This epistle is a last letter in which St. Paul exhorts Timothy to continue as he began in the work of the gospel, which is necessary because there are many who fall away, and false spirits and teachers are stirring up everywhere. Therefore, it is a bishop's duty to always watch over and work on the gospel.
In particular, in the third and fourth chapters, he proclaims the perilous time at the end of the world, in which the false spiritual life shall seduce all the world with outward appearances, under which all kinds of wickedness and vice have their being; as, unfortunately, we now see this prophecy of St. Paul being all too abundantly fulfilled in our clergy.
*) This preface is found in the Leipzig edition, vol. XII, p. 66 and in the Erlangen edition, vol. 63, p. 148.
**) This preface is found in the Leipzig edition, vol. XII, p. 67 and in the Erlangen edition, vol. 63, p. 149.