the palace of the imperial Caesar himself, among whose house-*hold attendants were many now numbered among the saints who sent salutations to Philippi. The terms in which he mentions his approaching release, are still more remarkable than those in the former epistles. He says—"Having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all," &c. "that your rejoicing may be more abundant, by my coming to you again." "I trust in the Lord that I shall myself also come shortly."
The immediate occasion of this epistle was the return of Epaphroditus, the apostle or messenger of the Philippian church, by whom Paul now wrote this, as a grateful acknowledgment of their generosity in contributing to his support that money, of which Epaphroditus was the bearer. In the epistle, he also took occasion, after giving them an account of his life in Rome, to warn them against the errors of the Judaizers, whose doctrines were the occasion of so much difficulty in the Christian churches.
THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.
The release which Paul so confidently anticipated, probably happened shortly after the writing of the last epistle, and at this time, just before leaving Italy for another field of labor, it is commonly believed that he wrote his epistle to the Hebrews. Of the particular place, the time, the immediate object, and the persons who were the receivers of this epistle, nothing is with any certainty known; and the whole range of statements in standard works of exegetical and critical theology, on this writing, is the most appalling mass of vague speculations, unfounded conclusions and contradictory assertions, that presents itself to the historian of the apostolic works in any direction; and in respect to all these points, referring the critical to any or all of the thousand and one views, given in the learned and elaborate introductions and commentaries, which alone can with any justice so much as open the subject, the author excuses himself entirely from any discussion of this endless question, in the words used on one of these points, by one of the most learned, acute, ingenious and cautious critics of modern times. "Any thing further on this subject I am unable to determine, and candidly confess my ignorance as to the place where the epistle to the Hebrews was written. Nor do I envy any man who pretends to know more on this subject, unless he has discovered sources of intelligence, which have hitherto remained unknown. It is better to leave a question in a
