EPISTLE TO TITUS. 191 



be 60-mewhat alike, but extends, in a great variety of in 

 stances, to the phrases and expressions. The writer accosts 

 his two friends with the same salutation, and passes on to 

 the business of his letter by the same transition. 



" Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith ; Grace, 

 mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ 

 oui Lord. As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, 

 vjhen I went into Macedonia^' etc. 1 Tim. 1 : 2, 3. 



" To Titus, mine oivn son after the common faith : 

 grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and the 

 Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. For this cause left I thee 

 in Crete:' Tit. 1 : 4, 5. 



If Timothy was not to ''give heed to fables and endless 

 genealogies, which minister questions:' 1 Tim. 1 : 4, Titus 

 also was to " avoid foolish questions, and ge?tealogies, and 

 contentions," chap. 3:9, and was to " rebuke them sharply, 

 7tot givi?ig heed to Jeioish fables:' Chap. 1 : 13, 14. li 

 Timothy was to be a pattern, tvtxo^, 1 Tim. 4 : 12, so was 

 Titus. Chap. 2:7. If Timothy was to "let no man de- 

 spise his youth," 1 Tim. 4 : 12, Titus also was to "let tio 

 man despise him." Chap. 2 : 15. This verbal consent is 

 also observable in some very peculiar expressions, which 

 have no relation to the particular character of Timothy or 

 Titus. 



The phrase, " it is a faithful saying," maToq 6 lojog, made 

 use of to preface some sentence upon which the writer lays 

 a more than ordinary stress, occurs three times in the first 

 epistle to Timothy, once in the second, and once in the epistle 

 before us, and in no other part of St. Paul's writings ; and 

 it is remarkable that these three epistles were probably all 

 written towards the conclusion of his life ; and that they arc 

 the only epistles which were written after his first imprison- 

 ment at Rome. 



The same observation belongs to another singularity oi 

 expression, and that is in the epithet " sound:' vyxaivm^ aa 

 applied to words or doctrine. It is thus used twice in tho 



