for he is truly and faithfully the servant of hin, whose service is perfect freedom."

The paragraph in which Josephus gives the character of Epaphroditus, is singularly beautiful and important, as it presents us with a fine portrait of the man, who, at the hazard of his life and fortune, sided with the apostle in the court of Nero. Such a character, drawn by the impartial pen of the Jewish historian, is itself an eloquent volume in favour of Paul, and of the sacred cause in which he was engaged. But the words of Josephus have a peculiar propriety, if considered in reference to the situation which Epaphroditus occupied in the household of Cæsar. See Phil. iv. 23. As the secretary or minister of Nero, and perhaps of the succeeding emperors, he was himself engaged in important affairs. As he had been brought a slave from Colossi to Rome, where, by his unspotted integrity and splendid talents, he reached a place of great trust and eminence; where, after he had been disgraced by persecution, he was again restored to honour; he had truly experienced various vicissitudes of fortune. He displayed an inflexible adherence to virtue; as in circumstances which menaced his fame, his property, and even his life, he embraced the Gospel, and remained attached to it, displaying its happy influence on his temper and conduct, in the most cruel, and profligate court, unawed by the terrors of ignominy and persecution on one hand, and unseduced by the allurements of pleasure on the other.

The Pagan historians, Suetonius, Tacitus, and Dion, envying Christianity the fame of this man's talents, and the lustre of his character, have not even hinted that he was a believer in it; though

this was a fact of which they could not possibly have been ignorant, and their apprehension of it appears evident from the context, in which they speak of his death.

Seneca, as well as Epaphroditus, was in the number of those in the palace to whom the Gospel was made known. This I am able to prove from his own writings. The general use of the term "God" in the singular number, and the character which he gives of one Supreme Being, demonstrate that he was indebted for this fundamental article of true religion to the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. In opposition to the Pagan philosophers, and in imitation of the followers of Christ, he exposes the gods of the heathens*; and places, in various parts of his works, the existence and attributes of Jehovah in the most engaging light. "Do not you comprehend," says he," the authority and majesty of the judge? He is the ruler of heaven and earth, and the God of all gods, on whom depend those divinities which we individually worshipt.'

Moses, in his account of the creation, represents the Almighty as addressing his angels, and employing them as his ministers in the formation of the world. This representation is more express in the beginning of Job, where it is said, that" the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord." The language is assuredly figurative, and is borrowed from those potentates who, by means of sub

* The fragment of a book, in which Seneca exposes the Pagan gods, is preserved by Augustine De Civitate Dei, lib. vi. c. 10. It is thence copied and prefixed to his works.

+"Non intelligis auctoritatem ac majestatem judicis tui? Rector is orbis terrarum cœlique, et deorum omnium Deus: a quo ista numina quæ singula adoramus et colimus, suspensa sunt."

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ordinate agents, execute their orders in the several provinces of their dominions. The figure is thus copied by Seneca: "When he laid the foundation of this most beautiful fabric, he ordained that all things should proceed under appointed guides, in an order which nothing exceeds in magnificence and beauty and though He does himself pervade the whole system, he has begotten those gods which are the ministers of his kingdom*."

Job holds forth the Almighty as employing natural and moral evil, under the term Satan, not as indications of his displeasure, but as the means of trying and improving those who are educated in the school of virtue. And it is remarkable that this doctrine, which stands in direct opposition to the conclusions at which the wisest among the heathens arrived, pervades the writings of Seneca. "Those things," says he, "which you deem rugged, which you call adverse and abominable, are calculated to promote first the happiness of those who are visited with them, and next that of the whole universet." "Between God and good men there is friendship, a reconciliation between them being effected by virtue. Do I say friendship?

*"Hic, cum prima fundamenta molis pulcherrimæ jaceret, et hoc ordiretur, quo neque majus quidquam novit natura, nec melius, ut omnia sub ducibus suis irent, quamvis ipse per totum se corpus intenderat, tamen ministros regni sui deos genuit' Apud Lactan. Divin. Instit. lib. i. c. 4.-Seneca often uses the term Gods in the plural. But it is clear from this passage that he meant by Gods not the popular gods of Greece and Rome, but those ministers of God who, in the Jewish Scrip tures, are called angels, and who go under the name of Eloheim or Gods. See Gen. iii. 5, as rendered by Essenus.

+ "Nunc illud dico, ista quæ tu vocas aspera, quæ adversa et abominanda, primum pro ipsis esse, quibus accidunt; deinde pro universis." De Provid. cap. iii.

nay, there is between them a close intimacy and affinity since a good man, for a time only, is distant from God, being his disciple, his imitator and offspring in the truest sense*." "God has towards good men the affections of a father; and though he strongly loves them, he has ordained that they should be harassed by labours, by pain and by losses, that they might thereby acquire real strength." The ideas here set forth, that good men are the children of God, the disciples of God, the imitators of God, and reconciled to God by virtue or good works, are familiar to the readers of the New Testament, whence assuredly they have been copied. See John i. 12. vi. 45. 2 Cor. v. 19, 20.

The substance of the Christian doctrine respecting God, is comprehended by our Lord in one verse, that he is "The Father; and that to worship him with acceptance, he must be worshipped with sincerity and truth." This character of the universal Father is delineated with matchless simplicity and beauty by Seneca. "Do you wish to have just conceptions of God, you must revere him as all great and benign, as invested with gentle majesty; as a friend, and at all times at your side; as to be worshipped not with immolations and profusion of blood, but with a pure mind, with upright and honourable purposes. Lofty temples must not be

* "Inter bonos viros ac Deum amicitia est, conciliante virtute. Amicitiam dico? imo etiam necessitudo et similitudo: quoniam quidem bonus ipse tempore tantum a Deo differt, disci pulus ejus, æmulatorque, et vera progenies." De Provid. cap. i.

+ Patrium habet Deus adversus bonos viros animum, et illos fortiter amat: et operibus, inquit, doloribus ac damnis exagitentur, ut verum colligant robur." cap. ii.

erected for his habitation: he dwells in every hallowed breast*."

Of the Jewish nation Seneca speaks with great severity, while he alludes to the Christians, in persecuting whom the majority of that nation concurred with the Pagans, in terms of high commendation. "The custom (meaning the sabbath) of that most murderous nation has prevailed over the whole world, and the conquered have given laws to their conquerors. Yet they know the causes of their institutions, though the majority of the people are ignorant of the purpose for which they practise themt."

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Josephus declares, that the religion of the Jews had, in his days, universally prevailed in the world. This declaration is here confirmed in a remarkable manner by Seneca. Even in the reign of Nero their institutions were received over the whole world, and the conquered gave laws to the conquerors. But observe the judgement he pronounces on the causes and end of the Jewish rites; he speaks with the confidence of a man who had studied and understood their records. These causes were the great historical facts which Moses has recorded; and these, Seneca, by implication, allows to be true,

"Vultisne vos Deum cogitare? magnum et placidum et majestate leni verendum amicum, et semper in proximo: non immolationibus, et sanguine multo colendum; (quæ enim ex trucidatione immerentium voluptas est?) sed mente pura, bono honestoque proposito. Non templa illi, congestis in altitudinem saxis, struenda sunt: in suo cuique consecrandus est pectore."

"Cum interim usque eo sceleratissimæ gentis consuetudo convaluit, ut per omnes jam terras recepta sit; victi victoribus leges dederunt. Illi (silicet Judæi) causas ritus sui noverunt, at major pars populi facit, quod cur faciat ignorant." Apud Augustinum, lib. vi. c. 11.

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