bout the time of the
destruction of Jerusalem with the temple, that the synagogue might be
buried with honor. Therefore St. Paul refused to circumcise Titus, born
of Gentile parents, to assert the liberty of the gospel, and to condemn
those who erroneously affirmed circumcision to be still of precept in
the New Law. On the other side, he circumcised Timothy, born of a
Jewess, by that condescension to render him the more acceptable to the
Jews, and to make it appear that himself was no enemy to their law. St.
Chrysostom[2] here admires the prudence, steadiness, {209} and charity
of St. Paul; and we may add, the voluntary obedience of the disciple.
St. Austin[3] extols his zeal and disinterestedness in immediately
forsaking his country, his house, and his parents, to follow this
apostle, to share in his poverty and sufferings. After he was
circumcised, St. Paul, by the imposition of hands, committed to him the
ministry of preaching, his rare virtue making ample amends for his want
of age. From that time the apostle regarded him not only as his disciple
and most dear son, but as his brother, and the companion of his
labors.[4] He calls him a man of God,[5] and tells the Philippians, that
he found no one so truly united to him in heart and sentiments, as
Timothy.[6] This esteem of the apostle is a sufficient testimony of the
extraordinary merit of the disciple, whose vocation and entrance into
the ministry was accompanied with prophecies in his behalf.[7]

St. Paul travelled from Lystra over the rest of Asia, sailed into
Macedon, and preached at Philippi, Thessalonica, and Ber[oe]a, in the year
52. Being compelled to quit this last city by the fury of the Jews, he
left Timothy behind him, to confirm the new converts there. On St.
Paul's arrival at Athens he sent for him, but being informed that the
Christians of Thessalonica lay under a very heavy persecution for the
faith, he soon after deputed him to go thither, to comfort and encourage
them under it; and he returned to St. Paul, then at Corinth, to give him
an account of his success in that commission.[8] Upon this the apostle
wrote his first epistle to the Thessalonians. From Corinth St. Paul went
to Jerusalem, and thence to Ephesus, where he spent two years. Here he
formed a resolution of returning into Greece, and sent Timothy and
Erastus before him through Macedon, to apprize the faithful in those
parts of his intention, and to prepare the alms intended to be sent the