perfons to be appointed to that office, and expreffes his defire and intention of foon returning to Ephefus. Now he could not have in view an office, which had been already filled, and was then vacant: and, as it was the ufual practice of the Apoftles, when they had established a Chriftian community, to wait till they were acquainted with the conduct of its feveral members, before they selected perfons to be bifhops, it seems as if none had been appointed at Ephefus, when St. Paul first wrote to Timothy. But it is not probable, that he left the Chriftian community at Ephefus for a long time without governors.. Now he departed from Ephefus, when he travelled into Macedonia and Greece, as appears from Acts xx. 1.: and we fee from ver. 17. 28. that on his return to Ephesus bishops had been already appointed. Confequently this Epiftle must have been written on his journey, and even at the beginning of it: for Timothy left Ephefus not long after St. Paul, as appears from Acts xx. 4. where we find him at Corinth in company with St. Paul, when the Apostle left that city to go again to Ephefus. In fact Timothy muft have come ftill earlier to St. Paul, when he was travelling through Macedonia to Corinth: for the fecond Epiftle to the Corinthians, which was written in Macedonia, was fent in the joint names of Paul and Timothy'. The first Epistle to Timothy therefore was written, as I ob- ' ferved at the beginning of this fection, a fhort time before the fecond Epiftle to the Corinthians.

2. Timothy, when St. Paul wrote to him his first Epiftle, was in danger of being defpifed on account of his youth. But he became an affociate of St. Paul at Lyftra, fo early as the year 50, according to the common calculation, and perhaps according to a more exact calculation, ftill earlier Now when he was chofen by St. Paul, as an affiftant in the propagation of the Gofpel, the leaft age, which we can afcribe to him is that of twenty. Confequently, if the firft Epiftle to him was

b2 Cor. i. I.

4 Acts xvi. 1.

C 1 Tim. iv. 12.
e See Ch. xi. Sect. 1.

written

written fo late as the year 65, he was not only at leaft thirty five years of age, but had been a preacher of the Gospel not lefs than fifteen years. Under thefe circumftances he could have been in no danger of being defpifed on account of his youth: but he certainly was fo, before he had reached his twenty-feventh year.

I therefore agree with Dr. Benfon in dating this Epiftle at the time of St. Paul's journey into Macedonia mentioned Acts xx. 1.: but in what particular town it was written I cannot determine, nor is it of any importance to the understanding of the Epiftle. Now, if St. Paul wrote during this journey to Timothy at Ephesus, Timothy must have returned to the Apoftle at Ephefus, after he had taken the journey from that city into Greece, which is mentioned, Acts xix. 21. 22. 1 Cor. iv. 17. St. Paul was obliged to leave the Ephefian community fooner than he intended, becaufe Demetrius excited an infurrection against him. He therefore left Timothy behind him at Ephefus, to re-establish order in the church, to fill the ecclefiaftical offices, and to oppofe the falfe teachers.

Now as Timothy knew perfectly well the charge, which was committed to him, an Epiftle like this was not neceffary merely for his fake. But as fome of the Ephefians would not fubmit to him, and others intruded themselves as bishops and minifters, St. Paul wrote this Epiftle, which he might lay before them as a document, in which the Apoftle invested him with full may be confidered therefore as an Epiftle to the Ephefians, as well as to Timothy, See ch. i. 3. 18. iv. 6. 12. 13. V. 23. which paffages, and likewife feveral others in the Epiftle, receive a light from this obfervation.

powers.

It

Of the perfon and parentage of Timothy we read an account, Acts xvi. 1—3.: and from various parts of the New Teftament we learn that he was almost the conftant companion of St. Paul.

1 Tim. i. 3.

SECT.

General remarks on the feet of the Effenes, who had already inculcated their doctrines at Ephefus, when St. Paul wrote his first Epistle to Timothy.

Iftate of the Ephefian church, in order to understand

T is abfolutely neceffary to be acquainted with the

the Epiftles of St. Paul to Timothy, and to the Ephefians. But before we can form a true judgement of the ftate of the Ephefian church, we must acquire fome knowledge of the Effenes, a Jewish fect which began to fpread itself at Ephesus, and to threaten great mifchief to Chriftianity: for which reafon the Apoftle in the above-mentioned Epiftles, and likewife in that to the Coloffians declared himself openly against them.

Among ancient writers, there are four, who have given fome account of this fect. Philo mentions them in the treatife, where he proves the maxim, that every virtuous man is free, and defcribes them more fully in his effay on contemplative life. He has likewife fpoken of them in a paffage of his Apology for the Jews, which is quoted by Eufebius". The name, by which he has called them in Greek, is @egaπEUTα, which in the Greek language fignifies what Effene fignifies in Egyptian, and is in fact nothing more than a tranflation of it. He describes them in a very favourable manner, which in Philo is by no means extraordinary, for they united the philofophy of Egypt, where Philo both lived and had been educated, with the doctrines of the Jews. But

that

To thefe may be added likewife the Epiftle to the Coloffians, to which they have a great refemblance.

Præpar. Evang. Lib. VIII. 10.

1 See the Thef. Epift. la Crozianus, Tom. III. P. 168.

It is not improbable that he had the Effenes in view in thofe places, where he defcribes the perfectly wife and virtuous man, who retires from the buftle of the world to enjoy private contemplation.

that Jofephus, who was educated in the school of the Pharifees, judged likewife very favourably of the Effenes may afford matter of furprife. He was probably deceived by the appearance of fanctity, which they affected, a fanctity extravagant and inconfiftent with a rational fyftem of morals, which St. Paul therefore, who had a greater fhare of penetration, very properly condemned. The place in which Jofephus treats moft fully of the Effenes is, Bell. Jud. Lib. II. cap. 8.: but he has likewife given fome fhort accounts of them in the following paffages, Antiquit. Lib. XIII. c. 5. § 9. L. XV. c. 10. § 4. 5. L. XVII. c. 12. §3. and L. XVIII. c. 1. § 5. all which paffages deferve to be read. Pliny in his Hift. natur. Lib. V, c. 17. has alfo given an account of the Effenes, and has related fome circumftances, which are noticed neither by Philo nor by Jofephus. Solinus, in his Polyhiftor, cap. 35. has repeated what Pliny had faid, but with an intermixture of error, and a fabulous addition.

It is unneceffary to quote the modern writers, who have written on the fect of the Effenes': but I cannot pafs over in filence the controverfy which was conducted on this fubject by the Jefuit Nicolaus Serarius on the one fide, and Joh. Drufius, and Jofeph Scaliger, on the other. The fimilarity of the fentiments of the Effenes to thofe of the church of Rome induced Serarius to feek for them an honourable origin. He contended therefore that they were Afideans, and derived them from the Rechabites mentioned in the Old Teftament: at the fame time he afferted that the firft Chriftian monks were Effenes. Both of the pofitions were denied by his antagonists: but in refpect to the latter, Serarius was certainly in the right. The Effenes were indeed a Jewish and not a Chriftian fect: but it is evident from the above-mentioned Epiftles of St. Paul, that to the great mortification of the Apoftle they infinuated themfelves very early into the Chriftian church. Eufebius has fully fhewn", that the monaftic life was derived from

1 Fabricii Lux falutaris Evangelii, cap. IV. p. 55. Hift. Ecclef. Lib. II. cap. 17.

1

from the Effenes: and, because many Chriftians adopted the manners of the Effenes, Epiphanius" took the Effenes in general for Chriftians, and confounded them with the Nazarenes, a confufion to which the fimilarity of this name to that of the Nazarites of the Old Teftament might in fome measure contribute. However it does no honour to the monaftic life to derive it from the Effenes: for St. Paul cautions Timothy against this fect, and in the fourth chapter declares, that it would be the cause of that great apoftacy, which had been foretold by the Spirit.

The controverfy, which has been conducted relative to the Therapeuta, whom fome writers diftinguish from the Effenes, is related by Mofheim in his Inftitutiones. hiftoriæ Chriftianæ majores, Sæc. I. P. i. cap. 2. § 13. Montfaucon and Helyot have attempted to prove them Christians, but the former has been confuted by Bouhier. The late Dr. Lange in his two differtations De Therapeutis in Ægypto et Effenis, contends that they were nothing more than circumcifed Egyptians: but this opinion has been confuted by Dr. Heumann. From the Thefaurus Epift. la Crozianus, Tom. III. p. 170. it appears, that La Croze alfo confidered the Therapeutæ as circumcifed Egyptians: and that Jablonsky intended to write on this fubject, which however he did not put in execution.

" Hæref. XXIX.

VOL. IV.

F

SECT.