ly at the hazard of life, many of his friends had forsaken him.
Chaps. 1:15; 4:10. He needed the presence and help of Timothy, and wrote
urging him to come speedily, and to bring certain articles which he had
left at Troas. Feeling that his end was near, he improved the occasion
to give Timothy his affectionate apostolic counsel and encouragement.
Hence the present epistle differs strikingly in its preceptive part from
the other two. They contain specific directions for ordaining officers
and managing the affairs of the churches; for in them the apostle writes
to men in charge of specific fields of labor. In the second epistle to
Timothy, on the contrary, the apostle's exhortations are general, for he
is summoning him away from his particular field to give attendance upon
himself at Rome. But all three of the pastoral epistles agree
remarkably, as well in their general style and diction as in their
description of existing errors and false teachers. It is generally
thought that Timothy was at Ephesus; and with this opinion agrees the
salutation to "the household of Onesiphorus," who was at Ephesus. Chap.
4:19 compared with 1:18. The words of chap. 4:12, however, "Tychicus
have I sent to Ephesus," do not favor this supposition. Hence some have
thought that Timothy was not in that city, but only in its vicinity. The
present is undoubtedly the last of Paul's epistles in the order of time.
As such we cannot but peruse it with solemnity, as the closing testimony
of one who has fought the good fight, finished the appointed course, and
kept the faith; and who here instructs all, especially all preachers of
the gospel, how they may do the same. "And thus we possess an epistle
calculated for all ages of the church; and in which while the maxims
cited and encouragements given apply to all Christians, and especially
ministers of Christ, in their duties and difficulties--the affecting
circumstances in which the writer himself is placed carry home to every
heart his earnest and impassioned eloquence." Alford, Introduction to 2
Timothy.

VIII. EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.

42. In regard to the _authorship_ of this epistle biblical scholars are
not agreed. Each of the thirteen preceding epistles bears the name of
Paul. But the present epistle is without either name or address, and it
omits also at the beginning the apostolic salutation. Thus it commences
in the form of an essay, though it closes in that of an epistle. These
circumstances