 

 substantial agreement. They both express his sense of dan- 

 ger in the approaching visit to Jerusalem ; they both express 

 the doubt which dwelt upon his thoughts concerning what 

 might there befall him. AVhen, in his epistle, he entreats 

 the Roman Christians, " for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, 

 and for the love of the Spirit," to strive together with him 

 in their prayers to God for him, that he might " be delivered 

 from them that do not believe in Judea," he sutficiently 

 confesses his fears. In the Acts of the Apostles, we see in 

 him the same apprehensions, and the same uncertLun*:y : " I 

 go bound ni the spirit unto Jerusalem, ?iot knowing the 

 things that shall befall me there." The only diflerence is 

 that in the histoiy his thoughts are more inclined to despond 



