M6 HORiE PAULINtE. 



other places ; and many of the brethren in the Lord, wax- 

 ing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak 

 the word without fear." Secondly, the account given of 

 Epaphroditus imports, that St. Paul, when he wrote the 

 epistle, had been in Rome a considerable time : " He longed 

 after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had 

 heard that he had been sick." Epaphroditus was with St. 

 Paul at Rome, He had been sick. The Philippians had 

 heard of his sickness, and he again had received an account 

 how much they had been affected by the intelligence. The 

 passing and repassing of these advices must necessarily have 

 occupied a long portion of time, and must have all taken 

 place during St. Paul's residence at Rome. Thirdly, after 

 a residence at Rome thus proved to have been of consider- 

 able duration, he now regards the decision of his fate as nigh 

 at hand. He contemplates either alternative — that of his 

 deliverance, chap. 2 : 23 : " Him, therefore," Timothy, " I 

 hope to send 'presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go 

 with me. But I trust in the Lord that I also m.ysclf shall 

 come shortly :" that of his condemnation, ver. 17 : " Yea, 

 and if I be offered^ upon the sacrifice and service of your 

 faith, I joy and rejoice with you all." This consistency is 

 material, if the consideration of it be confined to the epis- 

 tle. It is further material, as it agrees, with respect to the 

 duration of St. Paul's first imprisonment at Rome, with the 

 account delivered in the Acts, which, having brought the 

 apostle to Rome, closes the history by telling us " that he 

 dwelt there tivo ichole years in his own hired house." 



YL Chap. 1 : 23 : " For 1' am in a strait betwixt two, 

 having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ ; which is 

 far better." 



With this compare 2 Cor. 5:8: " We are confident, 

 i say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to 

 be present with the Lord." 



* 'A2X' el Kat airevdofioi km ry ■&valg. rrjq mareug v/icJv, if my hloo4 

 be poured out as a libation upon the sacrifice of your faith 



