to epistolary writing. Many circumstances are mentioned with brevity, and many opinions and facts are barely alluded to, as being well known to the persons whom he addresses, but which it is very difficult at this distant period to discover and ascertain. He does not formally announce the subjects which he means to discuss; he enters upon them abruptly, and makes frequent transitions without any intimation or notice; he answers objections without stating them, and abounds in parentheses which are not always easily discerned. Perspicuity, indeed, and a strict adherence to the rules of composition, were scarcely compatible with the fervour of his imagination and the rapidity of his thoughts. "He is," says Mr. Locke, 66 full of the matter he treats; and writes with warmth, which usually neglects method, and those partitions and pauses, which men educated in the schools of rhetoricians usually observe." There is, however, a real connection and coherence in all his writings; and his reasoning, although it may sometimes seem to be desultory, will always be found to be correct and convincing. Instead of the beauties which arise from a nice arrangement of

a

writings. Taking for granted the certainty of his doctrine, as resting upon the Revelation that had been imparted to him, he exhibits it frequently to the conception of his readers under images and allegories, in which, if any analogy may be perceived, or even sometimes a poetic resemblance be found, it is all perhaps that is required." Hora Paul. p. 210.

words, an harmonious cadence of periods, and an artificial structure of sentences, we have a style at once concise and highly figurative, and a striking peculiarity and uncommon energy of language. Whenever he speaks of the doctrines and excellency of the Christian religion, enlarges upon the nature and attributes of the Deity, or terrifies with the dread of Divine judgments, his style rises with the subject; and while our minds are impressed with the justness and the dignity of the sentiments, we cannot but admire the force and sublimity of the expressions. Though he never departs from the authority of the apostolic character, yet the sensibility of his own heart frequently leads him to appeal to the feelings and affections of those to whom he writes; and the zeal of his temper is so constantly apparent throughout his Epistles, that no one can read them with attention, without catching some portion of that fire by which he was animated.

PART II.

CHAPTER THE EIGHTH.

OF THE GENUINENESS AND ARRANGEMENT OF
ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES.

Or the fourteen Epistles ascribed to St. Paul' in our canon, the first thirteen have, in all ages of the Church, been universally acknowledged to be written by that Apostle. Some doubts have been entertained, as we shall see hereafter, concerning the Epistle to the Hebrews. As the testimonies in favour of the genuineness of these thirteen Epistles are nearly the same, I shall, to avoid repetition, state them all at once; and I am the more inclined to do this, because the style of these different Epistles is so exactly the same, and of so peculiar a kind', that whatever proves any one of them to be genuine, may be considered as a proof of the genuineness of them all.

Clement of Rome expressly ascribes the first Epistle to the Corinthians to St. Paul, and it is quoted by Polycarp; Ignatius and Polycarp both quote the Epistle to the Ephesians; and Polycarp

The learned are not agreed whether these be the only epistles which St. Paul wrote. I am inclined to think they are, as no

VOL. I.

Y

other epistle written by this apostle is quoted or referred to by any of the Fathers.

b Vide Paley's Horæ Paul. i. 16.

also quotes the Epistle to the Philippians. Besides these quotations, all the thirteen Epistles, except the short one to Philemon, are plainly referred to by one or more of the apostolical Fathers, although they do not say that they were written by St. Paul. Justin Martyr does not quote by name any one of St. Paul's Epistles; but there are passages in his remaining works, which may be considered as allusions to seven of them; namely, to the Epistle to the Romans, to the first of the Corinthians, to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and second of the Thessalonians. Athenagoras quotes the first Epistle to the Corinthians. Theophilus of Antioch refers to the Romans, to the first and second of the Corinthians, to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, first of Timothy and Titus. All the thirteen Epistles, except that to Philemon, are quoted by Irenæus, Clement of Alexandria, and Cyprian; and all, without any exception, are quoted by Tertullian, Origen, Dionysius of Alexandria, Eusebius, Athanasius, Epiphanius, Jerome, Augustine, and Chrysostom.

These writers reach from the days of the Apostles to the end of the fourth century, and are amply sufficient to establish the genuineness of these Epistles. It is unnecessary to enumerate writers of a later date.

The brevity of the Epistle to Philemon, and the private nature of its subject, account for its not being quoted so early or so frequently as the other Epistles of St. Paul. It appears from the above

statement, that Tertullian is the earliest author who mentions this Epistle; but he tells us, that it was received by Marcion, who lived in the beginning of the second century. It was always inserted in every catalogue of the books of the New Testament; and short as it is, it bears strong internal marks of being the genuine production of St. Paul.

a

The respective dates of these Epistles will be considered when we speak of them separately; but in the mean time we may observe, that they are not placed in our Bibles in the order in which they were written. The Epistles to whole churches are placed before those which are addressed to particular persons. The Epistle to the Romans is placed first, probably because, when the Gospel was propagated, Rome was the mistress of the world. The Epistles to the Corinthians are placed next, because Corinth was at the time the capital of Greece. Then comes the Epistle to the Galatians, who were not the inhabitants of a single city, but of a country in Asia Minor, in which several churches had been founded. This is followed by the Epistle to the Ephesians, Ephesus being the principal city of Asia Minor. Philippi was a Roman colony, which might, perhaps, cause the Epistle to the Philippians to be placed before those to the Colossians and Thessalonians, whose cities were not distinguished by any particular circumstance. The Epistles to Timothy have the precedence among those which are written to individuals,

a The order of these Epistles is different in different Greek MSS.