is direct evidence that heresies, such as those described in these epistles, existed in the Church long before Paul’s first imprisonment.  See 1 Cor. iii. 18, 19, xv. 12; 2 Cor. xi. 4, 13, 14, 15, 22, compared with 1 Tim. i. 3, 7.  III.  The early Churches were very soon organised, as appears from Acts xiv. 23; 1 Thess. v. 12, 13; so that the state of ecclesiastical organisation described in the First Epistle to Timothy and the Epistle to Titus is no proof of the late date of these letters.  IV.  But the grand argument in support of the early date, and one with which the advocates of the later chronology have never fairly grappled, is derived from the fact that Paul never was in Ephesus after the time mentioned in Acts xx.  When he wrote to Timothy he intended shortly to return thither.  See 1 Tim. i. 3, iii. 14, 15.  It is evident that when the apostle addressed the elders of Ephesus (Acts xx. 25) and told them they should “see his face no more,” he considered himself as speaking prophetically.  It is clear, too, that his words were so understood by his auditors (Acts xx. 38), and that the evangelist, who wrote them down several years afterwards, was still under the same impression.  I agree, therefore, with Wieseler, and others, in assigning an early date to the First Epistle to Timothy and the Epistle to Titus.

[130:1] 2 Cor. xi. 9, 24-28, 32, 33, xii. 2, 7-9.  The Second Epistle to the Corinthians was written late in A.D. 57.

[130:2] 2 Cor. ii. 4.

[130:3] [Greek:  eis ten Hellada], i.e., Achaia.

[130:4] Acts xx. 2, 3.

[130:5] Rom. xvi. 1, 2, 23.

[130:6] Rom. i. 8.

[130:7] Rom. xvi. 7, 11.

[130:8] Rom. xvi. 3.

[130:9] Acts xix. 21; Rom. i. 10, 11, xv. 23, 24.

[131:1] Acts xx. 3.

[131:2] Acts xx. 6.

[131:3] Acts xx. 6.

[131:4] Acts xx. 17-35.

[131:5] Acts xx. 36-38.

[131:6] Acts xxi. 8.

[131:7] Acts xx. 23, xxi. 10, 11.

[131:8] [Greek:  hepiskeuaramenoi]—­the reading adopted by Lachmann and others.  The word “carriages” used in the authorised version for baggage, or luggage, is now unintelligible to the English reader.  The word “carriage” is also used in our translation in Judges xviii. 21, and 1 Sam. xvii. 22, for something to be carried.

[131:9] Acts xxi. 15.

[132:1] Acts ii. 45.

[132:2] Rom. xv. 26.

[132:3] 1 Cor. xvi. 3; 2 Cor. viii. 19.

[132:4] Acts xx. 4.

[133:1] Prov. xviii. 10.

[133:2] Acts xxi. 17.

[133:3] Acts xxi. 24.