,'84 HOR^ PAULlNiE. 



Timotheus, the son of a certain woman which wi.b a Jew 

 ess, and beheved, but his father was a Greek." In the 

 epistle before us, in the first chapter and at the fourth and 

 tifth verses, St. Paul writes to Timothy thus : "Greatly de- 

 siring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be 

 filled with joy ; when I call to remembrance the unfeigned 

 faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother 

 Lois, and thy mother Eimice ; and I am persuaded that in 

 thee also." Here we have a fair unforced example of coin- 

 cidence. In the history, Timothy was the " son of a Jewess 

 that believed :" in the epistle, St. Paul applauds "the faith 

 which dwelt in his mother Eunice." In the history it is 

 said of the mother, that she "was a Jewess, and believed;" 

 of the father, that he "was a Greek." Now when it i& 

 said of the mother alone, that she "believed," the fathei 

 being nevertheless mentioned in the same sentence, we are 

 led to suppose of the father that he did not believe, that is, 

 either that he was dead, or that he remained unconverted. 

 Agreeably hereunto, while praise is bestowed in the epistle 

 upon one parent, and upon her sincerity in the faith, no no- 

 tice is taken of the other. The mention of the grandmother 

 is the addition of a circumstance not found in the history ; 

 but it is a circumstance which, as well as the names of the 

 parties, might naturally be expected to be known to the 

 apostle, though overlooked by his historian. 



HI. Chap. 3 : 15 : "And that from a child thou hast 

 known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee 

 wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." 



This verse discloses a circumstance which agrees exactly 

 with what is intimated in the quotation from the Acts, ad- 

 duced in the last number. In that quotation it is recorded 

 of Timothy's mother, that she "was a Jewess." This de- 

 scription is virtually, though, I am satisfied, undesignedly, 

 recognized in the epistle, when Tim.othy is reminded in it, 

 "that from a child he had known the holy Scriptures." 

 ♦The holy Scriptures" undoubtedly meant the Scriptures oi 



