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gion above his equals; so for want of this kind of learning, the Jews esteemed the chief of the other apostles, Peter and John, to be idiots and unlearned.

5. Sundry particulars towards the close of the Epistle, openly proclaim Paul to have been the writer of it. Ás, 1st, The mention that he makes of his bonds, and the compassion that the Hebrews shewed towards him in his sufferings, and whilst he was a prisoner, Chap. x. 34. Now, as the bonds of Paul were afterwards famous at Rome, Phil. i. 13. so there was not any thing of greater notoriety in reference to the church of God in those days, than those that he suffered in Judea; which he minds them of in this expression. With what earnest endeavours, what rage and tumult, the rulers and body of the people sought his destruction, how publicly and with what solemnity his cause was sundry times heard and debated, with the time of his imprisonment that ensued, are all declared in the Acts at large. Now no man can imagine, but that whilst this great champion of their profession, was so publicly pleading their cause, and exposed to so much danger and hazard thereby, but that all the believers of those parts were exceedingly solicitous about his condition, (as they had been about Peter's in the like case) and gave him all the assistance and encouragement that they were able. This compassion of theirs, and his own bonds, as an evidence of his faith, and their mutual love in the gospel, he now minds them of. Of no other person but Paul have we any ground to conjecture that this might be spoken; and the suffering and compassion here mentioned, seem not to have been things done in a corner. So that this one circumstance is able of itself, to enervate all the exceptions that are made use of against his being esteemed the anthor of this Epistle. 2dly, The mention of Paul's dear and constant companion Timothy is of the same importance, Chap. xiii. 23. That Timothy was at Rome with Paul in his bonds is expressly asserted, Phil. i. 13, 14. And that he was also cast into prison with Paul is here intimated, his release being expressed. Now surely it is scarcely credible, that any other should in Italy, where Paul then was, and newly released out of prison, write unto the churches of the Hebrews, and therein make mention of his own bonds, and the bonds of Timothy, a man unknown to them but by the means of Paul, and not once intimate any thing about his condition. The exceptions of some, as that Paul used to call Timothy his son, whereas the writer of this Epistle calls him brother, (when indeed he never terms him son, when he speaks of him, but only when he wrote unto him), or that there might be another Timothy, (when he speaks expressly of him, who was so generally known to the churches of God, as one of the chiefest evangelists) deserve not to be insisted on.

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surely, it is altogether incredible that this Timothy, the son of Paul, as to his begetting of him in the faith, and continued paternal affection; his known constant associate in doing and suffering for the gospel; his minister in attending of him, and constantly employed by him in the service of Christ and the churches; known unto them by his means; honoured by him with two epistles written unto him, and the association of his name with his own in the inscription of sundry others, should now be so absent from him as to be joined unto another in his travail and ministry. 3dly, The constant sign and token of Paul's epistles which himself had publicly signified to be so, 2 Thess. iii. 17. is subjoined unto this, "Grace be with you all." That originally this was written with Paul's own hand, there is no ground to question, and it appears to be so, because it was written; and he affirms that it was his custom to subjoin that salutation with his own hand. Now this writing of it with his own hand, was evidence unto them, unto whom the original of the Epistle first came, unto those who had only transcribed copies of it, it could not be so; the salutation itself was their token, being peculiar to Paul, and amongst the rest annexed to this Epistle. And all these circumstances will yet receive some further enforcement from the consideration of the time where in this Epistle was written, whereof in the next place we shall treat.

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EXERCITATION III.

1. The time of the writing of this Epistle to the Hebrews. The use of the right stating thereof. § 2. After his release out of prison. Before the death of James. Before the Second of Peter. 3. The time of Paul's coming to Rome. § 4. The condition of the affairs of the Jews at that time. § 5, 6. The martyrdom of James. 7. State of the churches of the Hebrews. 8. Constant in the observation of Mosaical institutions. §9. Warned to leave Jerusalem. § 10. That warning what, and how given. Causes of their unwillingness so to do. 11. The occasion and success of this Epistle,

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THAT was not amiss observed of old by Chrysostome, Præf. in Com. ad Epist. ad Rom. that a due observation of the time and season wherein the Epistles of Paul were written, doth give great light unto the understanding of many passages in them. This Baronius, ad A. C. 55. N. 42. well confirms by an instance of their mistake, who suppose the shipwreck of Paul at Mileta, Acts xxvii. to have been that mentioned by him, 2 Cor. xi. when he was a night and a day in the deep; that Epistle being written some years before his sailing towards Rome. And we may well apply this observation to this Epistle unto the Hebrews. A discovery of the time and season wherein it was written, will both free us from sundry mistakes, and also give us some light into the occasion and design of it. This therefore we shall now inquire into.

§ 2. Some general intimations we have in the Epistle itself, leading us towards the discovery of this, and somewhat may be gathered from other places of Scripture; for antiquity will af ford us little or no help herein. After Paul's being brought a prisoner to Rome, Acts xxviii. two full years he continued in that condition, ver. 30. at least so long he continued under restraint, though in his own hired house. This time was expired before the writing of this Epistle; for he was not only absent from Rome, in some other part of Italy, when he wrote it, ch. xiii. 24. but also so far at liberty, and sui juris, as that he had entertained a resolution of going into the east, so soon as Timothy should come unto him, ch. xiii. 23. And it seems like, Avise to be written before the martyrdom of James at Jerusa lem, in that he affirms that the church of the Hebrews had not yet resisted unto blood, ch. xii. 4. it being very probable that, together with him, many others were slain. Many great diffi,

culties they had been exercised with, but as yet the matter was not come to blood, which shortly after it arrived unto. That is certain also, that it was not only written, but communicated unto, and well known by all the believing Jews, before the writing of the second Epistle of Peter, who therein makes mention of it, as we have declared. Much light, I confess, as to the precise time of its writing, is not hence to be obtained, because of the uncertainty of the time wherein Peter wrote that Epistle. Only it appears, from what he affirms concerning the approaching of the time of his suffering, ch. i. 13. that it was not long before his death. This, as is generally agreed, happened in the thirteenth year of Nero, when a great progress was made in that war, which ended in the fatal and final destruction of the city and temple.

§3. From these observations it appears, that the best guide we have to find out the certain time of the writing of this Epistle, is Paul's being sent prisoner unto Rome. Now this was in the first year of the government of Festus, after he had been two years detained in prison at Cesarea by Felix, Acts xxiv. 27. xxv. 26, 27. This Felix was the brother of Pallas, who ruled all things under Claudius, and fell into some disgrace in the very first year of Nero, as Tacitus informs us. But yet by the countenance of Agrippina, the mother of Nero, he continued in some regard, until the fifth or sixth year of his reign, when, together with his mother, he destroyed many of her friends and favourites. During this time of Pallas' declension in power, it is most probable that his brother Felix was displaced from the rule of his province, and Festus sent in his room. That it was before his utter ruin in the sixth year of Nero, is evident from hence, because he found means to keep his brother from punishment, when he was accused for extortion and oppression by the Jews. Most probably then Paul was sent unto Rome, about the fourth or fifth year of Nero, which was the fifty-ninth year from the nativity of the Lord Jesus Christ. There he abode, as we shewed, at the least two years in custody, where the story of the Acts of the Apostles ends, in the seventh year of Nero, and sixty-first of our Lord, or the beginning of the year following. It is presumed, that he obtained his liberty in that year. And this was about thirteen years after the synod at Jerusalem had determined the controversy, respecting the obligation of the Gentiles to observe Mosaic institutions, Aets xv. Presently upon his liberty, whilst he abode in some part of Italy, expecting the coming of Timothy, before he entered upon the journey he had promised unto the Philippians, ch. ii. 24. he wrote this Epistle. Here then we must stay a little, to consider what was the general state and condition of the Hebrews in those days, which might give occasion to the writing of it.

§ 4.' The time fixed on was about the death of Festus, who died in the province, and the beginning of the government of Albinus, who was sent to succeed him. What the state of the people at that time was, Josephus declares at large in his sccond book of their wars. In brief, the governors themselves being great oppressors, and rather mighty robbers amongst them than rulers, the whole nation was filled with spoil and violence. What through the fury and outrage of the soldiers, in the pursuit of their insatiable avarice; what through the incursions of thieves and robbers in troops and companies, wherewith the whole land abounded; and what through the tumults of seditious persons, daily incited and provoked by the cruelty of the Romans; there was no peace or safety for any sober honest men, either in the city of Jerusalem, or any where else throughout the whole province. That the church had a great share of suffering in the outrage and misery of those days, (as in such dissolutions of government, and licence for all wickedness, it commonly falls out), no man can question. And this is that which the apostle mentions, ch. x. 31-34. “Ye endured a great fight of afflictions, partly whilst ye were made a gazingstock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilst ye became companions of them that were so used, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods." This was the lot and portion of all honest and sober-minded men in those days, as their historian at large declares. For as no doubt the Christians had a principal share in all those sufferings, so some others of the Jews also were their companions in them; it being not a special persecution, but a general calamity that the apostle speaks

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§ 5. One Joseph, the son of Cæbias, was in the beginning of those days high priest. He had been put into that office by Agrippa, who not long before had put him out. On the death of Festus, he thrust him out again, and placed Ananus, or Ananias, his son in his stead. This man, a young rash fellow, first began a direct persecution of the church. He was by sect and opinion a Sadducee, who of all others were the most violent in their hatred of the Christians, being especially engaged therein by the peculiar opinion of his sect and party, which was the denial of the resurrection. Before his advancement to the priesthood, their afflictions and calamities were for the most part common unto them, with other peaceable men. Only the rude and impious multitude, with other seditious persons, seem to have offered especial violence unto their assemblies and meetings, which some of the more unsteadfast and weak began to omit on that account, ch. x. 25. Judicial proceeding against them as to their lives, when this Epistle was written, there doth not appear to have been any; for the apostle tells them, as we before

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