4th. That he had been separated from Timothy for some time before the writing of the first letter and that he wrote as he remembered him as a youth, and the letter correctly reflects what he actually was when first associated with St. Paul.

5th. That Paul had not necessarily been long separated from him, but like many a parent it was impossible ever to think of his "son" Timothy as having reached man's estate. Or,

6th. We may conclude that Timothy was still at the time Paul wrote exactly what the contents of the letters seem to imply.

Of these six possible inferences, I am inclined to bar out the first two entirely, and then accept a blending of the other four,-that Paul was over solicitous, that he could hardly yet regard Timothy as a grown man, that the letters reflect the counsel Timothy did need in his youth, and that some of his early traits and weaknesses still threatened to hamper his largest usefulness and success. The first letter is from the hand of an old friend, nay, more, a "father," who is extremely solicitous that his 'own son after the faith" shall in the difficult pastorate at Ephesus, acquit himself splendidly for Christ and before the world.

Some of Timothy's weaknesses and dangers as reflected in Paul's letters may be briefly alluded to.

He seems to have been by nature somewhat lacking in robust moral and physical courage, so Paul exhorted him to "fight the good fight of faith . . . Be not thou ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor

of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a

good soldier of Jesus Christ.

Let no man

Them that sin rebuke

despise thy youth. before all, that others also may hear. I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one above another, doing nothing by partiality."

Nor does Timothy appear to have been altogether exempt from the common temptations that assail youth. So Paul deemed it necessary to warn him against covetousness. "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.' Paul also cautions him against impurity and rashness. "Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure. Flee also youthful lusts, but follow with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.' Temperamentally Timothy seems to have been impulsive, so Paul counselled him on this score as follows: "Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses." He was also inclined to be speculative, argumentative, and disputatious-perhaps due to his Greek heritage

through his father. At any rate this tendency needed curbing and Paul urges against it again and again. "Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and opposition of science, falsely so called the form of sound words

Hold fast

But foolish and

unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes." Timothy was also in danger of lacking that personal and professional energy and steadfastness which Paul deemed essential to a servant of Jesus Christ, so he wrote "Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. Wherefore I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.

But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry."

It would be easy to declare all this a true revelation of the real Timothy, while the record of Paul's testimony of him in his letters to various churches, and the important commissions entrusted to him, were the words and acts of an over fond father praising and trusting a child far beyond his merits and abilities. But such an assumption is unnecessary and would be unjust. It is better to regard Paul's letters as correctly portraying the kind of man Timothy was by nature and inheritance before his conversion and enlistment by Paul in missionary service; and that these old natural and hereditary traits still occasionally showed themselves, demanding constant watchfulness and struggle on the part of Timothy to prevent their staining his life and marring his usefulness.

On the other hand we should regard Paul's praise and his confidence in Timothy as picturing the man Paul wanted him to be, believed he would become, helped him to be, and, in the end, the kind of man he actually became. At one time Paul wrote exhorting him to be courageous. He believed in that to which he appealed. Timothy became that which his friend believed of him. So at the last when Paul's foes were increasing and his friends decreasing and death was near and escape hopeless, it was to Timothy, the one time timid-hearted, that he wrote to hasten to his side to share the last terrors when the

weak and cowardly were deserting and in hiding; and Paul wrote in full assurance that his summons would be obeyed, that Timothy was a man who then feared the face of no foe.

V

What Paul and Timothy Each Owed to the Other

No pen can portray what these two friends were to each other. Their affection was so sacred and their friendship so inspiring that it seems useless, if not a profanation, to try to subject it to any analysis whatsoever. And yet as our theme is the greatness and significance of Paul's friendships both to himself, his friends, and the world, we are compelled to indicate some of the values of this particular friendship or we prove false to our undertaking.

Without intending any disparagement of Timothy, it must be confessed that we have to search his career very minutely to find a single strong masculine note in his nature. While he was well reported of when we first meet him, it is improbable that his name would now be preserved had not Paul's surging love laid hold upon him and breathed into his heart some small part at least of the flaming fires of his own inspiration, and nerved and supported him with his own heart of oak.

Paul drafted him into the soldiership of Jesus Christ and hurled him into those campaigns that were to change history. From the moment they met Timothy was his, soul and body. He committed