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THE

WORKS

OF

WILLIAM PA LEY, D. D.

ADDITIONAL SERMONS,

ETC. ETC.
AND A CORRECTED ACCOUNT OF THE

LIFE AND WRITINGS OF THE AUTHOR,
BY THE REV. EDMUND PALEY, A.M.

VICAR OF EASINGWOLD.

A NEW EDITION,

IN SEVEN VOLUMES.

LONDON :

PRINTED FOR C. AND J. RIYINGTON ; J. NUNN ; LONGMAN, HURST,
REES, ORME, AND CO.; T. CADBLL ; J. RICHARDSON; BALDWIN,
CRADOCK, AND JOY ; G. B. WHITTAKER ; R. SAUNDERS ; J. COL-
LI NGWOOD : J. PARKER, oxford; AND DEIGHTON AND SONS,
CAMBRIDGE.

1825. •

LONDON :

rUl>fl'Er» BY THOMAS 11AVISOX, WHITEFRIARS.

VOL. III.
HOR^ PAULINiE,

AND

TRACTS.

CONTENTS

VOLUME III.

HORiE PAULINA.

Chap, I. Exposition of the Argument .
II. The Epistle to the Romans

III, The First Epistle to the Corinthians

IV. The Second Epistle to the Corinthians
V. The Epistle to the Galatians .

VI. The Epistle to the Ephesians
VII. The Epistle to the Philippians
VIII. The Epistle to the Colossians
IX. The First Epistle to the Thessalonians
X. The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians
XI. The First Epistle to Timothy .
XII. The Second Epistle to Timothy

XIII. The Epistle to Titus

XIV. The Epistle to Philemon
XV. The Subscriptions of the Epistles

XVI. The Conclusion

Page

5

17

46

67

103

140

171

185

194

206

213

223

235

242

248

253

A Defence of the Considerations on the Propriety of requiring
a Subscription to Articles of Faith ; in reply to a late
Answer from the Clarendon Press . . . . . 2(S1

Reasons for Contentment, addressed to the labouring Part of
the British Public 315

- IlOllM PAULINiE:

OR,

THE TRUTH

OF THE

SCRIPTURE HISTORY OF ST. PAUL EVINCED.

VOL. III.

TO

THE RIGHT REVEREND

JOHN LAW, D. D.

LORD BISHOP OF KILLALA AND ACHONRY,

AS A TESTIMONY OF ESTEEM

FOR HIS VIRTUES AND LEARNING,

AND OF GRATITUDE

FOR THE LONG AND FAITHFUL FRIENDSHIP

WITH WHICH

THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN HONOURED

BY HIM,

THIS ATTEMPT TO CONFIRM THE EVIDENCE

OF THE CHRISTIAN HISTORY

IS INSCRIBED,

BY HIS AFFECTIONATE

AND MOST OBLIGED SERVANT,

W. PALEY.

B 2

THE

TRUTH

SCRIPTURE HISTORY OF ST. PAUL
EVINCED.

CHAPTER I.

EXPOSITION OF THE ARGUMENT.

The volume of Christian Scriptures contains thir-
teen letters purporting to be written by St. Paul ; it
contains also a book, which, amongst other things,
professes to deliver the history, or rather memoirs of
the history, of this same person. By assuming the
genuineness of the letters, we may prove the sub-
stantial truth of the history ; or, by assuming the
truth of the history, we may argue strongly in sup-
port of the genuineness of the letters. But I as-
sume neither one nor the other. The reader is at
liberty to suppose these writings to have been lately
discovered in the library of the Escurial, and to
come to our hands destitute of any extrinsic or col-
lateral evidence whatever ; and the argument I am
about to offer is calculated to show, that a com-

6 HOR^ PAULINiE.

parison of the different writings would, even under
these circumstances, afford good reason to believe the
persons and transactions to have been real, the let-
ters authentic, and the narration in the main to be
true.

Agreement or conformity between letters bearing
the name of an ancient author, and a received history
of that author's life, does not necessarily establish
the credit of either : because,

1. The history may, like Middleton's Life of
Cicero, or Jortin's Life of Erasmus, have been
wholly, or in part, compiled from the letters : in
which case it is manifest that the history adds no-
thing to the evidence already afforded by the letters ;
or,

2. The letters may have been fabricated out of
the history : a species of imposture which is certainly
practicable ; and which, without any accession of
proof or authority, would necessarily produce the ap-
pearance of consistency and agreement ; or,

3. The history and letters may have been founded
upon some authority common to both ; as upon re-
ports and traditions which prevailed in the age in
which they were composed, or upon some ancient
record now lost, which both writers consulted ; in
which case also, the letters, without being genuine,
may exhibit marks of conformity with the history ;
and the history, without being true, may agree with
the letters.

Agreement therefore, or conformity, is only to be
relied upon so far as we can exclude these several
suppositions. Now the point to be noticed is, that
in the three cases above enumerated, conformity

HORiE PAULINiE. 7

must be the effect of design. Where the history is
compiled from the letters, which is the first case, the
design and composition of the work are in general so
confessed, or made so evident by comparison, as to
leave us in no danger of confounding the production
with original history, or of mistaking it for an in-
dependent authority. The agreement, it is probable,
will be close and uniform, and will easily be perceived
to result from the intention of the author, and from
the plan and conduct of his work. — -Where the letters
are fabricated from the history, which is the second
case, it is always for the purpose of imposing a forgery
upon the public : and in order to give colour and
probability to the fraud, names, places, and circum-
stances, found in the history, may be studiously in-
troduced into the letters, as well as a general con-
sistency be endeavoured to be maintained. But here
it is manifest that whatever congruity appears, is the
consequence of meditation, artifice, and design. —
The third case is that wherein the history and the
letters, without any direct privity or communication
with each other, derive their materials from the same
source ; and, by reason of their common original,
furnish instances of accordance and correspondency.
This is a situation in which we must allow it to be
possible for ancient writings to be placed ; and it is
a situation in which it is more difficult to distinguish
spurious from genuine writings, than in either of the
cases described in the preceding suppositions ; inas-
much as the congruities observable are so far acci-
dental, as that they are not produced by the im-
mediate transplanting of names and circumstances
out of one writing into the other. But although,

8 HOR^ PAULINA.

with respect to each other, the agreement in these
writings be mediate and secondary, yet is it not pro-
perly or absolutely undesigned : because, with re-
spect to the common original from which the in-
formation of the writers proceeds, it is studied and
factitious. The case of which we treat must, as to
the letters, be a case of forgery : and when the writer
who is personating another sits down to his com-
position— whether he have the history with which
we now compare the letters, or some other record
before him ; or whether he have only loose tradition
and reports to go by — he must adapt his imposture,
as well as he can, to what he finds in these accounts ;
and his adaptations will be the result of counsel,
scheme, and industry : art must be employed ; and
vestiges will appear of management and design.
Add to this, that, in most of the following examples,
the circumstances in which the coincidence is re-
marked are of too particular and domestic a nature,
to have floated down upon the stream of general
tradition.

Of the three cases which we have stated, the dif-
ference between the first and the two others is, that
in the first the design may be fair and honest, in the
others it must be accompanied with the consciousness
of fraud ; but in all there is design. In examining,
therefore, the agreement between ancient writings,
the character of truth and originality is undesigned-
ness : and this test applies to every supposition ; for,
whether we suppose the history to be true, but the
letters spurious ; or, the letters to be genuine, but
the history false ; or, lastly, falsehood to belong to
both — the history to be a fable, and the letters fie-

KOUJE PAULIN/E. 9

titious : the same inference will result — that either
there will be no agreement between them, or the
agreement will be the effect of design. Nor will it
elude the principle of this rule, to suppose the same
person to have been the author of all the letters, or
even the author both of the letters and the history j
for no less design is necessary to produce coincidence
between different parts of a man's own writings,
especially when they are made to take the different
forms of a history and of original letters, than to ad-
just them to the circumstances found in any other
writing.

With respect to those writings of the New Testa-
ment which are to be the subject of our present con-
sideration, I think that, as to the authenticity of the
epistles, this argument, where it is sufficiently sus-
tained by instances, is nearly conclusive ; for I can-
not assign a supposition of forgery, in which coin-
cidences of the kind we inquire after are likely to
appear. As to the history, it extends to these
points : — It proves the general reality of the circum-
stances : it proves the historian's knowledge of these
circumstances. In the present instance it confirms
his pretensions of having been a contemporary, and
in the latter part of his history a companion, of St.
Paul. In a word, it establishes the substantial truth
of the narration ; and substantial truth is that which,
in every historical inquiry, ought to be the first thing
sought after and ascertained : it must be the ground-
work of every other observation.

The reader then will please to remember this
word undesig7iedness, as denoting that upon which

10 JIOHM PAULIN.E.

the construction and validity of our argument chiefly
depend.

As to the proofs of undesignedness, I shall in
this place say little ; for I had rather the reader's
persuasion should arise from the instances them-
selves, and the separate remarks with which they
may be accompanied, than from any previous for-
mulary or description of argument. In a great plu-
rality of examples, I trust he will be perfectly con-
vinced that no design or contrivance whatever has
been exercised : and if some of the coincidences al-
leged appear to be minute, circuitous, or oblique, let
him reflect that this very indirectness and subtilty is
that which gives force and propriety to the example.
Broad, obvious, and explicit agreements, prove little ;
because it may be suggested that the insertion of
such is the ordinary expedient of every forgery : and
though they may occur, and probably will occur, in
genuine writings, yet it cannot be proved that they
are peculiar to these. Thus what St. Paul declares
in chap. xi. of 1 Cor. concerning the institution of
the eucharist — " For I have received of the Lord
that which I also delivered unto you, that the Lord
Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed,
took bread ; and when he had given thanks he brake
it, and said. Take, eat ; this is my body, which is
broken for you ; this do in remembrance of me" —
though it be in close and verbal conformity with the
account of the same transaction preserved by St.
Luke, is yet .a conformity of which no use can be
made in our argument ; for if it should be objected
that this was a mere recital from the Gospel, bor-

nonJE PAULINA. 11

rowed by the author of the epistle, for the purpose
of setting off his composition by an appearance of
agreement with the received account of the Lord's
supper, I should not know how to repel the insinu-
ation. In like manner, the description which St.
Paul gives of himself in his epistle to the Philippians
(iii. 5,) — " Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock
of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of
the Hebrews ; as touching the law, a Pharisee ; con-
cerning zeal, persecuting the Church ; touching the
righteousness which is in the law, blameless" — is made
up of particulars so plainly delivered concerning
him in the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistle to the
Romans, and the Epistle to the Galatians, that I
cannot deny but that it would be easy for an im-
postor, who was fabricating a letter in the name of
St. Paul, to collect these articles into one view. This,
therefore, is a conformity which we do not adduce.
But when I read in the Acts of the Apostles, that
when *' Paul came to Derbe and Lystra, behold a
certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the
son of a certain woman which was a Jewess;"" and
when, in an epistle addressed to Timothy, I find
him reminded of his " having known the Holy Scrip-
tures ^row? a child," which implies that he must, on
one side or both, have been brought up by Jewish
parents : I conceive that I remark a coincidence
which shows, by its very obliquity, that scheme was
not employed in its formation. In like manner, if
a coincidence depend upon a comparison of dates,
or rather of circumstances from which the dates
are gathered — the more intricate that comparison

12 HOR/E PAULIN^E.

shall be; the more numerous the intermediate steps
through which the conclusion is deduced ; in a word,
the more circuitous the investigation is, the better,
because the agreement which finally results is thereby
farther removed from the suspicion of contrivance,
affectation, or design. And it should be remem-
bered, concerning these coincidences, that it is one
thing to be minute, and another to be precarious ;
one thing to be unobserved, and another to be ob-
scure ; one thing to be circuitous or oblique, and
another to be forced, dubious, or fanciful. And
this distinction ought always to be retained in our
thoughts.

^ The very particularity of St. Paul's epistles ; the
perpetual recurrence of names of persons and places;
the frequent allusions to the incidents of his private
life, and the circumstances of his condition and hi-
story; and the connexion and parallelism of these
with the same circumstances in the Acts of the
Apostles, so as to enable us, for the most part, to
confront them one with another ; as well as the
relation which subsists between the circumstances,
as mentioned or referred to in the different epistles
— afford no inconsiderable proof of the genuineness
of the writings, and the reality of the transactions.
For as no advertency is sufficient to guard against
slips and contradictions, when circumstances are
multiplied, and when they are liable to be detected
by contemporary accounts equally circumstantial, an
impostor, I should expect, would either have avoided
particulars entirely, contenting himself with doc-
trinal discussions, moral precepts, and general re-

HOR^ PAULINA. 13

flections * ; or if, for the sake of imitating St. Paul's
style, he should have thought it necessary to inter-
sperse his composition with names and circumstances,
he would have placed them out of the reach of com-
parison with the history. And I am confirmed in
this opinion by the inspection of two attempts to
counterfeit St. Paul's epistles, which have come down
to us ; and the only attempts of which we have any
knowledge, that are at all deserving of regard. One
of these is an epistle to the Laodiceans, extant in
Latin, and preserved by Fabricius in his collection
of apocryphal scriptures. The other purports to be
an epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, in answer
to an epistle from the Corinthians to him. This was
translated by Scroderus from a copy in the Armenian
language which had been sent to W. Whiston, and
was afterwards from a more perfect copy, procured
at Aleppo, published by his sons, as an appendix to
their edition of Moses Chorenensis. No Greek copy
exists of either : they are not only not supported by
ancient testimony, but they are negatived and ex-

* This, however, must not be misunderstood. A person
writing to his friends, and upon a subject in which the trans-
actions of his own life were concerned, would probably be led in
the course of his letter, especially if it was a long one, to refer to
passages found in his history. A person addressing an epistle to
the public at large, or under the form of an epistle delivering a
discourse upon some speculative argument, would not, it is pro-
bable, meet with an occasion of alluding to the circumstances of
his life at all : he might, or he might not ; the chance on either
side is nearly equal. This is the situation of the catholic epistle.
Although, therefore, the presence of these allusions and agree-
ments be a valuable accession to the arguments by which the
authenticity of a letter is maintained, yet the want of them cer-
tainly forms no positive objection.

14 HORiE PAULINiE.

eluded ; as they have never found admission into any
catalogue of apostolical writings, acknowledged by,
or known to, the early ages of Christianity. In the
first of these I found, as I expected, a total evitation
of circumstances. It is simply a collection of sen-
tences from the canonical epistles, strung together
with very little skill. The second, which is a more
versute and specious forgery, is introduced with a
list of names of persons who wrote to St. Paul from
Corinth j and is preceded by an account sufficiently
particular of the manner in which the epistle was
sent from Corinth to St. Paul, and the answer re-
turned. But they are names which no one ever
heard of: and the account it is impossible to combine
with any thing found in the Acts, or in the other
epistles. It is not necessary for me to point out the
internal marks of spuriousness and imposture which
these compositions betray; but it was necessary to
observe, that they do not afford those coincidences
which we propose as proofs of authenticity in the
epistles which we defend.

Having explained the general scheme and forma-
tion of the argument, I may be permitted to subjoin
a brief account of the manner of conductins: it.

I have disposed the several instances of agreement
under separate numbers ; as well to mark more sensi-
bly the divisions of the subject, as for another pur-
pose, viz. that the reader may thereby be reminded
that the instances are independent of one another.
I have advanced nothing which I did not think pro-
bable ; but the degree of probability by which dif-
ferent instances are supported, is undoubtedly very
different. If the reader, therefore, meets with a

HOR.E PAULINiE. 15

number which contains an instance that appears to
him unsatisfactory, or founded in mistake, he will
dismiss that number from the argument, but without
prejudice to any other. He will have occasion also
to observe, that the coincidences discoverable in some
epistles are much fewer and weaker than what are
supplied by others. But he will add to his observa-
tion this important circumstance — that whatever as-
certains the original of one epistle, in some measure
establishes the authority of the rest. For, whether
these epistles be genuine or spurious, every thing
about them indicates that they come from the same
hand. The diction, which it is extremely difficult
to imitate, preserves its resemblance and peculiarity
throughout all the epistles. Numerous expressions
and singularities of style, found in no other part of
the New Testament, are repeated in different epistles ;
and occur in their respective places, without the
smallest appearance of force or art. An involved
argumentation, frequent obscurities, especially in the
order and transition of thought, piety, vehemence,
affection, bursts of rapture, and of unparalleled sub-
limity, are properties, all, or most of them, discernible
in every letter of the collection. But although these
epistles bear strong marks of proceeding from the
same hand, I think it is still more certain that they
were originally separate publications. They form no
continued story; they compose no regular corre-
spondence ; they comprise not the transactions of
any particular period ; they carry on no connexion
of argument ; they depend not upon one another ;
except in one or two instances, they refer not to one
another. I will farther undertake to say, that no

16 HOR^ PAULINA.

study or care has been employed to produce or pre-
serve an appearance of consistency amongst them.
All which observations show that they were not in-
tended by the person, whoever he was, that wrote
them, to come forth or be read together : that they
appeared at first separately, and have been collected
since.

The proper purpose of the following work is to
bring together, from the Acts of the Apostles, and
from the different epistles, such passages as furnish
examples of undesigned coincidence ; but I have so
far enlarged upon this plan, as to take into it some
circumstances found in the epistles, which contributed
strength to the conclusion, though not strictly objects
of comparison.

It appeared also a part of the same plan, to exa-
mine the difficulties which presented themselves in
the course of our inquiry.

I do not know that the subject has been proposed
or considered in this view before. Ludovicus, Ca-
pellus. Bishop Pearson, Dr. Benson, and Dr. Lardner,
have each given a continued history of St. Paul's life,
made up from the Acts of the Apostles and the
Epistles joined together. But this, it is manifest,
is a different undertaking from the present, and
directed to a different purpose.

If what is here offered shall add one thread to that
complication of probabilities by which the Christian
history is attested, the reader's attention will be re-
paid by the supreme importance of the subject ; and
my design will be fully answered.

nORM PAULIN.E. 17

CHAPTER II.

THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

No. I.

The first passage I shall produce from this epistle,
and upon which a good deal of observation will be
founded, is the following :

*' But now I go unto Jerusalem, to minister unto
the saints ; for it hath pleased them of Macedonia
and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the
poor saints which are at Jerusalem." Rom. xv.
25, 26.

In this quotation three distinct circumstances are
stated — a contribution in Macedonia for the relief of
the Christians of Jerusalem, a contribution in Achaia
for the same purpose, and an intended journey of
St. Paul to Jerusalem. These circumstances are
stated as taking place at the same time, and that to
be the time when the epistle was written. Now let
us inquire whether we can find these circumstances
elsewhere ; and whether, if we do find them, they
meet together in respect of date. Turn to the
Acts of the Apostles, chap. xx. ver. 2, 3, and you
read the following account : " When he had gone
over those parts (viz. Macedonia), and had given
them much exhortation, he came into Greece, and
there abode three months ; and when the Jews laid
wait for him, as he was about to sail into Syria^ he
proposed to return through Macedonia.'* From this
passage, compared with the account of St. Paul's

VOL. III. c

18 HOR.^ PAULINiE.

travels given before, and from the sequel of the
chapter, it appears that upon St. Paul's seco7id visit
to the peninsula of Greece, his intention was, when
he should leave the country, to proceed from Achaia
directly by sea to Syria ; but that to avoid the Jews,
who were lying in wait to intercept him in his route,
he so far changed his purpose as to go back through
Macedonia, embark at Philippi, and pursue his voyage
from thence towards Jerusalem. Here therefore is
a journey to Jerusalem ; but not a syllable of any
contribution. And as St. Paul had taken several
journeys to Jerusalem before, and one also imme-
diately after \\isjirst visit into the peninsula of Greece
(Acts, xviii. 21), it cannot from hence be collected
in which of these visits the epistle was written, or,
with certainty, that it was written in either. The
silence of the historian, who professes to have been
with St. Paul at the time (c. xx. v. 6), concerning
any contribution, might lead us to look out for some
different journey, or might induce us perhaps to
question the consistency of the two records, did not
a very accidental reference, in another part of tlic
same history, afford us sufficient ground to believe
that this silence was omission. When St. Paul made
his reply before Felix, to the accusations of Tertullus,
he alleged, as was natural, that neither the errand
which brought him to Jerusalem, nor his conduct
whilst he remained there, merited the calumnies
with which the Jews had aspersed him. " Now after
many years (i. e. of absence) / came to bring alms
to my natio7i and offerings ; whereupon certain Jews
from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither
with multitude nor with tumult, who ought to have

HOR^E PAULINiE. 19

been here before thee, and object, if they had aught
against me." Acts, xxiv. I7 — 19. This mention of
ahns and offerings certainly brings the narrative in
the Acts nearer to an accordancy with the epistle ;
yet no one, I am persuaded, will suspect that this
clause was put into St. Paul's defence, either to
supply the omission in the preceding narrative, or
with any view to such accordancy.

After all, nothing is yet said or hinted concerning
the place of the contribution ; nothing concerning
Macedonia and Achaia. Turn therefore to the First
Epistle to the Corinthians, chap. xvi. ver. 1 — 4, and
you have St. Paul delivering the following directions :
" Concerning the collection for the saints, as I have
given orders to the churches of Galatia, even so do
ye ; upon the first day of the week let every one of
you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him,
that there be no gatherings when I come. And
when I come, whomsoever you shall approve by your
letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto
Jerusalem ; and if it be meet that I go also, they
shall go with me." In this passage we find a con-
tribution carrying on at Corinth, the capital of
Achaia, for the Christians of Jerusalem : we find
also a hint given of the possibility of St. Paul going
up to Jerusalem himself, after he had paid his visit
into Achaia : but this is spoken of rather as a pos-
sibility than as any settled intention ; for his first
thought was, "Whomsoever you shall approve by
your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality
to Jerusalem :" and in the sixth verse he adds,
*' That ye may bring me on my journey ^whitherso-
ever I go." This epistle purports to be written after

c 2

20 HORiE PAULINiE.

St. Paul had been at Corinth ; for it refers through-
out to what he had done and said amongst them
whilst he was there. The expression, therefore,
" when I come,'* must relate to a second visit ;
against which visit the contribution spoken of was
desired to be in readiness.

But though the contribution in Achaia be expressly
mentioned, nothing is here said concerning any con-
tribution in Macedonia. Turn therefore, in the third
place, to the Second Epistle to the Corinthians,
chap. viii. ver. 1 — 4, and you will discover the par-
ticular which remains to be sought for : " Moreover,
brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God be-
stowed on the churches of Macedonia ; how that, in
a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy
and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of
their liberality : for to their power, I bear record,
yea and beyond their power, they were willing of
themselves ; praying us, with much entreaty, that
we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fel-
lowship of the ministering to the saints." To which
add, chap. ix. ver. 2 : "I know the forwardness of
your mind, for which I boast of you to them of
Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago." In
this epistle we find St. Paul advanced as far as Mace-
donia, upon that second visit to Corinth which he
promised in his former epistle : we find also, in the
passages now quoted from it, that a contribution was
going on in Macedonia at the same time with, or
soon however following, the contribution which was
made in Achaia ; but for whom the contribution was
made does not appear in this epistle at all : that in-
formation must be supplied from the first epistle.

UORJE PAULINA. 21

Here therefore, at length, but fetched from three
different writings, we have obtained the several cir-
cumstances we inquired after, and which the Epistle
to the Romans brings together, viz. a contribution in
Achaia for the Christians of Jerusalem ; a contri-
bution in Macedonia for the same ; and an ap-
proaching journey of St. Paul to Jerusalem. We
have these circumstances — each by some hint in the
passage in which it is mentioned, or by the date of
the writing in which the passage occurs — fixed to a
particular time ; and we have that time turning out
upon examination, to be in all the sa?ne : namely,
towards the close of St. Paul's second visit to the
peninsula of Greece. This is an instance of con-
formity beyond the possibility, I will venture to say,
of random writing to produce; I also assert, that it is
in the highest degree improbable that it should have
been the effect of contrivance and design. The im-
putation of design amounts to this : that the forger
of the Epistle to the Romans inserted in it the pas-
sage upon which our observations are founded, for
the purpose of giving colour to his forgery by the
appearance of conformity with other writings which
were then extant. I reply, in the first place, that, if
he did this to countenance his forgery, he did it for the
purpose of an argument which would not strike one
reader in ten thousand. Coincidences so circuitous
as this answer not the ends of forgery ; are seldom,
I believe, attempted by it. In the second place I
observe, that he must have had the Acts of the
Apostles, and the two epistles to the Corinthians,
before him at the time. In the Acts of the Apostles
(I mean that part of the Acts which relates to this

22 HOR^ PAULINiE.

period), he would have found the journey to Jeru-
salem ; but nothing about the contribution. In the
First Epistle to the Corinthians he would have found
a contribution going on in Achaia for the Christians
of Jerusalem, and a distant hint of the possibility of
the journey ; but nothing concerning a contribu-
tion in Macedonia. In the Second Epistle to the
Corinthians he would have found a contribution in
Macedonia accompanying that in Achaia ; but no
intimation for whom either was intended, and not a
word about the journey. It was only by a close and
attentive collation of the three writings, that he
could have picked out the circumstances which he
has united in his epistle ; and by a still more nice
examination, that he could have determined them to
belong to the same period. In the third place, I
remark, what diminishes very much the suspicion of
fraud, how aptly and connectedly the mention of the
circumstances in question, viz. the journey to Jeru-
salem, and of the occasion of that journey, arises
from the context : " Whensoever I take my journey
into Spain, I will come to you ; for I trust to see
you in my journey, and be brought on my way
thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled
with your company. But nozv I go unto Jerusalem,
to minister unto the samts ; for it hath pleased them
of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contri-
hution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.
It hath pleased them verily, and their debtors they
are ; for, if the Gentiles have been made partakers
of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister
unto them in carnal things. When therefore I have
performed this, and have sealed them to this fruit.

HOll.E PAULIN.E, 23

I will come by you into Spain." Is the passage in
Italics like a passage foisted in for an extraneous
purpose ? Does it not arise from what goes before,
by a junction as easy as any example of writing upon
real business can furnish ? Could any thing be more
natural than that St. Paul, in writing to the Romans,
should speak of the time when he hoped to visit them ;
should mention the business which then detained him ;
and that he purposed to set forwards upon his journey
to them, when that business was completed?

No. II.

By means of the quotation which formed the sub-
ject of the preceding number, we collect, that the
Epistle to the Romans was written at the conclusion
of St. Paul's second visit to the peninsula of Greece ;
but this we collect, not from the epistle itself, nor
from any thing declared concerning the time and
place in any part of the epistle, but from a com-
parison of circumstances referred to in the epistle,
with the order of events recorded in the Acts, and
with references to the same circumstances, though for
quite different purposes, in the two epistles to the
Corinthians. Now would the author of a forgery,
who sought to gain credit to a spurious letter by
congruities, depending upon the time and place in
which the letter was supposed to be written, have left
that time and place to be made out, in a manner so
obscure and indirect as this is ? If therefore coinci-
dences of circtmistances can be pointed out in this
epistle depending upon its date, or the place where it
was written, whilst that date and place are only ascer-
tained by other circumstances, such coincidences may

24 HOR/E PAULINvE.

fairly be stated as undesigned. Under this head I
adduce

Chap. xvi. 21 — 23. " Timotheus, my workfel-
low, and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my
kinsmen, salute you. I, Tertius, who wrote this
epistle, salute you in the Lord. Gains, mine host, and
of the whole church, saluteth you , and Quartus, a
brother." With this passage I compare Acts, xx. 4.
" And there accompanied him into Asia, Sopater of
Berea ; and, of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and
Secundus ; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus j
and, of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.*' The
Epistle to the Romans, w^e have seen, was written
just before St. Paul's departure from Greece, after
his second visit to that peninsula : the persons men-
tioned in the quotation from the Acts are those who
accompanied him in that departure. Of seven whose
names are joined in the salutation of the church of
Rome, three, viz. Sosipater, Gaius, and Timothy, are
proved, by this passage in the Acts, to have been
with St. Paul at the time. And this is perhaps as
much coincidence as could be expected from reality,
though less, I am apt to think, than would have been
produced by design. Four are mentioned in the
Acts who are not joined in the salutation ; and it is
in the nature of the case probable that there should
be many attending St. Paul in Greece who knew
nothing of the converts at Rome, nor were known by
them. In like manner, several are joined in the saluta-
tion who are not mentioned in the passage referred
to in the Acts. This also was to be expected. The
occasion of mentioning them in the Acts was their
proceeding with St. Paul upon his journey. But we

HORvE PAULIN.E. 25

may be sure that there were many eminent Christians
with St. Paul in Greece, besides those who accom-
panied him into Asia*.

But if any one shall still contend that a forger
of the epistle, with the Acts of the Apostles before
him, and having settled this scheme of writing a
letter as from St. Paul upon his second visit into
Greece, would easily think of the expedient of put-
ting in the names of those persons who appeared to
be with St. Paul at the time as an obvious recom-
mendation of the imposture : I then repeat my ob-
servations ; first, that he would have made the cata-
logue more complete ; and secondly, that with this
contrivance in his thoughts, it was certainly his
business, in order to avail himself of the artifice, to

* Of these Jason is one, whose presence upon this occasion is
very naturally accounted for. Jason was an inhabitant of Thes-
salonica in Macedonia, and entertained St. Paul in his house upon
liis first visit to that country. Acts, xvii. 7. — St. Paul, upon this
his second visit, passed through Macedonia on his way to Greece,
and, from the situation of Thessalonica, most likely through that
city. It appears, from various instances in the Acts, to have been
the practice of many converts to attend St. Paul from place to
place. It is therefore highly probable, I mean that it is highly
consistent with the account in the history, that Jason, according
to that account a zealous disciple, the inhabitant of a city at no
great distance from Greece, and through which, as it should seem,
St. Paul had lately passed, should have accompanied St. Paul into
Greece, and have been with him there at this time. Lucius is
another name in the epistle. A very slight alteration would
convert AovKiog into Aovkoc^, Lucius into Luke, which would
produce an additional coincidence : for, if Luke was the author
of the history, he was with St. Paul at the time ; inasmuch as,
describing the voyage which took place soon after the writing of
this epistle, the historian uses the first person — " M^e sailed away
from Philippi." Acts, xx. 6.

26 HORyE paulin;e.

have stated in the body of the epistle, that Paul
was in Greece when he wrote it, and that he was
there upon his second visit. Neither of which he
has done, either directly, or even so as to be dis-
coverable by any circumstance found in the narrative
delivered in the Acts.

Under the same head, viz. of coincidences de-
pending upon date, I cite from the epistle the fol-
lowing salutation : '' Greet Priscilla and Aquila,
my helpers in Jesus Christ, who have for my life
laid down their own necks; unto whom not only
I give thanks, but also all the churches of the
Gentiles." Chap. xvi. 3. — It appears, from the Acts
of the Apostles, that Priscilla and Aquila had ori-
ginally been inhabitants of Rome ; for we read. Acts,
xviii. 2, that *' Paul found a certain Jew, named
Aquila, lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla,
because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to
depart from Rome." They were connected, there-
fore, with the place to which the salutations are sent.
That is one coincidence ; another is the following :
St. Paul became acquainted with these persons at
Corinth during his first visit into Greece. They ac-
companied him upon his return into Asia ; were set-
tled for some time at Ephesus, Acts, xviii. 19 — 26 j
and appear to have been with St. Paul when he wrote
from that place his First Epistle to the Corinthians,
1 Cor. xvi. 19. Not long after the writing of which
epistle St. Paul went from Ephesus into Macedonia,
and, " after he had gone over those parts,'* pro-
ceeded from thence upon his second visit into Greece ;
during which visit, or rather at the conclusion of it,
the Epistle to the Romans, as hath been shown, was

HORyE PAULINA. 27

written. We have therefore the time of St. Paul's
residence at Ephesus after he had written to the
Corinthians, the time taken up by his progress
through Macedonia (which is indefinite, and was
probably considerable), and his three months' abode
in Greece ; we have the sum of those three periods
allowed for Aquila and Priscilla going back to Rome,
so as to be there when the epistle before us was
written. Now what this quotation leads us to ob-
serve is, the danger of scattering names and circum-
stances in writings like the present, how implicated
they often are with dates and places, and that no-
thing but truth can preserve consistency. Had the
notes of time in the Epistle to the Romans fixed
the writing of it to any date prior to St. Paul's first
residence at Corinth, the salutation of Aquila and
Priscilla would have contradicted the history, be-
cause it would have been prior to his acquaintance
with these persons. If the notes of time had fixed
it to any period during that residence at Corinth,
during his journey to Jerusalem when he first re-
turned out of Greece, during his stay at Antioch,
whither he went down to Jerusalem, or during his
second progress through the Lesser Asia upon which
he proceeded from Antioch, an equal contradiction
would have been incurred ; because from Acts, xviii.
2 — 18, 19 — 26, it appears that during all this time
Aquila and Priscilla were either along with St. Paul,
or were abiding at Ephesus. Lastly, had the notes
of time in this epistle, which we have seen to be per-
fectly incidental, compared with the notes of time
in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, which are
equally incidental, fixed this epistle to be either con-

28 HOR.E PAUL1N.E.

temporary with that, or prior to it, a similar con-
tradiction would have ensued ; because, first, when
the Epistle to the Corinthians was written, Aquila
and Priscilla were along with St. Paul, as they joined
in the salutation of that church, 1 Cor. xvi. 19; and
because, secondly, the history does not allow us to
suppose, that between the time of their becoming
acquainted with St. Paul and the time of St. Paul's
writing to the Corinthians, Aquila and Priscilla could
have gone to Rome, so as to have been saluted in an
epistle to that city ; and then come back to St. Paul
at Ephesus, so as to be joined with him in saluting
the church of Corinth. As it is, all things are con-
sistent. The Epistle to the Romans is posterior
even to the Second Epistle to the Corinthians ; be-
cause it speaks of a contribution in Achaia being
completed, which the Second Epistle to the Corin-
thians, chap. viii. is only soliciting. It is sufficiently
therefore posterior to the First Epistle to the Co-
rinthians to allow time in the interval for Aquila
and Priscilla's return from Ephesus to Rome.

Before we dismiss these two persons, we may
take notice of the terms of commendation in which
St. Paul describes them, and of the agreement of
that encomium with the history. " My helpers in
Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their
necks ; unto whom not only I give thanks, but also
all the churches of the Gentiles." In the eighteenth
chapter of the Acts, we are informed that Aquila
and Priscilla were Jews; that St. Paul first met
with them at Corinth ; that for some time he abode
in the same house with them ; that St. Paul's con-
tention at Corinth was with the unbelieving Jews,

HOR/E PAULIN;^. 29

who at first " opposed and blasphemed, and after-
wards with one accord raised an insurrection against
him ;" that Aquila and Priscilla adhered, we may
conclude, to St. Paul throughout this whole contest ;
for, when he left the city, they went with him,
Acts, xviii, 18. Under these circumstances, it is
highly probable that they should be involved in the
dangers and persecutions which St. Paul underwent
from the Jews, being themselves Jews ; and, by ad-
hering to St. Paul in this dispute, deserters, as they
would be accounted, of the Jewish cause. Farther,
as they, though Jews, were assisting to St. Paul
in preaching to the Gentiles at Corinth, they had
taken a decided part in the great controversy of that
day, the admission of the Gentiles to a parity of
religious situation with the Jews. For this conduct
alone, if there was no other reason, they may seem
to have been entitled to " thanks from the churches
of the Gentiles." They were Jews taking part with
Gentiles. Yet is all this so indirectly intimated, or
rather so much of it left to inference, in the account
given in the Acts, that I do not think it probable
that a forger either could or would have drawn his
representation from thence ; and still less probable
do I think it, that, without having seen the Acts, he
could, by mere accident, and without truth for his
guide, have delivered a representation so conformable
to the circumstances there recorded.

The two congruities last adduced depended upon
the time, the two following regard the place, of the
epistle.

1. Chap. xvi. 23. *' Erastus, the chamberlain of
the city, saluteth you" — of what city ? We have

30 HOR/E PAULINiE.

seen, that is, we have inferred from circumstances
found in the epistle, compared with circumstances
found in the Acts of the Apostles, and in the two
epistles to the Corinthians, that our epistle was
written during St. Paul's second visit to the penin-
sula of Greece. Again, as St. Paul, in his epistle to
the church of Corinth, 1 Cor. xvi. 3, speaks of a
collection going on in that city, and of his desire
that it might be ready against he came thither ; and
as in this epistle he speaks of that collection being
ready, it follows that the epistle was written either
whilst he was at Corinth, or after he had been there.
Thirdly, since St. Paul speaks in this epistle of his
journey to Jerusalem, as about instantly to take
place ; and as we learn, Acts, xx. 3, that his design
and attempt was to sail upon that journey im-
mediately from Greece, properly so called, i. e. as
distinguished from Macedonia ; it is probable that
he was in this country when he wrote the epistle, in
which he speaks of himself as upon the eve of setting
out. If in Greece, he was most likely at Corinth ;
for the two Epistles to the Corinthians show that
the principal end of his coming into Greece was to
visit that city, where he had founded a church.
Certainly we know no place in Greece in which his
presence was so probable : at least, the placing of
him at Corinth satisfies every circumstance. Now
that Erastus was an inhabitant of Corinth, or had
some connexion with Corinth, is rendered a fair
subject of presumption, by that which is accidentally
said of him in the Second Epistle to Timothy,
chap. iii. 20, " Erastus abode at Corinth.^* St. Paul
complains of his solitude, and is telling Timothy

HORiE PAULIN.fi. • SI

what was become of his companions : " Erastus
abode at Corinth ; but Trophimus have I left at
Miletmn, sick." Erastus was one of those who had
attended St. Paul in his travels, Acts, xix. 22 j and
when those travels had, upon some occasion, brought
our apostle and his train to Corinth, Erastus staid
there, for no reason so probable as that it was his
home. I allow that this coincidence is not so pre-
cise as some others, yet I think it too clear to be
produced by accident ; for of the many places which
this same epistle has assigned to different persons,
and the innumerable others which it might have
mentioned, how came it to fix upon Corinth for
Erastus ? And, as far as it is a coincidence, it is
certainly undesigned on the part of the author of the
Epistle to the Romans : because he has not told us
of what city Erastus was the chamberlain ; or, which
is the same thing, from what city the epistle was
written, the setting forth of which was absolutely
necessary to the display of the coincidence, if any
such display had been thought of: nor could the
author of the Epistle to Timothy leave Erastus at
Corinth, from any thing he might have read in the
Epistle to the Romans, because Corinth is nowhere in
that epistle mentioned either by name or description.
2. Chap. xvi. 1 — 3. " I commend unto you
Phoebe, our sister, which is a servant of the church
which is at Cenchrea, that ye receive her in the
Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in
whatsoever business she hath need of you ; for she
hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also."
Cenchrea adjoined to Corinth ; St. Paul therefore,
at the time of writing the letter, was in the neigh-

32 KORM PAULINA.

bourhood of the woman whom he thus recommends.
But, farther, that St. Paul had before this been at
Cenchrea itself, appears from the eighteenth chapter
of the Acts ; and appears by a circumstance as
incidental, and as unlike design, as any that can
be imagined. " Paul after this tarried there (viz. at
Corinth) yet a good while, and then took his leave of
his brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with
him Priscilla and Aquila, having shorn his head i?i
Cenchrea^ for he had a vow." xviii. 18. The shaving
of the head denoted the expiration of the Nazaritic
vow. The historian, therefore, by the mention of this
circumstance, virtually tells us that St. Paul's vow was
expired before he set forward upon his voyage, having
deferred probably his departure until he should be
released from the restrictions under which his vow
laid him. Shall we say that the author of the Acts
of the Apostles feigned this anecdote of St. Paul at
Cenchrea, because he had read in the Epistle to the
Romans that *' Phoebe, a servant of the church of
Cenchrea, had been a succourer of many, and of him
also ?" or shall we say that the author of the Epistle
to the Romans, out of his own imagination, created
Phoebe " a servant of the church at Cenchrea ^^
because he read in the Acts of the Apostles that
Paul had *' shorn his head" in that place ?

No. III.

Chap. i. 13. " Now I would not have you igno-
rant, brethren, that oftentimes 1 purposed to come
unto you, but was let hitherto, that I might have
some fruit among you also, even as among other
Gentiles." Again, xv. 23, 24, " But now having

HORtE PAULINiE. 33

no more place in these parts, and having a great
desire these many years (TroAXa, oftentimes) to come
unto you, whensoever I take my journey into Spain
I will come to you ; for I trust to see you in my
journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by
you : but now I go up unto Jerusalem, to minister
to the saints. When therefore I have performed
this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come
by you into Spain.'*

With these passages compare Acts, xix. 21. "After
these things were ended (viz. at Ephesus), Paul pur-
posed in the spirit, when he had passed through
Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem ; saying,
After I have been there, I must also see Rome.**

Let it be observed that our epistle purports to
have been written at the conclusion of St. Paul's
second journey into Greece : that the quotation from
the Acts contains words said to have been spoken by
St. Paul at Ephesus, some time before he set forwards
upon that journey. Now I contend that it is im-
possible that two independent fictions should have
attributed to St. Paul the same purpose, — especially a
purpose so specific and particular as this, which was
not merely a general design of visiting Rome after he
had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, and after
he had performed a voyage from these countries to
Jerusalem. The conformity between the history and
the epistle is perfect. In the first quotation from the
epistle, we find that a design of visiting Rome had
long dwelt in the apostle's mind: in the quotation
from the Acts, we find that design expressed a con-
siderable time before the epistle was written. In the
history, we find that the plan which St. Paul had

VOL. iir. D

34 HOE,/E PAULINyE.

formed was, to pass through Macedonia and Achaia ;
after that, to go to Jerusalem; and, when he had
finished his visit there, to sail for Rome. When the
epistle was written, he had executed so much of
his plan, as to have passed through Macedonia and
Achaia ; and was preparing to pursue the remainder
of it, by speedily setting out towards Jerusalem ; and
in this point of his travels he tells his friends at Rome
that when he had completed the business which
carried him to Jerusalem, he would come to them.
Secondly, I say that the very inspection of the pas-
sages will satisfy us that they were not made up from
one another.

" Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I
will come to you ; for I trust to see you in my
journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward
by you ; but now I go up to Jerusalem, to minister
to the saints. When, therefore, I have performed
this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come
by you into Spain." — This from the epistle.

" Paul purposed in the spirit, wlien he had passed
through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem :
saying, After I have been there, I must also see
Rome." — This from the Acts.

If the passage in the epistle was taken from that in
the Acts, why was Spain put in ? If the passage in
the Acts was taken from that in the epistle, why was
Spain left out ? If the two passages were unknown
to each other, nothing can account for their con-
formity but truth. Whether we suppose the history
and the epistle to be alike fictitious, or the history to
be true but the letter spurious, or the letter to be
genuine but the history a fable, the meeting with

HORiE PAULINA. 35

this circumstance in both, if neither borrowed it from
the other, is, upon all these suppositions, equally in-
explicable.

No. IV.

The following quotation I offer for the purpose of
pointing out a geographical coincidence, of so much
importance, that Dr. Lardner considered it as a con-
firmation of the whole history of St. Paul's travels.

Chap. XV. 19. " So that from Jerusalem, and
round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached
the Gospel of Christ."

I do not think that these words necessarily import
that St. Paul had penetrated into Illyricum, or
preached the Gospel in that province ; but rather
that he had come to the confines of Illyricum (|V'£%ft
rs lAXo^ocs), and that these confines were the external
boundary of his travels. St. Paul considers Jerusalem
as the centre, and is here viewing the circumference
to which his travels extended. The form of ex-
pression in the original conveys this idea — aito '1=^ s(raA7;jw,
xa( h'jkXw /x£;>/f< rs lAAufOis. Illyricum was the part of
this circle which he mentions in an epistle to the
Romans, because it lay in a direction from Jerusalem
towards that city, and pointed out to the Roman
readers the nearest place to them, to which his travels
from Jerusalem had brought him. The name of
Illyricum nowhere occurs in the Acts of the Apostles;
no suspicion, therefore, can be received that the men-
tion of it was borrowed from thence. Yet I think it
appears, from these same Acts, that St. Paul, before
the time when he wrote his Epistle to the Romans,
had reached the confines of Illyricumj or, however,

D 2

SG HOR/E PAULINA.

that he might have done so, in perfect consistency
with the account there dehvered. Illyricum adjoins
upon Macedonia ; measuring from Jerusalem towards
Rome, it lies close behind it. If, therefore, St. Paul
traversed the whole country of Macedonia, the route
would necessarily bring him to the confines of Illy-
ricum, and these confines would be described as the
extremity of his journey. Now the account of St.
Paul's second visit to the peninsula of Greece is con-
tained in these words: "He departed for to go into
Macedonia ; and when he had gone over^ these parts,
and had given them much exhortation, he came into
Greece." Acts xx. 2. This account allows, or rather
leads us to suppose, that St. Paul, in going over
Macedonia (^SisxSocvraij.sprjSKsiva)^ had passed so far to
the west, as to come into those parts of the country
which were contiguous to Illyricum, if he did not
enter into Illyricum itself. The history, therefore,
and the epistles so far agree, and the agreement is
much strengthened by a coincidence of ti?}ie. At the
time the epistle was written, St. Paul might say, in
conformity with the history, that he had "come into
Illyricum ;" much before that time, he could not
have said so ; for, upon his former journey to Mace-
donia, his route is laid down from the time of his land-
ing at Philippi to his sailing from Corinth. We trace
him from Philippi to Amphipolis and Apollonia ;
from thence to Thessalonica ; from Thessalonica to
Berea ; from Berea to Athens ; and from Athens to
Corinth : which track confines him to the eastern
side of the peninsula, and therefore keeps him all
the while at a considerable distance from Illyricum.
Upon his second visit to Macedonia, the history, we

IIOU.E PAULINE. 37

have seen, leaves him at liberty. It must have been,
therefore, upon that second visit, if at all, tliat he
approached Illyriciim ; and this visit, we know, almost
immediately preceded the writing of the epistle. It
was natural that the apostle should refer to a journey
which was fresh in his thoughts.

No. V.

Chap. XV. 30. " Now I beseech you, brethren, for
the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the
Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers
to God for me, that I may be delivered from them
that do not believe, in Judaea."— With this compare
Acts XX. 22, 23 :

*' And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto
Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall
me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in
every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide
me."

Let it be remarked, that it is the same journey to
Jerusalem which is spoken of in these two passages ;
that the epistle was written immediately before St.
Paul set forwards upon this journey from Achaia ;
that the words in the Acts were uttered by him
when he had proceeded in that journey as far as
Miletus, in Lesser Asia. This being remembered,
I observe that the two passages, without any resem-
blance between them that could induce us to suspect
that they were borrowed from one another, represent
the state of St. Paul's mind, with respect to the
event of the journey, in terms of substantial agree-
ment. They both express his sense of danger in the
approaching visit to Jerusalem : they both express

38 HOll^ PAULINiE.

the doubt which dwelt upon his thoughts concerning
what might there befall him. When, in his epistle,
he entreats the Roman Christians, *' for the Lord
Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, to
strive together with him in their prayers to God for
him, that he might be delivered from them which do
not believe, in Juda3a," he sufficiently confesses his
fears. In the Acts of the Apostles we see in him
the same apprehensions, and the same uncertainty :
" I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not Jmoxving
the things that shall befall me there." The only
difference is, that in the history his thoughts are
more inclined to despondency than in the epistle.
In the epistle he retains his hope " that he should
come unto them with joy by the will of God :'* in
the history, his mind yields to the reflection, "that
the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city that bonds
and afflictions awaited him." Now that his fears
should be greater, and his hopes less, in this stage
of his journey than when he wrote his epistle, that is,
when he first set out upon it, is no other alteration
than might well be expected ; since those prophetic
intimations to which he refers, when he says, " the
Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city," had probably
been received by him in the course of his journey,
and were probably similar to what we know he re-
ceived in the remaining part of it at Tyre, xxi. 4 ;
and afterwards from Agabus at Caesarea, xxi. 11.

No. VI.

There is another strong remark arising from the
same passage in the epistle ; to make which under-

HORyE PAULIN/E. 39

stood, it will be necessary to state the passage over
again, and somewhat more at length.

" I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus
Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye
strive together with me in your prayers to God for
me, that I may be delivered from them that do not
believe, in Juda?a — that I may come unto you with
joy by the will of God, and may with you be re-
freshed."

I desire the reader to call to mind that part of
St. Paul's history which took place after his arrival
at Jerusalem, and which employs the seven last
chapters of the Acts ; and I build upon it this ob-
servation— that supposing the Epistle to the Romans
to have been a forgery, and the author of the forgery
to have had the Acts of the Apostles before him,
and to have there seen that St. Paul, in fact, '* was
^/o/ delivered from the unbelieving Jews," but on the
contrary, that he was taken into custody at Jerusalem,
and brought to Rome a prisoner — it is next to im-
possible that he should have made St. Paul express
expectations so contrary to what he saw had been
the event ; and utter prayers, \\\i\\ apparent hopes
of success, which he must have known were frus-
trated in the issue.

This single consideration convinces me, that no
concert or confederacy whatever subsisted between
the Epistle and the Acts of the Apostles ; and that
whatever coincidences have been or can be pointed
out between them are unsophisticated, and are the
result of truth and reality.

It also convinces me that the epistle was written
not only in St. Paul's lifetime, but before he arrived

40 HOKiE PAULINiE.

at Jerusalem ; for the important events relating to
him which took place after his arrival at that city
must have been known to the Christian community
soon after they happened : they form the most public
part of his history. But had they been known to
the author of the epistle — in other words, had they
then taken place — the passage which we have quoted
from the epistle would not have been found there.

No. VII.

I now proceed to state the conformity which exists
between the argument of this epistle and the history
of its reputed author. It is enough for this purpose
to observe, that the object of the epistle, that is, of
the argumentative part of it, was to place the Gentile
convert upon a parity of situation with the Jewish,
in respect of his religious condition, and his rank in
the divine favour. The epistle supports this point
by a variety of arguments ; such as, that no man of
either description was justified by the works of the
law — for this plain reason, that no man had per-
formed them ; that it became therefore necessary to
appoint another medium or condition of justification,
in which new medium the Jewish peculiarity was
merged and lost ; that Abraham's own justification
was anterior to the law, and independent of it ; that
the Jewish converts were to consider the law as now
dead, and themselves as married to another ; that
what the law in truth could not do, in that it was
weak through the flesh, God had done by sending
his Son ; that God had rejected the unbelieving
Jews, and had substituted in their place a society of
believers in Christ, collected indifferently from Jews

IIOR/E PAULINyE. 41

and Gentiles. Soon after the writing of this epistle,
St. Paul, agreeably to the intention intimated in the
epistle itself, took his journey to Jerusalem. The
day after he arrived there, he was introduced to the
church. What passed at this interview is thus re-
lated. Acts, xxi. 19 : " When he had saluted them,
he declared particularly what things God had wrought
among the Gentiles by his ministry : and, when they
heard it, they glorified the Lord ; and said unto him.
Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews
there are which believe ; and they are all zealous of
the law ; and they are informed of thee, that thou
teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles
to forsake Moses, saying, that they ought not to
circumcise their children, neither to walk after the
customs." St. Paul disclaimed the charge ; but
there must have been something to have led to it.
Now it is only to suppose that St. Paul openly pro-
fessed the principles which the epistle contains ; that,
in the course of his ministry, he had uttered the
sentiments which he is here made to write ; and the
matter is accounted for. Concerning the accusation
which public rumour had brought against him to
Jerusalem, I will not say that it was just ; but I will
say, that if he was the author of the epistle before
us, and if his preaching was consistent with his
writing, it was extremely natural : for though it be
not a necessary, surely it is an easy inference, that if
the Gentile convert, who did not observe the law of
Moses, held as advantageous a situation in his reli-
gious interests as the Jewish convert who did, there
could be no strong reason for observing that law at
all. The remonstrance therefore of the church of

42 HOR/E PAULINA.

Jerusalem, and the report which occasioned it, were
founded in no very violent misconstruction of the
apostle's doctrine. His reception at Jerusalem was
exactly what I should have expected the author of
this epistle to have met with. I am entitled there-
fore to argue, that a separate narrative of effects ex-
perienced by St. Paul, similar to what a person might
be expected to experience who held the doctrines
advanced in this epistle, forms a proof that he did
hold these doctrines ; and that the epistle bearing
his name, in which such doctrines are laid down,
actually proceeded from him.

No. VIII.

This number is supplemental to the former. I
propose to point out in it two particulars in the
conduct of the argument, perfectly adapted to the
historical circumstances under which the epistle was
written; which yet are free from all appearance of
contrivance, and which it would not, I think, have
entered into the mind of a sophist to contrive.

1. The Epistle to the Galatians relates to the same
general question as the Epistle to the Romans. St.
Paul had founded the church of Galatia ; at Rome
he had never been. Observe now a difference in his
manner of treating of the same subject, corresponding
with this difference in his situation. In the Epistle
to the Galatians he puts the point in a great measure
upon authority: <' I marvel that ye are so soon re-
moved from him that called you into the grace of
Christ, unto another Gospel." Gal. i. 6. " I certify
you, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached
of me is not after man ; for I neither received it of

HOR.E PAULINtE, 43

man, neither was I taught it but by the revelation of
Jesus Christ." Ch. i. 11, 12. '' I am afraid, lest
I have bestowed upon you labour in vain." iv. 11, 12.
" I desire to be present with you now, for I stand in
doubt of you." iv. 20. " Behold, I, Paul, say unto
you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you
nothing." v. 2. " This persuasion cometh not of
him that called you." v. 8. This is the style in
which he accosts the Galatians. In the epistle to
the converts of Rome, where his authority was not
established, nor his person known, he puts the same
points entirely upon argument. The perusal of the
epistle will prove this to the satisfaction of every
reader ; and, as the observation relates to the whole
contents of the epistle, I forbear adducing separate
extracts. I repeat therefore,, that we have pointed
out a distinction in the two epistles, suited to the
relation in which the author stood to his different
correspondents.

Another adaptation, and somewhat of the same
kind, is the following :

2. The Jews, we know, were very numerous at
Rome, and probably formed a principal part amongst
the new converts ; so much so, that the Christians
seem to have been known at Rome rather as a de-
nomination of Jews than as any thing else. In an
epistle consequently to the Roman believers, the
point to be endeavoured after by St. Paul was to re-
concile the Jexdsh converts to the opinion, that the
Gentiles were admitted by God to a parity of reli-
gious situation with themselves, and that without
their being bound by the law of Moses. The Gentile
converts would probably accede to this opinion very

44 HOR.E PAULINtE.

readily. In this epistle, therefore, though directed
to the Roman church in general, it is in truth a Jew
writing to Jews. Accordingly you will take notice,
that as often as his argument leads him to say any
thing derogatory from the Jewish institution, he
constantly follows it by a softening clause. Having
(ii. 28, 29) pronounced, not much perhaps to the
satisfaction of the native Jews, *' that he is not a Jew
which is one outwardly, neither that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh ;'* he adds immediately,
*' What advantage then hath the Jew, or what profit
is there in circumcision ? Much every "dcay.^* Having
in the third chapter, ver. 28, brought his argument
to this formal conclusion, " that a man is justified by
faith without the deeds of the law," he presently
subjoins, ver. 31, " Do we then make void the law
through faith ? God forbid ! Yea, we establish the
law,*' In the seventh chapter, when in the sixth
verse he had advanced the bold assertion, " that
now we are delivered from the law, that being dead
wherein we were held ;" in the very next verse he
comes in with this healing question, " What shall we
say then ? Is the law sin ? God forbid ! Nay, I
had not known sin but by the law." Having in the
following words insinuated, or rather more than
insinuated, the inefficacy of the Jewish law, viii. 3.
" for what the law could not do, in that it was weak
through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin
in the flesh ;" after a digression indeed, but that
sort of a digression which he could never resist, a
rapturous contemplation of his Christian hope, and
which occupies the latter part of this chapter ; we

HOR/E PAULINyE. 45

find him in the next, as if sensible that he had said
something which would give offence, returning to his
Jewish brethren in terms of the warmest affection
and respect. ** I say the truth in Christ Jesus ; I
lie not ; my conscience also bearing me witness in
the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and
continual sorrow in my heart : for I could wish that
myself were accursed from Christ, for my brethren,
my kinsmen according to thejiesh^ who are Israelites^
to ivhom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and
the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the
service of God, and the promises ; whose are the
fathers; and of whom, as concerning thefesh, Christ
came.'* When, in the thirty-first and thirty-second
verses of this ninth chapter, he represented to the
Jews the error of even the best of their nation, by
telling them that " Israel, which followed after the
law of righteousness, had not attained to the law of
righteousness, because they sought it not by faith,
but as it were by the works of the law, for they
stumbled at that stumbling-stone," he takes care to
annex to this declaration these conciliating expres-
sions : " Brethren, my hearfs desire and prayer to
God for Israel is, that they might be saved : for I
bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but
not according to knowledge." Lastly, having, ch. x.
20, 21, by the application of a passage in Isaiah, in-
sinuated the most ungrateful of all propositions to a
Jewish ear, the rejection of the Jewish nation, as
God's peculiar people ; he hastens, as it were, to
qualify the intelligence of their fall by this interest-
ing expostulation : "I say, then, hath God cast away
his people (/. e. wholly and entirely)? God forbid!

4)6 HOR^ PAITLIN.E.

for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of
the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his
people which he foreknew ;" and follows this thought,
throughout the whole of the eleventh chapter, in a
series of reflections calculated to soothe the Jewish
converts, as well as to procure from their Gentile
brethren respect to the Jewish institution. Now all
this is perfectly natural. In a real St. Paul writing
to real converts, it is what anxiety to bring them over
to his persuasion would naturally produce ; but there
is an earnestness and a personality, if I may so call
it, in the manner, which a cold forgery, I apprehend,
would neither have conceived nor supported.

CHAPTER III.

THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS.

No. I.

Before w^e proceed to compare this epistle with
the history, or with any other epistle, we will employ
one number in stating certain remarks applicable to
our argument, which arise from a perusal of the
epistle itself.

By an expression in the first verse of the seventh
chapter, " now concerning the things whereof ye
wrote unto me," it appears, that this letter to the
Corinthians was written by St. Paul in answer to
one which he had received from them ; and that the
seventh, and some of the following chapters, are

HOR^ PAULIN'^. 47

taken up in resolving certain doubts, and regulating
certain points of order, concerning which the Co-
rinthians had in their letter consulted him. This
alone is a circumstance considerably in favour of the
authenticity of the epistle ; for it must have been a
far-fetched contrivance in a forgery, first to have
feigned the receipt of a letter from the church of
Corinth, which letter does not appear ; and then to
have drawn up a fictitious answer to it, relative to a
great variety of doubts and inquiries, purely oecono-
mical and domestic ; and which, though likely enough
to have occurred to an infant society, in a situation
and under an institution so novel as that of a Christian
church then was, it must have very much exercised
the author's invention, and could have answered no
imaginable purpose of forgery, to introduce the men-
tion of at all. Particulars of the kind we refer to
are such as the following : the rule of duty and pru-
dence relative to entering into marriage, as applicable
to virgins, to widows ; the case of husbands married
to unconverted wives, of wives having unconverted
husbands ; that case where the unconverted party
chooses to separate, where he chooses to continue
the union ; the effect which their conversion pro-
duced upon their prior state, of circumcision, of
slavery; the eating of things offered to idols, as it
was in itself, as others were affected by it ; the join-
ing in idolatrous sacrifices ; the decorum to be ob-
served in their religious assemblies, the order of
speaking, the silence of women, the covering or un-
covering of the head, as it became men, as it became
women. These subjects, with their several subdi-
visions, are so particular, minute, and numerous.

48 HOR.E PAULIN/E.

that, though they be exactly agreeable to the cir-
cumstances of the persons to whom the letter was
written, nothing, I believe, but the existence and
reality of those circumstances could have suggested
to the writer's thouo;hts.

But this is not the only nor the principal observa-
tion upon the correspondence between the church of
Corinth and their apostle, which I wish to point out.
It appears, I think, in this correspondence, that
although the Corinthians had written to St. Paul, re-
questing his answer and his directions in the several
points above enumerated, yet that they had not said
one syllable about the enormities and disorders which
had crept in amongst them, and in the blame of
which they all shared ; but that St. PauPs informa-
tion concerning the irregularities then prevailing at
Corinth had come round to him from other quarters.
The quarrels and disputes excited by their conten-
tious adherence to their different teachers, and by
their placing of them in competition with one an-
other, were not mentioned in their lette7\ but com-
municated to St. Paul by more private intelligence :
" It hath been declared unto me, my brethren, hy
them ivhich are of the house ofChloe^ that there are
contentions among you. Now this I say, that every
one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos,
and I of Cephas, and I of Christ." (i. 11, 12.) The
incestuous marriage " of a man with his father's
wife," which St. Paul reprehends with so much se-
verity in the fifth chapter of our epistle, and which
was not the crime of an individual only, but a crime
in which the whole church, by tolerating and con-
niving at it, had rendered themselves partakers, did

HOR^ PAULIN7E. 49

not come to St. Paul's knowledge by the letter^ but
by a rumour which had reached his ears : " // is
r^eported commonly that there is fornication among
you, and such fornication as is not so much as named
among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's
wife ; and ye are puffed up, and have not rather
mourned that he that hath done this deed might be
taken away from among you." (v. 1, 2). Their
going to law before the judicature of the country,
rather than arbitrate and adjust their disputes among
themselves, which St. Paul animadverts upon with
his usual plainness, was not intimated to him in the
letter, because he tells them his opinion of this con-
duct before he comes to the contents of the letter.
Their litigiousness is censured by St. Paul in the
sixth chapter of his epistle, and it is only at the be-
ginning of the seventh chapter that he proceeds upon
the articles which he found in their letter ; and he
proceeds upon them with this preface : " Now con-
cerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me," (vii.
1); which introduction he would not have used if
he had been already discussing any of the subjects
concerning which they had written. Their irregu-
larities in celebrating the Lord's supper, and the
utter perversion of the institution which ensued,
were not in the letter, as is evident from the terms
in which St. Paul mentions the notice he had received
of it : ** Now in this that I declare unto you, I praise
you not, that ye come together not for the better,
but for the worse ; for first of all, when ye come
together in the church, / hear that there be divisions
among you, and I partly believe it." Now that the
Corinthians should, in their own letter, exhibit the

VOL. III. , E

50 KOR.E PAULINA.

fair side of their conduct to the apostle, and conceal
from him the faults of their behaviour, was extremely
natural, and extremely probable : but it was a di-
stinction which would not, I think, have easily oc-
curred to the author of a forgery ; and much less
likely is it, that it should have entered into his
thoughts to make the distinction appear in the way
in which it does appear, viz. not by the original
letter, not by any express observation upon it in the
answer, but distantly by marks perceivable in the
manner, or in the order, in which St. Paul takes
notice of their faults.

No. II.

Our epistle purports to have been written after
St. Paul had already been at Corinth : "I, brethren,
ivhen I came unto you, came not with excellency of
speech or of wisdom" (ii. 1): and in many other
places to the same effect. It purports also to have
been written upon the eve of another visit to that
church : "I will come to you shortly, if the Lord
will'* (iv. 19); and again, " I will come to you
when I shall pass through Macedonia." (xvi. 5).
Now the history relates that St. Paul did in fact
visit Corinth tmce : once as recorded at length in
the eighteenth, and a second time as mentioned
briefly in the twentieth chapter of the Acts. The
same history also informs us (Acts, xx. 1), that it
was from Ephesus St. Paul proceeded upon his
second journey into Greece. Therefore, as the
epistle purports to have been written a short time
preceding that journey ; and as St. Paul, the history
tells us, had resided more than two years at Ephesus,

HOR;E PAULINA. 51

before he set out upon it, it follows that it must have
been from Ephesus, to be consistent with the history,
that the epistle was written ; and every note o^ place
in the epistle agrees with this supposition. " If,
after the manner of men, I have fought with beasts
at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise
not ?" (xv. 32). I allow that the apostle might say
this, wherever he was j but it was more natural and
more to the purpose to say it, if he was at Ephesus
at the time, and in the midst of those conflicts to
which the expression relates. " The churches of
Asia salute you." (xvi. 19). Asia, throughout the
Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of St. Paul,
does not mean the whole of Asia Minor or Anatolia,
nor even the whole of the proconsular Asia, but a
district in the anterior part of that country, called
Lydian Asia, divided from the rest, much as Por-
tugal is from Spain, and of which district Ephesus
was the capital. " Aquila and Priscilla salute you.'*
(xvi. 19). Aquila and Priscilla were at Ephesus
during the period within which this epistle was
written. (Acts, xviii. 18. 26). " I will tarry at
Ephesus until Pentecost.'* (xvi. 8). This, I ap-
prehend, is in terms almost asserting that he was at
Ephesus at the time of writing the epistle. — " A
great and effectual door is opened unto me.*' (xvi. 9).
How well this declaration corresponded with the
state of things at Ephesus, and the progress of the
Gospel in these parts, we learn from the reflection
with which the historian concludes the account of
certain transactions which passed there : " So mightily
grew the word of God and prevailed" (Acts, xix. 20) ;
as well as from the complaint of Demetrius, *' that

E 2

52 HOR^ PAULINiE.

not only at Ephesus, but also throughout all Asia,
this Paul hath persuaded, and turned away much
people." (xix. 26). — " And there are many adver-
saries," says the epistle, (xvi. 9). Look into the history
of this period : *' When divers were hardened and
believed not, but spake evil of that way before the
multitude, he departed from them, and separated the
disciples." The conformity therefore upon this head
of comparison is circumstantial and perfect. If any
one think that this is a conformity so obvious, that
any forger of tolerable caution and sagacity would
have taken care to preserve it, I must desire such a
one to read the epistle for himself; and, when he
has done so, to declare whether he has discovered
one mark of art or design ; whether the notes of time
and place appear to him to be inserted with any re-
ference to each other, with any view of their being
compared with each other, or for the purpose of
establishing a visible agreement with the history, in
respect of them.

No. III.

Chap. iv. 17 — 19. ** For this cause I have sent
unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son and
faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into re-
membrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach
every where in every church. Now some are puffed
up, as though I would not come unto you ; but I
will come unto you shortly, if the Lord will."

With this I compare Acts, xix. 21, 22: " After
these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit,
when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia,
to go to Jerusalem ; saying, After I have been there,

HORiE PAULIN.E. 53

I must also see Rome ; so he sent unto Macedonia
two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus
and Erastus."

Though it be not said, it appears I think with
sufficient certainty, I mean from the history, inde-
pendently of the epistle, that Timothy was sent upon
this occasion into Achaia, of which Corinth was the
capital city, as well as into Macedonia : for the
sending of Timothy and Erastus is, in the passage
where it is mentioned, plainly connected with St.
Paul's own journey: /le sent them before him. As he
therefore purposed to go into Acha'ia himself, it is
highly probable that they were to go thither also.
Nevertheless, they are said only to have been sent
into Macedonia, because Macedonia was in truth
the country to which they went immediately from
Ephesus ; being directed, as we suppose, to proceed
afterwards from thence into Achaia. If this be so,
the narrative agrees with the epistle ; and the agree-
ment is attended with very little appearance of design.
One thing at least concerning it is certain : that if
this passage of St. Paul's history had been taken
from his letter, it would have sent Timothy to Co-
rinth by name, or expressly however into Achaia.

But there is another circumstance in these two
passages much less obvious, in which an agreement
holds without any room for suspicion that it was pro-
duced by design. We have observed that the send-
ing of Timothy into the peninsula of Greece was con-
nected in the narrative with St. Paul's own journey
thither ; it is stated as the effect of the same reso-
lution. Paul purposed to go into Macedonia ; ** so
he sent two of them that ministered unto him, Timo-

54 HOR.E PAULINA.

theus and Erastus.'* Now in the epistle also you
remark that, when the apostle mentions his having
sent Timothy unto them, in the very next sentence
he speaks of his own visit : " for this cause have I
sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son,"
&c. *' Now some are puiFed up, as though I would
not come to you ; but I will come to you shortly, if
God will." Timothy's journey, we see, is mentioned
in the history and in the epistle, in close connexion
with St. Paul's own. Here is the same order of
thought and intention ; yet conveyed under such
diversity of circumstance and expression, and the
mention of them in the epistle so allied to the occa-
sion which introduces it, 'viz. the insinuation of his
adversaries that he would come to Corinth no more,
that I am persuaded no attentive reader will believe
that these passages were written in concert with one
another, or will doubt but that the agreement is un-
sought and uncontrived.

But, in the Acts, Erastus accompanied Timothy
in this journey, of whom no mention is made in the
epistle. From what has been said in our observations
upon the Epistle to the Romans, it appears proba-
ble that Erastus was a Corinthian. If so, though
he accompanied Timothy to Corinth, he was only
returning home, and Timothy was the messenger
charged with St. Paul's orders. — At any rate, this
discrepancy shows that the passages were not taken
from one another.

No. IV.

Chap. xvi. 10, 11. — " Now, if Timotheus come,
see that he may be with you without fear j for he

HOR^ PAULINiE. 55

worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do : let no
man therefore despise him, but conduct him forth in
peace, that he may come unto me, for I look for him
with the brethren."

From the passage considered in the preceding
number, it appears that Timothy was sent to Corinth,
either with the epistle, or before it : " for this cause
have I sent unto you Timotheus." From the passage
now quoted, we infer that Timothy was not sent
with the epistle ; for had he been the bearer of the
letter, or accompanied it, would St. Paul in that
letter have said, "T/'Timothy come?'* Nor is the
sequel consistent with the supposition of his carrying
the letter ; for if Timothy was with the apostle when
he wrote the letter, could he say, as he does, *' I look
for him with the brethren ?" I conclude therefore,
that Timothy had left St. Paul to proceed upon his
journey before the letter was written. Farther, the
passage before us seems to imply, that Timothy was
not expected by St. Paul to arrive at Corinth till
after they had received the letter. He gives them
directions in the letter hov*' to treat him when he
should arrive : " If he come," act towards him so
and so. Lastly, the whole form of expression is most
naturally applicable to the supposition of Timothy's
coming to Corinth, not directly from St. Paul, but
from some other quarter ; and that his instructions
had been, when he should reach Corinth, to return.
Now, how stands this matter in the history ? Turn
to the nineteenth chapter and twenty-first verse of
the Acts, and you will find that Timothy did not,
when sent from Ephesus, where he left St. Paul,
and where the present epistle was written, proceed

56 HORiE PAULINiE.

by a straight course to Corinth, but that he went
round through Macedonia. This clears up every-
thing ; for, although Timothy was sent forth upon
his journey before the letter was written, yet he
might not reach Corinth till after the letter arrived
there ; and he would come tp Corinth, when he did
come, not directly from St. Paul at Ephesus, but
from some part of Macedonia. Here, therefore, is a
circumstantial and critical agreement, and unques-
tionably without design ; for neither of the two pass-
ages in the epistle mentions Timothy's journey into
Macedonia at all, though nothing but a circuit of
that kind can explain and reconcile the expressions
which the writer uses.

No. V.

Chap. i. 12. " Now this I say, that every one of
you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of
Cephas, and I of Christ."

Also, iii. 6. *' I have planted, Apollos watered,
but God gave the increase."

This expression, " I have planted, Apollos watered,"
imports two things ; first, that Paul had been at
Corinth before Apollos : secondly, that Apollos had
been at Corinth after Paul, but before the writing of
this epistle. This implied account of the several
events, and of the order in which they took place,
corresponds exactly with the history. St. Paul, after
his first visit into Greece, returned from Corinth
into Syria by the way of Ephesus ; and, dropping
his companions Aquila and Priscilla at Ephesus, he
proceeded forwards to Jerusalem ; from Jerusalem
he descended to Antioch ; and from thence made a

hor;e paulin.'E. 57

progress through some of the upper or northern
provinces of the Lesser Asia, Acts, xviii. 19, 23:
during which progress, and consequently in the in-
terval between St. Paul's first and second visit to
Corinth, and consequently also before the writing of
this epistle, which was at Ephesus two years at least
after the apostle's return from his progress, we hear
of Apollos, and we hear of him at Corinth. Whilst
St. Paul w^as engaged, as hath been said, in Phrygia
and Galatia, Apollos came down to Ephesus ; and
being, in St. Paul's absence, instructed by Aquila
and Priscilla, and having obtained letters of recom-
mendation from the church at Ephesus, he passed
over to Achaia ; and when he was there, we read
that he " helped them much which had believed
through grace, for he mightily convinced the Jews,
and that publicly." Acts, xviii. 27, 28. To have
brought Apollos into Achaia, of which Corinth was
the capital city, as well as the principal Christian
church ; and to have shown that he preached the
Gospel in that country, would have been sufficient
for our purpose. But the history happens also to
mention Corinth by name, as the place in which
Apollos, after his arrival in Achaia, fixed his re-
sidence : for, proceeding with the account of St. Paul's
travels, it tells us, that while Apollos was at Corinth,
Paul, having passed through the upper coasts, came
down to Ephesus, xix. 1. What is said therefore of
Apollos in the epistle coincides exactly, and espe-
cially in the point of chronology, with what is de-
livered concerning him in the history. The only
question now is, whether the allusions were made
with a regard to this coincidence. Now, the occa-

58 HOll^ PAULIN.E.

sions and purposes for which the name of Apollos is
introduced in the Acts and in the Epistles are so
independent and so remote, that it is impossible to
discover the smallest reference from one to the other.
Apollos is mentioned in the Acts, in immediate con-
nexion with the history of Aquila and Priscilla, and
for the very singular circumstance of his " knowing
only the baptism of John." In the epistle, where
none of these circumstances are taken notice of, his
name first occurs, for the purpose of reproving the
contentious spirit of the Corinthians ; and it occurs
only in conjunction with that of some others : *' Every
one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos,
and I of Cephas, and I of Christ." The second
passage in which Apollos appears, " I have planted,
Apollos watered," fixes, as we have observed, the
order of time amongst three distinct events : but it
fixes this, I will venture to pronounce, without the
writer perceiving that he was doing any such thing.
The sentence fixes this order in exact conformity
with the history ; but it is itself introduced solely for
the sake of the reflection which follows : — '* Neither
is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth,
but God that giveth the increase."

No. VI.

Chap. iv. 11, 12. " Even unto this present hour
we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are
buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place ; and
labour, working with our own hands."

We are expressly told in the history, that at Co-
rinth St. Paul laboured with his own hands : " He
found Aquila and Priscilla ; and, because he was of

HOll^ PAULINyE. 59

the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought ;
for by their occupation they were tent-makers." But,
in the text before us, he is made to say, that *' he
hiboured even unto the present hour^^^ that is, to tlie
time of writing the epistle at Ephesus. Now, in the
narration of St. Paul's transactions at Ephesus, de-
livered in the nineteenth chapter of the Acts, nothing
is said of his working with his own hands ; but in
the twentieth chapter we read, that upon his return
from Greece, he sent for the elders of the church of
Ephesus to meet him at Miletus \ and in the dis-
course which he there addressed to them, amidst
some other reflections which he calls to their remem-
brance, we find the following : *' I have coveted no
man's silver, or gold, or apparel ; yea, you yourselves
also know, that these hands have ministered unto my
necessities, and to them that were with me." The
reader will not forget to remark, that though St.
Paul be now at Miletus, it is to the elders of the
church of Ephesus he is speaking, when he says,
" Ye yourselves know that these hands have mi-
nistered unto my necessities ;" and that the whole
discourse relates to his conduct during his last pre-
ceding residence at Ephesus. That manual labour,
therefore, which he had exercised at Corinth, he
continued at Ephesus ; and not only so, but con-
tinued it during that particular residence at Ephesus,
near the conclusion of which this epistle was written ;
so that he might with the strictest truth say at the
time of writing the epistle, " Even imio this present
hour we labour, working with our own hands." The
correspondency is sufficient, then, as to the unde-
signedness of it. It is manifest to my judgement.

60 HOR^E PAULINA.

that if the history, in this article, had been taken
from the epistle, this circumstance, if it appeared at
all, would have appeared in its place, that is, in the
direct account of St. Paul's transactions at Ephesus.
The correspondency would not have been effected,
as it is, by a kind of reflected stroke, that is, by a
reference in a subsequent speech, to what in the
narrative was omitted. Nor is it likely, on the other
hand, that a circumstance which is not extant in the
history of St. Paul at Ephesus should have been
made the subject of a factitious allusion, in an epistle
purporting to be written by him from that place ;
not to mention that the allusion itself, especially as
to time, is too oblique and general to answer any
purpose of forgery whatever.

No. VII.

Chap. ix. 20. " And unto the Jews, I became as
a Jew, that I might gain the Jews ; to them that
are under the law, as under the law."

We have the disposition here described, exem-
plified in two instances which the history records ;
one. Acts, xvi. 3 : " Him (Timothy) would Paul
have to sro forth with him, and took and circum-
cised him, because of the Jews in tJwse quarters; for
they knew all that his father was a Greek." This
was before the writing of the epistle. The other,
Acts, xxi. 23. 26, and after the writing of the epistle :
" Do this that we say to thee ; we have four men
which have a vow on them : them take, and purify
thyself with them, that they may shave their heads ;
and all may know that those things, whereof they
were informed concerning thee, are nothing ; but

IIORiE PAULINA. 61

that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest
the law. — Then Paul took the men, and the next
day, purifyirig himself with ihem^ entered into the
temple.'* Nor does this concurrence between the
character and the instances look like the result of
contrivance. St. Paul, in the epistle, describes, or
is made to describe, his own accommodating conduct
towards Jews and towards Gentiles, towards the weak
and over-scrupulous, towards men indeed of every
variety of character ; " to them that are without law
as without law, being not without law to God, but
under the law to Christ, that I might gain them that
are without law ; to the weak became I as weak,
that I might gain the weak ; I am made all things
to all men, that I might gain some." This is the
sequel of the text which stands at the head of the
present number. Taking therefore the whole pass-
age together, the apostle's condescension to the Jews
is mentioned only as a part of his general disposition
towards all. It is not probable that this character
should have been made up from the instances in the
Acts, which relate solely to his dealings with the
Jews. It is not probable that a sophist should take
his hint from those instances, and then extend it so
much beyond them : and it is still more incredible
that the two instances, in the Acts, circumstantially
related and interwoven with the history, should have
been fabricated in order to suit the character which
St. Paul gives of himself in the epistle.

No. VIII.

Chap. i. 14—17. "I thank God that I baptised
none of you but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should

62 UORM PAULINA.

say that I baptised in my own name ; and I baptised
also the household of Stephanas : besides, I know
not whether I baptized any other ; for Christ sent
me not to baptise, but to preach the Gospel."

It may be expected that those whom the apostle
baptised with his own hands, were converts distin-
guished from the rest by some circumstance, either of
eminence, or of connexion with him. Accordingly,
of the three names here mentioned, Crispus, we find,
from Acts, xviii. 8, was a " chief ruler of the Jewish
synagogue at Corinth, who believed in the Lord,
with all his house." Gains, it appears from Romans,
xvi. 23, was St. Paul's host at Corinth, and the host,
he tells us, " of the whole church.'* The household
of Stephanas, we read in the sixteenth chapter of this
epistle, " were the first fruits of Achaia." Here
therefore is the propriety we expected : and it is a
proof of reality not to be contemned ; for their names
appearing in the several places in which they occur,
with a mark of distinction belonging to each, could
hardly be the effect of chance, without any truth to
direct it : and on the other hand, to suppose that
they were picked out from these passages, and brought
together in the text before us, in order to display a
conformity of names, is both improbable in itself, and
is rendered more so by the purpose for which they
are introduced. They come in to assist St. Paul's
exculpation of himself, against the possible charge of
having assumed the character of the founder of a
separate religion, and with no other visible, or, as I
think, imaginable design *.

* Chap. i. 1. "Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ,
through the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother, unto the

HOR^ PAULIX/E. 6'o

No. IX.

Chap. xvi. 10, 11. " Now, if Timotheus come, let
no man despise him." — Why despise him ? This

church of God which is at Corinth." The only account we have
of any person who bore the name of Sosthenes, is found in the
eighteenth chapter of the Acts. When the Jews at Corinth had
brought Paul before Gallio, and Gallio had dismissed their com-
plaint as unworthy of his interference, and had driven them from
the judgment-seat, "then all the Greeks,'' says the historian,
" took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him
before the judgment- seat." The Sosthenes here spoken of was
a Corinthian ; and, if he was a Christian, and with St. Paul when
he wrote this epistle, was likely enough to be joined with him in
the salutation of the Corinthian church. But here occurs a dif-
ficulty. If Sosthenes was a Christian at the time of this uproar,
why should the Greeks beat him ? The assault upon the Christians
was made by the Jeivs. It was the Jews who had brought Paul
before the magistrate. If it had been the Jews also who had
beaten Sosthenes, I should not have doubted but that he had
been a favourer of St. Paul, and the same person who is joined
with him in the epistle. Let us see therefore whether there be
not some error in our present text. The Alexandrian manuscript
gives znavTs; alone, without ol EAATjvgj , and it is followed in this
reading by the Coptic version, by the Arabian version, published
by ErpeniuSj by the Vulgate, and by Bede's Latin version. The
Greek manuscripts again, as well as Chrysostora, give ol lovScciot,
in the place of ol 'EXA'tjvsj . A great plurality of manuscripts au-
thorise the reading which is retained in our copies. In this
variety it appears to me extremely probable that the historian
originally wrote 'zsavtsg alone, and that ol 'EAXtjvsj and oi lovSaiot
have been respectively added as explanatory of what the word
itxvrsg was supposed to mean. The sentence, without the ad-
dition of either name, would run very perspicuously thus, " koli
aitr^KoLffzy avtovg octTo rov /Sij/xaT'oj'" s'tfjXaS'OjU.svoi Ss ■ma.vTzs ScotrSgyvyV
TOv a.p'^icrvvocyujyov, sruziyTOv s^j.vro'ja-^zy rov (iriiJ.XTog' and he drove
them away from the judgment-seat j and they all," viz. the
crowd of .Tews whom the judge had bid begone, " took Sosthenes,

64 HOR^ PAULINiE.

charge is not given concerning any other messenger
whom St. Paul sent ; and, in the different epistles,
many such messengers are mentioned. Turn to
1 Timothy, chap. iv. 12, and you will find that Ti-
mothy was a young man, younger probably than
those who were usually employed in the Christian
mission ; and that St. Paul, apprehending lest he
should, on that account, be exposed to contempt,
urges upon him the caution which is there inserted,
" Let no man despise thy youth."

No. X.

Chap. xvi. 1. *'Now, concerning the collection
for the saints, as I have given order to the churches
of Galatia, even so do ye.'*

The churches of Galatia and Phrygia were the
last churches which St. Paul had visited before the
writing of this epistle. He was now at Ephesus,
and he came thither immediately from visiting these
churches : "He went over all the country of Galatia
and Phrygia, in order, strengthening all the disciples.
And it came to pass that Paul having passed through
the upper coasts" (viz. the above-named countries,
called the upper coasts, as being the northern part of

and beat him before the judgment-seat." It is certain that, as
the whole body of the people were Greeks, the application of all
to them was unusual and hard. If I was describing an insurrec-
tion at Paris, I might say all the Jews, -all the Protestants, or all
the English acted so and so ; but I should scarcely say all the
French, when the whole mass of the community were of that
description. As what is here offered is founded upon a various
reading, and that in opposition to the greater part of the manu-
scripts that are extant, I have not given it a place in the text.

HOR.E PAULIN.E. G5

Asia Minor), "came to Ephesus." Acts, xviil. 23 ;
xix. 1. These therefore, probably, were the last
churches at which he left directions for their public
conduct dui-ing his absence. Although two years
intervened between his journey to Ephesus and his
writing this epistle, yet it does not appear that during
that time he visited any other church. That he had
not been silent when he was in Galatia, upon this
subject of contribution for the poor, is farther made
out from a hint which he lets fall in his epistle to
that church : " Only they (viz. the other apostles)
w^ould that we should remember the poor, the same
also which I was forward to do.'^

No. XL

Chap. iv. 18. '*Now, some are puffed up, as
though I would not come unto you."

Wliy should they suppose that he would not come ?
Turn to the first chapter of the Second Epistle to
the Corinthians, and you will find that he had
already disappointed them : "I was minded to come
unto you before, that you might have a second
benefit ; and to pass by you into Macedonia, and to
come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you
to be brought on my way toward Judea. When I,
therefore, was thus minded, did I use lightness ? Or
the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to
the flesh, that with me there should be yea, yea, and
nay, nay? But, as God is true, our word toward
you was not yea and nay." It appears from tliis
quotation, that he had not only intended, but that
he had promised them a visit before ; for, otherwise,
why should he apologise for the change of his pur-

VOL. III. F

66 HOll/E PAULINA.

pose, or express so mucli anxiety lest this change
should be imputed to any culpable fickleness in his
temper ; and lest he should thereby seem to them,
as one whose word was not, in any sort, to be de-
pended upon ? Besides which, the terms made use
of plainly refer to a promise, " Our word toward 7/ou
was not yea and nay." St. Paul therefore had sig-
nified an intention which he had not been able to
execute ; and this seeming breach of his word, and
the delay of his visit, had, with some who were evil
affected towards him, given birth to a suggestion
that he would come no more to Corinth.

No. XII.

Chap. V. 7? 8. " For even Christ, our passover, is
sacrificed for us j therefore let us keep the feast, not
with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice
and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of
sincerity and truth."

Dr. Benson tells us, that from this passage, com-
pared with chapter xvi. 8, it has been conjectured
that this epistle was written about the time of the
Jewish passover ; and to me the conjecture appears
to be very well founded. The passage to which Dr.
Benson refers us is this : "I will tarry at Ephesus
until Pentecost." With this passage he ought to
have joined anothei* in the same context : " And it
may be that I will abide, yea, and winter with you ;'*
for from the two passages laid together, it follows
that the epistle was written before Pentecost, yet
after winter ; which necessarily determines the date
to the part of the year within which the passover

HOR.'E paulin;e. 67

falls. It was written before Pentecost, because he
says, " I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost." It
was written after winter, because he tells them, " It
may be that I may abide, yea, and winter with you."
The winter which the apostle purposed to pass at
Corinth, was undoubtedly the winter next ensuing
to the date of the epistle ; yet it was a winter sub-
sequent to the ensuing Pentecost, because he did
not intend to set forwards upon his journey till after
that feast. The words, ** let us keep the feast, not
with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice
and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of
sincerity and truth," look very like words suggested
by the season ; at least they have, upon that sup-
position, a force and significancy which do not belong
to them upon any other ; and it is not a little re-
markable, that the hints casually dropped in the
epistle concerning particular parts of the year should
coincide with this supposition.

CHAPTER IV.

THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. .

No. I.

I WILL not say that it is impossible, having seen
the First Epistle to the Corinthians, to construct a
second with ostensible allusions to the first ; or that
it is impossible that both should be fabricated, so as

68 HORyE PAULIN/E.

to carry on an order and continuation of story, by
successive references to the same events. But I say,
that this, in either case, must be the effect of craft
and desie:n. Whereas, whoever examines the allu-
sions to the former epistle which he finas m this,
whilst he will acknowledge them to be such as
would rise spontaneously to the hand of the writer,
from the very subject of the correspondence, and
the situation of the corresponding parties, supposing
these to be real, will see no particle of reason to
suspect, either that the clauses containing these
allusions were insertions for the purpose, or that the
several transactions of the Corinthian church were
feigned, in order to form a train of narrative, or to
support the appearance of connexion between the
two epistles.

1. In the First Epistle, St. Paul announces his
intention of passing through Macedonia, in his way
to Corinth : '' I will come to you when I shall pass
through Macedonia." In the Second Epistle, we
find him arrived in Macedonia, and about to pursue
his journey to Corinth. But observe the manner in
which this is made to appear : " I know the forward-
ness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them
of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago,
and your zeal hath provoked very many : yet have I
sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should
be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be
ready ; lest, haply, if they of Macedonia come with
me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not
you) be ashamed in this same confident boasting.'*
(Chap. ix. 2, 3, 4). St. Paul's being in Macedonia
at the time of writing the epistle is, in this passage,

KOR^ PAULIN/E. 69

inferred only from his saying that he had boasted to
the Macedonians of the alacrity of his Achaian con-
verts ; and the fear which he expresses, lest, if any
of the Macedonian Christians should come with him
unto Achaia, they should find his boasting unwar-
ranted by the event. The business of the contribu-
tion is the sole cause of mentioning Macedonia at
all. Will it be insinuated that this passage was
framed merely to state that St. Paul was now in
Macedonia ; and, by that statement, to produce an
apparent agreement with the purpose of visiting
Macedonia, notified in the First Epistle ? Or will it
be thought probable, that, if a sophist had meant to
place St. Paul in Macedonia, for the sake of giving
countenance to his forgery, he would have done it in
so oblique a manner as through the medium of a con-
tribution ? The same thing may be observed of
another text in the epistle, in which the name of
Macedonia occurs : " Furthermore, when I came to
Troas to preach the Gospel, and a door was opened
unto me of the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit,
because I found not Titus, my brother ; but taking
my leave of them, I went from thence into Mace-
donia." I mean, that it may be observed of this
passage also, that there is a reason for mentioning
Macedonia, entirely distinct from the purpose of
showing St. Paul to be tliey^e. Indeed, if the pass-
age before us show that point at all, it shows it so
obscurely, that Grotius, though he did not doubt
that Paul was now in Macedonia, refers this text to
a different journey. Is this the hand of a forger,
meditating to establish a false conformity ? The text,
however, in which it is most strongly implied that

70 HOR.E PAULIN.E.

St. Paul wrote the present epistle from Macedonia,
is found in the fourth, fifth, and sixth verses of the
seventh chapter : *' I am filled with comfort, I am
exceeding joyful in all our tribulation ; for, when
we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no
rest ; without were fightings, within were fears :
nevertheless, God, that comforteth those that are
cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus."
Yet even here, I think, no one will contend that St.
Paul's coming to Macedonia, or being in Macedonia,
was the principal thing intended to be told : or that
the telling of it, indeed, was any part of the intention
with which the text was written ; or that the mention
even of the name of Macedonia was not purely Inci-
dental, in the description of those tumultuous sorrows
with which the writer's mind had been lately agitated,
and from which he was relieved by the coming of
Titus. The first five verses of the eighth chapter,
which commend the liberality of the Macedonian
churches, do not. In my opinion, by themselves,
prove St. Paul to have been at Macedonia at the
time of writing the epistle.

2. In the First Epistle, St. Paul denounces a
severe censure against an incestuous marriage, which
had taken place amongst the Corinthian converts,
with the connivance, not to say with the approbation,
of the church ; and enjoins the church to purge
itself of this scandal, by expelling the offender from
its society : *' It is reported commonly, that there is
fornication among you, and such fornication as is not
so much as named amongst the Gentiles, that one
should have his father's wife ; and ye are puffed up,
and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done

HOR^ TAULINyE. 71

this deed might be taken away from among you ; for
I, verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit,
have judged already, as though I were present, con-
cerning him that hath done this deed ; in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered
together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord
Jesus Christ, to deliver such a one unto Satan for
the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be
saved in the day of the Lord." (Chap. v. 1 — 5.)
Li the Second Epistle, we find this sentence exe-
cuted, and the offender to be so affected with the
punishment, that St. Paul now intercedes for his
restoration ; " Sufficient to such a man is this pu-
nishment, which was inflicted of many ; so that,
contrariwise, ye ought rather to forgive him and
comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be
swallowed up with over-much sorrow ; wherefore, I
beseech you, that ye would confirm your love to-
wards him." (2 Cor. chap. ii. 7* 8.) Is this whole
business feigned for the sake of carrying on a con-
tinuation of story through the two epistles ? The
church also, no less than the offender, was brought
by St. Paul's reproof to a deep sense of the im-
propriety of their conduct. Their penitence, and
their respect to his authority, were, as might be
expected, exceeding grateful to St. Paul : " We
were comforted not by Titus's coming only, but by
the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you,
when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning,
your fervent mind towards me, so that I rejoiced the
more ; for, though I made you sorry with a letter, I
do not repent, though I did repent : for I perceive
that the same epistle made you sorry, though it were

72 HOKE PAULIN.E.

but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that ye were
made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance : for
ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye
might receive damage by us in nothing." (Chap,
vii. 7 — 9.) That this passage is to be referred to
the incestuous marriage is proved by the twelfth
verse of the same chapter : " Though I wrote unto
you, I did it not for his cause that had done the
wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong ; but
that our care for you, in the sight of God, might ap-
pear unto you.'* There were, it is true, various
topics of blame noticed in the First Epistle ; but
there was none, except this of the incestuous mar-
riasre, which could be called a transaction between
private parties, or of which it could be said that
one particular person had "done the wrong," and
another particular person "had suffered it." Could
all this be without foundation ? or could it be put
into the Second Epistle, merely to furnish an obscure
sequel to what had been said about an incestuous
marriage in the first ?

3. In the sixteenth chapter of the First Epistle, a
collection for the saints is recommended to be set
forwards at Corinth : " Now, concerning the collec-
tion for the saints, as I have given order to the
churches of Galatia, so do ye." (Chap. xvi. 1.) In
the ninth chapter of the Second Epistle, such a col-
lection is spoken of, as in readiness to be received :
" As touching the ministering to the saints, it is
superfluous for me to write to you, for I know
the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of
you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a
year ago, and your zeal hath provoked very many."

HORyE PAUL1N.E. 73

(Chap. ix. 1,2.) This is such a continuation of the
transaction as might be expected ; or, possibly it will
be said, as might easily be counterfeited ; but there
is a circumstance of nicety in the agreement between
the two epistles, which, I am convinced, the author
of a forgery would not have hit upon, or which, if he
had hit upon it, he would have set forth with more
clearness. The Second Epistle speaks of the Co-
rinthians as having begun this eleemosynary business
a year before : " This is expedient for you, who
have begun before, not only to do, but also to be
forward a year ago." (Chap. viii. 10.) " I boast
of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready
a year ago." (Chap. ix. 2.) From these texts it is
evident, that something had been done in the busi-
ness a year before. It appears, however, from other
texts in the epistle, that the contribution was not yet
collected or paid ; for brethren were sent from St.
Paul to Corinth, *' to make up their bounty." (Chap.
ix. 5.) They are urged to " perform the doing of
it." (Chap. viii. 11.) "And every man was ex-
horted to give as he purposed in his heart." (Chap.
ix. 70 Ihe contribution, therefore, as represented
m our present epistle, was in readiness, yet not re-
ceived from the contributors ; was begun, was forward
long before, yet not hitherto collected. Now this
representation agrees with one, and only with one,
supposition, namely, that every man had laid by in
store, had already provided the fund, from which he
was afterwards to contribute — the very case which
the First Epistle authorises us to suppose to have
existed ; for in that epistle St. Paul had charged the

74 HOR^ PAULIN.E.

Corinthians, '* upon tlie first day of the week, every-
one of them, to lay by in store as God had prospered
him *." (1 Cor. chap. xvi. 2.)

* The following observations will satisfy us concerning the
purity of our apostle's conduct in the suspicious business of a
pecuniary contribution,

1. He disclaims the having received any inspired authoi'ity for
the directions which he is giving : " I speak not by command-
ment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove
the sincerity of your love." (2 Cor. chap. vili. 8.) Who, that
had a sinister purpose to answer by the recommending of sub-
scriptions, would thus distinguish, and thus lower the credit of
his own recommendation ?

2. Although he asserts the general right of Christian ministers
to a maintenance from their ministry, yet he protests against the
making use of this right in his own person : " Even so hath the
Lord ordained, that they which preach the Gospel should live of
the Gospel ; but I have used none of these things, neither have
I written these things that it should be so done unto me ; for it
were better for me to die than that any man should make my
glorying, i. e. my professions of disinterestedness, void." (1 Cor.
chap. ix. 14, 15.)

3. He repeatedly proposes that there should be associates with
himself in the management of the public bounty j not colleagues
of his own appointment, but persons elected for that purpose by
the contributors themselves. " And when I come, whomsoever
ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your
liberality unto Jerusalem ; and if it be meet that f go also, they
shall go with me." (I Cor. chap, xvi, 3, 4.) And in the Second
Epistle, what is here proposed, we find actually done, and done
for the very purpose of guarding his character against any im-
putation that might be brought upon it, in the discharge of a pe-
cuniary trust : " And we have sent with him the brother, whose
praise is in the Gospel throughout all the churches 3 and not
that only, but who was also chosen of the churches to travel
with us with this grace (gift) which is administered by us to
the glory of the same Lord, and the declaration of your ready

HOR/E TAULIN/E. 75

No. II.

In comparing the Second Epistle to the Corin-
thians with the Acts of the Apostles, we are soon
brought to observe, not only that there exists no
vestige either of the epistle having been taken from
the history, or the history from the epistle ; but also
that there appears in the contents of the epistle po-
sitive evidences that neither was borrowed from the
other. Titus, who bears a conspicuous part in the
epistle, is not mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles
at all. St. Paul's sufferings enumerated, chap. xi.
24, " of the Jews five times received I forty stripes
save one ; thrice was I beaten with rods ; once was I
stoned ; thrice I suffered shipwreck ; a night and a
day I have been in the deep," cannot be made out
from his history as delivered in the Acts ; nor would
this account have been given by a writer, who either
drew his knowledge of St. Paul from that history, or
who was careful to preserve a conformity with it.
The account in the epistle of St. Paul's escape from
Damascus, though agreeing in the main fact with
the account of the same transaction in the Acts, is
related with such difference of circumstance, as ren-
ders it utterly improbable that one should be derived

mind : avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abund-
ance which is administered by us ; providing for things honest,
not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men :"
i. e. not resting in the consciousness of our own integrity, but, in
such a subject, careful also to approve our integrity to the public
judgment. ('2 Cor. chap. viii. 18 — 21.)

76

HOR.E PAULINiE.

from the other. The two accounts, placed by the
side of each other, stand as follows :

2 Cor. chap. xi. 32, 33.
In Damascus, the governor
under Aretas the king kept
the city of the Damascenes
with a garrison, desirous to
apprehend me ; and through
a window in a basket was I
let down by the wall, and
escaped his hands.

Acts, chap. ix. 23—25.
And after many days were
fulfilled, the Jews took
counsel to kill him ; but
their laying in wait was
known of Saul, and they
watched the gates day and
night to kill him : then the
disciples took him by night,
and let him down by the
wall in a basket.

Now if we be satisfied in general concerning these
two ancient writings, that the one was not known to
the writer of the other, or not consulted by him ;
then the accordances which may be pointed out
between them will admit of no solution so probable,
as the attributing of them to truth and reality, as to
their common foundation.

No. III.

The opening of this epistle exhibits a connexion
with the history, which alone would satisfy my mind
that the epistle was written by St. Paul, and by St.
Paul in the situation in which the history places him.
Let it be remembered, that in the nineteenth chapter
of the Acts, St. Paul is represented as driven away
from Ephesus, or as leaving however Ephesus, in
consequence of an uproar in that city, excited by
some interested adversaries of the new religion.
The account of the tumult is as follows : " When

HOR^ PAULINA. 77

tliej^ heard these sayings," viz. Demetriiis's complaint
of the danger to be apprehended from St. Paul's
ministry to the established worship of the Ephesian
goddess, " they were full of wrath, and cried out,
saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. And
the whole city was filled with confusion ; and having
caught Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's companions in
travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre ;
and when Paul would have entered in unto the
people, the disciples suffered him not ; and certain
of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent
unto him, desiring that he would not adventure
himself into the theatre. Some, therefore, cried one
thing, and some another : for the assembly was con-
fused, and the more part knew not wherefore they
were come together. And they drew Alexander
out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward ;
and Alexander beckoned with his hand, and would
have made his defence unto the people : but, when
they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice,
about the space of two hours, cried out, Great is
Diana of the Ephesians. — And after the uproar was
ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples, and em-
braced them, and departed for to go into Mace-
donia." When he was arrived in Macedonia, he
wrote the Second Epistle to the Corinthians which
is now before us ; and he begins his epistle in this
wise : *' Blessed be God, even the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the
God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tri-
bulation, that we may be able to comfort them vvhich
are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we
ourselves are comforted of God. For, as the suf-

78 IIORJE PAULIN/E.

ferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation
also aboundetli by Christ ; and whether we be af-
flicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which
is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings,
which we also suffer : or whether we be comforted,
it is for your consolation and salvation : and our hope
of you is stedfast, knowing that, as ye are partakers
of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.
For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of
our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were
pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch
that we despaired even of life ; but we had the sen-
tence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust
in ourselves, but in God, which raiseth the dead,
who delivered us from so great a death, and doth
deliver ; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver
us." Nothing could be more expressive of the cir-
cumstances in which the history describes St. Paul to
have been, at the time when the epistle purports to
be written ; or rather, nothing could be more ex-
pressive of the sensations arising from these circum-
stances, than this passage. It is the calm recollection
of a mind emerged from the confusion of instant dan-
ger. It is that devotion and solemnity of thought,
which follows a recent deliverance. There is just
enough of particularity in the passage to show that
it is to be referred to the tumult at Ephesus : " We
would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble
which came to us in Asia." And there is nothing
more ; no mention of Demetrius, of the seizure of
St. Paul's friends, of the interference of the town-
clerk, of the occasion or nature of the danger which
St. Paul had escaped, or even of the city where it

HORyE PAULINA. 79

happened ; in a word, no recital from vvliicli a sus-
picion could be conceived, either that the author of
the epistle had made use of the narrative in the Acts ;
or, on the other hand, that he had sketched the out-
line, which the narrative in the Acts only filled up.
That the forger of an epistle, under the name of St.
Paul, should borrow circumstances from a history of
St. Paul then extant ; or, that the author of a history
of St. Paul should gather materials from letters
bearing St. PauPs name, may be credited ; but I
cannot believe that any forger whatever should fall
upon an expedient so refined, as to exhibit senti-
ments adapted to a situation, and to leave his readers
to seek out that situation from the history ; still less
that the author of a history should go about to frame
facts and circumstances, fitted to supply the sen-
timents which he found in the letter. It may be
said, perhaps, that it docs not appear from the history
that any danger threatened St. Paul's life in the
uproar at Ephesus, so imminent as that from which
in the epistle he represents himself to have been
delivered. This matter, it is true, is not stated by
the historian in form j but the personal danger of
the apostle, we cannot doubt, must have been ex-
treme, when the " whole city was filled with con-
fusion ;" when the populace had " seized his com-
panions ;*' when, in the distraction of his mind,
he insisted upon " coming forth amongst them ;'*
when the Christians who were about him " would
not suffer him;" when "his friends, certain of the
chief of Asia, sent to him, desiring that he would
not adventure himself in the tumult ;" when, lastly,
he was obliged to quit immediately the place and the

80 HOR^ PAULIN.E.

country, '* and when the tumult was ceased, to de-
part into Macedonia." All which particulars are
found in the narration, and justify St. Paul's own
account, " that he was pressed out of measure, above
strength, insomuch that he despaired even of life ;
that he had the sentence of death in himself;" i. e.
that he looked upon himself as a man condemned
to die.

No. IV.

It has already been remarked, that St. Paul's
original intention was to have visited Corinth in his
way to Macedonia : "I was minded to come unto
you before, and to pass by you into Macedonia."
2 Cor. chap. i. 15, IG. It has also been remarked
that he changed his intention, and ultimately resolved
upon going through Macedonia Jirst. Now upon
this head there exists a circumstance of correspond-
ency between our epistle and the history, which is
not very obvious to the reader's observation ; but
which, when observed, will be found, I think, close
and exact. Which circumstance is this : that though
the change of St. Paul's intention be expressly men-
tioned only in the second epistle, yet it appears, both
from the history and from this second epistle, that
the change had taken place before the writing of the
first epistle ; that it appears however from neither,
otherwise than by an inference, unnoticed perhaps by
almost every one who does not sit down professedly
to the examination.

First, then, how does this point appear from the
history ? In the nineteenth chapter of the Acts, and
the twenty-first verse, we are told, that " Paul

HOR/E PAULIN.E. 81

purposed in the spirit when he had passed through
Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem. So hd
sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered
unto him, Timotheus and Erastus ; but he himself
stayed in Asia for a season." A short time after
this, and evidently in pursuance of the same in-
tention, we find (chap. xx. 1, 2), that "Paul de-
parted from E])hesus for to go into Macedonia : and
that, when he had gone over those parts, he came
into Greece.'* The resolution therefore of passing-
first through Macedonia, and from thence into
Greece, was formed by St. Paul, previously to the
sending away of Timothy. The order in which the
two countries are mentioned shows the direction of
his intended route, " when he had passed through
Macedonia and Achaia." Timothy and Erastus,
who were to precede him in his progress, were sent
by him from Ephesus into Macedonia. He himself
a short time afterwards, and, as hath been observed,
evidently in continuation and pursuance of the same
design, ** departed for to go into Macedonia." If
he had ever, therefore, entertained a different plan
of his journey, which is not hinted in the history,
he must have changed that plan before this time.
But, from the lyth verse of the fourth chapter of
the First Epistle to the Corinthians, we discover,
that Timothy had been sent away from Ephesus
before that Epistle was written : '* For this cause
have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved
son." The change therefore of St. PauPs resolution,
which was prior to the sending away of Timothy,
was necessarily prior to the writing of the First
Epistle to the Corinthians.

VOL. III. G

8^ HOR.E PAULINiE.

Thus stands the order of dates, as collected from
the history, compared with the First Epistle. Now
let us inquire, secondly, how this matter is repre-
sented in the epistle before us. In the sixteenth
verse of the first chapter of this epistle, St. Paul
speaks of the intention which he had once enter-
tained of visiting Achaia, in his way to Macedonia :
" In this confidence I was minded to come unto you
before, that ye might have a second benefit : and to
pass by you into Macedonia.'* After protesting, in
the seventeenth verse, against any evil construction
that might be put upon his laying aside of this
intention, in the twenty-third verse he discloses the
cause of it : " Moreover I call God for a record
upon my soul, that, to spare you, I came not as yet
unto Corinth." And then he proceeds as follows :
" But I determined this with myself, that I would
not come again to you in heaviness : for, if I make
you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but
the same which is made sorry by me ? A?id Ixcrotc
this same unto you, lest when I came I should have
sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice ;
having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy
of you all ; for, out of much affliction and anguish
of heart, / tvrote unto you with many tears; not
that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know
the love which I have more abundantly unto you j
but if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me
but in part, that I may not overcharge you alL
Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which
was inflicted of many.'* In this quotation, let the
reader first direct his attention to the clause marked
by Italics, " and I wrote this same unto you," and

HOll.E PAULINE. 83

let him consider, whether, from the context, and
from the structure of the whole passage, it be not
evident that this writing was after St. Paul had
" determined with himself, that ^he would not come
again to them in heaviness?'* whether, indeed, it
was not in consequence of this determination, or at
least with this determination upon his mind ? And,
in the next place, let him consider, whether the sen-
tence, *' I determined this with myself, that I would
not come again to you in heaviness," do not plainly
refer to that postponing of his visit, to which he had
alluded in the verse but one before, when he said,
" I call God for a record upon my soul, that, to
spare you, I came not as yet unto Corinth :" and
whether this be not the visit of which he speaks in
the sixteenth verse, wherein he informs the Corinthi-
ans, " that he had been minded to pass by them into
Macedonia ;" but that, for reasons which argued no
levity or fickleness in his disposition, he had been
compelled to change his purpose. If this be so, then
it follows that the writing here mentioned was pos-
terior to the change of his intention. The only
question, therefore, that remains, will be, whether
this writing; relate to the letter which we now have
under the title of the First Epistle to the Corinthians,
or to some other letter not extant ? And upon this
question, I think Mr. Locke's observation decisive ;
namely, that the second clause marked in the quota=
tion by Italics, " I wrote unto you with many tears,"
and the first clause so marked, *' I wrote this same
unto you,'* belong to one writing, whatever that
was ; and that the second clause goes on to advert to
a circumstance which is found in our present First

G 2

84 HOPE PAULINiE.

Epistle to the Corinthians ; namely, the case and
punishment of the incestuous person. Upon the
whole, then, we see that it is capable of being in-
ferred from St. Paul's own words, in the long ex-
tract which we have quoted, that the First Epistle to
the Corinthians was written after St. Paul had deter-
mined to postpone his journey to Corinth ; in other
words, that the change of his purpose with respect to
the course of his journey, though expressly men-
tioned only in the Second Epistle, had taken place
before the writing of the First ; the point which we
made out to be implied in the history, by the order
of the events there recorded, and' the allusions to
those events in the First Epistle. Now this is a
species of congruity of all others the most to be
relied upon. It is not an agreement between two
accounts of the same transaction, or between different
statements of the same fact, for the fact is not stated ;
nothing that can be called an account is given ; but
it is the junction of two conclusions, deduced from
independent sources, and deducible only by investiga-
tion and comparison.

This point, viz. the change of the route, being
prior to the writing of the First Epistle, also fjills in
with, and accounts for, the manner in which he
speaks in that epistle of his journey. His first in-
tention had been, as he declai'es, to " pass by them
into Macedonia :" that intention having been pre-
viously given up, he writes, in his First Epistle,
" that he would not see them now by the vvay," i. e.
as he must have done upon his first plan ; but " that
he trusted to tarry awhile with them, and possibly to
abide, yea and winter with them." 1 Cor, chap, xvL

HOR.E PAULIN/E. 85

5, 6." It also accounts for a singularity in the text
referred to, which must strike every reader : " I will
come to you when I pass through Macedonia ; for I
do pass through Macedonia." The supplemental
sentence, " for I do pass through Macedonia," im-
I>orts that there had been some previous communica-
tion upon the subject of the journey ; and also that
there had been some vacillation and indecisiveness in
the apostle's plan : both which we now perceive to
have been the case. The sentence is as much as to
say, " This is what I at last resolve upon.'* The
expression ** orav Ma-KsSoviocv SnxOou," is ambiguous ; it
may denote either "when I pass," or "when I shall
have passed, through Macedonia:" the considera-
tions offered above fix it to the latter sense. Lastly,
the point we have endeavoured to make out confirms,
or rather, indeed, is necessary to the support of a
conjecture, which forms the subject of a number in
our observations, upon the First Epistle, that the
insinuation of certain of the church of Corinth, that
Jie would come no more amongst them, was founded
on some previous disappointment of their expecta-
tions.

No. V.

But if St. Paul had changed his purpose before
the writing of the First Epistle, why did he defer
explaining himself to the Corinthians, concerning
the reason of that change, until he wrote the Second ?
This is a very fair question ; and we are able, I
think, to return to it a satisfactory answer. The
real cause, and the cause at length assigned by St.

86 IIORM PAULINyE.

Paul for postponing his visit to Corinth, and not
travelling by the route which he had at first de-
signed, was the disorderly state of the Corinthian
church at the time, and the painful severities which
he should have found himself obliged to exercise,
if he had come amongst them during the existence
of these irregularities. He was willing therefore to
try, before he came in person, what a letter of authori-
tative objurgation would do amongst them, and to
leave time for the operation of the experiment. That
was his scheme in writing the First Epistle. But it
was not for him to acquaint them with the scheme.
After the epistle had produced its effect (and to the ut-
most extent, as it should seem, of the apostle's hopes) ;
when he had wrought in them a deep sense of their
fault, and an almost passionate solicitude to restore
themselves to the approbation of their teacher ; when
Titus (chap. vii. 6, 7> H) had brought him intelli-
gence "of their earnest desire, their mourning, their
fervent mind towards him, of their sorrow and their
penitence ; what carefulness, what clearing of them-
selves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement
desire, what zeal, what revenge," his letter, and the
general concern occasioned by it, had excited amongst
them ; he then opens himself fully upon the subject.
The affectionate mind of the apostle is touched by
this return of zeal and duty. He tells them that he
did not visit them at the time proposed, lest their
meeting should have been attended with mutual
grief J and with grief to him imbittered by the re-
flection, that he was giving pain to those from whom
alone he could receive comfort : ** I determined this

UOUJE PAULINE. 87

with myself, tliat I would not come again to you iii
heaviness ; for, if I make you sorry, who is he that
maketh me glad but the same which is made sorry
by me?'* (chap. ii. 1, 2): that he had written his
former epistle to warn them beforehand of their fault,
" lest when he came he should have sorrow of them
of whom he ought to rejoice j" (chap. ii. 3) : that he
had the farther view, though perhaps unperceived by
them, of making an experiment of their fidelity, *' to
know the proof of them, whether they are obedient
in all things,'* (chap. ii. 9.) This full discovery of
his motive came very naturally from the apostle,
after he had seen the success of his measures, but
would not have been a seasonable communication
before. The whole composes a train of sentiment
and of conduct resulting from real situation, and
from real circumstance, and as remote as possible
from fiction or imposture.

No. VI.

Chap. xi. 9. " When I was present with you and
wanted, I was chargeable to no man : for that v^^hich
was lacking to me, the brethren which came from
Macedonia supplied." The principal fact set forth
in this passage, the arrival at Corinth of brethren
from Macedonia during St. Paul's first residence in
that city, is explicitly recorded. Acts, chap, xviii. 1, 5.
'* After these things Paul departed from Athens,
and came to Corinth. And when Silas and Timo-
tlieus were come from Macedonia, Paid was pressed
in spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus wa.s
Christ."

IIOILE PAULIN/E.

No. VII.

The above quotation from the Acts proves that
Silas and Timotheus were assisting to St. Paul in
preaching the Gospel at Corinth. With which cor-
respond the words of the epistle (chap. i. 19) : *' For
the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached
among you by us, even by me, and Silvanus, and
Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was
yea." I do admit that the correspondency, con-
sidered by itself, is too direct and obvious ; and that
an impostor with the history before him might, and
probably would, produce agreements of the same
kind. But let it be remembered, that this reference
is found in a writing, which from many discrepancies,
and especially from those noted No. II., we may
conclude, was not composed by any one who had
consulted, and who pursued the history. Some ob-
servation also arises upon the variation of the name.
We read Silas in the Acts, Silvanus in the epistle.
The similitude of these two names, if they were the
names of different persons, is greater than could
easily have proceeded from accident ; I mean that it
is not probable, that two persons placed in situations
so much alike should bear names so nearly resem-
bling each other *. On the other hand, the differ-
ence of the name in the two passages negatives the
supposition of the passages, or the account contained
in them, being transcribed either from the other.

* That they were the same person is farther confirmed by
I Thess. chap, i, 1, compared with Acts, chap, xvii, 10.

HOll.E PAULLWE. 89

No. VIII.

Chap. ii. 12, 13. "When I came to Troas to
preach Christ's Gospel, and a door was opened unto
me of the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, because
I found not Titus my brother ; but taking my leave
of them, I went from thence into Macedonia.'*

To establish a conformity between this passage
and the history, nothing more is necessary to be pre-
sumed, than that St. Paul proceeded from Ephesus
to Macedonia, upon the same course by which he
came back from Macedonia to Ephesus, or rather to
Miletus in the neighbourhood of Ephesus ; in other
words, that in his journey to the peninsula of Greece,
he went and returned the same way. St. Paul is
now in Macedonia, where he had lately arrived from
Ephesus. Our quotation imports that in his journey
he had stopped at Troas. Of this, the history says
nothing, leaving us only the short account, that
'* Paul departed from Ephesus, for to go into Mace-
donia." But the history says, that in his return
from Macedonia to Ephesus, ** Paul sailed from
Philippi to Troas; and that, when the disciples
came together on the first day of the week to break
bread, Paul preached unto them all night ; that from
Troas he went by land to Assos ; from Assos, taking-
ship and coasting along the front of Asia Minor, he
came by Mitylene to Miletus.'* Which account
proves, first, that Troas lay in the way by which St.
Paul passed between Ephesus and Macedonia ; se-
condly, that he had disciples there. In one journey
between these two places, the epistle, and in another

90 HOILE TAULIN/E.

journey between the same places, the history, makes
him stop at this city. Of the first journey he is
made to say, " that a door was in that city opened
unto me of the Lord ;" in the second we find dis-
ciples there collected around him, and the apostle
exercising his ministry, with, what was even in him,
more than ordinary zeal and labour. The epistle,
therefore, is in this instance confirmed, if not by the
terms, at least by the probability of the history ; a
species of confirmation by no means to be despised,
because, as far as it reaches, it is evidently uncon-
trlved.

Grotius, I know, refers the arrival at Troas, to
which the epistle alludes, to a different period, but I
think very improbably ; for nothing appears to me
more certain, than that the meeting with Titus,
which St. Paul expected at Troas, was the same
meeting which took place in Macedonia, viz. upon
Titus's coming out of Greece. In the quotation be-
fore us, he tells the Corinthians, " When I came to
Troas, I had no rest in my spirit, because I found
not Titus my brother ; but, taking my leave of them,
I went from thence into Macedonia." Then in the
seventh chapter he writes, " When we were come
into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were
troubled on every side j without were fightings,
within were fears j nevertheless God, that com-
forteth them that are cast down, comforted us by the
coming of Titus.'* These two passages plainly re-
late to the same journey of Titus, in meeting with
whom St. Paul had been disappointed at Troas, and
rejoiced in Macedonia. And amongst other reasons
which fix the former passage to the coming of Titus

IIOR/E PAULliN.E. 91

out of Greece, is the consideration, that it was no-
thing to the Corinthians that St. Paul did not meet
with Titus at Troas, were it not that he was to bring
intelligence from Corinth. The mention of the dis-
appointment in this place, upon any other supposi-
tion, is irrelative.

No. IX.

Chap. xi. 24, 25. " Of the Jews five times re-
ceived I forty stripes save one ; thrice was I beaten
with rods ; once was I stoned ; thrice I suffered
shipwreck ; a night and a day I have been in the
deep."

These particulars cannot be extracted out of the
Acts of the Apostles ; which proves, as hath been
already observed, that the epistle was not framed
from the history: yet they are consistent with it,
which, considering how numerically circumstantial
the account is, is more than could happen to arbi-
trary and independent fictions. When I say that
these particulars are consistent with the history, I
mean, first, that there is no article in the enumera-
tion which is contradicted by the history : secondly,
that the history, though silent with respect to many
of the facts here enumerated, has left space for the
existence of these facts, consistent with the fidelity of
its own narration.

First, no contradiction is discoverable between the
epistle and the history. When St. Paul says, th7nce
was I beaten with rods, although the history record
only one beating with rods, viz. at Philippi, Acts,
xvi. 22, yet is there no contradiction. It is only the
omission in one book of what is related in another.

92 IIOR.E PAULINE.

But had the liistory contained accounts of Jour
beatings with rods, at the time of writing this epistle,
in which St. Paul says that he had only suffered
three, there would have been a contradiction pro-
perly so called. The same observation applies gene-
rally to the other parts of the enumeration, con-
cerning which the history is silent : but there is one
clause in the quotation particularly deserving of re-
mark ; because, when confronted with the history, it
furnishes the nearest approach to a contradiction,
without a contradiction being actually incurred, of
any I remember to have met with. " Once," saith
St. Paul, " was I stoned." Does the history relate
that St. Paul, prior to the writing of this epistle, had
been stoned more than once ? The history mentions
distinctly one occasion upon which St. Paul w^as
stoned, viz. at Lystra in Lycaonia. " Then came
thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium,
who persuaded the people ; and, having stoned Paul,
drew him out of the city, supposing he had been
dead." (Chap. xiv. 19). And it mentions also
^mother occasion in which ** an assault was made
both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their
rulers, to use them despitefully and to stone them ;
but they were aware of it," the history proceeds to
tell us, "and fled into Lystra and Derbe.'* This
happened at Iconium, prior to the date of the epistle.
Now had the assault been completed ; had the hi-
story related that a stone was thrown, as it relates
that preparations were made both by Jews and Gen-
tiles to stone Paul and his companions ; or even
had the account of this transaction stopped, without
going on to inform uu that Paul and his companions

HOR.E PAULINA. 93>

were " aware of their danger and fled," a contradic-
tion between the history and the epistle woukl have
ensued. Truth is necessarily consistent : but it
is scarcely possible that independent accounts, not
having truth to guide them, should thus advance
to the very brink of contradiction without flilling
into it.

Secondly, I say, that if the Acts of the Apostles
be silent concerning many of the instances enume-
rated in the epistle, this silence may be accounted
for, from the plan and fjibric of the history. The
date of the epistle synchronises with the beginning
of the twentieth chapter of the Acts. The part,
therefore, of the history, which precedes the twen-
tieth chapter, is the only part in which can be found
any notice of the persecutions to which St. Paul re-
fers. Now it does not appear that the author of the
history was with St. Paul until his departure from
Troas, on his way to Macedonia, as related chap,
xvi. 10 ; or rather indeed the contrary appears. It
is in this point of the history that the language
changes. In the seventh and eighth verses of this
chapter the third person is used. " After they were
come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia, but
the Spirit suffered them not ; and they passing by
Mysia came to Troas :" and the third person is in
like manner constantly used throughout the fore-
going part of the history. In the tenth verse of this
chapter, the first person comes in : " After Paul had
seen the vision, immediately 'we endeavoured to go
into Macedonia ; assuredly gathering that the Lord
had called us to preach the Gospel unto them."
Now, from this time to the writing of the epistle.

94 HORE PAULIN-^.

the history occupies four chapters ; yet it is in these,
if in any, that a regular or continued account of the
apostle's life is to be expected ; for how succinctly
his history is delivered in the preceding part of the
book, that is to say, from the time of his conversion
to the time when the historian joined him at Troas,
except the particulars of his conversion itself, which
are related circumstantially, may be understood from
the following observations :

The history of a period of sixteen years is com-
prised in less than three chapters ; and of these, a
material part is taken up with discourses. After
his conversion, he continued in the neighbourhood
of Damascus, according to the history, for a certain
considerable, though indefinite, length of time, ac-
cording to his own words (Gal. i. 18) for three
years ; of which no other account is given than this
short one, that " straightway he preached Christ in
the synagogues, that he is the Son of God ; that all
that heard him were amazed, and said. Is not this he
that destroyed them which called on this name in
Jerusalem ? that he increased the more in strength,
and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus ;
and that, after many days were fulfilled, the Jews
took counsel to kill him." From Damascus he pro-
ceeded to Jerusalem : and of his residence there
nothing more particular is recorded, than that "he
was with the apostles, coming in and going out ;
that he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus,
and disputed against the Grecians, who went about
to kill him." From Jerusalem, the history sends
liim to his native city of Tarsus*. It seems pro-

^ Acts, chap. ix. 30.

HOR.E TAULIN-E. 95

bable, from the order and disposition of the history,
that St. Paul's stay at Tarsus was of some con-
tinuance ; for we hear nothing of him, until, after a
long apparent interval, and much interjacent nar-
rative, Barnabas, desirous of Paul's assistance upon
the enlargement of the Christian mission, " went to
Tarsus for to seek him *." We cannot doubt but
that the new apostle had been busied in his ministry ;
yet of what he did, or what he suffered, during this
period, which may include three or four years, the
history professes not to deliver any information.
As Tarsus was situated upon the sea-coast, and as,
though Tarsus was his home, yet it is probable he
visited from thence many other places, for the pur-
pose of preaching the Gospel, it is not unlikely, that
in the course of three or four years, he might under-
take many short voyages to neighbouring countries,
in the navigating of which we may be allowed to
suppose that some of those disasters and shipwrecks
befell him, to which he refers in the quotation before
us, *' thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day
I have been in the deep." This last clause I am
inclined to interpret of his being obliged to take to
an open boat, upon the loss of the ship, and his con-
tinuing out at sea in that dangerous situation, a
night and a day. St. Paul is here recounting his
sufferings, not relating miracles. From Tarsus,
Barnabas brought Paul to Antioch, and there he
remained a year : but of the transactions of that
year no other description is given than what is con-
tained in the last four verses of the eleventh chapter.
After a more solemn dedication to the ministry,

*Chap. xi. 25.

96 HOR.E PAULIN/E.

Barnabas and Paul proceeded from Antioch to Ci-
licia, and from thence they sailed to Cyprus, of
which voyage no particulars are mentioned. Upon
their return from Cyprus, they made a progress to-
gether through the Lesser Asia; and though two
remarkable speeches be preserved, and a few inci-
dents in the course of their travels circumstantially
related, yet is the account of this progress, upon the
whole, given professedly with conciseness ; for in-
stance, at Iconium it is said that they abode a long
time * ; yet of this long abode, except concerning
the manner in which they were driven away, no me-
moir is inserted in the history. The whole is wrap-
ped up in one short summary, *' They spake boldly
in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of
his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done
by their hands." Having completed their progress,
the two apostles returned to Antioch, " and there
they abode a long time with the disciples." Here we
have another large portion of time passed over in
silence. To this succeeded a journey to Jerusalem,
upon a dispute which then much agitated the Chris-
tian church, concerning the obligation of the law of
Moses. When the object of that journey was com-
pleted, Paul proposed to Barnabas to go again and
visit their brethren in every city where they had
preached the word of the Lord. The execution of
this plan carried our apostle through Syria, Cilicia,
and many provinces of the Lesser Asia ; yet is the
account of the whole journey despatched in four
verses of the sixteenth chapter.

If the Acts of the Apostles had undertaken to

* Chap. xiv. !i-

HOR.E PAULIN/E. 97

exhibit regular annals of St. Paul's ministry, or even
any continued account of his life, from his conversion
at Damascus to his imprisonment at Rome, I should
have thouo^ht the omission of the circumstances re-
ferred to in our epistle a matter of reasonable objec-
tion. But when it appears, from the history itself,
that large portions of St. Paul's life were either
passed over in silence, or only slightly touched upon,
and that nothing more than certain detached inci-
dents and discourses is related ; when we observe,
also, that the author of the history did not join our
apostle's society till a few years before the writing of
the epistle, at least that there is no proof in the
history that he did so ; in comparing the history
with the epistle, we shall not be surprised by the
discovery of omissions ; we shall ascribe it to truth
that there is no contradiction.

No. X.

Chap. iii. 1. " Do we begin again to commend
ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of
commendation to you ?"

" As some others." Turn to Acts, xviii. 27* and
you will find that, a short time before the writing of
this epistle, Apollos had gone to Corinth with let-
ters of commendation from the Ephesian Christians ;
*' arid when Apollos was disposed to pass into Achaia,
the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive
him." Here the words of the epistle bear the ap-
pearance of alluding to some specific instance, and
the history supplies that instance ; it supplies at least
an instance as apposite as possible to the terms which
the apostle uses, and to the date and direction of the

VOL. III. H

98 nOll/E PAULINA.

epistle, in which they are found. The letter which
Apollos carried from Ephesus was precisely the letter
of commendation which St. Paul meant ; and it was
to Achaia, of which Corinth was the capital, and
indeed to Corinth itself (Acts, chap. xix. 1) that
Apollos carried it ; and it was about two years before
the writing of this epistle. If St. Paul's words be
rather thought to refer to some general usage which
then obtained among Christian churches, the case of
Apollos exemplifies that usage ; and affords that
species of confirmation to the epistle, which arises
from seeing the manners of the age, in which it pur-
ports to be written, faithfully preserved.

No. XI.
Chap. xiii. 1 . '* This is the third time I am coming

to you:" r^ijov T8T0 sp'xjjiJ.a.i.

Do not these words import that the writer had
been at Corinth twice before ? Yet, if they import
this, they overset every congruity we have been en-
deavouring to establish. The Acts of the Apostles
record only two journeys of St. Paul to Corinth. We
have all along supposed, what every mark of time
except this expression indicates, that this epistle was
written between the first and second of these journeys.
If St. Paul had been already twdce at Corinth, this
supposition must be given up : and every argument
or observation which depends upon it falls to the
ground. Again, the Aets of the Apostles not only
accord no more than two journeys of St. Paul to
Corinth, but do not allow us to suppose that more
than two such journeys could be made or intended
by him within the period which the history comprises j

HOR.E PAUIJN.E. 99

for from liis first journey into Greece to his first im-
prisonment at Rome, with which the history con-
cludes, the apostle's time is accounted for. If there-
fore the epistle was written after the second journey
to Corinth, and upon the view and expectation of a
third, it must have been written after his first im-
prisonment at Rome, i. e. after the time to which the
history extends. When I first read over this epistle
with the particular view of comparing it with the
history, which I chose to do without consulting any
commentary whatever, I own that I felt myself con-
founded by this text. It appeared to contradict the
opinion, which I had been led by a great variety of
circumstances to form, concerning the date and oc-
casion of the epistle. At length, however, it oc-
curred to my thoughts to inquire, whether the passage
did necessarily imply that St. Paul had been at Co-
rinth twice ; or, whether, when he says, " this is the
third time I am coming to you," he might mean only
that this was the third time that he was ready, that
he was prepared, that he intended to set out upon
his journey to Corinth. I recollected that he had
once before this purposed to visit Corinth, and had
been disappointed in this purpose ; which disappoint-
ment forms the subject of much apology and pro-
testation, in the first and second chapters of the
epistle. Now, if the journey in which he had been
disappointed was reckoned by him one of the times
in which " he was coming to them," then the present
would be the third time, i. e. of his being ready and
prepared to come ; although he had been actually at
Corinth only o?ice before. This conjecture being
taken up, a farther examination of the passage and

H 2

100 HOR^ TAULIN^.

the epistle produced proofs which placed it beyond
doubt. ** This is the third time I am coming to
you :" in the verse following these words he adds,
*' I told you before, and foretel you, as if I were
present the second time ; and being absent, now I
write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to
all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare.'*
In this verse, the apostle is declaring beforehand what
he would do in his intended visit : his expression,
therefore, " as if I were present the second time,'*
relates to that visit. But, if his future visit would
only make him present among them a second time,
it follows that he had been already there but once.
Again, in the fifteenth verse of the first chapter, he
tells them, " In this confidence, I was minded to
come unto you before, that ye might have a second
benefit :" Why a second, and not a third benefit?
why ^svrspav, and not r^ifr,v %a,2(v, if the rpi-tov sp-xfji^ai, in
the fifteenth chapter, meant a third \h\i? for, though
the visit in the first chapter be that visit in which he
was disappointed, yet, as it is evident from the epistle
that he had never been at Corinth from the time of
the disappointment to the time of writing the epistle,
it follows, that if it was only a second visit in which
he was disappointed then, it could only be a second
visit which he proposed now. But the text which I
think is decisive of the question, if any question re-
main upon the subject, is the fourteenth verse of the
twelfth chapter : " Behold the third time I am ready
to come to you :" I'Js tf'irov sroi[^ujg e%w sx^siv. It is very
clear that the rpirov stouj^uj; e%w £\^siv of the twelfth
chapter and the rpirov tato f/s^o/xai of the thirteenth
chapter are equivalent expressions, were intended to

IIOILE PAULIN.E. lOl

convey the same meaning, and to relate to the same
journey. The comparison of these phrases gives us
St. Paul's own explanation of his own words ; and it
is that very explanation which we are contending for,
viz. that 'Tpirov Tsro s^xoy^ai does not mean that he was
coming a third time, but that this was the third time
he was in readiness to come, rpirov sroiy^wg b-xjmv. I do
not apprehend, that after this it can be necessary to
call to our aid the reading of the Alexandrian manu-
script, which gives erofaw^ s%a) exQejv in the thirteenth
chapter as well as in the twelfth ; or of the Syriac
and Coptic versions, which follow that reading ; be-
cause I allow that this reading, besides not being
sufficiently supported by ancient copies, is probably
paraphrastical, and has been inserted for the purpose
of expressing more unequivocally the sense, which
the shorter expression r^irov rsTo £f;%o/xai was supposed
to carry. Upon the whole, the matter is sufficiently
certain : nor do I propose it as a new interpretation
of the text which contains the difficulty, for the same
was given by Grotius long ago : but I thought it the
clearest way of explaining the subject, to describe
the manner in which the difficulty, the solution, and
the proofs of that solution, successively presented
themselves to my inquiries. Now, in historical re-
searches, a reconciled inconsistency becomes a positive
argument. First, because an impostor generally guards
against the appearance of inconsistency ; and secondly,
because, when apparent inconsistencies are found, it
is seldom that any thing but truth renders them
capable of reconciliation. The existence of the dif-
ficulty proves the want or absence of that caution,
which usually accompanies the consciousness of fraud j

103 KORiE PAULIN7E.

and the solution proves, that it is not the collusion of
fortuitous propositions which we have to deal with,
but that a thread of truth winds through the whole,
which preserves every circumstance in its place.

No. XII.

V Chap. X. 14 — 16. *' We are come as far as to you
also, preaching the Gospel of Christ j not boasting
of things without our measure, that is, of other men's
labours ; but having hope, when your faith is in-
creased, that we shall be enlarged by you, according
to our rule, abundantly to preach the Gospel in the
regions beyond you."

This quotation affords an indirect, and therefore
unsuspicious, but at the same time a distinct and in-
dubitable recognition of the truth and exactness of
the history. I consider it to be implied by the words
of the quotation, that Corinth was the extremity of
St. PauPs travels hitherto. He expresses to the Co-
rinthians his hope, that in some future visit he might
*' preach the Gospel to the regions beyond them ;'*
which imports that he had not hitherto proceeded
** beyond them," but that Corinth was as yet the
farthest point or boundary of his travels. — Now, how
is St. Paul's first journey into Europe, which was
the only one he had taken before the writing of the
epistle, traced out in the history? Sailing from Asia,
he landed at Philippi ; from Philippi, traversing the
eastern coast of the peninsula, he passed through
Amphipolis and Apollonia to Thessalonica ; from
thence through Berea to Athens, and from Athens
to Corinth, "dohere he stopped; and from whence, after
a residence of a year and a half, he sailed back into

HORvE PAULlNvE. 103

Syria. So that Corinth was the last place which he
visited in the peninsula ; was the place from which
he returned into Asia; and was, as such, the boundary
and limit of his progress. He could not have said
the same thing, viz. "I hope hereafter to visit the
regions beyond you," in an epistle to the Philippians,
or in an epistle to the Thessalonians, inasmuch as he
must be deemed to have already visited the regions
beyond them, having proceeded from those cities to
other parts of Greece. But from Corinth lie re-
turned home : every part therefore beyond that city
might properly be said, as it is said in the passage
before us, to be unvisited. Yet is this propriety the
spontaneous effect of truth, and produced without
meditation or design.

CHAPTER V.

THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.

No. I.

The argument of this epistle in some measure
proves its antiquity. It will hardly be doubted, but
that it v^ras written whilst the dispute concerning the
circumcision of Gentile converts was fresh in men's
minds : for, even supposing it to have been a forgery,
the only credible motive that can be assigned for the
forgery, was to bring the name and authority of the
apostle into this controversy. No design could be so
insipid, or so unlikely to enter into the thoughts of
any man, as to produce an epistle written earnestly

101 H011;e PxiULlNyE.

and pointedly upon one side of a controversy, when
the controversy itself was dead, and the question no
longer interesting to any description of readers what-
ever. Now the controversy concerning the circum-
cision of the Gentile Christians was of such a nature,
that, if it arose at all, it must have arisen in the be-
ginning of Christianity. As Judea was the scene of
the Christian history ; as the Author and preachers
of Christianity were Jews ; as the religion itself ac-
knowledged and was founded upon the Jewish re-
ligion, in contradistinction to every other religion
then professed amongst mankind : it was not to be
wondered at, that some of its teachers should carry
it out in the world rather as a sect and modification
of Judaism than as a separate original revelation ; or
that they should invite their proselytes to those ob-
servances in which they lived themselves. This was
likely to happen : but if it did not happen atjirst;
if, whilst the religion was in the hands of Jewish
teachers, no such claim was advanced, no such con-
dition was attempted to be imposed, it is not probable
that the doctrine would be started, much less that
it should prevail, in any future period. I likewise
think, that those pretensions of Judaism were much
more likely to be insisted upon, whilst the Jews con-
tinued a nation, than after their fall and dispersion ;
whilst Jerusalem and the temple stood, than after the
destruction brought upon them by the Roman arms,
the fatal cessation of the sacrifice and the priesthood,
the humiliating loss of their country, and with it, of
the great rites and symbols of their institution. It
should seem therefore, from the nature of the subject,
and the situation of the parties, that this controversy

HOR.E PAULINE. 105

was carried on in the interval between the preaching
of Christianity to the Gentiles, and the invasion of
Titus ; and that our present epistle, which was un-
doubtedly intended to bear a part in this controversy,
must be referred to the same period.

But, again, the epistle supposes that certain de-
signing adherents of the Jewish law had crept into
the churches of Galatia ; and had been endeavouring,
and but too successfully, to persuade the Galatic
converts, that they had been taught the new religion
imperfectly and at second hand ; that the founder of
their church himself possessed only an inferior and
deputed commission, the seat of truth and authority
being in the apostles and elders of Jerusalem ; more-
over, that whatever he might profess amongst them,
he had himself at other times, and in other places,
given way to the doctrine of circumcision. The
epistle is unintelligible without supposing all this.
Referring therefore to this, as to what had actually
passed, we find St. Paul treating so unjust an attempt
to undermine his credit, and to introduce amongst
his converts a doctrine which he had uniformly re-
probated, in terms of great asperity and indignation.
And in order to refute the suspicions which had
been raised concerning the fidelity of his teaching,
as well as to assert the independency and divine ori-
ginal of his mission, we find him appealing to the
history of his conversion, to his conduct under it,
to the manner in which he had conferred with
the apostles when he met with them at Jerusalem :
alleging, that so far was his doctrine from being
derived from them, or they from exercising any su-
periority over him, that they had simply assented to

106 HOll.E PAULIN.E.

what he had ah*eady preached amongst the Gentiles,
and which preaching was communicated not by them
to him, but by himself to them ; that he had main-
tained the liberty of the Gentile church, by opposing,
upon one occasion, an apostle to the face, when the
timidity of his behaviour seemed to endanger it ;
that from the first, that all along, that to that hour,
he had constantly resisted the claims of Judaism ;
and that the persecutions which he daily underwent,
at the hands or by the instigation of the Jews, and
of which he bore in his person the marks and scars,
might have been avoided by him, if he had consented to
employ his labours in bringing, through the medium
of Christianity, converts over to the Jewish institu-
tion, for then '* would the offence of the cross have
ceased." Now an impostor who had forged the
epistle for the purpose of producing St. Paul's au-
thority in the dispute, which, as hath been observed,
is the only credible motive that can be assigned for
the forgery, might have made the apostle deliver his
opinion upon the subject in strong and decisive
terms, or might have put his name to a train of
reasoning and argumentation upon that side of the
question which the imposture was intended to recom-
mend. I can allow the possibility of such a scheme
as that. But for a writer, with this purpose in view,
to feign a series of transactions supposed to have
passed amongst the Christians of Galatia, and then
to counterfeit expressions of anger and resentment
excited by these transactions ; to make the apostle
travel back into his own history, and into a recital of
various passages of his life, some indeed directly, but
others obliquely, and others even obscurely bearing

HOR/E PAULIN/E. 107

upon the point in question ; in a word, to substitute
narrative for argument, expostulation and complaint
for dogmatic positions and controversial reasoning,
in a writing properly controversial, and of which the
aim and design was to support one side of a much
agitated question — is a method so intricate, and so
unlike the methods pursued by all other impostors,
as to require very flagrant proofs of imposition to
induce us to believe it to be one.

No. II.

In this number I shall endeavour to prove,

1. That the Epistle to the Galatians, and the
Acts of the Apostles, were written without any com-
munication with each other.

2. That the Epistle, though written without any
communication with the history, by recital, implica-
tion, or reference, bears testimony to many of the
facts contained in it.

1. The Epistle and the Acts of the Apostles
were written without any communication with each
other.

To judge of this point, we must examine those
passages in each, which describe the same transac-
tion ; for, if the author of either writing derived his
information from the account which he had seen in
the other, when he came to speak of the same trans-
action, he would follow that account. The history
of St. Paul, at Damascus, as read in the Acts, and
as referred to by the Epistle, forms an instance of
this sort. According to the Acts, Paul (after his
conversion) was certain days with the " disciples
which were at Damascus. And straightway he

108 HOR/E TAUUxX E.

preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the
Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed,
and said, Is not this he which destroyed them which
called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither
for that intent, that he might bring them bound
unto the chief priests ? But Saul increased the more
in strength, confounding the Jews which were at
Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. And
after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took
counsel to kill him. But their laying wait was
known to Saul ; and they watched the gates day
and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him
by night, and let hmi down by the wall in a basket.
And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed
to join himself to the disciples." Acts, chap, ix,
19—26.

According to the Epistle, " When it pleased God,
who separated me from my mother's womb, and
called me by his grace, to reveal his own Son to me,
that I might preach him among the heathen ; imme-
diately I conferred not with flesh and blood, neither
went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles
before me ; but I went into Arabia, and returned
again to Damascus : then, after three years, I went
up to Jerusalem."

Beside the difference observable in the terms and
general complexion of these two accounts, " the
journey into Arabia," mentioned in the epistle, and
omitted in the history, affords full proof that there
existed no correspondence between these writers.
If the narrative in the Acts had been made up from
the Epistle, it is impossible that this journey should
have been passed over in silence ; if the Epistle had

HOR^ PAULIN^E. 109

been composed out of what the author had read of
St. Paul's history in the Acts, it is unaccountable
that it should have been inserted *.

The journey to Jerusalem related in the second
chapter of the Epistle (" then, fourteen years after,
I went up again to Jerusalem") supplies another
example of the same kind. Either this was the
journey described in the fifteenth chapter of the
Acts, when Paul and Barnabas were sent from An-
tioch to Jerusalem, to consult the apostles and elders
upon the question of the Gentile converts ; or it was
some journey of which the history does not take
notice. If the first opinion be followed, the discre-
pancy in the two accounts is so considerable, that it
is not without difficulty they can be adapted to the
same transaction : so that upon this supposition,
there is no place for suspecting that the writers were
guided or assisted by each other. If the latter opi-
nion be preferred, we have then a journey to Jeru-
salem, and a conference with the principal members
of the church there, circumstantially related in the
Epistle, and entirely omitted in the Acts ; and we
are at liberty to repeat the observation, which we be-
fore made, that the omission of so material a fact in

* N. B. The Acts of the Apostles simply inform us that St.
Paul left Damascus in order to go to Jerusalem, "after many
clays were fulfilled." If any doubt whether the words "many-
days" could be intended to express a period which included a
term of three years, he will find a complete instance of the same
phrase used with the same latitude in the first book of Kings,
chap. xi. 38, 39. " And Shimei dwelt at Jerusalem mant/ days :
and it came to pass at the end of three years, that two of the ser-
vants of Shimei ran away."

110 HOR.E PAULIN/E.

the history is inexplicable, if the historian had read
the Epistle ; and that the insertion of it in the
Epistle, if the writer derived his information from
the history, is not less so.

St. Peter's visit to Antioch, during which the
dispute arose between him and St. Paul, is not men-
tioned in the Acts.

If we connect, with these instances, the general ob-
servation, that no scrutiny can discover the smallest
trace of transcription or imitation either in things or
words, we shall be fully satisfied in this part of our
case ; namely, that the two records, be the facts con-
tained in them true or false, come to our hands from
independent sources.

Secondly, I say that the epistle, thus proved to
have been written without any communication with
the history, bears testimony to a great variety of par-
ticulars contained in the history.

1. St. Paul in the early part of his life had ad-
dicted himself to the study of the Jewish religion,
and was distinguished by his zeal for the institution
and for the traditions which had been incorporated
with it. Upon this part of his character the history
makes St. Paul speak thus : " I am verily a man
which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia,
yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel,
and taught according to the perfect manner of the
law of the fathers ; and was zealous towards God, as
ye all are this day.'* Acts, chap. xxii. 3.

The epistle is as follows : "I profited in the Jews*
religion above many my equals in mine own nation,
being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of
my fathers.*' Chap. i. 14.

HOR/E PAULIN.E. Ill

2. St. Paul, before his conversion, had been a
fierce persecutor of the new sect. " As for Saul,
he made havoc of the church ; entering into every
house, and, haling men and women, committed them
to prison." Acts, chap. viii. 3.

This is the history of St. Paul, as delivered in the
Acts ; in the recital of his own history in the epistle,
"Ye have heard," says he, " of my conversation in
times past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond mea-
sure I persecuted the church of God." Chap. i. IS.

3. St. Paul was miraculously converted on his
way to Damascus. " And as he journeyed he came
near to Damascus : and suddenly there shined round
about him a light from heaven ; and he fell to the
earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou me ? And he said. Who art
thou. Lord ? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom
thou persecutest ; it is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. And he, trembling and astonished, said.
Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?" Acts, chap,
ix. 3 — G. With these compare the epistle, chap. i.
15 — 17 : " Wlien it pleased God, who separated me
from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace
to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him
among the heathen ; immediately I conferred not
with flesh and blood, neither went I up to Jeru-
salem, to them that were apostles before me ; but
I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Da-
mascus."

In this quotation from the epistle, I desire it to be
remarked how incidentally it appears, that the affair
passed at Damascus. In what may be called the
direct part of the account, no mention is made of

112 HOR/E PAULINvE.

the place of his conversion at all : a casual expression
at the end, and an expression brought in for a dif-
ferent purpose, alone fixes it to have been at Da-
mascus ; " I returned again to Damascus.'* Nothing
can be more like simplicity and undesignedness than
this is. It also draws the agreement between the
two quotations somewhat closer, to observe that they
both state St. Paul to have preached the gospel im-
mediately upon his call : " And straightway he
preaclied Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son
of God." Acts, chap. ix. 20. ** When it pleased
God to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach
him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not
with flesh and blood." Gal. chap. i. 15.

4. The course of the apostle's travels after his
conversion was this : He went from Damascus to
Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem into Syria and Ci-
licia. " At Damascus the disciples took him by
night, and let him down by the wall in a basket ;
and when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to
join himself to the disciples." Acts, chap. ix. 25.
Afterwards, *' when the brethren knew the conspi-
racy formed against him at Jerusalem, they brought
him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus,
a city in Cilicia." Chap. ix. 30. In the epistle,
St. Paul gives the following brief account of his pro-
ceedings within the same period : " After three
years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and
abode with him fifteen days ; afterwards I came into
the regions of Syria and Cilicia." The history had
told us that Paul passed from Caesarea to Tarsus : if
he took his journey by land, it would carry him
through Syria into Cilicia j and he would come.

HOU/E PAULINiE. 113

after his visit at Jerusalem, "into the regions of
Syria and Cilicia," in the very order in which he
mentions them in the epistle. This supposition of
his going from CVsarea to Tarsus, hij landy clears up
also another point. It accounts for what St. Paul
says in the same place concerning the churches of
Judea : *' Afterwards I came into the regions of
Syria and Cilicia, and was unknown by face vnito the
churches of Judea, which were in Christ : but they
had heard only that he which persecuted us in times
past, now preacheth the faith, which once he de-
stroyed ; and they glorified God in me." Upon
which passage I observe, first, that what is here said
of the churches of Judea, is spoken in connexion
with his journey into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
Secondly, that the passage itself has little signifi-
cancy, and that the connei'lon is inexplicable, unless
St. Paul went through Judea * (though probably by
a hasty journey) at the time that he came into the
regions of Syria and Cilicia. Suppose him to have
passed by land from Ca^sarea to Tarsus, all this, as
hath been observed, would be precisely true.

5. Barnabas was with St. Paul at Antioch. " Then
departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul ; and
when he had found him, he brought him unto An-
tioch. And it came to pass that a whole year they
assembled themselves with the church." Acts, chap.

*Dr. Doddridge thought that tlie Caesarea here mentioned was
not the celebrated city of that name upon the Mediterranean sea,
but Ceesarea Philippi, jiear the borders of Syria, which lies in a
much more direct line from .lerusalem to Tarsus than the other.
The objection to this, Dr. Benson remarks, is, that Caesarea,
without any addition, usually denotes Caesarea Palestinae.
VOL. III. I

114 HOllTE PAULIN/E.

xi. 25, 26. Again, and upon another occasion,
" they (Paul and Barnabas) sailed to Antioch : and
there they continued a long time with the disciples."
Chap. xiv. 26.

Now what says the epistle ? " When Peter was
come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, be-
cause he was to be blamed ; and the other Jews dis-
sembled likewise with him ; insomuch that Barnabas
also was carried away with their dissimulation.'*
Chap. ii. 11. 13.

6. The stated residence of the apostles was at
Jerusalem. '' At that time there was a great per-
secution against the church which was at Jerusalem ;
and they were all scattered abroad throughout the
regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles."
Acts, chap. viii. 1. " They (the Christians at An-
tioch) determined that Paul and Barnabas should
go up to Jerusalem, unto the apostles and elders,
about this question." Acts, chap. xv. 2. — With
these accounts agrees the declaration in the epistle :
" Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were
apostles before me," chap. i. 17 : for this declaration
implies, or rather assumes it to be known, that Jeru-
salem was the place where the apostles were to be
met with.

7. There were at Jerusalem two apostles, or at
the least two eminent members of the church, of the
name of James. This is directly inferred from the
Acts of the Apostles, which in the second verse of
the twelfth chapter relates the death of James, the
brother of John ; and yet in the fifteenth chapter,
and in a subsequent part of the history, records a
speech delivered by James in the assembly of the

HORiE PAULIN/E. 115

apostles and elders. It is also strongly implied by
the form of expression used in the epistle : " Other
apostles saw I none, save James, the LorcVs bro-
iher ;^* i. e. to distinguish him from James the
brother of John.

To us who have been long conversant in the
Christian history, as contained in the Acts of the
Apostles, these points are obvious and familiar ; nor
do we readily apprehend any greater difficulty in
making them appear in a letter purporting to have
been written by St. Paul, than there is in intro-
ducing them into a modern sermon. But, to judge
correctly of the argument before us, we must dis-
charge this knowledge from our thoughts. We
must propose to ourselves the situation of an author
who sat down to the writing of the epistle without
having seen the history ; and then the concurrences
we have deduced will be deemed of importance.
They will at least be taken for separate confirmations
of the several facts, and not only of these particular
facts, but of the general truth of the history.

For, v^^hat is the rule with respect to corroborative
testimony which prevails in courts of justice, and
which prevails only because experience has proved
that it is a useful guide to truth ? A principal wit-
ness in a cause delivers his account : his narrative, in
certain parts of it, is confirmed by witnesses who are
called afterwards. The credit derived from their
testimony belongs not only to the particular circum-
stances in which the auxiliary witnesses agree with
the principal witness, but in some measure to the
whole of his evidence ; because it is improbable that

I 2

IIG HOR^ PAULINA.

accident or fiction should draw a line wliicli touched
upon truth in so many points.

In like manner, if two records be produced, mani-
festly independent, that is, manifestly written without
any participation of intelligence, an agreement be-
tween them, even in few and slight circumstances
(especially if from the different nature and design of
the writings few points only of agreement, and
those incidental, could be expected to occur), would
add a sensible weight to the authority of both, in
every part of their contents.

The same rule is applicable to history, with at least
as much reason as any other species of evidence.

No. III.

But although the references to various particulars
in the epistle, compared with the direct account of
the same particulars in the history, afford a con-
siderable proof of the truth not only of these par-
ticulars, but of the narrative which contains them ;
yet they do not show, it will be said, that the epistle
was written by St. Paul : for admitting (what seems
to have been proved) that the writer, whoever he was,
had no recourse to the Acts of the Apostles, yet
many of the facts referred to, such as St. Paul's
miraculous conversion, his change from a virulent
persecutor to an indefatigable preacher, his labours
amongst the Gentiles, and his zeal for the liberties
of the Gentile church, were so notorious as to occur
readily to the mind of any Christian, who should
choose to personate his character, and counterfeit his
name ; it was only to write what every body knew.

IIOILE TAULIN/E. 117

Now I think that this supposition — -viz. that the
epistle was composed upon general information, and
the general publicity of the facts alluded to, and
that the author did no more than weave into his
work what the common fame of the Christian church
had reported to his ears — is repelled by the par-
ticularity of the recitals and references. This par-
ticularity is observable in the following instances ;
in perusing which, I desire the reader to reflect,
whether they exhibit the language of a man who
had nothing but general reputation to proceed upon,
or of a man actually speaking of himself and of his
own history, and consequently of things concerning
which he possessed a clear, intimate, and circum-
stantial knowled";e.

1. The history, in giving an account of St. Paul
after his conversion, relates, " that, after many
days," effecting, b^ the assistance of the disciples,
his escape from Damascus, *' he proceeded to Jeru-
salem." Acts, chap. ix. 25. The epistle, speaking
of the same period, makes St. Paul say that *'he
went into Arabia," that he returned again to Damas-
cus, that after three years he went up to Jerusalem.
Chap. i. 17, 18.

'2. The history relates, that, when Saul was come
from Damascus, " he was with the disciples coming
in and going out." Acts, chap. ix. 28. The epistle,
describing the same journey, tells us, " that he went
up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him
fifteen days." Chap. i. 18.

3. The history relates, that when Paul was come
to Jerusalem, "Barnabas took him and brought him
to the apostles. Acts, chap. ix. 27. The epistle,

US HOR.E PAULINyE.

" that he saw Peter ; but other of the apostles saw he
none, save James, the Lord's brother." Chap. i. 19.
Now this is as it should be. The historian de-
livers his account in general terms, as of facts to
which he was not present. The person who is the
subject of that account, when he comes to speak of
these facts himself, particularises time, names, and
circumstances.

4. The like notation of places, persons, and dates,
is met with in the account of St. Paul's journey to
Jerusalem, given in the second chapter of the epistle.
It was fourteen years after his conversion j it was in
company with Barnabas and Titus ; it was then that
he met with James, Cephas, and John ; it was then
also that it was agreed amongst them, that they
should go to the circumcision, and he unto the
Gentiles.

5. The dispute with Peter, which occupies the
sequel of the second chapter, is marked with the same
particularity. It was at Antioch ; it was after cer-
tain came from James ; it was whilst Barnabas was
there, who was carried away by their dissimulation.
These examples negative the insinuation, that the
epistle presents nothing but indefinite allusions to
public facts.

No. IV.

Chap. iv. 11 — 16. "I am afraid of you, lest I
have bestowed upon you labour in vain. Brethren,
I beseech you, be as I am, for I am as ye are. Ye
have not injured me at all. Ye know how, through
infirmity of the flesh, I preached the Gospel unto
you at tlie first j and mt/ temptation, xvJikh xoas in

HOll/E PAULIN.^. 119

thejlesh, ye despised not, nor rejected ; but received
me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where
is then the blessedness you spake of? for I bear you
record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have
plucked out your own eyes, and have given them
unto me. Am I therefore become your enemy,
because I tell you the truth ?"

With this passage compare 2 Cor. chap. xii. 1 — 9 :
"It is not expedient for me, doubtless, to glory ; I
will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I
knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whe-
ther in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the
body I cannot tell ; God knoweth) ; such a one was
caught up to the third heaven ; and I knew such a
man (whether in the body or out of the body I can-
not tell, God knoweth), how that he was caught up
into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which
it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one
will I glory, yet of myself will I not glory, but in
mine infirmities : for, though I would desire to glory,
I shall not be a fool ; for I will say the truth. But
now I forbear, lest any man should think of me
above that which he seeth me to be, or that he
heareth of me. And lest I should be exalted above
measure, through the abundance of the revelations,
there was given to me a thorn in tliejlesh, the mes-
senger of Satan to buffet me^ lest I should be exalted
above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord
thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said
unto me. My grace is sufficient for thee ; for my
strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly
therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that
the power of Christ may rest upon me."

120 HOll/E PAULINyE,

There can be no doubt but that " the temptation
which was in the flesh," mentioned in the Epistle to
the Galatians, and " the thorn in the flesh, the mes-
senger of Satan to buffet him," mentioned in the
Epistle to the Corinthians, were intended to denote
the same thing. Either therefore it was, what we
pretend it to have been, the same person in both,
alluding, as the occasion led him, to some bodily
infirmity under which he laboured : that is, we are
reading the real letters of a real apostle ; or, it was
that a sophist, who had seen the circumstance in one
epistle, contrived, for the sake of correspondency, to
bring it into another ; or, lastly, it was a circum-
stance in St. Paul's personal condition, supposed to
be well knovv'n to those into whose hands the epistle
was likely to fall ; and, for that reason, introduced
into a writing designed to bear his name. I have
extracted the quotations at length, in order to enable
the reader to judge accurately of the manner in
which the mention of this particular comes in, in
each ; because that judgement, I think, will acquit
the author of the epistle of the charge of having stu-
diously inserted it, either with a view of producing
an apparent agreement between them, or for any
other purpose whatever.

The context, by which the circumstance before
us is introduced, is in the two places totally different,
and without any mark of imitation : yet in both
places does the circumstance rise aptly and naturally
out of the context, and that context from the train
of thought carried on in the epistle.

The Epistle to the Galatians, from the beginning
to the end, runs in a strain of angry complaint of

HOll.E Px^ULINvE. 121

their defection from the apostle, and from the prin-
ciples which he had taught them . It was very natural
to contrast with this conduct, the zeal with which
they had once received him ; and it was not less
so to mention, as a proof of their former disposition
towards him, the indulgence which, whilst he was
amongst them, they had shown to his infirmity :
" My temptation which was in the flesh ye despised
not, nor rejected, but received me as an angel of
God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the bless-
edness you spake of?" /. e. the benedictions which
you bestowed upon me ; " for I bear you record,
that, if it had been posssible, ye would have plucked
out your own eyes, and have given them to me."

In the two epistles to the Corinthians, especially
in the second, we have the apostle contending with
certain teachers in Corinth, who had formed a party
in that church against him. To vindicate his per-
sonal authority, as well as the dignity and credit of
his ministry amongst them, he takes occasion (but
not without apologising repeatedly for the folly, that
is, for the indecorum of pronouncing his own pa-
negyric *) to meet his adversaries in their boastings :
'' Whereinsoever any is bold (I speak foolishly) I am
bold also. Are they Hebrews ? so am I. Are they
Israelites ? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham ?
so am I. Are they the ministers of Christ ? (I speak
as a fool) I am more -, in labours more abundant, in

* " Would to God you would bear with me a little in my folly,
uud indeed beai' witli me !" chap. xi. 1.

"Tliat which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it
were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting." chaj). xi. 17.

" I am become a fool in glorying 3 yc have compelled mc."
chap. xii. 1 1.

V22 HORyE PAULINJE.

stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in
deaths oft." Being led to the subject, he goes on, as
was natural, to recount his trials ajfdi dangers, his
incessant cares and labours in the Christian mission.
From the proofs which he had given of his zeal and
activity in the service of Christ, he passes (and that
with the same view of establishing his claim to be
considered as " not a whit behind the very chiefest
of the apostles") to the visions and revelations which
from time to time had been vouchsafed to him. And
then, by a close and easy connexion, comes in the
mention of his infirmity : " Lest I should be ex-
alted,'* says he, "above measure, through the abun-
dance of revelations, there was given to me a thorn
in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me."

Thus then, in both epistles, the notice of his in-
firmity is suited to the place in which it is found.
In the Epistle to the Corinthians, the train of
thought draws up to the circumstance by a regular
approximation. In this epistle, it is suggested by
the subject and occasion of the epistle itself. Which
observation we offer as an argument to prove that it
is not, in either epistle, a circumstance industriously
brought forward for the sake of procuring credit to
an imposture.

A reader will be taught to perceive the force of
this argument, who shall attempt to introduce a
given circumstance into the body of a writing. To
do this without abruptness, or without betraying
marks of design in the transition, requires, he will
find, more art than he expected to be necessary,
certainly more than any one can believe to have been
exercised in the composition of these epistles.

IlOll/E PAULIN,*:. 125

No. V.

Chap. iv. 29. " But as then he that was born after
the flesh persecuted him that was born after the
spirit, even so it is now."

Chap. V. 11. *' And I, brethren, if I yet preach
circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution ? Then
is the offence of the cross ceased."

Chap. vi. 17. " IVom henceforth, let no man
trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the
Lord Jesus."

From these several texts, it is apparent that the
persecutions which our apostle had undergone were
from the hands or by the instigation of the Jews ;
that it was not for preaching Christianity in opposi-
tion to heathenism, but it was for preaching it as
distinct from Judaism, that he had brought upon
himself the sufferings which had attended his mi-
nistry. And this representation perfectly coincides
with that which results from the detail of St. Paul's
history, as delivered in the Acts. At Antioch,
in Pisidia, the ** v/ord of the Lord was published
throughout all the region ; but the Jews stirred up
the devout and honourable women and the chief men
of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and
Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts," —
(Acts, chap. xiii. oO.) Not long after, at Iconium,
" a great multitude of the Jews and also of the
Greeks believed ; but the unbelieving Jexvs stirred
up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected
against the brethren." (Chap, xiv. 1, 2.) " At
Lystra there came certain Jews from Antioch and

12 i HOR^ PAULINyE.

Iconium, who persuaded the people ; and, having
stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he
had been dead." (Chap. xiv. 19.) The same en-
mity, and from the same quarter, our apostle ex-
perienced in Greece : "At Thcssalonica, some of
them (the Jews) believed, and consorted with Paul
and Silas : and of the- devout Greeks a great multi-
tude, and of the chief women not a few : but tlie
Jetm which believed not, moved with envy, took
unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and
gathered a company, and set all the city in an uproar,
and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring
them out to the people." (Acts, chap. xvii. 4, 5.)
Their persecutors follow them to Berea : *' When
the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the
word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they
came thither also, and stirred up the people."
(Chap. xvii. 13.) And lastly at Corinth, when
Galiio was deputy of Achaia, " the Jews made in-
surrection with one accord against Paul, and brought
liim to the judgement-seat." I think it does not
appear that our apostle was ever set upon by the
Gentiles, unless they were first stirred up by the
Jews, except in two instances ; in both which the
persons wjio began the assault were immediately in-
terested in his expulsion from the place. Once this
happened at Philippi, after the cure of the Pythoness :
" When the masters saw the hope of their gains was
gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them
into the market-place unto the rulers." (Chap. xvi.
19.) And a second time at Ephesus, at the instance
of Demetrius, a silversmith which made silver shrines
for Diana, " who called together workmen of like

HOUiE PAULINA. 125

occupation, and said. Sirs, ye know that by this
craft we have our w^ealth ; moreover ye see and hear
that not only at Epliesus, but ahuost throughout all
Asia, this Paul hath persuaded away much people,
saying, that they be no gods which are made with
hands ; so that not only this our craft is in danger
to be set at nought, but also that the temple of the
great goddess Diana should be despised, and her
magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia
and the world worshippeth."

No. VI.

I observe an agreement in a somewhat peculiar rule
of Christian conduct, as laid down in this epistle,
and as exemplified in the Second Epistle to the Co-
rinthians. It is not the repetition of the same general
precept, which would have been a coincidence of little
value ; but it is the general precept in one place, and
the application of that precept to an actual occur-
rence in the other. In the sixth chapter and first
verse of this epistle, our apostle gives the following
direction : " Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a
fault, ye, which are spiritual, restore such a one in
the spirit of meekness." In 2 Cor. chap. ii. 6 — 8,
he writes thus : " Sufficient to such a man" (the in-
cestuous person mentioned in the First Epistle) " is
this punishment, which was inflicted of many: so
that, contrariwise, ye ought rather to forgive him
and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be
swallowed up with over-much sorrow : wherefore I
beseech you that ye would confirm your love towards
him." I have little doubt but that it was the same
mind which dictated these two passages.

126 HOll^ PAULINA.

No. VII.

Our epistle goes farther than any of St. Paul's
epistles ; for it avows in direct terms the supersession
of the Jewish law, as an instrument of salvation, even
to the Jews themselves. Not only were the Gentiles
exempt from its authority, but even the Jews were
no longer either to place any dependency upon it, or
consider themselves as subject to it on a religious ac-
count. " Before faith came, we were kept under the
law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards
be revealed ; wherefore the law was our schoohnaster
to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified
by faith ; but, after that faith is come, we are no
longer under a schoolmaster.** (Ch. iii. 23 — 25.)
This was undoubtedly spoken of Jews and to Jews.
In like manner, chap. iv. 1 — 5 ; " Now I say that
the heir, as long as he is a child, dilfercth nothing
from a servant, though he be lord of all ; but is under
tutors and governors until the time appointed of the
father : even so we, when we were children, were in
bondaii'e under the elements of the world ; but when
the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his
Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to re-
deem them that xcere under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons." These passages are
nothing short of a declaration, that the obligation of
the Jewish law, considered as a religious dispensation,
the effects of which were to take place in another life,
had ceased, with respect even to the Jews themselves.
What then should be the conduct of a Jew (for such
St. Paul was) who preached this doctrine ? To be
consistent with himself, either he would no longer

HOll^ PAULINiE. 127

comply, in his own person, with the directions of the
law ; or, if he did comply, it would be for some other
reason than any confidence which he placed in its
efficacy, as a religious institution. Now so it happens,
that whenever St. Paul's compliance with the Jewish
law is mentioned in the history, it is mentioned in
connexion with circumstances which point out the
motive from which it proceeded ; and this motive
appears to have been always exoteric, namely, a love
of order and tranquillity, or an unwillingness to give
unnecessary offisnce. Thus, Acts, chap. xvi. 3 : " Him
(Timothy) would Paul have to go forth with him,
and took and circumcised him, because of' the Jews
which were in those quarters.^* Again, Acts, chap.
xxi. 26, when Paul consented to exhibit an example
of public compliance with a Jewish rite by purifying
himself in the temple, it is plainly intimated that he
did this to satisfy " many thousands of Jews who be-
lieved, and who were all zealous of the law." So far
the instances related in one book, correspond with
the doctrine delivered in another.

No. VIII.

Chap. i. 18. " Then, after three years, I went
up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him
fifteen days."

The shortness of St. Paul's stay at Jerusalem is
what I desire the reader to remark. The direct ac-
count of the same journey in the Acts, chap. ix. 28,
determines nothing concerning the time of his con-
tinuance there : '* And he was with them (the
apostles) coming in, and going out, at Jerusalem ;
and he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus,

128 H0II;E PAULINA.

and disputed against the Grecians : but they went
about to slay him ; which when the brethren knew,
they brought him down to Caesarea." Or rather this
account, taken by itself, would lead a reader to sup-
pose that St. Paul's abode at Jerusalem had been
longer than fifteen days. But turn to the twenty-
second chapter of the Acts, and you will find a re-
ference to this visit to Jerusalem, which plainly in-
dicates that Paul's continuance in that city had been
of short duration : *' And it came to pass, that when
I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed
in the temple, I was in a trance, and saw him saying
unto me. Make haste, get thee quickly out of Jeru-
salem, for they will not receive thy testimony con-
cerning me." Here we have the general terms of
one text so explained by a distant text in the same
book, as to bring an indeterminate expression into a
close conformity with a specification delivered in an-
other book : a species of consistency not, I think,
usually found in fabulous relations.

No. IX.

Chap. vi. 11. " Ye see how large a letter I have
written unto you with mine own hand."

These words imply that he did not always write
with his own hand ; which is consonant to what we
find intimated in sopie other of the epistles. The
Epistle to the Romans was written by Tertius : *' I,
Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the
Lord." (Chap. xvi. 22.) The First Epistle to the
Corinthians, the Epistle to the Colossians, and the
Second to the Thessalonians, have all, near the con-
clusion, this clause, *' The salutation of me, Paid,

HOR.E PAULINA. 129

with mine own hand;" which must be understood,
and is universally understood to import, that the
rest of the epistle was written by another hand. I
do not think it improbable that an impostor, who
had remarked this subscription in some other epistle,
should invent the same in a forgery; but that is not
done here. The author of this epistle does not
imitate the manner of giving St. Paul's signature ;
he only bids the Galatians observe how large a letter
he had written to them with his own hand. He does
not say this was different from his ordinary usage 3
this is left to implication. Now to suppose that this
was an artifice to procure credit to an imposture, is
to suppose that the author of the forgery, because he
knew that others of St. Paul's were not written by
himself, therefore made the apostle say that this was :
which seems an odd turn to give to the circumstance,
and to be given for a purpose which would more
naturally and more directly have been answered, by
subjoining the salutation or signature in the form in
which it is found in other epistles*.

No. X,

An exact conformity appears in the manner in
which a certain apostle or eminent Christian, whose

* The words ttyiXixois 'ypaiJ,[j.a,<Tiv may probably be meant to
describe the character in which he wrote^ and not the length of
the letter. But this will not alter the truth of our observation.
I think, however, that as St. Paul by the mention of his own hand
designed to express to the Galatians the great concern which he
felt for them, the words, whatever they signify, belong to the
whole of the epistle ; and not, as Grotius, after St. Jerome, in-
terprets it, to the few verses which follow.

VOL. III. K

130 HOR^ PAULINyE.

name was James, is spoken of in the epistle and in
the history. Both writings refer to a situation of his
at Jerusalem, somewhat different from that of the
other apostles ; a kind of eminence or presidency in
the church there, or at least a more fixed and sta-
tionary residence. Chap. ii. 12. *' When Peter was
at Antioch, before that certain came from James, he
did eat with the Gentiles." This text plainly at-
tributes a kind of pre-eminency to James ; and, as
we hear of him twice in the same epistle dwelling at
Jerusalem, chap. i. 19, and ii. 9, we must apply it to
the situation which he held in that church. In the
Acts of the Apostles divers intimations occur, con-
veying the same idea of James's situation. When
Peter was miraculously delivered from prison, and
had surprised his friends by his appearance among
them, after declaring unto them how the Lord had
brought him out of prison, " Go show," says he,
" these things unto James, and to the brethren.**
(Acts, chap. xii. I7.) Here James is manifestly
spoken of in terms of distinction. He appears again
with like distinction in the twenty-first chapter and
the seventeenth and eighteenth verses : *' And when
we (Paul and his company) were come to Jerusalem,
the day following, Paul went in with us unto James,
and all the elders were present." In the debate
which took place upon the business of the Gentile
converts, in the council at Jerusalem, this same per-
son seems to have taken the lead. It was he who
closed the debate, and proposed the resolution in
which the council ultimately concurred : " Where-
fore my sentence is, that we trouble not them which
from among the Gentiles are turned to God."

HOR^ PAULINiE. 131

Upon the whole, that there exists a conformity in
the expressions used concerning James throughout
the history, and in the epistle, is unquestionable.
But admitting this conformity, and admitting also
the undesignedness of it, what does it prove ? It
proves that the circumstance itself is founded in
truth ; that is, that James was a real person, who
held a situation of eminence in a real society of
Christians at Jerusalem. It confirms also those parts
of the narrative which are connected with this cir-
cumstance. Suppose, for instance, the truth of the
account of Peter's escape from prison was to be tried
upon the testimony of a witness who, among other
things, made Peter, after his deliverance, say, " Go
show these things to James and to the brethren ;"
would it not be material, in such a trial, to make out
by other independent proofs, or by a comparison of
proofs, drawn from independent sources, that there
was actually at that time, living at Jerusalem, such a
person as James ; that this person held such a situation
in the society amongst whom these things were trans-
acted, as to render the words which Peter is said to
have used concerning him, proper and natural for him
to have used ? If this would be pertinent in the dis-
cussion of oral testimony, it is still more so in appre-
ciating the credit of remote history.

It must not be dissembled that the comparison of
our epistle with the history presents some difficulties,
or, to say the least, some questions of considerable
magnitude. It may be doubted, in the first place,
to what journey the words which open the second
chapter of the epistle, " then, fourteen years after-
wards, I went unto Jerusalem," relate. That which

K 2

132 HORiE PAULINA.

best corresponds with the date, and that to which
most interpreters apply the passage, is the journey of
Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, when they went
thither from Antioch, upon the business of the Gen-
tile converts ; and which journey produced the fa-
mous council and decree recorded in the fifteenth
chapter of Acts. To me this opinion appears to
be encumbered with strong objections. In the
epistle Paul tells us that " he went up by revela-
tion." (Chap. ii. 2.) — In the Acts, we read that
he was sent by the church of Antioch : " After no
small dissension and disputation, they determined
that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them,
should go up to the apostles and elders about this
question.'* (Acts, chap. xv. 2.) This is not very
reconcileable. In the epistle St. Paul writes that,
when he came to Jerusalem, " he communicated that
Gospel which he preached among the Gentiles, but
privately to them which were of reputation." (Chap,
ii. 2). If by " that Gospel*' he meant the immunity
of the Gentile Christians from the Jewish law (and I
know not what else it can mean), it is not easy to
conceive how he should communicate that privately,
which was the object of his public message. But a
yet greater difficulty remains, viz. that in the account
which the epistle gives of what passed upon this visit
at Jerusalem, no notice is taken of the deliberation
and decree which are recorded in the Acts, and
which, according to that history, formed the business
for the sake of which the journey was undertaken.
The mention of the council and of its determination,
whilst the apostle was relating his proceedings at
Jerusalem, could hardly have been avoided, if in

HORiE PAULINiE. 133

truth the narrative belong to the same journey. To
me it appears more probable that Paul and Barnabas
had taken some journey to Jerusalem, the mention
of which is omitted in the Acts. Prior to the apo-
stolic decree, we read that " Paul and Barnabas abode
at Antioch a long time with the disciples." (Acts,
chap. xiv. 28.) Is it unlikely that, during this long
abode, they might go up to Jerusalem and return to
Antioch ? Or would the omission of such a journey
be unsuitable to the general brevity with which these
memoirs are written, especially of those parts of St.
Paul's history which took place before the historian
joined his society ?

But, again, the first account we find in the Acts
of the Apostles of St. Paul's visiting Galatia, is in
the sixteenth chapter and the sixth verse : " Now
when they had gone through Phrygia and the region
of Galatia, they assayed to go into Bithynia." The
progress here recorded was subsequent to the apo-
stolic decree ; therefore that decree must have been
extant when our epistle was written. Now, as the
professed design of the epistle was to establish the
exemption of the Gentile converts from the law of
Moses, and as the decree pronounced and confirmed
that exemption, it may seem extraordinary that no
notice whatever is taken of that determination, nor
any appeal made to its authority. Much however of
the weight of this objection, which applies also to
some other of St. Paul's epistles, is removed by the
following reflections.

1. It was not St. Paul's manner, nor agreeable to
it, to resort or defer much to the authority of the
other apostles, especially whilst he was insisting, as

134) HOR^ PAULINA.

he does strenuously throughout this epistle insist,
upon his own original inspiration. He who could
speak of the very chiefest of the apostles in such
terms as the following— " of those who seemed to be
somewhat (whatsoever they were it maketh no matter
to me, God accepteth no man's person), for they
who seemed to be somewhat in conference added
nothing to me" — he, I say, was not likely to support
himself by their decision.

2. The epistle argues the point upon principle :
and it is not perhaps more to be wondered at, that
in such an argument St. Paul should not cite the
apostolic decree, than it would be that, in a discourse
designed to prove the moral and religious duty of
observing the sabbath, the writer should not quote
the thirteenth canon.

3. The decree did not go the length of the posi-
tion maintained in the epistle ; the decree only de-
clares that the apostles and elders at Jerusalem did
not impose the observance of the Mosaic law upon
the Gentile converts, as a condition of their being
admitted into the Christian church. Our epistle
argues that the Mosaic institution itself was at an
end, as to all effects upon a future state, even with
respect to the Jews themselves.

4. They whose error St. Paul combated, were not
persons who submitted to the Jewish law, because it
was imposed by the authority, or because it was made
part of the law of the Christian church ; but they
were persons who, having already become Christians,
afterwards voluntarily took upon themselves the
observance of the Mosaic code, under a notion of
attaining thereby to a greater perfection. This, I

HOR/E PAULINE. 135

think, is precisely the opinion which St. Paul opposes
in this epistle. Many of his expressions apply exactly
to it : " Are ye so foolish ? having begun in the spirit,
are ye now made perfect in the flesh ?" (Chap. iii. 3.)
" Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye
not hear the law?" (Chap. iv. 21.) "How turn
ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, where-
unto ye desire again to be in bondage ?" (chap. iv. 9.)
It cannot be thought extraordinary that St. Paul
should resist this opinion with earnestness ; for it
both changed the character of the Christian dispensa-
tion, and derogated expressly from the completeness
of that redemption which Jesus Christ had wrought
for them that believed in him. But it was to no
purpose to allege to such persons the decision at
Jerusalem ; for that only showed that they were not
bound to these observances by any law of the Christ-
ian church : they did not pretend to be so bound ;
nevertheless they imagined that there was an efficacy
in these observances, a merit, a recommendation to
favour, and a ground of acceptance with God for
those who complied with them. This was a situation
of thought to which the tenor of the decree did not
apply. Accordingly, St. Paul's address to the Gala-
tians, which is throughout adapted to this situation,
runs in a strain widely different from the language of
the decree ; " Christ is become of no effect unto you,
whosoever of you are justified by the law ;" (chap.
v. 4) i. e. whosoever places his dependence upon any
merit he may apprehend there to be in legal ob-
servances. The decree had said nothing like this j
therefore it would have been useless to have pro-
duced the decree in an argument of which this was

136 HOE^ PAULIN/E.

the burden. In like manner as in contending with
an anchorite, who shoukl insist upon the superior
holiness of a recluse, ascetic life, and the value of
such mortifications in the sight of God, it would be
to no purpose to prove that the laws of the church
did not require these vows, or even to prove that the
laws of the church expressly left every Christian to
his liberty. This would avail little towards abating
his estimation of their merit, or towards settling the
point in controversy *.

* Mr. Locke's solution of this difficulty is by no means satis-
factory. " St. Paul/' he says, " did not remind the Galatians of
the apostolic decree, because they already had it." In the first
place, it does not appear with certainty that they had it ; in the
second place, if they had it, this was rather a reason, than other-
wise, for referring them to it. The passage in the Acts, from
which Mr. Locke concludes that the Galatic churches were in
possession of the decree, is the fourth verse of the sixteenth
chapter: "And as they" (Paul and Timothy) "went through
the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were
ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem."
In my opinion, this delivery of the decree was confined to the
churches to which St. Paul came, in pursuance of the plan upon
which he set out, " of visiting the brethren in every city where he
had preached the word of the Ivord ;" the history of which pro-
gress, and of all that pertained to it, is closed in the fifth verse,
when the history informs that, " so were the churches established
in the faith, and increased in number daily." Then the history
proceeds upon a new section of the narrative, by telling us, that
" when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of
Galatia, they assayed to go into Bithynia." The decree itself is
directed to " the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch,
Syria, and Ciliciaj that is, to churches already founded, and in
which this question had been stirred. And I think the observa-
tion of the noble author of the Miscellanea Sacra is not only
ingenious but highly probable, viz. that there is, in this place, a

nORJE PAULINyE. 137

Another difficulty arises from the account of
Peter's conduct towards the Gentile converts at
Antioch, as given in the epistle, in the latter part
of the second chapter ; which conduct, it is said, is
consistent neither with the revelation communicated
to him, upon the conversion of Cornelius, nor with
the part he took in the debate at Jerusalem. But,
in order to understand either the difficulty or the
solution, it will be necessary to state and explain the
passage itself. " When Peter was come to Antioch^

dislocation of the text, and that the fourth and fifth verses of the
sixteenth chapter ought to follow the last verse of the fifteenth, so
as to make the entire passage run thus : " And they went through
Syria and Cillcia," (to the Christians of which country the decree
was addressed) "confirming the churches 3 and as they went
through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that
were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem ;
and so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in
number daily," And then the sixteenth chapter takes up a new
and unbroken paragraph : " Then came he to Derbe and Lystra,
&c." When St. Paul came, as he did into Galatia, to preach the
Gospel, for the first time, in a new place, it is not probable that
he would make mention of the decree, or rather letter, of the
church of Jerusalem, which presupposed Christianity to be known,
and which related to certain doubts that had arisen in some esta-
blished Christian communities.

The second reason which Mr, Locke assigns for the omission
of the decree, viz. "^that St. Paul's sole object in the epistle was
to acquit himself of the imputation that had been charged upon
him of actually preaching circumcision," does not appear to me
to be strictly true. It was not the sole object. The epistle is
written in general opposition to the Judaizing inclinations which
he found to prevail among his converts. The avowal of his own
doctrine, and of his steadfast adherence to that doctrine, formed
a necessary part of the design of his letter, but was not the
whole of it.

138 HOK/E PxVULIN.E.

I withstood him to the face, because he was to be
blamed ; for, before that certain came from James,
he did eat with the Gentiles j but when they were
come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing
them which were of the circumcision ; and the other
Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that
Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimula-
tion ; but when I saw they walked not uprightly,
according to the truth of the Gospel, I said unto
Peter, before them all. If thou, being a Jew, livest
after the manner of the Gentiles, and not as do the
Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do
the Jews ?'* Now the question that produced the
dispute to which these words relate, was not whether
the Gentiles were capable of being admitted into the
Christian covenant ; that had been fully settled :
nor was it whether it should be accounted essential
to the profession of Christianity that they should
conform themselves to the law of Moses ; that was
the question at Jerusalem : but it was, whether,
upon the Gentiles becoming Christians, the Jews
might henceforth eat and drink with them, as with
their own brethren. Upon this point St. Peter be-
trayed some inconstancy ; and so he might, agree-
ably enough to his history. He might consider the
vision at Joppa as a direction for the occasion, rather
than as universally abolishing the distinction between
Jew and Gentile ; I do not mean with respect to
final acceptance with God, but as to the manner of
their living together in society : at least he might
not have comprehended this point with such clear-
ness and certainty, as to stand out upon it against
the fear of bringing upon himself the censure and

IIORyE PAULINA. 139

complaint of his brethren in the church of Jerusalem,
who still adhered to their ancient prejudices. But
Peter, it is said, compelled the Gentiles lovSai^siv —
" Why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do
the Jews ?" How did he do that ? The only way
in which Peter appears to have compelled the Gen-
tiles to comply with the Jewish institution, was by
withdrawing himself from their society. By which
he may be understood to have made this declaration :
*' We do not deny your right to be considered as
Christians ; we do not deny your title in the pro-
mises of the Gospel, even without compliance with
our law : but if you would have us Jews live with
you as we do with one another, that is, if you would
in all respects be treated by us as Jews, you must
live as such yourselves." This, I think, was the
compulsion which St. Peter's conduct imposed upon
the Gentiles, and for which St. Paul reproved him.

As to the part which the historian ascribes to St.
Peter in the debate at Jerusalem, beside that it was
a different question which was there agitated from
that which produced the dispute at Antioch, there is
nothing to hinder us from supposing that the dis-
pute at Antioch was prior to the consultation at
Jerusalem ; or that Peter, in consequence of this
rebuke, might have afterwards maintained firmer
sentiments.

140 HOKE PAULIN/E.

CHAPTER VI.

THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.

No. I.

This epistle, and the Epistle to the Colossians,
appear to have been transmitted to their respective
churches by the same messenger : " But that ye also
may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a
beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord,
shall make known to you all things ; whom I have
sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might
know our affairs, and that he might comfort your
hearts." Ephes. chap. vi. 21, 22. This text, if it do
not expressly declare, clearly I think intimates, that
the letter was sent by Tychicus. The words made
use of by him in the Epistle to the Colossians are
very similar to these, and afford the same implication
that Tychicus, in conjunction with Onesimus, was
the bearer of the letter to that church : ^' All my
state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a be-
loved brother, and a faithful minister, and fellow
servant in the Lord ; whom I have sent unto you for
the same purpose, that he might know your estate,
and comfort your hearts ; with Onesimus, a faithful
and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall
make known unto you all things which are done
here." Colos. chap. iv. 7 — 9- Both epistles re-
present the writer as under imprisonment for the
Gospel ; and both treat of the same general subject.
The Epistle therefore to the Ephesians, and the

HOR^ PAULINiE. 141

Epistle to the Colossians, import to be two letters
written by the same person, at, or nearly at, the
same time, and upon the same subject, and to have
been sent by the same messenger. Now, every
thing in the sentiments, order, and diction of the
two writings, corresponds with what might be ex-
pected from this circumstance of identity or cogna-
tion in their original. The leading doctrine of both
epistles is the union of Jews and Gentiles under the
Christian dispensation ; and that doctrine in both is
established by the same arguments, or, more pro-
perly speaking, illustrated by the same similitudes * :
"one head," "one body," "one new man," "one
temple," are in both epistles the figures under which
the society of believers in Christ, and their common
relation to him as such, is represented •]•. The an-
cient, and, as had been thought, the indelible di-
stinction between Jew and Gentile, in both epistles,

* St. Paul, I am apt to believe, has been sometimes accused
of inconclusive reasoning, by our mistaking that for reasoning
which was only intended for illustration. He is not to be read
as a man, whose own persuasion of the truth of what he taught
always or solely depended upon the views under which he repre-
sents it in his writings. Taking for granted the certainty of his
doctrine, as resting upon the i-evelation that had been imparted
to him, he exhibits it frequently to the conception of his readers
under images and allegories, in which if an analogy may be per-
ceived, or even sometimes a poetic resemblance be found, it is
all perhaps that is required.

Ephes. i. 22,-) r Colos. i. 1!

r Ephes. 1. 22 A r Colos. i. 18.

t Compare < iv. 15, Vwith^ ii. 19,

I ii. 15, j L iii. 10, 11.

r Ephes. ii. 14, 15, "^ r Colos. ii. 14.

Also^ ii. 16, Vwith^ i. 18— 21.

I ii. 20, J L ii. 7.

142 HORiE PAULINyE.

is declared to be " now abolished by his cross.**
Beside this consent in the general tenor of the two
epistles, and in the run also and warmth of thought
with which they are composed, we may naturally ex-
pect in letters produced under the circumstances in
which these appear to have been written, a closer re-
semblance of style and diction, than between other
letters of the same person but of distant dates, or
between letters adapted to different occasions. In
particular we may look for many of the same ex-
pressions, and sometimes for whole sentences being
alike ; since such expressions and sentences would
be repeated in the second letter (whichever that was)
as yet fresh in the author's mind from the writing of
the first. This repetition occurs in the following
examples * :

Ephes. ch. i. 7« " In whom we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins t ."

Colos. ch. i. 14. " In whom we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins t."

Besides the sameness of the words, it is farther
remarkable that the sentence is, in both places, pre-
ceded by the same introductory idea. In the Epistle
to the Ephesians it is the " beloved" (yiyaitriii.svw) ; in
that to the Colossians it is " his dear Son" (Joy r>jf
ayoLiirig avfov), " in whom we have redemption." The

* When verbal comparisons are relied upon, it becomes neces-
sary to state the original ; but that the English reader may be in-
terrupted as little as may be, I shall in general do this in the notes.

-|- Ephes. ch. i. 7. Ev a> £X^l^^^ '^'"l^ aifoXut^cocriv Sia t'ov dii^^xro;
avfov, Trjv (Z(p£<riv twv Ttapattrwi/.a.fcuv.

:[: Colos. ch. i. 14. Ev oJ £p(^OfA£j' ry^v a.ifoXwf^uja-tv $ioc rov dty^aro;
avTOV, 'trjv aftiXiv rwv a/xap^wv.— However, it must be observed,
that in this latter text many copies have not ^<a roo dij^oiTos ocvtov.

HOR^ PAULIN/E. 143

sentence appears to have been suggested to the mind
of the writer by the idea which had accompanied it
before.

Ephes. ch. i. 10. " All things both which are in
heaven and which are in earth, even in him *."

Colos. ch. i. 20. " All things by him, whether
they be things in earth, or things in heaven t .'*

This quotation is the more observable, because the
connecting of things in earth with things in heaven
is a very singular sentiment, and found nowhere else
but in these two epistles. The words also are in-
troduced by describing the union which Christ had
effected, and they are followed by telling the Gen-
tile churches that they were incorporated into it.

Ephes. ch. iii. 2. *' The dispensation of the grace
of God, which is given me to you ward t .'*

Colos. ch. i. 25. *' The dispensation of God,
which is given to me for you § .'*

Of these sentences it may likewise be observed
that the accompanying ideas are similar. In both
places they are immediately preceded by the mention
of his present sufferings ; in both places they are im-
mediately followed by the mention of the mystery
which was the great subject of his preaching.

Ephes. ch. v. 19. "In psalms and hymns and

* Ephes. ch. i. 10. To. re sv toig oupavoi; Kat 'tot. siti rr^g yrjs,
sv avtcy.

f Colos. ch. i. 20. Al aurov, sits rx sift tr^g ytjs, bit's tec sv roig
ov§avoig.

X Ephes. ch. iii. 2. T>]v ootovopnav ^apiTog rov ©sou r^j; SoSsKTrjs
[/.oi sig UjU.af.

§ Colos. ch. i. 25. Tijv ojxoj'OjU-fav tou Qsov, ttjv So^sktccv /xo*
sig ufj^ag.

144 UORJE PAULIN/E.

spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your
heart to the Lord*."

Colos. ch. iii. l6. *' In psahns and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to
the Lordt."

Ephes. ch. vi. 22. " Whom I have sent unto
you for the same purpose, that ye might know our
affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts t."

Colos. ch. iv. 8. "Whom I have sent unto you
for the same purpose, that he might know your
estate, and comfort your hearts §.'*

In these examples, we do not perceive a cento of
phrases gathered from one composition, and strung
together in the other ; but the occasional occurrence
of the same expression to a mind a second time re-
volving the same ideas.

2. Whoever writes two letters, or two discourses,
nearly upon the same subject, and at no great di-
stance of time, but without any express recollection
of what he had written before, will find himself re-
peating some sentences, in the very order of the
words in which he had already used them ; but he
wull more frequently find himself employing some
principal terms, with the order inadvertently changed,

* Ephes. ch. v. 19. "faXfj^oi; koci vf/.vot;, km w^aig TTysvi^atMais
aSovrsg xaci ^a,XXovfsg sv r-r; napSia J/acuv tcv Kvpiw.

t Colos. ch. iii. 16. ^aXaoj? xai vfj^voig xai aidats ntvsv^a'tiy.oui,
sv %af jrj aiJovrsf sv 'fv ■x.a.pha. vi^wv tcy Kv^tcy.

X Ephes. ch. vi. 22. 'Ov eirs^jiy^'oc it^og v[jt,as sig avro Tsro, ha.
yvMTS tcL TTspi -^iMwy, Kai itoL^a.y.a.Xs<rri 'fag na^Sio,; v^'jjv.

§ Colos. ch. iv^ 8. 'Ov siteit^^a, itpog vfj'.a.i si; avto rovto, Iva, yvu)
'fa, Ttspi vfj^cuv, xai Tta^a.KaXsixr] ra.5 na^Siag vfji^u/y.

HOR^ PAULINA. 145

or with the order disturbed by the intermixture of
other words and phrases expressive of ideas rising up
at the time ; or in many instances repeating not
single words, nor yet whole sentences, but parts and
fragments of sentences. Of all these varieties the
examination of our two epistles will furnish plain
examples : and I should rely upon this class of in-
stances more than upon the last ; because, although
an impostor might transcribe into a forgery entire
sentences and phrases, yet the dislocation of words,
the partial recollection of phrases and sentences, the
intermixture of new terms and new ideas with terms
and ideas before used, which will appear in the ex-
amples that follow, and which are the natural pro-
perties of writings produced under the circumstances
in which these epistles are represented to have been
composed — would not, I think, have occurred to the
invention of a forger ; nor, if they had occurred,
would they have been so easily executed. This
studied variation was a refinement in forgery which
I believe did not exist ; or, if we can suppose it to
have been practised in the instances adduced below,
why, it may be asked, was not the same art exercised
upon those which we have collected in the preceding
class ?

Ephes. ch. i. 19. chap. ii. 5. "Towards us who
believe according to the working of his mighty power,
which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him
from the dead (and set him at his own right hand in
the heavenly places, far above all principality, and
power, and might, and dominion, and every name
that is named, not only in this world, but in that
which is to come. And hath put all things under

VOL. III. L

146 HOR/E PAULINA.

his feet : and gave him to be the head over all things,
to the church, which is his body, the fulness of all
things, that filleth all in all ;) and you hath he
quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins
(wherein in time past ye walked according to the
course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience ; among whom also we had
all our conversation, in times past, in the lusts of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the
mind, and were by nature the children of wrath,
even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for
his great love wherewithal he loved us), even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ*."

Colos. ch. ii. 12, 13. ** Through the faith of the
operation of God, who hath raised him from the
dead : and you, being dead in your sins and the un-
circumcision of the flesh, hath he quickened together
with him t."

Out of the long quotation from the Ephesians take
away the parentheses, and you have left a sentence
almost in terms the same as the short quotation from
the Colossians. The resemblance is more visible in

* Eplies. ch. i. 19, 20 j ii. 1. 5. Toug liitTTsvovta; xata try
svs^ysiav rov y-parovg trif Kxyyos avfov, rfV evrj^ynjosv zy raiX^Krrou,
sysi^as uvTov en VBiipuov, Ka,i sxal^Krav sv Sz^ia avrou sv rot; ettov^oc-
viois — xai v[j^as ovtag vsk^ov; toig Tfaf atfrcoju-acrj xoct rcas dij.apttais
— Koci ovras ■fjii.a.g ysK^ov; 'foi; 'jroc^aifrcviJ.a.crt, (ruvs^MOTfoiYjiTs fcv
X^io-tiv.

-f- Colos, ch. ii. 12, 13. Aia rrj§ itKrrsujf rrjg svspysiag rov &sov
rov systptx.VT'os avtov sx rwv vsxpojv. Kai Jjw.a^ vsh^ovs ovrccs sy
Toig 'Ttapccittwixa.Ti xoci rr, axt^otvcrna. trji trapxos vy.wy, (rvys^ujo-

HOR.li PAULINA. 14)7

the original than in our translation ; for what is ren-
dered in one place, " the working/' and in another
the *' operation/' is the same Greek term Bvepyeicc :
m one place it is, rovs Tria-tsvovras nara tr^v svspysiccv ; in
the other, ^/a rij^ TtKxrswg tijs sve^ystas. Here, there-
fore, we have the same sentiment, and nearly in the
same words ; but, in the Ephesians, twice broken or
interrupted by incidental thoughts, which St. Paul,
as his manner was, enlarges upon by the way *, and
then returns to the thread of his discourse. It is in-
terrupted the first time by a view which breaks in
upon his mind of the exaltation of Christ ; and the
second time by a description of heathen depravity.
I have only to remark that Griesbach, in his very
accurate edition, gives the parentheses very nearly in
the same manner in which they are here placed ; and
that without any respect to the comparison which
we are proposing.

Ephes. ch. iv. 2 — 4. " With all lowliness and
meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one an-
other in love ; endeavouring to keep the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and
one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your
calling t."

Colos. ch. iii. 12 — 15. " Put on therefore, as
the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mer-
cies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-

* Vide Locke in loc.

■f Ephes, ch. iv, 2 — 4. Msfcc Tfacrris 'fatitsivCKppoa-vv^i xa,i ifpaO'
T'rj'i'o;, /Agra |tAa>cpo9ujw,iaj, avs^o^svoi aXXrjXwv ev ccyenrrri' (nrovSoc-
^ovtss T'Yi^siv T'rjv kvoTvjfa t'qu itvsv^aroi sy rev a'uvSsa-fj.cv rrjs si^vjvrjs.
'Ev cco^a. y.ai iv itveuficc, xaSwf xa» sxXrj^Yj-ts sv [i,ia zXTtih Tyjg
HXy)<rBUJS v[f^(JOv,

L 2

148 noniE PAULINA.

suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one
another ; if any man have a quarrel against any, even
as Christ forgave you, so also do ye ; and, above all
these things, put on charity, which is the bond of
perfectness ; and let the peace of God rule in your
hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body *."
In these two quotations the words TocTTBivocppoo-avrj,

•jfpaorrjs, |U.axfo9u/x(a, avey^oij-svoi aAAijXwv, OCCUr in exactly

the same order : ayaitrj is also found in both, but
in a different connexion ; o-uvJeo-jw-of rrjg si^r}\'rjs answers

to trvv$S(r[ji.os tij; tsXsiotrjtos : exXijQr^re ev kvi (ruj[j.ari tO Iv (rw[^a.

KocSajs Kcci £kX-^^t£ sv [j.ia sXnfth I yet is this similitude
found in the midst of sentences otherwise very dif-
ferent.

Ephes. eh. iv. l6. " From whom the whole body
fitly joined together, and compacted by that which
every joint supplieth, according to the effectual
working in the measure of every part, maketh in-
crease of the body t."

Colos. ch. ii. 19. "From which all the body, by
joints and bands, having nourishment ministered and
knit together, increaseth with the increase of God t.**

* Colos. cb. ill. 12 — 15. EvSvffaa-^e ovv wg ex-XsKtOi rov Qsov
dyioi Koci rjya'jryjij.svoi, CTtXay^va, oiKripfjMV, ^^ijtrrorijra, raireiyo-
(p^offvvTfV, Tf^aotyjta, fj^axpoSvfLixv' a.vs'/o^t.syQi ocXXrjXwv, xxi yo-pi-
^o[X£voi kaurois, sav ris it^og tivcx. £%■>) [t.oa(priV xa^wg xai 6 Xpitrtog
E^apKraTo vfj^iv, ovTw xai vjxsi;' eiti ita.ffi Se rovtoig tr^v ayaifriv,
TjVif sa-ti ffvvh(r(/.os rrjg rsXeiorr/ros' y.ai r, si^rjvr] rou Qsou /Sf afeuero;
£v raif KOcpSiaig vfji^wv, sig YjV xa* £xX');9ijre ev svi ffuoii^an.

t Ephes. ch. iv. 16. E^ oJ ttclv to (rw[Ma, (Tvvap[x,oXoyov[x,£vov
KUl arvfj.^i'Sa^oiJi.svoy 8ta, TTao-ij; a.<prjs rijg e7r<%0fijyiaj xar' svs^ysiatv
EV i^Efpw kvos hy.a.iTi'ov fLS^ovg trjv av^rjariv rov (roufj^ccrog Trcisnai.

X Colos. ch. ii. 19. E^ ou irav to (rwiJ.01, $ia rwv a(pwv xcci <rvv-
§£<r[/.u)v £7f<;^Ofijyouju,£VOv xa< <rv^i,^i'Sa.Xfi\i,EVOv , av^si trjV av^yjcriv rou
©eoy.

nORM PAULINTE. 149

In these quotations are read eg ou irav ro cruj[j.a. o-o/u,-
ttta^oiLsvi^v in both places : cTi'jj^ofijyouju.svov answering

to ^'TtiX'^priyicts : ha, rouv d^c/jv tO hot, Tratrrjs d<py]g : aogsi rijv au-

^y,o-iv to Tfotsi-rai ttjv av^r,(nv : and yet the sentences are
considerably diversified in other parts.
• Ephes. ch. iv. 32. " And be kind one to another,
tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God,
for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you *.*'

Colos. ch. iii. 13. *' Forbearing one another, and
forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel
against any ; even as Christ forgave you, so also do

yet-"

Here we have " forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake (sy x.^i^rw) hath forgiven you,"
in the first quotation, substantially repeated in the
second. But in the second the sentence is broken
by the interposition of a new clause, " if any man
have a quarrel against any :'* and the latter part is a
little varied ; instead of " God in Christ," it i§
** Christ hath forgiven you.'*

Ephes. ch. iv. 22 — 24. ** That ye put off con-
cerning the former conversation the old man, which
is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be
renewed in the spirit of your mind ; and that ye put
on the new man, which, after God, is created in
righteousness and true holiness j."

* Eph. ch. iv. 32. r<v£(r9£ Ss eis aXXrjXov; ^prjcrtoi, eycTTTAay-
pi/vo<, ^apt^ofieyot kavroi^, kx^cv; kcx-i 6 Qsos sv Xpig-rcy t'/apitxa.ra

f Colos. ch. iii. 13. Avg%OjM,£vo< aXAi;Acuv, xai xa.pit^oy.svoi
kavrsis, £av Tis 'n'^os rjva s^r, ixo[ji,(prjV xaScug x,xi o X^icrroi e%a-
pitrato J/x(v, ovrw km q[xei;.

X Ephes. ch. iv. 22 — 24. ATtoSsaSoci vi^as Kocrcx, rrjv Tr^OTe^ocv
avaaTpo^pyjv, rov TtaXaiov av^ojtov toy (3^£i^Off.£Voy jtara ra; eiri"

150 HORJE paulin;e.

Colos. ch. iii. 9, 10. <* Seeing that ye have put off
the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new
man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image
of him that created him *."

In these quotations, "putting off the old man and
putting on the new," appears in both. The idea is
farther explained by calling it a renewal ; in the one,
** renewed in the spirit of your mind ;" in the other,
" renewed in knowledge." In both, the new man
is said to be formed according to the same rriodel ;
in the one, he is, *' after God created in righteous-
ness and true holiness ;'* in the other, "he is re-
newed after the image of him that created him."
In a word, it is the same person writing upon a
kindred subject, with the terms and ideas which he
had before employed still floating in his memory t.

Ephes. chap. v. 6 — 8. " Because of these things
Cometh the wrath of God upon the children of dis-
obedience : be not ye therefore partakers with them ;
for ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light
in the Lord ; walk as children of light t."

fli/jxiaf rtj; aTTarij;* avavsouo-Qai h tat tvsvii.a.Ti rov voog v^tuv, nxi
£ySv(Toi.<rQat tov naivov avQp wttov, rov xara, Qsov nTKr^evrx sv 8mai-
otrvvri xaj o<Tioryiri rrjs aXyjSsias.

* Colos. ch. iii. 9, 10. Kits-nho-aix.svoi rov itaXaiov avSpouTfov
<ruv rais ntpa^sinv avrov xa< ivhcraif^svoi rov vsov, -toy avaxacivov-
[jusvov Eis STriyvwa-iy xar' eoiova rov xrKrctvtos avrov.

f In these comparisons, we often perceive the reason why the
writer, though expressing the same idea, uses a different term j
namely, because the term before used is employed in the sentence
under a different form : thus, in the quotations under our eye, the
new man is nxivog ayS^ujTfo; in the Ephesians, and rov vsov in the
Colossians ; but then it is because rov kccivov is used in the next
'word, avaxafvou/Asvov.

X Ephes. ch. v. 6—8. Aia ravra. yxp e^ysrcn rj o^yrj rov Qsou

UORJE PAULINA. 151

Colos. ch. iii. 6 — 8. " Foj' which things* sake
the wrath of God cometh on the childreri of disobe-
dience ; in the which ye also walked some time,
when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all
these *.'*

These verses afford a specimen of that partial
resemblance which is only to be met with when no
imitation is designed, when no studied recollection
is employed, but when the mind, exercised upon the
same subject, is left to the spontaneous return of
such terms and phrases, as, having been used before,
may happen to present themselves again. The sen-
timent of both passages is throughout alike : half of
that sentiment, the denunciation of God's wrath, is
expressed in identical words ; the other half, viz. the
admonition to quit their former conversation, in
words entirely different.

Ephes. ch. v. 15, 16. *' See then that ye walk cir-
cumspectly ; not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the
time t."

Colos. ch. iv. 5. " Walk in wisdom towards them
that are without, redeeming the time t.'*

This is another example of that mixture which we
remarked of sameness and variety in the language

Hts yap TtOTS a-KOro^, vvv $s (pujs ev YLu^iw- w/ rsKva, (pujtos Tfepnfx-

* Colos. cli. iii. 6 — S. Ai' a spp^erai ^' o^yij t'ov Qsov sTfi rovg
vlovs ttis ccTtsi&siocs' £v olf KUi vi^sig TtspiBTtccrrjcrcTs irors, ore E^ijre sv
aujois- Nuvt Ss airoSsa-^s xai v^^sis ra, itocvrcc.

t Ephes. ch. V. 15, 16. BXeirsTs ouv itwg UKpi^uj; Tts^nrarsire-
jaij cui a(ro<poi, aX\' vog cro(poi, s^ayopa^OfMsvai rov kcci^ov.

t Colos. ch. iv. 5. Ev tro(p/a TtspiTtateire it^og rows b^uj, rov
xaffov s^ayooaK'^[/.evoi.

152 HOll.E PxVULlN/E.

of one writer. «* Redeeming the time" (e^ayopa^o,a£voi
rov Katpoy\ is a literal repetition. " Walk not as fools,

but as wise" {ftepi'Tta.Tsirs i^Yj m; cx.<ro:^Qi, aXX' co; <ro(poi\ anSWerS

exactly in sense, and nearly in terms, to " walk in

wisdom" (fv cro(pia TTfciTrargirg). Us^nrarsirE ay.§itujs is a

very different phrase, but is intended to convey pre-
cisely the same idea as ire ^^nrocT sirs ir^o; rovg s^uj. AK^iSwg

is not well rendered *' circumspectly." It means
what in modern speech we should call " correctly ;"
and when we advise a person to behave *' correctly,"
our advice is always given with a reference " to the
opinion of others," Tt^o; tov; s^uj. '* Walk correctly,
redeeming the time," i. e. suiting yourselves to the
difficulty and ticklishness of the times in which we
live, "because the days are evil."

Eplies. ch. vi. 19, 20. ** And (praying) for me,
that utterance may be given unto me, that I may
open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery
of the Gospel, for which I am an ambassador in
bonds, that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought
to speak *."

Colos. ch. iv. 3, 4. " Withal praying also for us
that God would open unto us a door of utterance to
speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in
bonds, that I may make it manifest as I ought to
speak t."

* Ephes. ch. vi. 19, 20. Kai uVep eixov, Iva [x,oi SoSsiip Xoyoc ey

avoi^si Tov crro[xa,ro; fxov sv TrappY/G-ta., yvwpKTOn ro iMua-tri^iov rou
svctyysXiov, uirs^ ou irpzu-tsvjj sv aXvasi, Iva. ev avrui 7ra.pprj(Tia,G-cu[xsii,
u!S Sbi /xg XaXr^a-ai .

f Colos. ch. iv. 3, 4. II^o<rev)(piJ.£voi afxa koci tts^i ij^awv, Iva 6
Qsog avoi^x rj[xtv bupav rov Xoyov, AaXijcai ro i/^vtrrr^^tov rov X^icrrov
Si' 0 xai hhpMi, 'iva. fa,vs^^cua-io uvro, cJf Sei fj^s XaXr)(rai.

HOllE PAULINA. 153

In these quotations, the phrase "as I ought to
speak" {^s <^e' /^£ xaXi^a-ai), the words " utterance"
Q^oyos')^ a " mystery" (iMva-tYitov), " open" (ocvoi^rj and
sy avoi^si), are the same. " To make known the
mystery of the Gospel" (yvajpicrai ro fM-ja-Tyjciov'), an-
swers to *' make it manifest" Qva, (pavs^oua-cu avro) ;
"for which I am an ambassador in bonds" (uVsp 06
iTf'Sff^svou sv aAytrs/), to " for which I am also in bonds"

(St' 6 nai SsSsf^cci^.

Ephes. ch. V. 22. " Wives^ submit yourselves to
your own husbands, as unto the Lord^ for the hus-
band is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the
head of the church, and he is the saviour of the
body. Tlierefore, as the church is subject unto
Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in
every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as
Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it,
that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing
of water by the word ; that he might present it to
himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle,
or any such thing ; but that it should be holy and
without blemish. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife, loveth
himself; for no man ever yet hated his own flesh,
but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord
the church ; for we are members of his body, of his
flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man
leave his father and his mother, and be joined unto
his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a
great mystery ; but I speak concerning Christ and
the church. Nevertheless, let every one of you in
particular, so love his wife even as himself; and the
wife see that she reverence her husband. Children,

154 nOHM PAULIN^E.

obei/ your paretits in the Lord, for this is right.
Honour thy father and thy mother (which is the first
commandment with promise), that it may be well
with thee, and that thou mayest live long on the
earth. And, ye fathers, jjrovoke not your children
to *iJorath, but bring them up in the nurture and ad-
monition of the Lord. Servajits, be obedient to them
that are your jnasters according to the flesh, with
fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as
unto Chr'ist ; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers,
but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God
from the heart ; with good will doing service, as to
the Lord, and not to men ; knowing that zvhatsoever
good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive
of the Lord, wJtether he be bond or free. And, ye
masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing
threatening : hiowing that your master also is in
heaven, neither is there respect of persons with
him *."

t Colos. ch. iii. 18. " Wives, submit yourselves
unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.
Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against

* Ephes. cli. V. 22. AlyuvaJJiSf, fjii iSiois avSpcctnv vTioTaa-a-ea-^e,
cui ruj Kupiw.

t Colos. ch. iii. 18. Aj yvvcciKss, v'fforao'o-saSs rois i^ioig ccvS§x-
criv, us CQ/T/jKsv ev Kvpicy.

Epbes. OJ avSpss, ayxr.a.'ts ras yvvonKas sautcvy.

Colos. 01 a.y$pss, ayaiTocrs rag yvvcciKcc;.

Ephes. Ta tswa, vitaMvars roig yovBV(riv J/xwv sv Kv^iui' rouro
yap ecTi hy.a.iOV.

Colos. Ta tsKva, vTtaKOVBTe rot; yonvffi xccrcc -rta.yt'o: rovro
ya^ etrriv eva^scrrov ru/Kvpav.

Ephes. Ka< ol itars^es, jatj Tfapo^yiKs-^B 'rcc rsxvcc v{a,ujv.

Colos. 01 Ttare^es, (jlvj eps^ilete * fa rsKva v[x.uiv.

* Tfa^opYi^srs, lectio iioii spernenda, Griesbach.

IIOUM PAULINA. 155

them. Children, obey your parents in all things,
for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers,
provoke not your children to anger, lest they be dis-
couraged. Servants, obey in all things your masters
according to the flesh : not with eye-service, as men-
pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God ;
and whatever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord,
and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye
shall receive the reward of the inheritance : for ye
serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong
shall receive for the wrong which he hath done ; and
there is no respect of persons. Masters, give unto
your servants that which is just and equal, knowing
that ye also have a master in heaven."

The passages marked by Italics in the quotation
from the Ephesians, bear a strict resemblance, not
only in signification but in terms, to the quotation
from the Colossians. Both the words and the order
of the words are in many clauses a duplicate of one
another. In the Epistle to the Colossians, these
passages are laid together ; in that to the Ephesians,
they are divided by intermediate matter, especially

Ephes. 0< SovKoi, vifocKOvsts foig Kvpioi; Kara a-apxa [utta,
(po'Sov Kai tpOfji^ou, EV ctTTXoT'ijr* rrj; na^Sias u^atov, cvf rw Xf (trrcw fji^r)
x.ar' o(pSaX[ji^oSovK£iav, cu^ av^wita^BCKOi, aXX' wg SovXoi rov Xpi-
crrou,ifoiovyrss TO SeXr/iJixrov Qeousk ^vyrji' ^st Bvvoiag SovXevovrsg
CVS Tuj KvptM, Kai ova av^puoitoig' eiSorsg oti 6 exv n kKafftos voiijirr,
aya%v, rovro xopi^isirai irapa rov Kv^iov, sirs SovXos, sirs sXsu^soog.

Colos. 0( huXoi, vtaKovtts Kara itavra rois Kara rrapxa ku-
piois> i^y) sv o(pQaX[MohvXsiaig, 005 av^pcoira^sa-Koi, aXX' ev dtiXdrr^n
xa§Stag, (po^ovij.svoi rov @sov xai irav 0, ri sav iToivrs, sk ^oyijf
epya^eirSe, w; rui Kv§i(v, xat ovk av^pcuirois' sihrs; on aifo Kvpiou
aTroXrj4>s<rh rrjv avra/rtohriv r-^s KXy)povo[x,ia{' rev yotg Kv^icv Xpio-rcu
hvXsvsfs.

156 HOR.E PAULINyE.

by a long digressive allusion to the mysterious union
between Christ and his church ; which possessing, as
Mr. Locke hath well observed, the mind of the
apostle, from being an incidental thought, grows up
into the principal subject. The affinity between
these two passages in signification, in terms, and in
the order of the words, is closer than can be pointed
out between any parts of any two epistles in the
volume.

If the reader would see how the same subject is
treated by a different hand, and how distinguishable
it is from the production of the same pen, let him
turn to the second and third chapters of the First
Epistle of St. Peter. The duties of servants, of
wives, and of husbands, are enlarged upon in that
epistle, as they are in the Epistle to the Ephesians ;
but the subjects both occur in a different order, and
the train of sentiment subjoined to each is totally
unlike.

3. In two letters issuing from the same person,
nearly at the same time, and upon the same general
occasion, we may expect to trace the influence of as-
sociation in the order in which the topics follow one
another. Certain ideas universally or usually suggest
others. Here the order is what we call natural, and
from such an order nothing can be concluded. But
when the order is arbitrary, yet alike, the concur-
rence indicates the effect of that principle, by which
ideas, which have been once joined, commonly revisit
the thoughts together. The epistles under considera-
tion furnish the two following remarkable instances
of this species of agreement.

Ephes. ch. iv. 24. " And that ye put on the new

H0R7E PAULIN/E. 157

man, which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness ; wherefore putting away lying, speak
every man truth with his neighbour, for we are mem-
bers one of another *."

Colos. ch. iii. 9. " Lie not one to another ; seeing
that ye have put off the old man with his deeds ;
and have put on the new man, which is renewed in
knowledge t."

The vice of "lying," or a correction of that vice,
does not seem to bear any nearer relation to the
"putting on the new man,'* than a reformation in
any other article of morals. Yet these two ideas, we
see, stand in both epistles in immediate connexion.

Ephes. ch. v. 20, 21, 22. " Giving thanks always
for all things unto God and the Father, in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ ; submitting yourselves
one to another, in the fear of God. Wives, submit
yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the
Lord $."

Colos. ch. iii. I7. *' Whatsoever ye do, in word or
deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving
thanks to God and the Father by him. Wives, sub-

* Ephes. ch. iv. 24, 25. Kat svSva-aa-^oci rov kccivov av^pujitov,
Tov Kara, @sov KtKrSsvra, ev Six.aiO(rvvri x.a,i oa-iotrjri ti/js aXYjSii(x.f''$to
aTfoSsi/,evoi ro rl/euJoj, XaXsiTs aX-^Qsiav ky<.a.<jro; f^sra rov itXr^ffior)

+ Colos. ch. iii. 9. Mij ^svSsffSs sig aXXtiKov;, aTrsK^vtrafcevoi
rov 'TfaXociOv avSpcuTtov, aw raig itpa^soriv avrov, xai £v$vcraix,evoi
rov vsov, rov avaKocivoufj^svov Sig sTfiyvuja-iv.

X Ephes. ch. v. 20, 21^ 22. Evx^x-pio-rovvrs; Tfavrors vits^ ifay-
rwv, sv ovo[j.ari rov Kuptov r/y^wv Itjctou X^ia-rov, ruj Qeoj xai ttar^i,
vicoraffffoiJ^tvoi aXXrjXois £v (fio^uj Qsov. At yvvonKs;, rots iSioig
avJfatrjv oTToracrcretrSg, ws rx Yiv^tui.

158 HOR/E PAULIN^E.

mit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in
the Lord *."

In both these passages, submission follows giving
of thanks, without any similitude in the ideas which
should account for the transition.

It is not necessary to pursue the comparison
between the two epistles farther. The argument
which results from it stands thus : No two other
epistles contain a circumstance which indicates that
they were written at the same, or nearly at the same
time. No two other epistles exhibit so many marks
of correspondency and resemblance. If the original
which we ascribe to these two epistles be the true
one, that is, if they were both really written by St.
Paul, and both sent to their respective destination by
the same messenger, the similitude is, in all points,
what should be expected to take place. If they were
forgeries, then the mention of Tychicus in both
epistles, and in a manner which shows that he either
carried or accompanied both epistles, was inserted
for the purpose of accounting for their similitude :
or else the structure of the epistles was designedly
adapted to the circumstance : or lastly, the con-
formity between the contents of the forgeries, and
what is thus directly intimated concerning their
date, was only a happy accident. Not one of these
three suppositions will gain credit with a reader who
peruses the epistles with attention, and who reviews

* Colos. ch. iii. 17. Kcci itav 6, rt av itoir^fs, iv Xoyuj, rj sv s^yuj,
ntavta. £v ovoit^ari Kvpiov Iijirou, avy^ocpic-rovvteg tcv ®sm kui tTxt^i
Si' uvtou. Aj yvvcciKss, vTroratrasaSs TOis iSiots avSpacriv, uj; avT^asv

HOR^ PAULIN7E. 159

the several examples we have pointed out, and the
observations with which they were accompanied.

No. II.

There is such a thing as a peculiar word or phrase
cleaving, as it were, to the memory of a writer or
speaker, and presenting itself to his utterance at
every turn. When we observe this, we call it a cant
word, or a cant phrase. It is a natural effect of
habit : and would appear more frequently than it
does, had not the rules of good writing taught the
ear to be offended with the iteration of the same
sound, and oftentimes caused us to reject, on that
account, the word which offered itself first to our re-
collection. With a writer who, like St. Paul, either
knew not these rules, or disregarded them, such
words will not be avoided. The truth is, an ex-
ample of this kind runs through several of his
epistles, and in the epistle before us abounds ; and
that is in the word riches (i'xovroi'), used metaphori-
cally as an augmentative of the idea to which it hap-
pens to be subjoined. Thus, " the riches of his
glory," "his r^iches in glory," ^^ riches of the glory
of his inheritance," " riches of the glory of this my-
stery," Rom. ch. ix. ^i3, Ephes. ch. iii. 16, Ephes. ch.
i. 18, Colos. ch. i. 27 '• ^^ riches of his grace," twice
in the Ephesians, ch. i. 7> and ch. ii. 7 ; " riches of
the full assurance of understanding," Colos. ch. ii. € ;
^^ riches of his goodness," Rom. ch. ii. 4 ; " riches of
the wisdom of God," Rom. ch. xi. 33 ; " riches of
Christ," Ephes. ch. iii. 8. In a like sense the ad-
jective, Rom. ch. X. 12, " Wc/? unto all that call upon

160 ' HOR/E PAULINyE.

him;" Ephes. ch. ii. 4, ''rich in mercy;" 1 Tim.
ch. vi. 18, ''rich in good works." Also the adverb,
Colos. ch. iii. 16, "let the word of Christ dwell in
you richly.'* This figurative use of the word, though
so familiar to St. Paul, does not occur in any part of
the New Testament, except once in the Epistle of
St. James, ch. ii. 5, " Hath not God chosen the poor
of this world, rich in faith ?" where it is manifestly
suggested by the antithesis. I propose the frequent,
yet seemingly unaffected use of this phrase, in the
epistle before us, as one internal mark of its genuine-
ness.

No. III.

There is another singularity in St. Paul's style,
which, wherever it is found, may be deemed a badge
of authenticity ; because, if it were noticed, it would
not, I think, be imitated, inasmuch as it almost
always produces embarrassment and interruption in
the reasoning. This singularity is a species of di-
gression which may properly, I think, be denomi-
nated going off at a word. It is turning aside from
the subject upon the occurrence of some particular
word, forsaking the train of thought then in hand,
and entering upon a parenthetic sentence in which
that word is the prevailing term. I shall lay before
the reader some examples of this, collected from the
other epistles, and then propose two examples of it
which are found in the Epistle to the Ephesians,
2 Cor. ch. ii. 14, at the word savour : " Now
thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to
triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour
of his knowledge by us in every place (for we are.

HOU^. PAULINA. 161

unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are
saved, and in them that perish ; to the one we are
the savour of death unto death, and to the other the
savour of life unto life ; and who is sufficient for
these things ?) For we are not as many which
corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as
of God ; in the sight of God speak we in Christ.'*
Again, 2 Cor. ch. iii. 1, at the word epistle : " Need
we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you,
or of commendation from you ? (ye are our epistle
written in our hearts, known and read of all men ;
forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the
epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with
ink, but with the Spirit of the living God ; not in
tables of stone, but in the fleshy tables of the
heart.)" The position of the words in the original,
shows more strongly than in the translation, that it
was the occurrence of the word sTrta-toXr^ which gave
birth to the sentence that follows : 2 Cor. chap. iii. 1.

E( jctij ^py}^o[ji,£Vf CVS Ttvss, <ru(rta.riKUjy sTficn'oXuiv it^og v[xa.;, Yj s^
v[MUJV (Tucraroiwy 3 ij sTturroXrj rjt/,ujv ufj^Ei; scrts, syyeypaiJ^iuzvrj sv
Txis x.a.^Sicx.i( Tjjawv, ytvujtrKOi^svr) xa( avay<ya;cr)COjU.evij uVo Tracvnuv
ayS^vuTfwV (pa,V£§ovi/^£voi oti eirrs sifi'n'oXrj Xokttov SiocKoyi^Sstcroc u(f
ri^xujv, Byysypay^[/^Bvyj ou [jieXscvt, aXXx itvaviJ^ari &£0v ^cuvroi' ovk sv
irXa^i AfOivaif, aXX' ev itXa^i xa^Sias (xapKivaig.

Again, 2 Cor. ch. iii. 12, &c. at the word vail :
" Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great
plainness of speech: and not as Moses, which put a
vail over his face, that the children of Israel could
not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abo-
lished. But their minds were blinded ; for until
this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in
the reading of the Old Testament, which vail is

VOL. III. M

162 HOKiE PAULIN.^.

done away in Christ ; but even unto this day, when
Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart : never-
theless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall
be taken away (now the Lord is that Spirit ; and
where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty).
But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass
the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same
image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of
the Lord. Therefore, seeing we have this ministry,
as we have received mercy, we faint not."

Who sees not that this whole allegory of the vail
arises entirely out of the occurrence of the word, in
telling us that " Moses put ^vailoMcv his face," and
that it drew the apostle away from the proper subject
of his discourse, the dignity of the office in which
he was engaged? which subject he fetches up again
almost in the words with which he had left it :
"therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have
received mercy, we fjiint not." The sentence which
he had before been going on with, and in which he
had been interrupted by the vail, was, " Seeing then
that we have such hope, we use great plainness of
speech."

In the Epistle to the Ephesians, the reader will
remark two instances in which the same habit of
composition obtains ; he will recognise the same pen.
One he will find, chap. iv. 8 — 11, at the word
ascended : " Wherefore he saith, When he ascended
up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts
unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but
that he also descended first unto the lower parts of
the earth ? He that descended is the same also that
ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill
all things.) And he gave some, apostles," &c.

HORyE PAULFN^. 162

The other appears, chap. v. 12 — 15, at the word
light : ** For it is a shame even to speak of those
tilings which are done of them in secret : but all
things that are reproved, are made manifest by the
light ; (for whatsoever doth make manifest is ligJit ;
wherefore he saith, Awake, thou that sleepest, and
arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee
light : J see then that ye walk circumspectly."

No. IV.

Although it does not appear to have ever been
disputed that the epistle before us was written by
St. Paul, yet it is well known that a doubt has long
been entertained concerning the persons to whom
it was addressed. The question is founded partly in
some ambiguity in the external evidence. Marcion,
a heretic of the second century, as quoted by Ter-
tullian, a father in the beginning of the third, calls
it the Epistle to the Laodiccans. From what we
know of Marcion, his judgement is little to be relied
upon ; nor is it perfectly clear that Marcion was
rightly understood by Tertullian. If, however, Mar-
cion be brought to prove that some copies in his time
gave ev AaoSMsioi in the superscription, his testimony,
if it be truly interpreted, is not diminished by his
heresy ; for, as Grotius observes, " ciir meet re men-
tiretiir nihil erat causce.^'' The name sv E(pzifu}, in the
first verse, upon which word singly depends the
proof that the epistle was written to the Ephesians,
is not read in all the manuscripts now extant. I
admit, however, that the external evidence prepon-
derates with a manifest excess on the side of the
received reading. The objection therefore princi-

M 2

164 HOR^ PAULINA.

pally arises from the contents of the epistle itself,
which, in many respects, militate with the supposi-
tion that it was written to the church at Ephesus.
According to the history, St. Paul had passed two
whole years at Ephesus, Acts, chap. xix. 10. And
in this point, viz. of St. Paul having preached for a
considerable length of time at Ephesus, the history is
confirmed by the two Epistles to the Corinthians,
and by the two Epistles to Timothy. " I will tarry
at Ephesus until Pentecost," 1 Cor. ch. xvi. ver. 8.
" We would not have you ignorant of our trouble
which came to us in Asia" 2 Cor. ch. i. 8. '* As I
besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went
into Macedonia," 1 Tim. ch. i. 3. " And in how
many things he ministered to me at Ephesus thou
knowest well," 2 Tim. ch. i. 18. I adduce these
testimonies, because, had it been a competition of
credit between the history and the epistle, I should
have thought myself bound to have preferred the
epistle. Now, every epistle which St. Paul wrote to
churches which he himself had founded, or which he
had visited, abounds with references, and appeals to
what had passed during the time that he was present
amongst them ; whereas there is not a text, in the
Epistle to the Ephesians, from which we can collect
that he had ever been at Ephesus at all. The two
Epistles to the Corinthians, the Epistle to the Gal a
tians, the Epistle to the Philippians, and the two
Epistles to the Thessalonians, are of this class ; and
they are full of allusions to the apostle's history, his
reception, and his conduct whilst amongst them ; the
total want of which, in the epistle before us, is veiy
difficult to account for, if it was in truth written to

HOR/E PAULIN.E. 165

the church of Ephesiis, in which city he had resided
for so long a time. This is the first and strongest
objection. But farther, the Epistle to the Colossians
was addressed to a church in which St. Paul had
never been. This we infer from the first verse of the
second chapter : '' For I would that ye knew what
great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodi-
cea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the
flesh." There could be no propriety in thus joining
the Colossians and Laodiceans with those " who had
not seen his face in the flesh," if they did not also
belong to the same description *. Now, his address
to the Colossians, whom he had not visited, is pre-
cisely the same as his address to the Christians, to
whom he wrote in the epistle which we are now con-
sidering : " We give thanks to God and the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
since tve heard qfyourjaith in Christ Jesus, and of
the love which ye have to all the saints," Col. ch. i.
S. Thus, he speaks to the Colossians : in the epistle
before us, as follows : " Wherefore I also, after I
heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto
all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you in my
prayers," chap. i. 15. The terms of this address are
observable. The words " having heard o^ your faith
and love," are the very words, we see, which he uses
towards strangers ; and it is not probable that he
should employ the same in accosting a church in
which he had long exercised his ministry, and whose

* Dr. Lardner contends against the validity of this conclu-
sion ; but;, I thinks without success. Lardner, vol. xiv. p. 473,
edit. 1757.

166 HOR/E PAUL1N7E.

*' faith and love" he must have personally known *.
The Epistle to the Romans was written before St.
Paul had been at Rome ; and his address to them
runs in the same strain with that just now quoted :
*' I thank my God, through Jesus Christ, for you all,
that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole
world :" Rom. ch. i. 8. Let us now see what was
the form in which our apostle was accustomed to in-
troduce his epistles, when he wrote to those with
whom he was already acquainted. To the Co-
rinthians it was this : "I thank my God always on
your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you
by Christ Jesus," 1 Cor. ch. i. 4. To the Phi-
lippians : " I thank my God upon every remembrance
of you," Phil. ch. i. 3. To the Thessalonians : " We
give thanks to God always for you all, making men-
tion of you in our prayers, remembering without
ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love,"
1 Thess. ch. i. 3. To Timothy : *' I thank God,
whom I serve from my forefathers with pure con-
science, that without ceasing I have remembrance of
thee in my prayers night and day," 2 Tim. ch. i. 3.
In these quotations, it is usually his remembrance,

* Mr. Locke endeavours to avoid this difficulty, by explaining
" their faith, of which St. Paul had heard," to mean the sted-
fastness of their persuasion that they were called into the king-
dom of God, without subjection to the Mosaic institution. But
this interpretation seems to me extremely hard i for, in the
manner in which faith is here joined with love, in the expression,
" your faith and love," it could not be meant to denote any par-
ticular tenet which distinguished one set of Christians from
others j forasmuch as the expression describes the general
virtues of the Christian profession. Vide Locke in loc.

KORyli PAULINyE. 167

and never his hearing of them, which he makes the
subject of his thankfulness to God.

As great difficulties stand in the way supposing
the epistle before us to have been written to the
church of Ephesus, so I think it probable that it is
actually the Epistle to the Laodiceans, referred to in
the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians.
The text which contains that reference is this :
" When this epistle is read among you, cause that it
be read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and
that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea,'*
ch. iv. 16. The " epistley/'om Laodicea" was an
epistle sent by St. Paul to that church, and by them
transmitted to Colosse. The two churches were
mutually to communicate the epistles they had re-
ceived. This is the way in which the direction is
explained by the greater part of commentators, and
is the most probable sense that can be given to it.
It is also probable that the epistle alluded to was an
epistle which had been received by the church of
Laodicea lately. It appears then, with a considerable
degree of evidence, that there existed an epistle of
St. Paul's nearly of the same date with the Epistle
to the Colossians, and an epistle directed to a church
(for such the church of Laodicea was) in which St.
Paul had never been. What has been observed con-
cerning the epistle before us, shows that it answers
perfectly to that character.

Nor does the mistake seem very difficult to ac-
count for. Whoever inspects the map of Asia
Minor will see, that a person proceeding from Rome
to Laodicea would probably land at Ephesus, as the

168 HOR.E PAULINA.

nearest frequented seaport in that direction. Might
not Tychicus then, in passing through Ephesus, com-
municate to the Christians of that place the letter
with which he was charged ? And might not copies
of that letter be multiplied and preserved at Ephesus ?
Might not some of the copies drop the words of de-
signation £v rx AaoJixsja*, which it was of no con-
sequence to an Ephesian to retain ? Might not copies
of the letter come out into the Christian church at
large from Ephesus ; and might not this give occa-
sion to a belief that the letter was written to that
church ? And lastly, might not this belief produce
the error which we suppose to have crept into the
inscription ?

No. V.
As our epistle purports to have been written

* And it is remarkable that there seem to have been some
ancient copies without the words of designation, either the words
in Ephesus, or the words in Laodicea. St- Basil, a writer of the
fourth century, speaking of the present epistle, has this very
singular passage : " And writing to the Ephesians, as truly united
to him who is through knowledge, he (Paul) calleth them in a
peculiar sense siich who are ; saying to the saints tvho are and
(or even) the faithful in Christ Jesrcs ; for so those before us have
transmitted it, and we have found it in ancient copies." Dr. Mill
interprets (and, notwithstanding some objections that have been
made to him, in my opinion rightly interprets) these words of
Basil, as declaring that his father had seen certain copies of the
epistle in which the words " in Ephesus" were wanting. And
the passage, I think, must be considered as Basil's fanciful way
of explaining a^ hat was really a corrupt and defective reading ;
for I do not believe it possible that the author of the epistle could
have originally written dyioi; TOig ovctv, without any name of
place to follow it.

nORJE PAULINA. 169

during St. Paul's Imprisonment at Rome, which lies
beyond the period to which the Acts of the Apostles
brings up his history ; and as we have seen and
acknowledged that the epistle contains no reference
to. any transaction at Ephesus during the apostle's
residence in that city, we cannot expect that it
should supply many marks of agreement with the
narrative. One coincidence however occurs, and a
coincidence of that minute and less obvious kind,
which, as hath been repeatedly observed, is of all
others the most to be relied upon.

Chap. vi. 19, 20, we read, " praying for me, that
I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the
mystery of the Gospel, for which I am an ambassador
in bonds." " I?i bonds,'' sv dxvcrsi, in a chain. In
the twenty-eighth chapter of the Acts we are in-
formed, that Paul, after his arrival at Rome, was
suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept
him. Dr. Lardner has show^n that this mode of
custody was in use amongst the Romans, and that
whenever it was adopted, the prisoner was bound to
the soldier by a single chain : in reference to which
St. Paul, in the twentieth verse of this chapter, tells
the Jews, whom he had assembled, " For this cause
therefore, have I called for you to see you, and to
speak with you, because that for the hope of Israel I
am bound with this chain,'* rvjv dxucriv tavrrjv -jTs^ixatiMat.
It is in exact conformity therefore with the truth of
St. Paul's situation at the time, that he declares
of himself in the epistle, Ti-^aa-^svaj sv aXva-ei. And the
exactness is the more remarkable, as dxva-is (a chain)
is nowhere used in the singular number to express
any other kind of custody. When the prisoner's

170 HORyE PAULINiE.

liands or feet were bound together, the word was
$£(riJ.oi (bonds), as in the twenty-sixtli chapter of the
Acts, where Paul replies to Agrippa, " I would to
God that not only thou, but also all that hear me
this day, were both almost and altogether such as I
am, except these bo?ids,^' irapsxto; twv ho-ixouv tovrm.
When the prisoner was confined between two sol-
diers, as in the case of Peter, Acts, chap. xii. 6, two
chains were employed ; and it is said upon his mi-
raculous deliverance, that the " chains" (dxv(X£is, in
the plural) *'fell from his hands.'* Asr^^os the noun,
and ha-^/^ai the verb, being general terms, were ap-
plicable to this in common with any other species of
personal coercion ; but dxvcng, in the singular number,
to none but this.

If it can be suspected that the writer of the pre-
sent epistle, who in no other particular appears to
have availed himself of the information concerning
St. Paul, delivered in the Acts, had, in this verse,
borrowed the word which he read in that book, and
had adapted his expression to what he found there
recorded of St. Paul's treatment at Rome ; in short,
that the coincidence here noted was effected by craft
and design ; I think it a strong reply to remark,
that, in the parallel passage of the Epistle to the
Colossians, the same allusion is not preserved ; the
words there are, " praying also for us, that God
would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the
mystery of Christ, for which / am also in bo?ids,'*
Si' 0 nai ds(Tixxi. After what has been shown in a pre-
ceding number, there can be little doubt but that
these two epistles were written by the same person.
If the writer, therefore, sought for, and fraudulently

HOR/E PAULINiE. 171

inserted, the correspondency into one epistle, why
did he not do it in the other? A real prisoner
miffht use either "-eneral words which comprehended
this amongst many other modes of custody ; or might
use appropriate words which specified this, and di-
stinguished it from any other mode. It would be
accidental which form of expression he fell upon.
13ut an impostor, who had the art, in one place, to
employ the appropriate term for the purpose of
fraud, would have used it in both places.

CHAPTER VII.

THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS.

No. I.

When a transaction is referred to in such a man-
ner, as that the reference is easily and immediately
understood by those who are beforehand, or from
other quarters, acquainted with the fact, but is ob-
scure, or imperfect, or requires investigation, or a
comparison of different parts, in order to be made
clear to other readers, the transaction so referred to
is probably real ; because, had it been fictitious, the
writer would have set forth his story more fully and
plainly, not merely as conscious of the fiction, but as
conscious that his readers could have no other know-
ledge of the subject of his allusion than from the in-
formation of which he put them in possession.

172 HOR^ PAULINA.

The account of Epapliroditus, in the Epistle to
the Philippians, of liis journey to Rome, and of the
business which brought him thither, is the article to
which I mean to apply this observation. There are
three passages in the epistle which relate to this
subject. The first, chap. i. 7, " Even as it is meet
for me to think this of you all, because I have you in
my heart, inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the
defence and confirmation of the Gospel, ye all are
(TvyKOivMvoi aov rrj; x^-^^^^s, joint Contributors to the gift
which I have received *." Nothing more is said in
this place. In the latter part of the second chapter,
and at the distance of half the epistle from the last
quotation, the subject appears again ; " Yet I sup-
posed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my
brother and companion in labour, and fellow-soldier,
but your messenger, and he that ministered to my
wants : for he longed after you all, and was full of
heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had
been sick : for indeed he was sick nigh unto death ;
but God had mercy on him, and not on him only,
but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon
sorrow. I sent him therefore the more carefully,
that when ye see him again ye may rejoice, and
that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him
therefore in the Lord with all gladness ; and hold

* Pearce, I believe^ was the first commentator, who gave this
sense to the expression ; and I believe also, that his exposition
is now generally assented to. He interprets in the same sense
the phrase in the fifth verse, which our translation renders "your
fellowship in the Gospel 5" but which in the original is not y.01-
vwvia rov suayyeKiov , or KOtvuiuioc sv toj £va,yysXiM; but KOivuvia
si; TO suocyyaXiov.

HOR^ PAULINiE. 173

such in reputation : because for the work of Christ
he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life to
supply your lack of service toxvard me." Chap. ii.
2o — 30. The matter is here dropped, and no far-
ther mention made of it till it is taken up near the
conclusion of the epistle as follows : *' But I rejoice
in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care
of me hath flourished again, wherein ye were also
careful, but ye lacked opportunity. Not that I speak
in respect of want ; for I have learned, in whatsoever
state I am, therewith to be content. I know both
how to be abased, and I know how to abound ; every
where and in all things, I am instructed both to be
full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer
need. I can do all things through Christ which
strengtheneth me. Notwithstanding, ye have well
done that ye did communicate with my affliction.
Now, ye Philippians, know also, that in the be-
ginning of the Gospel, when I departed from Mace-
donia, no church communicated with me, as con-
cerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even
in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my ne-
cessity. Not because I desire a gift : but I desire
fruit that may abound to your acocunt. But I have
all, and abound : I am full, having received of Epa-
phroditus the things which were sent from you."
Chap. iv. 10 — 18. To the Philippian reader, who
knew that contributions were wont to be made in
that church for the apostle's subsistence and relief,
that the supply which they were accustomed to send to
him had been delayed by the want of opportunity,
that Epaphroditus had undertaken the charge of con-
veying their liberality to the hands of the apostle.

174 HOR/E PAUIJN/E.

that he had acquitted himself of this commission at
the peril of his life, by hastening to Rome under the
oppression of a grievous sickness ; to a reader who
knew all this beforehand, every line in the above
quotations would be plain and clear. But how is it
with a stranger ? The knowledge of these several
particulars is necessary to the perception and ex-
planation of the references 5 yet that knowledge must
be gathered from a comparison of passages lying at a
great distance from one another. Texts must be
interpreted by texts long subsequent to them, which
necessarily produces embarrassment and suspense.
The passage quoted from the beginning of the
epistle contains an acknowledgement, on the part of
the apostle, of the liberality which the Philippians
had exercised towards him ; but the allusion is so
general and indeterminate, that, had nothing more
been said in the sequel of the epistle, it would hardly
have been applied to this occasion at all. In the
second quotation, Epaphroditus is declared to have
"ministered to the apostle's wants," and "to have
supplied their lack of service towards him ;" but
Jioxv, that is, at whose expense, or from what fund
he " ministered," or what was " the lack of service"
which he supplied, are left very much unexplained,
till we arrive at the third quotation, where we find
that Epaphroditus "ministered to St. Paul';? wants,"
only by conveying to his hands the contributions of
the Philippians ; "I am full, having received of Epa-
phroditus the things which were sent from you :"
and that "the lack of service which he supplied" was
a delay or interruption of their accustomed bounty,
occasioned by the want of opportunity : "I rejoiced

HOR^ PAULINtE. 175

in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of
me hath flourished again ; wherein ye were also
careful, but ye lacked opportunity." The affair at
length comes out clear ; but it comes out by piece-
meal. The clearness is the result of the reciprocal
illustration of divided texts. Should any one choose
therefore to insinuate, that this whole story of Epa-
phroditus, or his journey, his errand, his sickness, or
even his existence, might, for what we know, have
no other foundation than in the invention of the
forger of the epistle ; I answer, that a forger would
have set forth his story connectedly, and also more
fully and more perspicuously. If the epistle be
authentic, and the transaction real, then every thing
which is said concerning Epaphroditus and his com-
mission, would be clear to those into whose hands
the epistle was expected to come. Considering the
Philippians as his readers, a person might naturally
write upon the subject, as the author of the epistle
has written ; but there is no supposition of forgery
with which it will suit.

No. II.

The history of Epaphroditus supplies another ob-
servation : " Indeed he was sick, nigh unto death ;
but God had mercy on him, and not on him only,
but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon
sorrow." In this passage, no intimation is given
that Epaphroditus's recovery was miraculous. It is
plainly, I think, spoken of as a natural event. This
instance, together with one in the Second Epistle
to Timothy (" Trophimus have I left at Miletum
sick"), affords a proof that the power of performing

176 HOU/E PAULIN/E.

cures, and, by parity of reason, of working other
miracles, was a power which only visited the apostles
occasionally, and did not at all depend upon their
own will. Paul undoubtedly would have healed Epa-
phroditus if he could. Nor, if the power of working
cures had awaited his disposal, would he have left his
fellow traveller at Miletum sick. This, I think, is a
fair observation upon the instances adduced ; but it
is. not the observation I am concerned to make. It
is more for the purpose of my argument to remark,
that forgery, upon such an occasion, would not have
spared a miracle ; much less would it have in-
troduced St. Paul professing the utmost anxiety for
the safety of his friend, yet acknowledging himself
unable to help him ; which he does, almost expressly,
in the case of Trophimus, for he "left him sick ;"
and virtually in the passage before us, in which he
felicitates himself upon the recovery of Epaphroditus,
in terms which almost exclude the supposition of any
supernatural means being employed to effect it.
This is a reserve which nothing but truth would
have imposed.

No. III.

Chap. iv. 1.5, 16. " Now, ye Philippians, know
also, that in the beginning of the Gospel, when I
departed from Macedonia, no church communicated
with me, as concerning giving and receiving, but ye
only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and
again unto my necessity."

It will be necessary to state the Greek of this
passage, because our translation does not, I think,
give the sense of it accurately.

IIOll^ PAULINA. 177

0(^ar£ §E >ixi viMci;, ^iXiirTfrjo-fJi, on sv ocp^-n tou suxyyaXiov, its
i^rjX^ov ait'j MxKsSoviac, ovhixta. jj.oi skkXyj^ix BKOivujvri<T£v, Big Ko-
yov SoTEwg x,xi Xfj^icu;, si (xij v^jisis [j^ovor on y.ai ev @s(r<rx?.oyi}iv
Koci dira^ xai Jij sig trjv ^psixv /xo< sTrB[M'^xrs.

The reader will please to direct his attention to
the corresponding particulars on and on kxi, which
connect the words sv a^^r, rov svxyysXiov, ot£ B^rjXdov airo
ManeSoviag, with the words sv Qsa-G-ocXoyiKT, and denote,
as I interpret the passage, two distinct donations or
rather donations at two distinct periods, one at Thes-
salonica, difa^ y.xi Si;, the other after his departure
from Macedonia, 6rs e^>jx5ov airo MaxeSovia; *. I would
render the passage so as to mark these different
periods, thus : " Now, ye Philippians, know also,
that in the beginning of the Gospel, when I was
departed from Macedonia, no church communicated
with me, as concerning giving and receiving, but ye
only. And that also in Thessalonica ye sent once
and again unto my necessity." Now with this ex-
position of the passage compare 2 Cor. chap. xi. 8,
9 : "I robbed other churches, taking wages of them
to do you service. And when I was present with
you and wanted, I was chargeable to no man ; for
that which was lacking to me, the brethren which
came from Macedonia supplied."

* Luke, ch. ii. 15. Kai sysvsTO, ws airr^kSov ocn avrcuv sis '^ov
ovpavov ol a.yy£k<ji, " as the angels were gone away/' i. e. after
their departure, ol iroty.svsi siitov ir^og a\XijXouf Matt. ch. xii.
43. 'Otav Ss TO aaccSa^rov ttvsv^a s^sK'^t^octtq rou ocy^pajirov, " when
the unclean spirit is gone," i. e. qfler his departure, Sisp^stai.
Joiin, ch. xiii. 30, "Ore i^ijA^s {lovSx;) "' when he was gone," i. e.
after Lis departure, Xsysi Ir^a-ovg. Acts, ch. x. 7 , wg Ss aitr^A^Ev o
ayysKog o XolX'mv toj KopijXitu, " and when the angel which spake
unto him was departed," i. e. after his departure, (pM-yr^txag S'jo

ru!V OIKST'JOV , &c.

VOL. III. N

178 HOR/E PAULINA.

It appears from St. Paul's history, as related in
the Acts of the Apostles, that upon leaving Mace-
donia he passed, after a very short stay at Athens,
into Achaia. It appears, secondly, from the quota-
tion out of the Epistle to the Corinthians, that in
Achaia he accepted no pecuniary assistance from
the converts of that country ; but that he drew a
supply for his wants from the Macedonian Christians.
Agreeably whereunto it appears, in the third place,
from the text which is the subject of the present
number, that the brethren in Philippi, a city of
Macedonia, had followed him with their munificence,
org s^YjXkv arfo Mav-ehvia.;, when he was departed from
Macedonia, that is, when he was come into Achaia.

The passage under consideration affords another
circumstance of agreement deserving of our notice.
The gift alluded to in the Epistle to the Philippians
is stated to have been made ** in the beginning of the
Gospel." This phrase is most naturally explained
to signify the first preaching of the Gospel in these
parts ; viz. on that side of the ^gean sea. The
succours referred to in the Epistle to the Corinth-
ians, as received from Macedonia, are stated to have
been received by him upon his first visit to the
penmsula of Greece. The dates therefore assigned
to the donation in the two epistles agree j yet is the
date in one ascertained very incidentally, namely, by
the considerations which fix the date of the epistle
itself; and in the other, by an expression (*' the
beginning of the Gospel'*) much too general to have
been used if the text had been penned with any view
to the correspondency we are remarking.

Farther, the phrase, " in the beginiung of the

HOII.E TAULIXyE, 179

Gospel," raises an idea in the reader's mind that the
Gospel had been preached there more than once.
The writer would hardly have called the visit to
which he refers the " beginning of the Gospel," if
he had not also visited them in some other stage of
it. The fiict corresponds with this idea. If we
consult the sixteenth and twentieth chapters of the
Acts, we shall find, that St. Paul, before his im-
prisonment at Rome, during which this epistle pur-
ports to have been written, had been twice in Mace-
donia, and each time at Philippi.

No. IV.

That Timothy had been long with St. Paul at
Philippi is a fact which seems to be implied in this
epistle twice. First, he joins in the salutation with
which the epistle opens : " Paul and Timotheus, the
servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ
Jesus which are at Philippi." Secondly, and more
directly, the point is inferred from what is said
concerning him, chap. ii. 19 '• ** But I trust in the
Lord Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you, that
I also may be of good comfort when I know your
state ; for I have no man like minded, who will
naturally care for your state ; for all seek their own,
not the things which are Jesus Christ's ; but ije
Timow the proof of him, that as a son with the father,
he hath served with me in the Gospel." Had
Timothy's presence with St. Paul at Philippi, when
he preached the Gospel there, been expressly re-
marked in the Acts of the Apostles, this quotation
might be thought to contain a contrived adaptation
to the history ; although, even in that case, the aver-

N 2

180 HOR^ PAULINyE.

ment, or rather the allusion in the epistle, is too
oblique to afford much room for such suspicion. But
the truth is, that in the history of St. Paul's transac-
tions at Philippi, which occupies the greatest part of
the sixteenth chapter of the Acts, no mention is
made of Timothy at all. What appears concerning
Timothy in the history, so far as relates to the present
subject, is this : " When Paul came to Derbe and
Lystra, behold a certain disciple was there named
Timotheus, whom Paul would have to go forth with
him.'* The narrative then proceeds with the ac-
count of St. Paul's progress through various pro-
vinces of the Lesser Asia, till it brings him down to
Troas. At Troas he was warned in a vision to pass
over into Macedonia. In obedience to which he
crossed the ^gean sea to Samothracia, the next day
to Neapolis, and from thence to Philippi. His
preaching, miracles, and persecutions at Philippi, fol-
low next : after which Paul and his company, when
they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia,
came to Thessalonica, and from Thessalonica to
Berea. From Berea the brethren sent away Paul ;
" but Silas and Timotheus abode there still." The
itinerary, of which the above is an abstract, is un-
doubtedly sufficient to support an inference that
Timothy was along with St. Paul at Philippi. We
find them setting out together upon this progress
from Derbe, in Lycaonia ; we find them together
near the conclusion of it, at Berea in Macedonia.
It is highly probable, therefore, that they came
together to Philippi, through which their route be-
tween these two places lay. If this be thought pro-
bable, it is sufficient. For what I wish to be observed

HOKiE PAULINiE. 181

is, that in comparing, upon this subject, the epistle
with the history, we do not find a recital in one place
of what is related in another ; but that we find, what
is much more to be relied upon, an oblique allusion
to an implied fact.

No. V.

Our epistle purports to have been written near the
conclusion of St. Paul's imprisonment at Rome, and
after a residence in that city of considerable dura-
tion. These circumstances are made out by different
intimations, and the intimations upon the subject
preserve among themselves a just consistency, and a
consistency certainly unmeditated. First, the apostle
had already been a prisoner at Rome so long, as that
the reputation of his bonds, and of his constancy
under them, had contributed to advance the success
of the Gospel : *' But I would ye should understand,
brethren, that the things which happened unto me
have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the
Gospel ; so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in
all the palace, and in all other places ; and many of
the brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my
bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without
fear." Secondly, the account given of Epaphroditus
imports, that St. Paul, when he wrote the epistle,
had been in Rome a considerable time : " He longed
after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that
ye had heard that he had been sick." Epaphroditus
was with St. Paul at Rome. He had been sick.
The Philippians had heard of his sickness, and he
again had received an account how much they had
been affected by the intelligence. The passing and

182 HOR/E PAULINA.

repassing of these advices must necessarily have oc-
cupied a large portion of time, and must have all
taken place during St. Paul's residence at Rome.
Thirdly, after a residence at Rome thus proved to
have been of considerable duration, he now regards
the decision of his flite as nigh at hand. He con-
templates either alternative, that of his deliverance,
ch. ii. 23, " Him therefore (Timothy) I hope to
send preseiitli/, so soon as I shall see how it will go
with me ; but I trust in the Lord that I also myself
shall come shortly :" that of his condemnation, ver.
17, *' Yea, and if I be offered * upon the sacrifice
and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you
all." This consistency is material, if the considera-
tion of it be confined to the epistle. It is farther
material, as it agrees with respect to the duration of
St. Paul's first imprisonment at Rome, with the ac-
count delivered in the Acts, which, having brought
the apostle to Rome, closes the history by telling us
" that he dwelt there two zvhole years in his own
hired house."

No. VI.

Chap. i. 23. *' For I am in a strait betwixt two
having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ ;
which is far better."

With this compare 2 Cor. chap. v. 8 : " We are
confident and willing rather to be absent from the
body, and to be present with the Lord."

The sameness of sentiment in these two quota-
tions is obvious. I rely however not so much upon

* AAA' £1 Kcn (rTf£ySoy.ai ein tri Puerto. Ttj^ Ttio-Tsuog v[ji,uiv, if my
blood be poured out as a libation upon the sacrifice of your faith.

HOR.E PAULIN.E. 183

that, as upon the similitude in the train of thought
which in each epistle leads up to this sentiment, and
upon the suitableness of that train of thought to the
circumstances under which the epistles purport to
have been written. This, I conceive, bespeaks the
production of the same mind, and of a mind operating
upon real circumstances. The sentiment is in both
places preceded by the contemplation of imminent
personal danger. To the Philippians he writes, in
the twentieth verse of this chapter, " According to
my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing
I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as
always, so now also, Christ shall be magnified in my
body, whether it be by life or by death." To the
Corinthians, *' Troubled on every side, yet not dis-
tressed ; perplexed, but not in despair ; persecuted,
but not forsaken ; cast down, but not destroyed ;
always bearing about in the body the dying of the
Lord Jesus." This train of reflection is continued
to the place from whence the words which we com-
pare are taken. The two epistles, though written at
different times, from different places, and to different
churches, were both written under circumstances
which would naturally recall to the author's mind
the precarious condition of his life, and the perils
which constantly awaited him. When the Epistle to
the Philippians was written, the author was a pri-
soner at Rome, expecting his trial. When the
Second Epistle to the Corinthians was written, he
had lately escaped a danger in which he had given
himself over for lost. The epistle opens with a
recollection of this subject, and the impression ac-
companied the writer's thoughts throughout.

184 HCai/E PAULINiE.

I know that nothing is easier than to transplant
into a forged epistle a sentiment or expression which
is found in a true one ; or, supposing both epistles
to be forged by the same hand, to insert the same
sentiment or expression in both. But the difficulty
is to introduce it in just and close connexion with
a train of thought going before, and with a train of
thought apparently generated by the circumstances
under which the epistle is written. In two epistles,
purporting to be written on different occasions, and
in different periods of the author's history, this pro-
priety would not easily be managed.

No. VII.

Chap. i. ^9, 30; ii. 1, 2. "For unto you is
given, in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on
him, but also to suffer for his sake ; having the same
conflict which ye saxv in me, and now hear to be
in nie. If there be, therefore, any consolation in
Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of
the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies ; fulfil ye my
joy, that ye be like minded, having the same love,
being of one accord, of one mind."

With this compare Acts, xvi. ^22 : " And the
multitude (at Philippi) rose up against them (Paul
and 8ilas) ; and the magistrates rent off their clothes,
and commanded to beat them ; and when they had
laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into
prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely : who,
having received such a charge, thrust them into the
inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks."

The passage in the epistle is very remarkable. I
know not an example in any writing of a juster

HORyE PAULIN/E. 185

pathos, or which more truly represents the workings
of a warm and affectionate mind, than what is ex-
hibited in the quotation before us *. The apostle
reminds his Philippians of their being joined with
himself in the endurance of persecution for the sake
of Christ. He conjures them by the ties of their
common profession and their common sufferings, to
" fulfil his joy ;" to complete, by the unity of their
faith, and by their mutual love, that joy with which
the instances he had received of their zeal and attach-
ment had inspired his breast. Now if this was the
real effusion of St. Paul's mind, of which it bears the
strongest internal character, then we have in the
words " the same conflict which ye saw in me," an
authentic confirmation of so much of the apostle's
history in the Acts, as relates to his transactions at
Philippi ; and, through that, of the intelligence and
general fidelity of the historian.

CHAPTER Vni.

THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS.

No. I.

There is a circumstance of conformity between
St. Paul's history and his letters, especially those
which were written duri;ig his first imprisonment at

* The original is very spirited : Ei rt; ouv ■rra^aK\rj(ng sv Xf /cttcw,
£t Tj 7ra(.a/xu9jov ayarij;, si ri5 xoiyxvia irvsvixocros, si nva (nrXa.y-
yjva. KXi orKriP(ioi, irXrjccca-ars /xov ttjv %afay.

186 HORiE PAULINiE.

Rome, and more especially the epistles to the Colos-
sians and Ephesians, which being too close to be
accounted for from accident, yet too indirect and
latent to be imputed to design, cannot easily be
resolved into any other original than truth. Which
circumstance is this, that St. Paul in these epistles
attributes his imprisonment not to his preaching of
Christianity, but to his asserting the right of the
Gentiles to be admitted into it without conforming
themselves to the Jewish law. This was the doctrine
to which he considered himself as a martyr. Thus,
in the epistle before us, chap. i. 24. (I Paul) " who
now rejoice in my sufferings for you" — ^^for yoiiy^'
i. e. for those whom he had never seen ; for a few
verses afterwards he adds, " I would that ye knew
what great conflict I have for you and for them in
Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face
in the flesh." His suffering therefore for them was,
in their general capacity of Gentile Christians, agree-
ably to what he explicitly declares in his Epistle to
the Ephesians, iv. 1 : " For this cause, I Paul, the
prisoner of Jesus Qhrhi^ for you Gentiles.^* Again in
the epistle now under consideration, iv. 3 : " Withal
praying also for us, that God would open unto us a
door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, for
which I am also in bonds." Wliat that "mystery of
Christ" was, the Epistle to the Ephesians distinctly
informs us : " Whereby when ye read ye may under-
stand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which,
in other ages, was not made known unto the sons of
men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and
prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be
Jel low-heirs, and of the some body, and partakers of

UOll.E PAULlN-^i:. 187

his 2)romise in Christ by the Gospel.''* This, there-
fore, was the coivfession for which he declares himself
to be in bonds. Now let us inquire how the occasion
of St. Paul's imprisonment is represented in the
history. The apostle had not long returned to
Jerusalem from his second visit into Greece, when
an uproar was excited in that city by the clamour of
certain Asiatic Jews, who, " having seen Paul in the
temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on
him." The charge advanced against him was, that
"he taught all men every where against the people,
and the law, and this place ; and farther brought
Greeks also into the temple, and polluted that holy
place." The former part of the charge seems to
point at the doctrine, which he maintained, of the
admission of the Gentiles, under the new dispensa-
tion, to an indiscriminate participation of God's
flivour with the Jews. But w^hat follows makes the
matter clear. When, by the interference of the
chief captain, Paul had been rescued out of the hands
of the populace, and was permitted to address the
multitude who had followed him to the stairs of the
castle, he delivered a brief account of his birth, of
the early course of his life, of his miraculous conver-
sion 5 and is proceeding in this narrative, until he
comes to describe a vision which was presented to
him, as he was praying in the temple ; and which
bid him depart out of Jerusalem^ *' for I will send
thee far hence unto jie Gentiles.*' Acts, xxii. 21.
" They gave him audience," says the historian,
*' unto this Xi'ord ; and then lift up their voices, and
said, Away with such a fellow from the earth !"
Nothing can show more strongly than this account

188 HORyE PAULINii:.

does, what was the offence which drew down upon
St. Paul the vengeance of his countrymen. His
mission to the Gentiles, and his open avowal of that
mission, was the intolerable part of the apostle's
crime. But although the real motive of the pro-
secution appears to have been the apostle's conduct
towards the Gentiles ; yet, when his accusers came
before a Roman magistrate, a charge was to be
framed of a more legal form. The profanation of
the temple was the article they chose to rely upon.
This, therefore, became the immediate subject of
Tertullus's oration before Felix, and of Paul's de-
fence. But that he all along considered his ministry
amongst the Gentiles as the actual source of the
enmity that had been exercised against him, and in
particular as the cause of the insurrection in which
his person had been seized, is apparent from the
conclusion of his discourse before Agrippa ; " I have
appeared unto thee," says he, describing what passed
upon his journey to Damascus, " for this purpose, to
make thee a minister and a witness, both of these
things which thou hast seen, and of those things in
the which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee
from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom
now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn
them from darkness to light, and from the power of
Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness
of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanc-
tified by faith that is in me. Whereupon, O king
Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly
vision ; but showed first unto them of Damascus,
and of Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of
Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should

HOnm PAULIN-E. 189

repent and turn to God, and do works meet for
repentance. For these causes the Jews caught me
in the temple, and went about to kill me." The
seizing, therefore, of St. Paul's person, from which
he was never discharged till his final liberation at
Rome ; and of which, therefore, his imprisonment
at Rome was the continuation and effect, was not in
consequence of any general persecution set on foot
against Christianity ; nor did it befall him simply as
professing or teaching Christ's religion, which Jamt3S
and the elders at Jerusulem did as well as he (and
yet, for any thing that appears, remained at that
time unmolested) ; but it was distinctly and specifi-
cally brought upon him by his activity in preaching
to the Gentiles, and by his placing them upon a
level with the once-favoured and still self-flattered
posterity of Abraham. How well St. Paul's letters,
purporting to be written during this imprisonment,
agree with this account of its cause and origin, we
have already seen.

No. II.

Chap. iv. 10. " Aristarchus my fellow prisoner
saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas,
(touching whom ye received commandments : If he
come unto you, receive him) ; and Jesus, which is
called Justus, who are of the circumcision."

We find Aristarchus as a companion of our apostle
in the nineteenth chapter of the Acts, and the
twenty-ninth verse : " And the whole city of Ephesus
was filled with confusion ; and having caught Gains
and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's com-
panions in travel^ they rushed with one accord into

190 HOR^ PAULIN;^:.

the theatre." And we find him upon his journey
with St. Paul to Rome, in the twenty-seventh chapter,
and the second verse : *' And when it was determined
that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul
and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius,
a centurion of Augustus's band : and, entering into
a ship of Adramyttium, we launched, meaning to
sail by the coast of Asia j one Aristarclius, a Mace-
donian ofThessalonica, being with vs.** But might
not the author of the epistle have consulted the hi-
story ; and, observing that the historian had brought
Aristarchus along with Paul to Rome, might he not
for that reason, and without any other foundation,
have put down his name amongst the salutations of
an epistle purporting to be written by the apostle
from that place ? I allow so much of possibility to
this objection, that I should not have proposed this
in the number of coincidences clearly undesigned,
had Aristarchus stood alone. The observation that
strikes me in reading the passage is, that together
with Aristarchus, whose journey to Rome we trace
in the history, are joined Marcus and Justus, of
whose coming to Rome the history says nothing.
Aristarchus alone appears in the history, and Ari-
starchus alone would have appeared in the epistle, if
the author had regulated himself by that conformity.
Or if you take it the other way ; if you suppose the
history to have been made out of the epistle, why the
journey of Aristarchus to Rome should be recorded,
and not that of Marcus and Justus, if the ground-
work of the narrative was the appearance of Ari-
starchus's name in the epistle, seems to be unac-
countable.

uonm PAULINA. Ill

"Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas." Does not
this liint account for Barnabas's adherence to Mark
in the contest that arose with our apostle concerning
him ? " And some days after, Paul said unto Bar-
nabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in
every city where we have preached the word of the
Lord, and see how they do ; and Barnabas deter-
mined to take with them John, whose surname was
Mark ; but Paul thought not good to take him with
them, who departed from Pamphylia, and went not
with them to the work ; and the contention was so
sharp between them, that they departed asunder one
from the other : and so Barnabas took Mark and
sailed unto Cyprus." The history which records the
dispute has not preserved the circumstance of Mark's
relationship to Barnabas. It is nowhere noticed but
in the text before us. As far, therefore, as it applies,
the application is certainly undesigned.

" Sister's son to Barnabas." This woman, the
mother of Mark, and the sister of Barnabas, was,
as might be expected, a person of some eminence
amongst the Christians of Jerusalem. It so happens
that we hear of her in the history. " When Peter
was delivered from prison, he came to the house of
Mary the mother of John, whose surname was
Mark, where many were gathered together praying."
Acts, xii. 12. There is somewhat of coincidence in
this ; somewhat bespeaking real transactions amongst
real persons.

No. III.

The following coincidence, though it bear the
appearance of great nicety and refinement, ought

192 HOR^ PAULIN/E.

not, perhaps, to be deemed imaginary. In the sa-
lutations with which this, like most of St. Paul's
epistles, concludes, " we have Aristarchus and Mar-
cus, and Jesus, which is called Justus, wlio are of
the circumcision,** iv. 10, 11. Then follow also,
*' Epaphras, Luke the beloved physician, and De-
mas.'* Now, as this description, " who are of the
circumcision," is added after the first three names, it
is inferred, not without great appearance of probabi-
lity, that the rest, amongst whom is Luke, were not
of the circumcision. Now can we discover any ex-
pression in the Acts of the Apostles, which ascertains
whether the author of the book was a Jew or not ?
If we can discover that he was not a Jew, we fix a
circumstance in his character, which coincides with
what is here, indirectly indeed, but not very uncer-
tainly, intimated concerning Luke : and we so far
confirm both the testimony of the primitive church,
that the Acts of the Apostles was written by St,
Luke, and the general reality of the persons and
circumstances brought together in this epistle. The
text in the Acts, which has been construed to show
that the writer was not a Jew, is the nineteenth verse
of the first chapter, where, in describing the field
which had been purchased with the reward of Judas's
iniquity, it is said, " that it was known unto all the
dwellers at Jerusalem ; insomuch as that field is
called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to
say, The field of blood." These words are by most
commentators taken to be the words and observation
of the historian, and not a part of St. Peter's speech,
in the midst of which they are found, li this be
admitted, then it is argued that the expression, " in

HOR^ PAUIJNyE. 193

their proper tongue,'* would not have been used
by a Jew, but is suitable to the pen of a Gentile
writing concerning Jews *. The reader will judge
of the probability of this conclusion, and we urge the
coincidence no farther than that probability extends.
The coincidence, if it be one, is so remote from all
possibility of design, that nothing need be added to
satisfy the reader upon that part of the argument.

No. IV.

Chap. iv. 9. " With Onesimus, a faithful and
beloved brother, who is one ofyou.**

Observe how it may be made out that Onesimus
was a Colossian* Turn to the Epistle to Philemon,
and you will find that Onesimus was the servant or
slave of Philemon. The question therefore will be,
to what city Philemon belonged ? In the epistle
addressed to him this is not declared. It appears
only that he was of the same place, whatever that
place was, with an eminent Christian named Ar-
chippus. '* Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ and
Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly
beloved and fellow-labourer ; and to our beloved
Apphia, and Archippus our fellow soldier, and to
the church in thy house.** Now turn back to the
Epistle to the Colossians, and you will find Ar-
chippus saluted by name amongst the Christians of
that church. " Say to Archippus, Take heed to the
ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that
thou fulfil it,** (iv. 170 The necessary result is,

•Vide Benson's Dissertation, vol. i. p. 318, of his Works, ed.
1756.

VOL. III. O

194 HORiE PAULIN/E.

that Onesimus also was of the same city, agreeably
to what is said of him, *' he is one of you.'* And
this result is the eflPect either of truth, which pro-
duces consistency without the writer's thought or
care, or of a contexture of forgeries confirming and
falling in with one another by a species of fortuity
of which I know no example. The supposition of
design, I think, is excluded, not only because the
purpose to which the design must have been directed,
viz. the verification of the passage in our epistle, in
which it is said concerning Onesimus, " he is one of
you," is a purpose, which would be lost upon ninety-
nine readers out of a hundred ; but because the
means made use of are too circuitous to have been
the subject of affectation and contrivance. Would a
forger, who had this purpose in view, have left his
readers to hunt it out, by going forward and back-
ward from one epistle to another, in order to connect
Onesimus with Philemon, Philemon with Archippus,
and Archippus with Colosse ? all which he must do
before he arrives at his discovery, that it was truly
said of Onesimus, " he is one of you."

CHAPTER IX.

THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS.

No. I.

It is known to every reader of Scripture that the
First Epistle to the Thessalonians speaks of the

HORyE PAULINA. 195

coming of Christ in terms which indicate an ex-
pectation of his speedy appearance : " For this we
say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we
which are aHve and remain unto the coming of the
Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For
the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the
trump of God ; and the dead in Christ shall rise
first : then we which are alive and remain., shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds — But ye,
brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should
overtake you as a thief." (Chap. iv. J 5, 16, I7.
ch. V. 4.)

Wliatever other construction these texts may hear^
the idea they leave upon the mind of an ordinary
reader, is that of the author of the epistle looking for
the day of judgment to take place in his own time,
or near to it. Now the use which I make of this
circumstance, is to deduce from it a proof that the
epistle itself was not the production of a subsequent
age. Would an impostor have given this expectation
to St. Paul, after experience had proved it to be
erroneous ? or would he have put into the apostle's
mouth, or, which is the same thing, into writings
purporting to come from his hand, expressions, if not
necessarily conveying, at least easily interpreted to
convey, an opinion which was then known to be
founded in mistake ? I state this as an argument to
show that the epistle was contemporary with St.
Paul, which is little less than to show that it actually
proceeded from his pen. For I question whether
any ancient forgeries were executed in the life-time
of the person whose name they bear ; nor was the

o 2

196 HOR^ PAULINyE.

primitive situation of the church likely to give birth
to such an attempt.

No. II.

Our epistle concludes with a direction that it
sliould be publicly read in the church to which it
was addressed : "I charge you by the Lord that
this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren.*'
The existence of this clause in the body of the
epistle is an evidence of its authenticity ; because to
produce a letter purporting to have been publicly
read in the church of Thessalonica, when no such
letter in truth had been read or heard of in that
church, would be to produce an imposture destruc-
tive of itself. At least, it seems unlikely that the
author of an imposture would voluntarily and even
officiously, afford a handle to so plain an objection. —
Either the epistle was publicly read in the church of
Thessalonica during St. Paul's life-time, or it was
not. If it was, no publication could be more au-
thentic, no species of notoriety more unquestionable,
no method of preserving the integrity of the copy
more secure. If it was not, the clause we produce
would remain a standing condemnation of the forgery,
and one would suppose, an invincible impediment to
its success.

If we connect this article with the preceding, we
shall perceive that they combine into one strong
proof of the genuineness of the epistle. The pre-
ceding article carries up the date of the epistle to the
time of St. Paul ; the present article fixes the pub-
lication of it to the church of Thessalonica. Either
therefore the church of Thessalonica was imposed

HORyE PAULIN/E. 1D7

upon by a false epistle, which in. St. Paulas life-time
they received and read publicly as his, carrying on
a communication with him all the while, and the
epistle referring to the continuance of that com-
munication ; or other Christian churches, in the
same life-time of the apostle, received an epistle pur-
porting to have been publicly read in the church of
Thessalonica, which nevertheless had not been heard
of in that church ; or, lastly, the conclusion remains,
that the epistle now in our hands is genuine.

No. III.

Between our epistle and the history the accordancy
in many points is circumstantial and complete. The
history relates, that, after Paul and Silas had been
beaten with many stripes at Philippi, shut up in the
inner prison, and their feet made fast in the stocks,
as soon as they were discharged from their confine-
ment they departed from thence, and, when they had
passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, came to
Thessalonica, where Paul opened and alleged that
Jesus was the Christ ; Acts, xvi. 23, &c. The epistle
written in the name of Paul and Sylvanus (Silas),
and of Timotheus, who also appears to have been
along with them at Philippi (vide Phil. No. IV.)
speaks to the church of Thessalonica thus : *' Even
after that we had suffered before, and were shame-
fully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were
bold in our God to speak unto you the Gospel of
God with much contention." (ii. 2.)

The history relates, that after they had been some
time at Thessalonica, " the Jews who believed not,
set all the city in an uproar, and assaulted the house

198 HOR^ PAULIN712.

of Jason where Paul and Silas were, and sought to
bring them out to the people." Acts, xvii. 5. The
epistle declares, " when we were with you, we told
you before that we should suffer tribulation ; even as
it came to pass^ and ye Imow.'* (iii. 4.)

The history brings Paul and Silas and Timothy
together at Corinth, soon after the preaching of the
Gospel at Thessalonica : — " And when Silas and
Timotheus were come from Macedonia (to Corinth),
Paul was pressed in spirit." Acts, xviii. 5. The
epistle is written in the name of these three persons,
who consequently must have been together at the
time, and speaks throughout of their ministry at
Thessalonica as a recent transaction : " We, brethren,
hehig taken from you for a short timet in presence,
not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to
see your face, with great desire." (ii. I?-)

The harmony is indubitable j but the points of
history in which it consists, are so expressly set forth
in the narrative, and so directly referred to in the
epistle, that it becomes necessary for us to show that
the facts in one writing were not copied from the
other. Now amidst some minuter discrepancies,
which will be noticed below, there is one circum-
stance which mixes itself with all the allusions in the
epistle, but does not appear in the history any where ;
and that is of a visit which St. Paul had intended to
pay to the Thessalonians during the time of his
residing at Corinth : " Wherefore we would have
come unto you (even I Paul) once and again ; but
Satan hindered us." (ii. 18.) " Night and day
praying exceedingly that we might see your face,
and might perfect that which is lacking in your fiiith.

HOll^ PAULINTK. 190

Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord
Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you.'* (iii. 10, 11.)
Concerning a design which was not executed, al-
though the person himself, who was conscious of his
own purpose, should make mention in his letters,
nothing is more probable than that his historian
should be silent, if not ignorant. The author of the
epistle could not, however, have learnt this circum-
stance from the history, for it is not there to be met
with ; nor, if the historian had drawn his materials
from the epistle, is it likely that he would have
passed over a circumstance, which is amongst the
most obvious and prominent of the facts to be col-
lected from that source of information.

No. IV.

Chap. iii. 1 — 1 . " Wherefore when we could
no longer forbear, we thought it good to he left at
Athens alone, and sent Timotheus, our brother and
minister of God, to establish you, and to comfort
you concerning your faith ; — but now when Timo-
theus came from you unto us, and brought us good
tidings of your fliith and charity, we were comforted
over you in all our affliction and distress by your
faith."

The history relates, that when Paul came out
of Macedonia to Athens, Silas and Timothy staid
behind at Berea : " The brethren sent away Paul to
o-o as it were to the sea ; but Silas and Timotheus
abode there still ; and they that conducted Paul
brought him to Athens." Acts, ch. xvii. 14, 15.
The history farther relates, that after Paul had
tarried some time at Athens, and had proceeded

200 HOR^ PAULIN/E.

from thence to Corinth, whilst he was exercising his
ministry in that city, Silas and Timothy came to him
from Macedonia. Acts, ch. xviii. 5. But to recon-
cile the history with the clause in the- epistle, which,
makes St. Paul say, *' I thought it good to be left at
Athens alone, and to send Timothy unto you," it is
necessary to suppose that Timothy had come up with
St. Paul at Athens : a circumstance which the hi-
story does not mention. I remark therefore, that,
although the history does not expressly notice this
arrival, yet it contains intimations which render it
extremely probable that the fact took place. First,
as soon as Paul had reached Athens, he sent a mes-
sage back to Silas and Timothy, " for to come to
him with all speed." Acts, ch. xvii. 15. Secondly,
his stay at Athens was on purpose that they might
join him there : *' Now whilst Paul xvaited for them
at Athe?iSy his spirit was stirred in him." Acts,
ch. xvii. 16. Thirdly, his departure from Athens
does not appear to have been in any sort hastened or
abrupt. It is said, '* after these things," viz. his
disputation with the Jews, his conferences with the
philosophers, his discourse at Areopagus, and the
gaining of some converts, " he departed from Athens
and came to Corinth." It is not hinted that he
quitted Athens before the time that he had intended
to leave it ; it is not suggested that he was driven
from thence, as he was from many cities, by tumults
or persecutions, or because his life was no longer safe.
Observe then the particulars which the histoiy does
notice — that Paul had ordered Timothy to follow
him without delay, that he waited at Athens on
purpose that Timothy might come up with him, thai

HOR^ PAULINA. 201

he staid there as long as his own choice led him to
continue. Laying these circumstances which the
history does disclose together, it is highly probable
that Timothy came to the apostle at Athens : a fact
which the epistle, we have seen, virtually asserts
when it makes Paul send Timothy back from Athens
to Thessalonica. The sending back of Timothy
into Macedonia accounts also for his not coming to
Corinth till after Paul had been fixed in that city for
some considerable time. Paul had found out Aquila
and Priscilla, abode with them and wrought, being of
the same craft j and reasoned in the synagogue every
sabbath day, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.
Acts, ch. xviii. 1 — 5. All this passed at Corinth
before Silas and Timotheus were come from Mace-
donia. Acts, ch. xviii. 5. If this was the first time
of their coming up with him after their separation at
Berea, there is nothing to account for a delay so con-
trary to what appears from the history itself to have
been St. Paul's plan and expectation. This is a
conformity of a peculiar species. The epistle dis-
closes a fact which is not preserved in the history ;
but which makes what is said in the history more
significant, probable, and consistent. The history
bears marks of an omission ; the epistle by refer-
ence furnishes a circumstance which supplies that
omission.

No. V.

Chap. ii. 14. " For ye, brethren, became fol-
lowers of the churches of God which in Judea are in
Christ Jesus j for ye also have suffered like things

202 HOR^ PAULIN.^.

of your owji countrymen^ even as they have of the
Jews."

To a reader of the Acts of the Apostles, it might
seem, at first sight, that the persecutions which the
preachers and converts of Christianity underwent,
were suffered at the hands of their old adversaries
the Jews. But if we attend carefully to the accounts
there delivered, we shall observe, that, though the
opposition made to the Gospel usually originated
from the enmity of the Jews, yet in almost all places
the Jews went about to accomplish their purpose, by
stirring up the Gentile inhabitants against their con-
verted countrymen. Out of Judea they had not
power to do much mischief in any other way. This
was the case at Thessalonica in particular : " The
Jews which believed not, moved with envy, set all the
city in an uproar.*' Acts, ch. xvii. ver. 5. It was
the same a short time afterwards at Berea : *' When
the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the
word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they
came thither also, and stirred up the people." Acts,
ch. xvii. 13. . And before this our apostle had met
with a like species of persecution, in his progress
through the Lesser Asia : in every city " the un-
believing Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made
their minds evil-affected against the brethren." Acts,
ch. xiv. 2. The epistle therefore represents the case
accurately as the history states it. It was the Jews
always who set on foot the persecutions against the
apostles and their follow^ers. He speaks truly there-
fore of them, when he says in this epistle, " they
both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets,
and have persecuted us — forbidding us to speak unto

HOR/E PAULINA. 203

the Gentiles." (ii. 15, 16.) But out of Judea it was
at the hands of the Gentiles, it was " of their own
countrymen," that the injuries they underwent were
immediately sustained : " Ye have suffered like things
of your own countrymen, even as they have of the
Jews."

No. VI.

The apparent discrepancies between our epistle
and the history, though of magnitude sufficient to
repel the imputation of confederacy or transcription
(in which view they form a part of our argument),
are neither numerous, nor very difficult to reconcile.

One of these may be observed in the ninth and
tenth verses of the second chapter: " For ye remem-
ber, brethren, our labour and travel ; for labouring
night and day, because we would not be chargeable
unto any of you, we preached unto you the Gospel
of God. Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily,
and justly, and unblameably we behaved ourselves
among you that believed* A person who reads this
passage is naturally led by it to suppose, that the
writer had dwelt at Thessalonica for some considera-
ble time ; yet of St. Paul's ministry in that city, the
history gives no other account than the following :
that " he came to Thessalonica, where was a syna-
gogue of the Jews : that, as his manner was, he went
in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with
them out of the Scriptures : that some of them be-
lieved, and consorted with Paul and Silas." The
history then proceeds to tell «s, that the Jews which
believed not, set the city in an uproar, and assaulted
the house of Jason, where Paul and his companions

204 HORiE PAULINiE.

lodged ; that the consequence of this outrage was,
that " the brethren immediately sent away Paul and
Silas by night unto Berea/* Acts, ch. xvii. 1 — 10.
From the mention of his preaching three sabbath
days in the Jewish synagogue, and from the want of
any farther specification of his ministry, it has usually
been taken for granted that Paul did not continue at
Thessalonica more than three weeks. This, how-
ever, is inferred without necessity. It appears to
have been St. Paul's practice, in almost every place
that he came to, upon his first arrival to repair to the
synagogue. He thought himself bound to propose
the Gospel to the Jews first, agreeably to what he
declared at Antioch in Pisidia ; *' it was necessary
that the word of God should first have been spoken to
you.** Acts, ch. xiii. 46. If the Jews rejected his
ministry, he quitted the synagogue, and betook him-
self to a Gentile audience. At Corinth, upon his
first coming there, he reasoned in the synagogue
every sabbath ; " but when the Jews opposed them-
selves, and blasphemed, he departed thence,'* ex-
pressly telling them, ** From henceforth I will go
unto the Gentiles ; and he remained in that city a
year and six months.*' Acts, ch. xviii. 6 — 11. At
Ephesus, in like manner, for the space of three months
he went into the synagogue ; but " when divers were
hardened and believed not, but spake evil of that
way, he departed from them and separated the dis-
ciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus ;
and this continued by the space of two years.** Acts,
ch. xix. 9, 10. Upon inspecting the history, I see
nothing in it which negatives the supposition, that
St. Paul pursued the same plan at Thessalonica which

nORM PAULINiE. 205

he adopted in other places ; and that, though he re-
sorted to the synagogue only three sabbath days, yet
he remained in the city, and in the exercise of his
ministry among the Gentile citizens, much longer;
and until the success of his preaching had provoked
the Jews to excite the tumult and insurrection by
which he was driven away.

Another seeming discrepancy is found in the ninth
verse of the first chapter of the epistle : ** For they
themselves show of us what manner of entering in we
had unto you, and how ^e turned to God from idols
to serve the living and true God.'* This text con-
tains an assertion, that, by means of St. Paul's mi-
nistry at Thessalonica, many idolatrous Gentiles had
been brought over to Christianity. Yet the history,
in describing the effects of that ministry, only says,
that ** some of the Jews believed, and of the devout
Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women
not a few." (ch. xvii. 4.) The devout Greeks
were those who already worshipped the one true God ;
and therefore could not be said, by embracing Christi-
anity, " to be turned to God from idols."

This is the difficulty. The answer may be as-
sisted by the following observations : The Alexan-
drine and Cambridge manuscripts read (for twv

(TE^oiMsvcuv 'E\Xrjvu;v itoKu itXyfiog) twv (rs?Ojj.Bvu.'y Kat 'EWyj^cuv

TfoXv irXrjBo;- in which reading they are also confirmed
by the Vulgate Latin. And this reading is, in my
opinion, strongly supported by the considerations,
first, that ol a-s^o^svoi alone, i. e. without 'ekxtjvbs, is
used in this sense in the same chapter — Paul being

come to Athens, SisXsysto iv tt\ auvayMyr, roj; I'jv$cciois

xai Tois o-gfo/xEvoif : secondly, that o-gfofAsvot and 'Ewrivss

206 HOKiE PAULIN^E.

no where come together. The expression is re-
dundant. The ol (TstoiJ^Bvoi must be 'ekmvs^ . Thirdly,
that the xai is much more likely to have been left
out incuria manus than to have been put in. Or,
after all, if we be not allowed to change the present
reading, which is undoubtedly retained by a great
plurality of copies, may not the passage in the history
be considered as describing only the effects of St.
Paul's discourses during the three sabbath days in
which he preached in the synagogue ? and may it not
be true, as we have remarked above, that his applica-
tion to the Gentiles at large, and his success amongst
them, was posterior to this ?

CHAPTER X.

THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS.

No. I.

It may seem odd to allege obscurity itself as an ar-
gument, or to draw a proof in favour of a writing from
that which is naturally considered as the principal
defect in its composition. The present epistle, how-
ever, furnishes a passage, hitherto unexplained, and
probably inexplicable by us, the existence of which,
under the darkness and difficulties that attend it, can
be accounted for only by the supposition of the epistle
being genuine ; and upon that supposition is account-
ed for with great ease. The passage which I allude
to is found in the second chapter : " That day shall
not come, except there come a falling away first, and

KOR/E PAULIN/E. 207

that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who
opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called
God, or that is worshipped ; so that he as God, sitteth
in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Remember ye not, that when I was yet with you

I TOLD YOU THESE THINGS? And ?10W 7/6 kflOW

what mthholdeth that he might he revealed in his
time; for the mystery of iniquity doth already work,
only he that now letteth will let^ until he he taken
out of the way ; and then shall that wicked be reveal-
ed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of
his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of
his coming." It were superfluous to prove, because
it is in vain to deny, that this passage is involved in
great obscurity, more especially the clauses distin-
guished by italics. Now the observation I have to
offer is founded upon this, that the passage expressly
refers to a conversation which the author had previ-
ously liolden with the Thessalonians upon the same
subject : '* Remember ye not, that when I was yet
with you / told you these things ? A?id now ye
know what withholdeth." If such conversation actu-
ally passed ; if, whilst " he was yet with them, he told
them those things," then it follows that the epistle is
authentic. And of the reality of this conversation it
appears to be a proof, that what is said in the epistle
might be understood by those who had been present
at such conversation, and yet be incapable of being
explained by any other. No man writes unintelligi-
bly on purpose. But it may easily happen, that a
part of a letter which relates to a subject, upon which
the parties had conversed together before, which re-
fers to what had been before said, which is in truth a

208 HORiE PAULINii:.

portion or continuation of a former discourse, may be
utterly without meaning to a stranger who should
pick up the letter upon the road, and yet be perfectly
clear to the person to whom it is directed, and with
whom the previous communication had passed. And
if, in a letter which thus accidentally fell into my
hands, I found a passage expressly referring to a
former conversation, and difficult to be explained
without knowing that conversation, I should consider
this very difficulty as a proof that the conversation
had actually passed, and consequently that the letter
contained the real correspondence of real persons.

No. II.

Chap. iii. 8. ** Neither did we eat any man's
bread for nought, but wrought with labour night
and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of
you : not because we have no power, but to make
ourselves an ensample unto you to follow.'*

In a letter, purporting to have been written to
another of the Macedonian churches, we find the
following declaration :

*' Now, ye Philippians, know also, that in the
beginning of the Gospel, when I departed from
Macedonia, no church communicated xdth me as
concerning giving and receiving hut ye only J**

The conformity between these two passages is
strong and plain. They confine the transaction to
the same period. The epistle to the Philippians re-
fers to what passed " in the beginning of the Gospel,"
that is to say, during the first preaching of the Gos-
pel on that side of the jEgean sea. The epistle to
the Thessalonians speaks of the apostle's conduct in

HOB/K PAULINA. S09

that city upon " his first entrance in unto them,"
which the history informs us was in the course of his
first Adsit to the peninsula of Greece.

As St. Paul tells the Philippians, " that no church
communicated with him, as concerning giving and
receiving, but they only," he could not, consistently
with the truth of this declaration, have received any
thing from the neighbouring church of Thessalonica.
What thus appears by general implication in an epi-
stle to another church, when he writes to the Thessa-
lonians themselves, is noticed expressly and particu-
larly ; ** neither did we eat any man's bread for
nought, but wrought night and day, that we might
not be chargeable to any of you."

The texts here cited further also exhibit a mark of
conformity with what St. Paul is made to say of him-
self in the Acts of the Apostles. The apostle not
only reminds the Thessalonians that he had not been
chargeable to any of them, but he states likewise the
motive which dictated this reserve : " not because we
have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample
unto you to follow us." (ch. iii. 9.) This conduct,
and, what is much more precise, the end which he
had in view by it, was the very same as that which
the history attributes to St. Paul in a discourse, which
it represents him to have addressed to the elders of
the church of Ephesus : " Yea, ye yourselves also
know that these hands have ministered unto my ne-
cessities, and to them that were with me. I have
showed you all things, how, that so labouring ye
ought to support the weak.'* Acts, ch. xx. 34. The
sentiment in the epistle and in the speech is in both
parts of it so much alike, and yet the words which

VOL. III. P

210 nonm PAULiNi^.

convey it show so little of imitation or even of resem-
blance, that the agreement cannot well be explained
without supposing the speech and the letter to have
really proceeded from the same person.

No. III.

Our reader remembers the passage in the First
Epistle to the Thessalonians, in which St. Paul spoke
of the coming of Christ : " This we say unto you by
the word of the Lord, that we which are alive, and
remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not pre-
vent them which are asleep : for the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ
shall rise first ; then we which are alive and remain,
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds,
and so shall we be ever with the Lord. — But ye,
brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should
overtake you as a thief." 1 Thess. iv. 15 — 17, and
ch. V. 4. It should seem that the Thessalonians, or
some however amongst them, had from this passage
conceived an opinion (and that not very unnaturally)
that the coming of Christ was to take place instantly,
6'ti svsa-TYfKsv * ; and that this persuasion had produced,
as it well might, much agitation in the church. The
apostle therefore now writes, amongst other purposes,
to quiet this alarm, and to rectify the misconstruc-
tion that had been put upon his words :■ — " Now we
beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto

* 'On sv£(Try)xsv, nempe hoc anno, says Grotius, £V£(rr>jx£v hie
dicitur de re pifeseuti, ut Rom. viii. 38. 1 Cor. iii, 22. Gal. i. 4.
Hel). ix. 9.

HOR^C PAULINvE. gll

liim, tliat ye be not soon sliaken in mind, or be
troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by kt-
ter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand."
If the allusion which we contend for be admitted,
namely, if it be admitted, that the passage in the
second epistle relates to the passage in the first, it
amounts to a considerable proof of the genuineness of
both epistles. I have no conception, because I know
no example, of such a device in a forgery, as first to
frame an ambiguous passage in a letter, then to
represent the persons to whom the letter is addressed
as mistaking the meaning of the passage, and lastly,
to write a second letter in order to correct this mis-
take.

I have said that this argument arises out of the
text, //'the allusion be admitted ; for I am not igno-
rant that many expositors understand the passage
in the second epistle, as referring to some forged
letters, which had been produced in St. Paul's name,
and in which the apostle had been made to say that
the coming of Christ was then at hand. In defence,
however, of the explanation which we propose, the
reader is desired to observe,

1. The strong fact, that there exists a passage in
the first epistle, to which that in the second is capable
of being referred, i. e. which accounts for the error
the writer is solicitous to remove. Had no other
epistle than the second been extant, and had it under
these circumstances come to be considered, whether
the text before us related to a forged epistle or to
some misconstruction of a true one, many conjectures
and many probabilities might have been admitted in
the inquiry, which can have little weight when an

p 2

5^12 HOR.E PAULIN/E.

epistle is produced, containing the very sort of pass-
age we were seeking, that is, a passage liable to the
misinterpretation which the apostle protests against.
2. That the clause which introduces the passage
in the second epistle bears a particular affinity to
what is found in the passage cited from the first
epistle. The clause is this : " We beseech you,
brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and by our gathering together unto him,** Now in
the first epistle the description of the coming of
Christ is accompanied with the mention of this very
circumstance of his saints being collected round him.
*' The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with
a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the
trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first ;
then we which are alive and remain shall be caught
up together with them in the clouds, to meet the
Lord in the air." 1 Thess. chap. iv. 16, I7. This
I suppose to be the ** gathering together unto him"
intended in the second epistle : and that the author,
when he used these words, retained in his thoughts
what he had written on the subject before.

3. The second epistle is written in the joint name
of Paul, Silvanus, and Timotheus, and it cautions
the Thessalonians against being misled *' by letter as
from us" (ws J(' ij>a;y). Do not these words j/ rj/xwv,
appropriate the reference to some writing which bore
the name of these three teachers ? Now this circum-
stance, which is a very close one, belongs to the
epistle at present in our hands ; for the epistle which
we call the First Epistle to the Thessalonians contains
these names in its superscription.

4. The words in the original, as far as they are

HOR.E PAULIN.*:. 213

material to be stated, are these : si; to |u,ij raxsws o-a-

AfoSryvat Jp^af oLtto rov voos, /xijrg ^posKrQact, ^riTB Sia Grv£U|aaroj,
{J-yjfs Sioc Xoyov, /xi;r£ h' e-nifrtdXTj^y cug Si' TjjU/Wy, ws on svsa-rrjKsv

ri y]ij.£^a. tou ^piffToy. Under the weight of the preceding
observations, may not the words ^aij^s $ia. xoyou, [j.r}rs $i'
sTnarroXijs, a); Si' ■^ij.ujv, be construed to signify quasi nos
quid tale aut dixerimus aut scripserimus *, inti-
mating that their words had been mistaken, and that
they had in truth said or written no such thing ?

CHAPTER XI. ^

THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY.

From the third verse of the first chapter, "as I
besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went
into Macedonia," it is evident that this epistle was
written soon after St. Paul had gone to Macedonia
from Ephesus. Dr. Benson fixes its date to the time

* Should a contrary interpretation be preferred, I do not think
that it implies the conclusion that a false epistle had then been
published in the apostle's name. It will completely satisfy the
allusion in the text to allow, that some one or other at Thessa-
lonica had pretended to have been told by St. Paul and his com-
panions, or to have seen a letter from them, in which they had
said, that the day of Christ was at hand. In like manner as Acts,
XV. 1 , 24, it is recorded that some had pretended to have received
instructions from the church at Jerusalem, which had been re-
ceived, "to whom they gave no such commandment." And
thus Dr. Benson interpreted the passage //-ijre ^posi<r^a.i, [/.YjTs J*a
zsviVfji.aro;, y^r^rt Sia. Xoyou, fxijre Si eitia-ToKrig, w'j Si YjI^mv, " nor be
dismayed by any revelation, or discourse, or epistle, which any
one shall pretend to have heard or received from us."

214 HORvE PAULINA.

of St. Paul's journey recorded in the beginning of
the twentieth chapter of the Acts : " And after the
uproar (excited by Demetrius at Ephesus) was ceased,
Paul called unto him the disciples, and embraced
them, and departed for to go into Macedonia." And
in this opinion Dr. Benson is followed by Michaelis,
as he was preceded by the greater part of the com-
mentators who have considered the question. There
is, however, one objection to the hypothesis, which
these learned men appear to me to have overlooked ;
and it is no other than this, that the superscription
of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians seems to
prove, that at the time St. Paul is supposed by them
to have written this epistle to Timothy, Timothy in
truth was with St. Paul in Macedonia. Paul, as it
is related in the Acts, left Ephesus " for to go into
Macedonia." When he had got into Macedonia he
wrote his Second Epistle to the Corinthians. Con-
cerning this point there exists little variety of opinion.
It is plainly indicated by the contents of the epistle.
It is also strongly implied that the epistle was written
soon after the apostle's arrival in Macedonia ; for he
begins his letter by a train of reflection, referring to
his persecutions in Asia as to recent transactions, as
to dangers from which he had lately been delivered.
But in the salutation with which the epistle opens,
Timothy xvas joined icith St. Paul, and consequently
could not at that time be " left behind at Ephesus."
And as to the only solution of the difficulty which
can be thought of, viz. that Timothy, though he was
left behind at Ephesus upon St. Paul's departure
from Asia, yet might follow him so soon after as to
come up with the apostle in Macedonia, before he

IIORM PAULIN.E. 215

wrote his epistle to the Corinthians ; that supposi-
tion is inconsistent with the terms and tenor of the
epistle throughout : for the writer speaks uniformly
of his intention to return to Timothy at Ephesus,
and not of his expecting Timothy to come to him in
Macedonia : " These things write I unto thee hojying
to come unto thee shortlij ; but if I tarry long, that
thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave
thyself.*'* Ch. iii. 14., 15, *' Till I come^ give at-
tendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.'*
Ch. iv. 13.

Since, therefore, the leaving of Timothy behind at
Ephesus, when Paul went into Macedonia, suits not
with any journey into Macedonia recorded in the
Acts, I concur with Bishop Pearson in placing the
date of this epistle, and the journey referred to in it,
at a period subsequent to St. Paul's first imprison-
ment at Rome, and consequently subsequent to the
aera up to which the Acts of the Apostles brings
his history. The only difficulty which attends our
opinion is, that St. Paul must, according to us, have
come to Ephesus after his liberation at Rome, con-
trary as it should seem to what he foretold to the
Ephesian elders, " that they should see his face no
more." And it is to save the infallibility of this pre-
diction, and for no other reason of weight, that an
earlier date is assigned to this epistle. The predic-
tion itself, however, when considered in connexion
with the circumstances under which it was delivered,
does not seem to demand so much anxiety. The
words in question are found in the twenty-fifth verse
of the twentieth chapter of the Acts : " And now,
behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone

216 HOR.E PAULINA.

preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face
no more.'* In the twenty-second and twenty-third
verses of the same chapter, i. e. two verses before,
the apostle makes this declaration : " And now,
behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not
knowing the things that shall befall me there : save
that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying
that bonds and afflictions abide me." This '* wit-
nessing of the Holy Ghost" was undoubtedly pro-
phetic and supernatural. But it went no farther
than to foretell that bonds and afflictions awaited
him. And I can very well conceive, that this might
De all which was communicated to the apostle by
extraordinary revelation, and that the rest was the
conclusion of his own mind, the desponding inference
which he drew from strong and repeated intimations
of approaching danger. And the expression *' I
know," which St. Paul here uses, does not, perhaps,
when applied to future events affecting himself, con-
vey an assertion so positive and absolute as we may
at first sight apprehend. In the first chapter of the
epistle to the Philippians and the twenty-fifth verse,
*' I know," says he, " that I shall abide and continue
with you all, for your furtherance and joy of faith."
Notwithstanding this strong declaration, in the se-
cond chapter and the twenty-third verse of this same
epistle, and speaking also of the very same event, he
is content to use a language of some doubt and un-
certainty : '* Him therefore I hope to send presently,
so soon as I shall see how it will go ivith ii:e. But
I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come
shortly." And a few verses preceding these, he not
only seems to doubt qf his safety, but almost to de-

HOR'E PAULINA. 217

spair ; to contemplate the possibility at least of his
condemnation and martyrdom : " Yea, and if I be
offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I
joy and rejoice with you all.**

No. I.

But can we show that St. Paul visited Ephesus
after his liberation at Rome ? or rather, can we col-
lect any hints from his other letters which make it
probable that he did ? If we can, then we have a coin-
cidence ; if we cannot, we have only an unauthorised
supposition, to which the exigency of the case compels
us to resort. Now, for this purpose, let us examine
the Epistle to the Philippians and the Epistle to
Philemon. These two epistles purport to be written
whilst St. Paul was yet a prisoner at Rome. To the
Philippians he writes as follows : *' I trust in the
Lord that I also myself shall come shortly." To
Philemon, who was a Colossian, he gives this direc-
tion : " But withal, prepare me also a lodging, for I
trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto
you." An inspection of the map will show us that
Colosse was a city of the Lesser Asia, lying eastward,
and at no great distance from Ephesus. Philippi
was on the other, i. e. the western side of the ^o-ean
Sea. If the apostle executed his purpose ; if, in
pursuance of the intention expressed in his letter to
Philemon, he came to Colosse soon after he was set
at liberty at Rome, it is very improbable that he
would omit to visit Ephesus, which lay so near to it,
and where he had spent three years of his ministry.
As he was also under a promise to the church of
Philippi to see them "shortly;" if he passed from

218 HOR^E PAULINA.

Colosse to Philippi, or from Philippi to Colosse, he
could hardly avoid taking Ephesus in his way.

No. 11.

Chap. V. 9. *' Let not a widow be taken into the
number under threescore years old."

This accords witli the account delivered in the
sixth chapter of the Acts. " And in those days,
when the number of the disciples was multiplied,
there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the
Hebrews, because their icidoxvs "were neglected in the
daily ministration.'* It appears that from the first
formation of the Christian church, provision was
made out of the public funds of the society for the
indigent ^widows who belonged to it. The history,
we have seen, distinctly records the existence of such
an institution at Jerusalem, a few years after our
-Lord's ascension ; and is led to the mention of it
very incidentally, viz. by a dispute, of which it was the
occasion, and which produced important conset^uences
to the Christian community. The epistle, without
being suspected of borrowing from the history, refers,
briefly indeed, but decisively, to a similar establish-
ment, subsisting some years afterwards at Ephesus.
This agreement indicates that both writings were
founded upon real circumstances.

But, in this article, the material thing to be no-
ticed is the mode of expression : " Let not a widow
be taken into the number." — No previous account or
explanation is given, to which these words, " into
the number," can refer ; but the direction comes con-
cisely and unpreparedly. *' Let not a widow be
taken into the number." Now this is the way in

HOll/K PAUIJN^. S19

which a man writes, who is conscious that he is writing
to persons already acquainted with the subject of his
letter ; and who, he knows, will readily apprehend
and apply what he says by virtue of their being so
acquainted : but it is not the way in which a man
writes upon any other occasion ; and least of all, in
which a man would draw up a feigned letter, or in-
troduce a supposititious fact. *

No. III.

Chap. iii. 2, 3. *' A bishop then must be blameless,
the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good be.
haviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach ; not given
to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre ; but
patient, not a brawler, not covetous ; one that ruleth
well his own house."

* It is not altogether unconnected with our general purpose
to remark, in the passage before us, the selection and reserve
which St. Paul recommends to the governors of the church of
Ephcsusin the bestowing relief upon the poor, because it refutes
a calumny which has been insinuated, that the liberality of the
first Christians was an artifice to catch converts ; or one of the
temptations, however, by which the idle and mendicant were
drawn into this society : " Let not a widow be taken into the
number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one
man, well reported of for good works ; if she have brouglit up
children, if she have lodged strangers, if r.lie have washed the
saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently
followed every good work. But the younger widows refuse."
(v. 9, 10, 11.) And, in another place, " If any man or woman
that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not
the church be charged ; that it may relieve them that are widows
indeed." And to the same effect, or rather more to our present
purpose, the apostle writes in the Second Epistle to the Thessa-
loniaus : " Even when we were with you, this we commanded
you, that if any would not work, neither should he cat," i. c. at

220 HORJE PAULINiE.

'* No striker:" That is the article which I single
out from the collection as evincing the antiquity at
least, if not the genuineness, of the epistle ; because
it is an article which no man would have made the
subject of caution who lived in an advanced aera of
the church. It agreed with the infancy of the society,
and with no other state of it. After the government
of the church had acquired the dignified form which
it soon and naturally assumed, this injunction could
have no place. Would a person who lived under a
hierarchy, such as the Christian hierarchy became
when it had settled into a regular establishment, have
thought it necessary to prescribe concerning the qua-
lification of a bishop, " that he should be no striker ?"
And this injunction would be equally alien from the
imagination of the writer, whether he wrote in his own
character, or personated that of an apostle.

No. IV.

Chap. V. 23. *' Drink no longer water, but use
a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often
infirmities."

Imagine an impostor sitting down to forge an epi-
stle in the name of St. Paul. Is it credible that it
should come into his head to give such a direction as

the public expense. " For we hear that there are some which
walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busy-
bodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by
our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat
their own bread." Could a designing or dissolute poor take
advantage of bounty regulated with so much caution ; or could
the mind which dictated those sober and prudent directions be
influenced in his recommendations of public charity by any otlier
than the properest motives of beneficence ?

HOR^E PAULIN/E. 221

this ; so remote from every thing of iloctrine or dis-
cipline, every thing of public concern to the religion
or the church, or to any sect, order, or party in it,
and from every purpose with which such an epistle
could be written ? It seems to me that nothino; but
reality, that is, the real valetudinary situation of a real
person, could have suggested a thought of so domestic
a nature.

But if the peculiarity of the advice be observable,
the place in which it stands is more so. The con-
text is this : ** Lay hands suddenly on no man, nei-
ther be partaker of other men's sins : keep thyself
pure. Drink no longer water, but use a little wine
for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.
Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before
to judgement ; and some men they follow after." The
direction to Timothy about his diet stands between
two sentences, as wide from the subject as possible.
The train of thought seems to be broken to let it in.
Now when does this happen ? It happens when a
man writes as he remembers ; when he puts down an
article that occurs the moment it occurs, lest he should
afterwards forget it. Of this the passage before us
bears strongly the appearance. In actual letters, in
the negligence of real correspondence, examples of
this kind frequently take place; seldom, I believe, in
any other production. For the moment a man re-
gards what he writes as a composition^ which the au-
thor of a forgery would, of all others, be the first to
do, notions of order, in the arrangement and succes-
sion of his thoughts, present themselves to his judge-
ment, and guide his pen.

HORiE PAULINA.

No. V.

Chap. i. 15, 16. *• This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners ; of whom T am chief. How-
beit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first
Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suiFering, for
a pattern to them which should hereafter believe in
him to life everlasting.'*

What was the mercy which St. Paul here comme-
morates, and what was the crime of which he accuses
himself, is apparent from the verses immediately pre-
ceding : " I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath
enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting
me into the ministry ; xvho was before a blasphemer,
a72d a persecutor^ andinjurious : but I obtained W(?r<:j/,
because I did it ignorantly in unbelief." (cli. i. 12, IS.)
The whole quotation plainly refers to St. Paul's ori-
ginal enmity to the Christian name, the interposition
of Providence in his conversion, and his subsequent
designation to the ministry of the Gospel ; and by
this reference affirms indeed the substance of the
apostle's history delivered in the Acts. But what
in the passage strikes my mind most powerfully, is
the observation that is raised out of the fact. *' For
this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus
Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pat-
tern to them which should hereafter believe on him
to life everlasting." It is a just and solemn reflec-
tion, springing from the circumstances of the author's
conversion, or rather from the impression which that
great event had left upon his memory. It will be
said, perhaps, that an impostor acquainted with St.

HOKE PAULINA. 223

Paul's history may have put such a sentiment into
his mouth ; or, what is the same thing, into a letter
drawn up in his name. But where, we may ask, is
such an impostor to be found ? The piety, the truth,
the benevolence of the thought, ought to protect it
from this imputation. For, though we should allow
that one of the great masters of the ancient tragedy
could have given to his scene a sentiment as virtuous
and as elevated as this is, and at the same time as
appropriate, and as well suited to the particular situ-
ation of the person who delivers it ; yet whoever is
conversant in these inquiries will acknowledge, that to
do this in a fictitious production is beyond the reach
of the understandings which have been employed
upon any fabrications that have come down to us
under Christian names.

CHAPTER XII.

THE SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY.

No. I.

It was the uniform tradition of the primitive church,
that St. Paul visited Rome twice, and twice tliere
suffered imprisonment ; and that he was put to death
at Rome at the conclusion of his second imprison-
ment. This opinion concerning St. Paul's two jour-
neys to Rome is confirmed by a great variety of hints
and allusions in the epistle before us, compared with
what fell from the apostle's pen in other letters pur-
porting to have been written from Rome. That our

S24 hor;e paulinte.

present epistle was written whilst St. Paul was a
prisoner^ is distinctly intimated by the eighth verse
of the first chapter : "Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner/*
And whilst he was a prisoner at Rome, by the six-
teenth and seventeenth verses of the same chapter :
" The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesi-
phorus ; for he oft refreshed me, and was not
ashamed of my chain : but when he was in Rome
he sought me out very diligently and found me."
Since it appears from the former quotation that St.
Paul wrote this epistle in confinement, it will hardly
admit of doubt that the word chain, in the latter
quotation, refers to that confinement ; the chain by
which he was then bound, the custody in which he
was then kept. And if the word " chain" designate
the author's confinement at the time of writing the
epistle, the next words determine it to have been
written from Rome : " He was not ashamed of my
chain ; but when he was in Rome he sought me out
very diligently.'* Now that it Wiis not written
during the apostle's first imprisonment at Rome, or
during the same imprisonment in which the epistles
to the Ephesians, the Colossians, the Philippians,
and Philemon, were written, may be gathered, with
considerable evidence, from a comparison of these
several epistles with the present.

I. In the former epistles the author confidently
looked forward to his liberation from confinement,
and his speedy departure from Rome. He tells the
Philippians (ch. ii. 24), " I trust in the Lord that I
also myself shall come shortly." Philemon he bids
to prepare for him a lodging j " for I trust," says he.

HOllE PAULINE. S^5

" tiiat tlirough your prayers I sliall be given unto
you." (ver. 2^2.) In the epistle before us he holds
a language extremely different : " I am now ready to
be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith : henceforth there is laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
righteous Judge, shall give me at that day." (ch. iv.
6—8.)

II. When the former epistles were written from
Rome, Timothy was with St. Paul ; and is joined
with him in writing to the Colossians, the Philip-
pians, and to Philemon. The present epistle implies
that lie was absent.

III. In the former epistles Demas was with St.
Paul at Rome : " Luke, the beloved physician, and
Demas, greet you." In the epistle now before us :
*' Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present
world, and is gone to Thessalonica."

IV. In the former epistles, Mark was with St.
Paul, and joins in saluting the Colossians. In the
present epistle, Timothy is ordered to bring him with
him, " for he is profitable to me for the ministry."
(ch. iv. IJ.)

The case of Timothy and of Mark might be very
well accounted for, by supposing the present epistle
to have been written before the others ; so that
Timothy, who is here exhorted "to come shortly
unto him," (ch. iv. 9.) might have arrived, and that
Mark, " whom he was to bring with him," (ch. iv.
11.) might have also reached Rome in sufficient time
to have been with St. Paul when the four epistles
were written ; but then such a supposition is incon-

VOL. 111. Q

226 HOR^ PAULINtE.

sistent with what is said of Demas, by which the
posteriority of this to the other epistles is strongly
indicated : for in the other epistles Demas was with
St. Paul, in the present he hath " forsaken him, and
is gone to Thessalonica." The opposition also of
sentiment, with respect to the event of the persecu-
tion, is hardly reconcileable to the same imprison-
ment.

The two following considerations, which were first
suggested upon this question by Ludovicus Capellus,
are still more conclusive.

1. In the twentieth verse of the fourth chapter,
St. Paul informs Timothy, " that Erastus abode at
Corinth,'* E^acrroj e/xeivev ev KopivS'jj. The form of ex-
pression implies, that Erastus had staid behind at
Corinth, when St. Paul left it. But this could not
be meant of any journey from Corinth which St.
Paul took prior to his first imprisonment at Rome ;
for when Paul departed from Corinth, as related in
the twentieth chapter of the Acts, Timothy was with
him : and this was the last time the apostle left Co-
rinth before his coming to Rome ; because he left it
to proceed on his way to Jerusalem ; soon after his
arrival at which place he was taken into custody,
and continued in that custody till he was carried to
Caesar's tribunal. There could be no need therefore
to inform Timothy that " Erastus staid behind at
Corinth" upon this occasion, because if the fact was
so, it must have been known to Timothy, who was
present, as well as to St. Paul.

2. In the same verse our epistle also states the
following article: " Trophimus have I left at Mile-
tum sick." When St. Paul passed through Miletum

HORE PAULlN.t:. '2'^'i

on his way to Jerusalem, as related Acts xx., Tro-
pliimus was not left behind, but accompanied him to
that city. He was indeed the occasion of the uproar
at Jerusalem in consequence of which St. Paul was
apprehended ; for "they had seen," says the historian,
" before with him in the city, Trophimus an Ephe-
sian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought
into the temple." This was evidently the last time
of Paul's being at Miletus before his first imprison-
ment ; for, as hath been said, after his apprehension
at Jerusalem, he remained in custody till he was sent
to Rome.

In these two articles we have a journey referred
to, which must have taken place subsequent to the
conclusion of St. Luke's history, and of course after
St. Paul's liberation from his first imprisonment.
The epistle, therefore, which contains this reference,
since it appears from other parts of it to have been
written while St. Paul was a prisoner at Rome, proves
that he had returned to that city again, and under-
gone there a second imprisonment.

I do not produce these particulars for the sake of
the support which they lend to the testimony of the
fathers concerning St. Paul's second imprisonment,
but to remark their consistency and agreement with
one another. They are all resolvable into one sup-
position : and although the supposition itself be in
some sort only negative, viz. that the epistle was not
written during St. Paul's first residence at Rome,
but in some future imprisonment in that city ; yet is
the consistency not less worthy of observation : for
the epistle touches upon names and circumstances
connected with the date and with the history of the

^^8 HOK.t: PAULINyE.

first iniprisonineiit, and mentioned in letters written
during that imprisonment, and so touches upon
them, as to leave what is said of one consistent with
what is said of others, and consistent also with what
is said of them in different epistles. Had one of
these circumstances been so described as to have
fixed the date of the epistle to the first imprisonment,
it would have involved the rest in contradiction.
And when the number and particularity of the arti-
cles which have been brought together under this
head are considered ; and when it is considered also,
that the comparisons we have formed amongst them,
were in all probability neither provided for, nor
thought of, by the writer of the epistle, it will be
deemed something very like the effect of truth, that
no invincible repugnancy is perceived between them.

No. II. -

In the Acts of the Apostles, in the sixteenth
chapter, and at the first verse, we are told that Paul
" came to Derbe and Lystra, and behold a certain
disciple was there named Timotheus, the son of a
certain woman which was a Jewess, and believed ;"
but his father was a Greek." In the epistle before
us, in the first chapter and at the fourth verse, St.
Paul writes to Timothy thus : " Greatly desiring to
see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be
filled with joy, when I call to remembrance the un-
feigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy
grandmother Lois, and thy motlier Eunice ; and I
am persuaded that in thee also.*' Here we have
a fair unforced example of coincidence. In the
history Timothy was the *'son of a Jewess that

KORvE PAULIxV^E. 229

believed :" in the epistle St. Paul applauds " the
Jciitli which dwelt in his mother Eunice." In the
history it is said of the mother, " that she was a
Jewess, and believed:" of the father, "that he was
a Greek." Now when it is said of the mother alo7ie
" that she believed," the father being nevertheless
mentioned in the same sentence, we are led to sup-
pose of the father that he did not believe, /. e. either
that he was dead, or that he remained unconverted.
Agreeably hereunto, whilst praise is bestowed in tlie
epistle upon one parent, and upon her sincerity in
the faith, no notice is taken of the other. The
mention of the grandmother is the addition of a cir-
cumstance not found in the history ; but it is a cir-
cumstance which, as well as the names of the parties,
might naturally be expected to be known to the
apostle, though overlooked by his historian.

No. III.

Chap. iii. 1.5. " And that from a child thou hast
known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make
thee wise unto salvation."

This verse discloses a circumstance which agrees
exactly with what is intimated in the quotation from
the Acts, adduced in the last number. In that
quotation it is recorded of Timothy's mother, " that
she was a Jewess." This description is virtually,
though, I am satisfied, undesignedly, recognised in
the epistle, when Timothy is reminded in it, " that
from a child he had known the Holy Scriptures."
" The Holy Scriptures" undoubtedly meant the
Scriptures of the Old Testament. The expression
bears that sense in every place in which it occurs.

230 HORM PAULINyE.

Those of the New had not yet acquired the name ;
not to mention, that in Timothy's childhood, pro-
bably, none of them existed. In what manner then
could Timothy have known *' from a child" the
Jewish Scriptures, had he not been born, on one side
or on both, of Jewish parentage ? Perhaps he was
not less likely to be carefully instructed in them, for
that his mother alone professed that religion.

No. IV.

Chap. ii. ^2. " Flee also youtliful lusts j but
follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them
that call on the Lord out of a pure heart."

** Flee also youthful lusts." The suitableness of this
precept to the age of the person to whom it is ad-
dressed, is gathered from 1 Tim. chap. iv. 12 : *' Let
no man despise thy youth." Nor do I deem the less
of this coincidence, because the propriety resides in a
single epithet ; or because this one precept is joined
with and followed by, a train of others, not more ap-
plicable to Timothy than to any ordinary convert. It
is in these transient and cursory allusions that the
argument is best founded. When a writer dwells
and rests upon a point in which some coincidence is
discerned, it may be doubted whether he himself had
not fabricated the conformity, and was endeavouring
to displiiy and set it off. But when the reference is
contained in a single word, unobserved perhaps by
most readers, the writer passing on to other subjects,
as unconscious that he had hit upon a correspondency,
or unsolicitous whether it were remarked or not, we
may be pretty well assured that no fraud was exer-
cised, no imposition intended.

HOKE PAULINA. 231

No. V.

Chap. iii. 10, 11. "But thou hast fully known
my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-
suffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions,
which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at
I.ystra ; what persecutions I endured ; but out of
them all the Lord delivered me.'*

The Antioch here mentioned was not Antioch the
capital of Syria, where Paul and Barnabas resided " a
long time ;" but Antioch in Pisidia, to which place
Paul and Barnabas came in their first apostolic pro-
gress, and where Paul delivered a memorable dis-
course, which is preserved in the thirteenth chapter
of the Acts. At this Antioch the history relates,
that the " Jews stirred up the devout and honourable
women, and the chief men of the city, a)id raised
persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and ex-
pelled them out of their coasts. But they shook off
the dust of their feet against them, and came into
Iconium .... And it came to pass, in Iconium, that
they went both together into the synagogue of the
Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of
the Jews and also of the Greeks believed ; but the
unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made
their minds evil-affected against the brethren. Long
time therefore abode they, speaking boldly in the
Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his
grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by
their hands. But the multitude of the city was
divided ; and part held with the Jews, and part with
the apostles. And when there was an assault made

232 HOll^ PAULIN.IC.

both of the Gentiles and also of the Jews, with their
rulers, to use them despitefulljj and to stone them,
they were aware of it, and fled unto Lystra and
Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that
lieth round about, and there they preached the
Gospel .... And there came thither certain Jews
from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the
people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the
city, supposing he had been dead. Howbeit, as the
disciples stood round about him, he rose up and
came into the city : and the next day he departed with
Barnabas to Derbe : and when they had preached
the Gospel to that city, and had taught many,
they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium,
and to Antioch." This account comprises the pe-
riod to which the allusion in the epistle is to be
referred. Vv e have so far therefore a conformity
between the history and the epistle, that St. Paul is
asserted in the history to have suffered persecutions
in the three cities, his persecutions at which are
appealed to in the epistle ; and not only so, but to
have suffered these persecutions both in immediate
succession, and in the order in which tlie cities are
mentioned in the epistle. The conformity also ex-
tends to another circumstance. In the apostolic
history I^ystra and Derbe are commonly mentioned
together : in the quotation from the epistle Lystra is
mentioned, and not Derbe. And the distinction
will appear on this occasion to be accurate ; for St.
Paul is here enumerating his persecutions : and al-
though he underwent grievous persecutions in each
of the three cities through which he passed to Derbe,
at Derbe itself he met with none : " The next dav

IIOR.E PAULIN.E. 233

he departed," says the historian, "to Derbe ; and
when they had preached the Gospel to that city, and
had taught many, they returned again to Lystra."
The epistle, therefore, in the names of the cities, in
the order in which they are enumerated, and in the
place at which the enumeration stops, corresponds
exactly with the history.

But a second question remains, namely, how these

persecutions were " known" to Timothy, or why

the apostle should recall these in particular to his

remembrance, rather than many other persecutions

with which his ministry had been attended. When

some time, probably three years afterwards (vide

Pearson's Annales Paulinas), St. Paul made a second

journey through the same country, "in order to go

again and visit the brethren in every city where he

had preached the word of the Lord," we read. Acts,

chap. xvi. 1, that, " when he came to Derbe and

Lystra, behold a certain disciple was there named

Timotheus." One or other, therefore, of these

cities was the place of Timothy's abode. We read

moreover that he was well reported of by the brethren

that were at Lystra and Iconium ; so that he must

have been well acquainted with these places. Also

again, when Paul came to Derbe and Lystra, Ti-

motliy was already a disciple: "Behold, a certain

disciple was there named Timotheus." He must

therefore have been converted before. But since it

is expressly stated in the epistle, that Timothy was

converted by St. Paul himself, that he was, " his own

son in the faith ;" it follows that he must have been

converted by him upon liis former journey into those

parts, which was tlie very time when the apostle

234 HOR^ PAULINyE.

underwent the persecutions referred to in the epistle.
Upon the whole, then, persecutions at the several
cities named in the epistle are expressly recorded in
the Acts : and Timothy's knowledge of this part of
St. Paul's history, which knowledge is appealed to in
the epistle, is fairly deduced from the place of his
abode, and the time of his conversion. It may
farther be observed, that it is probable from this
account, that St. Paul was in the midst of those per-
secutions when Timothy became known to him. No
wonder then that the apostle, though in a letter
written long afterwards, should remind his favourite
convert of those scenes of affliction and distress under
which they first met.

Although this coincidence, as to the names of tlie
cities, be more specific and direct than many which
we have pointed out, yet I apprehend there is no
just reason for thinking it to be artificial : for had
the writer of the epistle sought a coincidence with
the history upon this head, and searched the Acts of
the Apostles for the purpose, I conceive he would
have sent us at once to Philippi and Thessalonica,
where Paul suffered persecution, and where, from
what is stated, it may easily be gathered that Ti-
mothy accompanied him, rather than have appealed
to persecutions as known to Timothy, in the account
of which persecutions Timothy's presence is not
mentioned ; it not being till after one entire chapter,
and in the history of a journey three years future to
this, that Timothy's name occurs in the Acts of the
Apostles for the first time.

HORjE PAULINA. S35

CHAPTER XIII.

THE EPISTLE TO TITUS.

No. I.

A VERY characteristic circumstance in this epistle,
is the quotation from Epimenides, chap. i. 12 : " One
of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said. The
Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.'*

I call this quotation characteristic, because no
writer in the New Testament, except St. Paul, ap-
pealed to heathen testimony ; and because St. Paul
repeatedly did so. In his celebrated speech at Athens,
preserved in the seventeenth chapter of the Acts, he
tells his audience, that " in God, we live, and move,
and have our being ; as certain also of your own poets
have said. For we are also his offspring."

' — rev yap kcci ysvo; s(r\x,£v.

The reader will perceive much similarity of man-
ner in these two passages. The reference in the
speech is to a heathen poet ; it is the same in the
epistle. In the speech the apostle urges his hearers
with the authority of a poet of their own ; in the
epistle he avails himself of the same advantage. Yet
there is a variation, which shows that the hint of
inserting a quotation in the epistle was not, as it may
be suspected, borrowed from seeing the like practice

236 HOnJE PAULINA.

attributed to St. Paul in the history ; and it is this,
that in the epistle the author cited is called a j)rophef,
*' one of themselves, even a py^ophet of their own."
Whatever might be the reason for calling Epimenides
a prophet ; whether the names of poet and prophet
were occasionally convertible ; whether Epimenides
in particular had obtained that title, as Grotius
seems to have proved j or whether the appellation
was given to him, in this instance, as having de-
livered a description of the Cretan character, which
the future state of morals among them verified :
whatever was the reason (and any of these reasons
will account for the variation, supposing St. Paul to
have been the author), one point is plain, namely, if
the epistle had been forged, and the author had in-
serted a quotation in it merely from having seen an
example of the same kind in a speech ascribed to St.
Paul, he would so far have imitated his original, as
to have introduced his quotation in the same man-
ner ; that is, he would have given to Epimenides the
title which he saw there given to Aratus. The other
side of the alternative is, that the history took the
hint from the epistle. But that the author of the
Acts of the Apostles had not the Epistle to Titus
before him, at least that he did not use it as one of
the documents or materials of his narrative, is ren-
dered nearly certain by the observation that the name
of Titus does not once occur in his book.

It is well known, and was remarked by St. Jerome,
that the apophthegm in the fifteenth chapter of the
Corinthians, " Evil communications corrupt good
manners," is au iambic of Menandcr's :

'^^£ic'ji(ri> v/iYi ^p^crO' oija'aixi kolkscl.

HOll.E PAULINA. 2S7

Here we liave another unaffected instance of the
same turn and habit of composition. Probably there
are some hitherto unnoticed ; and more, which the
loss of the original authors renders impossible to be
now ascertained.

No. TI.

There exists a visible affinity between the Epistle
to Titus and the First Epistle to Timothy. Both
letters were addressed to persons left by the writer to
preside in tlieir respective churches during his ab-
sence. Both letters are principally occupied in de-
scribing the qualifications to be sought for, in those
whom they should appoint to offices in the church ;
and the ingredients of this description are in both
letters nearly the same. Timothy and Titus are
likewise cautioned against the same prevailing cor-
ruptions, and in particular, against the same misdi-
rection of their cares and studies. This affinity ob-
tains, not only in the subject of the letters, which,
from the similarity of situation in the persons to whom
they were addressed, might be expected to be some-
what alike, but extends, in a great variety of instances,
to the phrases and expressions. The writer accosts
his two friends with the same salutation, and passes
on to the business of his letter by the same trans-
ition.

" Unto Timothy, my oum son in tlie faith : Grace,
mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus
Christ our Lord. As I besought thee to abide still
at Ephesus, zvhen I went into Macedonia^*' &c. 1
Tim. chap. i. 2, 3.

S38 HOR« PAULINyE.

*' To Titus, mine oxmi son after the common faith :
Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and
the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. For this cause
/e^t I thee in Crete." Tit. chap. i. 4, 5.

If Timothy was not to " give heed to fables and
endless genealogies, which minister questions," (1
Tim. chap. i. 4.) Titus also was to " avoid foolish
questions, and genealogies, and contentions," (chap,
iii. 9.) and was to " rebuke them sharply, 72ot giving
heed to Jewish fablet." (chap. i. 14.) If Timothy
was to be a pattern, (tutt-o;) (I Tim. chap. iv. 12.) so
was Titus (chap. ii. 70 I^ Timothy was to " let
no man despise his youth," (1 Tim. chap. iv. 12.)
Titus also was to " let no man despise him," (chap.
ii. 15 ) This verbal consent is also observable in
some very peculiar expressions, which have no rela-
tion to the particular character of Timothy or Titus.

The phrase, *' it is a faithful saying," (jno-ros o xoyoi
made use of to preface some sentence upon which
the writer lays a more than ordinary stress, occurs
three times in the First Epistle to Timothy, once
in the Second, and once in the epistle before us, and
in no other part of St. Paul's writings ; and it is re-
markable that these three epistles were probably all
written towards the conclusion of his life ; and that
they are the only epistles which were written after
his first imprisonment at Rome.

The same observation belongs to another singula-
rity of expression, and that is in the epithet " sound,"
(Jyjaivwv) as applied to words or doctrine. It is thus
used, twice in the First Epistle to Timothy, twice in
the Second, and three times in the Epistle to Titus,
beside two cognate expressions, vyitxivovtcc; tr TriTtsi, and

HOR/E paulix;e. 239

Aoyov lyir, ; and it is foiiiid, ill the same sense, in no
other part of the New Testament.

The phrase, *' God our Saviour," stands in nearly
the same predicament. It is repeated three times in
the First Epistle to Timothy, as many in the Epistle
to Titus, and in no other book of the New Testament
occurs at all, except once in the Epistle of Jude.

Similar terms, intermixed indeed with others, are
employed in the two epistles, in enumerating the qua-
lifications required in those who should be advanced
to stations of authority in the church.

" A bishop must be blameless, the husband of one
wife, vigilant, sobe)\ of good behaviour, given to hos-
pitality, apt to teach, not given to zvine^ no strilce)\
not greedy of filthy hicre ; but patient, not a brawler,
not covetous ; one that ruleth well his own house,
having his children in subjection with all gravity.'**
1 Tim. chap. iii. 2 — 4.

" If any be blameless, the husband of one uife,
having faithful children, not accused of riot, or un-
ruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward
of God ; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given
to wine, ?io striker , not given to filthy lucre ; but a
lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just,
holy, temperate.'*! Titus, chap. i. 6 — 8.

* " A;i ovv tov STttG-K'j'n'oy avsTfiXrjTrrov si'/cci, [mo-s yvvaiKog avSpcc,
vv)(paXi'jv, (rco(p^ova, xotriMtov, <pi\o^£vov, Si^cotriKOv, /xij ifa^oivov,
jU-rj ifX.riX.rrjv, jxtj aKr^^o-ns^Srj- aXX" sifisiK:^, a^xcLyjjv , a.(^i\a.pyv^ov'
rov thou oiKOv %aXojg i(po'i(T'ra,[j,evov, rsKva sy^ovrx sv uTTorayr, ^j^Bta
Tfcx.irriS crsix^votritos."

t " E< r/f sa-riv avsynXrjros, i^-tas yvvaiKOg ccvrj^, rsKva £%a;v
fdiTtcc, ju-ij sv KOLtriyo^ici. a.ffoui'ias, ij avoTToraxra. Aei yap tov

210 HOR« TAULIN/E.

The most natural account which can be given of*
these resemblances, is to suppose that the two epi-
stles were written nearly at the same time, and whilst
the same ideas and phrases dwelt in the winter's mind.
Let us inquire, therefore, whether the notes of time,
extant in the two epistles, in any manner favour this
supposition.

We have seen that it was necessary to refer the
First Epistle to Timothy to a date subsequent to St.
Paul's first imprisonment at Rome, because there was
no journey into Macedonia prior to that event, which
accorded vvitli the circumstance of leaving " Timothy
behind at Ephesus." The journey of St. Paul from
Crete, alluded to in the epistle before us, and in
which Titus " was left in Crete to set in order the
things that were wanting," must, in like manner, be
carried to the period which intervened between his
first and second imprisonment. For the history,
which reaches, we know, to the time of St. Paul's
first imprisonment, contains no account of his going
to Crete, except upon his voyage as a prisoner to
Rome ; and that this could not be the occasion
referred to in our epistle is evident from hence, that
when St. Paul wrote this epistle, he appears to have
been at liberty ; whereas after that voyage, he con-
tinued for two years at least in confinement. Again,
it is agreed that St. Paul wrote his First Epistle to
Timothy from Macedonia : " As I besought thee to

£7r»(rx07T'ov avsyKX-rirov sivoci, ws Qsou oikovo[mov, fjiy) avdaSrj, [xy/ o£-
<piXa,ya.QoVy (ruKp^ovoc, Sixcciov, o<riov, ay/.^atr)."

IIOU/E VAUrjNE. J24l

abide still at Ephesus, when I went (or came) into
Macedonia." And that he was in these parts, /. e.
in this peninsida, when he wrote the Epistle to Titus,
is rendered probable by his directing Titus to come
to him to Nicopolis : " When I shall send Artemas
unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent (make haste) to
come unto me to Nicopolis : for I have determined
there to winter.'* The most noted city of that name
was in Epirus, near to Actium. And I think the
form of speaking, as well as the nature of the case,
renders it probable that the writer was at Nicopolis,
or in the neighbourhood thereof, when he dictated
this direction to Titus.

Upon the whole, if we may be allowed to suppose
that St. Paul, after his liberation at Rome, sailed into
Asia, taking Crete in his way ; that from Asia and
from Ephesus, the capital of that country, he pro-
ceeded into Macedonia, and crossing the peninsula
in his progress, came into the neighbourhood of Ni-
copolis ; we have a route which falls in with every
thing. It executes the intention expressed by the
apostle of visiting Colosse and Philippi as soon as he
should be set at liberty at Rome. It allows him to
leave " Titus at Crete," and " Timothy at Ephesus,
as he went into Macedonia :" and to write to both
not long after from the peninsula of Greece, and pro-
bably the neighbourhood of Nicopolis : thus bringing
together the dates of these two letters, and thereby
accounting for that affinity between them, both in
subject and language, which our remarks have pointed
out. I confess that the journey which we have thus
traced out for St. Paul, is, in a great measure, hy-
pothetic : but it should be observed, that it is a

VOL. III. R

242 IWRM PAULIN/E.

species"of consistency, which seldom belongs to false-
hood, to admit of an hypothesis, which includes a
great number of independent circumstances without
contradiction.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON.

No. I.

The singular correspondency bet\yeen this epistle
and that to the Colossians has been remarked al-
ready. An assertion in the Epistle to the Colossians,
viz. that " Onesimus was one of them,'* is verified,
not by any mention of Colosse, any the most distant
intimation concerning the place of Philemon's abode,
but singly by stating Onesimus to be Philemon's
servant, and by joining in the salutation Philemon
with Archippus ; for this Archippus, when we go
back to the Epistle to the Colossians, appears to have
been an inhabitant of that city, and, as it should
seem, to have held an office of authority in that
church. The case stands thus. Take the Epistle
to the Colossians alone, and no circumstance is dis-
coverable which makes out the assertion, that Onesi-
mus was "one of them." Take the Epistle to Phi-
lemon alone, and nothing at all appears concerning
the place to which Philemon or his servant Onesi-
mus belonged. For any thing that is said in the
epistle, Philemon might have been a Thessalonian,

a Philippian, or an Ephesian, as well as a Colossian.
Put the two epistles together, and the matter is clear.
The reader perceives a junction of circumstances,
which ascertains the conclusion at once. Now, all
that is necessary to be added in this place is, that
this correspondency evinces the genuineness of one
epistle, as well as of the other. It is like comparing
the two parts of a cloven tally. Coincidence proves
the authenticity of both.

No. II.

And this coincidence is perfect ; not only in the
main article of showing, by implication, Onesimus to
to be a Colossian, but in many dependent circum-
stances.

1. " I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom
1 have sent again.'* (ver. 10 — 12.) It appears from
the Epistle to the Colossians, that, in truth, Onesi-
mus was sent at that time to Colosse : " All my state
shall Tychicus declare, whom I have sent unto you
for the same purpose, "mth Onesimus^ a faithful and
beloved brother." Colos. chap. iv. 7 — 9-

2. *' I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, xohom
I have begotten in my hondsJ' (ver. 10.) It appears
from the preceding quotation, that Onesimus was
with St. Paul when he wrote the Epistle to the Co-
lossians ; and that he wrote that epistle in imprison-
^lent is evident from his declaration in the fourth
chapter and third verse : " Praying also for us, that
God would open unto us a door of utterance, to
speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in
bonds''

3. St. Paul bids Philemon prepare for him a

R 2

244 HOR/E PAULINyE.

lodging : " For I trust," says he, " that through
your prayers 1 shall be given unto you." This agrees
with the expectation of speedy deliverance, which he
expressed in another epistle written during the same
imprisonment : '* Him" (Timothy) '* I hope to send
presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with
me ; hut I trust hi the Lord that I also myself shall
come shortlij^ Phil. chap. ii. 23, 24.

4. As the letter to Philemon, and that to the
Colossians, were written at the same time, and sent
by the same messenger, the one to a particular in-
habitant, the other to the church of Colosse, it may
be expected that the same or nearly the same persons
would be about St. Paul, and join with him, as was
the practice, in the salutations of the epistle. Ac-
cordingly we find the names of Aristarchus, Marcus,
Epaphras, Luke, and Demas, in both epistles. Ti-
mothy, who is joined with St. Paul in the super-
scription of the Epistle to the Colossians, is joined
with him in this. Tychicus did not salute Philemon,
because he accompanied the epistle to Colosse,
and would undoubtedly there see him. Yet the
reader of the Epistle to Philemon will remark one
considerable diversity in the catalogue of saluting
friends, and which shows that the catalogue was not
copied from that to the Colossians. In the Epistle
to the Colossians, Aristarchus is called by St. Paul
his fellow-prisoner, Colos. chap. iv. 10 ; in the Epi-
stle to Philemon, Aristarchus is mentioned without
any addition, and the title of fellow-prisoner is given
to Epaphras.*

* Dr. Benson observes, and perhaps truly, that the appellation
«)f fellow-prisoner, ;is applied hy St. Paid to Epaphras, did not

HOIJ.E PAULINE. 245

And let it also be observed, that notwithstandina:
the close and circumstantial agreement between the
two epistles, this is not the case of an opening left in
a genuine writing, which an impostor is induced to
fill up ; nor of a reference to some writing not extant,
which sets a sophist at work to supply the loss, in
like manner as, because St. Paul was supposed (Colos.
chap. iv. 16) to allude to an epistle written by him
to the Laodicean s, some person has from thence
taken the hint of uttering a forgery under that title.
The present, I say, is not that case ; for Philemon's
name is not mentioned in the Epistle to the Co-
lossians ; Onesimus' servile condition is no where
hinted at, any more than his crime, his flight, or the
place or time of his conversion. The story therefore
of the epistle, if it be a fiction, is a fiction to which
the author could not have been guided, by any thing
he had read in St. Paul's genuine writings.

No. III.

Ver. 4, 5. ** I th^nk my God. making mention
of thee always in my prayers, hearing of thy love and
faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and
toward all saints."

^^ Hearing of thy love and faith. ''^ This is the
form of speech which St. Paul was wont to use to-
wards those churches which he had not seen, or then
visited: see Rom. chap. i. 8; Ephes. chap. i. 15;

imply that they were imprisoned together at the time; any more
than your calling a person your fellow-traveller imports that you
^re then upon your travels. If he had, upon any former occa-
sion, travelled with you, you might afterwards speak of him
under that title. It is just so with the term fellow-prisoner.

246 HOllE PAULIN/E.

Col. chap. i. 3, 4. Toward those churclies and
persons, with whom he was previously acquainted, he
employed a different phrase ; as " I thank my God
always on your behalf," (1 Cor. chap. i. 4 ; S Thess.
chap. i. 3 ;) or, " upon every remembrance of you,"
(Phil. chap. i. 3 ; 1 Thess. chap. i. 2, 3 ; 2 Tim.
chap. i. 3 ;) and never speaks of hearing of them.
Yet, I think it must be concluded, from the nine-
teenth verse of this epistle, that Philemon had been
converted by St. Paul himself: *' Albeit, I do not
say to thee how thou owest itnto me even thine own
self besides." Here then is a peculiarity. Let us
inquire whether the epistle supplies any circumstance
which will account for it. We have seen that it may
be made out, not from the epistle itself, but from a
comparison of the epistle with that to the Colossians,
that Philemon was an inhabitant of Colosse : and it
farther appears from the Epistle to the Colossians,
that St. Paul had never been in that city ; "I would
that ye knew what great conflict I have for you and
for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have
not seen ray face in the flesh." Col. ch. ii. 1.
Although, therefore, St. Paul had formerly met with
Philemon at some other place, and had been the
immediate instrument of his conversion, yet Phi-
lemon's faith and conduct afterwards, inasmuch as
he lived in a city which St. Paul had never visited,
could only be known to him by fame and reputation.

No. IV.

The tenderness and delicacy of this epistle have
long been admired : " Though I might be much
bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convc-

HOR.E PAULlNyE. 247

nient, yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being
such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner
of Jesus Christ ; I beseech thee for my son Onesimus,
whom I have begotten in my bonds." There is
something certainly very melting and persuasive in
this and every part of the epistle. Yet, in my
opinion, the character of St. Paul prevails in it
throughout. The warm, affectionate, authoritative
teacher is interceding with an absent friend for a
beloved convert. He urges his suit with an earnest-
ness, befitting perhaps not so much the occasion, as
the ardour and sensibility of his own mind. Here
also, as every where, he shows himself conscious of
the weight and dignity of his mission ; nor does he
suffer Philemon for a moment to forget it : " I
might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that
which is convenient." He is careful also to recall,
though obliquely, to Philemon's memory, the sacred
obligation under which he had laid him, by bringing
to him the knowledge of Jesus Christ : " I do not
say to thee how thou ovvest to me even thine own
self besides." Without laying aside, therefore, the
apostolic character, our author softens the imperative
style of his address, by mixing with it every sentiment
and consideration that could move the heart of his
correspondent. Aged and in prison, he is content
to supplicate and entreat. Onesimus was rendered
dear to him by his conversion and his services : the
child of his affliction, and " ministering unto him in
the bonds of the Gospel." This ought to recom-
mend him, whatever had been his fault, to Philemon's
forgiveness : " Receive him as myself, as my own
bowels." Every thing, however, should be voluntary.

MB HOILE PAULIN^^.

St. Paul was determined that Philemoii*s compliance
should flow from his own bounty : *' Without thy
mind would I do nothing, that thy benefit should not
be as it were of necessity, but willingly ;" trusting
nevertheless to his gratitude and attachment for the
performance of all that he requested, and for more :
" Having confidence in thy obedience, I wrote unto
thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than
I say."

St. Paul's discourse at Miletus ; his speech before
Agrippa ; his Epistle to the Romans, as hath been
remarked (No. VIII.) ; that to the Galatians, chap,
iv. 11 — 20; to the Philippians, chap. i. 29 — chap,
ii. 2 ; the Second to the Corinthians, chap, vi. 1 —
13 ; and indeed some part or other of almost every
epistle, exhibit examples of a similar application to
the feelings and affections of the persons whom he
addresses. And it is observable, that these pathetic
effusions, drawn for the most part from his own
sufferings and situation, usually precede a command,
soften a rebuke, or mitigate the harshness of some
disagreeable truth.

CHAPTER XV.

THE SUBSCRIPTIONS OF THE EPISTLES.

Six of these subscriptions are false or Improbable ;
that is, they are either absolutely contradicted by the
contents of the epistle, or are difficult to be reconciled
with them.

HOIl/E PAULlNvE. 249

I. The subscription of the First Epistle to the
Corinthians states that it was written from Philippi,
notwithstanding that, in the sixteenth chapter and
the eighth verse of the epistle, St. Paul infoniis the
Corinthians that he will " tarry at Ephesus until
Pentecost ;" and notwithstanding that he begins
the salutations in the epistle by telling them ** the
churches of Asia salute you ;'' a pretty evident in-
dication that he himself was in Asia at this time.

II. The Epistle to the Galatians is by the sub-
scription dated from Rome ; yet, in the epistle itself,
St. Paul expresses his surprise "that they were so
soon removing from him that called them ;" whereas
his journey to Rome was ten years posterior to the
conversion of the Galatians. And what, I think, is
more conclusive, the author though speaking of him-
self in this more than any other epistle, does not
once mention his bonds, or call himself a prisoner ;
which he had not failed to do in every one of the
four epistles written from that city, and during that
imprisonment.

III. The First Epistle to the Thessalonians was
written, the subscription tells us, from Athens ; yet
the epistle refers expressly to the coming of Timo-
theus from Thessalonica (ch. iii. 6) : and the history
informs us. Acts, xviii. 5, that Timothy came out of
Macedonia to St. Paul at Corinth.

IV. The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians is
dated, and without any discoverable reason, from
Athens also. If it be truly the second ; if it refer,
as it appears to do (ch. ii. 2), to the first, and the
first was written from Corinth, the place must be
erroneously assigned, for the history does not allow

ii50 houje pauliN/E.

us to suppose that St. Paul, after he had reached
Corinth, went back to Athens.

V. The First Epistle to Timothy the subscription
asserts to have been sent from Laodicea ; yet, when
St. Paul writes, " I besought thee to abide still at
Ephesus, TTOfEi'o/xEj'Of £;j M.aKs$ovi!x,v (when I set out for
Macedonia),'* the reader is naturally led to conclude,
that he wrote the letter upon his arrival in that
country.

VI. The Epistle to Titus is dated from Nicopolis
in Macedonia, whilst no city of that name is known
to have existed in that province.

The use, and the only use, which I make of these
observations, is to show how easily errors and con-
tradictions steal in where the writer is not guided by
original knowledge. There are only eleven distinct
assignments of date to St. Paul's Epistles (for the
four written from Rome may be considered as plainly
contemporary) j and of these, six seem to be erroneous.
I do not attribute any authority to these subscrip-
tions. I believe them to have been conjectures
founded sometimes upon loose traditions, but more
generally upon a consideration of some particular
text, without sufficiently comparing it with other
parts of the epistle, with different epistles, or with
the history. Suppose then that the subscriptions had
come down to us as authentic parts of the epistles,
there would have been more contrarieties and dif-
ficulties arising out of these final verses, than from
all the rest of the volume. Yet, if the epistles had
been forged, the whole must have been made up of
the same elements as those of which the subscriptions
are composed, viz. tradition, conjecture, and infer-

IIOR-t: PAULINyE. 251

cnce : and it would have remained to be accounted
for, how, whilst so many errors were crowded into
the concluding clauses of the letters, so much con-
sistency should be preserved in other parts.

The same reflection arises from observing the
oversights and mistakes which learned men have
committed, when arguing upon allusions which relate
to time and place, or when endeavouring to digest
scattered circumstances into a continued story. It is
indeed the same case ; for these subscriptions must
be regarded as ancient scholia, and as nothing more.
Of this liability to error I can present the reader
with a notable instance ; and which I bring forward
for no other purpose than that to which I apply the
erroneous subscriptions. Ludovicus Capellus, in that
part of his Historia Apostolica Illustrata, which is
entitled De Ord'iue Epist. Paul, writing upon the
Second Epistle to the Corinthians, triumphs un-
mercifully over the want of sagacity in Baronius,
who, it seems, makes St. Paul write his Epistle to
Titus from Macedonia upon his second visit into that
province ; whereas it appears from the history, that
Titus, instead of being at Crete, where the epistle
places him, was at that time sent by the apostle from
Macedonia to Corinth. '* Animadvertere est," says
Capellus, " magnam hominis illius a'^xsi^ia.v, qui vult
Titum a Paulo in Cretam abductum, illicque relic-
tum, cum inde Nicopolim navigaret, quem tamen
agnoscit a Paulo ex Macedonia missum esse Co-
rinthum." This probably will be thought a detection
of inconsistency in Baronius. But what is the most
remarkable, is, that in the same chapter in which he
thus indulges his contempt of Baronius's judgement,

S52 HOR/E PAULINA.

Capellus himself falls into an error of the same kind,
and more gross and palpable than that which he
reproves. For he begins the chapter by stating the
Second Epistle to the Corinthians and the First
Epistle to Timothy to be nearly contemporary ; to
have been both written during the apostle's second
visit into Macedonia ; and that a doubt subsisted
concerning the immediate priority of their dates :
*' Posterior ad eosdem Corinthios Epistola, et prior
ad Timotheum certant de prioritate, et sub judice lis
est ; utraque autem scripta est paulo postquam Paulus
Epheso discessisset, adeoque dum Macedoniam per-
agraret, sed utra tempore prgecedat, non liquet."
Now, in the first place, it is highly improbable that
the two epistles should have been written either
nearly together, or during the same journey through
Macedonia ; for, in the Epistle to the Corinthians,
Timothy appears to have been xvith St. Paul ; in the
epistle addressed to him, to have been left behind at
Ephesus, and not only left behind, but directed to
continue there, till St. Paul should return to that
city. In the second place, it is inconceivable, that a
question should be proposed concerning the priority
of date of the two epistles ; for, when St. Paul, in his
Epistle to Timothy, opens his address to him by
saying, "as I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus
when 1 went into Macedonia," no reader can doubt
but that he here refers to the last interview which
had passed between them ; that he had not seen him
since ; whereas if the epistle be posterior to that to
the Corinthians, yet written upon the same visit into
Macedonia, this could not be true ; for as Timothy
was along with St. Paul when he wrote to the Co-

HOKE PAULIN/E. 253

rinthians, he must, upon this supposition, have passed
over to St. Paul in Macedonia after he had been left
by him at Ephesus, and must have returned to
Ephesus again before the epistle was written. What
misled Ludovicus Capellus was simply this, — that he
had entirely overlooked Timothy's name in the super-
scription of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians.
Which oversight appears not only in the quotation
which we have given, but from his telling us, as he
does, that Timothy came from Ephesus to St. Paul
at Corinth^ whereas the superscription proves that
Timothy was already with St. Paul when he wrote to
the Corinthians from Macedonia.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE CONCLUSION.

In the outset of this inquiry, the reader was di-
rected to consider the Acts of the Apostles and the
thirteen epistles of St. Paul as certain ancient ma-
nuscripts lately discovered in the closet of some
celebrated library. We have adhered to this view of
the subject. External evidence of every kind has
been removed out of sight ; and our endeavours
have been employed to collect the indications of
truth and authenticity, which appeared to exist in
the writings themselves, and to result from a com-
parison of their different parts. It is not however

Sol HOll^ PAULIN/E.

necessary to conHiuie this supposition longer. The
testimony which other remains of contemporary, or
the monuments of adjoining ages afford to the recep-
tion, notoriety, and public estimation of a book, form,
no doubt, the first proof of its genuineness. And in
no books whateA'^er is this proof more complete, than
in those at present under our consideration. The
inquiries of learned men, and, above all, of the
excellent Lardner, who never overstates a point of
evidence, and whose fidelity in citing his authorities
has in no one instance been impeached, have esta-
blished^ concerning these writings, the follovving pro-
positions :

I. That in the age immediately posterior to that
in which St. Paul lived, his letters were publicly read
and acknowledged.

Some of them are quoted or alluded to by almost
every Christian writer that followed, by Clement of
Rome, by Hennas, by Ignatius, by Polycarp, dis-
ciples or contemporaries of the apostles ; by Justin
Martyr, by the churches of Gaul, by Irenaeus, by
Athenagoras, by Theophilus, by Clement of Alex-
andria, by Hermias, by Tertullian, who occupied the
succeeding age. Now when we find a book quoted
or referred to by an ancient author, we are entitled
to conclude, that it was read and received in the age
and country in which that author lived. And this
conclusion does not, in any degree, rest upon the
judgement or character of the author making such
reference. Proceeding by this rule, we have, con-
cerning the First Epistle to the Corinthians in parti-
cular, within forty years after the Epistle was written,
evidence, not only of its being extant at Corinth, but

HOIH^. PATJLIN/E. ^55

of its being known and read at Rome. Clement,
bishop of that city, writing to the church of Corinth,
uses these words : " Take into your hands the epistle
of the blessed Paul the apostle. What did he at first
write unto you in the beginning of the Gospel ?
Verily he did by the Spirit admonish you concerning
himself, and Cephas, and A polios, because that even
then you did form parties *." This was written at
a time when probably some must have been living at
Corinth, who remembered St. Paul's ministry there
and the receipt of the epistle. The testimony is still
more valuable, as it shows that the epistles were pre-
served in the churches to which they were sent, and
that they were spread and propagated from them to
the rest of the Christian community. Agreeably to
which natural mode and order of their publication,
Tertullian, a century afterwards, for proof of the
integrity and genuineness of the apostolic writings,
bids " any one, who is willing to exercise his curiosity
profitably in the business of their salvation, to visit
the apostolical churches, in which their very authentic
letters are recited, ipsae authenticae literae eorum reci-
tantur." Then he goes on : " Is Achaia near you ?
You have Corinth. If you are not far from Mace-
donia, you have Philippi, you have Thessalonica. If
you can go to Asia, you have Ephesus ; but if you
are near to Italy, you have Rome t." I adduce
this passage to show, that the distinct churches or
Christian societies, to which St. Paul's epistles were
sent, subsisted for some ages afterwards ; that his
several epistles were all along respectively read in

* See Lai'dner, vol. xii. p. 22. f Lardner^ vol. ii. p. 598.

256 IIOR.E pax: LINE.

those churches ; that Christians at large received
them from those churches, and appealed to those
churches for their originality and authenticity.

Arguing in like manner from citations and allu-
sions, we have, within the space of a hundred and
fifty years from the time that the first of St. Paul's
epistles was written, proofs of almost all of them
being read, in Palestine, Syria, the countries of Asia
Minor, in Egypt, in that part of Africa which used
the Latin tongue, in Greece, Italy, and Gaul *. I
do not mean simply to assert, that within the space of
a hundred and fifty years, St. Paul's epistles were
read in those countries, for I believe that they were
read and circulated from the beginning ; but that
proofs of their being so read occur within that period.
And when it is considered how few of the primitive
Christians wrote, and of what was written how much is
lost, we are to account it extraordinary, or rather as
a sure proof of the extensiveness of the reputation of
these writings, and of the general respect in which
they were held, that so many testimonies, and of
such antiquity, are still extant. " In the remaining
works of Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and Ter-
tullian, there are perhaps more and larger quotations
of the small volume of the New Testament, than of
all the works of Cicero, in the writings of all cha-
racters for several ages t." We must add, that the
epistles of Paul come in for their full share of this
observation ; and that all the thirteen epistles, except
that to Philemon, which is not quoted by Irenaeus or
Clement, and which probably escaped notice merely

* See Lardner's Recapitulation, vol. xii. p. 53. t Ibid.

HOllyE PAULIN7E. JJ57

by its brevity, are severally cited, and expressly re-
cognised as St. Paul's by each of these Christian
writers. The Ebionites, an early though incon-
siderable Christian sect, rejected St. Paul and his
epistles * ; that is, they rejected these epistles, not
because they were not, but because they were St.
Paul's ; and because, adhering to the obligation of
the Jewish law, they chose to dispute his doctrine
and authority. Their suffrage as to the genuineness
of the epistles does not contradict that of other
Christians. Marcion, an heretical writer in the
former part of the second century, is said by Ter-
tullian to have rejected three of the epistles which
we now receive, viz. the two Epistles to Timothy and
the Epistle to Titus. It appears to me not impro-
bable, that Marcion might make some such distinction
as this, that no apostolic epistle was to be admitted
which was not read or attested by the church to
which it was sent ; for it is remarkable that, together
with these epistles to private persons, he rejected also
the catholic epistles. Now the catholic epistles and
the epistles to private persons agree in the circum-
stance of wanting this particular species of attestation.
Marcion, it seems, acknowledged the epistle to Phi-
lemon, and is upbraided for his inconsistency in
doing so by Tertullian t, who asks " why, when he
received a letter written to a single person, he should
refuse two to Timothy and one to Titus, composed
upon the affairs of the church ?" This passage so far
favours our account of Marcion's objection, as it
shows that the objection was supposed by Tertullian

* Lardner, vol. ii. p. 808. t Vol. xiv. p. 455,

VOL. in. S

258 IIOR.E FAUI,IN;E.

to have been founded in something which belonged
to the nature of a private letter.

Nothing of the works of Marcion remains. Pro-
bably he was, after all, a rash, arbitrary, licentious
critic (if he deserved indeed the name of critic), and
who offered no reason for his determination. What
St. Jerome says of him intimates this, and is besides
founded in good sense : speaking of him and Ba-
silides, " If they assigned any reasons," says he,
"why they did not reckon these epistles," viz. the
First and Second to Timothy and the Epistle to
Titus, " to be the apostle's, we would have en-
deavoured to have answered them, and perhaps might
have satisfied the reader : but when they take upon
them, by their own authority, to pronounce one
epistle to be Paul's and another not, they can only
be replied to in the same manner*." Let it be
remembered, however, that Marcion received ten
of these epistles. His authority, therefore, even if
his credit had been better than it is, forms a very
small exception to the uniformity of the evidence.
Of Basilides we know still less than we do of Mar-
cion. The same observation, however, belongs to
him, viz. that his objection, as fjvr as appears from
this passage of St. Jerome, was confined to the three
private epistles. Yet is this the only opinion which
can be said to disturb the consent of the first two
centuries of the Christian asra : for as to Tatian, who
is reported by Jerome alone to have rejected some of
St. Paul's epistles, the extravagant or rather delirious
notions into which he fell, take away all weight and

* Lardner, vol. xiv. p. 458.

HOU.E PAUUN/E. g5Q

credit from his jiulgement.- If, iiuleed, Jerome's

account of this circumstance be correct ; for it ap-
pears from much older writers than Jerome, that
Tatian owned and used many of these epistles *.

II. They, who in those ages disputed about so
many other points, agreed in acknowledging the
Scriptures now before us. Contending sects ap-
pealed to them in their controversies, with equal and
unreserved submission. When they were urged by
one side, however they might be interpreted or
inisinterpreted by the other, their authority was
not questioned. " Reliqui omnes," says Irenasus,
speaking of Marcion, " falso scientise nomine inflati,
scripturas quidem confitentur, interpretationes vero
convertunt f."

III. When the genuineness of some other writings
which were in circulation, and even of a few which
are now received into the canon, was contested, these
were never called into dispute. Whatever was the
objection, or, whether in truth there ever was any
real objection, to the authenticity of the Second
Epistle of Peter, the Second and Third of John, the
Epistle of James, or that of Jude, or to the book
of the Revelation of St. John ; the doubts that ap-
peared to have been entertained concerning them,
exceedingly strengthen the force of the testimony as
to those writings about which there was no doubt ;
because it shows, that the matter was a subject,
amongst the early Christians, of examination and

* Lardiier, vol. i. p. 313.

f Iren. advers. Heer. quoted by Lardner^ vol. xv. p. 425.

^60 HORyE PAULINiE.

discussion ; and that where there was any room to
doubt, they did doubt.

What Eusebius hath left upon the subject is
directly to the purpose of this obsei^ation. Euse-
bius, it is well known, divided the ecclesiastical
writings which were extant in his time into three
classes ; the " avavr/ppijra, uncontradicted," as he calls
them in one chapter; or, "scriptures universally
acknowledged," as he calls them in another : the
** controverted, yet well known and approved by
many ;" and " the spurious." What were the shades
of difference in the books of the second, or of those
in the third class ; or what it was precisely that he
meant by the term spurious ^ it is not necessary in
this place to inquire. It is sufficient for us to find,
that the thirteen epistles of St. Paul are placed by
liim in the first class, without any sort of hesitation
or doubt.

It is farther also to be collected from the chap-
ter in which this distinction is laid down, that the
method made use of by Eusebius, and by the Chris-
tians of his time, viz. the close of the third century,
in judging concerning the sacred authority of any
books, was to inquire after and consider the testi-
mony of those who lived near the age of the apo-
stles *•

IV. That no ancient writing, which is attested as
these epistles are, hath had its authenticity disproved,
or is in fact questioned. The controversies which
have been moved concerning suspected writings, as

*Lardrier, vol. viii. p. 106.

HOR^ PAULINyE. • S61

the epistles, for instance, of Phalaris, or the eighteen
epistles of Cicero, begin by showing that this attesta-
tion is wanting. That being proved, the question is
thrown back upon internal marks of spuriousness or
authenticity ; and in these the dispute is occupied.
In which disputes it is to be observed, that the con-
tested writings are commonly attacked by arguments
drawn from some opposition which they betray to
"authentic history," to "true epistles," to the
" real sentiments or circumstances of the author
whom they personate * j" which authentic history,
which true epistles, which real sentiments them-
selves, are no other than ancient documents, whose
early existence and reception can be proved, in the
manner in which the writings before us are traced up
to the age of their reputed author, or to ages near
to his. A modern who sits down to compose the
history of some ancient period, has no stronger evi-
dence to appeal to for the most confident assertion,
or the most undisputed fact that he delivers, than
writings whose genuineness is proved by the same
medium through which we evince the authenticity of
ours. Nor, whilst he can have recourse to such
authorities as these, does he apprehend any un-
certainty in his accounts, from the suspicion of
spuriousness or imposture in his materials.

V. It cannot be shown that any forgeries, pro-
perly so called t, that is, writings published under

* See the tracts written in the controversy between Tunstal
and Middleton, upon certain suspected epistles ascribed to
Cicero.

1 1 believe that there is a great deal of truth in Dr. Laidncr's
observation, that comparatively few of those books which we

•262 HORyE PAULlNyE.

the name of the person who did not compose them,
made their appearance in the first century of the
Christian sera, in which century these epistles un-
doubtedly existed. I shall set down under this
proposition the guarded words of Lardner himself:
" There are no quotations of any books of them
(spurious and apocryphal books) in the apostolical fa-
thers, by whom I mean Barnabas, Clement of Rome,
Hermas, Ignatius, and Polycarp, whose writings
reach from the year of our Lord 70 to the year
108. / sai/ this conjidently, because I think it has
heen proved.'' Lardner, vol. xii. p. 158.

Nor when they did appear were they much used
by the primitive Christians. '* Irenaeus quotes not
any of these books. He mentions some of them, but
he never quotes them. The same may be said of
Tertullian : he has mentioned a book called * Acts
of Paul and Thecla :* but it is only to condemn it.
Clement of Alexandria and Origen have mentioned
and quoted several such books, but never as au-
thority, and sometimes with express marks of dislike.
Eusebius quoted no such books in any of his works.
He has mentioned them indeed, but how ? Not by
way of approbation, but to show that they were of
little or no value, and that they never were received
by the sounder part of Christians." Now, if with
this, which is advanced after the most minute and
diligent examination, we compare what the same
cautious writer had before said of our received Scrip-
tures, "that in the works of three only of the above-
call apocryplial, were strictly and originally forgeries. See
Lardner, vol. xii. p. 167.

HOR.E TAULIN.i:. 263

mentioned fathers, there are more and larger quota-
tions of the small volume of the New Testament,
than of all the works of Cicero in the writers of all
characters for several ages ;'* and if with the marks of
obscurity or condemnation, which accompanied the
mention of the several apocryphal Christian writings,
when they happened to be mentioned at all, we con-
trast what Dr. Lardner's work completely and in
detail makes out concerning the writings which we
defend, and what, having so made out, he thought
himself authorised in his conclusion to assert, that
these books were not only received from the begin-
ning, but received with the greatest respect ; have
been publicly and solemnly read in the assemblies of
Christians throughout the world, in every age from
that time to this ; early translated into the languages
of divers countries and people ; commentaries writ to
explain and illustrate them ; quoted by way of proof
in all arguments of a religious nature ; recommended
to the perusal of unbelievers, as containing the au-
thentic account of the Christian doctrine ; when we
attend, I say, to this representation, we perceive in
it not only full proof of the early notoriety of these
books, but a clear and sensible line of discrimination,
which separates these from the pretensions of any
others.

The epistles of St. Paul stand particularly free of
any doubt or confusion that might arise from this
source. Until the conclusion of the fourth century,
no intimation appears of any attempt whatever being
made to counterfeit these writings ; and then it ap-
pears only of a single and obscure instance. Jerome,
who flourished in the year 392, has this expression :

264 HORiE PAULlNyE.

*' Legunt quidain et ad Laodicenses ; sed ab omni-.
bus exploditur," there is also an Epistle to the
Laodiceans, but it is rejected by every body *. Theo-
doret, who wrote in the year 423, speaks of this
epistle in the same terms "j*. Beside these, I know
not whether any ancient writer mentions it. It was
certainly unnoticed during the first three centuries
of the church ; and when it came afterwards to be
mentioned, it was mentioned only to show, that,
though such a writing did exist, it obtained no credit.
It is probable that the forgery to which Jerome al-
ludes, is the epistle which we now have under that
title. If so, as hath been already observed, it is
nothing more than a collection of sentences from the
genuine epistles ; and was perhaps, at first, rather
the exercise of some idle pen, than any serious at-
tempt to impose a forgery upon the public. Of an
Epistle to the Corinthians under St. Paul's name,
which was brought into Europe in the present century,-
antiquity is entirely silent. It was unheard of for
sixteen centuries ; and at this day, though it be ex-
tant, and was first found in the Armenian language,
it is not, by the Christians of that country, received
into their Scriptures. I hope, after this, that there
is no reader who will think there is any competition
of credit, or of external proof, between these and the
received Epistles ; or rather, who will not acknow-
ledge the evidence of authenticity to be confirmed
by the want of success which attended imposture.

When we take into our hands the letters which
the suffrage and consent of antiquity hath thus

* Lardtiei'j vol. x. \k 103. f l^aiclner, vol. xi. ]). 88,

UORM PAULINE. 265

transmitted to us, the first thing that strikes our at-
tention is the air of reality and business, as well as of
seriousness and conviction, which pervades the whole.
Let the sceptic read them. If he be not sensible of
these qualities in them, the argument can have no
weight with him. If he be ; if he perceive in almost
every page the language of a mind actuated by real
occasions, and operating upon real circumstances, I
would wish it to be observed, that the proof which
arises from this perception is not to be deemed occult
or imaginary, because it is incapable of being drawn
out in words, or of being conveyed to the apprehen-
sion of the reader in any other way than by sending
him to the books themselves.

And here, in its proper place, comes in the argu-
ment which it has been the office of these pages to
unfold. St. Paul's Epistles are connected with the
history by their particularity, and by the numerous
circumstances which are found in them. When we
descend to an examination and comparison of these
circumstances, we not only observe the history and
the epistles to be independent documents unknown
to, or at least unconsulted by, each other, but we
find the substance, and oftentimes very minute arti-
cles, of the history, recognised in the epistles, by al-
lusions and references, which can neither be imputed
to design, nor, without a foundation in truth, be ac-
counted for by accident ; by hints and expressions
and single words dropping as it were fortuitously
from the pen of the writer, or drawn forth, each by
some occasion proper to the place in which it occurs,
but widely removed from any view to consistency or
agreement. These, we know, are effects which real-

W6 HORtE PAULINA'.

ity naturally produces, but which, without reality at
the bottom, can hardly be conceived to exist.

When, therefore, with a body of external evidence,
which is relied upon, and which experience proves
may safely be relied upon, in appreciating the credit
of ancient writings, we combine characters of genu-
ineness and originality which are not found, and
which, in the nature and order of things, cannot be
expected to be found in spurious compositions ; what-
ever difficulties we may meet with in other topics of
the Christian evidence, we can have little in yielding
our assent to the following conclusions : That there
was such a person as St. Paul ; that he lived in the
age which we ascribe to him ; that he went about
preaching the religion of which Jesus Christ was the
founder ; and that the letters which we now read were
actually written by him upon the subject, and in the
course of that his ministry.

And if it be true that we are in possession of the
very letters which St. Paul wrote, let us consider
what confirmation they afford to the Christian history.
In my opinion they substantiate the whole transaction.
The great object of modern research is to come at the
epistolary correspondence of the times. Amidst the
obscurities, the silence, or the contradictions of hi-
story, if a letter can be found, we regard it as the
discovery of a land-mark ; as that by which we can
correct, adjust, or supply the imperfections and un-
certainties of other accounts. One cause of the supe-
rior credit which is attributed to letters is this, that
the facts which they disclose generally come out i?ici-
dentally, and therefore without design to mislead the
public by false or exaggerated accounts. This reason

HOR'K PAULINA. 267

may be applied to St. Paul's epistles with as much
justice as to any letters whatever. Nothing could be
farther from the intention of the writer than to record
any part of his history. That his history was in fact
made public by these letters, and has by the same
means been transmitted to future ages, is a secondary
and itnthought-of effect. The sincerity, therefore,
of the apostle's declarations, cannot reasonably be dis-
puted ; at least we are sure that it was not vitiated by
any desire of setting himself off to the public at large.
But these letters form a part of the muniments of
Christianity, as much to be valued for their. contents,
as for their originality. A more inestimable treasure
the care of antiquity could not have sent down to us.
Beside the proof they afford of the general reality of
St. Paul's history, of the knowledge which the author
of the Acts of the Apostles had obtained of that
history, and the consequent probability that he was,
what he professes himself to have been, a companion
of the apostle's ; beside the support they lend to these
important inferences, they meet specifically some of
the principal objections upon which the adversaries of
Christianity have thought proper to rely. In parti-
cular they show,

I. That Christianity was not a story set on foot
amidst the confusions which attended and imme-
diately preceded the destruction of Jerusalem ; when
many extravagant reports were circulated, when men's
minds were broken by terror and distress, when amidst
the tumults that surrounded them inquiry was im-
practicable. These letters show incontestably that the
religion had fixed and established itself before this
istato of things took place.

268 HORyE PAULlNyE.

II. Whereas it hath been insinuated, that our
Gospels may have been made up of reports and stories,
which were current at the time, we may observe that,
with respect to the Epistles, this is impossible. A
man cannot write the history of his own life from re-
ports ; nor, what is the same thing, be led by reports
to refer to passages and transactions in which he states
himself to have been immediately present and active.
I do not allow that this insinuation is applied to the
historical part of the New Testament with any colour
of justice or probability j but I say, that to the Epistles
it is not applicable at all.

III. These letters prove that the converts to
Christianity were not drawn from the barbarous, the
mean, or the ignorant set of men which the repre-
sentations of infidelity would sometimes make them.
We learn from letters the character not only of the
writer, but, in some measure, of the persons to whom
they are written. To suppose that these letters were
addressed to a rude tribe, incapable of thought or re-
flection, is just as reasonable as to suppose Lockers
Essay on the Human Understanding to have been
written for the instruction of savages. Whatever may
be thought of these letters in other respects, either of
diction or argument, they are certainly removed as
far as possible from the habits and comprehension of
a barbarous people.

IV. St. Paul's history, I mean so much of it as
may be collected from his letters, is so implicated
with that of the other apostles, and with the substance
indeed of the Christian history itself, that I appre-
hend it will be found impossible to admit St. Paul's
story (I do not speak of the miraculous part of it) to

HOR7E PAULINA. 269

be true, and yet to reject the rest as fabulous. For
instance, can any one believe that there was such a
man as Paul, a preacher of Christianity, in the age
which we assign to him, and not believe that there
was also at the same time such a man as Peter, and
James, and other apostles, who had been companions
of Christ during his life, and who after his death pub-
lished and avowed the same things concerning him
which Paul taught ? Judea, and especially Jerusa-
lem, was the scene of Christ's ministry. The wit-
nesses of his miracles lived there. St. Paul, by his
own account, as well as that of his historian, appears
to have frequently visited that city ; to have carried
on a communication with the church there ; to have
associated with the rulers and elders of that church,
who were some of them apostles ; to have acted, as
occasions offered, in correspondence, and sometimes
in conjunction with them. Can it, after this, be
doubted, but that the religion and the general facts
relating to it, which St. Paul appears by his letters to
have delivered to the several churches which he esta-
blished at a distance, were at the same time taught
and published at Jerusalem itself, the place where the
business was transacted ; and taught and published by
those who had attended the founder of the institu-
tion in his miraculous, or pretendedly miraculous,
ministry ?

It is observable, for so it appears both in the
Epistles and from the Acts of the Apostles, that Je-
rusalem, and the society of believers in that city, long
continued the centre from which the missionaries of
the religion issued, with which all other churches
maintained a correspondence and connexion, to which

they referred their doubts, and to whoso relief, in
times of pubh'c distress, they remitted their charitable
assistance. This observation I think material, be-
cause it proves that this was not the case of giving our
accounts in one country of what is transacted in an-
other, without affording the hearers an opportunity
of knowing whether the things related were credited
by any, or even published, in the place where they are
reported to have passed.

V. St. Paul's letters furnish evidence (and what
better evidence than a man's own letters can be de-
sired ?) of the soundness and sobriety of his judge-
ment. His caution in distinguishing between the
occasional suggestions of inspiration, and the oixlinary
exercise of his natural understanding, is without
example in the history of human enthusiasm. His
morality is every where calm, pure, and rational ;
adapted to the condition, the activity, and the busi-
ness of social life, and of its various relations ; free
from the over-scrupulousness and austerities of super-
stition, and from what was more perhaps to be appre-
hended, the abstractions of quietism, and the soarings
and extravagancies of fanaticism. His judgement
concerning a hesitating conscience ; his opinion of the
moral indifferency of many actions, yet of the pru-
dence and even the duty of compliance, where non-
compliance would produce evil effects upon the minds
of the persons who observed it, is as correct and just
as the most liberal and enlightened moralist could
form at this day. The accuracy of modern ethics has
found nothing to amend in these determinations.

What Lord Lyttelton has remarked of the prefer-
ence ascribed by St. Paul to inward rectitude ofprin-

UOUJE PAUI.IN;*:. §71

ciple above every other religious accomplishment is
very material to our present purpose. " In his First
Epistle to the Corinthians, chap. xiii. 1 — 3, St. Paul
has these words : Though I speak with the tongue of
men and of angels, and have not charity, I am he-
co?ne as soimding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And
though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand
all mysteries, and all knowledge ; and though I have
all faith, so that I coidd rejuove mountains, and have
not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all
my goods to feed the poor, and thougli I give my
body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth
me nothing. Is this the language of enthusiasm ?
Did ever enthusiast prefer that universal benevolence
which comprehendeth all moral virtues, and which, as
appeareth by the following verses, is meant by cha-
rity here ; did ever enthusiast, I say, prefer that be-
nevolence" (which we may add is attainable by every
man) " to faith and to miracles, to those religious
opinions which he had embraced, and to those super-
natural graces and gifts which he imagined he had
acquired ; nay, even to the merit of martyrdom ? Is
it not the genius of enthusiasm to set moral virtues
infinitely below the merit of faith j and of all moral
virtues to value that least which is most particularly
enforced by St. Paul, a spirit of candour, moderation,
and peace? Certainly neither the temper nor the
opinions of a man subject to fanatic delusions are to
be found in this passage.'* Lord Lyttelton's Consi-
derations on the Conversion, &c.

I see no reason therefore to question the inteority
of his understanding. To call him a visionary, be-

212 HORE PAUI,IX/E.

cause he appealed to visions ; or an enthusiast, be-
cause he pretended to inspiration, is to take the whole
question for granted. It is to take for granted that
no such visions or inspirations existed ; at least it is
to assume, contrary to his own assertions, that he had
no other proofs than these to offer of his mission, or
of the truth of his relations.

One thing I allow, that his letters every where dis-
cover great zeal and earnestness in the cause in which
he was engaged ; that is to say, he was convinced of
the truth of what he taught ; he was deeply impressed,
but not more so than the occasion merited, with a
sense of its importance. This produces a corre-
sponding animation and solicitude in the exercise of
his ministry. But would not these considerations,
supposing them to be well founded, have holden the
same place, and produced the same effect, in a mind
the strongest and the most sedate ?

VI. These letters are decisive as to the sufferings
of the author ; also as to the distressed state of the
Christian church, and the dangers which attended
the preaching of the Gospel.

" Whereof I Paul am made a minister ; who now
rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that
which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my
flesh, for his body's sake, which is the church." Col.
ch. i. 24.

" If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we
are of all men most miserable." 1 Cor. ch. xv. 19.

" Why stand we in jeopardy every hour ? I pro-
test by your rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus
our Lord, I die daily. If, after the manner of men,

HOR.E PAULINyE. 273

I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advan-
tageth it me, if the dead rise not?" 1 Cor. eh. xv.
30, &c.

'* If children, then heirs ; heirs of God, and joint
heirs with Christ ; if so be that we suffer with him,
that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon
that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy
to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed
in us.'* Rom. ch. viii. J 7, 18.

" Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ?
shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? As it is written.
For thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are
accounted as sheep for the slaughter." Rom. ch. viii.
35, 36.

" Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation^ con-
tinuing instant in prayer." Rom. ch. xii. 12.

" Now concerning virgins I have no command-
ment of the Lord ; yet I give my judgement as one
that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.
I suppose therefore that this is good^r the present
distress ; I say, that it is good for a man so to be."
1 Cor. ch. vii. 25, 26.

*' For unto you it is given, in the behalf of Christ,
not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his
sake, having the same conflict which ye saw in me,
and now hear to be in me." Phil. ch. i. 29, 30.

" God forbid that I should glory, save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world
is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."

" From henceforth let no man trouble me, for I
bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Gal.
ch. vi. 14 — 17.

VOL. III. T

274 HOR/E PAULIN/E.

" Ye became followers of us, and of the Lord,
having received the word in much affliction, with joy
of the Holy Ghost.'* 1 Thess. ch. i. 6.

'* We ourselves glory in you in the churches of
God, for your patience and faith in all your per-
secutions and tribulations that ye endure." 2 Thess.
ch. i. 4.

We may seem to have accumulated texts unne-
cessarily ; but beside that the point which they are
brought to prove is of great importance, there is this
also to be remarked in every one of the passages
cited, that the allusion is drawn from the writer by
the argument or the occasion ; that the notice which
is taken of his sufferings, and of the suffering con-
dition of Christianity, is perfectly incidental, and is
dictated by no design of stating the facts themselves.
Indeed they are not stated at all : they may rather
be said to be assumed. This is a distinction upon
which we have relied a good deal in former parts of
this treatise ; and, where the writer's information
cannot be doubted, it always, in my opinion, adds
greatly to the value and credit of the testimony.

If any reader require from the apostle more direct
and explicit assertions of the same thing, he will re-
ceive full satisfaction in the following quotations.

'* Are they ministers of Christ ? (I speak as a fool)
I am more ; in labours more abundant, in stripes
above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths
oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes
save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was
I stoned ; thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a
day I have been in the deep ; in journeyings often,
in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by

HOR/E PAXTLIN/E. 275

mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in
perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils
in the sea, in perils among false brethren ; in weari-
ness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger
and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness."
^ Cor. ch. xi. '23—28.

Can it be necessary to add more ? *' I think that
God liath set forth us the apostles last, as it were
appointed to death : for we are made a spectacle unto
the world, and to angels, and to men. Even unto
this present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are
naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwell-
ing-place ; and labour, working with our own hands :
being reviled, we bless ; being persecuted, we suffer
it ; being defamed, we entreat : we are made as the
filth of the earth, and are the off-scouring of all
things unto this day." 1 Cor. ch. iv. 9 — 13. I sub-
join this passage to the former, because it extends to
the other apostles of Christianity much of that which
St. Paul declared concerning himself.

In the following quotations, the reference to the
author's sufferings is accompanied with a specification
of time and place, and with an appeal for the truth
of what he declares to the knowledge of the persons
whom he addresses : " Even after that we had suf-
fered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye
ImoWy at Philippic we were bold in our God to speak
unto you the Gospel of God with much contention."
1 Thess. ch. ii. 2.

" But t/iou hastjidli/ kno'wn my doctrine, manner
of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, persecutions,
afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Ico-^
nium, at Li/sfra ; what persecutions I endured : but

T 2

5JT6 HOR,E PAULINTE.

out of them all the Lord delivered me/' 2 Tim,
ch. iii. 10, 11. ■

I apprehend that to this point, as far as the testi-
mony of St. Paul is credited, the evidence from his
letters is complete and full. It appears under every
form in which it could appear, by occasional allusions
and by direct assertions, by general declarations and
by specific examples.

VII. St. Paul in these letters asserts, in positive
and unequivocal terms, his performance of miracles
strictly and properly so called.

" He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit,
and worketh miracles (svs^ywv Svva,tj.sis) among you,
doth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing
of faith ?" Gal. ch. iii. 5.

" For I will not dare to speak of any of those
things which Christ hath not wrought by me *, to
make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed,
through mighty signs and wonders (sv ^uva/xsj o-v;jag<wv
xat rspanvv), by the power of the Spirit of God : so
that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyri-
cum, I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ."
Rom. ch. XV. 18, 19.

*' Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought
among you in all patience, in signs and wonders,
and mighty deeds," (sf (jri\j,mis xa< rg/jac* naf (Juya/xgs-(.)t
2 Cor. ch. xii. 12.

* »'. e. " I will speak of nothing but what Christ hath wrought
hyme;" or as Grotius interprets it, "Christ hath wrought so
great things by me, that I will not dare to say what he hath not
wrought."

'\ To these may be added the following indirect allusions, which,
though if they had stood alone, i. e. without plainer texts in the

HOR/E PAULINtE. 277

These words, signs, wonders, and mighty deeds,
((Tr^[j.£ia, xai rspara, xai Suva.iJ.si;) are the specific appro-
priate terms throughout the New Testament, em-
ployed when public sensible miracles are intended
to be expressed. This will appear by consulting,
amongst other places, the texts referred to in the
note*; and it cannot be known that they are ever
employed to express any thing else.

Secondly, these words not only denote miracles
as opposed to natural effects, but they denote visi-
ble, and what may be called external, miracles, as
distinguished.

First, from inspir^ation. If St. Paul had meant
to refer only to secret illuminations of his under^
standing, or secret influences upon his will or af-
fections, he could not, with truth, have represented

same writings^ they might have been accounted dubious ; yet,
when considered in conjunction with the passages already cited,
can hardly receive any other interpretation than that which we
give them.

" My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words
of men's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of
power : that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men,
but in the power of God." 1 Cor. ch. ii. 4 — 6.

" The Gospel, whereof I was made a minister, according to tlie
gift of the grace of God, given unto me by the effectual working
of his power." Ephes. ch. iii. 7.

" For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship
of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me towards the
Gentiles." Gal. ch. ii. 8.

" For our Gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in
power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." 1 Thess.
ch. i. .5.

* Mark, xvi. 20. Luke, xxiii. 8. John, ii. 11—23 5 i"- 2;
iv. 48— 54 3 xi. 49. Acts, ii. 22j iv. 3 ; v. 12 ; vi.8j vii, 16^
xiv. 3; XV. 12. Heb. ii. 4.

278 HORyE PAULINA.

them as " signs and wonders wrought by him," of
" signs and wonders and mighty deeds wrought
amongst them.'*

Secondly, from visions. These would not, by
any means, satisfy the force of the terms, " signs,
wonders, and mighty deeds ;" still less could they be
said to be *' wrought by him," or *' wrought amongst
them :" nor are these terms and expressions any
where applied to visions. When our author alludes
to the supernatural communications which he had
received, either by vision or otherwise, he uses ex-
pressions suited to the nature of the subject, but
very different from the words which we have quoted.
He calls them revelations, but never signs, wonders,
or mighty deeds. *• I will come," says he, *' to
visions and revelations of the Lord ;'* and then pro-
ceeds to describe a particular instance, and after-
wards adds, " lest I should be exalted above measure
through the abundance of the revelations, there was
given me a thorn in the flesh."

Upon the whole, the matter admits of no softening
qualification, or ambiguity whatever. If St. Paul did
not work actual, sensible, public miracles, he has
knowingly, in these letters, borne his testimony to a
falsehood. I need not add, that, in two also of the
quotations, he has advanced his assertion in the face
of those persons amongst whom he declares the
miracles to have been wrought.

Let it be remembered that the Acts of the Apostles
described various particular miracles wrought by St.
Paul, which in their nature answer to the terms and
expressions which we have seen to be used by St,
Paul himself.

HOR/E PAULINA. 279

Here then vvc have a man of liberal attainments,
and in other points of sound judgement, who had
addicted his life to the service of the Gospel. We
see him, in the prosecution of his purpose, travelling
from country to country, enduring every species of
hardship, encountering every extremity of danger,
assaulted by the populace, punished by the magi-
strates, scourged, beat, stoned, left for dead ; ex-
pecting, wherever he came, a renewal of the same
treatment, and the same dangers, yet, when driven
from one city, preaching in the next ; spending his
whole time in the employment, sacrificing to it his
pleasures, his ease, his safety ; persisting in this
course to old age, unaltered by the experience of
perverseness, ingratitude, prejudice, desertion ; un-
subdued by anxiety, want, labour, persecutions ; un-
wearied by long confinement, undismayed by the
prospect of death. Such was St. Paul. We have
his letters in our hands ; we have also a history pur-
porting to be written by one of his fellow-travellers,
and appearing, by a comparison with these letters,
certainly to have been written by some person well
acquainted with the transactions of his life. From
the letters, as well as from the history, we gather
not only the account which we have stated of him,
but that he was one out of many who acted and suf-
fered in the same manner ; and that of those who
did so, several had been the companions of Christ's
ministry, the ocular witnesses, or pretending to be
such, of his miracles, and of his resurrection. We
moreover find this same person referring in his letters
to his supernatural conversion, the particulars and
accompanying circumstances of which are related in

280 HOR^ PAULINyE.

the history, and which accompaiaying circumstances,
if all or any of them be true, render it impossible to
have been a delusion. We also find him positively,
and in appropriated terms, asserting that he himself
vy^orked miracles, strictly and properly so called, in
support of the mission which he executed ; the history,
meanwhile, recording various passages of his ministry,
which come up to the extent of this assertion. The
question is, whether falsehood was ever attested by
evidence like this. Falsehoods, we know, have found
their way into reports, into tradition, into books ;
but is an example to be met with, of a man voluntarily
undertaking a life of want and pain, of incessant fa-
tigue, of continual peril ; submitting to the loss of
his home and country, to stripes and stoning, to
tedious imprisonment, and the constant expectation
of a violent death, for the sake of carrying about a
story of what was false, and of what, if false, he must
have known to be so ?

A DEFENCE

OF

THE CONSIDERATIONS

ON THE

PROPRIETY OF REQUIRING
A SUBSCRIPTION TO ARTICLES OF FAITH ;

IN REPLY TO A LATE

ANSWER FROM THE CLARENDON PRESS.

A DEFENCE

THE CONSIDERATIONS,

ETC.

The fair way of conducting a dispute, is to ex-
hibit one by one the arguments of your opponent,
and with each argument the precise and specific an-
swer you are able to give it. If this metliod be not
so common, nor found so convenient, as might be
expected, the reason is, because it suits not always
with the designs of a writer, which are no more per-
haps than to make a book ; to confound some argu-
ments, and to keep others out of sight ; to leave
what is called an impression upon the reader, without
any care to inform him of the proofs or principles by
which his opinion should be governed. With such
views it may be consistent to dispatch objections, by
observing of some *' that they are old," and therefore,
like certain drugs, have lost, we may suppose, their
strength ; of others, that " they have long since re-
ceived an answer •," which implies, to be sure, a con-
futation : to attack straggling remarks, and decline
the main reasoning, as ** mere declamation ;" to pass
by one passage because it is *' long-winded," another
because the answerer " has neither leisure nor incH=

284- A DEFENCE OF

nation to enter into the discussion of it ;" to produce
extracts and quotations, which, taken alone, imper-
fectly, if at all, express their author's meaning ; to
dismiss a stubborn difficulty with a " reference,"
which ten to one the reader never looks at : and,
lastly, in order to give the whole a certain fashionable
air of candour and moderation, to make a conces-
sion * or two which nobody thanks him for, or yield
up a few points which it is no longer any credit to
maintain.

How far the writer with whom we have to do is
concerned in this description, his readers will judge ;
he shall receive, however, from us that justice which
he has not shown the author of the " Considerations,"
to have his arguments fully and distinctly stated and
examined.

After complaining, as is usual on these occasions,
of disappointment and dissatisfaction ; the answerer
sets out with an argument which comprises, we are
told, in a " narrow compass," the whole merits of
the question betwixt us ; and which is neither more
nor less than this, that "it is necessary that those
who are to be ordained teachers in the church sliould
be sound in the faith, and consequently that they
should give to those who ordain them some proof and
assurance that they are so, and that the method of
this proof should be settled by public authority."
Now the perfection of this sort of reasoning is, that
it comes as well from the mouth of the pope's pro-
fessor of divinity in the university of Bologna, as from

* Such as, that " it people keep their [opinions to themselves,
no man will hurt them," and the like. Answer, p. 45.

THE CONSIDERATIONS, ETC. 285

the Clarendon press. A church has only, with our
author, to call her creed the " faithful word," and it
follows from Scripture that " we must hold it fast."
Her dissatisfied sons, let her only denominate, as he
does *, " vain talkers and deceivers," and St. Paul
himself commands us ** to stop their mouths." Every
one that questions or opposes her decisions she pro-
nounces, with him, a heretic, and " a man that is a
heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject."
In like manner, calling her tenets "sound doctrine,"
or taking it for granted that they are so (which the
conclave at Rome can do as well as the convocation
at London), and "soundness in the ftiith being a ne-
cessary qualification in a Christian teacher," there is
no avoiding the conclusion, that every " Christian
teacher" (in, and out of the church too, if you can
catch him, " soundness in the faith" being alike
" necessary" in all) must have these tenets strapped
about his neck by oaths and subscriptions. An argu-
ment which thus fights in any cause, or on either
side, deserves no quarter. I have said, that this
reasoning, and these applications of Scripture, are
equally competent to the defenders of popery — they
are more so. The popes, when they assumed the
power of the apostles, laid claim also to their infalli-
bility ; and in this they were consistent. Protestant
churches renounce with all their might this infalli-
bility, whilst they apply to themselves every expres-
sion that describes it, and will not part with a jot of
the authority which is built upon it. But to return

Paije IS.

28G A DEFENCE OF

to the terms of the argument — " Is it necessary
that a Christian teacher shoukl be sound in the
faith ?"

1. Not in nine instances out of ten to which the
test is now extended. Nor,

2. If it were, is this the way to make him so ;
there being as little probability that the determina-
tions of a set of men whose good fortune had ad-
vanced them to high stations in the church should
be right, as the conclusions of private inquirers.
Nor,

3. Were they actually right, is it possible to
conceive how they can, upon this author's principles,
produce the effect contended for, since '* we set them
not up as a rule of faith * ;" since " they do not
decide matters for us, nor bind them upon us ;'*
since " they tie no man up from altering his opinion,"
are " no ways inconsistent with the right of private
judgement," are, in a word, of no more authority
than an old sermon ; nor, consequently, much more
effectual, either for the producing or securing of
*' soundness in the faith.'*

The answerer, not trusting altogether to the
strength of his *' argument," endeavours next to
avail himself of a " concession" which he has gained,
he imagines, from his adversary, and which he is
pleased to look upon " as in a manner giving up the
main point." Our business, therefore, will be to
show what this concession, as he calls it, amounts to,
and wherein it differs from the *' main point," the
requisition of subscription to established formularies.
It is objected to the Articles of the Church of

* Passes 10, 11, 13, 29.

THE CONSIDERATIONS, ETC. 287

England, that they are at variance with the actual
opinions both of the governors and members of that
church ; so much so, that the men who most faith-
fully and explicitly maintain these articles, get per-
secuted for their singularity, excluded from orders,
driven from universities, and are compelled to preach
the established religion in fields and conventicles.
Now this objection, which must cleave to every Jixed
formulary, might, we conceive, be removed if a test
was substituted, supposing any test to be insisted
upon, which could adapt itself to the opinions, and
keep pace with the improvements of each succeeding
age. This, in some measure, would be the case, if
the governors of the church for the time being, were
authorized to receive from candidates for orders, de-
clarations of their religious principles in their own
words, and allowed, at their discretion, to admit them
into the ministry. Bishops being taken out of the
lump of the community will generally be of the same
leaven, and partake both of the opinions and modera-
tion of the times they live in. This is the most that
can be made of the concession ; and how this gives
up the " main point," or indeed any thing, it is not
easy to discover.

The next paragraph of the Answer attacks the
account which the Considerations have given of the
*' rise" and " progress" of the custom in question ;
"the reverse of which," the answerer tells us, "is
the truth," and by way of proof gives his own
account of the matter, which, so far from being
the " reverse," is in effect, or very nearly, the
same.

The reader shall see the two accounts side by side.

288

A DEFENCE OF

and is desired to judge whether the author of the
Considerations, so far from being confuted in this
point, is even contradicted.

" The protestants, aware
how greatly they were misre-
presented and abused, began
to think it necessary to repel
the various calumnies that had
been cast upon them, by set-
ting forth some public Con-
stitutions or Confessions, as a
declaration of their faith and
worship. And to make such
declaration still more authentic,
they likewise engaged them-
selves in a mutual bond of con-
formity to all these constitu-
tions." Considerations, page 6.

*' As some who set up for
reformers had broached many
erroneous and pestilent doc-
trines ; the Lutherans first, and
after their example, other pro-
testant churches, thought fit to
draw up Confessions of Faith.
And this they did, partly to
acquit themselves of the scan-
dal of abetting wild and sedi-
tious enthusiasts, and declaring
what were their real doctrines ;
partly" (observe how tenderly
this is introduced) " to prevent
such enthusiasts on the one
hand, and popish emissaries on
the other, from intruding them-
selves into the ministry." An-
swer, pages 6, 7.

Now were the " origin" of a custom of more
consequence than it is to a question concerning the
" propriety'* of it, can any one doubt, who credits
even the answerer's own account, but that the motive
assigned in the Considerations both did exist, and
was the principal motive ? There is one account,
indeed, of the " origin" of this custom, which, were
it true, would directly concern the question. *' This
practice," our author tells us in another part of his
Answer *, "is said to be derived from the apostles

* Page 19.

THE CONSIDERATIONS, ETC. 289

themselves." I care not what " is said." It is im-
possible that the practice complained of, the imposi-
tion of articles of faith by *' fallible" men, could
originate from the " apostles," who, under the di-
rection by which they acted, were " infallible *."

But this practice, from whatever " root of bitter-
ness" it sprung, has been one of the chief causes, we
assert, of the divisions and distresses which we read
of in ecclesiastical history. The matter of fact our
author does not, because he cannot, deny. He rather
chooses to insinuate that '* such divisions and dis-
turbances were not owing to the governors of the
church, but to the perverse disputings of heretics and
schismatics." He must know that there is oppression

* How n creed is to be made, as the Considerations recom-
mend, ill which all parties shall agree, our author cannot under-
stand. I will tell him how ; hy adhering to Scripture terms : and
this will suit the best idea of a Creed (a summary or compendium
of a larger volume), and the only fair purpose of one, instruction.

It is observed in the Considerations, that the multiplicity of
the [)ropositions contained in the thirty-nine Articles is alone suf-
ficient to show the impossibility of that consent which the Church
supposes and requires. — Now, what would any man guess is the
answer to this ? Why, " that there are no less than three propo-
sitions in the very first verse of St. John's Gospel." Had there
been " three thousand," it would have been nothing to the pur-
pose : where propositions are received upon the authority of the
proposer, it matters not how many of them there are ; the doubt is
not increased with the number ; the same reason which establishes
one establishes all. But is this the case with a system of propo-
sitions which derives no evidence from the proposer ? which must
each stand upon its own separate and intrinsic proof ? — We
thought it necessary to oppose note to note in the place in which
we found it ; though neither here nor in the Answer is it much
connected with the text.

VOL. III. U

290 A DEFENCE OF

as well as resistance, provocation as well as resent-
ment, abuse of power as well as opposition to it : and
it is too much to take for granted, without one
syllable of proof, that those in possession of power
have been always in the right, and those who with-
stood them in the wrong. " Divisions" and " dis-
turbances" have in fact, and in all ages, arisen on
this account ; and it is a poor shift to say, because it
may always be said, that such only are chargeable
with these mischiefs as refused to submit to whatever
their superiors thought proper to impose *.

Nor is it much better when he tells us, " that these
subtleties of metaphysical debate, which we complain
of in our Articles, were introduced by the several
heretics of those times ;" especially as it is evident
that whoever first introduced, it is the governors of
the church who still continue them.

But our author cannot conceive what all this, as
relating to "creeds" only and *' confessions," to the
'* terms of communion" rather than of admission into
the ministry, is to the purpose. Will he then give
up *' creeds" and " confessions ?" or will his church
thank him for it if he does ? a church which, by
transfusing the substance of her Articles into the

* The following sentiment of our author is too curious to be
omitted : " Possibly too he (the author of the Considerations)
may think that insurrections and rebellions in the state are not
owing to the unruliness of factious subjects, but to kings and
rulers ; but most reasonable men, I believe, will think otherwise."
— A common reader may think this observation of the answerer a
little beside the question. But the answerer may say, with Cicero
and Dr. King, " Suscepto negotio, majus mihi quiddam pro-
posui, in quo meam in rempublicam voluntatem populus pers pi-
cere posset." — Motto to Dr. K.'s Oration in 1749.

THE CONSIDERATIONS, ETC. 291

form of her public worship, has in effect made the
" terms of communion" and of admission into the
ministry tlie same. This question, like every other,
however naked you may strip it by abstraction, must
always be considered with a reference to the practice
you wish to reform.

The author of the Considerations contends very
properly, that it is one of the first duties a Christian
owes to his Master, "to keep his mind open and un-
biassed" in religious inquiries. Can a man be said
to do this, who must bring himself to assent to
opinions proposed by another ? who enters into a
profession where both his subsistence and success
depend upon his continuance in a particular per-
suasion ? In answer to this we are informed, that
these Articles are no ** rule of faith" (what ! not to
those who subscribe them ?) ; that " the church
deprives no man of his right of private judgement"
(she cannot — she hangs, however, a dead weight
upon it) ; that it is a " very unfair state of the case,
to call subscription a declaration of our full and final
persuasion in matters of faith ;" though if it be not
a " full" persuasion, what is it ? and ten to one it
will be " final," when such consequences attend a
change. I'hat "no man is hereby tied up from im-
partially examining the word of God," i. e. with the
•' impartiality" of a man who must " eat" or " starve,"
according as the examination turns out ; an " impar-
tiality" so suspected, that a court of justice would
not receive his evidence under half of the same influ-
ence : " nor from altering his opinion if he finds
reason so to do ;" which few, I conceive, will " find,"
when the alteration must cost them so dear. If one

u 2

292 A DEFENCE OF

could give credit to our author in what he says here
and in some other passages of his Answer, one would
suppose that, in his judgement at least, subscription
restrained no man from adopting what opinion he
pleased, provided '* he does not think himself bound
openly to maintain it :" that "men may retain their
preferments, if they will but keep their opinions to
themselves." If this be what the church of England
means, let her say so. This is indeed what our
author admits here, and yet, from the outcry he has
afterwards raised against all who continue in the
church whilst they dissent from her Articles, one
would not suppose there was a pardon left for those,
who "keep even to themselves an opinion" incon-
sistent with any one proposition they have subscribed.
The fact is, the gentleman has either shifted his
opinion in the course of writing the Answer, or had
put down these asseitions, not expecting that he
should have occasion afterwards to contradict them.

It seemed to add strength to this objection, that
the judgement of most thinking men being in a pro-
gressive state, their opinions of course must many of
them change ; the evil and iniquity of which the an-
swerer sets forth with great pleasantry, but has forgot
at the same time to give us any remedy for the mis-
fortune, except the old woman's receipt, to leave ofF
thinking for fear of thinking wrong.

But our church " preaches," it seems, " no other
Gospel than that which she received," nor " pro-
pounds any other Articles for Gospel/' nor " fixes
any standards or criterions of faith, separate from
this Gospel : and so she herself fully declares ;" and
we are to take her "word" for it, when the very

THE CON^SIDKRATTONS, ETC. ^93

complaint is, that she has never ** acted" up to this
dechiration, but in direct contradiction to it. When
she puts forth a system of propositions conceived in a
new dialect, and in unscriptural terms ; when she
ascribes to these the same evidence and certainty as
to Scripture itself, or decrees and acts as if they were
equally evident and certain ; she incurs, we appre-
hend, the charge which these expressions imply.
She claims indeed " authority in controversies of
faith," but " only so far," says her apologist, as *'to
judge for herself what should be her own terms of
communion, and what qualifications she shall require
in her own ministers." All which, in plainer En-
glish, comes to this ; that two or three men, betwixt
two and three centuries ago, fixed a multitude of
obscure and dubious propositions, which many mil-
lions after must bring themselves to believe, before
they be permitted to share in the provision which
the state has made (and to which all of every sect
contribute) for regular opportunities of public wor-
ship, and the giving and receiving of public instruc-
tion. And this our author calls the magistrate's
"judging for himself*," and exercising the "same
right as all other persons have to judge for them-
selves." For the reasonableness of it, however, he
has nothing to offer, but that it "is no more than
what other churches, popish" too, to strengthen the
argument, " as well as protestant," have done before.
He might have added, seeing " custom" is to deter-
mine the matter, that it had been " customary" too
from early ages for Christians to anathematize and

* Page 26.

294' A DEFENCE OF

burn each otlier for difference of opinion in some
points of faith, and for difference of practice in some
points of ceremony.

We now accompany the learned answerer to what
he is pleased to call the " main question," and which
he is so much "puzzled to keep in sight." The
argument * in favour of subscription, and the arbi-
trary exclusion of men from the church or ministry,
drawn from the nature of a society and the rights
incidental to society, our author resigns to its fate,
and to the answer which has been given it in the
Considerations. He contends only, that the conduct
of the apostles in admitting the eunuch and the cen-
turion upon a general profession of their faith in
Christ, **has nothing to do with the case of subscrip-
tion," as they were admitted, not into the ministry,
but only the communion of the church. Now, in
the first place, suppose the eunuch or centurion had
taken upon them, as probably they did, to teach
Christianity, would they have been inhibited by the
apostles as not having given sufficient " proof or as-
surance of their soundness in the faith ?" And if not,
what becomes of the necessity of such " assurances
from a Christian teacher ?" In the second place, sup-
pose you consider the church as one society, and its
teachers as another, is it probable that those who
were so tender in keeping any one out of the first,
would have thought the argument we were en-

* What would any man in his wits think of this argument, if
upon the strength of it they were to make a law, that none but
red-haired people should be admitted into orders, or even into
churches ?

THE CONSIDERATIONS, ETC- 295

countering, or any thing else, a pretence for a right
of arbitrary exchision from the latter ? The case of
Cornelius, says our author, is " extraordinary ; while
St. Peter was preaching to him, the Holy Ghost fell
upon all them which heard the word." And is not
this author ashamed to own, that any are excluded
from the communion, or even ministry, of the church,
who would have been entitled by their faith " to the
gifts of the Holy Ghost?"

The answerer in tlie next paragraph acknowledges,
that to admit converts into the church upon this one
article of faith, that Jesus is the Messiah, was indeed
the practice of the apostles * ; but then he tells us,
what must sound a little odd to a Christian ear, and
comes the more awkwardly from this author, whom,
if you turn over a page, you will find quoting the
" practice of the apostles" with a vengeance : he tells
us, I say, " that no argument can be drawn from the
practice of the apostles t." Now with regard to the
"practice of the apostles," and the application of it

* Although the question, whether to believe that Jesus is the
Messiah, be not the only necessary article of faith, is a question
in which we have no concern ; our author,, with the best inclina-
tion in the world, not being able to fix such an opinion upon us j
yet I cannot help observing, that he has put two of the oddest
constructions upon the terms of the propositions that ever entered
into the fancy of man to conceive. One is, which you may be
sure he intends for his adversaries, " that it is necessary to believe
Jesus to be a true prophet, yet not necessary to believe one doc-
trine that ho, has taught." Page 1 6. The other, which he means
for himself, is, that " by the Messiah we are to understand the only
begotten Son of God, anointed, and sent by the Father to make
propitiation for the sins of the wliole world."
t Page ] 6 .

296 A DEFENCE OF

to ourselves, the case seems to be this (the very re-
verse, observe, of our author's rule), that we are
always bound not "to go beyond" the precedent,
though, for want of the same authority, we may not
always ''advance up to it." It surely at least be-
comes us to be cautious of " proceeding,*' where they,
in the plenitude of their commission, thought proper
to " stop."

It is alleged in the Considerations, that annexing
emoluments to the profession of particular opinions,
is a strong and dangerous inducement to prevarica-
tion ; and the danger is the greater, as prevarication
in one instance has a tendency to relax the most
sacred obligations, and make way for perfidy in every
other. But "this," it seems, "has nothing to do
with the question *." Why, it is the very question,
Whether the magistrate ought to confine the pro-
vision he makes for religion to those who assent, or
declare their assent, to a particular system of contro-
verted divinity ; and this is one direct objection
against it. But "must the magistrate, then," ex-
claims our alarmed adversary, " establish no tithes,
no rich benefices, no dignities, or bishoprics ?" As
many as he pleases, only let him not convert them
into snares and traps by idle and unnecessary condi-
tions. " But must he admit all persons indiscri-
minately to these advantages ?" The author of the
Considerations has told him, that he may require
conformity to the liturgy, rites, and offices he shall
prescribe : he may trust his officers with a discretion
as to the religious principles of candidates for orders.

Pages 19, 20.

THE CONSIDERATIONS, ETC. 297

similar to what they now exercise with regard to their
qualifications : he may censure extravagant preaching
when it *' appears ;" precautions surely sufficient
either to keep the " wildest sectaries" out of the
church, or prevent their doing any mischief if they
get in. The exclusion of papists is a separate consi-
deration. The laws against popery, as far as they
are justifiable, proceed upon principles with which
the author of the Considerations has nothing to
do. Where, from the particular circumstances of a
country, attachments and dispositions hostile and
dangerous to the state, are accidentally or otherwise
connected with certain opinions in religion, it may
be necessary to lay encumbrances and restraints upon
the profession or propagation of such opinions.
Where a great part of any sect or religious order of
men are enemies to the constitution, and you have
no way of distinguishing those who are not so, it is
right perhaps to fence the whole order out of your
civil and religious establishment : it is the right at
least of self-defence, and of extreme necessity. But
even this is not on account of the religious opinions
themselves, but as they are probable marks, and the
only marks you have, of designs and principles which
it is necessary to disarm. I would observe, however,
that in proportion as this connexion between the
civil and religious principles of the papists is dissolved,
in the same proportion ought the state to mitigate
the hardships and relax the restraints to which they
are made subject.

If we complain of severities, of pains and penalties,
the answerer cannot discover " whom or what we
mean :" and lest his reader should, by a figure ex-

298 A DEFENCE OF

tremely well known in the craft of" controversy, lie
proposes a string of questions in the person of his
adversary, to which he gives his own peremptory and
definitive no *. We will take a method, not alto-
gether so compendious, but, we trust, somewhat
more satisfactory. We will repeat the same ques_
tions, and let the church and state answer for them-
selves. First then,

" Does our church or our government inflict any
corporeal punishment, or levy any fines or penalties on
those who will not comply with the terms of her com-
munion ?" — " Be it enacted, that all and every per-
son or persons that shall neglect or refuse to receive
the sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the
usage of the Church of England, and yet, after such
neglect or refusal, shall execute any office or offices,
civil or military, after the times be expired wherein
he or they ought to have taken the same, shall, upon
conviction thereof, besides the loss of the office, for-
feit the sum of five hundred pounds ]'." Stat. 25
Car. II. c. 2. Now, although starving be no " cor-
poreal punishment," nor the loss of all a man has a
'* fine," or *' penalty," yet depriving men of tlie
common benefits of society, and rights even of lay
subjects, because "they will not comply with the
terms of church communion," is a *' sevei'ity" that
might have deserved from our author some other
apology besides the mere suppression of the fact.

* Page 2 1 .

f This and the Corporation Act, an otherwise excellent person
calls the laws which secure both our civil and religious liberties.
Blackstone's Coaim. vol.1v, p. 432.

THE CONSIDERATIONS, ETC. 299

2. " Doth it deny them the right or privilege of
worshipping God in their own way?" — "Whoever
shall take upon him to preach or teach in any
meeting, assembly, or conventicle, and shall thereof
be convicted, shall forfeit for the first offence twenty
pounds, and for every other offence forty pounds."
Stat. 22 Car. II. c. 1. — "No person shall presume
to consecrate or administer the Sacrament of the
Lord's Supper before he be ordained priest, after the
manner of the church of England, on pain of for-
feiting one hundred pounds for every such offence."
Stat. 13 & 14 Car. II. c. 4. These laws are in full
force against all who do not subscribe to the 39
Articles of the Church of England, except the 34th,
35th, and 36th, and part of the 20th Article.

3. " Are men denied the liberty of free debate ?" —
" If any person, having been educated in, or at any
time having made profession of, the Christian faith
within the realm, shall by writing, printing, teaching,
or advised speaking, deny any one of the persons of
the Holy Trinity to be God — he shall for the first
offence be disabled to hold any office or employment,
or any profit appertaining thereto ; for the second
offence shall be disabled to prosecute any action or
information in any court of law or equity, 6r to be
guardian of any child, or executor or administrator
of any person, or capable of any legacy or deed of
gift, or to bear any office for ever within this realm,
and shall also suffer imprisonment for the space of
three years from the time of such conviction." Stat.
9 & 10 Will. III. c. 32.

It has been thought to detract considerably from
the pretended use of these subscriptions, that they

300 A DEFENCE OF

excluded none but the conscientious ; a species of
men more wanted, we conceive, than formidable to
any religious establishment. This objection applies
equally, says our answerer *, to the " oaths of alle-
giance and supremacy ;" and so far as it does apply,
it ought to be attended to ; and the truth is, these
oaths might in many instances be spared without
either danger or detriment to the community. There
is, however, an essential difference between the two
cases : a scruple concerning the oath of allegiance
implies principles which may excite to acts of hos-
tility against the state : a scruple about the truth of
the articles implies no such thing t.

Our author, good man, '* is well persuaded, that
the generality of the clergy, when they offer them-
selves for ordination, consider seriously what office
they take upon them, and firmly believe what they
subscribe to." I am persuaded much otherwise.
But as this is a " fact," the reader, if he be wise, will
neither take the answerer's word for it nor mine ;
but form his own judgement from his own observa-
tion. Bishop Burnet complained above 60 years ago,
that " the greater part," even then, " subscribed the
Articles without ever examining them 1^, and others
did it because they must do it." Is it probable, that
in point either of seriousness or orthodoxy, the clergy
are much mended since ?

* Page 22.

t The answerer might have found a parallel below in some
other oaths, which he does not care to speak of, viz. the case of
college statutes, page 34 of the Considerations.

+ Burnet's History of his Own Times — Conclusion.

THE CONSIDERATIONS, ETC. 301

The pleas offered in support of this practice of
subscription come next to be considered. " One of
these is drawn from the sacred writings being capable
of such a variety of senses, that men of widely dif-
ferent persuasions shelter themselves under the same
forms of expression." Our author, after quarrelling
with this representation of the plea, gives his readers
in its stead, a long quotation from the archdeacon of
Oxford's charge *. What he is to gain by the
change, or the quotation, I cannot perceive, as
the same first query still recurs, " Is it true, that
the Scriptures are in reality so differently interpreted
in points of real consequence ?" In answer to which,
the archdeacon of Oxford, we are told, " has shown
that points of real consequence are differently inter-
preted," and *' the plainest texts explained away,"
and has " instanced in the first chapter of St. John's
Gospel." The plea, we conceive, is not much in-
debted to the archdeacon of Oxford. But be these
Scriptures interpreted as they will, each man has stili
a right to interpret them for himself The Church
of Rome, who always pushed her conclusions with a
courage and consistency unknown to the timid pa-
trons of protestant imposition, saw immediately, that
as the laity had no right to interpret the Scriptures,
they could have no occasion to read them, and there-
fore very properly locked them up from the intrusion
of popular curiosity. Our author cites the above-
mentioned query from the Considerations as the
Jirst query which would lead his reader to expect a

* See this whole Charge answered in the London Chronicle, by
Priscilla. The Lord hath sold Sisera into the hand of a woman I

302 A DEFENCE OF

second. The reader, however, may seek tliat second
for himself, the answerer is not obliged to produce
it — it stands thus : Suppose the Scriptures thus
variously interpreted, does subscription m^end the
matter? The reader too is left to find an answer for
himself.

The next, the strongest, the only tolerable plea
for subscription is, " that all sorts of pestilent here-
sies might be taught from the pulpit, if no such
restraint as this was laid upon the preacher *." How
far it is probable that this would be the consequence
of removing the subscription, and by what other
means it might be guarded against, has been hinted
already, and will again be considered in another
place. We will here only take notice of one parti-
cular expedient suggested in the Considerations, and
which has often indeed elsewhere been proposed,
namely, *' that the church, instead of requiring sub-
scription beforehand, to the present, or to any other
Articles of faith, might censure her clergy afterwards,
if they opposed or vilified them in their preaching."
The advantage of which scheme above the present is
manifest, if it was only for this reason, that you
distress and corrupt thousands now, for one that you
would ever have occasion to punish. Our author,
nevertheless, " is humbly of opinion that it is much
better to take proper precautions beforehand :" he
must, with all his " humility," know that when it
has been proposed to take proper precautions of the
press, by subjecting authors to an impriiVcatiir before
publication, instead of punishment after it ; the pro-

* Page 26.

THE CONSIDERATIONS, ETC. 303

posal has been resented, as an open attack upon the
rights and interests of mankind. The common sense
and spirit of the nation could see and feel this di-
stinction and the importance of it, in the case of pub-
lishers ; and why preachers should be left in a worse
situation, is not very easy to say.

The example of the Arminian confession is, upon
this occasion, recommended by the author of the
Considerations ; a confession which was compiled for
the edification and instruction of the members of that
church, without peremptorily insisting upon any one's
assent to it. But it is the misfortune of the Ar-
minian to be no national church — the misfortune,
alas ! of Christianity herself in her purest period ;
when she was under the government of the apostles ;
without alliance with the states of this world ; when
she composed, nevertheless, a church as real, we
conceive, and as respectable, as any national church
that has existed since.

Our author, who can much sooner make a distinc-
tion than see one, does not comprehend, it seems,
any difference between confessions of faith and
preaching, as to the use of unscriptural terms. Did.
a preacher, when he had finished his sermon, call
upon his congregation to subscribe their names and
assent to it, or never to come more within the doors
of his church ; there would, indeed, be some sort of
resemblance betwixt the two cases : but as the
hearers are at liberty to believe preachers or no, as
they see, or he produces, reasons for what he says ;
there can be no harm, and there is a manifest utility,
in trusting him with the liberty of explaining his own.
meaning in his own terms.

304 A DEFENCE OF

We now come, and with the tenderest regret, to
the case of those who continue in the church without
being able to reconcile to their belief every proposi-
tion imposed upon them by subscription ; over whose
distress our author is pleased to indulge a wanton
and ungenerous triumph. They had presumed, it
seems, that it was some apology for their conduct,
that they sincerely laboured to render to religion
their best services, and thought their present stations
the fairest opportunities of performing it. This may
not, perhaps, amount to a complete vindication :
it certainly does not fully satisfy even their own
scruples : else where would be the cause of com-
plaint ? What need of relief, or what reason for
their petitions ? It might have been enough, however,
to' have exempted them from being absurdly and
indecently compared with faithless hypocrites, with
Papists, and Jesuits, who, for other purposes, and
with even opposite designs, are supposed to creep
into the church through the same door. For the
fullest and fairest representation of their case, I
refer our author to the excellent Hoadly ; or, as
Hoadly possibly may be no book in our author's
library, will it provoke his " raillery" to ask, what he
thinks might be the consequence, if all were at once
to withdraw themselves from the church who were
dissatisfied with her doctrines ? Might not the church
lose, what she can ill spare, the service of many able
and industrious ministers ? Would those she retained
be such as acquiesced in her decisions from inquiry
and conviction ? Would not many or most of them
be those who keep out of the way of religious scruples
by lives of secularity and voluptuousness ? by mixing

THE CONSIDERATIONS, ETC. 303

with the crowd in the most eager of their pursuits
after pleasure or advantage ? One word with the an-
swerer before we part upon this head. Whence all
this great inquisitiveness, this solicitude to be ac-
quainted with the person, the opinions, and associates
of his adversary ? Whence that impertinent wish
that he had been *' more explicit in particular with
regard to the doctrine of the Trinity ?" Is it out of
a pious desire to fasten some heresy, or the imputa-
tion of it, upon him ? Is he " called out of the
clouds" to be committed to the flames * ?

The 40th page of the Answer introduces a para-
graph of considerable length, the sum, however, and
substance of which is this — that if subscription to
articles of faith were removed, confusion would en-
sue ; the people would be distracted with the disputes
of their teachers, and the pulpits filled with con-
troversy and contradiction. Upon this *' fact'* we
join issue, and the more readily as this is a sort of
reasoning we all understand. The extent of the
legislator's right may be an abstruse inquiry ; but

* We were unwilliug to decline the defence of the persons
here described, though the expression in the Considerations
which brought on the attack, manifestly related to a different sub-
ject. The author of the Considerations speaks of " being bound"
to " keep up'' these forms until relieved by proper authority j of
" ministerially" complying with what we are not able to remove j
alluding, no doubt, to the case of Church Governors, who are the
instruments of imposing a subscription which they may disap-
prove. But the answerer, taking it for granted, that " ministe-
rially complying" meant the compliance of ministers, i. e. of
clergymen officiating in their functions, has, by a quibble, or a
blunder, transferred the passage to a sense for which it was not
intended.

VOL. III. X

306 A DEFENCE OF

whether a law does more good or harm, is a plain
question which every man can ask. Now, that dis-
tressing many of the clergy, and corrupting others ;
that keeping out of churches good Christians and
faithful citizens ; that making parties in the state, by
giving occasion to sects and separations in religion ;
that these are inconveniences, no man in his senses
will deny. The question therefore is, what advantage
do you find in the opposite scale to balance these in-
conveniences ? The simple advantage pretended is,
that you hereby prevent " wrangling" and contention
in the pulpit. Now, in the first place, I observe that
allowing this evil to be as grievous and as certain as
you please, the most that can be necessary for the
prevention of it is, to enjoin your preachers, as to
such points, silence and neutrality. In the next
place, I am convinced, that the danger is greatly
magnified. We hear little of these points at present
in our churches and public teaching, and it is not
probable that leaving them at large would elevate
them into more importance, or make it more worth
men's while to quarrel about them. They would
sleep in the same grave with many other questions,
of equal importance with themselves, or sink back
into their proper place, into topics of speculation, or
matters of debate from the press. None but men of
some reflection would be forward to engage in such
subjects, and the least reflection would teach a man
that preaching is not the proper vehicle of controversy.
Even at present, says our author, " we speak and
write what we please with impunity." And where
is the mischief? or what worse could ensue if sub-
scription were removed ? Nor can I discover any

THE CONSIDERATIONS, ETC. 907

thing ill the disposition of the petitioning clergy that
need ahirm our apprehensions. If they are impatient
under the yoke, it is not from a desire to hold forth
their opinions to their congregations, but that they
may be at liberty to entertain them themselves,
without offence to their consciences, or ruin to their
fortunes.

Our author has added, by way of make-weight to
his argument, " that many common Christians," he
believes, " would be greatly scandalized if you take
away their creeds and catechisms, and strike out of
the liturgy such things as they have always esteemed
essential *." Whatever reason there may be for this
belief at present, there certainly was much greater at
the Reformation, as the Popish ritual, which was
then *' taken away," had a fascination and antiquity
which ours cannot pretend to. Many were probably
" scandalized" at parting with their beads and their
mass-books, that lived afterwards to thank those who
taught them better things. Reflection, we hope, in
some, and time, we are sure, in all, will reconcile
men to alterations established in reason. If there be
any danger, it is from some of the clergy, who, with
the answerer, would rather suffer the *' vineyard" to
be overgrown with "weeds," than **stir the ground,"
or, what is worse, call these weeds " the fairest
flowers in the garden." Such might be ready
enough to raise a hue and cry against all innovators
in religion, as '* overturners of churches" and spoilers
of temples.

But the cause which of all others stood most in the
way of the late petitions for relief, was an apprehen-

* Page 42.

X 2

308 A DEFENCE OF

si on that religious institutions cannot be disturbed
without awakening animosities and dissensions in the
state, of which no man knows the consequence. Touch
but religion, we are told, and it bursts forth into a
flame. Civil distractions may be composed by for-
titude and perseverance ; but neither reason nor au-
thority can control, there is neither charm nor drug
which will assuage, the passions of mankind when
called forth in the cause and to the battles of religion.
We were concerned to hear this language from some
who, in other instances, have manifested a constancy
and resolution which no confusion, nor ill aspect of
public affairs, could intimidate. After all, is there
any real foundation for these terrors ? Is not this
whole danger, like the lion of the slothful, the
creature of our fears, and the excuse of indolence ?
Was it proposed to make articles instead of removing
them, there would be room for the objection. But
it is obvious that subscription to the 39 Articles
might be altered or withdrawn upon general princi-
ples of justice and expediency, without reviving one
religious controversy, or calling into dispute a sin-
gle proposition they contain. Who should excite dis-
turbances? Those who are relieved will not; and,
unless subscription were like a tax, which, being
taken from one, must be laid with additional weight
upon another, is it probable that any will complain
that they are oppressed, because their brethren are
relieved? or that those who are so "strong in the
faith'* will refuse to "bear with the infirmities of
the weak?" The few who upon principles of this sort
opposed the application of the Dissenters, were re-
pulsed from parliament with disdain, even by those
who were no friends to the application itself.

THE CONSIDERATIONS, ETC. 309

The question concerning the object of worship
is attended, I confess, with difficulty : it seems al-
most directly to divide the worshippers. But let
the Church pare down her excrescences till she
comes to this question ; let her discharge from her
liturgy controversies unconnected with devotion ;
let her try what may be done for all sides, by wor-
shipping God in that generality* of expression in
which he himself has left some points ; let her dis-
miss many of her Articles, and convert those which
she retains into terms of peace ; let her recall the
terrors she suspended over freedom of inquiry j let

* If a Christian can think it an intolerable thing to worship
one God through one mediator Jesus Christ, in company with any
such as differ from him in their notions about the metaphysical
nature of Christ, or of the Holy Ghost, or the like j I am sorry for
it. I remember the like objection made at the beginning of the
Reformation by the Lutherans against the lawfulness of commu-
nicating with Zuinglius and his followers, because they had not
the same notion with them of the elements in the sacrament. And
there was the same objection once against holding communion
with any such as had not the same notions with themselves about
the secret decrees of God relating to the predestination and re-
probation of particular persons. But whatever those men may
please themselves with thinking who are sure they are arrived at
the perfect knowledge of the most abstruse points, this they may be
certain of; that in the present state of the church, even supposing
only such as are accounted orthodox to be joined together in one
visible communion, they communicate together with a very great
variety and confusion of notions, either comprehending nothing
plain and distinct, or diflfering from one another as truly and es-
sentially as others differ from them all; nay, with more certain
difference with relation to the object of worship than if all prayers
were directed (as bishop Bull says almost all were in the first
ages) to God or the Father, through the Son. — Hoadly's Answer
to Dr. Hare's Sermon-

310 A DEFENCE OF

the toleration she allows to dissenters be made
"absolute;" let her invite men to search the Scrip-
tures ; let her governors encourage the studious and
learned of all persuasions : — Let her do this — and
she will be secure of the thanks of her own clergy,
and, what is more, of their sincerity. A greater
consent may grow out of inquiry than many at pre-
sent are aware of; and the few who, after all, shall
think it necessary to recede from our communion,
will acknowledge the necessity to be inevitable ; will
respect the equity and moderation of the established
church, and live in peace with all its members.

I know not whether I ought to mention, among
so many more serious reasons, that even the go-
vernors of the church themselves would find their
ease and account in consenting to an alteration. — For
besides the difficulty of defending those decayed for-
tifications, and the indecency of deserting them, they
either are or will soon find themselves in the situa-
tion of a master of a family, whose servants know
more of his secrets than it is proper for them to know,
and whose whispers and whose threats must be bought
off at an expense which will drain the " apostolic
chamber" dry.

Having thus examined in their order, and, as far
as I understood them, the several answers * given by

* In his last note our author breaks forth into "astonishment"
and indignation, at the ^* folly, injustice, and indecency" of com-
paring our church to the Jewish in our Saviour's time, and even to
the " tower of Babel j" mistaking the church, in this last compa-
rison, for one of her monuments (which indeed, with most people
of his complexion, stands for the same thing) erected to prevent
our dispersion from that grand centre of catholic dominion, or, in

THE CONSIDERATIONS, ETC. 311

our author to the objections against the present mode
of subscription, it now remains, by way of summing
up the evidence, to bring "forward" certain other
arguments contained in the Considerations, to which
no answer has been attempted. It is contended,
then,

I. That stating any doctrine in a confession of faith
with a greater degree of *' precision" than the
Scriptures have done, is in effect to say, that the
Scriptures have not stated it with " precision"
enough ; in other words, that the Scriptures are
not sufficient. " Mere declamation."

II. That this experiment of leaving men at liberty,
and points of doctrine at large, has been at-
tended with the improvement of religious know-
ledge, where and whenever it has been tried. And
to this cause, so far as we can see, is owing the
advantage which protestant countries in this re-

the words of a late celebrated castle-builder, " to keep us toge-
ther." If there be any ''indecency" in such a comparison, it
must be chargeable on those who lead us to it, by making use of
the same terms with the original architects, and to which the au-
thor of the Considerations evidently alludes. This detached note
is concluded with as detached, and no less curious, an observa-
tion, which the writer thinks may be a " sufficient answer" to the
whole, namely, that the author of the Considerations ''has wrought
no miracles for the conviction of the answerer and his associates."
For what purpose this observation can be " sufficient," it is not
easy to guess, except it be designed to insinuate, what may per-
haps really be the case, that no less than a miracle will serve to
cast out that kind of spirit which has taken so full possession of
them, or ever bring them to a sound mind, and a sincere love of
truth.

^2 A DEFENCE OF

spect possess above their popish neighbours. —
No answer.

III. That keeping people out of churches who
might be admitted consistently with every end
of public worship, and excluding men from com-
munion who desire to embrace it upon the terms
that God prescribes, is certainly not encoura-
ging, but rather causing men to forsake, the assem-
bling of themselves together. — No answer.

IV. That men are deterred from searching the
Scriptures by the fear of finding there more or
less than they look for ; that is, something incon-
sistent with what they have already given their
assent to, and must at their peril abide by. — No
answer.

V. That it is not giving truth a fair chance, to de-
cide points at one certain time, and by one set
of men, which had much better be left to the suc-
cessive inquiries of different ages and different per-
sons.— No answer.

VI. That it tends to multiply infidels amongst us,
by exhibiting Christianity under a form and in
a system which many are disgusted with, who
yet will not be at the pains to inquire after any
other. — No answer.

At the conclusion of his pamphlet our author
is pleased to acknowledge, what few, I find, care
any longer to deny, " that there are some things
in our Articles and Liturgy which he should be
glad to see amended, many which he should be
w^illing to give up to the scruples of others," but
that the heat and violence with which redress has

THE CONSIDERATIONS, ETC. 313

been pursued, preclude all hope of accommo-
dation and tranquillity — that ** we had better
wait, therefore, for more peaceable times, and be
contented with our present constitution as it is,"
until a fairer prospect shall appear of changing it
for the better. — After returning thanks, in the
name of the "fraternity," to him and to all who
touch the burden of subscription with but one
of their fingers, I would wish to leave with them
this observation : that as the man who attacks
a flourishing establishment writes with a halter
round his neck ; few ever will be found to attempt
alterations but men of more spirit than prudence,
of more sincerity than caution, of warm, eager, and
impetuous tempers; that, consequently, if we are
to wait for improvement till the cool, the calm, the
discreet part of mankind begin it, till church
governors solicit, or ministers of state propose it
— I will venture to pronounce, that (without His
interposition with whom nothing is impossible)
we may remain as we are till the "renovation of
all things."

REASONS

FOR CONTENTMENT,

ADDRESSED TO THE

LABOURING PART OF THE BRITISH PUBFJC

REASONS

CONTENTMENT.

Human life has been said to resemble the situation
of spectators in a theatre, where, whilst each person
is engaged by the scene which passes before him, no
one thinks about the place in which he is seated. It
is only when the business is interrupted, or when the
spectator's attention to- it grows idle and remiss, that
he begins to consider at all, who is before him or who
is behind him, whether others are better accommo-
dated than himself, or whether many be not much
worse. It is thus with the various ranks and stations
of society. So long as a man is intent upon the
duties and concerns of his own condition, he never
thinks of comparing it with any other ; he is never
troubled with reflections upon the different classes
and orders of mankind, the advantages and disad-
vantages of each, the necessity or non-necessity of
civil distinctions, much less does he feel within him-
self a disposition to covet or envy any of them. He
is too much taken up with the occupations of his
calling, its pursuits, cares, and business, to bestow

318 REASONS FOR CONTENTMENT.

unprofitable meditations upon the circumstances in
which he sees others placed. And by this means a
man of a sound and active mind has, in his very con-
stitution, a remedy against the disturbance of envy
and discontent. These passions gain no admittance
into his breast, because there is no leisure there or
vacancy for the trains of thought which generate
them. He enjoys, therefore, ease in this respect,
and ease resulting from the best cause, the power of
keeping his imagination at home ; of confining it to
what belongs to himself, instead of sending it forth
to wander amongst speculations which have neither
limits nor use, amidst views of unattainable grandeur,
fancied happiness, of extolled, because unexperienced,
privileges and delights.

The wisest advice that can be given is, never to
allow our attention to dwell upon comparisons be-
tween our own condition and that of others, but to
keep it fixed upon the duties and concerns of the
condition itself. But since every man has not this
power ; since the minds of some men will be busy in
contemplating the advantages which they see others
possess ; and since persons in laborious stations of
life are wont to view the higher ranks of society, with
sentiments which not only tend to make themselves
unhappy, but which are very different from the truth ;
it may be an useful office to point out to them some
of those considerations which, if they xvill turn their
thoughts to the subject, they should endeavour to
take fairly into the account.

And, first ; we are most of us apt to murmur,
when we see exorbitant fortunes placed in the liands
of single persons ; larger, we are sure, than they can

REASONS FOR CONTENTMENT. 319

want, or, as we think, than they can use. This
is so common a reflection, that I will not say it is
not natural. But whenever the complaint comes
into our minds, we ought to recollect, that the thing
happens in consequence of those very rules and
laws which secure to ourselves our property, be
it ever so small. The laws which accidentally cast
enormous estates into one great man's possession,
are, after all, the self-same laws which protect
and guard the poor man. Fixed rules of property
are established for one as well as another, without
knowing, before-hand, whom they may affect. If
these rules sometimes throw an excessive or dispro-
portionate share to one man's lot, who can help
it ? It is much better that it should be so, than
that the rules themselves should be broken up : and
you can only have one side of the alternative or the
other. To abolish riches, would not be to abolish
poverty ; but, on the contrary, to leave it without
protection or resource. It is not for the poor man
to repine at the effects of laws and rules, by which
he himself is benefited every hour of his existence ;
which secure to him his earnings, his habitation, his
bread, his life ; without which he, no more than
the rich man, could either eat his meal in quiet-
ness, or go to bed in safety. Of the two, it is
rather more the concern of the poor to stand up
for the laws, than of the rich ; for it is the law
which defends the weak against the strong, the
humble against the powerful, the little against
the great ; and weak and strong, humble and
powerful, little and great, there would be, even
were there no laws whatever. Beside, what, after

320 REASONS FOR CONTENTMENT.

all, is the mischief? The owner of a great estate
does not eat or drink more than the owner of a
small one. His fields do not produce worse crops,
nor does the produce maintain fewer mouths. If
estates were more equally divided, would greater
numbers be fed, or clothed, or employed ? Either,
therefore, large fortunes are not a public evil, or,
if they be in any degree an evil, it is to be borne
with, for the sake of those fixed and general rules
concerning property, in the preservation and steadi-
ness of which all are interested.

Fortunes, however, of any kind, from the na-
ture of the thing, can only fall to the lot of a few.
I say, " from the nature of the thing.** The very
utmost that can be done by laws and government, is
to enable every man, who hath health, to procure
a healthy subsistence for himself and a family.
Where this is the case, things are at their perfec-
tion. They have reached their limit. Were the
princes and nobility, the legislators and counsellors
of the land, all of them the best and wisest men that
ever lived, their united virtue and wisdom could do
no more than this. They, if any such there be, who
would teach you to expect more, give you no instance
where more has ever been attained.

But Providence, which foresaw, which ap-
pointed, indeed, the necessity to , which human
afiairs are subjected (and against which it were
impious to complain), hath contrived, that, whilst
fortunes are only for a few, the rest of mankind
may be happy without them. And this leads me
to consider the comparative advantages and com-
forts wliich belong to the condition of those who

REASONS FOR CONTENTMENT. 321

subsist, as the great mass of every people do and
must subsist, by personal labour, and the solid
reasons they have for contentment in their sta-
tions. I do not now use the terms poor and rich :
because that man is to be accounted poor, of
whatever rank he be, and suffers the pains of po-
verty, whose expenses exceed his resources ; and
no man is, properly speaking, poor but he. But
I, at present, consider the advantages of those la-
borious conditions of life which compose the great
portion of every human community.

And, first ; it is an inestimable blessing of
such situations, that they supply a constant train
of employment both to body and mind. A hus-
bandman, or a manufacturer, or a tradesman,
never goes to bed at night without having his
business to rise up to in the morning. He would
understand the value of this advantage, did he
know that the want of it composes one of the
greatest plagues of the human soul ; a plague
by which the rich, especially those who inherit
riches, are exceedingly oppressed. Indeed it is
to get rid of it, that is to say, it is to have some-
thing to do, that they are driven upon those
strange and unaccountable ways of passing their
time, in which we sometimes see them, to our
surprise, engaged. A poor man's condition sup-
plies him with that which no man can do with-
out, and with which a rich man, with all his
opportunities, and all his contrivance, can hardly
supply himself; regular engagement, business to
look forward to, something to be done for every
day, some employment prepared for every morn-

VOL. III. Y

322 REASONS FOR CONTENTMENT.

ing. A few of better judgement can seek out for
themselves constant and useful occupation. There
is not one of you takes the pains in his calling
which some of the most independent men in the
nation have taken, and are taking, to promote
what they deem to be a point of great concern to
the interests of humanity, by which neither they nor
theirs can ever gain a shilling, and which should
they succeed, those who are to be benefited by their
service will neither know nor thank them for it.
I only mention this to show, in conjunction with
what has been observed above, that, of those who
are at liberty to act as they please, the wise prove,
and the foolish confess, by their conduct, that a
life of employment is the only life worth leading ;
and that the chief difference between their man-
ner of passing their time and yours is, that they
can choose the objects of their activity, which you
cannot. This privilege may be an advantage to
some, but for nine out of ten it is fortunate that
occupation is provided to their hands, that they
have it not to seek, that it is imposed upon them
by their necessities and occasions ; for the conse-
quence of liberty in this respect would be, that,
lost in the perplexity of choosing, they would
sink into irrecoverable indolence, inaction, and
unconcern ; into that vacancy and tiresomeness of
time and thought which are inseparable from
such a situation. A man's thoughts must be
going. Whilst he is awake, the working of his
mind is as constant as the beating of his pulse.
He can no more stop the one than the other.
Hence if our thoughts have nothing to act upon,

REASONS FOR CONTENTMENT. 'MQ

they act upon ourselves. They acquire a corrosive
quality. They become in the last degree irksome
and tormenting. Wherefore that sort of equitable
engagement which takes up the thoughts sufficiently,
yet so as to leave them capable of turning to any
thing more important, as occasions offer or require,
is a most invaluable blessing. And if the industrious
be not sensible of the blessing, it is for no other
reason than because they have never experienced, or
rather suffered, the want of it.

Again ; some of the necessities which poverty (if
the condition of the labouring part of mankind must
be so called) imposes, are not hardships but pleasures.
Frugality itself is a pleasure. It is an exercise of
attention and contrivance, which, whenever it is suc-
cessful, produces satisfaction. The very care and
forecast that are necessary to keep expenses and
earnings upon a level form, when not embarrassed by
too great difficulties, an agreeable engagement of the
thouo;hts. This is lost amidst abundance. There is
no pleasure in taking out of a large unmeasured fund.
They who do that, and only that, are the mere con-
veyers of money from one hand to another.

A yet more serious advantage which persons in
inferior stations possess, is the ease with which they
provide for their children. All the provision which
a poor man's child requires is contained in two words,
" industry and innocence." With these qualities,
though without a shilling to set him forwards, he
goes into the world prepared to become an useful,
virtuous, and happy man. Nor will he fail to meet
with a maintenance adequate to the habits with which
he has been brought up, and to the expectations which

Y 2

324 REASONS F01{ CONTENTMENT.

he has formed ; a degree of success sufficient for a
person of any condition whatever. These qualities
of industry and innocence, which, I repeat again, are
all that are absolutely necessary, every parent can
give to his children without expense, because he can
give them by his own authority and example ; and
they are to be communicated, I believe, and pre-
served, in no other way. I call this a serious advan-
tage of humble stations ; because, in w hat we reckon
superior ranks of life, there is a real difficulty in
placing children in situations which may in any
degree support them in the class and in the habits in
which they have been brought up by their parents :
from which great and oftentimes distressing per-
plexity the poor are free. With health of body,
innocence of mind, and habits of industry, a poor
man's child has nothing to be afraid of; nor his
father or mother any thing to be afraid of for him.

The labour of the world is carried on by service^
that is, by one man working under another man's
direction. I take it for granted that this is the best
way of conducting business, because all nations and
ages have adopted it. Consequently service is the
relation which, of all others, affects the greatest
numbers of individuals, and in the most sensible
manner. In whatever country, therefore, this rela-
tion is well and equitably regulated, in that country
the poor will be happy. Now how^ is the matter
managed with us ? Except apprenticeships, the ne-
cessity of which every one, at least every father and
mother, will acknowledge, as the best, if not the
only practicable, way of gaining instruction and skill,
and which have their foundation in nature, because

REASONS FOR CONTENTMENT. 325

they have their foundation in the natural ignorance
and imbecility of youth ; except these, service in
England is, as it ought to be, voluntary and by con-
tract ; a fair exchange of work for v/ages ; an equal
bargain, in which each party has his rights and his
redress ; wherein every servant chooses his master.
Can this be mended ? I will add, that a continuance
of this connexion is frequently the foundation of so
much mutual kindness and attachment, that very few
friendships are more cordial, or more sincere ; that
it leaves oftentimes nothing in servitude, except the
name 5 nor any distinction but what one party is as
much pleased with, and sometimes also as proud of,
as tlie other.

What then (for this is the fair way of calculating)
. is there in higher stations to place against these ad-
vantages ? What does the poor man see in the life or
condition of the rich, that should render him dis-
satisfied with his own ?

Was there as much in sensual pleasures, I mean in
the luxuries of eating, and drinking, and other grati-
fications of that sort, as some^ men's imaginations
would represent them to be, but which no man's
experience finds in them, I contend, that even in
these respects, the advantage is on the side of the
poor. The rich, who addict themselves to indulg-
ence, lose their relish. Their desires are dead.
Their sensibilities are worn and tired. Hence they
lead a languid satiated existence. Hardly any thing
can amuse, or rouse, or gratify them. Whereas the
poor man, if something extraordinary fall in his way,
comes to the repast with appetite ; is pleased and
refreshed ; derives from liis issual course of modera-

S^26 REASONS FOR CONTENTMENT.

tion and temperance a quickness of perception and
delight which the unrestrained voluptuary knows
nothing of. Habits of all kinds are much the same.
Whatever is habitual becomes smooth and indif-
ferent, and nothing more. The luxurious receive
no greater pleasures from their dainties than the
peasant does from his homely fare. — But here is the
difference : The peasant, whenever he goes abroad,
finds a feast ; whereas the epicure must be sump-
tuously entertained to escape disgust. They who
spend every day in diversions, and they who go every
day about their usual business, pass their time much
alike. Attending to what they are about, wanting
nothing, regretting nothing, tliey are both, whilst
engaged, in a state of ease ; but then, whatever sus-
pends the pursuits of the man of diversion distresses
him ; whereas to the labourer, or the man of business,
every pause is a recreation. And this is a vast ad-
vantage which they possess who are trained and
inured to a life of occupation, above the man who
sets up for a life of pleasure. Variety is soon ex-
hausted. Novelty itself is no longer new. Amuse-
ments are become too familiar to delight, and he is
in a situation in which he can never change but for
the worse.

Another article which the poor are apt to envy in
the rich is their ease. Now here they mistake the
matter totally. They call inaction ease, whereas
nothing is farther from it. Rest is ease. That is
true ; but no man can rest who has not worked.
Rest is the cessation of labour. It cannot therefore
be enjoyed, or even tasted, except by those who have
known fatigue. The rich see, and not without envy,

REASONS FOR CONTENTMENT. 327

the refreshment and pleasure which rest affords to
the poor, and choose to wonder that they cannot find
the same enjoyment in being free from the necessity
of working at all. They do not observe that this
enjoyment must be purchased by previous labour,
and that he who will not pay the price cannot have
the gratification. Being without work is one thing ;
reposing from work is another. The one is as tire-
some and insipid as the other is sweet and soothing.
The one, in general, is the fate of the rich man ; the
other is the fortune of the poor. I have heard it
said, that if the face of happiness can any where be
seen, it is in the summer evening of a country village ;
where, after the labours of the day, each man at his
door, with his children, amongst his neighbours, feels
his frame and his heart at rest, every thing about
him pleased and pleasing, and a delight and compla-
cency in his sensations far beyond what either luxury
or diversion can afford. The rich want this ; and
they want what they must never have.

As to some other things which the poor are dis-
posed to envy in the condition of the rich, such as
their state, their appearance, the grandeur of their
houses, dress, equipage and attendance, they only
envy the rich these things because they do not know
the rich. They have not opportunities of observing
with what neglect and insensibility the rich possess
and regard these things themselves. If they could
see the great man in his retirement, and in his actual
manner of life, they would find him, if pleased at all,
taking pleasure in some of those simple enjoyments
which they can command as well as he. They would
find him amongst his children^ in his husbandry, in

328 REASONS FOR CONTENTMENT.

his garden, pursuing some rural diversion, or occu-
pied with some trifling exercise ; which are all grati-
fications, as much within the power and reach of the
poor man as of the rich, or rather more so.

To learn the art of contentment is only to learn
what happiness actually consists in. Sensual plea-
sures add little to its substance. Ease, if by that be
meant exemption from labour, contributes nothing.
One, however, constant spring of satisfaction, and
almost infallible support of cheerfulness and spirits,
is the exercise of domestic affections ; the presence of
objects of tenderness and endearment in our families,
our kindred, our friends. Now have the poor any
thing to complain of here ? Are they not surrounded
by their relatives as generally as others ? The poor
man has his wife and children about him ; and what
has the rich more? He has the same enjoyment of
their society, the same, solicitude for their welfare,
the same pleasure in their good qualities, improve-
ment, and success : their connexion with him is as
strict and intimate, their attachment as strong, their
gratitude as warm. I have no propensity to envy
any one, least of all the rich and great ; but if I
were disposed to this weakness, the subject of my
envy would be a healthy young man, in full posses-
sion of his strength and faculties, going forth in a
morning to work for his wife and children, or bringing
them home his wages at night.

But was difference of rank or fortune of more im-
portance to personal happiness than it is, it would be
ill purchased by any sudden or violent change of con-
dition. An alteration of circumstances, which breaks
up a man's luibits of life, deprives him of his occupa-

REASONS FOR CONTENTMENT. 3^9

tion, removes him from his acquaintance, may be
called an elevation of fortune,' but hardly ever brings
with it an addition of enjoyment. They to whom
accidents of this sort have happened never found
them to answer their expectations. After the first
hurry of the change is over, they are surprised to
feel in themselves listlessness and dejection, a con-
sciousness of solitude, vacancy, and restraint, in the
place of cheerfulness, liberty, and ease. They try to
make up for what they have lost, sometimes by a
beastly sottishness, sometimes by a foolish dissipation
sometimes by a stupid sloth ; all which effects are
only so many confessions, that changes of this sort
were not made for man. If any public disturbance
should produce, not an equality (for that is not the
proper name to give it), but a jumble of ranks and
professions amongst us, it is not only evident what
the rich would lose, but there is also this further mis-
fortune, that what the rich lost the poor would not
gain. I (God knows) could not get my livelihood
by labour, nor would the labourer find any solace or
enjoyment in my studies. If we were to exchange
conditions to-morrow, all the effect would be, that
we both should be more miserable, and the work of
both be worse done. Without debating, therefore,
what might be very difficult to decide, which of our
two conditions was better to begin with, one point is
certain, that it is best for each to remain in his own.
The change, and the only change, to be desired, is
that gradual and progressive improvement of our cir-
cumstances which is the natural fruit of successful
industry ; when each year is something better than
the last ; when we are enabled to add to our little

330 REASONS FOR CONTENTMENT.

household one article after another of new comfort
or conveniency, as our profits increase, or our burthen
becomes less ; and what is best of all, when we can
afford, as our strength declines, to relax our labours,
or divide our cares. This may be looked forward to,
and is practicable, by great numbers in a state of
public order and quiet j it is absolutely impossible in
any other.

If, in comparing the different conditions of social
life, we bring religion into the account, the argument
is still easier. Religion smooths all inequalities, be-
cause it unfolds a prospect which makes all earthly
distinctions nothing. And I do allow that there are
many cases of sickness, affliction, and distress, which
Christianity alone can comfort. But in estimating
the mere diversities of station and civil condition, I
have not thought it necessary to introduce religion
into the inquiry at all ; because I contend that the
man who murmurs and repines, when he has nothing
to murmur and repine about, but the mere want of
independent property, is not only irreligious, but
unreasonable, in his complaint ; and that he would
find, did he know the truth, and consider his case
fairly, that a life of labour, such, I mean, as is led by
the labouring part of mankind in this country, has
advantages in it which compensate all its inconve-
niences. When compared with the life of the rich, it
is better in these important respects : It supplies em-
ployment ; it promotes activity. It keeps the body
in better health, the mind more engaged, and, of
course, more quiet. It is more sensible of ease,
more susceptible of pleasure. It is attended with
greater alacrity of spirits, a more constant cheerful-

REASONS FOR CONTENTMENT. 331

ness and serenity of temper. It affords easier and
more certain methods of sending children into the
world in situations suited to their habits and expecta-
tions. It is free from many heavy anxieties which
rich men feel ; it is fraught with many sources of
delight which they want.

If to these reasons for contentment, the reflecting
husbandman or artificer adds another very material
one, that changes of condition, which are attended
with a breaking up and sacrifice of our ancient course
and habit of living, never can be productive of happi-
ness, he will perceive, I trust, that to covet the sta-
tions or fortunes of the rich, or so, however, to covet
them, as to wish to seize them by force, or through
the medium of public uproar and confusion, is not
only wickedness, but folly, as" mistaken in the end as
in the means ; tJiat it is not onli) to 'venture out to
sea in a storm, but to venture for nothing.

END OF VOL. III.

LONDON :

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