The Anthon Library. 
 
 COLLECTED BY CHARLES ANTHON 
 
 Pz-ofessox* of Grreek and. Uatin in 
 Oolnmoia. College. 
 
 Purchased by Cornell University, 1868, 
 
FRAGILE PAPER 
 Please handle this book 
 with care, as the paper 
 is brittle. 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029302183 
 
THE LITERARY HISTORY 
 
 THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 COMPRISING: 
 
 A CRITICAL INQDIRY INTO THE AUTHORSHIP, CHRONOLOGICAL 
 
 ORDER, CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES, INTERNAL EVIDENCE, 
 
 AND GENERAL SCOPE OF THE SACRED DOCUMENTS. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOSIAH CONDER. 
 
 " As AROUATICS TIBLD THEIR PBKFDME fiO UUCH THE AIOBE, TEE MOUE THEY AIIE 
 BBITISBD, SO DO THE SCBIPTUBES GIVE UP THEIR HID TREASURE OF MEANING IN PRO- 
 PORTION AS THBT ARE CONSTANTLY HANDLED."— Cftrysosfom's Homilies. 
 
 FLEET STREET, and HANOVER STREET ; 
 
 MDCCCL. 
 
Cornell University Library 
 BS2350 .C74 
 
 Literary history of the New Testament 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 029 302 183 
 
The chapter on the Apocalypse would require no very 
 material modifications to make it entirely accord with the 
 Author's exposition of that wonderful book, the fruit of his 
 subsequent biblical studies ; but, for a more complete illus- 
 tration of the harmony of history with prophecy, he begs 
 permission to refer the reader to his later and smaller 
 work.* 
 
 Clapham Common. 
 Aug. 1850. 
 
 * The Harmony of History with Prophecy : an Exposition of the Apocalypse. 
 By Josiah Conder. 12mo., 7s. 6d. London : 1849. 
 
INTRODUCTORY RECOMMENDATIONS. 
 
 This work contains a considerable amount of useful in- 
 formation, brought together from various sources, with 
 discriminating judgment. It is calculated to make the 
 Inspired Book more intelligently understood by those who 
 read it, and to lead their minds to a more careful observa- 
 tion of its various parts. It is written by a well-informed 
 and pious Christian, who, preferring to withhold his name, 
 have, at the request of the Publishers, agreed to prefix a 
 few introductory remarks. 
 
 Many of the views are original. On the Gospels, it 
 may be compared with Greswell's Dissertations ; and, on 
 the Epistles, with Tate's Continuous History of St. Paul. 
 His views generally will, I think, commend themselves to 
 Biblical Students. It could not be expected that, on such 
 a multitude of difficult questions as are here discussed, all 
 readers should think with him : but orthodox and evange- 
 lical views have in this work an able friend. His attempt 
 to identify Silas and Luke appears to me unsuccessful : 
 it seems improbable that Luke should speak of himself, as 
 he does in Acts xv. of Silas, if these names meant the 
 same person. , 
 
iv INTRODUCTORY RECOMMENDATIONS. 
 
 In his views of the Apocalypse, it is gratifying to see 
 that he does not take the futurist or the early fulfilment, 
 but the general Protestant application, chiefly following 
 Mr. Elliott : to whose interpretation of the seals I have, 
 in the seventh edition of my Practical Guide to the Pro- 
 phecies, stated my objections. I cannot also concur in 
 the remarks made in the last chapter on the study of our 
 unfulfilled prophecy. 
 
 Thus, without agreeing in all the conclusions of the 
 Author of this work, I cheerfully commend it, as likely to 
 be generally useful to all wishing to understand^the hterary 
 history of incomparably the most needful and the most 
 important book ever given to the world — the only volume 
 discovering to us our precious Saviour, and containing a 
 divine, a perfect, and a sufficient rule of faith and practice 
 — a rule with which none can be too well acquainted. 
 
 Edward Bickersteth. 
 
 Watton Rectory, Herts, 
 May 15, 1845. 
 
INTRODUCTOEY RECOMMENDATIONS. v 
 
 Having been favoured with opportunities for perusing 
 considerable portions of this work, in its manuscript, and 
 afterwards in the printed sheets, I feel it a duty and a 
 pleasure to bear my glad testimony to the learning, in 
 particular sacred and ecclesiastical, the indefatigable dili- 
 gence, the wide research, the candour and impartiality, 
 and the sound judgment, which characterize this welcome 
 addition to our national literature. Regard and affection 
 are especially drawn to the book and its author, though he 
 chooses to remain unknown, on account of the spirit of 
 piety and reverence to divine truth, which show them- 
 selves in an unostentatious and almost unconscious manner, 
 marking the cordiality and simplicity of a true believer in 
 Christianity. Ample as is the stock of religious works, in 
 our language, such a book as this is especially needed in 
 Great Britain, for the American States are more richly 
 furnished. To students for the ministry, it will be of 
 extensive useftilness, directly and indirectly: yet not to 
 such persons only, but, on many accounts in a still higher 
 measure, to the unlearned (technically but not justly so 
 called) among our fellow-beHevers, who desire to " know 
 
vi INTRODUCTORY RECOMMENDATIONS. 
 
 the certainty of those things wherein they have been in- 
 structed." We have also a noble body of Christians, 
 especially young persons of both sexes, who are the glory 
 of our families and schools and churches, and who, though 
 they read not Latin, Greek, or Hebrew (yet many of them 
 do,) are well versed in general as well as religious 
 knowledge. To that happily increasing class this work 
 will be eminently interesting and serviceable, by its mani- 
 fold suggestions as well as by its absolute communications. 
 To profess a perfect coincidence in every sentiment which 
 a book, comprising almost innumerable details and difficult 
 discussions, necessarily brings forward, would be absurd ; 
 but few indeed are the opinions here maintained, to the 
 truth of which I could not heartily subscribe ; and I feel 
 myself happy in being permitted to recommend this 
 invaluable volume. 
 
 J. Pye Smith. 
 
 Homerton College, 
 June 10, 1845. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Although numerous works have appeared, both in this 
 country and in Germany, intended to serve as Introduc- 
 tions or Helps to the critical study of the New Testament, 
 the Author of this Volume is not aware that there exists 
 any Popular Manual, affording a condensed view of the 
 literary history, chronology, internal evidence, and dis- 
 tinctive features of the Apostolic Writings. To supply this 
 deficiency, the present work has been undertaken, in the 
 hope that, while it may assist to guide the investigations 
 of the Biblical student, it may also serve to interest general 
 readers more extensively in the topics of inquiry connected 
 with the historical and critical illustration of the New 
 Testament. 
 
 The general design of the work is, to concentrate upon 
 the sacred documents, as compositions, all the light which 
 external history, ecclesiastical testimony, and a careful colla- 
 tion of their contents will supply. The Inspired Writers 
 may possibly appear under somewhat new aspects, as the 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 reader is thus enabled to discern, more distinctly and 
 vividly thrown out, those interesting personal traits, those 
 indirect biographical allusions or historical references, those 
 beauties of composition or touches of character, which at 
 once attest the genuineness of the Writings, and tend to 
 waken a deeper sympathy with the feelings and senti- 
 ments of the wonderful men to whose authority we bow as 
 the Apostles of Christ. 
 
 No man is truly religious who does not love his religion, 
 and love, as well as reverence, the Sacred Books in which 
 that rehgion is comprised. Yet, the New Testament is 
 recognized as the Eule of Faith by multitudes who never 
 have given the Divine volume an intelligent perusal, much 
 less have learned to appreciate the internal evidence of its 
 Inspiration, in the matchless narratives of the Evangelists, 
 or in the profound wisdom and sublime eloquence of the 
 Epistles. There have been critics, it is true, who have 
 admired the Books of the New Testament as composi- 
 tions, and yet have not received the Apostolic doctrine. 
 But that beUever is the more inexcusable, who, while de- 
 ferring to the authority of the Scriptures, can be satisfied 
 without making himself familiar with all the treasures of 
 wisdom which they contain, and with all the sources of 
 interest which on a devout perusal they disclose. 
 
 The present work is the fruit of the Biblical studies of 
 many years, during which the materials have been gradu- 
 ally accumulating in the Writer s hands. In throwing them 
 into the present shape, he has availed himself of the addi- 
 tional illustrations afforded by recent publications, and has 
 
PREFACE, ix 
 
 interwoven the confirmatory results of renewed investigation 
 with his previous conclusions. In composing the last chap- 
 ter, he has derived important aid from Mr. Elliott's ' Horse 
 ApocaJypticee,' — the ablest commentary that has yet ap- 
 peared upon that mysterious portion of the sacred canon. 
 To the erudite researches of Mr. Greswell, he has acknow- 
 ledged his obligations, as well as to the works of Michaelis, 
 Hug, Neander, and other Continental Critics. But, at a 
 time when it is too much the fashion to exalt the Biblical 
 scholars of Germany at the expense of our native literature, 
 it may be pardonable to express the conviction, that, in his 
 peculiar line of investigation. Dr. Lardner still claims to 
 rank s&facili princeps, the solidity of his judgment being 
 equalled by the accuracy of his researches, the caution 
 of his decisions, and the prodigious range of his learning. 
 What has been added to the product of his stupendous 
 labours by subsequent writers, has partaken of the character 
 of speculation, more than of induction ; and in many in- 
 stances, his great work supplies the best refutation of the 
 crude opinions of less sober and careful inquirers. To his 
 volumes, there will be found, in the following pages, con- 
 tinual references ; although the Writer has felt himself at 
 full liberty to assert an independent judgment, and, in 
 not a few instances, without aiming at originality, has 
 arrived at different, and what may appear novel, conclu- 
 sions. 
 
 Upon the analysis of the Apostolic Epistles, the utmost 
 care and study have been bestowed, with a view to elicit 
 the genuine scope of the Inspired Writer, and to present it 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 as free as possible from any tincture of polemical opinion. 
 Should he, in the judgment of his readers, have succeeded 
 in this, he will deem it the highest approval that could be 
 awarded to him. 
 
 April 5, 1845, 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEK I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 SCANTINESS OF THB EXISTING INFORMATION RESPECTING THE WRITERS 
 
 OF THE NEW TESTAMENT SPIRIT PROPER TO THE INQUIRY — GENERAL 
 
 CHARACTER OP THE SEVERAL BOOKS — THE CANON DETERMINED BY 
 HISTORICAL EVIDENCE 'pogti 1 ^20. 
 
 CHAPTEE 11. 
 
 THE GOSPELS OF MATTHEW AND MARK. 
 
 THE UNCERTAINTY OP TRADITION NO GROUND FOR DISCOURAGEMENT IN 
 THE PRESENT INDUCTIVE INVESTIGATION — WAS MATTHEW's GOSPEL 
 
 WRITTEN IN HEBREW? DISTINCTIVE CHARACTER OF HIS GOSPEL 
 
 THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW THE TRUE PROTO-EVANGELION — SPECIFIC 
 DESIGN AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPEL OF MARK BIOGRAPHY 
 
 OF MARK jpoiget 21 — 63. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE GOSPELS OF LUKE AND JOHN. 
 
 ANCIENT ORDER OF THE FOUR GOSPELS — BIOGRAPHY OF LUKE DATE 
 
 OF HIS GOSPEL TO WHAT PRIOR ACCOUNTS DOES THIS EVANGELIST 
 
 REFER? — CHARACTER OF LUKE AS AN HISTORIAN — VARIATIONS FROM 
 
ii CONTENTS. 
 
 THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW EXPLAINED CHRONOLOGICAL DIFFICULTY 
 
 RELATING TO THE TAXING, AND TO THE DEATH OP HEROD — SPECIFIC 
 DESIGN AND CHARACTER OP THE GOSPEL OF JOHN REASONS FOR AS- 
 SIGNING TO IT AN EARLY DATE INDEPENDENT SOURCE OF PAUL's 
 
 GOSPEL — APPARENT ALLUSIONS TO THE FOUR GOSPELS IN THE EPIS- 
 TLES pages 64 — 99. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HARMONIES OF THE GOSPELS. 
 
 ON HARMONIES OP THE FOUR GOSPELS FIRST DIFFICULTY OF HAR- 
 MONISTS : THE TWO GENEALOGIES — SECOND DIFFICULTY : THE VISIT 
 OF THE MAGI — THIRD DIFFICULTY : THE ORDEBfOF THE TEMPTATIONS 
 FOURTH DIFFICULTY : OUR LORD's MINISTRY PRIOR TO JOHn's IM- 
 PRISONMENT — FIFTH DIFFICULTY : DURATION OF OUR LORD's MINIS- 
 TRY — SIXTH DIFFICULTY : THE DIFFERENT ACCOUNTS OF THE RESUR- 
 RECTION — PROOF OF THE ASCENSION THE EXALTATION OP CHRIST 
 
 ESSENTIAL TO THE PURPOSE OF HIS RESURRECTION INCOMPLETENESS 
 
 OF THE INFORMATION IN THE GOSPELS — BTIDENOE OF THE RESUR- 
 RECTION INDEPENDENT OF THE TESTIMONY OP THE EVANGELISTS — 
 INDEPENDENT TESTIMONY OF ST. PAUL AS A WITNESS TO THE RESUR- 
 RECTION pages 100—164. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE EPISTLES OF JAMES, PETEE, AND JUDE. 
 
 THE CATHOLIC EPISTLES ORDER OF THE EPISTLES NOT DETERMINED BY 
 
 THEIR DATE — EPISTLE OF JAMES : ITS CANONICITY, WHY QUESTIONED 
 — NOT OPPOSED TO THE PAULINE DOCTRINE — ANALYSIS OF THE EPIS- 
 TLE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER: ARGUMENT FOR ITS EARLY DATE 
 
 ITS HARMONY WITH THE PAULINE WRITINGS — ANALYSIS OP THE EPIS- 
 TLE — ITS HARMONY WITH THE ORAL TEACHING OF PETER IN THE 
 
 ACTS — TRADITION RELATING TO PBTEr's MARTYRDOM HIS SECOND 
 
 EPISTLE : ANALYSIS COINCIDENCE WITH THE EPISTLE OF JUDE EX- 
 PLAINED IMPORT OF THE PHRASE, "THE LAST DAYS " EPISTLE OF 
 
 JUDE : OBJECTIONS TO ITS CANONICITY EXAMINED — PROPHECY OF 
 ENOCH — IMPORT OF THE PHRASE, " THE BODY OF MOSES " ANALYSIS 
 
 OF THE EPISTLE pogss 166 ^216. 
 
CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 THE PAUIilNB EPISTLES : THEIR TKUE OBDER AND DATE — CHARACTERS 
 
 OF GENUINENESS POINT OP TIME AT WHICH THEY CONNECT WITH 
 
 THE HISTORICAL NARRATIVE IN THE ACTS RETROSPECT OP THE 
 
 ANTECEDENT HISTORY DATE OF THE MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN AND 
 
 THE CONVERSION OP SAUL — REVIEW OP THE APOSTOLIC HISTORY UP 
 TO THE ARRIVAL OP PAUL AT CORINTH, A.D, 62 . . pogeS 217 — 255. 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 THE EPISTLES TO THE THESSALONIANS (l. AND II.), 
 TO THE GALATIANS, AND I. TO THE CORINTHIANS. 
 
 THE EPISTLES TO THE THESSALONIANS — ANALYSIS — CONTINUATION OP 
 THE NARRATIVE PROM THE TIME OP PAUL's LEA VINO CORINTH TILL 
 HIS ARRIVAL AT EPHESUS THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS — CHA- 
 RACTER OP PAUL AS A RHETORICIAN ANALYSIS — THE FIRST EPISTLE 
 
 TO THE CORINTHIANS : ITS DATE AND OCCASION — ANALYSIS — CHARACTER 
 
 OF THE COMPOSITION poges 266 — 290. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO TITUS, I. TO TIMOTHY, II. TO THE 
 CORINTHIANS, AND TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 CONTINUATION OP THE NARRATIVE PROM PAUl's LEAVING EPHESUS TO 
 
 HIS LAST VOYAGE TO JERUSALEM INQUIRY INTO THE DATE OP THE 
 
 EPISTLE TO TITUS AND THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY — DIFFICULTY 
 RELATING TO PAUl's VISIT TO CRETE — ANALYSIS OF THE EPISTLE TO 
 TITUS — ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY — THE SECOND 
 EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS ! ITS DATE AND CHARACTER AS A 
 
 COMPOSITION ANALYSIS — DATE OF THE PROPHETIC RAPTURE NATURE 
 
 OP THE THORN IN THE FLESH THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS ! ITS 
 
 DATE AND OCCASION ANALYSIS SOURCE OP THE ALLEGED OBSCURITY 
 
 IN THE PAULINE WRITINGS pages 291 — 366. 
 
xlv CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE FIVE EPISTLES OF PAUL WRITTEN FROM ROME. 
 
 SEQUEL TO THE TRAVELS OF ST. PAUL THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHE-' 
 
 SIANS : TO WHOM ACTUALLY ADDRESSED— ANALYSIS OF THE EPISTLE 
 ITS CHARACTER AS A COMPOSITION — THE SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMO- 
 THY : ITS TRUE DATE SENT TO TIMOTHY AT EPHESUS — ANALYSIS OF 
 
 THE EPISTLE — THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS : BY WHOM SENT 
 
 WAS PAUL PERSONALLY KNOWN TO THE COLOSSIANS? — ANALYSIS OF 
 THE EPISTLE — POINTS OF COINCIDENCE BETWEEN THIS EPISTLE AND 
 
 THAT TO THE EPHESIANS NATURE OF THE HERESIES REFERRED TO 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON CHARACTER OF THE ANCIENT DOMES- 
 TIC SERVITUDE ANALYSIS OF THE EPISTLE — ITS CHARACTER AS A 
 
 COMPOSITION — THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS : ITS PECULIAR 
 CHARACTER AND OCCASION — ANALYSIS OF THE EPISTLE CIRCUM- 
 STANCES UNDER WHICH IT APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN WRITTEN. 
 
 pages 366—436. 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 
 
 ANCIENT OPINIONS RESPECTING THE OMISSION OF THE WRITER's NAME 
 
 ORIGIN OP THE DOUBTS RELATING TO ITS PAULINE AUTHORSHIP 
 
 EXTERNAL EVIDENCE OP ITS CANONICAL AUTHORITY — CHARACTERIS- 
 TIC DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE APOSTOLIC AND THE PATRISTIC 
 WRITINGS — CONFLICTING CRITICAL DECISIONS RESPECTING THE STYLE 
 OF THE EPISTLE — UNCERTAINTY OF THE VERBAL CRITERION OF AU- 
 THORSHIP ORIGIN OP THE DOUBTS ENTERTAINED IN THE WESTERN 
 
 CHURCH RESPECTING THE APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY OP THE EPISTLE- 
 MODERN GROUNDS OF HESITATION IN RESPECT TO ITS PAULINE AU- 
 
 THORSHIP-B-TO WHOM WAS THE EPISTLE ADDRESSED ? ANALYSIS OF 
 
 THE CONTENTS — PECULIARITIES OF PHRASEOLOGY ITS CANONICAL 
 
 AUTHORITY NOT AFFECTED BY THE SUPPOSITION THAT IT WAS A 
 JOINT COMPOSITION — PROBABLE DATE OF THE EPISTLE. 
 
 pages 437—469. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 
 
 THE CATHOLIC EPISTLE OF JOHN : ITS UNDOUBTED GENUINENESS ALLU- 
 SIONS TO THE GOSPEL OP JOHN OPINION THAT THE EPISTLE WAS SUP- 
 PLEMENTAL TO THE GOSPEL ITS DATE ANTECEDENT TO THE OVERTHROW 
 
 OP JERUSALEM THE LABOURS OF JOHN STRICTLY CONTEMPORANEOUS 
 
 WITH THOSE OP PAUL HERESIES COMBATED BY JOHN SIMILAR TO 
 
 THOSE REFERRED TO IN THE PAULINE EPISTLES COINCIDENCES 
 
 BETWEEN THE CATHOLIC EPISTLE OP JOHN AND THE PAULINE WRITINGS 
 
 THE EPISTLE OF JOHN PROBABLY SENT TO CORINTH — THE EPISTLE 
 
 TO GAIUS THE EPISTLE TO THE ELECT LADY — CHARACTER OF THE 
 
 GENERAL EPISTLE AS A COMPOSITION — ANALYSIS PECULIARITIES OF 
 
 EXPRESSION IN REFERENCE TO UNION WITH THE DIVINE NATURE 
 
 CONTROVERTED PASSAGE ON THE THREE HEAVENLY WITNESSES. 
 
 pages 470 — 606. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 TIME AT WHICH THE APOCALYPSE WAS COMMUNICATED HYPOTHESIS OF 
 
 AN EARLIER DATE UNTENABLE — WHO ARE INTENDED BY THE SEVEN 
 
 KINGS INTERNAL EVIDENCE IN FAVOUR OF THE TRADITIONAL DATE 
 
 RETROSPECT OF THE PREVIOUS PIVE-AND-THIKTY YEARS — PRIMARY 
 DESIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE — PARALLEL DESIGN OF OUR LORD's 
 
 PREDICTIONS HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE PERIOD COMPRISED IN THE 
 
 FIRST SIX SEALS PERIOD OF THE FIRST SIX TRUMPETS THE THIRD 
 
 AND LAST WOE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF THE APOCALYPSE PROVED BY 
 
 THE HISTORIC FULFILMENT — ORIGIN OF THE DOUBTS ENTERTAINED, 
 
 AND OF THE CONFLICTING SCHEMES OF INTERPRETATION DESIGN 
 
 AND IMPORT OF THE SERIES OF VISIONS RELATING TO THE CHURCH 
 OF CHRIST— VISIONS OF THE SEVEN-HEADED AND THE TWO-HORNED 
 BEASTS — VISIONS RELATING TO THE FUTURE A PRIORI INTERPRETA- 
 TION UNAUTHORIZED PRACTICAL USE AND FINAL PURPOSE OF THE 
 
 APOCALYPSE ^cT^es 606— 591. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 (A.) Chronology of the gospbls 'page 693 
 
 (B.) Chronology oe the acts and apostolic epistles . 594 
 
 (C.) Chronology or the apocalypse 697 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Bage SI, note, for hyXihs read Si-X^^s. 
 
 — 317, side note, for ch. vi. 11, read oh. v. 11. 
 
 — 332, note t, line 2, for Christo read Chresto. 
 
 — 512, note *, line 2, and note t, line 8, for Aareivos read AaretJ/os. 
 
 — 517, line 10, read "which aesignB the composition of the .Apocalypse to a period immedi- 
 
 ately preceding the bright interval," &c. 
 
 — 550, line 12, for of read off. 
 
 — 573, line 15, for obsistet read obBiatit. 
 
LITERARY HISTORY 
 
 THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 SCANTINESS OF THE EXISTING INFORMATION RESPECTING THE 
 WBITERS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT — SPIRIT PROPER TO THE 
 
 ENQUIRY GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE SEVERAL BOOKS THE 
 
 CANON DETERMINED BY HISTORICAL EVIDENCE. 
 
 § 1. Copious and satisfactory as is the evidence of the Scantiness 
 authenticity and genuineness of the New Testament, Lfomation. 
 the materials for its literary history, apart from the 
 information communicated by the sacred writers them- 
 selves, are exceedingly scanty. The inestimable 
 value of the written document is strikingly illustrated 
 by the extreme uncertainty which attaches to all 
 traditional information concerning the Apostles or the 
 events of the early ages. Where the sacred narrative 
 terminates, we find ourselves without an historical 
 guide,— like a traveller who, on passing out of a 
 walled city, enters upon a desolated and pathless waste. 
 We have no contemporary Christian writings. If 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 Timothy, or Mark, or any other individual standing 
 in their relation to the Apostles, wrote any continua- 
 tion of the sacred annals, it has perished. The age 
 that carefully preserved the inspired Scriptures, and 
 vigorously scrutinized their apostolic authority, was 
 either too busy, too incurious, or, in a certain sense, 
 too illiterate, to collect any memorials illustrative of 
 the wonderful volume confided to its custody. Thus, 
 the very inscriptions appended to the Epistles are not 
 merely apocryphal, but demonstrably erroneous.* 
 In what language the Gospel of Matthew was origin- 
 ally written, is stiU a question with Biblical scholars. 
 Upon the authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
 history or contemporary testimony throws no light. 
 Whether St. Peter ever visited Eome, is the subject of 
 an interminable controversy ; and no dependence can 
 be placed upon the scanty traditions preserved in 
 the fourth century, respecting the latter labours and 
 death of any one of the Apostles who survived 
 St. Paul.t It would seem as if the silence which 
 guards the precincts of the sacred volume, to what 
 
 * ' Alas ! ' says Dr. Cave, ' they are of no just value or authoiity, 
 not the same in all cppieS;, different in the Syriac and Arabic ver- 
 sions, nay, wholly wanting in some ancient Qreek copies of th,e 
 New Testament,' and were doubtless at first added at best upon 
 probable conjectures. When ait arty' tiine they ti*uly represent the 
 place whence, or the- person by whom the epistle was s6nt, it is not 
 that they are to be relied upon m it, but because the thing is either 
 intimated or expressed in the body of the epistle.' — -Life of St. Paul. 
 
 + 'In short, it' is an undeniable fact, that, from the earh'est 
 period, the deepest obscurity always did envelope, arid must stiU 
 continue to envelope, both the personal history, and the history of 
 the writings, of* the 'first propagators of Christianity.'-— Greswell'^ 
 Dissertations, vol. i. p< 109. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 3 
 
 cause soever assignable, were inteaded to repress 
 curiosity as an idle intruder ; and in answer to in- 
 quiries having no reference to faith or to religious 
 duty, a voice seems to proceed from that silence — 
 ' What is that to thee ? Follow thou me.' 
 
 It is well, however, that the fact should be dis- 
 tinctly understood, in order to prevent unreasonable 
 disappointment, and to guard the inquirer against 
 erroneous conclusions. The .history of the inspired 
 document forms no part of the evidence of Chris- 
 tianity. Bishop Marsh has gone so far as to affirm 
 (in his Notes upon Miehaelis), ..that, ' cduld it be 
 proved that the Books of the New Testament were 
 not written by the persons to whom they are ascribed, 
 it would be no necessary consequence, that the reli- 
 gion itself were a forgery.' But, /though Christianity 
 might still be true, it would, on this hypothesis, as an 
 acute critic has remarked, 'come to us without any Dr. cook's 
 evidence of its truth, and could not be the object of tSraksof 
 rational beHef.' The inquiry into the authenticity Testamrnt, 
 and genuineness of the Scriptures of the New Testa- ^" 
 ment, including, by necessary consequence, their in- 
 spiration and authority, is of [the first importance. 
 Not so, however, those critical and historical in- 
 quiries the chief aim of which is, to illustrate the 
 hterary character of the compositions, to explain the 
 allusions, or to detect the historical and biographical 
 marks to be found in them. To a lover of the Scrip- 
 tures, such, inquiries are a source of both pleasure and 
 advantage. They are like deciphering . the hand- 
 writing, tracing out the family history, or dwelling on 
 the cherished peculiarities of a finiend. But, to one 
 
 B 2 
 
4 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 who takes this line of examination to gratify a, scep- 
 tical curiosity, or even as a means of establishing his 
 faith, such inquiries are adapted to afford as little 
 profit as satisfaction, 
 to iheC^"' - § 2. Christianity— and the same may be said of the 
 qmry. Book of God — never reveals itself fully except to our 
 love. Sympathy is the only key that will put us in 
 possession of the true beauties and full import of the 
 Sacred Writings. To an affectionate study of the 
 Scriptures, a thousand minute indications of their 
 divine spirit are intelligible, which criticism overlooks, 
 and scepticism could not understand. The wise and 
 the learned stumble over difficulties which the simpli- 
 city of a child can easily surmount. There is some- 
 thing absolutely revolting in the spirit of insolent 
 cross-examination which has characterized the treat- 
 ment of the sacred volume by some Christian critics 
 and commentators ; as if the veracity and authority 
 of the inspired writers, rather than the faith, or intel- 
 lectual satisfaction, or piety of the inquirer, were 
 staked on the investigation. Let us remember, we 
 are not to judge the Scripture : the Scripture is to 
 judge us. Woe to him who comes to the New Testa- 
 ment in the spirit of an accuser, instead of a penitent ; 
 not to learn, but to impugn. 
 
 Receiving the volume of the New Testament as 
 what it purports to be,— the writings of those who 
 were Divinely commissioned to record the facts, and 
 promulgate the doctrines of the Christian religion,-— 
 let us endeavour to ascertain and describe the general 
 features of this wonderful and inestimable collection 
 of documents. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 5 
 
 ^ 3. The New Testament comprises seven-and-twenty General 
 different compositions, of varying character, of unequal tle'seyerai 
 length, and of a date ranging between the year 44 and ^°''^^' 
 94 or 5 of the Christian era. Five of these partake 
 of the character of records or memoirs ; a sixth is a Justin 
 prophetic history, bearing more than an analogy to theg^pds.^ 
 the prophetic writings of the Old Testament ; the t^vPa^ 
 remaining twenty-one are apostoUc letters, addressed '^""^''^^■ 
 to the primitive churches. Some of these are encyclical 
 or general ; others primarily of an occasional nature, 
 having reference to the peculiar circumstances of the 
 persons addressed, yet evidently intended to serve as 
 permanent and general directions to all the churches, 
 the apostolic authority of the writers giving them 
 this claim to universal reception and implicit defer- 
 ence. It is, indeed, remarkable that, in the earliest 
 of St. Paul's Epistles, addressed to the church at 
 Thessalonica, a.d. 52, he charges or adjures them 
 in the Lord's name, that the epistle be publicly read 
 — " read to all the holy brethren ; " thus claiming a 
 respect for his apostolic communications equal to that 
 which was customarily paid to the Scriptures of the 
 Old Testament. Again, in writing to the church 
 at Colosse, he directs that the epistle should not only 
 be publicly read among them, but also be read in the 
 church of the Laodiceans ; and that another epistle, 
 which they had received (or were to receive) from Lao- 
 dicea, should also be so read. In the Second Epistle of 
 St. Peter, supposed to have been written about a.d. 
 64, the aged Apostle refers to the Epistles of his fellow 
 Apostle, Paul, as generally known and recognized, and 
 as possessing the same authoritative and inspired cha- 
 
6 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 rafeter as the other Scripturesi. It is evident, there- 
 fore, that, •■from the first, these writings were intended 
 for the general use rf all (Christian churches, and 
 claimed the authority of Christ himself. 
 
 Of the twenty-one Epistles, thirteen bear the name 
 of St. Paul, and a fourteenth, which- is anonymous, is 
 generally reefconedj in the ancient enumerations, as 
 his; twb are by St. Peter; tln-efe by St. John ; one 
 by St. James the Less ; ail'd- one by St. Jude. The 
 histoipifeal books are anonymous ; but there is sufficient 
 evidence of their being the Works of the Evangelists 
 to whom they are ascribed. Adding, therefore, St. 
 Matthewj St; Luke, and St. Mark to the five ahov& 
 enumerated, the writers of the l^&vf Testament are 
 eighi^ five of whom belonged to the twelve Apostles 
 originally chosen by our Lord. St. Panl clemmed for 
 his apOstleship an equally direct appointment by 
 Christ. St. Luke a,nd St. Mat^kWere companions 
 and associates of the Apostles, and partook in some 
 degree of their authbrity. 
 
 When we consider the condition of life firom which 
 the Apostles Were taken, it can be nb matter of sur- 
 prise, that so few hftve left any writings behind them. 
 The early martyrdbm of James the son of Zebedee, . 
 and the defection and suicide of Iscariot, reduce the 
 niimber of the driginal witnesses to ten, of whom 
 John and Peter may unqttesiionably be regarded as 
 the most distinguished. James, the son of Alpheus, 
 appears also to have had conceded to him a pre-emi- 
 Gai. i. 19; nence, whether on the ground of affinity to Our Lordj 
 ix. s. Acts or from personal weight of character ; and tradition 
 assigns to him the presidency of the church at Jeru- 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 7 
 
 salem. Judas Thaddeus, who styles himself the 
 brother of James, must have stood in the same 
 honourable relationship to Our Lord. Matthew, sur- 
 named Levi, was probably a person of some wealth ^^^ ''• ^^^ 
 and consideration, though his employment as a toU- 
 gatherer under the Roman Government was looked 
 upon as discreditable ; and he would be especially 
 qualified by habits of accuracy for the task of an evan- 
 gelist. These five Apostles, then, might seem the 
 most likely to have employed their pens for the edifi- 
 cation of the Church in the manner which they have. 
 We cannot wonder, however, that it should have 
 been reserved for the ardent and well-skilled pupil of 
 Gamaliel, to vindicate against false teachers the truth 
 of the Gospel in compositions of a more argumenta- 
 tive character, and for the chosen companion of his 
 apostolic labours to be the historian of the Church. 
 
 The writings contained in the New Testament 
 naturally divide themselves into two parts ; the code 
 or collection of memoirs called gospels, and that of 
 apostolic epistles. This division is recognized by the The first 
 early fathers. Ignatius (martyred a.d. 107) is sup- styled tie 
 posed to refer to this twofold canon or collection in conTtL' 
 his Epistle to the Philadelphians, where he says, ApostJucon. 
 * Fleeing to the gospel as the flesh of Jesus, and to Lardner, 
 the apostles as the presbytery of the church.' Justin ™'^'^" 
 Martyr (martyred a.d. 164) more distinctly refers 
 to the ' memoirs of the apostles and the writings of 
 the prophets,' as read in the assemblies of public 
 worship ; and states, that a discourse was made upon 
 them by the president. The Four Gospels must have ib. p. iso. 
 been at a very early period generally received, and 
 
8 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 distinguished from all the apocryphal memoirs, since 
 Tatian, a Syrian, in the second century, composed a 
 harmony, entitled ' Diatessaron,' ' of the Four.' 
 Clement of Alexandria specifically mentions the four 
 gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, noticing 
 their order ; he likewise frequently quotes the Acts of 
 the Apostles as written by St. Luke. He receives 
 and quotes, frequently and expressly, the fourteen 
 Epistles of St.; Paul, excepting only that to Philemon ; 
 (owing, probably, to its brevity;) also, the first 
 Epistle of St. Peter and the first of St. John, the^ 
 Epistle of St. Jude, and the Book of Eevelation as St* 
 John's. ' There is,' he remarks, ' a harmony between 
 the law and the prophets, the apostles and the gospel.' 
 ToTv'^'i94 ■"■'^ short, as Lardner sums up his elaborate investiga^ 
 tion, ' from the quotations of Ireneeus, Clement of 
 Alexandria, TertuUian, and other writers of the 
 second century, of Origen in the third, and of 
 Eusebius in the fourth century, it appears, that the 
 greatest part of the books which are now received by 
 us, and are called canonical, were universally acknow- 
 ledged in their times, and had been so acknowledged 
 by the elders and churches of former times. And the 
 rest now received by us, though they were then 
 doubted of or controverted by some, were well-knowri 
 and approved by many. And Athanasius, who lived 
 not long after Eusebius, (having flourished from the 
 year 326 and afterwards,) received all the same 
 books which are now received by us, and no othen 
 This canon was not determined by the authority of 
 councils; but the books of which it consists were 
 known to be the genuine writings of the Apostles and 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 Evangelists, in the same way and manner that we 
 know the works of Caesar, Cicero, Virgil, Horace, 
 Tacitus to be theirs. And the canon has been 
 formed upon the ground of an unanimous or gene- Lg^j^g^ 
 rally concurring testimony and tradition.' ™''^- p-^''''- 
 
 § 4. The notion, that any authoritative decision was The canon 
 
 1 1 /^ /• 1 -KT m determined 
 
 requisite to settle the Canon oi the JNew iestament, by.MBtoricai 
 is not only erroneous, but of dangerous tendency, 
 inasmuch as it requires what, in point of fact, cannot 
 be adduced; for such decision, to be authoritative, 
 must bear upon it the marks of infallibility, and must 
 be that of an authority universally acknowledged.* 
 It is sometimes alleged, that the council of Laodicea 
 (about 363) first settled the Canon, because, appended 
 to its last canon, directing that only the canonical 
 books of the Old and New Testament should be read 
 in the Church, is given a catalogue or enumeration 
 of the books. But, how valuable soever the catalogue 
 
 * Mosheim's loose and superficial remarks on the time when the 
 Canon was fixed, have had a very mischievous tendency on the 
 minds of sceptical inquirers. ' The opinions, or rather the conjec- 
 tures of the learned concerning the time when the hooks of the New 
 Testament were collected into one volume, as also ahout the authors 
 of that collection, are extremely diiFerent. This important question 
 is attended with great and almost insuperable difficulties to us in 
 these later times, It is, however, sufficient for us to know that, 
 before the middle of the second century, the greatest part of the 
 books of the New Testament were read in every Christian society 
 throughout the world, and received as a Divine rule of faith and 
 manners. Hence it appears, that these sacred writings were care- 
 fully separated from several human compositions upon the same 
 subject, either by some of the Apostles themselves who lived so long, 
 or by their disciples and successors.' Of these important state- 
 ments, the learned Historian adduces no evidence, but refers us 
 merely to Eusebius, leaving the uninformed reader to conclude that 
 the whole of our knowledge rests on mere supposition and conjecture. 
 
10 INTRODUCTORY, 
 
 may be, as evidence of what was the received opinion 
 of that age, the authority of that council is too late 
 to determine any thing that was not already esta- 
 blished by sufficient evidence ; which happily renders 
 its decision, in that respect, superfluous. ' The council 
 of Laodicea was not, indeed, a general, but only a 
 provincial council. If,, then,, in; the time of Eusebius, 
 of Augustine^ of Cosmas of Alexandria, and of Cas- 
 siodorius, (that is, from the beginning of the fourth 
 to the middle of the sixth century,) there was no 
 canon of the New Testament established by any 
 authority universally acknowledged, yet, at the same 
 time, a very general agreement among all Christian 
 churches, (an agreement absolutely unanimous in re- 
 spect to twenty books of the twenty-seven, viz. the 
 four Gospels, the Acts, all the Epistles which bear 
 the name of Paul, and two of the Catholic Epistles — 
 such agreement being distinctly traceable in existing 
 documents up to the apostolic age,) it is upon the 
 evidence furnished by that agreement, not upon any 
 posterior authoritative decision, that, apart from the 
 internal evidence, the canonicity of the sacred books 
 must be based. In fact, there is nothing to preclude 
 differences in the present day respecting the Canon, 
 any more than in the days of Eusebius or of Chry- 
 sostom, except the additional light which Biblical 
 criticism has thrown upon the internal evidence, to- 
 gether with our knowledge of the slender reasons 
 which led to the partial doubt or difference of opinion 
 in respect to their Apostolic authority. The seven 
 books not universally received were, the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews, the Epistle of James, the second Epistle 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 11 
 
 of Peter, the second and thii'd of Johto, the Epistle of 
 Jude, and the Revelation. With regard to some of 
 these, the existing testimony to their genuineness can 
 be traced higher than the dottbts raised respecting 
 them ; doubts which showed, at the same time, the 
 care manifested to discirirflinate the Apostolic writ- 
 ings from those w'hich were either spurious or eontro^ 
 verted, or not the undoubted composition of an 
 Apostle. Thus, the doubt entertained as to the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, related to its authorship, as 
 being anonymous ; not to its genuineness as the pro- 
 duction of an Apostle, or of a companion of the 
 Apostles ; for it was universally received as a genuine 
 production of the Apostolic age, and probably the 
 production of St. Paul. 
 
 And while there Was this all btit unanimous con- 
 sent of testimofty respecting the books now received 
 as canonical, the utiafiimity in excluding all other 
 books was still more complete. Upon this point, the 
 remarks of the learned and jttdidous Lardner are 
 highly deserving of attention. * The character of 
 the authors or writers of the several books of the 
 Sacred Scriptures, is observable : they are all Apostles 
 or Apostolic men. Nor are there any Writings of 
 barely Apostolical men atithefitic and universally 
 acknowledged, except those of Mark and Luke; 
 which are only historieal, not doctrinal or dogmatical. 
 All the other books, which are epistolary or dogma- 
 tical, as the Epistle of Barnabas, and the Epistle of 
 Clement, and the Shepherd of Hermas, as likewise 
 the Epistles of James and Jude, and the Revelation 
 of John, (which some were not fully satisfied to have 
 
15; INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 been written by Apostles, but by an Elder only, or other 
 person of inferior rank to that of Apostles,) were contro- 
 verted. . . This seems to show that it was a common and 
 prevailing opinion among Christians in those times, that 
 no book, doctrinal or preceptive, ought to be received 
 as of authority, unless written by an Apostle ; and 
 that the credit of men not Apostles, though they were 
 companions of the Apostles, was admitted no farther 
 than as historians or reporters of what they had seen 
 or of what they had heard from Apostles, or eye- 
 I'Y^er, witnesses and ministers of the word.' Thus, the 
 Epistle of Clement, though universally allowed to be 
 genuine, was never admitted as part of the New Tes- 
 tament. Yet, had its author been unknown, it might 
 have been ascribed by some to an Apostle, and, as 
 such, have claimed to rank among canonical books. 
 It is not less satisfactory, that no book received into 
 the Canon, or cited as apostolical by any ancient 
 writer, has been lost. 
 
 It is evident, then, that the New Testament is 
 a collection of all the writings received by the Chris- 
 tian churches of the age immediately succeeding the 
 Apostolic, as Holy Scripture, and that the sacred 
 books were regarded as deriving their authority from 
 the apostolical character and commission of the 
 writers ; an apthority exclusive, and attaching to no 
 other writings, how excellent or valuable soever, in- 
 asmuch as to the apostolic character and commission 
 alone belonged the plenary inspiration upon the ground 
 of which the Apostles wrote and spoke in the name 
 of the Lord.* To the question, By whom the col- 
 
 * The proof of the inspiratioH of the apostolic writings rests upon 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 13 
 
 lection was made ? the answer is, By various parties ; 
 by the several churches for their own use; by pro- 
 fessional copyists, translators, and commentators ; but* 
 there was no authorized edition, no dogmatic decision 
 of the question as to the canonical books, by any 
 binding authority ; no attempt to bar inquiry, no 
 suspicious collusion. The variations in the extant 
 manuscript Codices of the New Testament, which have 
 led Biblical critics to arrange them under two great 
 classes or families, the Byzantine and the Alexandrian, 
 show that there were, so to speak, different editions 
 of the sacred text, forming a check upon each other. 
 
 There is a remarkable passage in the writings of 
 TertuUian, (who flourished towards the close of the 
 second century,) in which he appeals to the aposto- 
 lical churches at Corinth, Philippi, Ephesus, and 
 Rome, as possessing the authentic Scriptures. Some 
 have imagined that he intended, by the expression he 
 employs, the apostoHc autographs of the several 
 Epistles sent to these churches ; he more probably 
 referred to the authentic Greek text ; and, as the 
 passage is more naturally explained by Dr. Lardner,* 
 
 the fact, that the Apostles were inspired teachers, Divinely commis- 
 sioned, and their writings are part and parcel of their teaching. As 
 they ' spoke,' so they wrote ' as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.' 
 The objections raised against the plenary inspiration of the sacred 
 writers of the New Testament, have been ably and satisfactorily 
 met by M. Gaussen of Geneva, in his recent work, entitled ' TMo- 
 pneustie,^ of which an English translation has appeared. 
 
 * This remarkable passage is thus translated by Lardner : — ' If 
 you be willing to exercise your curiosity profitably in the business 
 of your salvation, visit the apostolical churches, in which the very 
 chairs of the Apostles still preside, in which their very authentic 
 letters {ipsce authentic^ litem) are recited, sounding forth the voice. 
 
14 INTRODUCTOBY. 
 
 'it is not an appeal to these <jhurches for -the genuine- 
 ness of one or more Epistles of Paul, written to them 
 -*jn particular ; but it is an appeal to each one of these 
 churches for the certainty, genuineness, and integrity 
 of lall the Scriptures of the New Testament, which 
 i;hey held sacred, and constantly read in their assem- 
 bUes ; whether Gospels or ;Epistles, written by Paul 
 or other Apostles, or by apostoHc men. Though 
 every church which had communion with apostolic 
 churches, had copies jjf the several books of the New 
 Testament that might be -relied on as genuine and 
 sincere ; yet :he supposes it to be a satisfactioii to 
 know, at the .first hand, .what was read in the churches 
 planted by Apostles, and that the labour of a visit to 
 some of them was not unbecoming men of curiosity. 
 :Here lies the stress of the argument : the Scriptures 
 received by apostolic churphes, are authentic ; the testi- 
 mony given by those churches, according to Tertul- 
 LMdner, Jj^^^ is an authentic, original, certain testimony.' Jn 
 like. manner, in his work against Marcion, TertuUian 
 
 and representing the countenance, of, each one of them. Is Achaia 
 near you? you have Corinth. If you are not far from Macedonia, 
 you have Philippi, you have Thessalonica. If you can go to Asia, 
 yoUihave Ephesus. But if ^you are near to Italy, you have, Rome, 
 from whence we also ; may be, easily satisfied.' Mr,(Fa,her (' Diffi- 
 culties of Roniamsm,', p, 387) has lahoured- to prove, that the auto- 
 graphs of the Apostles must be intended by the expression ; and he 
 gives the same interpretation to a subsequent phrase in. the same 
 passage : ' H&ieo, origines jmnais ah ip^auctorihus.' ^But it is far more 
 probable, that^ as the qburebes-.of Africa used, a Latin version, iTer- 
 tullian,j.by the iterm.aathfentic, intended to denote the. Greek text ; 
 as he elsewhere uses the phrase, -.'authentic Greek' — ' Sciamus plane 
 non sie esse in Gnj^co. abihestico.' And .Jerome distinguishes hy 
 thesame phrase the Hebrew text of the Old Testajnent. See- Laid- 
 ner, vol. ii.p. 284, 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 16 
 
 contends, that it was certa.in that had been delivered 
 from the Apostles which was held sacred in the 
 churches of the Apostles ; and after affirming that, 
 with all who had fellowship with them in the same 
 faith, was that genuine Gospel of Luke received from 
 its first publication, which they so zealously main- 
 tained, he adds : * The same authority of the apos*- 
 tolical -churches will support the other Gospels which 
 we have from them, and according to them ; I mean 
 John's and Matthew's : although that likewise which 
 Mark published may be said to be Peter's, whose 
 interpreter Mark was. For Luke^ digest also is often 
 ascribed to Paul.' ^'^^'^'„. 
 
 yol.u.p.275. 
 
 In another part of his writings, the same illustrious 
 Apologist accuses the heretics of supporting their 
 novel doctrines by tampering with the sacred text, 
 and employing ' a knife instead of a style.' 'They 
 who were resolved to teach otherwise, were under a 
 necessity, of new- modelling the records of the doc- 
 trine, that they might have some ground- to go upon. 
 As they could not succeed in corrupting the doctrine 
 without corrupting the records of it, so, the true 
 doctrine could not have been with us, nor could it 
 have been delivered by tis to others, if we had not 
 the records entire in which it was taught. For what 
 do we maintain contrary to them, what have we added 
 of our own heads to the doctrine, that we should* foe 
 obliged to alter anything in the Scriptures, by adding 
 to them, or taking from them, or transposing any parts 
 of them ? WJbat we are, that the Scriptures were 
 from the beginning: we agree with them as they 
 were before they were altered, before they were inter- 
 polated, by you.' i''- p- 296. 
 
vol.ii. p.i 
 
 16 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 This early testimony is the more valuable as that 
 of a writer in whose works the quotations from the 
 New Testament are so numerous as to afford evidence 
 of the integrity of the sacred text, to which he 
 himself appeals. ' There are, perhaps,' remarks Dr. 
 Lardner, ' more and larger quotations of the small 
 volume of the New Testament in this one Christian 
 author, than of all the works of Cicero, though of so 
 uncommon excellence for thought and style, in the 
 writers of all characters for several ages. And there 
 is a like number of quotations of the New Testament 
 in St. Irenseus and St. Clement of Alexandria, both 
 Laidner, Writers of the second century.' To the cumulative 
 evidence afforded by the separate and concurring 
 testimony of the primitive churches as depositories of 
 the inspired records, no synodical decree could have 
 added anything. This evidence is historically pre- 
 served to us; while, in the early versions of the 
 collected books, and in the vast body of citations 
 comprised in the chain of ecclesiastical writers, there 
 exists a demonstration, that we possess both the canon 
 in its integrity and the sacred text in its uncorrupted 
 genuineness. It is, therefore, a sheer fallacy, to con- 
 tend, as the Eomanists do, that the canon of Scripture 
 depends upon Tradition, and that, by renouncing the 
 authority of Tradition, we invalidate the authority of 
 the canon. This depends, like the text itself, upon 
 documentary evidence arid historical proof, into which 
 all that was tradition has merged. The apostolic 
 churches, which were the primary depositories of the 
 authentic Scriptures, the faithful keepers and trans- 
 mitters of the inspired depositum, (though, alas ! 
 unfaithfiil to the heavenly doctrine it taught,) have for 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 17 
 
 ages ceased to exist ; and, with them, the sacred 
 autographs have perished. But we have in our 
 hands the authentic documents which they had re- 
 ceived, and we possess the clearest evidence of their 
 identity ; evidence of a higher kind, moreover, than 
 even history can supply. 
 
 It is remarkable, how completely, in the early days 
 of TertuUian, Tradition had discovered its incompe- 
 tency to preserve with certainty anything that was 
 not the matter of written record. It was the same 
 with the Jewish Church, which faithfully preserved 
 the letter of Scripture, while invalidating its precepts 
 and misinterpreting the Divine Oracles in which they 
 gloried. It is, indeed, not an uncommon thing, to 
 find documents faithfully transmitted from generation 
 to generation, while all trace is lost of the circum- 
 stances connected with the original transactions or the 
 characters of the parties to which they relate. A 
 considerable quantity of Church music is said still to 
 exist only in manuscript, which was expressly com- 
 posed by the older masters for the several choirs of 
 our cathedrals. Of these manuscript compositions, 
 the authorship, the genuineness, the date, and the 
 original design have probably been for the most part 
 traditionally preserved ; but who would expect to 
 obtain any biographical information respecting the 
 composers of the seventeenth century from oral 
 tradition, locally preserved in the nineteenth ? What 
 would the prebends and choristers of Canterbury be 
 able to tell, which has not been committed to record, 
 of Orlando Gibbons, or those of Chichester, of 
 Weelkes? What soUtary trait has local tradition 
 
18 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 preserved even of Milton or Shakespeare ? But, in 
 the case of the cathedral manuscripts, as in that of 
 the apostolic writings committed to the primitive 
 churches, there is a written depositum consigned to a 
 company of men, and more or less faithfully preserved, 
 while, yet, all oral tradition is speedily lost. We 
 need not, then, feel surprised that, by the close of the 
 second century, the oral traditions respecting the 
 Apostles had become vague, confused, and contradic- 
 tory, although there was so perfect an agreement, 
 with so close an approach to certainty, as to the 
 genuineness and authority of the inspired documents. 
 Thus, TertuUian referring to the church at Eome 
 among other apostolic churches, exclaims, (in imme- 
 diate connection with a passage above cited,) ' How 
 happy is that church, to which the Apostles deli- 
 vered the whole evangelical doctrine, together with 
 their blood ; where Peter suffered the same death which 
 the Lord did ; where Paul was crowned with the death 
 of John (the Baptist) ; where the Apostle John, after 
 he had been cast into a cauldron of burning oil, with- 
 Lardner, out Suffering any harm, was banished into an island.' 
 Yo .11. p. . 'pgj.j.y^jg^jj ^j^g Ijqpjj g^j. Carthagc about the middle of 
 
 the second century, but probably received his educa- 
 tion at Eome, being well versed in the Roman laws. 
 At the time that he wrote, about a hundred and thirty 
 years must have elapsed since the martyrdom of Paul 
 and Peter, and nearly a century since the death of 
 John. Could the true account of the fate of the 
 three most eminent Apostles have already become 
 blended with fiction ? In the absence of any historic 
 record, all experience shows this would be inevitable. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 19 
 
 The story respecting the Apostle John's being cast 
 into a cauldron of oil," rests almost entirely upon the 
 sole credit of TertuUian. Irenaeus, Origen, and others 
 who speak of the sufferings of the Apostles, and of 
 the banishment of John to Patmos, say nothing of 
 this extraordinary miracle ; the punishment is not 
 known to have been at that time in use ; and, upon 
 the whole, it is generally considered as a very suspi- 
 cious legend. Yet, if, out of three traditions men- 
 tioned by this ancient writer as historic facts, one is 
 pronounced a fiction, what dependence can be placed 
 on his accuracy of information or ground of belief 
 with respect to the other two ? There is no reason 
 to suppose that the Apostle John was ever at Rome : 
 how can we lay any stress on the testimony of Ter- 
 tuUian, that Peter was crucified there ? Various 
 legends were then afloat relating to the Apostles, and 
 TertuUian himself refers to an early forgery, ' The ^^^u'^^'W 
 Travels of Paul and Thecla,' of which an Asiatic 
 presbyter had confessed himself to be the author, 
 alleging that he had composed it ' out of love to 
 Paul ; ' for which he was deposed. The fact proves 
 the vigilance and scrupulosity of the Christians 
 respecting the writings which they received as apos- 
 tolic ; but it shows, also, how busy and prolific was 
 the spirit of invention. Of the uncertainty of oral 
 tradition, TertuUian suppUes another striking illustra- 
 tion, in repeatedly citing the canonical Epistle to the 
 Hebrews as the Epistle of Barnabas ; which must have 
 been, therefore, a common notion at that time, although 
 without any solid foundation. Now, as the true author- 
 ship must have been originally known to the churches 
 
 c 2 
 
20 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 by which it was received, its having become uncertain 
 in the time of TertuUian and of Origen, is as con- 
 vincing a proof as can be needed, of the little 
 dependence to be placed on mere traditional opinion. 
 Tradition, in a word, is like a dumb porter left in 
 charge of archives ; a faithful guard, but unable to 
 answer our inquiries. To the historic record, to the 
 inspired document, Tradition can add nothing. 
 
THE GOSPELS OF MATTHEW AND MARK. 21 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 THE GOSPELS OF MATTHEW AND MARK. 
 
 THE UNCEKTAINIY OF TRADITION NO GROUND FOR DISCOURAGE- 
 MENT IN THE PRESENT INDUCTIVE INVESTIGATION — WAS MAT- 
 THEW'S GOSPEL WRITTEN IN HEBREW ? DISTINCTIVE CHARAC- 
 TER OP HIS GOSPEL — THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW THE TRUE 
 
 PROTO-EVANGELION SPECIFIC DESIGN AND CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 OF THE GOSPEL OF MARK BIOGRAPHY OP MARK. 
 
 § 1. If, with regard to what may be called- the Theuncer- 
 literary history of the New Testament, the date, Tradition no 
 order, and occasion of the several books, and the mentr" ^ 
 biography of the sacred writers, Tradition presents to 
 us little more than ancient doubts, contradictory le- 
 gends, and apocryphal subscriptions, — the expectation 
 of attaining to anything like clear and certain infor- 
 mation upon such points of critical and historical 
 inquiry, may seem altogether visionary. And what 
 may be thought to render the investigation the more 
 hopeless, is, the additional perplexity created by the 
 conflicting theories and interminable speculations of 
 modem Biblical criticism. There are two considera- 
 tions, however, which may serve to alleviate the 
 painfiil embarrassment such a view of the field of 
 
22 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 inquiry is adapted to produce. First, that, happily », 
 the uncertainty attaches, not to the substance or con- 
 tents of the sacred documents, so as to affect either 
 their genuineness or their authority, but only to their 
 external history. Secondly, that, so far as an exam- 
 ination of the New Testament itself can lead to cer- 
 tain or probable conclusions upon these points, we 
 are placed under circumstances more advantageous 
 than the critics and commentators of the third and 
 fourth centuries ; while we have much more to 
 expect from careful and sober induction, than from 
 profound erudition or ingenious hypothesis. How 
 unlikely soever it may appeaT, that what was doubtful 
 in the time of Eusebius, should be capable of being 
 rendered tolerably certain now, yet, there are ana- 
 logous cases, in which modern investigation has 
 proved the unreasonableness of ancient scepticism. 
 This has been most skilfully and felicitously illustrated 
 by Mr. Isaac Taylor, in his ' Process of Historical 
 Proof Exemplified.' Selecting the instance of Hero- 
 dotus, (who, ' more than any other respectable histo- 
 rian of antiquity, has shared the fate of the sacred 
 writings, in sustaining, during a long succession of 
 ages, the attacks of. witless or malignant scepticism,') 
 the Author has shown how triumphantly his merits 
 and substantial authenticity have been rescued from 
 misrepresentation, in consequence of the more dili- 
 gent, modest, and intelligent researches of modern 
 scholars, and the discoveries of recent travellers, which 
 have verified his suspected statements after a lapse of 
 three and twenty centuries. Yet, the credibility and 
 veracity of Herodotus were angrily assailed by Plu- 
 
MATTHEW AND MARK. 23 
 
 tarch, and have been impugned by other ancient 
 writers, especially Gtesias, Manetho, Diodorus, Strabo, 
 and Josephus. ' It has been a kind of fashion,' 
 remarks Mr. Mitford, ' to which Plutarch principally 
 has given vogue, to sneer at the authority of Hero- 
 dotus.' Diodorus, Eusebius, and Chrysostom have, 
 with little judgment, affected to prefer Gtesias to 
 Herodotus. Nor have there been wanting modern 
 detractors of the Father of History. But, of late years, 
 his authority has been amply vindicated ; and Major 
 Kennell, in his learned illustrations of the Geography 
 of Herodotus, remarks, that ' it was ignorance and 
 inattention that determined the opinion of his judges ; 
 a charge in which several of the ancients are impli- 
 cated, as well as the modems. The same want of 
 attention has confounded together the descriptions of 
 what he saw, with what he had only heard, and which 
 he might think himself bound to relate.' Such an 
 instance as this may well encourage us to prosecute 
 with modest diligence an investigation of points 
 connected with the inspired records, which haye for 
 ages been considered as obscure and doubtful. ' What 
 submission is due to the doubts of antiquity,' remarks 
 Bishop Sherlock, in vindicating the authenticity of 
 one of the disputed Epistles, ' when we have only the 
 doubt transmitted to us, without the reasons upon 
 which it was grounded, I need not inquire; but 
 surely, when we have the reasons of the doubt pre- 
 served, we have a very good right to judge and 
 inquire for ourselves.' In the case referred to, the Dissertation 
 
 -n 1 , . „ , , on the au- 
 
 whole doubt, the learned Prelate remarks, ' is founded thentidty of 
 
 1/51,1 2 Peter. 
 
 upon a piece of criticism, started at first, probably. 
 
24 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 by some man of learning and figure, and followed 
 implicitly by others.' The same remark will apply, 
 as will be seen hereafter, to many other instances of 
 ancient as well as modern scepticism, and to the 
 grounds of rash assertion or credulous belief as well 
 as to those of doubt, where the reasons have for- 
 tunately been transmitted together with the opinion. 
 w^Gos- § 2- ^* *^® "^^^y threshold of an inquiry into the 
 Fn^H^brew? external history of the Four Gospels, we are met with 
 the question, whether, in the Greek text of Matthew, 
 we have the original document or a translation from the 
 A.ij. 78. vernacular Hebrew. Irenaeus states, that Matthew, 
 then among the Jews, wrote a Gospel in their own 
 language ; and Eusebius, adopting the same tradition, 
 adds, that he wrote it, being about to leave Jerusalem, 
 to go into other countries. It was probably assumed 
 that, if his Gospel was intended for the inhabitants of 
 Palestine, it must of course have been written in the 
 Aramaean dialect, for the tradition rests upon no 
 direct evidence ; and the judgment of Lardner, that 
 it is to be rejected as erroneous, has been supported 
 by the learned investigations of Professors Hug, 
 Fritzsche of Leipsic, and other eminent Biblical 
 critics. There can be no question, that, at the time 
 of the Christian era, the Greek language had firmly 
 rooted itself in Palestine. It was the court language 
 of the Roman authorities, the medium of intercourse 
 between the provincial praetors and procurators and 
 the people of Syria and Egypt, and appears to have 
 been, like the Italian in modem times, among the 
 nations of the Levant, the language of commercial 
 intercourse. Palestine was full of Greek cities^ 
 
MATTHEW AND MARK. 25 
 
 Ashkalon, Gaza, Scythopolis, Gadara, and Csesarea 
 were among those which were inhabited chiefly by 
 Greek colonists, or by Syrians who spoke that lan- 
 guage. The policy of Herod led him to favour the 
 interests of the Greek inhabitants. In fact. Professor 
 Hug remarks, ' Palestine had received into her bosom a 
 second nation, not reckoning other swarms of various 
 extraction, and divided herself between two languages 
 — that of the country, and the Greek.' From these Hug, i. §10. 
 circumstances, although the vernacular dialect had not 
 been superseded, it could not" but result, that the 
 Greek would be very generally understood, especially 
 by the mixed population of Galilee and the border. 
 The higher classes among the Palestine Jews appear 
 indeed to have prided themselves upon their igno- 
 rance, real or affected, of any foreign language. * Few 
 of my countrymen,' says Josephus, ' would have been 
 able to compose this book in the Greek language, on 
 account of their deficiency in the grammatical know- 
 ledge of it, in which I can boast myself superior to 
 others, although I do not speak it well myself, on 
 account of the established manners of my country. 
 For, with us, the knowledge of foreign languages, 
 and the quickness and elegance of pronunciation, are 
 accounted vulgar, since the free people of a low class 
 could also acquire them, and even the domestics, if 
 so inclined.' This statement plainly implies, that the 
 Greek was very generally spoken among the people ; 
 that correctness and fluency in speaking it were a 
 vulgar attainment, although few could write it ele- 
 gantly. The lawyers, however, must have been well 
 acquainted with it, as that of the courts. A bill of 
 
26 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 divorce might be written either in Greek or in He- 
 Mishnah, brew, OT, if required, in both. It was a Rabbinical 
 Hug. ^ decision, that the Jews were not permitted to compose 
 books in all languages, but only in the Greek. The 
 supposition, that a Jew writing on religious subjects 
 to Jews or Jewish Christians in Palestine, would 
 necessarily choose either the sacred language or the 
 vulgar Aramaean, is therefore opposed to historic 
 evidence. It would' have required a higher education 
 in a Jew, to enable him to compose a work in the 
 ancient Hebrew, than it would to write with tolerable 
 correctness in either of the vernacular dialects. So, 
 an uneducated Greek of the Levant would be able to 
 write in the lingua franca more readily than in the 
 classic Greek, of which his own vernacular is a corrupt 
 dialect. Nor have we any reason to suppose, that a 
 Gospel written in the pure Hebrew of the sacred 
 writings would have been adapted for popular use. 
 But, if written in the popular dialect, what ground is 
 there for assuming that it would have been more accept- 
 able to the learned and educated portion of the Jewish 
 nation, or more intelUgible to the mass of the mixed 
 community ? At all the great feasts, the concourse of 
 Hellenistic Jews from all parts, (that is, Jews speaking 
 Greek,) was probably as numerous as the resident 
 Hebraistic population ; and at a very early stage of 
 the Church, the number of the Hellenistic disciples 
 in Jerusalem had multiplied so as to require the 
 arrangement to be made for the prevention of disputes, 
 which is recorded in the sixth chapter of the Book of 
 Acts. Now to this large portion of the Churches in 
 Palestine itself, a Gospel in the vernacular Aramaean 
 
MATTHEW AND MARK. 27 
 
 would have been unaccejytable, if not unintelligible ; 
 whereas, if St. Matthew wrote in Greek, the mass of 
 the Jewish Christians would understand him. 
 
 A question has even been raised as to the language 
 in which Our Lord ordinarily dehvered his instructions 
 to the people.* In three instances, the words which 
 he used are expressly recorded, and they are in the 
 vernacular Hebrew ; but we cannot infer from this, 
 that he always spoke in that language, and in no 
 other. Professor Hug suggests an opposite inference 
 as equally plausible: the very language would not 
 have been recorded, had Jesus generally spoken He- 
 brew. Our Lord might, he remarks, have ordinarily 
 spoken to the Jewish multitude in Hebrew, because 
 they were predisposed to listen to it. But how did 
 he speak to a mixed assembly collected from diflFerent 
 parts and different cities? How did he speak at 
 Gadara, on the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and in 
 Decapolis, which consisted, of Greek cities ? When 
 St. Paul, after his apprehension, obtained permission 
 to address the excited populace, he spoke to them in 
 the Hebrew tongue, arid by this means obtained their 
 attention at once : " they kept the more silence." 
 This proves the predilection of the people for their 
 own language ; but it is evident from the narrative, 
 that they had expected him to address them in Greek; 
 and there is every reason to conclude that, by the 
 greater part, if not by the whole, he would have been 
 
 * That our Lord and his Apostles habitually spoke Greek, has 
 been maintained by a learned Neapolitan civilian, in a rare work 
 recently republished, with a preface, by the Rev. O. T. Dobbin of 
 Exeter : ' J). Diodati de Christo Greece hquente Exercitatio.'' 
 
28 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 understood, although he would not have been listened 
 to with the same patience. 
 
 All things considered, it must then be deemed 
 extremely improbable, that Matthew, in writing his 
 Gospel, would prefer the vernacular Hebrew. The 
 early disappearance of the supposed Hebrew or 
 Aramaean original is moreover admitted to be, even 
 by a learned critic who espouses the ill-supported tra- 
 dition, prima facie, an argument for doubting 
 whether it ever existed. For this disappearance he 
 attempts to account by considerations which strength- 
 en the reasonableness of these doubts. ' A Hebrew 
 Gospel composed in the native dialect of Palestine, 
 and designed for the benefit of the native Church, 
 would never travel into general circulation out of 
 Palestine, and would probably never be multiplied by 
 copies out of Jerusalem, even in Palestine itself. If, 
 then, we consider the ruin and desolation which^ 
 within thirty years of the earliest date which can be 
 assigned to this Gospel, overspread that country, and 
 particularly the metropolis, it is very conceivable that 
 few copies of St. Matthew's (Hebrew) Gospel would 
 survive in the general destruction of property, both 
 public and private, which then ensued.' But is it 
 toL i!p!i08. credible, that copies should not have been preserved 
 by the Jewish Christians who were dispersed over the 
 adjacent provinces? In the North-eastern part of 
 Syria, where the Syrian dialect has maintained its hold 
 upon the p'eople, and where, even in the second cen- 
 tury, Syriac literature was cultivated, such a book, 
 written in the dialect of Palestine, could not fail of 
 being acceptable, both for private use and for that of 
 
 Greewell, 
 
MATTHEW AND MARK. 29 
 
 the churches. But that they knew nothing of any such 
 venerable document, is evident from the fact, that the 
 Syriac version, which was executed in the second cen- 
 tury, was made from the Greek text. Again, con- 
 sidering the constant intercourse between Alexandria 
 and Palestine, it seems incredible, that a copy of the 
 supposed Hebrew Gospel should not have been recov- 
 erable by the anxious researches of Origen, who could 
 discover no trace of any such Hebrew text ; and the 
 Coptic version, like the Syriac, was made from the 
 Greek. The tradition, that Pantsenus of Alexandria, 
 early in the third century, on visiting India, (by which 
 Arabia is probably meant, ) found a copy of Matthew's 
 Gospel in Hebrew, which had been left there by the 
 Apostle Bartholomew, is of suspicious authenticity. 
 The book which he is said to have met with, may 
 have been a Hebrew translation, and probably, as 
 Dr. Burton suggests, ' not a genuine translation of 
 the Gospel composed by Matthew, but a work which 
 has often been confounded with it, and which has 
 been called " the Gospel according to the Hebrews." 
 It seems to have had the work of the Evangelist for 
 its basis, but to have been intended to indicate the 
 doctrines of the Ebionites, rather than those of genuine 
 
 r\i • £.• 'i. ' Burton's 
 
 Christianity. Hist, of the 
 
 The Gospel of Matthew, in its present shape and chmfen 
 text, must have been, at all events, in existence at the ^f^.^-/Ps„ 
 time that Mark composed his work, in which he has ^„Yv?p''3i2. 
 frequently adhered with verbal exactness to the lan- 
 guage of the Proto-Evangelist. To reconcile this 
 fact with the notion of a Hebrew original, Mr. Gres- 
 well starts the strange hypothesis, that Mark trans- 
 lated the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew, and~wrote his 
 
30 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 own supplementary to it, both about the same time. 
 The translator of Matthew's Hebrew Gospel must 
 have been, he remarks, some one of equal authority 
 with Matthew himself; otherwise his translation could 
 never have superseded the original. But Mark's 
 Gospel is not a supplement to that of Matthew ; nor 
 is it credible that he should have written it, if he had 
 deemed it necessary to translate the elder document. 
 He must, then, have had before him the Greek Gospel 
 of Matthew, which, if it existed at that early period, 
 must have been the original. In a word, all internal 
 evidence, as well as historical probability, is opposed to 
 the vague tradition of a Hebrew original, which 
 appears to have had no other foundation than a falla- 
 cious conjecture.* 
 
 What gave rise to the idea, was the fact, which is 
 sufficiently proved by the character of the document, 
 that Matthew composed his Gospel for the benefit of 
 the Christian churches in Judea ; and if there is any 
 foundation for the statement in Eusebius, that he 
 wrote it, being about to leave Judea to go into other 
 countries, we have an argument in favour of its early 
 date. Another tradition, mentioned by Eusebius, 
 relates, that Our Saviour commanded the Apostles not 
 to depart from Jerusalem for twelve years ; and it 
 deserves to be noticed as a coincidence, if nothing 
 more, that it was about that time the events took 
 place, as recorded in the xith chapter of Acts, which 
 
 * ' Taking it for granted,' says Wetstein, ' that Matthew wrote 
 for the Jews in Judea, they concluded that he wrote in Hebrew.' 
 To the authority of this great critic, Lardner adds the judgment of 
 Le Clerc, Jones, Basnage, and Jortin, with which his own coincides. 
 Vol. V, pp. 310—313. 
 
MATTHEW AND MARK. 31 
 
 led to the sending forth of Barnabas to visit the 
 church at Antioch. Hitherto, Samaria and Galilee a.d.41. 
 had formed the limits of the Apostolic ministry ; but 
 the time tras now come, when it was necessary that 
 the_^ Apostles should extend their missionary journeys ; 
 and accordingly, we find Peter shortly afterwards 
 visiting Syria. If Matthew was among the Apostles 
 who then left Judea, it may be assumed, that his 
 Gospel could not have been written later than a.d. 
 44 ; and Mr. Greswell concludes that, if we place 
 its composition between the time of the conversion of 
 Cornelius, a.d. 41, and that of Paul's first circuit, 
 A.D. 44, we may not be far from the truth. The 
 internal marks of its early composition may be recog- 
 nised in the features which distinguish it from the 
 other Gospels. 
 
 § 3. The Gospel of Matthew partakes much less of f^^^^J'^^ 
 the character of a history or a biographical narrative, ^„^^*i7'* 
 than of an authentic record of Our Lord's sayings and 
 discourses, which illustrated his character as a divine 
 teacher, and, together with the miracles he wrought, 
 proved him to be the Christ. The main subject of 
 the Evangelist is, the public ministry of Our Lord, 
 firom the time at which he was qualified to bear testi- 
 mony to it as an eye-witness ; and his object is to 
 show, that all that Jesus did and taught, was charac- 
 teristic of the Messiah. With this view, he prefixes 
 to his narrative the legal genealogy which proved 
 him to be the heir of David, and refers to those cir- 
 cumstances of his birth and early life which corres- 
 ponded to the prophetic indications of the Hebrew 
 Scriptures. This idea he carries with him through 
 the whole of his narrative ; whereas Mark and Luke 
 
32 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 seldom adduce passages from the Old Testament, or 
 appeal to the evidence of prophecy. In some in- 
 stances, the formula,* ' That it might be fulfilled,' 
 cannot be connected with any distinct prediction, but 
 may be considered as referring to parallel or analogous 
 circumstances, or to a correspondence between the 
 language of Scripture and the fact ; and this, appa- 
 rently, with a view to obviate Jewish prejudices or 
 objections founded upon ominous or unlooked for 
 circumstances in Our Lord's history; such as the 
 massacre of Bethlehem, his being driven into Egypt, 
 and subsequently becoming an inhabitant of a fi-ontier 
 town of Galilee notorious for its impure dialect and 
 rudeness of manners. In reference to the first, the 
 citation seems to point, not to a prediction, but to a 
 parallel ; as if the EvangeUst had said. It was not the 
 first time that the bereaved mothers of Benjamin had 
 wept for their little ones.-f" In the second instance, 
 the language of the prophet Hosea is cited as indi- 
 
 * This formula is peculiar to Matthew in the New Testament, 
 but customary with the Rabbinical writers. Its precise import is 
 ably investigated and illustrated by Dr. S. Davidson, Sac. Herme- 
 nentics, pp. 448 — 486. 
 
 + So Calvin, one of the most judicious of commentators, explains 
 the reference : ' Matthew does not mean that the prophet had pre- 
 dicted what Herod should do, but that, at the advent of Christ, that 
 mourning was renewed which, many ages before, the women of 
 Benjamin had made.' Dr. S. Davidson, in his ' Sacred Hermen- 
 eutics,' (pp. 493, 4,) contends for the principle, that, upon the 
 strength of the Evangelist's words, we are warranted in regarding 
 this and other events in the history of the Hebrews as symbolical or 
 typical of fnture transactions. Yet, all that his argument requires, 
 is, that we should recognize a designed correspondence in the words of 
 the prophet, when speaking of the past event, to a transaction yet 
 future, in which those words should be fully realized ; not that the 
 event was itself symbolical. 
 
MATTHEW AND MARK. 33 
 
 eating a striking coincidence between the history of 
 the Jewish nation and the early life of Him who was 
 in a higher sense ' the Son of God,' in being ' called 
 out of Egypt.'* And the third circumstance, which 
 we know to have been a stumbling-block, is shown to 
 have been perfectly accordant with the tenor of those 
 predictions which foretold that the Messiah should be 
 despised and rejected, to which his being regarded as 
 a Galilean or Nazarene so much contributed, that it 
 furnished the very emphasis of opprobrium.-f" 
 
 The first three chapters of Matthew evidently form Authen- 
 a sort of introduction to the account of Our Lord's i^tili fhlp- 
 pubUc ministry, which the Evangehst commences at *^"" 
 the point of time when Jesus, having heard that John 
 was cast into prison, returned into Galilee, and, leaving 
 Nazareth, his former residence, fixed his abode at Ca- ch. iv. 12. 
 pernaum. It constitutes a proof that the introductory 
 chapters always formed part of the Gospel, that the 
 mention of his leaving Nazareth evidently looks back 
 
 * The notion, that Israel, as a nation, was a type of Christ, or 
 that the exodus was symholical, as an event, of this circumstance in 
 the life of Christ, cannot be safely propounded as an explanation of 
 the citation. Yet, the form of expression in Hosea may have been 
 adapted, prospectively, to its future application. In this view, the 
 citation by the Evangelist is not an accommodation of the passage, 
 but the development of a prophetic allusion. 
 
 t Other explanations have been proposed of this difficult passage. 
 Chrysostom cuts the knot by supposing the reference made to pro- 
 phecies no longer extant. Calvin approves of Bucer's idea, that 
 Judg. xiii. 5, is pointed at,—" he shall be a Nazarite," — i. e. sepa- 
 rated ; the etymology of Nazarene, though a patronymic, giving 
 that meaning. Our Lord's residing there led to his being called what 
 the prophets predicted the Messiah should be, one separated ; like 
 Joseph, who was ' Namrceus fratmm siMrum,' separated from his 
 brethren. Gen. xlix, 26. Deut. xxxiii. 16. 
 
34 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 to the statement at chap. ii. 22.* And, as it must 
 have been while out of Galilee that Jesus heard of 
 the imprisonment of his Forerunner, the statement of 
 the Evangelist implies, what we learn more parti- 
 cularly from the Gospel of John, that Our Lord, 
 subsequently to his baptism and the temptation, had 
 been journeying or sojourning in other parts. That 
 it was not this Evangelist's design to give a minute or 
 regular narrative of Our Lord's proceedings, is evident 
 from the general and summary terms in which he 
 informs us, that " Jesus went about all Galilee, teach- 
 ing in their synagogues, and healing all manner of 
 diseases," and that " his fame went throughout 
 Syria;" which supposes some considerable time to 
 have been occupied with his ministry before his fame 
 could thus have spread. After the concise mention 
 of these facts, the Evangelist proceeds to give, in what 
 is usually though improperly termed, "the Sermon 
 on the Mount," a specimen of His doctrine and 
 teaching who spake as never man spake. It is the 
 opinion of the soundest commentators, sustained by 
 the internal evidence, that Matthew has here collected 
 into one view the main points or characteristic fea- 
 tures of his Divine Master's teaching, from discourses 
 or instructions delivered at different times. In a 
 Hug, part ii. similar manner, he has thrown together in one coUec- 
 
 * So, ver. 13 of ch. iii. obviously connects with the same state- 
 ment, and requires it. The external evidence of the genuineness of 
 the first two chapters of this Gospel, is decisive. There have been. 
 Bishop Marsh observes, not less than 356 Greek MSS. of the Gospels, 
 collated, every one of which contains them, with the exception of 
 the imperfect Codex Ebnerianus, which begins with ver. 18 of ch. i. 
 Marsh's Michaelis, vol. iii. pt. 2, p, 138. 
 
MATTHEW AND MARK. 33 
 
 tion the Parables of Our Lord, how different soever 
 may have been the time and place at which they were 
 dehvered; that method of teaching corresponding, 
 as the Evangehst remarks, to the intimation of pro- 
 phecy. The copiousness of these records of the 
 sayings of Christ, in contrast with the remarkable 
 conciseness of the historical hints, or rather the com- 
 pression of the narrative, while it marks the design of 
 the Evangelist, and the character of the composition, 
 as didactic, rather than narrative, — suggests also the 
 idea, that these instructions must have been com- 
 mitted to writing either at the time or not long after 
 they were delivered. That they might have been 
 retained in the faithfiil recollection of the Apostles 
 without the aid of written documents, is not incredi- 
 ble, more especially since it was promised that the 
 Holy Spirit should bring to their remembrance all Johnxiv. 
 that Christ had spoken to them. Yet, it is not pro- 
 bable, that they would neglect to make some tran- 
 script of instructions upon which they set so high a 
 value. Actions and events are not liable to escape 
 from recollection ; so that, while they are yet recent, the 
 want of a record is not felt, and the idea of composing 
 a narrative is not likely to suggest itself. But who 
 that wished to preserve the very expressions which 
 fell from a revered friend and instructor, would trust 
 them to his memory ? If any of the disciples were 
 competent to perform the office of a scribe, there 
 seems no room to doubt that every opportunity would 
 be improved for taking down what their Master taught 
 them. Such was the ancient practice, when a teacher 
 dictated to his attendant scholars, for which purpose 
 
 D 2 
 
36 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 they were ftirnished with ink-horns in their girdles ; a 
 Ezek.ix.2. custom referred to in the Old Testament, and which 
 is still the practice in Syria and other eastern coun- 
 tries. So Baruch, we are told, wrote from the mouth 
 of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord which he had 
 Jer. xxxvi. spoken to him, upon a roll of a book. Now who was 
 ' ' ' ' so likely to be well qualified for this office as the 
 Apostle who had been accustomed to the clerical 
 employment and exact habits of a receiver of customs ? 
 He may not have been the only disciple who took 
 notes of his Divine Master's aphorisms, allegories, and 
 conversations : it is almost certain, that John, and 
 perhaps others, also adopted the same method. But we 
 may assume that Matthew would be particularly adroit 
 and ready with his pen, and that he would possess the 
 largest collection. And these notices would furnish 
 him with ample materials for a regular document like 
 that which he was afterwards led to undertake. 
 Matthew's ^ 4. Admitting this natural explanation of the origin 
 teue Proto- of Matthcw's Gospel, its fragmentary character is at 
 once accounted for. We may also suppose, that 
 portions of what he had committed to writing, pro- 
 bably in the vernacular Hebrew, would be copied and 
 circulated to some extent before they were embodied 
 in the Greek Gospel. Thus explained, the hypothe- 
 sis of an original Hebrew document, from which the 
 several Evangelists derived materials for their narra- 
 tives, and which has been deemed by some learned 
 critics the only mode of accounting for the verbal 
 coincidences, may be admitted without detracting 
 from the originality or independent authority of the 
 existing Gospels. That any such document, not itself 
 
MATTHEW AND MARK. ^ 37 
 
 of apostolical origin, should have preceded the com- 
 position of Matthew's Gospel, is utterly incredible. 
 Scarcely less improbable does it appear, that the 
 Evangelist should have neglected or deferred com- 
 mitting to writing any of Our Lord's discourses for 
 twelve years after the Ascension, and then have 
 undertaken it simply because he was about to leave 
 Judea. But, if we suppose that the materials were 
 already in existence and known to his fellow Apostles, 
 then, his undertaking to compose a regular work at 
 the time to which the Tradition points, and not 
 sooner, is perfectly natural ; for, as a work of history, 
 it could not, in Palestine, have been wanted at an 
 earlier period. And upon the same supposition, all 
 the irregularities of his Gospel, as well as the other 
 circumstances which different hypotheses have been 
 invented to account for, seem easily explained. 
 
 Objections have been urged, however, against the 
 opinion which assigns to Matthew's Gospel so early a 
 date ; and it has been thought that, from hints scat- 
 tered throughout the book, a longer time must have 
 elapsed between the events and the period at which it 
 was composed. For instance, the language of the 
 Evangelist at ch. xxviii. 15, "This saying is com- 
 monly reported among the Jews until this day," is 
 urged as a proof that many years must have inter- 
 vened. But surely such an observation would be as 
 appropriate in a work written fourteen years after the 
 Kesurrection, as in one of later date by some ten or 
 fifteen years. The parenthetical comment introduced 
 in Our Lord's prediction of the overthrow of the 
 Temple, ch. xxiv. 1 5, " Whoso readeth, let him under- 
 
38 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 stand," is strangely imagined by Professor Hug to 
 have been suggested by the state of affairs at the 
 time he was writing his Gospel. Such a premoni- 
 tion to the Christians of Judea would then have been 
 too late to answer its purpose. On the contrary, the 
 passage supplies an argument for an earlier date, 
 since, to the predictions contained in that chapter, it 
 behoved the Apostles to give early publication as a 
 warning to the Jewish nation, as well as more parti- 
 cularly for the instruction of the faithful. It seems 
 very unlikely, therefore, that the first written Gospel 
 should have been put forth so late as a.d. 64 or even 
 66, (the date required by Professor Hug's hypothe- 
 sis,) only a few years before the destruction of Jeru- 
 salem. 
 uate of §5, This argument for the early date of the Gospel 
 
 Gospel. of Matthew, applies, mdeed, to that which, by the 
 concurrent voice of antiquity, is allowed to have been 
 the second in order of date ; since the prediction, 
 with the same parenthetical admonition, is given by 
 Mark, notwithstanding that he is supposed not to 
 have composed his Gospel for the Christians of 
 Palestine. He has, however, followed Matthew so 
 closely, that, in this instance, he may be thought 
 merely to have copied him ; yet, could he have done 
 so, had the prediction been already fulfilled, or the 
 time past at which the warning could be of any 
 benefit? It was of importance that not only the 
 Christians in Judea, but also those in the neighbour- 
 ing countries who might have occasional intercourse 
 with Jerusalem, should be informed of the signs of 
 the approaching catastrophe of the city and nation. 
 
MATTHEW AND MARK. 39 
 
 There is reason to conclude that Mark's Gospel was 
 not written till Matthew's had been for some years in 
 circulation, as it is evidently modelled upon it, and 
 may be regarded as an adaptation of the narrative 
 portion of the First Gospel, with supplemental illus- 
 trations, for the use of other than Jewish readers. 
 Hence we find him introducing explanatory remarks 
 which, to persons conversant with Jewish customs, 
 would be unnecessary. But, although we must 
 assign to it a later date than that of Matthew's, there 
 seems no reason to place between them a longer 
 interval than some ten or twelve years ; and it will 
 be seen, that, there is a concurrence of opinion, 
 though upon different grounds, in favour of its 
 comparatively early date; that is to say, not later 
 than A.D. 60. 
 
 4 6. The general design of all the EvangeHsts was specific De- 
 
 the same, but each Gospel had its specific purpose, character of 
 
 Bjgn 
 Cbai 
 
 That of Matthew, as we have seen, was, to prove Gospel. 
 that Jesus of Nazareth was the son of David, the 
 promised Messiah. This is rather assumed by Mark, 
 who announces his subject as " the Gospel of Jesus 
 Christ, the Son of God," and proceeds at once to 
 give an account of the miraculous attestation borne 
 to him in this character, by a voice from heaven, when 
 he presented himself to John to be baptized. This 
 Evangehst neither aims at combating Jewish pre- 
 judices, nor appeals, like Matthew, to the language 
 of the ancient prophets, but confines himself almost 
 entirely to the recital of the leading facts. 
 
 Brief and rapid as is the style of Mark's Gospel, 
 considered as a history, it is^'inore circumstantial in 
 
40 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 the relation of striking incidents, and abounds in 
 picturesque and interesting touches, such as could 
 have been supplied only by a writer personally ac- 
 quainted with the scenes described, and either himself 
 an eye-witness of the occurrences, or deriving his 
 information from an original source. For instance, 
 in his account of Our Lord's cure of the paralytic, this 
 Markii. 2. Evaugelist describes the crowds that thronged the 
 door of the house, a.nd states, that the sick man was 
 borne by four, and that, being unable to come nigh 
 to the door, they uncovered the roof of the house, 
 ch. V. 25. and let him down on his couch. Again, in his account 
 of the woman who was cured by toughing the gar- 
 ments of Our Lord, Mark mentions s,everal minute 
 points in her history ; that she had for twelve years 
 sought in vain a cure from physicians, and had spent 
 all her property without obtaining any relief; and the 
 whole transaction is described with a graphic minute- 
 ness quite different from Matthew's concise and sum- 
 mary style. In the same chapter, he gives the^name 
 of the ruler of the synagogue whose daughter was 
 restored to life ; and states, that only Peter, James, 
 and John were admitted as witnesses of the miracle. 
 Where Matthew only states that the Pharisees went 
 Matt. xii. out and held a council against -Our Lord, Mark adds, 
 Mark iii. 6. that they took counsel with the Herodians, As in- 
 stances of his minute descriptive touches, we may 
 refer to his describing Our Lord as being in the wil- 
 i. 13. demess " with the wild beasts ; " — his representing 
 
 iv. 38. him, in" the storm, " asleep upon a pillow in the 
 hinder part of the ship ; " — his vivid picture of the 
 multitudes ranged in companies of hundreds and 
 
MATTHEW AND MARK. 41 
 
 fifties on the green grass ; (a circumstance not only Mark vi. 39. 
 picturesque, but indicating the season of the year ;) — 
 the touching circumstance of the Syro-phenician 
 mother finding her daughter cured and laid upon vii. 30. 
 the bed; — the particular and affecting account of the ix-so. 
 remarkable cure of a child possessed with a deaf and 
 dumb spirit ; — his describing Our Lord as much dis- x. u. 
 pleased when his disciples would have kept away the 
 little children fi"om him, and as taking them up into 
 his arms, and blessing them ; — his mentioning the 
 graceful conduct of the young ruler, in running and 
 kneeling to our Lord, and the love with which Christ x. 17, 21. 
 beheld him ; — and his marking the spot where the 
 colt was found tied, which the disciples were to bring 
 to their Master — a place where two ways met. In xi. 4. 
 all these instances, this Evangelist is found filling up 
 Matthew s strong outline, precisely like one who had 
 the original narrative before him, but was enabled by 
 personal recollection, or by information otherwise 
 obtained, to add those illustrative details which give 
 colouring and greater distinctness to the picture- 
 Some of the instances cited clearly denote that Mark, 
 if not himself one of the attendants upon Our Lord's 
 ministry, must have derived his knowledge of minute 
 facts from one of the Apostles. Where Matthew Matt.xyi.s. 
 states, that, on one occasion, the disciples had for- 
 gotten to take bread with them, Mark mentions that 
 they had one loaf; a circumstance not known, per- Mark viii. 
 haps, to all the Twelve. Again, after giving some 
 specimens of Our Lord's parables, (one of which is 
 peculiar to this EvangeHst, iv. 26 — 29,) he adds, 
 " And when they were alone, he expounded all things 
 
42 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 to his disciples." It has been remarked, that this 
 EvangeUst discovers a particular interest in Peter, 
 introducing his name on several occasions where it 
 does not appear to be required ; as at ch. i. 36. 
 
 " And Simon followed after him ; " — ch. xi. 21. 
 
 " And Peter, calling to remembrance," &c. So, at 
 ch. xiii. 3., Peter is introduced with James, John, and 
 Andrew, as questioning our Lord privately ; and, at 
 ch. xvi. 7. " Go, tell his disciples and Peter" Yet, 
 in some instances, where the occurrences in which 
 Peter was personally concerned are circumstantially 
 related by Matthew, — as, Peter's walking upon the sea 
 to Christ (Matt. xiv. 28 — 32), Our Lord's declaration 
 to him, " Thou art Peter," upon his confessing him 
 to be the Christ (Matt. xvi. 17) ; Peter's rebuking 
 his Master (Matt. xvi. 22) ; and the Transfiguration 
 (Matt, xvii.), — Mark is more brief than the former 
 Evangelist, and, in the first instance, is silent. On 
 the other hand, in describing the fall of Peter, though 
 more concise than Matthew, he mentions the cock's 
 crowing twice, and states simply, that, when Peter 
 thought of what Our Lord had predicted, " he wept." 
 Matthew had said, " wept bitterly." These are slight 
 indications, but they certainly harmonize with the 
 traditional behef, (which derives probability from other 
 circumstances,) that Mark's Gospel was written under 
 the eye of Peter, or that the Evangelist was closely 
 connected with that Apostle, and derived his minute 
 information from him. Further, two miracles, the 
 cure of a man deaf and dumb, and of a blind man at 
 Bethsaida (Mark vii. 31 — 37 ; viii. 22—26), are 
 mentioned only by this Evangehst. He also gives 
 
MATTHEW AND MARK. 43 
 
 the name of the blind man near Jericho, whom Our 
 Lord restored to sight (x. 46 — 52); he mentions 
 which of the disciples privately questioned Our Lord 
 respecting the time when the predicted overthrow of 
 the temple should take place (xiii. 3, 4) ; and he 
 identifies Simon the Cyrenian (xv. 21) as the father 
 of Alexander and Kufus. His explanation of the 
 Jewish custom of washing before meals, and cleansing 
 cups, pots, and tables (vii. 2 — 4) ; and his remark 
 (xi. 13), in reference to the barren fig-tree, that " the 
 time of figs," that is the fig-harvest, " was not yet " 
 come ; indicate that he intended his Gospel for other 
 than Jewish readers. Once more, he alone mentions 
 one simple incident attending Our Lord's apprehen- 
 sion. When all the disciples fled, a young man 
 followed him, who appears, from his having thrown 
 round him only a loose linen garment, to have been 
 roused by the tumult, and to have come out of his 
 house to inquire what was the matter. Being laid 
 hold of by the guards, he left the loose cloth in their 
 hands, and " fled from them naked." How this cir- 
 cumstance became known to the Evangelist, does not 
 appear, since the disciples had previously fled : Peter 
 and John followed, indeed, but " afar ofi"." Was the 
 young man known to Mark ? Was he the Evangelist 
 bimself ? * At all events, this is one of the numerous 
 illustrative details which show that Mark is not a mere 
 epitomizer of Matthew's Gospel ; that he had original 
 sources of authentic information. 
 
 The most remarkable deviations in this Evangelist 
 
 * So Mr. Greswell supposes. Cave notices the ' ancient ' conjec- 
 ture, that it was the Evangelist John : an absurd supposition. 
 
44 THE GOSPELS OP 
 
 from the Gospel of Matthew, consist in his different 
 arrangement of some of the incidents in Our Lord's 
 public ministry. Thus, while Matthew mentions the 
 choice of the Twelve and their being sent forth on 
 their first mission in immediate connexion (ch. ix. I , 
 &c.), Mark separates them by a considerable interval, 
 as if he intended to assign to the latter event its true 
 place in the history in order of time. He also places 
 differently Our Lord's excursion into the land of the 
 Gadarenes, the raising of Jairus's daughter, and cer- 
 tain portions of Our Lord's discourses. For this he 
 must have had same reason ; and the most natural 
 explanation is, that, whereas Matthew followed a 
 didactic arrangement, bringing together facts and 
 discourses related' by their subject, Mark has paid 
 more attention to the order in which the facts oc- 
 curred, and the occasions upon which the sayings 
 Hug, u. were delivered. Finally, Mark mentions three perso- 
 ' ■ nal manifestations of Our Lord after his Eesurrection, 
 particularizing his appearing to Mary Magdalene first ; 
 and also, the Ascension, which is implied, but not 
 recorded, in Matthew's concise statement.* In all 
 these respects, while jnaking such copious use of the 
 materials in the First Gospel, Mark appears to have 
 aimed at giving a more complete and regular history. 
 To represent the two Evangelists as at variance, is, 
 however, as absurd as it is perverse ; for it assumes 
 that both aimed at chronological exactness, and ob- 
 
 * Of these supplemental notices, the first appearance of Our Lord 
 to Mary is particularly related by John. Mark xvi. 14. seemingly 
 ' refers to the unbelief of Thomas, John xx. 24. ; and ver. 12. to what 
 is recorded, Luke xxiv. 13, &c. 
 
MATTHEW AND MARK. 45 
 
 served the same strict historical arrangement, which 
 is contrary to the internal evidence. Equally gratu- 
 itous is the assumption, that, because one relates more 
 circumstantially what the other has stated mdre con- 
 cisely, the author of the concise account could not 
 have seen the more copious narrative. It is certain 
 that, in some places, Mark has abridged the Gospel of 
 Matthew, while, for the most part, he has supplied sup- 
 plemental details. And this is precisely what we might 
 expect him to have done, if, not aiming to supersede the 
 original Gospel,* he designed to render his own work 
 suflSciently complete for independent use, in adapta- 
 tion to a different class of readers. In every part, his 
 Gospel pre-supposes the existence of St. Matthew's, 
 and confirms it ; while their different design accounts 
 for the variations and the supplemental matter. In 
 refuting the opposite hypothesis, maintained by some 
 of the German critics, Professor Hug remarks, that 
 it would be easy to prove by the same sort of rea- 
 soning, that neither of the two historians, Livy and 
 Polybius, could have been acquainted with the work 
 of the other. " The one is sometimes at variance 
 with the other, respecting the circumstances of events. 
 They also differ fi-om each other respecting the chron- 
 ology of some facts ; they are embarrassed by differ- 
 ences which border on contradictions ; the one also 
 sometimes declares the contrary of the other ; and, 
 lastly, they have not always made proper use of the 
 more extensive detail which they might severally 
 
 * His omission of the greater part of Our Lord's discourses, is a 
 proof that he did not aim at superseding the original Gospel. See, 
 on this subject, the judicious remarks of GresweU, vol. i. pp. 24 — 27. 
 
§21. 
 
 46 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 have found in the works of each other; — ^therefore 
 neither was acquainted with the other. Livy was 
 not acquainted with Polybius, nor Polybius with 
 Livy. "Is this then true ? Is it perfectly correct ? 
 On the contrary, Livy refers to Polybius by name in 
 several books of his history. Why do we refuse to 
 apply that to the composers of the Gospels, which is 
 Hug, pt. ii. acknowledged to be true and valid in profane authors ? " 
 The reply to this question would be, that we allow in 
 profane authors for a difference of opinion, for uncer- 
 tainty, and for error ; which cannot be admitted in 
 the case of two inspired writers. The parallel is not, 
 therefore, complete ; though the argument holds good 
 to a certain extent, in opposition to the assumption 
 that Mark could not have seen the Gospel from which 
 his own differs. The variations are not such as im- 
 port, in any instance, an impeachment of the veracity, 
 accuracy, or authority of the ApostoKc Evangelist, 
 on the part of the later writer ; but, on the contrary, 
 they confirm, as being evidently intended to illustrate, 
 the original document. 
 
 Considering that Mark's Gospel was not written 
 till probably twelve or fifteen years after Matthew's 
 had been in circulation, it is quite incredible that a 
 companion of the Apostles should not have been 
 acquainted with the work of the proto-Evangelist ; 
 and equally so, that he should not have made that use 
 of it which is so apparent in the verbal identity of 
 many passages. According to the testimony of 
 Irenseus (a.d. 178), Mark did not compose his Gospel 
 till after the death of Peter and Paul ; and if so, it 
 could not have been written earlier than the year 65 
 
MATTHEW AND MARK. 47 
 
 or 66. No stress, however, can be laid upon the 
 statement of a writer who tells us, in the same sen- 
 tence, that Matthew published his work while Peter 
 and Paul were laying the foundations of the church 
 at Kome. Nor can the vague and contradictory tra- 
 ditions relating to Mark, recited by Eusebius, be 
 deemed worthy of the shghtest credit, since they all re- 
 quire us to beUeve, that his Gospel, which is obviously 
 modelled upon Matthew's, was written at the dictation 
 of Peter, at Rome, at a time when it is certain that 
 Apostle could not have visited the imperial city, and 
 when the Evangelist, if the same as the Marcus of the 
 Epistles, was the companion, not of Peter, but of 
 Paul. 
 
 § 7. Whether Mark the Evansfelist and John Mark, Biography 
 the kinsman of Barnabas, were the same individual, 
 has, indeed, been a question in ancient as well as 
 in modern times ; and here, again, the uncertainty of 
 Tradition is strikingly exemplified. The only reason 
 for supposing them not to be the same, seems to have 
 been the fact, that, in the Book of Acts and in the Epis- 
 tles, Mark appears as the companion of Paul, whereas 
 Tradition makes the Evangelist Mark to have been 
 the disciple, interpreter, and companion of Peter.* 
 The very first mention of John Mark, however, 
 
 * Among those who conclude that they were different persons, 
 are Cave, Grotius, Du Pin, Tillemont, Greswell, and Burton. On 
 the other side are Jer. Jones, Lightfool, Wetstein, Lardner, and Hug. 
 Mr. Greswell bases his positive decision upon three fallacious as- 
 sumptions ; viz. — ^that, at the date of Paul's Epistle to the Colos- 
 siana, Mark must have been the companion of Peter,— that, at the 
 date of the Second Epistle to Timothy, he was not alive or not in 
 Asia,^ — and, that the Mark of the Acts had a proper Jewish name, 
 which is not certain of the Evangelist. 
 
 of Mark.' 
 
48 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 assures us of Peter s intimacy with his family. On 
 his deUverance from prison by the angel, Peter " came 
 to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose 
 surname was Mark, where many were gathered to- 
 gether praying." Acts xii. 12. His mother, there- 
 fore, was an inhabitant of Jerusalem, and Mark was 
 probably a native of that city, although his kinsman, 
 Barnabas, was a Cypriote by birth. That Peter 
 should first have repaired to the house of his mother, 
 indicates that he expected to be received there with 
 joy ; we cannot, therefore, be at any loss to account 
 for his referring to him, in his first Epistle, under 
 the tender appellation, " Marcus my son." The cog- 
 nomen was the usual and characteristic name ; and 
 hence, conformably to the general practice, John would 
 be commonly known simply as Mark.* The deli- 
 verance of Peter took place in the year 44 ; and about 
 the same time, Barnabas and Paul arrived at Jerusalem 
 from Antioch, bearing contributions for the relief of 
 the poorer brethren in Judea, who were suffering fi:om 
 the scarcity. On their return, John Mark accom- 
 panied them ; which, as he was probably a stranger 
 to Paul, proves his connexion with Barnabas, and 
 identifies him with " Mark, sisters son to Barnabas," 
 mentioned in the Epistle to the Colossians. On their 
 first apostolic mission, Mark was the attendant and 
 travelling companion of Paul and Barnabas, as far as 
 Perga in Pamphylia, where, declining to proceed fur- 
 ther, he left them, and returned to Jerusalem. We 
 find him, however, again at Antioch in the year 51, 
 
 * So, Simon Bar-Jonas, Lebbseus, and Joses, were known by 
 their respective surnames as Peter, Thaddeus and Barnabas. 
 
MATTHEW AND MARK. 49 
 
 when Paul and Barnabas were proposing to set out 
 on a second circuit. An interval of four or five years 
 had elapsed, during which nothing is more probable 
 than that he would be again associated with Peter ; 
 and it was about the same time, other circumstances 
 lead us to conclude, that the First Epistle of Peter was 
 composed at Babylon, in which the Apostle refers to 
 Mark as being then with him. We may suppose that 
 he had returned from Babylonia to Antioch in company 
 with Peter ; and thence, when Paul and Barnabas had 
 disagreed on the subject of taking him with them a 
 second time, he accompanied his kinsman to Cyprus. 
 For the next ten years we lose sight of him, and his 
 name occurs no more in the Evangelical history ; but 
 the Apostle Paul, in writing to Timothy from Rome, 
 desires him to hasten thither, and to bring with 
 him Mark, because he was profitable to him for the 
 ministry. That Mark did accompany Timothy to 2Tim.iv.ii. 
 Borne, is manifest from his being mentioned in the 
 Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon. In the 
 former, he is designated as the kinsman of Barnabas, 
 whom the Colossians had previously received instruc- 
 tions to entertain with hospitality and respect. He 
 appears to have left Eome before the Epistle to the 
 PhUippians was written, and may be supposed to 
 have returned to Asia with Epaphras, as he is not 
 mentioned in that Epistle. Nevertheless he might 
 have remained at Eome, and have composed his Gos- 
 pel there. Two circumstances, however, render this 
 unlikely : first, it was just about this time that Luke 
 was composing, or had recently completed, his two 
 books, which must have rendered Mark's Gospel 
 
Tol.v.p.33S. 
 
 50 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 wholly unnecessary for the use of the Roman church ; 
 and, secondly, there is nothing to connect him at 
 Eome with Peter, except the mistaken idea, that the 
 First Epistle of Peter was written at Eome, founded 
 upon the strange notion that, by Babylon, Eorae is 
 mystically designated. By Chrysostom, Mark is 
 stated to have written his Gospel in Egypt, at the 
 request of the believers there ; although, he adds, ' in 
 what place each one of the Evangelists wrote, cannot 
 Laidner, be Said with certainty.' Eusebius and Jerome both 
 speak of Mark as going to Egypt^ taking his Gospel 
 with him ; and they state, that he died and was buried 
 at Alexandria in the eighth year of Nero, answering to 
 A.D. 61. This date, however, must be deemed errone- 
 ous, since, in that year, Mark was at Eome with Paul ; 
 unless we suppose that, in the course of that same year, 
 he proceeded from Eome to Alexandria, and died 
 almost immediately after his arrival. In that case, the 
 tradition which makes him to have composed or pub- 
 lished his Gospel after the death of Peter and Paul, 
 must be wholly without foundation. It rests, indeed, 
 upon no authentic data ; and the late date assigned 
 to Mark's Gospel by Lardner and other learned critics, 
 is a mere inference from the erroneous statement of 
 Irenseus, echoed by other ancient writers, and trace- 
 able to the fiction that Paul and Peter founded the 
 church at Eome. 
 
 Many circumstances would lead us to adopt the 
 conclusion, that Mark's Gospel was written at an 
 earlier period. In the first place, if we suppose, with 
 Wetstein, Greswell, and others, that it was known 
 to Luke, it must have been in circulation before 
 
MATTHEW AND MAEK. 51 
 
 A.D. 61, several years before the martyrdom of Paul 
 and Peter. Secondly, if it was written under the eye 
 of Peter, it is more Hkely to have been undertaken 
 when Mark was associated with that Apostle, either 
 in the interval between his return from Pamphylia 
 and his second journey with Barnabas to Cyprus, 
 during which we find him in Babylonia with Peter ; i Pet. v. 13. 
 or else during the ten years which intervened between 
 his setting out for Cyprus and his joining Paul at 
 Rome. Thirdly, it is not likely that the city of 
 Alexandria, which, according to Josephus, contained 
 as many as 100,000 Jews*, remained long unvisited 
 by some of the Apostles, since there was a constant 
 intercourse between Palestine and Eg5rpt, Lybia, and 
 Cyrenaica, and Jews and proselytes from those coun- 
 tries attended the feast of Pentecost. Assuming that 
 there was historical ground for the concurrent tradi- 
 tional belief, that Mark preached the Gospel at Alex- 
 andria, what is so likely as that he proceeded thi- 
 ther either with Barnabas from Cyprus, a.d. 51, or 
 with Peter himself between a.d, 51 and 61 ?t Mat- 
 thew's Gospel, if published in a.d. 44, would by that 
 time have been from seven to ten years in circulation ; 
 but, for the sake of the churches out of Judea, after 
 the extension of the preaching of the Gospel to the 
 Gentiles, a compendium might seem to be required. 
 
 * Egypt, acccording to Philo, contained more than a million of 
 Jews. Greswell, vol. i. p. 130. 
 
 t Mr. Greswell, upon different ground, conjectures that Peter 
 visited Egypt with Mark, between a.d. 66 and 66 i and that Mark 
 had composed his Gospel before a.d. 61, the year in which Tradition 
 fixes his death at Alexandria. Gresw. vol. i. pp. 129—131. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 more full and circumstantial as to the facts, explanatory 
 of some things in the first Gospel, and yet not intended 
 to take its place as an authoritative record of Our Lord's 
 discourses, and an inspired testimony to his Divine 
 claims as the Messiah of Israel. Alexandria was, at 
 that time, a distinguished seat of both Oriental and 
 Grecian literature. A host of librarians, gramma- 
 rians, and scholiasts were there constantly employed 
 upon all that was good or bad in philosophy. This 
 city for a long time supplied the West with Greek 
 transcripts of every learned work ; and thence, also, 
 the West obtained the MSS. of the New Testament. 
 Where, then, was it so likely that Mark would be 
 called upon to furnish a more exafct account of Our 
 Lord's ministry, adapted to other than Jewish 
 readers ? Or where would he possess so many 
 facilities for executing the work ? Where else would 
 Alexander and Rufus be so well known as to induce 
 the Evangelist to mention Simon of Gyrene as their 
 M^kxv.2i. father? But, if Mark's Gospel was written at Alex- 
 andria, (and the name of the Evangelist is connected 
 with that city by stronger traditional evidence than 
 supports almost any other biographical fact in the 
 lives of the sacred writers,) we seem to have a strong 
 reason for concluding that it was pubHshed long be- 
 fore the period to which its composition must be 
 assigned, on the supposition that it was written at 
 Eome, or after the decease of Peter and Paul. A 
 German writer (Storr) has conjectured that it was 
 composed for the Christians at Antioch ; and we 
 might certainly expect that a Gospel would be at a 
 very early period rf quired for the use of the numerous 
 
MATTHEW AND MARK. 53 
 
 believers in that city. In that case, we should be led 
 to fix its date still earlier, or about the year 50 or 51. 
 The only plausible argument adduced in support of 
 the vague and unauthenticated tradition, that Mark's 
 Gospel was written for the Eoman Christians, rests 
 upon the Latinisms which have been detected in the 
 phraseology. Professor Hug instances that, in speak- 
 ing of the xewTov, a coin current in Judea, he does MarkxiL42. 
 not, like Josephus, give its value in Attic money, but 
 according to that of Roman coins ; and again, that, 
 contrary to the custom of the other sacred writers, he 
 employs the Koman expression, centurio, (« Kevrvflav) ch. xv. 39. 
 for the commander of sixty or a hundred soldiers, in- 
 stead of iKai;ovta(X'\, the term used by Josephus and 
 by Luke ; which must have been, he thinks, in accom- 
 modation to readers acquainted with the Latin tech- 
 nical term, but not with the Greek. But Mr. 
 Greswell makes use of a similar argument to prove, 
 that the Gospel of Matthew was translated into Greek 
 at Eome ; referring to various Latin terms * which 
 occur in it, though not all peculiar to it. He admits, 
 indeed, that they might have become current wher- 
 ever the Eoman empire had been established. It 
 is obvious that this admission is fatal to the pre- 
 sumption that they were employed in accommoda- 
 tion to the peculiar ideas of the inhabitants of the 
 Metropolis. 
 
 * Em. ff. KoSpdvTiis J fii\ioii ; KovimoSla ; vpairdpiov ; A67caii' ; fi((8ios ; 
 Srii/ipiov ; aaaipiov. Greswell, vol. i. p. 124. But in the Acts (xix. 12) 
 occur two remarkable terms borrowed from the Latin ; ffovSapia and 
 (tiiukIi'Sui. 
 
54 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 THE GOSPELS OF LUKE AND JOHN. 
 
 ANCIENT ORDER OP THE FOUR GOSPELS BIOGRAPHY OP lUKE 
 
 DATE OF HIS GOSPEL TO WHAT PRIOR ACCOUNTS DOES THIS 
 
 EVANGELIST REFER ? CHARACTER OF LU-KE AS AN HISTORIAN 
 
 VARIATIONS PROM THE GOSPEL OP MATTHEW EXPLAINED 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL DIFFICULTY RELATING TO THE TAXING, AND 
 
 THE DEATH OP HEROD SPECIFIC DESIGN AND CHARACTER OF 
 
 THE GOSPEL OF JOHN REASONS FOR ASSIGNING TO IT AN EARLY 
 
 DATE INDEPENDENT SOURCE OP PAUL's GOSPEL — APPARENT AL- 
 LUSIONS TO THE FOUR GOSPELS IN THE EPISTLES. 
 
 Ancient § 1 . — It is asserted by Clement of Alexandria, that 
 Four Gos- ^ the Gospels which contain the genealogies, were first 
 ^ ^' written ; a statement which, if it could be deemed 
 
 authentic, would require us to place the Gospel of 
 Luke before that of Mark, in order of composition. 
 And in some ancient Versions, the Evangelists are 
 arranged in the following order : Matthew, John, 
 Luke, Mark. This arrangement, however, is sup- 
 posed to have reference to the rank of the sacred 
 Writers, the place of honour being assigned to the 
 two Apostles. In the Greek manuscripts, and in all 
 catalogues of the canonical books, the established 
 order is observed, which may be presumed to be the 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 55 
 
 true chronological order. Amojag the various hypo- 
 theses started by the biblical critics of Germany, to 
 account for the coincident passages in the several 
 Gospels, one distinguished scholar (Griesbach) has 
 maintained the position, that Mark compiled his Gos- 
 pel from the writings of Matthew and Luke, and 
 consequently wrote after them; while another German 
 scholar (Vogel) accounts Luke the first of the 
 EvangeUsts, basing his opinion chiefly upon the argu- 
 ment, that, if Matthew had written before him, Luke 
 would not have presumed to compose another Gospel, 
 or that, if he had, he would have omitted none of the 
 materials furnished by Matthew. That Luke was 
 acquainted with the Gospel of Matthew, there is, 
 however, the clearest internal evidence ; and according 
 to the date which we have assigned to Mark's, it is 
 highly probable that he had seen that also, since, for 
 the Gospel of Luke, it will be shown, an earher date 
 cannot be fixed than a.d. 61. 
 
 § 2. There is scarcely any point of ApostoUc bio- Biography 
 graphy upon which Tradition is more completely at °^^^^- 
 fault, and more palpably betrays its insufficiency as a 
 guide, than the personal history of this EvangeHst. 
 Eusebius, in two places, refers to Luke as the author of 
 the Acts of the Apostles, and of a Gospel ; but all 
 the information respecting him is comprised in the 
 statement, that he was born at Antioch, and was, by 
 profession, a physician. That he was a Syrian by 
 birth, Lardner thinks a very questionable account, 
 since it is not found in Ireneeus, Clement of Alexan- 
 dria, Tertullian, Origen, or any other writer before 
 Eusebius. Epiphanius, Origen, and others supposed 
 
60 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 him to have been one of the Seventy Disciples ; * 
 which is scarcely consistent with his being a native of 
 Antioch, and proves that there was no prevailing or 
 well attested tradition on the subject. Had he been a 
 Gentile, converted by Paul, as some writers imagine, 
 he would not have been fit to accompany the Apostle 
 as his constant companion. Lardner, with Tillemont, 
 Basnage, and others, inclines to the opinion, that he is 
 the same as Lucius of Cyrene, mentioned Acts xiii. 1 , 
 and Kom. xvi. 20 ; a supposition as old as the time of 
 Origen, but unsupported by a shadow of evidence. 
 Lucius and Lucilius seem etymologically related to 
 Gresweii, i. lu,r, light ; Lucas and Lucanus, to lucus, a grove or 
 li). i. 70. wood. Gresweii pronounces the tradition which makes 
 both Mark and Luke to have been disciples of Our 
 Lord, and among the Seventy, absolutely childish and 
 absurd ; contending that we know no more of Luke's 
 antecedent history than what may be collected fi-om 
 Col. iv. 14, — that he was by profession a surgeon or 
 physician, and therefore probably a Greek ; and he 
 conjectures that he was a citizen of Philippi. We 
 may, he thinks, take it for granted, that no Jew 
 would have practised as a physician, except among 
 Jews, whereas Luke must have so practised among 
 Gentiles. These are gratuitous assumptions. Besides 
 which, it is considered as doubtful by Calvin, Basnage, 
 and others, whether the EvangeUst Luke is intended. 
 Col. iv. 14 ; the descriptive appellation, " the physi- 
 cian," being added, they infer, to distinguish him 
 
 * The only reason for this opinion seems to be, that Luke alone 
 mentions the mission of the Seventy. 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 57 
 
 from the Evangelist.* From these conflicting tradi- 
 tions and learned conjectures it is manifest, that we 
 have no historical evidence to guide us, and that all 
 our information must be gathered from the sacred 
 documents. 
 
 Now it is remarkable that it should have been 
 entirely overlooked, that the same internal evidence 
 upon which the authorship of the Book of Acts has 
 been ascribed to Luke, enables us to identify Luke 
 with Silas or Sylvanus, St. Paul's chosen com- 
 panion after his separation from Barnabas. The 
 first mention that is made of Silas, occurs in the 
 xvth chapter of Acts, verse 22, as one of the two 
 apostolic deputies chosen to accompany Paul and Bar- 
 liabas on their return to Antioch, There, Silas chose 
 to remain ; and at ver. 40, we find him selected by 
 Paul as his companion in his second visit to the cities 
 of Lycaonia and other parts of the Asiatic Peninsula. 
 In this same journey, St. Paul was first accompanied 
 by the Writer of the Acts ; and at ver. 10 of the 
 following chapter, the Historian first associates himself 
 with the Apostle, not simply as his companion, but as 
 his colleague in preaching the Gospel: "After he 
 had seen the vision, we immediately endeavoured to 
 go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord 
 had called us to preach the Gospel unto them." The 
 vision appeared to Paul at Troas ; and, accordingly, 
 it has been assumed, that he was there joined by the 
 Writer of the history ; but there is nothing to warrant 
 
 * Lardner, vol. v. p. 361. Hug fancifully detects traces of the physi- 
 cian in the use of the technical word axhos for blindness, Acts xiii. 2, 
 and in the distinction implied by the phrase, iivpdif neyi,\<f, Luke iv. 38. 
 
58 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 the supposition. On the contrary, the altered deter- 
 mination to go into Macedonia, bears a relation to 
 the previous purpose to go into Bithynia, before 
 arriving at Troas ; which must be understood of the 
 same parties. Besides, if the Writer had attached 
 himself to Paul at Troas, this would not have 
 justified his speaking of himself as Divinely called to 
 preach the Gospel. The only individuals to whom 
 this language could apply, were Paul and Silas, who 
 had been specially " recommended by the brethren to 
 the grace of God," on setting out fi^om Antioch, and 
 Timothy, who was added to them at Lystra. Accor- 
 dingly, in the Epistles to the Macedonian Christians, 
 Paul, Sylvanus, and Timotheus are associated in the 
 opening salutation as having together preached the 
 Gospel to them ; and it is scarcely to be supposed 
 that the Writer of the Acts, who speaks of himself as 
 called to preach the Gospel to these same Macedo- 
 nians, would have been omitted in the salutation, had 
 he been a different person from Sylvanus or Silas. 
 In the subsequent narrative, Paul and Silas are alike 
 spoken of in the third person, conformably to the 
 general practice of the sacred writers, both of the Old 
 and the New Testament, in speaking of themselves. 
 Yet, in the midst of the recital, we meet with an inci- 
 dental transition to the use of the first person: "As 
 we went to prayer; " and, " The same followed Paul 
 16,17.' ' and us :" — which must be understood of Silas and 
 Timotheus ; otherwise the Writer would assuredly 
 have said, " Paul and Silas." And this use of the 
 cii.xx.5,6; first person continues to occur till the arrival of Paul 
 xxi. 17.' at Jerusalem. Silas is last mentioned by name, at ver. 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 69 
 
 5 of ch. xviii., as having joined Paul at Corinth with 
 Timotheus. He had parted from them at Berea ; 
 and in the intervening narrative, there is no indication 
 that the Writer was with the Apostle. Leaving them 
 at Corinth, St. Paul went into Syria and Asia Minor 
 with Priscilla and Aquila ; he afterwards went up to 
 Jerusalem, and did not rejoin Silas till his return to 
 Corinth, whence they together proceeded to Philippi, ch. xx. 2. 
 and there embarked for Troas. Of these intermediate 
 journeys, no particular account is given, the Writer 
 not being in the Apostle's company ; but, on Paul's 
 return to Greece, where Silas appears to have re- 
 mained, the Historian again employs the first person 
 plural. If, then, during the separation of Paul and Silas, 
 the Writer never speaks of himself as the companion of 
 the Apostle, but resumes it as soon as we find them 
 again associated, how can we avoid inferring, that he 
 was himself the Silas of the history, and the Sylvanus 
 of the Epistles, the biographer as well as the com- 
 panion of the Apostle, and the same with Lucas? 
 That he should be referred to under different names, 
 is not more to be wondered at, than that Peter should 
 be mentioned, in different places, under the names of 
 Simon, Simeon, Peter, and Cephas ; that Saul should 
 also have been called Paul; Joseph, Barsabas and 
 also Justus ; Nathanael, Bartholomew ; Thaddeus, 
 Judas ; Zelotes, Cananites ; Thomas, Didymus ; and 
 Levi, Matthew. Mr. Greswell remarks, that the 
 name of Silas for Sylvanus, is clearly analogous to 
 that of Lucas for Lucanus ; but he does not notice oresweii, 
 what is equally obvious, that the meaning of the ^°'''^' 
 names, if we derive Lucanus from lucus, is so similar 
 
60 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 (lucus and sylva each signifying a wood) as to ac- 
 count for their being borne by the same individual. 
 It is evident from St. Pauljs declaration, Acts xvi. 37, 
 that Silas, as well as himself, was a Koman citizen, 
 although a Jew ; and as it was usual for those who 
 were not Romans by extraction, upon acquiring the 
 privilege of citizenship, to assume a Eoman name, it 
 is not improbable that Luke or Lucas might have 
 taken the name of Sylvanus on that occasion. That 
 he was a native of Antioch, which was a Eoman 
 colony, is very possible, though it must be deemed 
 uncertain. He was, no doubt, a man of education ; 
 was esteemed by the church at" Jerusalem one of their 
 
 Acts XV. 22. chief men ; a prophet ; and was therefore unquestionably 
 of Jewish extraction, though not a native of Judea.* 
 There is nothing in the history to indicate, that Antioch 
 was the place from which Silas derived his citizenship, 
 unless it be his prefering to abide there, instead of 
 
 Acts XV. 34. returning to Jerusalem. We learn, indeed, from 
 Josephus, that that metropolis, which ranked as the 
 third city of the Eoman provinces, ' was famous 
 among the Jews for the Jus civitatum, or right of 
 citizenship, which Seleucus had given them in com- 
 mon with the Greeks ; ' and this rendered it so 
 desirable a residence to Christians, who were consi- 
 dered as a sect of the Jews. St. Paul, however, was 
 a citizen of Tarsus in Cilicia, and a Eoman freeman 
 by hereditary claim, — " free-bom." In like manner, 
 
 * It has been inferred from Col. iv. 11, that Luke, who is > men- 
 tioned afterwards with Demas, was not of the Circumcision, but a 
 proselyte ; yet, surely, proselytes were included among " the Cir- 
 cumcision." 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 61 
 
 Silas was a citizen of no mean city, but whether 
 free-born or a Roman by having acquired the privi- 
 lege, must remain, as well as the place of his birth, a 
 matter of conjecture. 
 
 § 3. With respect to the time at which he composed Date of wa 
 his Gospel, we have no other data than are supplied by 
 internal evidence. As both the Gospel and the Acts 
 are inscribed to the same personage, Theophilus, and 
 are but two parts of the same narrative, it is reason- 
 able to suppose them to have been written nearly at 
 the same date, or in immediate continuation. Now 
 the Acts could not have been finished, though possi- 
 bly commenced, till after Paul's arrival at Eome ;* 
 and the abruptness with which the history terminates, 
 shows that it was not of later date. Mr. Greswell 
 conjectures, that Theophilus was one of the freedmen 
 of Nero, or some other personage about the court of 
 that emperor, to whom, among others, St. Paul 
 alludes in the Epistle to the Philippians, when he 
 speaks of his bonds having become manifest in all the 
 prsetorium, and tells them, that they of Caesar's 
 household sent salutations. Whoever Theophilus was, 
 it may be inferred from the internal evidence sup- 
 plied by the concluding portion of the narrative, that Gresweii, 
 he was somebody familiar with Home and its environs, 147, k 
 with Italy and the neighbouring regions in particular. "^'"" 
 
 St. Paul arrived at Rome about the middle of the 
 seventh of Nero, a.u. 814, or a.d. 61 ; and as we 
 know that Silas or Luke remained with him during 
 
 * The reference to the reign of Claudius Csesar, Acts xi. 28, in- 
 dicates that it was not written before the following reign. Mr. Gres- 
 well notices other similar indications, vol. i. p. 136, &c. 
 
62 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 the greater part, if not the whole, of his two years' 
 imprisonment, nothiag is more probable than that 
 both works should have been composed within that 
 period, when the Writer must have had so much 
 leisure for the task. Tradition, as usual, is wholly at 
 fault, there being no fewer than ten different opinions 
 as to the place where Luke's Gospel was written. 
 The tra ton, that it was composed in Achaia, is as 
 ancient as any, but rests on no better foundation than 
 the precarious assumption, that Luke, after the death 
 of Paul, finished his course in Greece, and that The- 
 ophilus was a Greek of distinction, possibly a prefect 
 Lardner, qy ffovemor : while others, with no better reason, 
 
 vol. V. pp. o ' ' ' 
 
 382,3. make him to have been a nobleman of Antioch. 
 That Luke ever returned from Rome into Greece, as 
 asserted by some ancient writers, is an unsupported 
 conjecture, as little worthy of attention as the con- 
 flicting stories of his having suffered martyrdom in 
 Achaia, and having died a natural death in his 84th 
 year.* On the contrary, there are reasons for con- 
 cluding that he did not survive St. Paul, and that 
 the abruptness with which his narrative closes, receives 
 explanation from his death. In his Second Epistle to 
 Timothy, St. Paul speaks of himself as almost de- 
 serted, Demas having forsaken him, and Crescens 
 and Titus having also gone away, leaving only Luke 
 with him. He therefore enjoins Timothy to use 
 diligence in coming speedily to him, and to bring Mark 
 with him. But, when the Epistle to the PhUippians 
 was written, Timothy had joined the Apostle at Rome, 
 
 * To say nothing of the idle stories of his being a painter, a 
 bishop of Alexandria, &c. 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 63 
 
 and he alone, of all St. Paul's colleagues, was with 
 him ; so that he could not spare him on a mission to 
 the Philippians till he saw what was likely to be the 
 issue of his approaching examination. Had Luke or 
 Silas been at Eome, the Apostle would hardly have 
 said, " that he had no one like-minded to send, ex- 
 cept Timothy."* It is possible, indeed, that Luke Phil. ii. 20. 
 had for sufficient reasons left Eome on the arrival of 
 Timothy ; but we find that the Apostle had recently 
 suffered an afflicting bereavement, for he speaks of 
 the recovery of Epaphroditus as a mercy to himself — 
 " lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow." Although 
 these words may be differently explained, as referring 
 to his complicated troubles, they admit of no sense so 
 natural as denoting a similar sorrow, arising from the 
 loss of a cherished friend. That Luke would have 
 left the Apostle at such a crisis, seems highly impro- 
 bable ; and connecting the silence observed respecting 
 him with the circumstance already referred to, the 
 unfinished narrative of the Acts, we can scarcely 
 resist the conclusion that he had been removed by 
 death. t If so, we cease, to wonder that Tradition 
 
 * Had Silas been with the Apostle when he wrote to the Philip- 
 pians, it is almost certain, that his name would have appeared in 
 the opening salutation, as in the Epistle to the Thessalonians. Its 
 omission in the Epistle to the Colossians is more easily explained, 
 as Silas had, never visited that church. 
 
 t " Whatever might he the reason for the abrupt termination of 
 the Book of Acts," says Mr. Milman, it " could neither be the death 
 of the Author, for he ^(wiaS^ survived St. Paul, nor his total separa- 
 tion ftom him, for he was with him towards the close of his career 
 (2 Tim. iv. 11)." What renders it probable that Luke survived the 
 Apostle, the learned Author does not explain ; and the assertion is a 
 mere assumption. 
 
64 THE GOSPELS OE 
 
 should be at fault respecting his supposed subsequent 
 history. 
 
 We may then conclude if to be nearly certain, that 
 the Gospel of Luke, and the Sequel to it, were both 
 written at Eome, between the years 60 — 62 ; and 
 that his Gospel was consequently the third of the 
 four in order of date. 
 To what & 4. But to what previous accounts does this 
 
 prior *"" -r^ , ' 
 
 counts does Evaugelist alludc, when he speaks, at the com- 
 mencement of his Gospel, of many who had taken 
 in hand to set forth in order a declaration of the 
 things assuredly believed among Christians? This 
 description will not apply to the Gospel of Matthew, 
 which is neither an orderly narrative nor a complete 
 history ; and in the words following, St. Luke draws 
 a plain distinction between the persons he refers to, 
 and the eye-witnesses who had delivered or trans- 
 mitted the substance of sudh narratives, among whom 
 he would rank the Apostle and proto-Evangehst 
 Matthew. In like manner, and for the same reasons, 
 the Gospel of St. John, if then written and known 
 to him, could not have been so referred' to. That 
 of Mark, he may have had before him ; but it is 
 not to be supposed that he would class him among 
 the " many." Nor is it reasonable to conclude that 
 St. Luke alludes to any apocryphal gospels and here- 
 tical writings. These, so far as any trace of them 
 remains, are known to have been of later origin. 
 Tof v^sm' Doddridge and others suppose some lost histories 
 Greaweii, of tjjg Jifg of Christ to bc referred to, which were 
 
 Sup. Dis. _ _ _ _ ' 
 
 ?i^*\oo written with honest intention, but from defective 
 
 lb. p. ooo. . rt , 
 
 Burton, information. All these speculations are gratuitous. 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 05 
 
 since the words of St. Luke do not necessarily imply 
 that any writings were intended. Prior to the pub- 
 lication of Matthew's Gospel, there seems no reason 
 whatever to suppose that the acts and sayings of Our 
 Lord had been preserved in a collective form ; much 
 less that any attempt had been made to combine them 
 in a written history. It is evident, that oral informa- 
 tion was the principal medium relied upon. Paul, 
 addressing Festus, supposes King Agrippa to know of 
 the great facts of the Gospel history; "for," he adds, 
 " I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden 
 from him, for this thing was not done in a corner." We ^^^ ^''^^• 
 are apt to forget, that, before the invention of printing, 
 the diffusion of information by the multiplication of 
 elaborate transcripts of books, was a slow and costly 
 process, and ill adapted for popular instruction. It is 
 much more natural to suppose, therefore, that St. 
 Luke alludes to individuals who, in the capacity of 
 public teachers, undertook to give an accurate and 
 orderly account of the things believed by Christians. 
 So, St. Paul himself is stated to have received all 
 that came unto him at Rome, " teaching those things Actsxxviii. 
 which concern the Lord Jesus." Hence the stress 
 laid, in the Apostolic writings, upon tradition as an 
 organ of instruction ; not to supply the defectiveness 
 of the Apostolic Scriptures, either as a record or 
 as a directory, but as necessary previously to the 
 composition or the general circulation of the Gospels 
 and Epistles. " The things that thou hast heard oi 2 Tim. u. 2; 
 me among many witnesses, the same commit thou 
 to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others 
 also." 
 
66 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 c^a^cter of ^5, Strictly speaking, St. Luke is the only historian 
 tistoriao. of the Ncw Testament writers. His Gospel, though 
 containing information supplementary to what is given 
 by Matthew, has not the character of a supplemental 
 document. Nor is it, like Mark's, merely a new 
 edition, as it were, of the first Gospel, more orderly, 
 circumstantial, and complete, and adapted to Christ- 
 ians out of Judea : it is a work of a difierent kind, 
 independent and original, and specific as to collateral 
 historical facts and dates, with which the other Evan- 
 gehsts did not concern themselves. While often 
 closely following Matthew in his narrative, in noticing 
 occurrences which Mark has omitted,* it is remark- 
 able that he introduces few parables but such as the 
 first Evangelist had not given ; which seems to prove 
 that he was well acquainted with Matthew's Gospel, 
 and had no thought of superseding it, while he availed 
 himself of other sources of information which he 
 deemed of equal authority. In point of chronology, 
 Luke's must of necessity form the basis of a Gospel 
 history or diatessaron. To suppose him to have 
 neglected order in the narration of events, would be 
 to impugn his own pretensions, and to impeach his 
 credibihty. No other Evangelist makes similar pre- 
 tensions to historical accuracy. The order of events 
 and the order of matter are not, however, the same 
 thing ; nor is there any law of historical writing which 
 requires the strict observance of chronological series 
 in introducing specimens of the sayings and discourses 
 
 * Hug remarks, that Luke has taken only those facts directly 
 from Matthew, which Mark omitted, but that he has assigned them 
 , to a totally different arrangement as to time. 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 07 
 
 of the subject of the Memoir. The most accurate 
 historian may introduce anecdotes without regard to 
 the particular date and place; and the structure of 
 the Gospels has been happily characterized by a 
 learned critic (Greswell) as " anecdotal." The con- 
 nexion of subject may have appeared to the Writer, a 
 better reason for introducing particular discourses, 
 than the order of time, or, on the principle of asso- 
 ciation, may have suggested the introduction of them ; 
 and thus, transpositions intended to harmonize the 
 chronological order of the discourses in the different 
 Gospels, not unfi-equently do violence to the intention 
 of the inspired writer and to the general scope of the 
 context. 
 
 § 6. The Gospel of Matthew is not a less regular Variations 
 composition than that of Luke, although not, like the Matthew's 
 latter, a regular history. The historical notices are accounted 
 brief and, as it were, incidental and subsidiary to his 
 main purpose, which was, to give an account of Our 
 Lord's public ministry, and to prove Him to be the 
 promised Messiah". Writing at a period when all the 
 historical facts were fresh and notorious, he is much 
 more concise than any of the other Evangelists, in nar- 
 rating occurrences, except when referring to such as 
 were called in question by the Jews. In narrating, for 
 instance, the story invented by the chief priests to 
 account for the disappearance of Our Lord's body 
 from the sepulchre, he is remarkably particular and 
 minute ; and yet, he does not mention the Ascension, 
 which no one would question who beHeved in the 
 Resurrection. The argument of those learned men 
 who contend that, writing as an eye-witness, St. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 Matthew would write the most regularly, Mr. Gres- 
 well has shown to be unsound and not agreeable to 
 fact ; since it is the predominant character of his 
 Gospel, that facts really distinct in the order of time, 
 are brought together as bearing upon one subject, or 
 as the result of the principle of association, and related 
 consecutively. Yet has this Evangelist, he thinks, 
 defined with more precision than any of the rest, the 
 time of certain points in Our Lord's ministry ; as, 
 when he first began to preach publicly ; when to teach 
 in parables ; when to predict his sufierings iand death 
 without disguise; and when Judas conceived the 
 design of betraying his Master. And this affords a 
 proof that he wrote early, as an eye-witness of what 
 he relates, and not as having obtained his information 
 Gresweii, from othcrs. But, if St. Matthew's immediate object, 
 pp.' 185-7. and the structure of his Gospel, did not require him to 
 observe chronological exactness, it is the more pro- 
 bable that those who came after him, and whose object 
 was to set forth in order the facts relating to the life 
 and ministry of Our Lord, would be found to deviate 
 from his inexact method, thougk not without suflB- 
 cient reason. This, in a few instances, Mark appears 
 to have done ; although between the Gospels of Mat- 
 thew and Mark there is a general agreement in point 
 of order as well as of phraseology. But Luke, while 
 in some parts he appears to introduce memorable inci- 
 dents in Our Lord's ministry, in the shape of anec- 
 dotes, and not in any orderly connection, discovers a 
 marked attention to chronological order in his historical 
 matter ; while the number of important and new 
 facts which he has supplied, gives to his Gospel a 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 69 
 
 peculiar value. Some occurrences which are fully 
 detailed by Matthew and Mark, he notices briefly, as 
 if deeming it unnecessary to dilate upon what they had 
 recorded ; but he has not omitted to notice any material 
 facts, except such as are connected with Our Lord's 
 infancy, which Matthew adduces as corresponding to 
 ancient prophecy ; points of great significance to 
 Jewish readers, but which did not require to be re- 
 peated in a history more especially designed for the 
 Roman world. 
 
 In the succession of facts related by both Matthew 
 and Mark, Luke has almost uniformly taken the latter 
 as his guide, where he differs from the former. Mark Luke viii. 4. 
 and Luke vary only twice in their arrangement ; viz. 
 in reference to the occasion upon which Our Lord 
 delivered the parable of the sower, and to the circum- Mark iv. 3. 
 
 . , n 1 • LukeTm.l9. 
 
 stance 01 his mother and brethren sending tor him. Markiii.3i. 
 In both these instances, Mark has followed Matthew, 
 and with good reason, because the connexion marks 
 the time ; whereas, in Luke, they are introduced 
 without any specific reference to time, as detached 
 fragments or anecdotes ; and the deviation fi:om the 
 order of the other Evangelists appears accidental. In 
 like manner, the discourse upon divorce, which is par- 
 ticularly recorded by both Matthew and Mark, is but 
 cursorily and abruptly referred to by Luke, among is. 
 other specimens of Our Lord's doctrine. 
 
 Considering the great number of additional oc- 
 currences and discourses which Luke has inserted 
 in his Gospel, it can afford no ground for surprise, 
 that he should not have included the whole that had 
 been given in the preceding Gospels ; yet, upon this 
 
70 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 ground alone it has been contended, that he could 
 not even have been acquainted with the Gospel of 
 Matthew. When we examine the few miracles or 
 occurrences which he has omitted, we may often dis- 
 cover an apparent reason for his passing them over. 
 Thus, of the instances adduced of passages peculiar to 
 Matthew's Gospel, and not given by either Mark or 
 Luke, it is observable, that the miracle by which Our 
 
 Matt.xvii. Lord provided the tribute-money, had a peculiar 
 reference to his . character as the Messiah ; and his 
 charging thjs multitudes he healed, not to spread it 
 abroad, is adduced by Matthew as an illustration of 
 
 Matt.xii.i6. his predicted meekness, in connection with the cited 
 language of Isaiah. Again, the withering of the fig- 
 tree, so fearfully emblematic of the Jewish nation, 
 is recorded by both Matthew and Mark, and passed 
 over by Luke with equal propriety. That the latter 
 has omitted to notice Our Lord's conduct towards 
 the Syro-phenician mother, in a selection composed 
 for Gentile readers, receives a natural explanation 
 from the language employed by The Saviour to test 
 the woman's faith, which might seem to wear a 
 harsh aspect towards other nations. Another appa- 
 rent omission relates to the anointing of Our Lord at 
 Bethany, as recorded by both Matthew and Mark, 
 and also by John ; to which occasion, however, Luke 
 
 Luke X. 39. may be thought to refer where he mentions Mary's 
 sitting at Jesus' feet. He had, however, in a previ- 
 
 ch. vii. 26. ous chapter, related a similar occurrence, not noticed 
 by the other Evangelists, which appears to have 
 taken place at an early period of Our Lord's public 
 ministry ; and on this account he may have passed 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 71 
 
 over the second.* The unction at Bethany was 
 possibly an imitation of the former act, which The 
 Saviour had commended ; dictated by a sudden im- 
 pulse on the part of Mary, for she appears to have 
 prepared the precious oil for a very different occa- 
 sion. Besides these instances, the only occurrences 
 mentioned by the former two Evangelists, which Luke 
 has omitted to notice, are the following : 1 . The call- 
 ing of Simon Peter and Andrew, and of the two Sons 
 ofZebedee (Matt. iv. 12. Mark i. 14.), if a distinct 
 transaction from what Luke has recorded, ch. v. 2. 2. 
 The restoring of sight, on one occasion; to two blind 
 men (Matt. ix. 27 ; not in Mark) ; and, on another, to 
 an mdividual (only in Mark viii. 22). 3. Our Lord's 
 walking on the sea to join his disciples (Matt. xiv. 22. 
 Mark vi. 45). 4. The second miracle of the loaves and 
 fishesf (Matt. xv. 32. Mark viii. 1). To which we 
 may add, (though it comes under the head of discourses, 
 rather than of events,) the ambitious request of James 
 and John and their mother, which gave so much just 
 offence to the ten Apostles (Matt. xx. 20. Mark x. 35). 
 While we cannot but admire the fideUty which has re- 
 corded this occurrence, its omission by Luke we may 
 be allowed to ascribe to dehcacy. Without, however, 
 
 * The distinctness of the two transactions is indicated, not only 
 by the different time at which they occurred, but by the difference 
 of place — Bethany, and ' the city ; ' of person, — ^for the woman of 
 Luke cannot be identified with Mary, the sister of Lazarus ; and of 
 intent, — the act of the one being an expression of contrition and 
 faith, that of the othOT importing honour and affection, but, as Our 
 Lord's words shew, having another reference. — See Greswell, vol. ii. 
 pp. 301, 487. 
 
 t As to the distinctness of the two miracles, see Greswell, vol. ii. 
 p. 324. 
 
72 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 attempting to discover the precise reasons for each of 
 these omissions, we may account for them generally 
 by the variety of additional facts preserved by Luke. 
 The following are the principal which relate to Our 
 Lord's public ministry: 1. His passing through the 
 multitude when they would have thrown him down 
 from the ridge on which Nazareth stood (iv. 30). 
 2. The healing of the demoniaq in the synagogue at 
 Capernaum (iv. 33). 3. The miraculous draught of 
 fishes (v. 4). 4. The raising to life of the widow's 
 son at-Nain (vii. 12). 5. His being attended by 
 Mary the Magdalene, Joanna the wife of Herod's 
 steward, and other women whom he had healed, and 
 who ministered to him (viii. 3). 6, The refusal of 
 some Samaritan villagers to receive him, and the 
 improper spirit manifested on the occasion by James 
 and John (ix. 54). 7. The sending forth of the 
 seventy (x. 1). 8. Our Lord's disclaiming magiste- 
 rial power (xii. 14). 9. His healing the woman 
 who had been bent by infirmity for eighteen years 
 (xiii. 10). 10. The healing of a man who had the 
 dropsy (xiv. 2). 11. The cure of ten. lepers (xvii. 
 12). - 12. The call of Zaccheus (xix. 1). 13. The 
 healing of the high-priest's servant (xxii. 51). 14. 
 Our Lord's address to the women who followed him 
 with lamentations to Calvary (xxiii. 27). 15. The 
 case of the penitent malefactor (xxiii. 39). 16. Our 
 Lord's appearance to the two disciples at Emmaus 
 (xxiv. 13). 17. His partaking of food after the 
 Resurrection (xxiv. 41). 18. The place and cir- 
 cumstances of the Ascension. 
 
 Besides these notices of miracles and other occur- 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 73 
 
 rences, Luke has given the following additional para- 
 bles: 1, The good Samaritan. 2. The man who is per- 
 suaded to rise at night by his friend's importunity. 
 3. The barren fig-tree. 4. The lost sheep and the 
 lost drachma. 5. The prodigal son. 6. The wise 
 steward. 7. Dives and Lazarus. 8. The unjust 
 judge. 9. The pharisee and the publican. All 
 these occur between chaps, xiii. 6, and xviii. 14. 
 
 Now how is it possible to account for Luke's 
 giving these parables as specimens of Our Lord's 
 public teaching, and not inserting those which are 
 peculiar to Matthew's Gospel, otherwise than by 
 supposing, either that he deemed it unnecessary .to 
 recite what were already familiarly known, as being 
 contained in the elder document, or that he was 
 guided by a different principle of selection from 
 Matthew, and inserted those parables which seemed 
 to him most adapted for Gentile readers, while 
 Matthew gave those which comported more with 
 Jewish notions ? How otherwise could Luke have 
 failed to give the parables of the cruel servant ; the Matt, xviii. 
 Lord of the vineyard ; the wedding garment ; the %'. Si. 
 ten virgins ; and the sheep and the goats ? It is "^ ' ^^^' 
 wholly incredible that he should not have been* 
 familiar with these parables- as well as with other of 
 Our Lord's sayings. 
 
 Sometimes, in relating a parable given also by Matt. xxt. 
 Matthew, (for instance, that of the Talents,) Luke 
 appears to have followed a different copy. Our Lord 
 doubtless delivered many of his instructions on more 
 than one occasion, to different auditories, arid with 
 such vairiations as were incidental to stich repetitions. 
 
74 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 It is not necessary to suppose, therefore, that two 
 faithful accounts of the same parable must agree 
 verbatim : each might be a correct transcript of what 
 was dehvered, but delivered at different times with 
 modifications which would cause them to differ. We 
 see no reason to doubt that Our Lord's sayings were 
 committed to writing by his disciples from time to 
 time. That they should have not done so, would 
 scarcely have consisted with their reverence for him 
 as a teacher sent from God ; and although many may 
 not have possessed the skill of the ready scribe, there 
 must have been a few at all times present, capable of 
 taking down his words ; possibly some who came with 
 no honest intention, " seeking whereof they might 
 accuse him." Of these detached records or notes, 
 private copies would be made, and collections might 
 be formed, but they would not be arranged in any 
 order, or woven into a regular composition. It is not 
 to be supposed, that the idea of writing a history 
 would be present to the minds of those who were 
 anxious to preserve the sayings of their Master. 
 Facts and actions, an eye-witness would naturally 
 entrust to his recollection, and his testimony might 
 •safely be reUed upon ; but no one who wished to 
 preserve with fidelity the sentiments and instructions 
 of a revered teacher, would, if he could avoid it, 
 neglect to record them. 
 
 Of such written documents, brief notes, in the 
 vernacular dialect, of Our Lord's teaching, we may 
 suppose that Luke would not fail to avail himself, 
 although it cannot be to such fragmentary records 
 that he refers, where he speaks of those who had 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 75 
 
 attempted to give a history of the events believed on 
 the testimony of eye-witnesses. Such narratives, 
 whether written or oral, must have been of a totally 
 different character. Of the leading facts, Luke claims 
 to have had a perfect understanding from the first, 
 and he does not write like one who borrowed from 
 any other writer ; but, in recording the parables and 
 sayings of Our Lord, he closely follows the Gospel of 
 Matthew, so far as that was available ; and where, as 
 in chapters xiii. — ^xviii., he introduces new matter, 
 it is observable that the sayings and parables are 
 disconnected, and cannot be distinctly referred to any 
 time and place. They are given strictly as anec- 
 dotes ; and in some instances, the occasion on which 
 the words were spoken, is not even glanced at.* 
 Now in such cases, we may reasonably suppose, that 
 this Evangelist had only detached notes or memo- 
 randa made at the time by some of Our Lord's 
 disciples. Nor did he exhaust those materials. In 
 the Acts of the Apostles, a saying of Our Lord is 
 preserved, which was so familiarly known, that Paul Act3xx.2s. 
 takes it for granted, that the words were in the 
 recollection of the Ephesian elders ; and yet, they 
 are not contained in any of the Gospels. It was, 
 doubtless, connected with some remarkable occasion, 
 of which we have no record. Luke was followed 
 by the Beloved Disciple, who has shown, by his 
 rich supplement of Our Lord's choicest discourses, 
 not only that the preceding Evangelists had given 
 a mere selection or specimens of his more public 
 
 * Hug thinks it certain, that in ch, xiii. — ^xviii. we have before 
 us no connected history, hut fragments and collectanea. 
 
76 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 teaching, but also, that what was written bore a 
 small proportion to the miracles which Jesus did in 
 the presence of his disciples, and of the words which 
 the Holy Spirit was to bring to their remembrance. 
 
 We have seen, that Mark differs characteristi- 
 cally from Matthew, whom he has so closely fol- 
 lowed, in the interesting and often picturesque 
 touches by which he communicates to his narrative 
 vividness and grace. In Luke, the distinguishing 
 characteristics of style are, a greater conciseness of 
 expression, and at the same time more attention to 
 elegance of diction, and a construction conformable 
 to the Greek idiom.* His writings bear the stamp 
 of a man of information and polished education. His 
 historical exactness is seen in those references to dates 
 and contemporary secular events, which have furnished 
 cavillers with a ground for impugning his authority, 
 or for setting it in opposition to the testimony of 
 Matthew. 
 chronoiogi- § 7, Quc of thcsc stumblinff-blocks is the state- 
 
 cal difficulty /x i •• \ 
 
 Miatin^to ment (Luke u. 1 — 4), that the enrolment decreed 
 
 by Caesar Augustus was first made when Cyrenius 
 
 was governor of Syria ; whereas, according to Jo- 
 
 sephus, the proconsul of Syria at the time of Our 
 
 Saviour's birth, was Saturninus ; and Cyrenius 
 
 (or Quirinus) did not become proconsul till about 
 
 A.D. 7 or 8, when Our Lord was eleven or twelve 
 
 SeeLardner, years of age. Various modes of solving this diffi- 
 
 — 345.''''pri- culty have been suggested by learned critics. Some 
 
 nSn,p?li^ ^^^^ proposed to cut the knot, by considering the 
 
 wefi,' vd?iv. statement as a marginal gloss which has crept into 
 
 ^' ■ * For various instances illustrative of this, see Hug, Pt. II. c. i. §38. 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 77 
 
 the text; but this ijonjecture, unsupported by any 
 manuscript, is too arbitrary to be admitted. An- 
 other more probable solution is, that Cyrenius, 
 although not proconsul till a.d. 7 or 8, may have 
 been procurator of Syria at the time referred to ; 
 for the term translated ' governor,' is applied by 
 Josephus to Volumnius and Pilate, both procurators. 
 It is supposed, that Cyrenius undertook this first 
 enrolment at the express command of Augustus, 
 since he stood high in the Emperor's favour, and 
 resided about that time in the East as his commissary. Davidson's 
 
 ..... Hermeneii- 
 
 If Luke be a credible historian, his testimony would tics, p. eio. 
 be a sufficient voucher for the fact, that Cyrenius 
 was procurator of Syria at the time of Our Saviour's 
 birth ; and there is nothing in profane history to con- 
 tradict it. This first enrolment appears to be so 
 called in reference to that which is mentioned in the 
 Book of Acts, ch. v. 27. After all, the enrolment, 
 though decreed, might not have been carried into 
 effect at the time. In obedience to the decree, every 
 one i?epaired to his own city ; but circumstances 
 might occur to prevent the completion of the en- 
 rolment, or, if it was general, its extension to Judea; 
 so that it might have been actually made when Cyre- 
 nius was proconsul. This explanation is perfectly 
 consistent with the sacred text. But, even had we 
 no means of solving the difficulty, there could be no 
 valid reason for preferring the authority of Josephus 
 to that of Luke, or for imputing ignorance or error 
 to the Evangelical Historian, merely because, in one 
 instance, his details do not happen to be confirmed 
 by profane history. 
 
78 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 Difficulty as But the Very accuracy of Luke has furnished the 
 of Herod's sceptic with a ground for discrediting the testimony, 
 of Matthew ; it being alleged, that, according to the 
 statement of the former Evangelist, fixing the com- 
 mencement of John's ministry in the fifteenth year of 
 Tiberius Caesar, Herod must have died nearly three 
 years before the birth of Our Lord. The learned and 
 cautious investigation of Lardner, and the not less 
 able argumentative induction of Benson, have, how- 
 ever, vindicated at once the chronological accuracy of 
 Luke, and the harmony of his statement with Mat- 
 thew's narrative ; by proving, that Tiberius was for 
 two or three years associated in the government with 
 Augustus ; (as Titus was with Vespasian, and Trajan 
 with Nerva ;) that it was not unusual to compute the 
 reign of a prince from the time of his accession to 
 such joint empire ; * and that, while the exact date 
 of the death of Herod can be ascertained only by cal- 
 culations founded on the imperfect data supplied by Jo- 
 sephus, (fi:om which it cannot be inferred with precision 
 and certainty in what year he died,) there is sufficient 
 ground for fixing the birth of Our Saviour a year and 
 a half before the death of Herod. If Luke be sup- 
 posed to calculate the fifteenth year of Tiberius from 
 the beginning of his proconsular empire,"! then, the 
 dates perfectly coincide with the Jiccount given by 
 Josephus ; and upon no other supposition can they 
 
 * A medal is mentioned, the legend on which refers to the 11th 
 year of Titus ; yet; he reigned after his father's death only a little 
 more than two years. 
 
 t Had he meant his sole empire, the Erangelist would have em- 
 ployed the word jSocriAcia, and not frrenovia. 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 79 
 
 be reconciled with the statements in Tertullian and Laidner.Toi. 
 other early Christian writers, who place Our Lord's 388. ' 
 crucifixion in the fifteenth year of Tiberius's sole chronology, 
 
 11 A< • • 1 « PP- 210-212. 
 
 government, when the two tiremim were consuls of GresBweii, 
 Eome (a. D. 29). If Tiberius's proconsular reign 
 commenced a. u. 765 (a. d. 12), then, the fifteenth 
 year began in a. u. 779 (a. d. 26), when Our Lord 
 was in his thirtieth year. 
 
 § 8. The Gospel of John partakes so obviously of a Specific 
 supplemental character, filling up, in an exact manner, chS™ 
 the hiatus left in various parts of the account given gospd." ^ 
 by the other Evangelists of Our Lord's pubUc min- 
 istry, that there can be no reasonable doubt of its 
 having been written after Matthew's, if not after 
 those of Mark and Luke.* Clement of Alexan- 
 dria, speaking of the order of the Gospels according 
 to what he had learned irom presbyters of more an- 
 cient times, says : ' Last of all, John, observing that 
 in the other Gospels those things were related which 
 concern the humanity of Christ, and being persuaded 
 by his fi-iends, and also moved by the Spirit of God, 
 wrote a spiritual Gospel.' This implies, not only Lardner 
 that John wrote last of the fisur, but also that he had 
 seen the other three Gospels. Eusebius gives a 
 similar statement of his having written to complete 
 the accounts given by the preceding Evangelists. 
 But these traditions, which have no historical 
 evidence as their basis, can claim only to be re- 
 garded as ancient opinions or conjectures. The 
 distinction which Clement draws between John's 
 
 * Semler and Tittman, however, strangely deem it the earliest of 
 the canonical Gospels. 
 
80 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 Gospel and the other three, is by no means accurate 
 or judicious. No Evangelist has portrayed the softer 
 lineaments of Our Lord's humanity with so much 
 vividness, delicacy, and beauty as the Beloved Dis- 
 ciple. No other Gospel possesses, if we might be al- 
 lowed the expression, so strong a biographical interest. 
 While Matthew is the apologist, and Luke the histo- 
 rian, John may be regarded as the biographer of his 
 Divine Master. The others record his actions, his 
 discourses, his sufferings, in common with John ; but 
 it is in his Gospel only that we meet with such dis- 
 closures of the inmost feelings and affections of The 
 Saviour, and such touches of deep pathos, as, to in- 
 stance two passages : " When Jesus knew that his 
 
 John xiii. 1. hour was comc, that he should depart out of this world 
 unto the Father, having loved his own who were in 
 the world, he loved them unto the end." "When 
 Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple standing by 
 
 ch. xix. 26. whom he loved, he saith unto his mother. Woman, 
 behold thy Son : then saith he to the disciple. Be- 
 hold thymother." These, surely, are incidents which 
 concern and illustrate ' the humanity of Christ.' 
 
 It is true, nevertheless, that the design with which 
 John composed his Gospel, was, as declared by him- 
 self, to confirm believers in the faith, that Jesus is, in 
 the highest sense, the Son of God. With this pur- 
 pose in view, he commences his book with that sub- 
 lime proem or introduction, (which might seem in- 
 tended as a sort of counterpart to the legal genealogy 
 of Our Lord as the Son of David, prefixed not less 
 appropriately by Matthew to his narrative,) declaring 
 the eternal pre-existence of Him whom he styles the 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 81 
 
 Logos of the Deity, by whom all things were called 
 into existence, and who, coming into the world, as- 
 sumed humanity, or " became flesh." The term 
 Logos, rendered by our Translators, " The Word," 
 is pecuhar to this Evangelist ; but it bears an evident 
 correspondence in idea to the expression used by 
 St. Paul in a similar connexion, " The Icon or 
 Image of the Invisible God ; " as well as to those which Coi. i. 15. 
 occur in the Epistle to the Hebrews — " Radiance of 
 His Glory and Eepresentation {x<^(oucr\f) of His Es- Hei3.i,3. 
 sence ; " and to another equivalent phrase — " the 
 form of God." In all these varied forms of expression, 
 the manifestation of the Godhead in the person of 
 Him who is one with the Father, is evidently what is 
 intended to be conveyed. That the term Logos can- 
 not be understood as denoting an abstract perfection, 
 as Eeason or Wisdom, or anything less than a Divine 
 Subsistence, has been admitted even by critics who, 
 denying the divinity of our Lord, have endeavoured 
 to explain away the obvious import of the Apostle's 
 language. Dr. Lardner contends, that, by "The 
 Word," St. John must mean God himself, or the 
 wisdom and power of God, which is the same as 
 God ; and that in Jesus, the Word, that is, the 
 power and wisdom of God, resided. Dr. Stolz inter- Lardner, 
 prets the passage — ' This Logos, this Creating Word, 
 which is the Deity itself, took the nature of man ; . . . 
 for the all-animating and enlightening Deity revealed 
 itself in his humanity.' And another Continental 
 critic of the neological school (De Wette) gives this 
 annotation upon the phrase — ' That is, the speaking, 
 self-revealing God.' There is every reason to conclude 
 
 G 
 
82 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 Smith's that John employed this phrase as equivalent to one 
 Te"Si^ny, by which the expected Messiah had been designated 
 vol. 111. p. 1. .^ ^^^ Targums. ' The Jews of Palestine,' says 
 Wegschieder, ' had preceded John in annexing the 
 idea of a Person to the phrase, the Memra oiJah, and 
 in applying it to the Messiah. John, following Philo, 
 intended, in using the name Logos, to denote a kind 
 of Power, possessed of intelligence, acting with wis- 
 ib.voi. iii. dom, and appearing as a Person.' It is far more 
 probable that the Evangelist should have availed him- 
 self of an established appellative, in asserting the 
 eternity of the Son of God in his Divine nature, than 
 that he should have employed the term in a new and 
 therefore obscure or ambiguous sense. What he de- 
 signed to declare was, that the Word was eternal as 
 God. * An individual,' remarks Michaelis, ' who does 
 not believe in the Eternal Deity of the Son of God, can- 
 not put any other meaning upon those express words : 
 he had better reject the Gospel of John, or rather the 
 lb. p. 122. whole New Testament.' 
 
 Whatever peculiarity there may be in the language 
 employed by St. John, his testimony differs in no 
 respect from that of the Evangelists who had preceded 
 him. The baptismal formula given by Matthew, has 
 justly been regarded as one of the clearest proofs that 
 the Son and the Holy Spirit are, with the Father, 
 one God. The declaration of Our Lord himself, re- 
 corded by the same Evangelist, that " no man know- 
 eth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man 
 the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the 
 Mat.xi.27. Son shall reveal him," — is also, by an implication not 
 to be evaded, as decisive a testimony as any in St. 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 83 
 
 John's Gospel, to the ineffable mystery of his Divine 
 Nature ; involving a claim to a reciprocity of knowledge 
 between the Father and the Son, which, in a creature, 
 must have been deemed blasphemous presumption. 
 
 There seems, then, to be no propriety in repre- 
 senting the Gospel of John as differing specifically in 
 its design, or in its ' spiritual ' character, from those of 
 Matthew, Mark, and Luke, The observations of Ber- 
 tholdt upon this point, cited by the learned Author of 
 the ' Scripture Testimony to the Messiah ' with empha- 
 tic and just approbation, are the more satisfactory as 
 proceeding from a critic whose religious opinions were 
 too far removed from the Evangelical faith, to allow 
 of his being suspected of partiality or bias in this 
 direction. ' The Gospel of John,' says Bertholdt, 
 ' has the same general design as the former three 
 Gospels ; for the Author himself explicitly says : 
 " These things are written, that ye may believe that 
 Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." But, both in 
 ancient and in modern times, persons have been 
 anxious to discover some especial design in this very 
 remarkable and important composition. Indeed, not 
 a few pecuhar circumstances present themselves in 
 this Gospel, which can hardly fail to lead to such an 
 idea; though many erroneous opinions have been 
 advanced upon it ; and the right point wiU never be 
 reached, if it be presupposed that the Author had 
 before his eyes only one special design. Clemens of 
 Alexandria, Eusebius, Jerome, Epiphanius, Theodore 
 of Mopsuesta, and many others, both ancient and 
 modern, have thought that John wrote his Gospel as 
 a supplement to the three other canonical Gospels. 
 
 G 2 
 
Si THE GOSPELS OP 
 
 But, though it is probable that he was acquainted 
 with them, and that he laid aside much which he 
 possessed in his old written materials, or which he 
 might have said from his own recollection, because he 
 saw it already introduced into those writings, we can- 
 not regard him as a mere supplement-writer. Much 
 also that he relates, was in the Gospels of Matthew, 
 Mark, and Luke. To a reflecting reader, the fol- 
 lowing passages will furnish evidence that, in the 
 contents and structure of his Gospel, the Evangelist 
 John pre-supposes in his readers an acquaintance with 
 the general contents of the preceding three . Gospels : 
 Chap. i. 32, 33, compared with Matt. iii. 16, 17; 
 Mark i. 10, II; Luke iii. 22. Chap. i. 45, com- 
 pared with Matt. ii. 23 ; Luke ii. 4. Chap. iii. 24, 
 compared with Matt. xiv. 3 — 12. Chap. xi. 3, com- 
 pared with Matt. xxvi. 6 — 13; Mark xiv. 3 — 9. 
 Chap. XV. 20, compared with Matt. x. 24 ; Luke vi. 
 40. The omitted circumstances in the account of 
 the denying of Jesus by Peter, which are evidently 
 necessary to the understanding of the whole. Chap. 
 XX. 30, implying a knowledge of the numerous mir- 
 acles of Christ, as recited in the other books. 
 
 ' Upon a passage in Irenseus (adv. Hceret.'m. 11), 
 the opinion has been founded, that John wrote his 
 Gospel against Cerinthus. It would seem to be 
 going too far, to say that, in this Gospel, there are 
 no polemical references whatever to some single doc- 
 trines of Cerinthus, who was certainly known to the 
 Apostle John ; yet, everything stands against the 
 opinion, that he wrote his Gospel merely from the 
 motive of opposition to Cerinthus. Irenaeus also 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 85 
 
 points out the Nicolaitans and Valentinians as adver- 
 saries whom the Evangelist had at the same time in 
 his eye. Some later writers (as Philastrius) have 
 likewise mentioned the latter sect ; but this is an un- 
 pardonable ignorance or neglect of chronology ; and 
 with regard to the Nicolaitans so called, it is perfectly 
 certain, that this never was the name of any sect, 
 though there were in the first century persons who 
 were so denominated by the Author of the Apoca- 
 lypse, but it was in a symbolical or analogical sense. 
 In fine, we may remark, that there was no description 
 of spurious Christians or heretics, to the refutation of 
 whose errors the Gospel of John was found peculiarly 
 useful, whom early writers have not imagined to be the 
 adversaries to refute whom was the Evangehst's par- 
 ticular object. We must not therefore be surprised 
 that, with a similar contempt of chronology, even the 
 Marcionites have been brought into the hst of the 
 opponents whose principles are supposed to have been 
 combated by John. Yet, since Epiphanius and Je- 
 rome mention the Ebionites, it must be admitted, that, 
 whether we regard their time or their doctrines, they 
 might very properly be esteemed persons against 
 whom the Gospel of John was directed. For it was 
 a principal object of his composition to demonstrate 
 that Jesus was the Son of God, which the Author 
 regarded as the same as the Word of God ; while the 
 Ebionites, it is well known, held Jesus to be a mere 
 man^ But it cannot be historically proved, that the 
 opinions of the Ebionites had penetrated into the 
 Lesser Asia ; which country, and the doctrines dis- 
 seminated in it contrary to apostolical Christianity, 
 
86 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 John had alone in view. It is therefore evident, that 
 the notion of the Gospel of John having been written 
 against the Ebionites, was, equally as in the cases 
 before mentioned, occasioned by the usefulness of this 
 Gospel in confuting those persons. . . .Admitting that, 
 in the drawing up of his Gospel, John had no other 
 general design than that of the other three Evan- 
 gelists, it can hardly be made to appear that he was 
 not now and then led to have some special objects in 
 view. His great motive undoubtedly was, to pre- 
 serve for the Christians of future times, those declara- 
 tions and conversations of Jesus, which he had long 
 before written down.' ^Historical aiid Critical Intro- 
 duction to all the Canonical and Apocryphal Books 
 
 s^5t.Te8t. of the Old and New Testaments. 6 vols. Erlangen. 
 
 Ti^^- 1812-1819.) 
 
 It is not absolutely necessary to suppose, that John 
 had seen all the three other Gospels. Had he been 
 acquainted only with that of Matthew, his own would 
 probably have contained neither more nor less than at 
 present. Its being supplemental to Mark's Gospel, 
 results from its being so to the Gospel which Mark so 
 closely followed ; nor is there any reference to those 
 parts of Luke's Gospel which are supplemental to 
 both. It can scarcely be determined, therefore, from 
 internal evidence, that it was the last written. Still 
 less is there any solid reason for assigning so late a 
 date to its composition as the end of the first century. 
 
 Reasons ior ^ 9. There are, indeed, some internal indications that 
 
 aesigninf; to,, /-~( ipti 
 
 John's Gos- the Gospel 01 John was written before the destruction 
 
 pel an early r» -r i rm n 
 
 date. ot Jerusalem. The reference to the Pool of Bethesda 
 
 and its five porches as still existing, has been adduced 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 87 
 
 as a proof of this. Yet, it has been observed, on the 
 other hand, that, in speaking of Bethany, of the site 
 of the Crucifixion, and of the Sepulchre, he employs 
 the past tense.* This, however, is surely natural in re- 
 cording past transactions, and seems to indicate merely 
 that the Evangelist was out of Judea, and was 
 writing for the use of persons unacquainted with the 
 topography of Jerusalem, rather than that the places 
 described had been destroyed. After a lapse of even 
 thirty or forty years, indeed, "the garden" might 
 have ceased to exist as such; but Bethany would 
 still be at the same distance from Jerusalem, whatever 
 had befallen its inhabitants. The very minuteness of 
 the Evangelist's descriptive references, affords a pre- 
 sumption that the places were still to be recognized. 
 There seems no reason, for instance, why he should 
 specify the place in which the judgment-seat of 
 Pilate stood, under its Greek and Hebrew names of 
 Lithostroton and Gabbatha, if all trace of such a Johnxix.is. 
 place had been swept away by the utter ruin of the 
 city. That the Evangelist wrote for other than 
 Jewish Christians, is proved, indeed, by the paren- 
 thetical explanations which he introduces ; such as, 
 " for the Jews have no dealings with the Samari- 
 tans" (iv. 9); "the sea of Galilee, which is the 
 sea of Tiberias" (vi. 1); "the passover, a feast of 
 the Jews" (vi. 4) ; " the Jews' feast of tabernacles" 
 (vii. 2) ; "and it was at Jerusalem the feast of the 
 
 * Hug adduces this argument ; but how little stress can be laid 
 upon it, appears from the Evangelist's speaking in the same tense of 
 Jacob's well, John iv. 6, which is still a marked topographical 
 feature. 
 
88 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 Dedication, and it was winter" (x. 22); " for that 
 Sabbath-day was a high day " (xix. 31); and the 
 instances above referred to. It may, therefore, be 
 safely assumed, that it was not composed till John,, in 
 common with the rest of the Apostles, had finally 
 removed from Palestine. 
 
 The last notice of this Evangelist which occurs 
 in the Evangelical history, relates to his being sent 
 Acts vm.i4. forth with Peter to visit Samaria, probably about seven 
 A. u. 37. years after the Ascension. When Herod put to death 
 James the brother of John, and afterwards proceeded 
 to seize Pet'er, John's escaping the tyrant's fury can 
 be accounted for only by his absence at that time from 
 the city. We learn, however, that he was still ordi- 
 narily resident at Jerusalem, and one of the pillars of 
 Gal. ii. 8; the church, at the time of Paul's second mission to Je- 
 
 Acts XV. . • 1 -r> ■ 
 
 rusalem, m company with Barnabas, a.d. 50. At the 
 time of Paul's last visit to Jerusalem, eight years after, 
 it would seem that James, the son of Alpheus, of all 
 the Apostles, alone remained. We have, however, no 
 well authenticated account of the Apostle John, from 
 the last mention of his name in the sacred history, till 
 the time of his banishment to Patmos ; which, if it really 
 took place, according to the prevailing tradition, in the 
 reign of Domitian, was after an interval of thirty years. 
 That he would continue to reside at Jerusalem, so 
 long as the Mother of Our Lord was living, is a very 
 natural supposition. Her death is stated by Eusebius 
 to have taken place a.d. 48 ; and we find St. John at 
 Jerusalem two years later. He probably left Judea 
 not long afterwards. It has been inferred from the 
 addresses to the Seven Churches in the Apocalypse, 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 80 
 
 that the Lesser Asia was the especial sphere of his 
 labours. The absence of all reference to this Apostle 
 in Luke's account of Paul's visits to Ephesus and the 
 aclJ3,cent cities, and in the Epistles to the Ephesians 
 and the Colossians, disproves the notion that he was 
 the founder of those churches, and forbids our sup- 
 posing that he was resident at Ephesus up to the 
 close of the Apostolic history. If, therefore, there 
 was any evidence to support the tradition, that John's 
 Gospel was written at Ephesus, this would require us 
 to assign to it a date posterior to a.d. 62. But the 
 legends respecting the place and the time at which it 
 was composed, are alike contradictory and improbable. 
 Theophylact and others, with a host of MS. sub- 
 scriptions, we are told, declare in favour of Patmos, 
 as the place where it was written ; while the subscrip- 
 tions to the Syriac Translation and the Arabic of 
 Erpenius, give Ephesus as the place; and Irenseus 
 states it to have been published there. The Author 
 of the Synopsis attributed to Athanasius, unites the 
 two traditions, stating it to have been composed at 
 Patmos, and published at Ephesus ! As to the date, Hug, vol. ii. 
 Epiphanius refers it to the reign of Claudius, adding Lardner, 
 the contradictory statement, that the Apostle was at etseq. 
 the time of writing it upwards of ninety. The sub- 
 scriptions to several Greek MSS. mention two and 
 thirty years after the Ascension, which would be a.d. 
 62, in the reign of Nero. The Memphitico- Coptic, 
 the Arabic of Erpenius, and Nicephorus mention the 
 year 60.* Other MSS., again, affirm it to have been 
 
 * ' Chrysostom,' says Cave, ' is very positive that John was a 
 hundred years old when he wrote his Gospel, and that he lived full 
 
90 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 written under Domitiafl, under Nerva, and even 
 under Trajan. The reasons which have led Hug, 
 Bertholdt, and other learned Continental critics to 
 argue in support of the later date, are as fantastic as 
 the notion itself. Thus, one of these writers, 
 assuming that the Apocalypse was written before the 
 Gospel, argues, that the latter is so much more elegant 
 in its diction, that a considerable time must have elapsed 
 to allow of the Apostle's having improved so much in 
 Bertholdt in writing Greek! Another fallacious argument is, that 
 
 Preface to o ' 
 
 Hug.xxxix. Gnostical ideas had not established themselves till 
 towards the close of the first century. Dr. Lardner, 
 with characteristic good sense, points out the im- 
 probability, that, if JoTin's Gospel was written as 
 a supplement to the other three, it should have been 
 deferred till they had been more than thirty years in 
 circulation. The learned writer inclines to think it 
 might be published in the year 68. Wetstein, 
 rejecting the improbable supposition that it was 
 written by St. John in decrepid old age, adopts the 
 
 Lardner, date of the Greek codices which assign it to a.d. 62 ; 
 
 vo.T.p.4 . a,ijd Lampe is of the same judgment. "If St. Mat- 
 thew's Gospel was published, as we have seen reason 
 for concluding, in the year 44, Mark's Gospel 
 not later than a.d. 60, and Luke's about 62, St. 
 John's, even if the latest of the four, might have 
 been written about the time fixed upon by Lardner ; 
 that is, after the breaking out of the last Jewish 
 war, but prior to the destruction of Jerusalem. In 
 
 twenty years after. The same is affirmed by Dorotheas ; which to 
 me seems altogether improbable, seeing by this account he must be 
 fiity years of age when called to be an Apostle.' 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 91 
 
 the absence, however, of any certain evidence that 
 John was acquainted with Luke's Gospel, even if we 
 suppose that he had seen that of Mark, (which, 
 however, is equally uncertain,) the Gospel of John 
 may have appeared at the earher date mentioned by 
 Theophylact, and supported by some Greek codices ; 
 namely, about two-and-thirty years after the Ascen- 
 sion, or between a.d. 60 and 62. 
 
 § 10. If all the Four Gospels were in circulation at independ- 
 so early a period, it may, however, be urged,that some of Paul's 
 direct citations from them would be found in the °^^''' 
 Apostohc Epistles. It is scarcely credible, indeed, 
 that Paul should have been unacquainted with that of 
 Matthew, whatever dates are assigned to the others. 
 Yet, in writing to the Gentile churches, he would not 
 be likely to cite a document with which they were 
 not already familiar. It must also be recollected, that 
 St. Paul, in his teaching, stood upon his own aposto- 
 lical authority ; and he constantly refers to the 
 instructions he had received from Our Lord himself, 
 as the independent source of his information. Two 
 striking instances of this o.ccur in the First Epistle 
 to the Corinthians, written a.d. 56. The first 
 relates to the institution of the Lord's Supper : " For i cor.xi. 23. 
 I have received of the Lord that which also I 
 delivered unto you ; that the Lord Jesus, the uight 
 in which he was betrayed, took bread," &c. It is 
 observable, that the phraseology differs cousider- 
 ably from the corresponding passage in Matthew's 
 Gospel, while it agrees with that in Luke so nearly as 
 to suggest the idea, that it may have furnished that 
 Evangelist with his precise information. The second 
 
92 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 passage details circumstances connected with the 
 evidence of our Lord's resurrection, which are not 
 recorded by any Evangehst : " Moreover, brethren, 
 I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto 
 you .... For I delivered unto you first of all, that 
 which I also received, how that Christ died for our 
 
 1 Cor. XT. sins according to the Scriptures :" &c. There can be 
 
 no reasonable doubt that, as in the former passage, the 
 Apostle means, that he had received his instructions 
 from The Lord himself. Accordingly, in writing to 
 
 Gal. i. 12. the Galatians, he expressly declares, that the Gospel 
 which he had preached to them, he had neither 
 received from man, nor been taught it otherwise than 
 by the revelation of Jesus Christ. In this sense we 
 must understand the expression which elsewhere 
 
 Rom. ii. 16. occurs : — " According to my sfospel." * In writing 
 
 2 Tim ii 8 o j o Jr o 
 
 'to the Ephesians also, he refers to the revelation 
 
 made to him of " the mystery of Christ" respect- 
 
 Eph. iii. 3. iug the Calling of the Gentiles ; and, in the Second 
 
 Epistle to the Corinthians, to " the abundance of 
 
 2Cor. xii. the revelations" made to him. The writings of St. 
 17. . r . 
 
 Paul may be considered, therefore, as constituting a 
 
 fifth Gospel, as he stands forward in the character 
 
 of an independent witness, and, for the main facts 
 
 of the Gospel, was not indebted, and of course would 
 
 not have chosen to seem in any way indebted, to 
 
 human testimony. 
 
 Apparent \' '^\- If, then, any allusions to the existing Gos- 
 
 allusionsto . ^ • ^ -n ^• • • • i 
 
 the Gosneis pcls may DC detected m the r auhne writings, we might 
 
 lipiS- 
 
 tles. 
 
 * The ancient supposition, mentioned by Eusebius, that St. Paul 
 refers to Luke's Gospel, is examined and rejected by Lardner, vol. v. 
 ch. iv. 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 93 
 
 anticipate that they would not be direct citations, as 
 from the Old Testament Scriptures, to confirm what 
 he declared or taught, but incidental references either 
 to circumstances narrated by the Evangelists, or to the 
 recorded sayings of Our Lord. Indications of this 
 kind, not amounting to absolutie proof, (since the 
 expressions referred to might have been orally pre- 
 served,) yet appearing to refer to the Evangelic 
 records, are to be found in the Apostolic Epistles. 
 That which has most the appearance of a direct 
 citation occurs, 1 Tim. v. 18: " For the Scripture 
 saith. Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth 
 out the corn, and, the labourer is worthy of his 
 reward." The former clause is a citation from Deut. 
 XXV. 4 : the latter occurs no where in the Old Testa- cited also 
 
 . , . . 1 Cor. IX. 9. 
 
 ment, yet seems to be quoted as Scripture, and it is 
 found at Matt. x. 10. A similar reference to a Also at 
 passaffe in the Old Testament Scriptures (Deut. See ores-' 
 
 ... X . ■, • T 1 P ,1 -m- i well,vol.i. 
 
 xvui. ] ) occurs in the ninth chapter ot the xl irst p. 149. 
 Epistle to the Corinthians, ver. 14, in connection with 
 an allusion to an ordinance of Christ of the same im- 
 port as the words given by St. Matthew ; and there can 
 be little doubt that those words are alluded to; viz. 
 " The workman is worthy of his meat." Our Lord 
 had thereby clearly " ordained," that the preachers of 
 the Gospel should " live of the Gospel." 
 
 We might naturally expect to find the allusions to 
 the written Gospels more numerous as well as more dis- 
 tinct in proportion to the time which the date of the 
 Epistle allowed for their having come into circulation. 
 St. John's Gospel was probably not given to the churches 
 when St. Paul wrote his earUer Epistles ; and that 
 
94 THE GOSPELS OP 
 
 of St. Matthew might not then have reached the hands 
 of the Gentile converts of Achaia and Macedonia ; but, 
 at the date of the Second Epistle to Timothy, and of 
 the other Epistles written from Eome, St. Matthew's 
 Gospel would have had ample time to become 
 generally knovvn, and that of St. John might 
 possibly have been put into circulation. 
 
 Now, in the Epistle to the Philippians, there 
 occurs a passage which has employed a great deal of 
 critical discussion on account of the singular phrase- 
 ology, but the apparent singularity of which is at once 
 explained, and its propriety illustrated, if we take 
 it in connection with what is recorded, John v. 18, 
 " Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, 
 because ... he said that God was his father, 
 making himself equal with God;" and at ch. x. 30: 
 Our Lord having said, "I and my Father are one," 
 the Jews took up stones to stone him, " because that 
 thou, being a man, makest thyself God." How 
 appropriate is the Apostle's language in reference to 
 this charge against the Saviour, " Who, being in the 
 form of God, thought it no usurpation to be equal 
 with God!" That St. Paul might have used these 
 expressions without having seen St. John's Gospel, 
 is quite possible ; but the correspondence is striking. 
 
 Another remarkable passage occurs in the Second 
 Epistle to Timothy, ch. ii. 19, where, speaking of 
 the doctrine of the Kesurrection, St. Paul says : " The 
 foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, 
 The Lord knoweth them that are his," &c., alluding 
 to the legends upon g, seal or medal. Now, in the xth 
 chapter of John, Our Lord makes a declaration of this 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 95 
 
 exact import : "I know my sheep, and am known 
 of mine." " I know them, and they follow me ; and 
 I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never - 
 perish." It is reasonable to suppose that St. Paul 
 alludes to some Divine declaration ; and no other pas- 
 sage of the evangelical records so closely corresponds 
 to his words. The second inscription may allude 
 to Matt. vii. 21 — "Have we not prophesied in 
 thy name ? . . . Depart from me, ye that work 
 iniquity." 
 
 There are two or three other apparent allusions, in 
 the Pauline Epistles, (the coincidence being in idea 
 more than in words,) to corresponding passages in 
 the Gospels, which may be worthy of notice. In the 
 first chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians, the 
 magnificent ascription of the attributes of Deity to 
 the Son of God, forcibly recalls John i. 3 — 14; and 
 the declaration, " Who is the image of the invisible 
 God," receives illustration from John xiv. 9, as well as 
 fi:om ch. i. 18. Col. ii. 9, may also be compared with 
 John i. 16. In a few instances, St. Paul seems to 
 refer to unrecorded sayings of Our Lord which had 
 been orally preserved. The most striking occurs. Acts 
 XX. 35, where " the words of the Lord Jesus " are ex- 
 pressly cited, — " how he said, it is more blessed to 
 give than to receive." Four times, according to the 
 English Version, the formula occurs, " This is a faith- 
 ful saying;" viz. 1 Tim. i. 15 ; 1 Tim. iv. 6 ; 2 Tim. 
 ii. 11; and Tit. iii. 8. In the first instance, that 
 declaration of Our Lord may be referred to, " I am 
 come not to call the righteous, but sinners to repent- 
 ance," Matt. ix. 13 ; or, rather, that at Matt, xviii. 12, 
 
96 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 "The Son of Man is come to save that which is 
 lost." In the second instance, a distinct promise is 
 referred to, — " of the hfe that now is, and that which 
 is to come;" which may be explained by Matt. vi. 
 33, and Luke xviii. 20. In the third instance, the 
 meaning of the phrase seems to be, " Faithful is his 
 word ; " for it is added, " He abide th faithful ;" and 
 the reference, perhaps, is not to any particular 
 saying, but to such declarations as are found, 
 Matt. X. 32 and 39, and xx. 28 — 30. The fourth 
 instance requires a similar explanation, as neither 
 the words preceding nor those following the formula, 
 appear to be a citation. 
 
 In the vith chapter of his Epistle to the Gala- 
 tians, the Apostle Paul refers to a law of Christ which 
 would be fulfilled by their bearing one another's bur- 
 Verse 2. dcns ; & law of course well known to his converts. 
 The new commandment, John xiii. 34, is doubtless 
 intended, although it is not necessary to suppose that 
 any passage in the written Gospels is referred to. 
 Again, the exhortation to "shine as lights in the world," 
 Phil. ii. 15, 16, forcibly recals Our Lord's language. 
 
 Matt. V. 14, " Ye are the light of the world let 
 
 your light shine before men." And the Apostle's 
 language, Phil. iii. 3, " We are the circumcision who 
 worship God in the Spirit," receives illustration from 
 Our Lord's declaration to the Samaritan woman, John 
 iv. 23 : " The hour cometh, when the true worshippers 
 shall worship the Father in spirit." These are instances 
 of what might be deemed elegant allusion, were it cer- 
 tain that St Paul had in his mind the corresponding 
 passages. Once more, at 1 Tim. vi. 14, occurs a 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 97 
 
 reference to the " good confession" witnessed by Our 
 Lord before Pontius Pilate, of which there is no 
 record except in the Gospel of John, ch, xviii. 36, 
 
 37 : " My kingdom is not of this world I came 
 
 into the world that I should bear witness of the truth. 
 Every one that is of the truth, heareth my voice." 
 The Apostle supposes Timothy to be famiHar with 
 the matter of this confession ; and his not stating of 
 what it consisted, may be taken as a proof that the 
 reference points to what is recorded in John's Gospel. 
 In the same chapter, ver. 19, the exhortation to the 
 rich, to " lay up in store for themselves a good foun- 
 dation," is couched in language which we should 
 scarcely have expected to find the Apostle employing, 
 but for the parable in Luke xvi., and Our Lord's ap- 
 plication of it.* These are all the apparent references 
 or allusions to the contents of the Gospels in the 
 Pauline Epistles. 
 
 In the Epistles of Peter, there are a few similar 
 allusions, which it may be interesting to notice, though 
 they are not exact enough to prove an intended re- 
 ference. In the First Epistle, ch. ii. 23. " Who, 
 when he was reviled, reviled not again," &c., may be 
 compared with Matt, xxvii. 29, 39. Ch. iv. 14, "If 
 ye be reproached for the name of Christ," &c., closely 
 corresponds to Matt. v. 11. Ch. iv. 17, 18, " The 
 time is come," &c., and, " If the righteous scarcely 
 be saved," may allude to Our Lord's declaration, 
 itt. xxiv. 22, 24. In the Second Epistle, the 
 erence to the Transfiguration, ch. i. 17, is in ac- 
 
 * Yet, it may refer to Matt. vi. 19, &c. 
 H 
 
98 THE GOSPELS OF 
 
 cordance with Matt. xvii. I — 5. It would seem to be 
 indicated, however, by ver. 15, that those to whom 
 the Apostle was writing, were not in possession of a 
 written Gospel, since the Apostle intimates that he 
 would endeavour to provide means, (which may natur- 
 ally be understood to imply a written memorial,) that, 
 after his decease, they might have those things in 
 remembrance. As it may be presumed that he would 
 not leave this purpose unfulfilled, this passage would 
 countenance the supposition, that the Gospel of Mark, 
 whom the Apostle styles his son, was undertaken by 
 his direction for the express use of the believers of 
 the Dispersion in Pontus, Cappadocia, and the other 
 parts of Asia Minor. Finally, at ch. ii. ver. 20, the 
 language of the Apostle, " The latter end is worse 
 with them," &c., is in verbal coincidence with the 
 declaration of Our Lord, Matt. xii. 45. 
 
 In the Epistle of James, there are two or three 
 passages which may be considered as having a more 
 decided reference to the earliest of the extant Gos- 
 pels. At ch. ii. 5, the Apostle calls attention to 
 what he is about to write, by employing the word 
 " Hearken," as if proceeding to cite the Scrip- 
 tures ; q. d. Hear the word of the Lord ; and what 
 follows agrees precisely in sense with Matt. v. 3 : 
 " Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of 
 heaven." Ch. iii. 1, has a similar relation to Matt, 
 vii. 1 ; and the expression, " knowing that ye shall 
 receive the greater condemnation," implies that they 
 were aware of the Divine authority for the declaration. 
 At ch. iv. 5, there is clearly a reference to some pas- 
 sage of Scriptiire ; but commentators have strangely 
 
LUKE AND JOHN. 99 
 
 blundered in supposing the words following to be 
 intended as the citation. The expression in the 
 preceding verse, " Know ye not," (as, in the above 
 instance, " knowing,") points to the citation ; and the See also 
 declaration, that " the friendship of the world is 
 enmity with God," seems but a free rendering of Our 
 Lord's words, Matt. vi. 24 : " Ye cannot serve God 
 and mammon ; " mammon being but the world per- 
 sonified. And this declaration is one respecting 
 which the Apostle might with peculiar reason appeal 
 to them : " Think ye that the Scripture speaketh in 
 vain?" At ch. v. ver. 12, the admonition, " Swear 
 not at all," though not introduced as Scripture, is a 
 direct citation of Our Lord's words, Matt. v. 34 — 37. 
 It may, indeed, be observed, that the whole Epistle 
 forms a sort of commentary upon the Sermon on the 
 Mount ; or, at least, is deeply imbued with the spirit 
 of that portion of the evangelical record. 
 
 Upon the whole, the passages adduced afibrd ground 
 for reasonable belief, that the Gospel of Matthew was 
 a well-known document at the time that St. James 
 wrote his Epistle ; that it was also not unknown to 
 St. Paul, though, for reasons already assigned, he 
 does not frequently or very directly cite it ; and that, 
 at the date of his later Epistles, the Gospel of John 
 had also been given to the Church. 
 
 H 2 
 
100 ON HARMONIES 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 ON HARMONIES OF THE GOSPELS. 
 
 ON HARMONIES OF THE FOUE GOSPELS— FIRST DIFFICULTV OF 
 
 HARMONISTS : THE TWO GENEALOGIES SECOND DIFFICULTY : 
 
 THE VISIT OF THE MAGI — THIRD DIFFICULTY: THE ORDER OF 
 THE TEMPTATIONS — FODRTH DIFFICULTY : OUR LORD's MINIS- 
 TRY PRIOR 10 John's imprisonment — fifth difficulty : 
 
 DURATION OF OUR LORD's MINISTRY — SIXTH DIFFICULTY : THE 
 
 DIFFERENT ACCOUNTS OF THE RESURRECTION PROOF OF THE 
 
 ASCENSION THE EXALTATION OF CHRIST ESSENTIAL TO THE 
 
 PURPOSE OF HIS RESURRECTION — INCOMPLETENESS OF THE IN- 
 FORMATION IN THE GOSPELS EVIDENCE OF THE RESURREC- 
 TION INDEPENDENT OF THE TESTIMONY OF THE EVANGELISTS 
 
 INDEPENDENT TESTIMONY OP ST. PAUL AS A WITNESS TO 
 
 THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 Proper use § 1 . The attempt to constpuct a continuous narrative 
 moniefl. of tlie materials contained in the Four Gospels, has the 
 precedent of early antiquity. Tatian, who flourished 
 towards the latter end of the second century, was the 
 author of a Harmony of the Four Gospels, which he 
 called " Dia Tessaron "—Of the Four ; in which he 
 omitted the Genealogies, and probably suppressed 
 other portions of the narrative. His compendium had 
 come into so extensive use, in the fifth century, as a 
 substitute for the Gospels, not only among the sect 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. 101 
 
 of which he was the founder, but also among those who 
 adhered to the apostolic doctrine, that Theodoret met 
 with above two hundred copies which were in esteem 
 in the churches, and which he took away, replacing 
 them with the Gospels of the Four Evangelists. 
 Whether the design of Tatian was insidious or not, in Lardner, 
 his work must have been obnoxious to the objection ^""■P" 
 which applies to all such works, considered as substi- 
 tutes for the Gospels. No diatessaron can possess 
 the authority, the internal evidence, or the efficient 
 virtue, if we may so speak, of the separate documents: 
 the stamp of genuineness and the seal of inspiration 
 are wanting. Digests or summaries of the evangelical 
 history may be legitimate vehicles of religious instruc- 
 tion ; but a Harmony, which is an attempt to reduce 
 the whole verbal contents of the four Gospels to one 
 chronological arrangement, breaking up each narrative 
 into fragments, for the purpose of bringing together 
 parallel passages, or of connecting those which are 
 supposed to be consecutive, is to be regarded as a 
 work of art, adapted more for the use of the scholar 
 or critic, than for the edification of the plain, ingenu- 
 ous reader. As a part of an expository apparatus for 
 illustrating the sacred text, such Harmonies may be 
 useful, by affording a tabular view of the substantial 
 accordance, the characteristic difference, and the se- 
 parate value of the four documents respectively, and 
 by serving as an illustrative index to their contents, 
 so as to enable the teacher or commentator to throw 
 upon each Gospel the concentrated light of all. But 
 it forms a serious drawback upon the value of such 
 artificial arrangements, that the proprieties of the 
 
102 ON HARMONIES 
 
 composition are as much violated by the continual 
 interpolation of passages from the several Evangelists, 
 as they would be in a work composed of consecutive 
 extracts from three or four authors of different coun- 
 tries. The variations and apparent discrepancies in 
 the several narratives, too, are made to assume a 
 naked and palpable form, while the reason of them is 
 not seen ; and the accuracy or even veracity of the 
 inspired Witnesses is submitted to a criterion as fal- 
 lacious as it is artificial ; namely, the possibility of 
 reducing to a regular order, irregularities not affecting 
 leading events, and of assigning to every saying, as 
 well as every miracle or action that is recorded, its 
 exact time and place, without regard to the intention 
 of the narrator or the plan of the narrative. In a 
 word, the inspiration of the Evangehsts is thus staked 
 upon the skill and critical acumen of the Harmonist. 
 It ought not, then, to excite surprise or astonishment, 
 that the schemes of scarcely any two Harmonists 
 precisely agree. 
 
 The plan which would involve the least violence to 
 the inspired documents would be, to select simply 
 those portions of them which record the facts relating 
 to Our Lord's birth, life, sufferings, resurrection, and 
 ascension, leaving all the discourses and minor inci- 
 dents as they stand. The agreement of the witnesses 
 as to these facts, is all that it can be necessary to esta- 
 blish, in reference to the credibility of their testimony ; 
 the rest is matter only of recondite criticism ; while, 
 for the purposes of exposition and annotation, the 
 original form of the separate documents is on every 
 account to be preferred. 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. 103 
 
 § 2. One of the first difficulties that presents itself to The Two 
 a Harmonist, is the placing of the two Genealogies, ^'^^"^^^ 
 which, possibly for that reason, Tatian omitted. To 
 reconcile them, and account for their apparent discre- 
 pancy, is of essential importance ; but the place they 
 should occupy, is a matter of very secondary consid- 
 eration. Their respective position in the two Gospels 
 is, however, deserving of notice. It would have been 
 inappropriate for Luke to commence his orderly his- 
 tory with the genealogy of Our Lord, the circum- 
 stances of his birth not being adverted to till ver. 
 26 th of the first chapter ; and no opportunity occurs 
 for introducing it till, on mentioning the age of Jesus 
 at the time of his entering upon his public ministry, 
 the Evangelist connects with that circumstance his 
 descent by blood from the royal house of David ; 
 tracing his genealogy still upward to Adam, as if to 
 represent him as the promised Seed of the Woman, 
 in whom all nations were alike interested. But his 
 descent by blood from Nathan, the son of David, was 
 not the line of royal succession, which is given by 
 Matthew as the legal genealogy of the heir of Joseph, 
 who was descended from David by the line of Solomon, 
 and which is therefore suitably prefixed to his Gospel, 
 as establishing Our Lord's being not only the predicted 
 Son of David, but also the " born king of the Jews." 
 This, as the son of Mary, he would not be, because 
 the sceptre could not be transmitted through the 
 maternal Une. Yet, it would be necessary to show, at 
 the same time, that, as the son of Mary, he had pro- 
 ceeded from " the stem of Jesse." It is probable, isa. xi. i. 
 that, as both Joseph and Mary were descended from 
 
104 ON HARMONIES 
 
 Gresweii, David, they were not only of kin, but next of kin ; 
 
 ^'''" ^" " and, by marrying the Heiress of Heli, Joseph would 
 become his son, while the son of Mary, his betrothed, 
 would as certainly be his own legal heir.* This 
 natural explanation not only accounts for the double 
 genealogy, but shows that, in each Gospel, the gene- 
 alogy occupies its proper place in reference to the 
 specific object of the Evangelist ; and the transposi- 
 tion required by the plan of a Harmony is the first 
 instance of that disadvantageous sacrifice of the natural 
 arrangement to the artificial, which meets us at almost 
 every step. That Luke should have given a difierent 
 genealogy from that contained in the previous Gos- 
 pel, when he must have been acquainted with it, and 
 could not possibly have intended to bring in question 
 the veracity and accuracy of an Apostle by a contra- 
 dictory statement, — puts it beyond all reasonable 
 doubt, that he designed, by his supplemental genea- 
 logy, to complete the proof of Our Lord's being, ac- 
 cording to the flesh, as well as by legal right, the Son 
 of David and King of the Jews, in whom both lines 
 met and terminated. Neither genealogy is of itself 
 sufficient for this purpose, and neither, therefore, is 
 
 * Eusebius, on the authority of Africanus, gives another solution j 
 viz. ' that Matthan, whose descent is traced to Solomon, begat Jacob ; 
 Matthan dying, Melchi, whose lineage is from Nathan, by marrying 
 the widow of the former, had Eli. Hence, Eli and Jacob were bro- 
 thers by the same mother. Eli dying childless, Jacob raised up 
 seed to him, having Joseph, according to nature belongipg to himself, 
 but by the law to Eli. Thus, Joseph was the son of both.' The 
 whole subject has been most laboriously investigated by Dr. Barrett, 
 an outline of whose argument will be found in Davidson's Herme- 
 neutics, pp. 689 — 606. See also Lardner's Works, vol. ii. pp. 462 — ' 
 464 ; Gresweii, Diss. II. ; Home's Introd. vol. ii. p. 668. 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. 105 
 
 superfluous. Our Lord's kingly character was an 
 essential attribute of his Messiahship. He inherited 
 royal rights which had never been alienated. When 
 Pilate asked him, " Art thou a king then ? " Our 
 Lord's answer implied the affirmative, although he 
 had disclaimed the use of poHtical weapons ; and the 
 superscription on the Cross was at once his rightful 
 title and the condemnation of those who had procured 
 the crucifixion of their King. When the rulers of 
 the devoted nation deUvered up the legitimate King 
 of the Jews to the Roman power, declaring that they 
 had no other king than Caesar, they, in that very act, 
 broke the sceptre of Judah, extinguished the last 
 temporal hope of Israel, and unconsciously afforded a 
 demonstration that the Shiloh had come. The act 
 of the Jewish authorities, supported by the people, 
 renouncing their King, could not be reversed. They 
 transferred their allegiance to the Caesar ; and never 
 since have they had any other king. In his regal 
 character on earth, as well as in his mystic pontificate, 
 He who lives for ever has had no successor. 
 
 & 3. A second difficulty which has perplexed learned The visit of 
 
 the Ma^i. 
 
 Harmonists, relates to the time of the visit of the 
 Magi ; some, with Calvin, placing it before the pre- 
 sentation in the Temple; others, among whom are 
 Doddridge and Greswell, after it. If the star first 
 appeared to the Magi at the time of the nativity, 
 (which seems the more natural supposition,) and they 
 were not quite six weeks on their journey from Persia, 
 they might arrive just about the time of the presenta- 
 tion, which Dr. Benson supposes to have taken place 
 between their arrival at Jerusalem and their visit to 
 
106 ON HARMONIES 
 
 Bethlehem. According to this learned chronologist, 
 the death of Herod took place in the spring of j.p. 
 4711, answering to b.c. 3; and he fixes the time of 
 Christ's birth in April or May of j.p. 4709, an- 
 swering to A.M. 6749, or B.C. 5 ; while Mr. Gres- 
 well, by a series of erudite and ingenious calculations, 
 renders it all but certain that the true date is April, 
 A.u.c. 750, or B.C. 4. AU that the sacred narrative 
 requires for its consistency is, that the birth of Christ 
 took place not less than about a year before the death 
 of Herod. The Kmitation of the ruthless massacre 
 ordered by the Tyrant to infants under two years, 
 (and the Jewish computation reckoned one of thirteen 
 months as a child of two years, that is, a second-year 
 child,) agrees with the calculation that the birth of 
 Jesus was ascertained to have taken place within twelve 
 months ; since the edict would doubtless be fi*amed so 
 as to make all sure, by providing against the difficulty 
 of determining the precise age of an infant under a 
 year old. Mr. Greswell supposes the Magi to have 
 arrived at Jerusalem at the beginning of August, and 
 accordingly, that the flight into Egypt took place 
 not later than the middle of the same month. It has 
 been observed, that the offerings brought by the dis- 
 tinguished visiters, would afford the Holy Family a 
 seasonable supply for their journey. On this suppo- 
 sition, Joseph and Mary must have returned to Beth- 
 lehem after the presentation in the Temple, which they 
 might have done on the same day in the month of 
 May ; nor is it likely that they would remain longer 
 than was necessary in Jerusalem.* 
 
 * In the ' Vindication of the Authenticity of the Narratives in 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. 107 
 
 § 4. The account of the Temptation, as given by Order of the 
 Matthew and Luke, with a variation of the order in l^i^' 
 which the three trials are narrated, has been a third 
 stumbling-block to Harmonists. It is reasonable to 
 suppose that St. Luke did not without some spe- 
 cific design deviate fi-om the order observed by St. 
 Matthew. That he transposed the second and third 
 trials through error or negligence, or as considering 
 the order of no consequence, is an explanation quite 
 inadmissible, being at variance with his character as 
 an exact historian, and in itself improbable. Equally 
 difficult would it be to beUeve, that he intended to 
 correct the account given in a Gospel bearing the 
 stamp of apostoUc authenticity. Mr. Greswell sug- 
 gests, that ' the order of the Temptations is the order 
 of their strength ; that is, they begin with the weakest, 
 and proceed to the strongest. The end of the whole 
 transaction is, to represent Our Lord " tempted on all 
 points, like unto ourselves, yet without sin ; " attacked 
 in each vulnerable part of his human nature, yet 
 superior ,to every art and to all the subtlety of the 
 Devil.' To a Jew, the third according to St. 
 Matthew's arrangement, which was actually the 
 strongest, would also appear to be so. But St. Luke 
 might have reason to think, that, to a Gentile reader, 
 the second would appear the strongest, as the force 
 of the last would not be appreciated, except by those 
 who were looking for a temporal Messiah. To the 
 
 the first two Chapters of Matthew and Luke, by a Layman,' it is 
 supposed, that, after the presentation, Joseph and Mary returned to 
 Nazareth, and that the Magi found them there; but this conjecture 
 seems inadmissible. 
 
108 ON HARMONIES 
 
 Greeks or Eomans, it might appear in the light of a 
 temptation addressed simply to the desire of honour, 
 wealth, or power, and therefore of inferior strength 
 to the second, which was addressed more directly to 
 the principle of intellectual pride ; for the history of 
 their own philosophers could furnish instances of 
 individuals who had, by natural strength of mind, 
 surmounted the former temptation, but few or none 
 of such as had not fallen victims to the latter. St. 
 Luke, then, in writing for Gentile Christians, would 
 as naturally, and, for his object, as properly, place the 
 
 Gresweii, sccond temptation last, as St. Matthew, in writing 
 
 ll'm, 7. for the Jewish, had given that place to the third. 
 
 In order to estimate the strength of the third 
 temptation, it is necessary to take into considera- 
 tion, that it was addressed to Him who was by right 
 King of the Jews, in his regal character, and that the 
 offer was made by the Tempter in the semblance, 
 doubtless, of an angel of light, claiming a delegated 
 rule over the kingdoms, agreeably to the received 
 opinions of the Jews respecting the subordinate 
 government of the world by angels, which were 
 supposed to be countenanced by the language of 
 
 Dan. X. 13, the Prophct Daniel. The boast of the Tempter, 
 " For that is delivered to me," implies no higher 
 pretensions than to such a derived and administrative 
 authority. And when we recollect, that the homage 
 which the Tempter claimed as an acknowledgment 
 for the splendid donation, was no more than the 
 Apostle John was about to pay involuntarily to a 
 true angel of light, when he was prevented by the 
 
 Rev.3dx.iO; heavculy messenger, we cannot but conclude, that 
 
 xxii. 9. 
 
OP THK GOSPELS. 109 
 
 the temptation was such as one who had been no more 
 than man would have found irresistible. 
 
 There is, indeed, another explanation which may- 
 be given of the transposed order of the Temptations ; 
 but it may be deemed less satisfactory. The scene of 
 the first two in Luke's narrative would seem to be 
 the wilderness ; that of the third, Jerusalem ; which 
 appears a more natural arrangement than that of 
 Matthew, and might possibly have been the true 
 order in point of time, though not in the order of 
 strength. According to Matthew, Our Lord was 
 transported from the wilderness to Jerusalem, and 
 thence taken to a lofty mountain, upon the geogra- 
 phical position of which, however, it would be vain to 
 speculate, since no mountain could command a natural 
 prospect of all the kingdoms of the world, and we 
 »must therefore suppose that the representation par- 
 took of the nature of a splendid vision. With 
 regard to the transportation of Our Lord's person 
 from place to place, there can be no greater difficulty 
 in understanding it as a literal fact, than the state- 
 ment of the Apostolic historian, that Philip was caught 
 away from the Ethiopian Eunuch by the Spirit of the 
 Lord, and " found " at Azotus ; or than the account 
 which the Prophet Ezekiel gives, of his having been 
 lifted up between the earth and the heaven, and 
 brought in the visions of God to Jerusalem ; or, again, Ezek.vm.3. 
 than St. Paul's being caught up to the third heaven. 
 Yet, as the Apostle was unable to tell whether it was 
 *' in the body or out of the body " that he experienced 
 the visions and revelations referred to, it would be 
 rash to pronounce with confidence, how far the scenes 
 
110 
 
 ON HARMONIES 
 
 Heb. ii. 18. 
 
 JolinxiT.30. 
 
 Our Lord's 
 Ministry 
 
 Srior to 
 ohn's Im- 
 prisonment, 
 
 ^nd action of the Temptation were of a visionary 
 character. The order of time, at all events, is a 
 matter of no historical importance ; and, unless both 
 EvangeUsts had professed to give the three trials in 
 strict succession, (and St. Luke uses no particle 
 implying immediate sequence,) the variation cannot 
 affect the accuracy of the narrative.* On the other 
 hand, it proves, that Luke was not, in this part of his 
 narrative, the mere copyist of Matthew ; and at the 
 same time, that Tie regarded this remarkable featufe 
 of Our Lord's personal history as among " the things 
 most ;Surely believed " among Christians, and of too 
 much importance to be omitted in an historical record. 
 We have thus a strong attestation of its reality as an 
 actual transaction, in which Our Lord " suffered, 
 being tempted," and, by his victory over the Prince 
 of this world, not only demonstrated his being indeed, 
 the Son of God, but also, that in him, as the Son of 
 Man, Satan " had nothing." 
 
 § 5. The next difficulty which the Harmonist has 
 to deal with, relates to the hiatus in the first three 
 Gospels, occurring between the Temptation and the 
 commencement of Our Lord's public ministry in 
 Galilee. That interval appears, from the supplemental 
 narrative comprised in the first four chapters of John's 
 Gospel, to have been occupied with a series of trans- 
 actions not inferior in interest to those which are 
 recorded by the other Evangelists ; comprising the 
 " beginning of miracles " wrought by Our Lord, and 
 his first appearance in the Temple as one having 
 
 Not so Matthew, who employs the definite terms, rirs and iriKtv. 
 
OF THE GOSPELS, 111 
 
 Divine authority ; in fact, according to one learned 
 Harmonist, extending over considerably more than a 
 year, respecting which the other Evangelists give us 
 no information. This circumstance, though at first 
 view it may seem startling to one who has never 
 closely examined the peculiarities of the several docu- 
 ments, admits of the most natural explanation. The 
 point of time from which St. Matthew commences his 
 account of Our Lord's ministry, is, " when Jesus had 
 beard that John was cast into prison." St. Mark, in 
 like manner (at ver. 14 of chap, i.), thus begins his 
 account : " Now after that John was put in prison, 
 Jesus came into Gahlee, preaching the Gospel of the 
 kingdom of God." But this language implies, that 
 he had previously been out of Galilee, and leaves it 
 to be inferred, that he had been exercising the office 
 of a Teacher in other parts, where he would not seem 
 to interfere with the ministry of his Forerunner. It 
 was not till after his return to Galilee, probably, that 
 St. Matthew became personally acquainted with Our 
 Lord, or, at all events, that he became his disciple,^ so 
 as to be qualified, as an eye-witness, to give an 
 account of his teaching and miracles ; and this con- 
 sideration^seems to furnish a sufficient reason for his 
 not going further back, since, with regard to the 
 previous ministry of Our Lord, St. Matthew could 
 bear no direct personal testimony. It is evident, 
 however, that, after John had been cast into prison, 
 Our Lord's ministry assumed a more pubUc, and, if 
 we may so speak, regular and systematic character ; 
 for, though his disciples had become numerous, he 
 had not yet chosen the Twelve as Apostles to go 
 
112 ON HARMONIES 
 
 forth in his name. It was quite in harmony with the 
 meekness and modesty of The Saviour's character, to 
 avoid every appearance of rivalry with his servant 
 and harbinger, or of an impatience to supersede his 
 preparatory ministry by his own higher commission. 
 He had put the greatest honour upon the ministry 
 of John, by stooping to become his disciple, thereby 
 acknowledging his authority as a Teacher ; and when 
 an attempt was made by the Pharisees to excite the 
 jealousy of the Baptist, by representing that Jesus 
 made and baptized more disciples than John, — which 
 drew forth that magnanimous reply, " He must 
 
 John iii. 30. increase, but I must decrease," — Our Lord left Judea, 
 then the scene of his ministry, and withdrew, for the 
 sake of privacy, into Galilee. 
 
 Of that part of Our Lord's ministry which was 
 contemporaneous with that of John the Baptist, our 
 knowledge is derived exclusively from the Gospel of 
 John, whose acquaintance with his Master was pisQ- 
 bably much earlier than that of Matthew. It is, 
 indeed, scarcely possible, in reading the account 
 given by this Evangehst, of the circumstances which 
 led Our Lord's first disciples to follow him as the Lamb 
 of God, to entertain a doubt that the Apostle John 
 was one of them. It is observable, that "one of the 
 two " who heard John the Baptist make the declara- 
 tion which induced them to follow Jesus, was 
 
 John i. 40. Audrcw, Pcter's brother. The other is not named, 
 but we know that it was not Peter ; and the omission 
 of the name affords a strong reason for supposing 
 it to have been the Writer himself, who usually 
 
OP THE GOSPELS. 113 
 
 suppresses his own name,* From this period, these 
 disciples of John became the followers of Christ, 
 believers upon him as the predicted Messiah, though 
 not as yet, it would appear, to the relinquishment of 
 their temporal avocations: they had spontaneously 
 attached themselves to Our Lord as a Master, but 
 had not then been called by him to be his Apostles, 
 — "fishers of men." The calling of Peter and 
 Andrew, James and John, narrated by Matthew Matt.iv.i8; 
 and the other two Evangelists, was evidently a Lukev.io! 
 subsequent transaction, for thenceforth they "for- 
 sook all " to follow Christ as his constant attendants. 
 Thus explained, all discrepancy between the narra- 
 tives vanishes. 
 
 Taking the Gospel of John as our clear and only 
 guide in this part of the sacred narrative, we find 
 that, some time after Our Lord's baptism by John, 
 and therefore subsequently to the Temptation, a 
 deputation of priests and Levites fi;om Jerusalem 
 had waited upon John, to demand in what character 
 and by what authority he baptized. John was then 
 baptizing near the ford of Bethabara, or Bethania, on 
 the further side of the Jordan, in Perea ; and on the 
 day following, Jesus came to him there, — probably on 
 his return from the scene of the Temptation to Gali- 
 lee, where the Mother of Jesus then dwelt, together 
 with those relatives who are styled his brethren. It 
 was on seeing Jesus approaching, that the Baptist 
 bore record to his having been, by a miraculous 
 
 * See John xiii. 23, xviii. 15, xix. 24. This opinion is an ancient 
 one. Epiphanius says, ' John or James ; ' giving no reason for the 
 alternative. 
 
 I 
 
114 ON HARMONIES 
 
 token, at his baptism, designated as the Son of God ; 
 and in consequence of his testimony, two of his 
 disciples, Andrew and the EvangeUst himself fol- 
 lowed Jesus. Andrew went in search of his brother 
 Peter, with the joyful intelligence, " We have found 
 the Messiah." And the next day, when Jesus was 
 desirous of prosecuting his journey homeward, Philip, 
 who was of the same fishing village as Andrew and 
 Peter, and Nathanael, surnamed Bartholomew (or the 
 son of Tholomseus), were added to the little band 
 of disciples that attended him.* On the third day 
 after his arrival in Galilee, a marriage took place 
 at Cana, where the Mother of Our Lord appears 
 to have been then residing ; and it is evident, that 
 one or both of the parties must have been her 
 kinsfolk, as she seems to have had in some degree 
 the direction of the feast. It has been conjectured, 
 that the marriage was that of Cleopas or Alpheus, who 
 married the isister or cousin of the Virgin. The 
 timely arrival of Jesus was no doubt joyfully hailed ; 
 and not only himself, but his disciples also were 
 invited to the feast, at which he wrought his first public 
 miracle ; whereby, it is declared, he manifested, his 
 glory or divine power, and his disciples believed in 
 him, recognizing that evidence of his being the 
 Messiah, the King of Israel. After this, he accom- 
 panied his mother and relatives, attended also by his 
 disciples, to Gapemaum, and remained there for a 
 
 * According to the reading followed in the Common Version, Jesus 
 findeth Philip ; but there is a varied reading which allows of the 
 more natural rendering, that Peter found Philip, as Philip found- 
 Nathanael. 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. H5 
 
 few days, till a little before the Passover, when he 
 
 went up to Jerusalem. j„h„ii.i3 
 
 And now it was that Our Lord may be considered 
 as having formally and publicly entered upon the 
 discharge of his prophetic office ; agreeably to the 
 language of the Prophet Malachi : " The Lord 
 whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple." Mai. Hi. i. 
 It is narrated thatj suddenly appearing within the 
 sacred enclosure, he not only assumed the authority 
 of a Prophet and Keformer in clearing the precincts 
 of the Temple of those who had made it a sort of 
 fair, filling the minds of the multitude with terror and 
 astonishment, but also, by his language, " Make not 
 my Fathers house a house of merchandize,*' declared 
 himself to be the Son of Grod. The comment of 
 tbe Evangelist, "His disciples remembered," &c., johni!.i7. 
 indicates that the writer was an eye-witness of the 
 transaction, and that such was the thought which it 
 suggested at the time. That this act of Our Lord 
 was an exertion of supernatural power, that it par- 
 took of a miraculous character, is not a mere inference 
 from the submission of the crowd of traders to his 
 command, but is apparent from what follows. At 
 this passover, "many," it is said, "believed in his 
 name, when they saw the miracles which he did." ch. ii.23. 
 And of this number was Nicodemus, who, in his 
 conversation with Our Lord, refers to these miracles. 
 Yet, no particular miracle is specified, except his 
 clearing of the Temple i this must, therefore, have 
 been introduced as a specimen or instance of the 
 miracles which attested at this time to all Jerusalem 
 his Divine authority and commission. 
 
 I 2 
 
ne ON HARMONIES 
 
 After this Passover, instead of returning to Galilee, 
 Our Lord remained for some time with his disciples 
 in Judea, exercising his public ministry, and receiving 
 the multitudes who flocked to him to be baptized as 
 
 John iii. 24. his disciples. Meantime John, not having yet been 
 cast into prison by Herod, was still discharging his 
 mission, and baptizing disciples, though his popu- 
 larity was now declining ; and some of his disciples 
 among the Pharisees, in the true spirit of partizans, 
 endeavoured to excite his jealousy of Christ as a 
 more successful teacher. His noble answer was a 
 fresh testimony to Our Lord as the promised Mes- 
 siah. Yet, to avoid the semblance of rivalry with 
 the Baptist, whose career was now drawing to its 
 close, Jesus, on learning what the Pharisees had said, 
 
 John iv. 3. left Judaea, where John had fixed his station, and 
 returned, to Galilee, by way of Samaria, where the 
 Galileans who had attended the passover and wit- 
 nessed his miracles at Jerusalem, received him. 
 While he was at Cana, he wrought a second striking 
 miracle in the cure of the son of a nobleman 
 (j3ao-(XiKo?) residing at Capernaum, We are not 
 informed how long he remained at this time in 
 Galilee, but evidently till after John had been 
 committed to prison ; for, when Our Lord next went 
 up to Jerusalem, to be present at a feast, (which of 
 
 johnv 1 *^^ great feasts is not mentioned,) it appears from 
 ch. V. 35, that John- was no longer bearing witness 
 to the truth, — that the burning and shining light was 
 set or extinguished. On his return from this feast 
 to Galilee, the ministry of his Forerunner being 
 thus terminated, Our Lord " began to preach " the 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. 117 
 
 doctrine of repentance, and to go about the country, 
 teaching in their synagogues, and healing all manner 
 of diseases. We may therefore, without hesitation, 
 conclude, that the narrative of St. John up to this 
 point, is antecedent to that of Matthew, and that 
 ch. vi. 1, of the former corresponds, in point of 
 time, to Matt. iv. 12 (and Luke iv. 14). 
 
 § 6. The duration of Our Lord's ministry is a ques- 5"^^°^,°^ 
 tion which has given rise to much learned discussion ; ministry. 
 and upon very slender grounds, opposite theories have 
 been raised, some harmonists extending it to three or 
 four years, and others limiting it to little more than a toTvVa 
 year. The determination of this question falls P' ^^*" 
 within the province of the chronologist, rather than 
 of the commentator ; and as we find it nowhere 
 distinctly asserted by the sacred writers, how long 
 Our Lord carried on his ministry, we can ascertain 
 it only from the dates afibrded by incidental refer- 
 ences. Now we find it expressly stated by the 
 Evangelical Historian, Luke, that the word of God 
 came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the fifteenth 
 year of the reign of Tiberius' Caesar, Pontius Pilate 
 being governor of Judaea ; and by a carefiil histori- 
 cal inductipn, Mr. Greswell has satisfactorily esta- 
 blished, that the ministry of the Baptist must there- 
 fore have begun in the autumn of J. p. 4739, or a.d. 
 26, answering to a.u.c. 779, which was the fifteenth 
 year fi-om the accession of Tiberius to the imperial 
 authority, during the life, and as the colleague, of 
 Augustus.* Our Lord, who was six months younger 
 
 * Greswell, vol. i. diss. vi. viii. Other authorities place the 
 accession of Tiberius to joint empire a year later, a.d. 12. 
 
118 ON HARMONIES 
 
 than his Forerunner, was not quite thirty at his bap- 
 tism ; and his birth being determined to have taken 
 place A.u.c. 750, or 4 before the vulgar era, he would 
 enter his thirtieth year, a.u.c. 779; and conse- 
 quently, his baptism must have taken place about 
 that time.* It is natural to suppose, apart from the 
 chronological indications, that Our Lord and his 
 Forerunner would enter upon their respective minis- 
 tries at the same age ; and if so, six months must be 
 allowed for the preparatory ministry of John. There 
 is no reason to conclude that it was of longer dura- 
 
 John ii. 20. tion. Now, from the Gospel of John we learn, that, 
 at the time of the Passover immediately ensuing upon 
 Our Lord's baptism, when he in fact first announced 
 in the Temple his Divine authority, the building of 
 the Temple, that is, the restoration begun by Herod 
 the Great, a. v. 734, or b.c. 20, had been going on 
 
 Gresweii, foF six and forty years. This Passover, therefore, 
 must have been that which fell in the fifteenth year 
 of Tiberius Caesar, orj according to Mr. Greswell's 
 
 lb. vol, i. erudite calculatidti, April 9, a.d. 27 (a.u.c. 780). 
 
 P' ^,^*" John the Baptist appears to have continued to bap- 
 tize disciples till his imprisonment, by order of 
 Herod the Tetrarch, in the castle of Macha&rus ; (a 
 fact recorded by Josephus,-}" Antiq. lib. xviii. cap. v. 
 § 1 ;) which Gresweii fixes in the spring quarter of 
 A.u.c. 780. In the following spring, Herod returned 
 from Eorae ; and in the autumn, about the Feast of 
 Tabernacles (Sept. 22 or 23), he is supposed to 
 
 * Benson fixes Our Lord's baptism about Nov. J. P. 4739. 
 t Lardner has vindicated the.genujneness of this remarkable pas- 
 sage, yol. vi. pp. 480 — 486, 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. Il9 
 
 have given that magnificent festival, during which 
 John was put to death, a.u. 781 or a.d. 28.* 
 
 When Our Lord went up to Jerusalem for the first 
 bime after his appearance in the Temple, John was 
 still living, though a prisoner; and it seems most John v. 32. 
 probable, that the Feast referred to, John v. 1, was 
 the Feast of Tabernacles, which fell, Oct. 4, a.d. 27. f 
 On his return, he began to teach publicly throughout 
 Galilee ; and after he had been thus engaged for some 
 months, it is incidentally mentioned, John vi. 4, that the 
 Passover was nigh : this if no other had intervened, 
 (Tould be that which fell, March 29, a.u. 28 ; J and 
 ;he Feast of Tabernacles mentioned ch. vii. 2, would 
 )e that of September in the same year. No refer- 
 ince occurs to any other Passover, in this Evangelist, 
 ill that which immediately preceded Our Lord's suflFer- 
 ng,|ch. xi. 55. We find, however, that he attended 
 ;he Feast of the Dedication (ch. x. 22), which 
 )ccurred in winter, towards the end of December. $ 
 3n that occasion, the Jews attempted to stone him 
 ;o death ; and Our Lord, escaping from their hands, 
 vithdrew into Perea. There he appears to have 
 •emained till a short time before the illness and death 
 )f Lazarus ; when, on intimating his intention to 
 •etum to Judea, the disciples expressed their astonish- 
 nent and apprehension : " Master, the Jews of late 
 
 * Mr. Greswell supposes his imprisonment to have lasted about, 
 ighteen months. Vol. ii. p. 312, and Diss. viii. 
 
 t Calvin supposes it to have been the Feast of Pentecost, which 
 irould faU, May 30. 
 
 X If the third Passover, it fell, April 16, a.d. 29 ; and the Feast 
 f Tabernacles, Oct. 11. 
 
 § Greswell fixes it Dec. 19— 26. A.D. 29. Vol. ii. p. 451. 
 
1^ OF HARMONIES 
 
 Johnxi. 8. sought to stonc thee, and goest thou thither again ? " 
 After raising Lazarus from the dead, Our Lord 
 "walked no more openly among th& Jews," but took 
 up his residence at Ephraim on the border of the 
 
 johnxii.1, wilderness. Six days before the ensuing Passover, he 
 came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom he had 
 raised from the dead ; and at this Passover he was 
 betrayed,^ and suffered. On the supposition that it 
 was the third Passover after Our Lord's baptism, it 
 would be that of a.d. 29 ; and in that case, the dura- 
 tion of his pubhc ministry would be only two years. 
 But Mr. Greswell has adduced sufficient evidence to 
 justify the conclusion, that the year of the Passion 
 
 Diss. V. was A.D. 30, answering to a.u.c. 783, thereby 
 extending Our Lord's ministry to three years ; and 
 he supposes the Feast referred to, John v. 1, to have 
 been,"not the Feast of Tabernacles, but the. second 
 Passover after Our Lord's baptism, and that referred 
 
 VoUi.p.237. to, John vi. 4, the third. This is at once a doubtfiil 
 and an immaterial point. The duration of Our 
 Lord's ministry being ascertained by the two extreme 
 dates of the first and the fourth Passover after his 
 baptism, the exact distribution of the interval is of 
 subordinate consequence. Whether, with the learned 
 Harmonist, we suppose the interval between John 
 V. i, and John vi. 4, to comprise the second year of 
 his ministry, the incidents of which are passed over 
 as being fully related by the other Evangelists, — or 
 suppose an interval of eighteen months to have 
 occurred between the Feast mentioned, John v. 1, 
 and the Passover of John vi. 4, — or, again, assuming 
 the latter to be the second Passover, conclude that 
 
OF THE GOSPELS, 121 
 
 the third is not referred to, the result is much the 
 same. For eighteen months before the Feast of Taber- 
 nacles mentioned John vii. 2, Our Lord appears not to 
 have visited Jerusalem; whence it is clear that he 
 felt under no obligation to attend all the feasts ; and 
 prudential reasons might dictate his absence. It 
 also appears, that on every occasion of his going up 
 to Jerusalem, except the last, he went up privately, ac- 
 companied, probably, by only a few disciples ; whereas 
 his last journey to Jerusalem was attended at every 
 step with circumstances which gave it publicity : he 
 made a public entry into the city in the character of 
 the Son of David, and a second time asserted his 
 Divine authority in the clearing of the Temple. 
 This will explain why the first three Evangelists 
 mention only this last visit to Jerusalem, — properly 
 speaking, the only one connected with his public 
 ministry, after the calling of the Apostles, — and why 
 no reference is made by them to any other Passover. 
 According to the scheme of the learned Harmo- 
 nist so often referred to, the true Chronology of the 
 Gospel History, as regards the leading events, may 
 be thus arranged : — 
 
 B.C. A.U.C. JUL. P. 
 
 Edict of Augustus 5 749 4709 
 
 Birth of John the Baptist 5 (Oct. 5) 
 
 Birth of Christ 4 (April 5) 750 4710 
 
 Presentation 4 (May) 
 
 Flight into Egypt 4 (Aug.) 
 
 Death of Herod 3 (March) 4711* 
 
 * Benson, Mann, and Lardner fix the death of Herod in 4710, 
 a year earlier. 
 
122 ON HARMONIES 
 
 A.D. A.U.C. JUL.t. 
 
 Visit of Jesus to Jerusalem 8 (Apr. 5) 761 4721 
 
 First year of the government of Tiberius 
 
 Cffisar 12 (Spring) 765 4725 
 
 Death of Augustus 14(Aug.)" 767 4727 
 
 Beginning of John's ministry 26 (Oct.) 779 4739 
 
 Baptism of Our Lord 27 (Jan.) 780 4740 
 
 First appearance of Our Lord in the 
 
 Temple —(April) 780 
 
 Imprisonment of John — (May) 
 
 Second Passover 28 (Mar,29) 781 4741 
 
 Death of John the Baptist — (Sept.) 
 
 Third Passover 29 (Ap. 16) 782 4742 
 
 Transfiguration — (May) 
 
 Third Feast of Tabernacles — (Oct. 11) 
 
 Miracle tin the Blind Man — (Oct. 18) 
 
 Third Feast of Dedication — (Dec. 19) 
 
 Raising of Lazarus 30 (Jan,) 783 4743 
 
 Unction at Bethany , — (Mar. 30) 
 
 Second Cleansing of the Temple — (April 2) 
 
 Last Supper — (April 4) 
 
 Fourth Passover — (April 6) 
 
 Resurrection of Our Lord — (April 7) 
 
 Ascension to Heaven — (May 16) 
 
 Tables 1 & 3. Effusion of the Holy Spirit — (May 26) 
 
 According to Mr. Benson, Our Saviour was bom 
 
 in the springof J. p. 4709 (b.c. 5), baptized in Nov. 
 
 4739 (a.d. 26), and crucified at the Passover of 
 
 4742, after a ministry of two years and a half. 
 
 Different § 7. The kst difficulty which requires notice in ar- 
 
 the'""Resm- ranging the Gospel Narrative as contained in the Four 
 
 xec ion. Documents, arises from the difierent accounts of the 
 
 Resurrection, the alleged discrepancies in which, have 
 
 furnished an occasion of cavil to the infidel, and been 
 
 a source of some perplexity to the more candid 
 
 inquirer. The discrepancies relate chiefly to the 
 
 circumstances attending the visits of the women to 
 
 Greswell, 
 vol. iii. 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. 123 
 
 the Sepulchre ; and Michaelis, in a treatise on the 
 subject, states the cases of apparent contradiction in 
 the following strong and unwarrantable language : — 
 ' 1. The last twelve verses of Mark (xvi. 9 — 20) 
 contradict another EvangeUst. 2. The preceding 
 part of Mark's statement contradicts another Evan- 
 gelist. 3. The Gospel of Luke contradicts another 
 Evangelist.'. When we come, however, to examine 
 these alleged contradictions, we shall find cause for 
 astonishment, that, upon such slender grounds, either 
 the genuineness of any part of St. Mark's Gospel, or 
 the accuracy of St. Luke as an historian should have 
 been called in question. In the time of Jerome, 
 indeed, it appears that the concluding part of St. 
 Mark's Gospel had been struck out by many tran- 
 scribers both of the Greek Text and of the Latin Trans- 
 lation, for no better reason than that ' it seemed to 
 relate things different from and contrary to the other 
 Gospels,' Of its genuineness, however, there is no 
 reason to doubt, since it is found in all the extant 
 manuscripts, and in all the old Translations, including 
 the Syriac, which was made in the first century. 
 The last two verses of the chapter are, moreover, 
 cited by Irenseus, whose evidence is sufficient ta 
 prove that the chapter never contained less than we 
 now read in it, or that, if added to St. Mark's Gospel 
 by another hand, it must have been received as 
 canonical and authentic in the Apostolic age. 
 
 The first apparent contradiction to which Michaelis 
 refers, is, the declaration, Mark xvi, 8, that the wo- 
 men " said nothing to any man, for they were afraid ; " 
 as compared with the statement of St. Matthew, that 
 
124 ON HARMONIES 
 
 they saw Jesus, as it would seem on their return to 
 the city, received his instructions, and carried them 
 to his disciples. Now even assuming that the same 
 party of women is referred to by Mark and Matthew, 
 (an assumption which we shall presently show to be 
 erroneous,) it is only by ascribing to the declaration 
 of St. Mark a meaning altogether forced and un- 
 natural, namely, that they maintained a permanent 
 silence as to what they had witnessed, after their fear 
 had subsided, that the slightest inconsistency can be 
 made to attach to the narrative. St. Matthew states, 
 " that the women departed quickly from the sepulchre 
 with fear and great joy, and did run to bring his 
 disciples word." St. Mark, following, as usual, the 
 narrative of the Proto-Evangelist, but adding some 
 illustrative details, describes their fear to have been 
 so extreme that "they trembled and were amazed, 
 neither said they anything to any man, for they were 
 soref afraid." They fled from the Sepulchre in speech- 
 less terror; and, as they hurried back to the city, 
 instead of spreading the report of the wonderful 
 occurrence, as might have been expected, they said 
 nothing of the circumstance to any persons whom 
 they met. The explanation is, that fear held them 
 silent. Yet, when that fear had subsided, they would 
 naturally run direct to carry the strange tidings to the 
 disciples. Mr. West supposes, that- they might pass 
 Peter and John going to the Sepulchre, without speak- 
 ing even to them, not having sufficiently recovered 
 from their panic in their hasty flight. But to suppose 
 that, after the terror which held them silent had sub- 
 sided, they would say nothing of what they had wit- 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. 125 
 
 nessed, is neither implied by the words of St. Mark, 
 nor to be reconciled with probabiUty or common sense. 
 It is, however, quite in accordance with the ex- 
 treme conciseness of St. Matthew, and with the very 
 general terms in which he adverts to well-known facts, 
 to understand him as speaking of what was truly the 
 case with regard to the different women who visited 
 the Sepulchre respectively, but not strictly the fact as 
 to each and all. Thus, while some departed quickly from 
 the Sepulchre with fear, others departed with great joy. 
 The emotions of terror and great joy are scarcely 
 compatible ; and it is more natural to suppose, that 
 St. Matthew refers to the different emotions produced 
 by the scene in the minds of different women, than to 
 construe his words strictly, as denoting that they all 
 were affected in the same manner, and acted in the 
 same way. Now it is observable, that St. Mark is 
 silent as to the great joy inspired in those who kept 
 silence through terror ; and yet, that joy is a material 
 circumstance in connexion with St. Matthew's state- 
 ment, that it was with great joy some of them ran 
 to bring his disciples word. The following words, 
 " As they went to tell his disciples," are, upon purely 
 critical grounds, considered to be an interpolation ; 
 and Griesbach aflSixes to them the note which implies 
 only one remove from unquestionable spuriousness. 
 They are wanting in the Codex Vaticanus, the Codex 
 Bezae, in the Syriac and other ancient Versions, and 
 in the citations of the passage by Origen and Chry- 
 sostom.* There is, therefore, no reason to conclude 
 
 * Greswell, vol. iii, p. 209. Matt, xxvii. 9 should therefore begin, 
 
126 ON HARMONIES 
 
 that it was on their way back to the city, that Jesus 
 appeared to the terror-stricken women, but rather to 
 some who were filled with great joy, (which we know 
 to have been the case with Mary Magdalene,) who 
 remained behind. The explanation' to which the 
 judicious Calvin inclines, is, that, by synecdoche, 
 Matthew extends to all, what was peculiar to one ; 
 and on this supposition, the appearance of Jesus to 
 one of the two Maries named by the EvangeUst, 
 namely, Mary Magdalefte, is what Matthew intends 
 to refer to, though he seems to speak as if it had been 
 witnessed by both or all.* This interpretation not 
 only reconciles the accounts given by the two Evan- 
 geHsts, but, by furnishing the reason of St. Mark's 
 deviation fi-om St» Matthew, proves almost to demon- 
 stration how he understood the reference. It has 
 already been remarked, that, in speaking of the women 
 who fled from the Sepulchre, he drops or omits the 
 expression which is so emphatic in St. Matthew, 
 " with great joy did run to bring word to his dis- 
 ciples," while he dwells upon their being afraid. Im- 
 mediately afterwards, however, he particularizes the 
 appearance of Our Lord to Mary Magdalene ; and 
 adds, that she went and told the disciples as they 
 mourned and wept. According, then, to St. Mark's 
 explanation of the more general account given by 
 St. Matthew, while the other women fled in speechless 
 terror from the Sepulchre, to one of the company, 
 Jesus himself appeared, and with great joy she ran to 
 carry the tidings to the disciples ; who yet, when theyv> 
 
 * In like manner, Matt, xxvii. 44, by a similar idiom, attributes 
 to the two thieves the language of the impenitent one. 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. 127 
 
 heard that he was alive and had been seen of her, 
 believed not* This account is in perfect accordance 
 with the more detailed narration of St. John, ch. xx. 
 11 — 18. Luke, indeed, represents the women gen- 
 erally as returning from the Sepulchre, and telling all 
 these things to the Eleven and to all the rest ; but 
 the things specified by him are, the vision of angels Luke xxiv. 
 and the angelic declaration ; for Our Lord had not 
 appeared to Mary Magdalene, when Peter, on the 
 first information brought to the Apostles, ran to the 
 Sepulchre ; and it is clear, that it was at the second 
 visit of Mary to the Sepulchre, after Peter and John 
 had retired, that the first appearance of Christ took 
 place, which was the subject of Mary's second com- 
 munication to the disciples. By this natural explan- 
 ation, the first two supposed contradictions referred 
 to by Michaelis are satisfactorily disposed of. 
 
 The third relates to the number of the angels seen 
 by the women, the situation in which they were seen, 
 and the conduct of the women, as narrated in the 
 Gospel of Luke^ but the difficulty has already been 
 partly met in the preceding remarks. Dr. Lardner 
 observes, that ' St. Luke puts together the whole 
 testimony of the women ; ' whereas ' we know firom 
 St. John, that their testimony consisted of two reports, 
 brought down to the Apostles at different times ; ' 
 and Dr. Townson, taking the words of St. Luke, 
 ' these things,' in a distributive sense, thinks that we 
 may distribute them into three reports. ' This is a 
 point,' he adds, ' that, I think, puts the design of the 
 verse out of question, and shows that St. Luke joined 
 Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of 
 
128 ON HARMONIES 
 
 James together, not because they all reported the 
 
 same things to the Apostles, but for a higher reason ; 
 
 because they severally attested different things, in 
 
 Tow-nson's such manner that the amount of their testimonies was 
 
 voLii.p'.i44. the whole of the evidence that could be exhibited.' 
 
 Nothing can be more clear, than that the Sepulchre 
 was visited by several different parties ; probably by 
 many more, in the course of the same day, than are 
 mentioned by the Evangelists. The two visits paid 
 by Mary Magdalene, the first of which took place 
 while it was yet dark, that of the other Mary, at- 
 tended probably by Salome, and that of Joanna and 
 her company, bearing the spices and ointment for 
 embalmment, seem at least to have been all distinct. 
 It is to the latter that St. Luke more particularly 
 alludes ; and, as each of the angelic appearances was 
 made to a different party, that which St. Luke describes, 
 must be understood as applying to the latter visit, 
 whereas the account given by St. Matthew relates to 
 the earlier ones. All that Mary Magdalene saw or 
 staid to notice, on her first visit, was, that the stone 
 had been rolled away ; whence she naturally con- 
 cluded that the Sepulchre had been violated, and 
 the body removed. According to St. Matthew's 
 account, collated with St. Mark's, about sun-rise, the 
 other Mary and Salome arrived, bringing sweet 
 spices ; and, on approaching the Sepulchre, they 
 beheld not only the stone rolled away, but the angel 
 who sat upon it, and who addressed them in the lan- 
 guage of encouragement, on beholding their terror, — 
 " Be not afraid ; " notwithstanding which, they appear 
 abruptly to have fled. When Joanna and her party 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. 129 
 
 arrived, not knowing what had taken place, they 
 found the stone removed, but saw nothing to prevent 
 their entering into the Sepulchre, which they found 
 empty. While they are lost in perplexity, two angels 
 appear to them standing, as if, their office fulfilled, 
 they were preparing to depart ; and address the 
 women in the language of expostulation, as if to re- 
 prove their lingering about the empty grave, " Why 
 seek ye the Living One among the dead? " When, 
 shortly afterwards, Peter reached the Sepulchre, the 
 angels had not departed, although to him they were 
 not visible, for Mary Magdalene afterwards saw them, 
 yet, apparently, without being aware of their being 
 angels. 
 
 Mr. Greswell has laboured to prove, that the mani- 
 festation recorded by St. Matthew (ch. xxviii. 9.) 
 was wholly distinct from that made to Mary Magda- 
 lene ; contending that the former was not made on the 
 day of the Resurrection, but many days afterwards ; 
 that it was, in fact, the sixth appearance of Our 
 Lord.* As there is no necessity for having recourse 
 to this hypothesis, so, there is no ground whatever to 
 support the conjecture. Mr. Greswell admits, that 
 no other manifestation than that recorded by Mark 
 and John to have been made to Mary Magdalene, ' 
 could have preceded it ; and that the other women 
 could not have beheld Our Lord previously to his 
 
 * With most unjustifiable confidence in his own hypothesis, the 
 learned Author rashly asserts, that ' we must give up the authority 
 of St. John, if the manifestation recorded at large by him, and alluded 
 to in brief by Mark, as made to Mary Magdalene, was the manifesta- 
 tion recorded by Matthew as made to the women who visited tha 
 sepulchre.' — Vol. iii. p. 201. 
 
 K 
 
130 ON HARMONIES 
 
 appearance to the Eleven. Is it probable, then, that 
 St. Matthew would pass over the first five appear- 
 ances, including all that took place on the day of the 
 Eesurrection ? Were we to reject the explanation 
 which supposes the Proto-Evangelist to refer to the 
 appearance to Mary Magdalene, it would be much 
 more reasonable to understand his words as applying 
 to Our Lord's manifestation to his disciples on the 
 same day ; but this would require an alteration of 
 verTio.'' *^® *^^*» unwarranted by manuscripts, in order to 
 make the pronouns agree with and refer to the dis- 
 ciples, not to the women. Upon the whole, therefore, 
 the most satisfactory conclusion seems to be, that St. 
 Matthew, in his very summary account of the main 
 circumstances, blends together what the latter Evan- 
 gelists distribute into the details. The main facts are, 
 that the Sepulchre was visited early in the morning 
 by the women who came with the spices for embalm- 
 ment ; — that they found the Sepulchre open, and Our 
 Lord's body removed ; — that angels appeared to them, 
 who declared that he had risen from the dead ; — that 
 they fled with amazement and terror to carry the 
 tidings to the disciples ; — and that Jesus himself 
 appeared and saluted them, — that is one of their 
 number, — and was recognized and worshipped. The 
 expression rendered, " All hail ! " corresponds to the 
 . " Peace be with you " of the other Evangelists, and is 
 so rendered in the Syriac Version ; and, being the 
 customary form of salutation, is such as Our Lord 
 would naturally employ before he asked Mary why 
 she wept. No stress, therefore, can be laid upon the 
 omission of the salutation in the account given by 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. 131 
 
 St. John. As to the supposed discrepancy between 
 the statements, that they (that is Mary) held him by 
 the feet, and that Jesus said to Mary, " Touch (or 
 embrace) me not," — it would seem to be implied by 
 this very language, that Mary was in the act of em- 
 bracing Our Lord's feet ; why otherwise was she told 
 not to do so, — to desist from that expression of her 
 homage or joy, — and not to detain him ? To recon- 
 cile her mind to this. Our Lord assures her, that he 
 had not yet left the earth and returned to the Father; 
 and commissions her to bear to the disciples the con- 
 solatory assurance, that, when he should ascend, it would 
 be to Him who was, through his own relation to the 
 Father, their Father and their God. 
 
 This Was Our Lord's first appearance* It is not 
 quite clear which was his second, for we learn only 
 incidentally from Luke xxii. 14, that, in the course 
 of the same day, he appeared to Simon Peter ; and 
 St. Paul also adverts to this appearance, 1 Cor. xv. 
 5 : — " he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve." 
 The third appearance (if not the second in order of 
 time) was to Cleopas and his companion on their 
 way to Emmaus.* Cleopas is supposed to have been 
 the husband of Mary the mother of James, one of 
 those who had visited the Sepulchre, and had seen 
 the vision of angels, but had not witnessed or heard 
 of Our Lord's personal manifestation. (St. Mark 
 mentions this as Our Lord's second appearance, but 
 he omits that made to Peter.) Emmaus was between 
 
 * Of the various ancient conjectures as to the name of this com- 
 panion, the most probable seems to be, that it was the Evangelist 
 himself. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 ON HARMONIES 
 
 seven and eight miles from Jerusalem, and the dis- 
 tance would occupy not much less than three hours. 
 As the day was far spent when they reached the 
 Aallage, yet there was time to return to Jerusalem 
 before night, we may suppose that they arrived at 
 Emmaus about the ninth hour or three o'clock, not 
 much earlier than the ordinary time of the afternoon 
 
 voi.iii.p.2i4. repast ; and at this repast, Our Lord was made known 
 to them. Returning with speed, they would join the 
 assembled disciples " at evening," that is, about the 
 twelfth hour or six o'clock, yet still on the same day : 
 supper would then be over ; and all that seems to 
 have remained of the repast, was part of a broiled fish 
 and of an honeycomb, of which Our Lord partook at 
 this first personal manifestation to the Disciples, in 
 order to assure them of his being no spectre, but 
 flesh and blood, — himself risen bodily. This his 
 fourth appearance is particularly referred to by three 
 of the Evangelists as well as by St. Paul.* The fifth 
 would seem to be that which occurred on the first day 
 of the following week, when Thomas, who had not been 
 present at the previous interview vouchsafed to the as- 
 sembled disciples, was gently rebuked for his incredu- 
 lity, and invited to satisfy himself by the stronger than 
 ocular evidence which he had required, that his Divine 
 Master's appearance was a substantial reality. " The 
 
 Joiinxxi.i4. third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples," 
 was by the Sea of Tiberias, after they had returned to 
 
 * The expression, 1 Cor. xv. 5, " the twdve," must be understood 
 of the Apostles ; for, strictly, it could no more apply to the eleven 
 present at the next appearance, than to the ten in the absence of 
 Thomas. 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. 133 
 
 Galilee ; and this must therefore have been his sixth 
 appearance. 
 
 The seventh manifestation on record is that more 
 solemn and public one which took place, agreeably to 
 Our Lord's own appointment, in Galilee, the principal 
 scene of his ministry, and where it may be concluded 
 that the greater part of his disciples resided. This 
 public manifestation is the only one mentioned by 
 St. Matthew, because it was, in fact, that upon which 
 the truth of the Eesurrection mainly rested, as attested 
 by a crowd of witnesses, all the others being of a private 
 nature. And to this St. Paul doubtless refers, 1 Cor. 
 XV. 6, as having been made to above five hundred 
 brethren at once, of whom the greater part were then 
 hving, twenty-five years after the event. It is an 
 apparent omission, that St. Mark should not parti- 
 cularly specify this interview ; yet, it is clearly 
 implied by his recording the angelic message, " Tell 
 his disciples, that he goeth before you into Galilee ; 
 there shall ye see him, as he said unto you." It was, Matt.xvi. 7. 
 therefore, in fulfilment of a promise made before his 
 suffering, and by express appointment, that Our Lord 
 met his assembled disciples in Galilee after his Resur- 
 rection, at a particular spot, " a mountain where 
 Jesus had appointed them." The message with which 
 the women were charged, was simply to remind the dis- 
 ciples of instructions which they had already received, 
 although, at the time, they may not have fully un- 
 derstood them, and were now in danger of neglecting 
 them through the perplexity and distressinto which they 
 were cast. It is evident, however, that they had no 
 right to expect to see Our Lord after his Resurrection 
 
134 ON HARMONIES 
 
 at any other than the appointed place of meeting. 
 Their repairing to Galilee for this purpose, was to be 
 a test of their faith and obedience. Yet, in gracious 
 accommodation to their incredulity, not only is an 
 express message conveyed to them by the angelic 
 attendants at the Sepulchre, but Our Lord himself 
 appears, first to Mary Magdalene, then to Peter, 
 then to Cleopas and his companion, and afterwards 
 twice to the Eleven, to assure them of his having actu- 
 ally risen, and to prepare them for the promised meet- 
 ing in Galilee. It was requisite that they should be 
 fully convinced of the fact of the Resurrection of their 
 Master, in order to their acting upon the instructions 
 they had received; hence the importance that, by 
 a second appearance to the Eleven, the doubts of 
 Thomas also should be overcome. Obedience to the 
 law, indeed, would require their continuance in Jeru- 
 salem till the days of unleavened bread, the feast of 
 the Azyma, were over. Immediately afterwards, 
 those disciples who had come up from Galilee to 
 attend the Passover, would be returning home ; but 
 the Apostles might yet have lingered behind, had 
 they not received positive instructions to repair to 
 the mountain which Jesus had appointed. Now, 
 however, they would lose no time in returning; 
 and the message would rapidly spread through the 
 whole company of the disciples, so that hundreds 
 repaired with eager expectation to meet their risen 
 Lord. * The fact of such a manifestation,' it has been 
 judiciously remarked by Mr. Greswell, ' is an answer 
 to the common objection, Why did not Christ appear 
 in person, after his Resurrection, to the same people 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. 135 
 
 among whom he had been personally conversant be- 
 fore his death ? For it proves that he did so appear 
 to those who alone could have any reasonable claim, 
 ^ priori, to the privilege of seeing him after his 
 Eesurrection ; viz. those who alone had known and 
 believed in him before his death. It is that manifes- 
 tation which a Gospel that was first written, and 
 written upon the spot, would naturally, and perhaps 
 exclusively, select for narration; and St. Matthew's 
 Gospel, by confining itself to this, and saying nothing 
 of any other which was not connected with this, has 
 not only discharged the duty of a Gospel in general, 
 but has communicated an integrity and a unity to its 
 own account, which none of the later narratives, in 
 the nature of things, could have communicated to ^oSplW. 
 theirs.' 
 
 But, if this appointment in Galilee had been made 
 before Our Lord's passion, and the place was so well 
 known to the disciples as not to require to be speci- 
 fied, we might expect to meet with some record of 
 the previous promise and command. The only dis- 
 tinct intimation of the kind is recorded by Matthew, 
 as having been conveyed in the words of Our Lord 
 on the night on which he was betrayed : " After I 
 am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee." Matt, xxvi. 
 But no particular spot is specified ; and there must 
 have been, either at this time or on some former 
 occasion, a more express appointment. Now, in the 
 account of the Transfiguration, we meet with signifi- 
 cant expressions which seem to render it highly pro- 
 bable, that it was upon that occasion the command 
 was first given to the disciples, and that that was the 
 
136 ON HARMONIES 
 
 mountain appointed for the meeting. We are told, 
 that the subject of which Moses and EUjah spake, 
 was the decease which Our Lord was to accomplish at 
 
 Luke ix. 31. Jerusalem ; and as the disciples came down from the 
 mountain, they were charged to tell no man what they 
 had seen, (including of course the conversation they 
 had heard,) " till the Son of Man were risen from the 
 
 Mark ix. 9, dead." And " they kept that saying with themselves, 
 questioning one with another what the rising from the 
 dead should mean." It is evident, that much more 
 passed on this occasion, than is narrated ; and as the 
 reference to the Resurrection, though obscure at the 
 time, is so express, we cannot but infer that there 
 was a special reason why, as soon as he was risen, 
 they were to publish what they had witnessed on that 
 "holy mount," and which was, so to speak, a pre- 
 manifestation of the glorified body in which he was 
 afterwards to appear, — a visible foreshewing of his 
 Resurrection. With what force must this scene have 
 recurred to their recollection, in connexion with his 
 solemn charge, as a confirmation of their faith ! To 
 this hallowed spot, even if none had been named, 
 they would most naturally repair in the expectation 
 of beholding a more glorious repetition of the tran- 
 scendent vision. But it cannot be deemed an impro- 
 bable supposition, that, in the conversation which 
 took place. Our Lord appointed this very mount as 
 the spot where he would meet them after the Son 
 of Man should be risen from the dead ; and they 
 would proclaim at the same time to his believing 
 followers in Galilee, the invitation to attend the 
 solemn public manifestation of their risen Lord, and 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. 137 
 
 the previous display of his glory, of which they had 
 been the chosen witnesses on the same spot, about a 
 year before. 
 
 This view of the subject may serve to throw light 
 upon a passage, the precise import of which has been 
 a question with commentators. In the verse imme- 
 diately preceding the account of the Transfiguration, 
 given respectively by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, 
 Our Lord solemnly assures the disciples, that some 
 were then present, who should not die till they had 
 seen the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. It is 
 expressly stated, that, a week after this declaration, 
 Jesus took three of his disciples up into a high moun- 
 tain, where he was transfigured before them ; and it 
 seems a reasonable inference, that this display of his 
 glory was the fulfilment of the previous declara- 
 tion. That it was a partial fiilfilment, must be ad- 
 mitted ; but that it was the intended and ultimate 
 fulfilment of his words, there is reason to question. 
 First, it is hard to imagine, that the solemn assurance 
 that they should not die till they had witnessed his 
 glory, would have been given in reference to an 
 occurrence that was to take place in a few days ; and 
 in the second place, it is diflScult to view the Transfi- 
 guration as the event intended by the coming of the 
 Son of Man in his kingdom or kingly power. But, 
 if we understand Our Lord's declaration as referring 
 to a manifestation of his glory as the risen Saviour, 
 of which the Transfiguration was a pledge and em- 
 blem, their prophetic significance becomes evident, as 
 one of those sayings which, though not understood at 
 the time by his disciples^ were brought to their 
 
^38 ON HARMONIES 
 
 recoltection in their full import after he had risen 
 from the dead. It was not till after his Resurrection, 
 that Our Lord could be said to come in his kingdom, 
 when he declared, " All power is given unto me in 
 heaven and in earth." 
 
 How long this public interview lasted, we are not 
 informed. St. Luke states, that Our Lord was seen 
 by the Apostles " during forty days ;" that is, from 
 time to time during those days ; and that " he spoke to 
 Acts i. 3. them of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." 
 But we have no record of any other distinct manifes- 
 tation, subsequent to his appearance to the assembled 
 multitude in the holy mountain,* except one mentioned 
 only by St. Paul, namely, his appearance to James, 
 and the final interview at Jerusalem immediately 
 preceding his Ascension. As to the former, which 
 appears to have been the eighth manifestation in order 
 of time, Mr. Greswell conjectures, that its object 
 might be, to direct the Apostles to return to Jerusa- 
 lem, and that it took place in Galilee ; and we may 
 at all events conclude, without presumption, that it 
 was for the purpose of conveying some message to 
 the Eleven. We find that The Lord's appearance to 
 Peter preceded his first manifestation to the assembled 
 disciples ; and it was doubtless in consequence of that 
 appearance, if not of a direct message, that the Eleven 
 and their companions were found by Cleopas gathered 
 together. Now, from the brief recapitulation of St. 
 Paul, Our Lord's being seen by James, then by all 
 the Apostles, would appear to correspond to his being 
 
 * Mr. Greswell is clearly mistaken in placing the appearance, 
 recorded John xxi., after the public manifestation. 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. 139 
 
 seen by Peter, then by the Twelve : that is, in each 
 case, the appearance to the individual not only pre- 
 ceded, but was related to the interview with the 
 assembled disciples. It is, indeed, scarcely probable, 
 that, without a specific command, the Apostles would 
 have ventured to repair so soon to the scene of Our 
 Lord's sufferings, more especially after having been 
 directed to return to Galilee. And even had they 
 felt under any obligation to attend the Feast of Pen- 
 tecost, they would not have gone up to the capital so 
 soon by many days. Forty days, however, after the 
 Resurrection, and ten before the day of Pentecost 
 was fully come, we find them assembled at Jerusalem 
 for the purpose of collectively receiving their Lord 
 and -Master's last commands, immediately before his 
 Ascension. This was his ninth appearance, which 
 took place *' on the day in which he was taken* up." Acts i. 2. 
 The Apostles were no doubt convened agreeably to 
 the Divine appointment, we may suppose in the upper 
 chamber which we find them afterwards occupying, 
 when Our Lord, as on former occasions, stood in the 
 midst of them. And now it was that they were 
 commanded not to depart fi-om Jerusalem until they 
 should receive the promise of the Father, and be 
 endued with power from on high. The conversation 
 was probably the longest and most familiar that they 
 had enjoyed with their risen Master ; and they were 
 emboldened to inquire, whether He was about at that 
 time to assume his royal power, and restore the king- 
 dom to Israel. They were apparently not prepared 
 for his approaching departure fi-om the earth. As he 
 had often done, he led them forth from the city, along 
 
UO ON HARMONIES 
 
 the well-known path that wound up Mount OUvet, as 
 far as the village of Bethany, where he had been 
 accustomed to lodge ; discoursing still, as they pro- 
 ceeded, of the things pertaining to his kingdom ; and 
 they might imagine that he was about to enter Beth- 
 any once more as a guest ; when suddenly, as he was 
 raising his hands in the attitude of benediction, and 
 their eyes were fixed upon his countenance, he was 
 parted from them, and taken up visibly into heaven, 
 till a cloud received him out of their sight. And 
 while they were steadfastly gazing upon him as he 
 went up, two angelic messengers in human form 
 appeared, who gently reproving their speechless 
 amazement, assured them, that the same Jesus who 
 was so taken fi:'om them into heaven, should in like 
 manner visibly descend again. Upon which the dis- 
 ciplesj after prostrating themselves in an act of wor- 
 ship to their departed Lord, returned with great joy 
 to Jerusalem, to proclaim the august spectacle of which 
 they had been the eye-witnesses. 
 Proof of the & g. It has been remarked, that Luke is the only 
 
 Ascension. ^ _ _ ' J 
 
 Evangelist who gives a particular account of the Ascen- 
 sion. Mark, however, mentions the fact with his usual 
 emphatic conciseness : " So then, after the Lord had 
 spoken to them, he was received up into heaven, and 
 MarkxTi. gat ou the right hand of God." John, though he 
 does not describe the Ascension, records the declara- 
 tion of Our Lord himself to Mary Magdalene, that 
 he was about to ascend to the Father ; while, in the 
 last conversation with the disciples before his Passion, 
 preserved by this Evangelist, his approaching Ascen- 
 sion is repeatedly intimated, although the disciples 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. 14^ 
 
 were at a loss to understand his language. The 
 omission of any direct mention of the crowning event 
 of the Gospel history by the Proto-EvangeHst, alone 
 remains to be accounted for ; and the proper explana- 
 tion is, that it was not necessary for his purpose. 
 The disappearance of Christ from the earth was not 
 what it was necessary to prove to the Jews, who, had 
 they believed him to be the Messiah, or one of the 
 Prophets, would have had no difficulty in giving 
 credit to his having been, like Enoch and Elijah, 
 miraculously withdrawn from the world. It was his 
 appearance after his Resurrection, not his final dis- 
 appearance, which it was of importance to prove. 
 The story circulated to account for the removal of 
 his body from the sealed and guarded sepulchre, was, 
 that his disciples had stolen the corpse. St. Matthew, 
 after referring to this " common saying," records Our 
 Lord's meeting with his assembled followers in Ga- 
 lilee, and states, that they worshipped him. He 
 then mentions the commission which Our Lord gave 
 to his disciples, in which there is the most unequi- 
 vocal assertion of his Divine power in heaven and in 
 earth, a power of which this world could be neither 
 the seat nor the exclusive sphere, and of his efficient 
 spiritual presence with his disciples to the end of the 
 world, which was to compensate for his personal 
 removal. This declaration, although it might have 
 been made to the multitude of his followers at the 
 meeting in Galilee, was most likely part of the con- 
 versation immediately preceding the Ascension. 
 The grand and demonstrative proof of Our Lord's 
 
142 ON HARMONIES 
 
 Ascension, however, was, not the unsupported testi- 
 mony of the few who saw him taken up into heaven, 
 but the fulfilment of his promise of a miraculous 
 effusion of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. To 
 this, Peter refers as the demonstration of his being 
 both Lord and Christ : " Therefore, being by the 
 right hand of God exalted, and having received of 
 the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath 
 Acts ii. 33. shed forth this which ye now see and hear." That 
 Jesus had actually ascended into heaven, and, accor- 
 ding to the prophetic language of David, taken his 
 seat at the right hand of Jehovah, was a fact which 
 no mere human testimony could establish ; but, while 
 the Apostles bore witness to the resurrection of 
 Christ, God himself witnessed to his exaltation, " by 
 signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of 
 eb. ii. 4. the Holy Ghost, according to his own wUl." It may 
 indeed be regarded as the main purpose of the mira- 
 culous gifts conferred upon the Apostles, to confirm, 
 first, their own faith, not in the resurrection of Christ, 
 of which they could not doubt, but in his having 
 entered into his glory in the presence of the Father ; 
 and ftirther, to estabhsh by supernatural evidence, 
 not what the Apostles asserted as of their own know- 
 ledge, but what was to them, as to us, the matter of 
 religious faith. Miracles were not an attestation of 
 their veracity as witnesses, so much as a seal of their 
 authority as teachers Divinely instructed and commis- 
 sioned ; and they wrought them in and by the name 
 of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, in order to shew, that 
 " Him had God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour," 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. 143 
 
 " whom the heavens must receive until the times of 
 the restitution of all things." 
 
 ^ 9. The bare fact of the Eesurrection of Christ, TheExaita- 
 though it would have proved him to be the Son of Christ ea- 
 
 _^ "■ _ , Bential to 
 
 God as he had declared himself, and have established the purpose 
 
 ofhisResur- 
 
 , the truth of all that he had taught, would have rection. 
 aflForded but httle consolation to his disciples, nor any- 
 ground for their proclaiming his reign as actually 
 begun. Indeed, the very purpose of the Eesurrec- 
 tion would have been left in mystery, and the pro- 
 mises of the Saviour would have remained an enigma. 
 But the Apostles always connect the Resurrection with 
 the Eeign of Christ. Thus St. Peter, in his first Epistle, 
 after speaking of his Resurrection, adds : " Who is 
 gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God, 
 angels, and authorities, and powers being made sub- 
 ject to him." So, St. Paul, in his Epistle to the ^p*'^'^'"- 
 Ephesians, " 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." Again, Eph. i. 20. 
 Rom. viii. 34, " It is Christ that died, yea, rather, 
 that is risen again, who is also at the right hand of 
 God." And in the Epistle to the Corinthians, Rom. viii. 
 treating expressly of the Resurrection, the Apostle 
 declares, that " He must reign till he hath put all 
 enemies under his feet." Once more, in the Epistle 1 Cor. xv. 
 to the Hebrews we read, " Who, being the brightness 
 of his glory, . . . when he had by himself expiated 
 our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty 
 on high." It is evident, then, that the inspired Heb.i. 3. 
 writers considered the Resurrection and the Ascen- 
 
144 ON HARMONIES 
 
 sion of Christ as one event.* The Keign of Christ, 
 as dating from his having entered into glory, was as 
 essential a part of the Gospel which they preached, 
 as his Atonement ; and upon the fact of his having 
 ascended into heaven rested their belief, that he would 
 return as the Judge of the living and the dead. An 
 individual, therefore, who should profess to believe in 
 the Resurrection of Christ as an historical fact, and 
 yet deny or doubt his Ascension and exaltation to 
 universal dominion, would have no claim to be 
 regarded as a believer in Christianity or the Christian 
 doctrine ; since he would not only reject the Apostolic 
 testimony with its miraculous attestation, but would 
 reject the claims of Christ himself as " a Prince and 
 a Saviour," and deny him to be " the great High 
 Priest who has passed through the heavens-" 
 Incomplete- § 10- Thcsc Considerations may serve to show the 
 infonnation futility of the distinction often assumed, originating 
 Gospels. "^ superstitious ignorance, between the Four Gospels 
 and the other Apostolic writings, as if the former were 
 entitled to more implicit credit and reverential regard 
 than the latter ; as if the testimony of St. Peter, for 
 instance, in the form of an encyclical letter, were to 
 be regarded as of less weight than the statement of 
 the same fact by Mark or Luke ; or, as if the Gospel 
 of St. Paul were less authentic than that of Luke or 
 Matthew, because it is contained in his letters to the 
 churches, not in a continued narrative. In harmoniz- 
 ing the Four Gospels, we should have effected but 
 little towards vindicating the Christian Revelation 
 
 * This may explain St. Luke's seeming, in his Gospel, to make 
 the one follow immediately upon the other. 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. 145 
 
 against the cavils of infidelity, if we were unable to 
 establish the same harmony between the Gospels and 
 the Epistles, between the testimony and doctrine of 
 Peter and Matthew, of Paul and John. Of the facts 
 upon which the Christian faith rests, the Crucifixion 
 and Resurrection, the Ascension and Glorification 
 of Christ must be regarded as the most important ; 
 and these are so essentially connected, that, if one is 
 taken away, the Christian system falls. Yet, as we 
 have seen, the Gospels supply but Httle information 
 as to the Ascension, of which Luke alone, in his 
 second Book, gives a particular description ; and to 
 his work we are indebted for the only account of the 
 efiusion of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, by 
 which the very foundations of the Christian Church 
 were laid. This cardinal fact, scepticism has at- 
 tempted to explain away, but has not ventured to 
 treat as doubtful ; for, though recorded by only a 
 single evangelical historian, it is so interwoven with 
 the entire fabric of Christian truth, that, without it, 
 the whole is reduced to a cunningly devised fable. 
 The references to this great manifestation of the 
 power of the risen Saviour are, indeed, numerous 
 and explicit in the Gospels as well as in the Epistles. 
 Thus, in the Gospel of Matthew, John the Baptist 
 is recorded to have declared, that He whose harbinger 
 he was, would baptize with the Holy Ghost and with 
 fire ; a declaration preserved by each of the other 
 Evangelists, although the words, " and with fire," 
 (which plainly refer to the symbolic flames that 
 rested on the Apostles on the day of Pentecost,) ar^ 
 not given by Mark and John. To no act of Our 
 
146 ON HARMONIES 
 
 Lord, during his ministry on earth, could the predic- 
 tion of the Baptist be appUed ; so that, if not ful- 
 See also filled bv the effiision of the Spirit after his Ascension, 
 
 Johiivii.39; . •' t i i a ■ • i r^ in 
 
 xii. 16. it was never accomphshed. Again, m the (lospel ot 
 John, Christ is recorded to have repeatedly promised 
 to send forth, on his return to the Father, the 
 Paraclete, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth ; de- 
 claring that, if he went not away, the Comforter 
 would not come, but that, if he went away, he 
 would send him. The truth of the Gospel is 
 involved in the fact, that this promise was fulfilled. 
 Yet, the fulfilment of it is not recorded by any 
 one of the Four Evangelists, except by the Author 
 of the Book of Acts ; and unless it was fulfilled by 
 the event of which the symbolic miracle was the 
 attestation, it has never been accomplished. Various 
 impostors, indeed, who arose in the early ages of 
 Christianity, availed themselves of this promise in 
 order to obtain credit for their mission, by claiming 
 to be the Paraclete whom Christ was to send. Not 
 only in the Book of Acts, however, do we find the 
 Apostles referring to their having received the pro- 
 mised Holy Spirit as the gift of their ascended Lord 
 and Saviour, but, throughout the Epistles, the fact is 
 assumed to be known to all, and acknowledged by all 
 who believed. The Apostle John assumes, that those 
 whom he addresses had received an unction from the 
 Holy One, by which they were guided into the know- 
 
 ijohnii. ledge of the truth. St. Paul, in his Epistle to the 
 ' ■ Ephesians, distinctly connects the bestowment of mi- 
 
 Eph. iv. raculous gifts with the Ascension of Christ ; and, in 
 writing to the Corinthians, he declares that no man 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. U7 
 
 could truly confess Jesus to be the Lord, but by the 
 Holy Ghost, the author of all spiritual gifts. Not i cor. xii. 3. 
 only is there the most perfect accordance, in these 
 respects, between the Gospels and the Epistles, but, 
 as the latter assume and presuppose as incontestible 
 fact^ all that is recorded by the EvangeUsts, so, the 
 former assume the truth of the cardinal doctrines of 
 Christianity, the matter of Christian belief, to which 
 the Church was a living witness. 
 
 It must be borne in mind, that the Gospels were not 
 published till the Christian faith had been widely pro- 
 claimed, and its truth had been attested by its moral 
 power and regenerating efficacy, as well as by the 
 miraculous credentials of its ministers. Three of the 
 Gospels are of later date than some at least of the 
 Apostolic Epistles. It was not to be expected, then, 
 that the historic narrative of the events connected 
 with the life, ministry, and death of Him whom all 
 the Church worshipped as Lord and Christ, should 
 embrace more than had become matter of tradition 
 or historic testimony. The later facts, those respect- 
 ing which no information could be necessary, and no 
 doubt existed, would naturally be less distinctly 
 noticed. Thus, the circumstances of the Birth of 
 Christ would require to be more particularly narrated 
 tiian those of his Resurrection and Ascension, not as 
 being of superior importance, but as coming less 
 within the range of direct living testimony and 
 familiar knowledge. Had the Gospels been written 
 at a later period, they would have comprised, doubt- 
 less, a more full and exact account of circumstances 
 which are but referred to as matters of notoriety. 
 
 L 2 
 
148 ON HARMOMES 
 
 We find, indeed, that the Gospels last written 'are 
 the most minute ; and thus, the very omissions 
 afford an indirect proof of early date, as well as a 
 mark of genuineness. The oral teaching of the 
 Apostles, however, which is substantially preserved 
 in the Acts and in the Epistles, preceded the written 
 Gospels, and was necessary to explain them, sup- 
 plying the evidence of the facts, the fulfilment of the 
 predictions, the reason of the events, recorded by the 
 Evangelists. The Apostolic testimony contained in 
 the several books must, in short, be taken as a whole, 
 in order to our being in a condition to appreciate 
 either its force or its import. No portion is super- 
 fluous ; each reflects light upon the rest ; and in 
 point of fact, Christianity is the product, so to speak, 
 not of the Gospels, but of the whole teaching, 
 historical and doctrinal, contained in the writings 
 of the New Testament, which, ever since the Apos- 
 tolic age, has been received and preserved by the 
 Church as one complete canon, all the books being 
 of equal authority as a record and a rule of faith, and 
 to be rightly understood only when taken altogether! 
 Evidence of ^11. The allegation of the sceptic is, then, absolutely 
 rectioninde- falsc, that the fact of the Resurrection, or our belief 
 the Testi- of that fact, rcsts upon the testimony and details of 
 Evangelists, the Four Evaugclists. ' We believe it,' remarks the 
 learned Michaelis, * because it was believed and 
 known to be certain and true about eighteen hun- 
 dred years ago, and before the Evangelists and the 
 Apostles had written. We beheve it upon the testi- 
 mony of disciples who say, they were themselves 
 eye-witnesses of the fact, — who saw Jesus after his 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. 149 
 
 Resurrection, — who avowed it before the Synod at 
 Jerusalem, although they knew that pain and anguish 
 and misery would follow the avowal ; some of whom 
 sealed with their blood their belief in the fact, (not 
 a belief in an opinion, for opinions will induce men 
 to support their own way of thinking at any risk,) 
 without any of them recalling that belief or disavow- 
 ing their knowledge, without any of them revealing 
 the deceit, if deceit there was, but confirming their 
 mission by the working of miracles and the commu- 
 nication of supernatural gifts ; setting at defiance 
 the Synod of Jerusalem, who never made any judicial 
 inquiry into the subject as to where the body of 
 Jesus was, or whether his disciples had actually stolen 
 it.' * The learned writer goes so far as to contend, 
 that the truth of Christianity is demonstrable apart 
 from the infallibility and inspiration of the Evan- 
 gelists. As historians, simply,- the competency of 
 their testimony does not, indeed, depend upon their 
 having been inspired, since the only qualities requisite 
 to constitute a credible witness are, accurate know- 
 ledge and inflexible integrity ; but, as the depositaries 
 of revealed truth, the stewards of the Divine myste- 
 ries, in which high character they claim to be 
 regarded by all who give credit to their testimony, 
 their qualifications are absolutely dependent upon 
 that Inspiration which secures their infallibility, and 
 stamps upon their communications the seal of Heaven. 
 Two of the four Evangelists were not, indeed, of the 
 number of the Apostles, nor invested with their 
 
 * Michaelis. ' Burial and Resurr. of Jesus Christ.' From the 
 German, 12mo. 1827. 
 
150 ON HARMONIES 
 
 peculiar commission and plenary authority ; but Luke, 
 if, as has been shewn, the same as Silas, was an 
 Acts XV. 32. inspired man, being styled * a prophet,' as well as 
 a coadjutor of one who claimed to be in the highest 
 sense an Apostle ; and a similar character appears to 
 have attached to the fourth Evangelist, Mark, the 
 companion of Peter. If neither Luke nor Mark 
 was an eye-witness, like Matthew and John, of the 
 Eesurrection and Ascension of Christ, yet, both of 
 them were witnesses of the miraculous attestations of 
 those events ; and their contemporary testimony to 
 what was assuredly believed upon such evidence, is 
 as valid and irresistible as the testimony of eye-wit- 
 nesses to the events themselves, out of which that 
 belief sprang. St. Luke has indeed recorded, as of 
 his own knowledge, that which could not have been 
 true, could not have taken place, had not the whole 
 tenor of his Gospel been in accordance with antece- 
 dent facts. For instance, he reports the miracles 
 wrought by the Apostles, which never could have 
 been wrought, had not the power to perform them 
 been bestowed, as they alleged, by Christ himself; 
 and he must have been an eye-witness of those events 
 connected with the first planting of Christianity, 
 which were of as supernatural an order as those 
 upon which Christianity itself is founded. 
 IntrZt § 12. St. Paul, however, distinctly lays claim to the 
 st"?auia character of an original witness to the Eesurrection 
 to^e Re- ^^^ subsequent appearance of Our Lord. In the 
 sunection. xvth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, 
 after enumerating the appearances of Christ to the 
 other Apostles, he adds : " And last of all, he was 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. 151 
 
 seen of me also, as of one bom out of due time." 
 He had previously, in the same Epistle (ch. ix. 1), 
 challenged a denial of his Apostolic authority as 
 derived personally and immediately from Christ : 
 " Am I not an Apostle ? Have I not seen Jesus 
 Christ Our Lord?" The Apostles having been 
 chosen to be witnesses of the Resurrection, it was 
 requisite that St. Paul should also see him risen; 
 and the fact, that Our Lord appeared to him as he 
 was proceeding to Damascus, and addressed him by 
 name, was upon all occasions appealed to by St. Paul, 
 not only as the immediate cause of his conversion, 
 but as the warrant for his Apostolic mission. In the 
 narrative of this event by the sacred Historian, Acts 
 ix., the personal appearance of Christ, though not 
 described, is clearly implied ; and the reality of the 
 transaction is strongly indicated by the manner in 
 which The Lord is recorded to have addressed the 
 astonished zealot ; but, at v. 17, Ananias refers to the 
 appearance of Our Lord : " Brother Saul, the Lord, 
 even Jesus, who appeared unto thee in the way." 
 Again, at ch. xxii. 14, St. Paul himself, in reciting 
 the whole transaction, represents Ananias as saying 
 to him : " The God of our Fathers hath chosen thee, 
 that thou shouldst know his will, and see that Just 
 One, and shouldst hear the voice of his mouth ; for 
 thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou 
 hast seen and heard." From collating the two 
 accounts in the ninth and twenty-second chapters, 
 it must be inferred, that the men by whom Saul was 
 attended, saw the preternatural light, but not the 
 personal appearance, and heard also the sound of the 
 
152 ON HARMONIES 
 
 voice, but not the words or the voice itself. They 
 saw and heard enough, however, to be filled with 
 terror and amazement, and to be competent witnesses 
 of the supernatural character of the occurrence. It 
 was not without reason, then, that St. Paul adduced 
 this appearance of the Eisen and Glorified Jesus as 
 an illustrious evidence of the Resurrection, the more 
 signal as being posterior to his Ascension. We find 
 the Apostle referring to other occasions upon which 
 Our Lord appeared to him ; at Jerusalem, while he 
 
 Acts xxii. was praying in the Temple ; at Corinth ; and when 
 he was suffering under the affliction which he describes 
 
 2 Cor. xii. 9. as " a thom in the flesh ; " but these appearances were 
 more strictly visions, attended by a state of trance, 
 similar to those by which the Prophets of the Old 
 Dispensation were instructed respecting the subject 
 
 Num. xii. 6. of their commission. Such was the remarkable vision 
 
 isa. vi. of the Lord sitting upon a throne, described by Isaiah ; 
 
 Ezek, i. 1 guch the " visions of God " which appeared to Ezekiel ; 
 
 2 ; xi. 24. and those which were seen by Daniel. Of the same 
 
 Dan. vui. _ , * , , 
 
 description, probably, was the vision of the ascended 
 Saviour vouchsafed to Stephen, the proto-martyr ; 
 as well as the appearances described by the Apostle 
 John in the first chapter of the Apocalypse, and 
 throughout that wonderful work. These visions dif- 
 fered from dreams, inasmuch as they were not mere 
 impressions made upon the brain during sleep. The 
 state of trance resembles more closely the pheno- 
 mena of somnambulism. Thus, we find Balaum 
 describing himself as seeing the vision of the 
 Almighty, " falling into a trance, but having his 
 Num.xxiv. eyes open." St. Paul, speaking of the visions and 
 
OF THE GOSPELS. 133 
 
 revelations made to him, probably in the same state 
 of trance, confesses that he was unable to tell whe- 
 ther it was in the body or out of the body that he 
 was caught up into Paradise. The language of 
 Ezekiel suggests a similar state : " And he put forth 
 the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my 
 head, and the spirit lift me up between the earth and 
 the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God 
 to Jerusalem." But, although these waking visions Ezek.viii.3. 
 differed in some remarkable respects from dreams, 
 they appear to have been, like dreams, confined to 
 the consciousness of the individual, the appearances 
 and voices not being perceptible by the observation 
 of others. It is evident, that the appearance of 
 Christ to Saul was of a totally different character, 
 and as really personal as his appearance when trans- 
 figured before his suffering, or as any other appear- 
 ance after his Resurrection ; since, as regards the re- 
 fulgent light, exceeding the noontide sunshine in 
 brightness, and the sound of the voice, it was witnessed 
 by the attendants. It is for this reason that St. Paul 
 refers to this sight of Christ by himself, and to this 
 alone, among the evidences of Our Lord's Resurrec- 
 tion. It was a fact notorious to the Church, that he 
 had " seen Jesus Christ Our Lord."* The testimony 
 
 * ' If Paul did not see Jesus in person at the time of his conver- 
 sion, when did he so see him ? Some may say, at the time men- 
 tioned, Acts xxii. 17 — 21 But I cannot persuade myself that this 
 
 is what Paul intended, when he said to the Corinthians, " Have I 
 not seen Jesus Christ Our Lord?" Nor when he says afterwards in 
 the same Epistle, " And last of all he was seen of me also," &c. 
 For there, as I apprehend, he must mean seeing Jesus Christ in per- 
 son, waking and with eyes open. Which is quite different from what 
 
154 ON HARMONIES OF THE GOSPELS. 
 
 of St. Paul, therefore, is as important as that of any 
 one of the Apostles and Evangelists, by whom the 
 converted persecutor of the faith which he afterwards 
 spent his whole life in proclaiming, was regarded as ^ 
 brother and a colleague equal in authority to them- 
 selves. Yet, in histories constructed on the basis 
 simply of the Four Gospels, the testimony of St. 
 Paul to the Resurrection is overlooked, together with 
 the most important portion of the Apostolic testimony 
 as comprised in the Acts and the Epistles. 
 
 happens in a dream, vision, trance, ecstasy." Lardner, vol. v. pp. 
 490, 491. 
 
THE EPISTLES OF JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 155 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 THE EPISTLES OF JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 
 
 THE CATHOLIC EPISTLES ORDER OP THE EPISTLES NOT DETER- 
 MINED BY THEIR DATE EPISTLE OF JAMES I ITS CANONICITY, 
 
 WHY QUESTIONED NOT OPPOSED TO THE PAULINE DOCTRINE 
 
 ANALYSIS OF THE EPISTLE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER : ARGU- 
 MENT FOR ITS EARLY DATE ITS HARMONY 'WITH THE PAULINE 
 
 WRITINGS ANALYSIS OF THE EPISTLE — ITS HARMONY WITH 
 
 THE ORAL TEACHING OF PETER IN THE ACTS TRADITION 
 
 RELATING TO PBTEr's MARTYRDOM HIS SECOND EPISTLE: 
 
 ANALYSIS COINCIDENCE WITH THE EPISTLE OF JUDE EXPLAINED 
 
 IMPORT OF THE PHRASE, " THE LAST DAYS" EPISTLE OF 
 
 JUDE : OBJECTIONS TO ITS CANONICITY EXAMINED PROPHECY 
 
 OF ENOCH IMPORT OP THE PHRASE, " THE BODY OF MOSES" 
 
 ANALYSIS OF THE EPISTLE. 
 
 § 1 . Of the Eight Writers of the books comprised The order 
 in the Canon of the New Testament, we have now Epistles not 
 examined more particularly the four who are usually by their 
 distinguished as the Evangelists, although to two of 
 them belongs the higher appellation of Apostles, and 
 the title of Evangelist is given, in the New Testa- 
 ment, not to writers, but to preachers of the Gospel. Lardner, 
 We have seen, that these documents were not the 
 first written of the Christian Scriptures, and that 
 they receive important and indispensable illustration 
 from the facts imbodied in the historical testimony 
 
156 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 and written communications preserved to us in the 
 other portions of the sacred volume. The parallel 
 passages which have been cited, if not direct quota- 
 tions from the Evangelists, show the harmony between 
 the Gospels and the Epistles. In now proceeding to 
 examine more in detail the writings of James, Peter, 
 Jude, and Paul, in reference to their specific design, 
 occasion, and purport, we shall endeavour to trace 
 their connexion and harmony with the historic narra- 
 tive, and to ascertain the true chronology of the New 
 Testament. 
 
 What reasons soever led to the adoption of the 
 present order in which the Epistles are given, it is 
 indisputable, that that order has not been determined 
 by their respective dates, since all critics agree in 
 opinion, that the Epistles to the Thessalonians yfe% 
 the earliest of the Pauline writings. The Epistle to 
 Lardner, the Romans was placed first, as Theodoret observes, 
 
 vol. V]. . ■"■ 
 
 pp. 337, 8. either as bemg the most elaborate and important, or 
 else as being addressed to a body of Christians resi- 
 dent in the Imperial Metropolis. As Corinth ranked 
 next to Rome, that may have been the reason for 
 giving the second place to the Epistles addressed to 
 the Church at Corinth. We are, indeed, at a loss to 
 account for the interposing of the Epistle to the 
 Christians of Philippi between two Epistles addressed 
 to Asiatic Churches, in disregard of their close con- 
 nexion in point of matter and date, unless the 
 arrangement had some reference to the dignity and 
 rank of the city. Not less difficult of explanation is 
 the place assigned in the Canon to those which are 
 styled CathoHc Epistles ; a designation of ancient 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 157 
 
 origin, but doubtful import ; sotne understanding it 
 as implying that they were addressed to Christians in 
 general or of several countries ; others, that they were 
 universally received as canonical. One might have huk, vol. ii. 
 expected to find the first place assigned to the Epistles iirfner, 
 of St. Peter, whom ancient writers exalt as the chief ^^-^'-p-^"^- 
 and primate of the Apostles, and of whom the Bishops 
 of Rome claimed to be the successors. Instead of 
 this, not only is the precedence given to St. Paul, 
 who, as a writer, might claim such pre-eminencej 
 but, among the Catholic Epistles, a priority is given 
 to that of St. James ; although, in some ancient. cata- Laidner, 
 logues, this order is reversed, that of James being p ioi.' 
 placed last Eusebius, indeed, distinguishes the First 
 Epistle of John and the First of Peter, which were 
 universally received, from the other five, respecting 
 which some doubt was entertained, though without 
 sufficient ground. 
 
 THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 ^ 2. The reason that the Epistle of James was not, in The Epistle 
 the time of Eusebius, universally received as canonical,* why not 
 
 . , 1 1 1 • 1 universally 
 
 (althouffh incorporated with the sacred books in the received as 
 
 ^ " ^ , canonical. 
 
 Syriac and other ancient Versions, and commonly 
 read in most churches, with the other Epistles,) was, 
 the doubt which had arisen, whether the writer of it 
 was an Apostle. Whatever other grounds for hesita- 
 tion in receiving it as a part of canonical Scripture, 
 may have been assigned in later times, they were not 
 
 * It is apparently referred to by Clement of Rome, and in the 
 Epistle of Hermas, and is recognised as canonical by Chrysostom and 
 TJtedoret. 
 
168 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 known to early antiquity ; and the only question was, 
 whether St. James the Lord's brother, sumamed the 
 Just, to whom the Epistle was generally ascribed, was 
 the same as James the son of Alphseus, and conse- 
 quently one of the Twelve. That this should have been 
 doubted, (as it appears to have been by Eusebius,) is 
 a singular proof of the unsoundness and uncertainty 
 of ancient opinion. That James the Lord's Brother 
 is the same as the Son of Alphseus (or Cleophas), is 
 allowed by Epiphanius, Chrysostom, and Theophylact; 
 and his relationship to Our Lord is explained in two 
 ways. Epiphanius supposes, that Cleophas (Klopas) 
 and Joseph were brothers, and that, the former dying 
 without issue, Joseph raised up seed to his brother. 
 Origen aflBrms, that the brethren of Jesus were the 
 sons of Joseph by a former wife. Jerome appears to 
 have been the first who suggested the more probable 
 explanation ; that those who are called Our Lord's 
 brethren in the Gospels, were his cousins or kinsmen, 
 the sons of Mary, his mothers sister; an opinion 
 embraced by Augustine, and by the majority both of 
 See Lard- Komanists and Protestants. This question, happily 
 
 nqr, vol. vi. .... ' ± x j 
 
 p. 186. one of no mtnnsic importance, is pronounced by 
 Neander one of the most difficult in the Apostolic 
 history ; and it has employed the ingenuity of several 
 German critics without any very satisfactory result.* 
 Mr. Greswell, in a dissertation upon the subject, 
 
 Gresweii,^ remarks, that Jude, as the brother of James, must 
 have had either the same father or the same mother ; 
 but he is never called, like James, the Brother of 
 
 vol. ii. p. 125. 
 
 * Especially Schneckenburger, Credner, and Hug. See, also, Dr. 
 
 Wait's Preface to his Translation of Hug's Introduction, pp. xliv 
 
 liv ; and the Notes to vol. ii. § cli. 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 169 
 
 Our Lord ; nor is he mentioned as the son of that 
 Mary who was the mother of James and Joses. He 
 might, however, be the son of Alphseus. Mr. Gres- 
 well conjectures, that Alphseus was married to two 
 wives; one, the mother of Jude the Apostle, the 
 other, Mary, the cousin of the Virgin, and mother of 
 James and Joses, the aStXpoJ of Christ. He supposes, 
 further, that this Mary also ' was twice married, 
 once to Alphseus, and again to Klopas,* as whose 
 wife she is mentioned by the Evangelist John ; Johnxix.2S. 
 while Hug and others consider Alphseus and Elopas 
 as different forms of the same Hebrew name, and 
 consequently, as denoting the same individual. Euse- Hug, vol. ii. 
 bius, however, speaks of this Mary as the daughter, tardu'er, 
 not the wife of Klopas, so filling up the ellipsis at 
 John xix. 25. All that appears certain is, that James . 
 the son of Alphseus, was nearly related to Our Lord ; 
 and that, to distinguish him from the other Apostle 
 of the same name, the son of Zebedee, he was, on the 
 ground of that relationship, designated as Our Lord's 
 Brother. Yet, he would seem to have been not the 
 only one among the Apostles who stood in this near 
 relation to Christ ; since St. Paul, in writing to the 
 Corinthians, refers to the brethren of the Lord and i Cor. ix. s. 
 Cephas as among " the other Apostles ; " for we can- 
 not suppose that he intended to distinguish them, 
 any more than Peter, fi'om the Apostles. There 
 were, however, brethren of Jesus, not Apostles, among 
 the hundred and twenty disciples who assembled at 
 Jerusalem after the Ascension. It is obvious, there- Acts i. it. 
 fore, that the designation could not have been given 
 
 * K\ajras, not K\e(nras, which is supposed to be a"*Greek name, 
 abbreviated from K\eoiraTpi)S'. 
 
160 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 to the Son of Alphaeus by way of pre-eminence, or a 
 an exclusive distinction, but was intended simply t( 
 prevent his being mistaken for the Son of Zebedee ; a 
 
 Mark XT. 40. he is styled by Mark, "James the Less," or rather 
 
 voLvi.p.i92. " the Little," probably in allusion to his stature. Then 
 is no reason to suppose that he was more nearly relatec 
 to Our Lord than the other disciples who are stylec 
 his brethren ; and as this term can denote no more ii 
 the one case than in the other, we must conclude, tha 
 it was equivalent to kinsmen. The Mother of Oui 
 Lord, after the death of Joseph, appears to have re 
 moved to Capernaum, and there taken up her residenci 
 with some of her relatives ; so that Our Lord anc 
 
 johnvii.fi. thosc who are called his brethren (all of whom die 
 not believe upon him) composed one family. W( 
 . find, on one occasion, his Mother, attended by thiesi 
 brethren, desiring to speak to him; on which Oui 
 Lord declared, that he regarded his disciples anc 
 those who obeyed his Heavenly Father, as standing 
 to him in place of those human relations, or as con^ 
 nected with him by higher and holier ties. Yet 
 upon the Cross, he committed his Mother to th( 
 guardianship of John the son of Zebedee ; which is 
 adduced by ancient writers as a proof that she wai 
 
 Lardner, not Only a widow, but had no children of her own 
 And certainly, had James been her son, or even hei 
 step-son, it can scarcely be supposed that Our Lore 
 would have transferred the charge of protecting his 
 Mother to another Apostle who sustained no sucl 
 relation. _ 
 
 There is no room, then, to doubt that the Apostk 
 James, the son of Alphseus, and Our Lord's kinsman 
 is the same that, on account of his eminent reputatioi 
 
JAMKS, PETER, AND JUDE. KU 
 
 for sanctity, even among his unbelieving countrymen, 
 was called the Just, and whom the ecclesiastical 
 writers represent to have been appointed the first 
 bishop of Jerusalem. We are not to infer from this, 
 Dr. Burton remarks, that he bore that appellation ; 
 * but the writers who applied to him this title, looked 
 rather to its primary meaning of an inspector or over- 
 seer, than to the sense which it*a,cquired when church 
 government was more uniformly established ; and, 
 by calling James the first bishop of Jerusalem, they 
 meant, that the Christians of that city, who undoubt- 
 edly amounted to some thousands, were confided to 
 his care, when the Apostles found .themselves so 
 frequently called away.' * Lardner remarks, that 
 ' everything said of James (subsequently to the choice 
 of the seven deacons), implies his presiding in the 
 church of Jerusalem.' This, he concludes to be the 
 reason that St. Paul, in mentioning the three chiefs 
 who were pillars of the church (Gal. ii. 9), with 
 whom he conferred at Jerusalem, narnes James first ; 
 and he draws the same inference from the language 
 of Peter, Acts xii. 12, "Go shew these things to 
 James and the Brethren ; " — from Gal. ii. 1 1, 12, — 
 " before certain came from James ; " — and from the 
 part which this Apostle appears to have taken in the 
 council of the Apostles and elders at Jerusalem, Acts 
 XV. ' After there had been much disputing, Peter 
 spoke, and then Barnabas and Paul ; after all which, 
 
 * Burton's History of the Christian Church, p. 54. The learned 
 Writer doubts whether James the Just, to whom he ascribes the 
 Epistle, was an Apostle ; assigning no better reason 'than ' the opi- 
 nion of a majority of the early writers.' 
 
 M 
 
162 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 James speaks last, sums up the argument, and pro 
 poses the terms upon which the Gentiles should b( 
 received.' Once more, when Paul went up to Jeru 
 salem about Pentecost, a. d. 58, the day after ou 
 arrival, Paul, says the sacred Historian, " went in witl 
 Lardner, US uuto Jamcs, and all the elders were present." (Act 
 
 vol. vi. . - ■_ V 
 
 pp. 165, 6. XXI. 17.) 
 
 The martyrdom of James, according to Eusebius 
 took place within four years afterwards, under th< 
 following circumstances : ' When Paul had appealec 
 to Caesar, and Festus had sent him to Rome, th< 
 Jews, disappointed in their design against him, tumec 
 their rage against James, the Lord's Brother, to whon 
 the Apostles had assigned the episcopal chair ai 
 Jerusalem. Having laid hold of him, they requirec 
 him, in the presence of all the people, to renounce 
 his faith in Christ. But he, with freedom and bold- 
 ness beyond expectation, before all the multitude 
 declared Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to b( 
 the Son of God. They, not enduring the testimony 
 of a man who was in high esteem for his piety, laid 
 hold of the opportunity, when the country was with- 
 out a governor, to put him to death. For, Festus 
 having died about that time in Judea, the province 
 had no procurator. The manner of the death oi 
 James was, .... that he was thrown from the battle- 
 ment of the temple, and then beat to death by a club.' 
 Eusebius proceeds to cite a more particular account oi 
 this transaction from Hegesippus, whose narrative, 
 however, must be regarded as containing much that is 
 unlikely and probably fictitious. He represents the 
 Apostle to have been a Nazarite from his birth, an 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 163 
 
 ascetic of the strictest kind ; and to him alone, it is 
 added, was it lawful to enter the holy place. Euse- 
 bius fiirther subjoins the account of the death of <■ 
 James, which he states to be given by Josephus, but 
 which, in many points, is irreconcileable with the'story 
 told by Hegesippus, as it makes the Apostle to have 
 been stoned, with some others, by order of the Younger 
 Ananus, then high-priest, in the interval between the 
 death of Festus and the arrival of Albinus his successor. 
 Dr. Lardner, with other learned writjers, considers the 
 reference to James, in the passage cited from Jose- 
 phus, as an ancient interpolation.* Origen cites 
 Josephus as bearing a very singular testimony to the 
 reputation of James for virtue, and as ascribing the 
 suJBTerings of the Jews to the anger of God for what 
 they did to James, the brother of Jesus called Christ. 
 'And it is wonderful,' adds this a,ncient Writer, 
 ' that he who did not believe our Jesus to be the 
 Christ, should bear such a testimony to James.' cited by 
 Eusebius cites Josephus also, as affirming that ' these voi.Ti.p.i73. 
 things befel the Jews in vindication of James the 
 Just, who was brother of Jesus called the Christ.' 
 No such passage, however, is now to be found in the 
 writings of Josephus; and there seems to be good 
 reason for distrusting the accuracy of the citation of 
 his testimony by the Christian writers. The account 
 of the death of James given by Hegesippus, Lardner 
 regards as substantially the true one, but it leaves 
 uncertain the date. Whether Eusebius had any other 
 authority than the passage cited from Josephus, for 
 
 * Lardner, vol. vi. pp. 181, 497. Mr. Greswell (vol. ii. p. 82) 
 contends for the genuineness of the passage. 
 
 M 2 
 
164 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 fixing it after the death of Festus, and before th( 
 arrival of Albinus, does not appear. All that can be 
 said is, that at no time was it so likely to have occurrec 
 as during such an interregnum ; and Mr. Greswell 
 assuming the correctness of the tradition, fixes th( 
 death of James in the latter half of the eighth of Kero 
 
 ^ A. u. 815, or A.D. 62.* 
 
 How long the Epistle of James was written before hii 
 death, it is not easy to determine. There seems nc 
 reason for assigning to it the latest possible date, rathei 
 than any previous time during the thirty years thai 
 he appears to have presided over the Christian com. 
 munity at Jerusalem. Yet, Professor Hug, having 
 embraced the hypothesis, that this Epistle was writter 
 to. combat the erroneous interpretations that had beer 
 put upon St. Paul's doctrine of Justification withoui 
 works and the efficacy of Failh, in the Epistles to the 
 Romans and the Hebrews, is compelled to assume 
 that it was written after, those Epistles had obtainec 
 circulation. But, as the Epistle to the Romans wa; 
 not composed till the year 58, and that to the Hebrew! 
 probably not before a.d. 63, even if we suppose St 
 James not to have written his Epistle till the last yeai 
 of his life, it must have been of -earlier date than thai 
 to the Hebrews ; nor could that to the Romans have 
 given rise, in the course of so short a time, to the 
 erroneous notions which St. James opposes. 
 
 The Epistle § 3. The opiniou that this Apostle intended te 
 
 not opposed 
 to the Pau- 
 
 trine. " * Greswell, vol. ii. p. 84. Jerome makes St. James to have suf 
 
 fared in the 7th of Nero. Hug would postpone it, to comport witl 
 his theory, till the 10th of Nero. Dr. Burton places the death o 
 both James and Mark in a.d. 62. 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 105 
 
 combat either the Pauline doctrine or a perversion of 
 it, (although it has been prevalent from ancient times, 
 and has furnished some theologians with a reason for 
 rejecting the Epistle,) will appear, on examination, to 
 be quite untenable. Upon this point, Professor 
 Neander has some very judicious remarks. ' The 
 Epistle, as the superscription and contents inform us, 
 was manifestly addressed only to churches that were 
 composed entirely of Jewish Christians. But suqh 
 persons were least of all disposed to attach themselves 
 particularly to Paul, and least of all disposed and 
 fitted to agree to the Pauline doctrine, which pre- 
 sented the most direct opposition to their customary 
 mode of thinking. It was precisely from persons of 
 this stamp, that the intemperate fanatical outcry was 
 raised against this form of Christian doctrine, as if, 
 by depending on grace, men were made secure in sin, 
 or that they were authorized in doing evil that good 
 might come. ... It is impossible to suppose, in an 
 Epistle addressed to such churches as these, any re- 
 ference whatever to the Pauline formula of faith. 
 And even admitting such a reference to exist, yet, the 
 notion that it consisted only in combating a misun- 
 derstanding of the Pauline doctrine, would be wholly 
 untenable. For how can we suppose that James, if 
 he did not intend to contradict Paul, but to maintain 
 apostoUc fellowship with him, and the knowledge of it 
 in the churches,— would not, whildj "combating an 
 erroneous interpretation of the Pauline doctrine, at 
 the same time expressly state the correct interpreta- 
 tion, and guard himself against the appearance of 
 opposition to Paul, especially when an opposition 
 
166 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 might otherwise be so easily imagined by the Jewish 
 Christians ? But, if we assume that the intention of 
 James was really to combat Paul's doctrine, this view 
 would be at variance with what we know from history 
 of the good understanding between the two Apostles ; 
 which cannot be set aside by the fact, that some of 
 Paul's opponents were those who appealed to the 
 authority of James. 
 
 ' Another supposition still remains ; that some one 
 forged the Epistle under James's name, in order to 
 give currency in the church to a belief in the opposi- 
 tion between the two Apostles ; and this design would 
 well suit the one-sided tendency of a Jewish Christian. 
 But such a person would not only have expressed 
 himself in a more decided manner than that James 
 of whose reputation he wished to avail himself; but he 
 would have pointed out by name the individual (Paul) 
 against whom he directed his attack, and would have 
 expressed in stronger terms the censure of his doc- 
 trine. The subordinate place which, in this case, the 
 confutation of the Pauline doctrine occupies in relation 
 to the whole Epistle, eertainly does not agree with 
 this hypothesis. Or, if it be said, that the Author of 
 this Epistle, who presented himself under the mask 
 of James, did not belong to the violent judaizing 
 opponents of Paul, but to a milder, more accommo- 
 dating party, who aimed only at smoothing down the 
 peculiarities of the Pauline scheme of doctrine, .... in 
 this case, there would still have been a necessity for 
 naming him, and explicitly stating that the Writer of 
 the Epistle impugned not his doctrine in itself, but only 
 a harsh and overstrained construction of it. And after 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 167 
 
 all, the singular fact would remain unaccounted for, Neandei's 
 that the main object and design of the Writer occupies chrL°i*^ 
 only a subordinate place in relation to the whole of Ry"^d, ^^ 
 the Epistle.' I^ie.^^" 
 
 Since, then, agreeably to the learned Author's con- Marks of 
 elusion, a reference to the Pauline doctrine is not *'''^^ 
 indicated in this Epistle, that mark is withdrawn, by 
 which it has been thought that the late period of its 
 composition could be proved : in order, therefore, to 
 determine its probable date, we must seek for other 
 marks in the Epistle itself Dr. Neander is inclined 
 to fix the date of the Epistle ' at a time preceding 
 the separate formation of Gentile Christian churches, 
 before the relation of Gentiles and Jews to one ano- 
 ther in the Christian church had been brought under 
 discussion ; the period of the first spread of Christianity 
 in iSyria, Gihcia, and the adjacent regions.' That is 
 to say, prior to the year 45. This opinion makes it 
 to have been the first written of all the Epistles in 
 the New Testament. In support of this view, Dr. 
 Neander remarks, that the churches, or rather syna- 
 gogues, to which it was addressed, ' were so consti- 
 tuted that, in many cases, their Christianity consisted 
 only in the acknowledgment of Jesus as the Messiah, 
 and of his peculiar moral precepts, which they con- 
 sidered as the perfecting of the law. Since they 
 were far from recognizing and appropriating the real 
 essence of Christianity, they resembled the great 
 mass of the Jewish nation, in the predominance of a 
 carnal mind, and the prevalence of worldly lusts, 
 contention, and slander. Accordingly, either we 
 must assume,' he thinks, ' that Christianity among 
 
168 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 them was still novel, and had not yet penetrated the 
 life ; (as, from the beginning, there were many among 
 the Jews who, carried away by the impression which 
 the extraordinary operations of the Apostles had made 
 upon them, and attracted by the hope that Jesus 
 would soon return and establish his kingdom upon 
 earth, made a profession of Christianity without having 
 experienced any essential change of character ; ) or 
 we must suppose that these churches had sunk into a 
 state of degeneracy from a higher standing-point of 
 the Christian life.' The latter supposition is of 
 course incompatible with an early date, and it seems 
 by far the less probable explanation. Moreover, it 
 is remarked by the learned Writer, ' there was in the 
 constitution of these churches this peculiarity ; that, as 
 the direction of the oflBce of teaching had not been 
 committed to the presbytery, but only the outward 
 management of church affairs, many members of the 
 community came forward as teachers, while no one 
 acted officially in that capacity. Hence, James 
 deemed it needful to admonish them, that too many 
 ought not to obtrude themselves as teachers ; that 
 none ought inconsiderately to speak in their public 
 meetings ; but that each should recollect the respon- 
 sibility he incurred by such a procedure (James i. 
 Neaiider, 19; iii. 1, 2.) ' In thcsc cxhortatious, the Apostle 
 19. 2d- closely follows in the steps of his Divine Master. 
 
 Indeed, the whole Epistle, as has already been 
 
 remarked, strikingly corresponds to Our Lord's teach' 
 
 Seep. 99. iug, both in the matter and the manner. And it is 
 
 not impossible, as Neander suggests, that, although 
 
 the Apostle addressed his Epistle especi9.11y to Chris- 
 
JA-MES, PETER, AND JUDE. 160 
 
 tian Jews, he had also in his thoughts the Jewish 
 readers into whose hands it might fall, as Christians 
 lived among the Jews without any marked separation ; 
 and in some parts, he evidently points to the conduct 
 of the Jewish people at large, and of the rich among 
 them more particularly. In addressing the Twelve 
 Tribes of the Dispersion, he would call them his 
 brethren, irrespectively of their having embraced the 
 Christian faith.* 
 
 Viewed in this light, the Epistle of St. James may 
 be regarded as the link between the teaching of Our 
 Lord as contained in the Gospels, and the fuller de- 
 velopment of the Christian system in the inspired 
 teaching of his Apostles. Every thing concurs to ren- 
 der probable its early date ; that is, not later than about 
 A.D. 45. Yet, we have a sufficient reason for not as- 
 signing it a much earlier date, since, had James the Son 
 of Zebedee been living, the Writer would have added 
 to his own name some distinguishing appellative. f 
 
 § 4. The Epistle consists for the most part, like Our Analysis of 
 Lord's discourses, of a string of apophthegms, and 
 scarcely admits, therefore, of analysis. Immediately 
 after the Salutation to the Twelve Tribes of the 
 Dispersion, it opens with an exhortation to his bre- 
 thren, to rejoice in the trial of their faith and con- 
 
 * Lardner thinks, that the Epistle was written to all Jews, in 
 and out of Judea, there heing no limitation restraining it to Chris- 
 tians ; ' nor does he wish them grace or peace from Jesus Christ.' 
 Divers passages, he thinks, must be understood as addressed to un- 
 believing Jews. Lardner, vol. vi. p. 200. 
 
 t The apparent allusions to the Gospel of Matthew in ' this 
 Epistle, furnish another reason for this conclusion, although portions 
 of that Gospel might be extant even previously to the date assigned 
 for its composition, viz. between a.d. 41 and 44. See pp. 31, 36, 99. 
 
170 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 stancy, on account of the reward promised to them 
 that endure trial; a strain of admonition strikingly 
 corresponding to that which commences what is 
 termed the Sermon on the Mount. The Apostle 
 directs them, however, to seek wisdom from above, 
 by asking for it in faith and simplicity of heart. 
 Having spoken of the blessedness of the man that 
 endures trial, or the test of suffering, he guards them 
 against ascribing to God those trials, or temptations, 
 which spring from man's sinful nature, and the cause 
 of which lies in ourselves. God is the source of all 
 good, unchangeablfe in his perfections ; and the end 
 for which in his sovereign purpose he regenerates his 
 people by the word of truth, is, that they may be holy 
 to Himself, — a kind of first-fruits of his creatures. 
 Having mentioned the word of truth, (by which 
 we must understand the Gospel or Christian doctrine 
 as preached by the Apostles,) St. James proceeds 
 to exhort them, as beloved brethren, to lay aside all 
 contention and angry emulation, (referring probably 
 to their fierce logomachies or party contests,) and to 
 receive with meekness the ingrafted doctrine which 
 alone would save their souls; (an expression sug- 
 gested, possibly, by tHe Parable of the Sower, and 
 implying, that the word must be sown or implanted 
 in the heart ;) and he cautions them against being 
 forgetful and unprofitable hearers ; declaring all pre- 
 tentions to piety vain, which are not accompanied 
 with the government of the tongue, deeds of benefi- 
 cence, and spotlessness of character. Next, he 
 enjoins it upon those who held the Christian faith, to 
 show to their brethren of every condition an equal 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 171 
 
 regard, and not to despise the poor ; a respect of 
 persons on the ground of their wealth, being incon- 
 sistent with the spirit of the great commandment, 
 "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself;" and 
 those who showed no mercy to others, having only to 
 look for judgment without mercy. The Apostle 
 then exposes the hypocrisy of a man's pretending 
 to have faith, or to believe, while his works do not 
 answer to his words. Words will not clothe the 
 naked, or feed the hungry ; and so, that faith which 
 is not shown in any practical fruits, is dead and 
 worthless. Of this description is the mere belief of 
 the Jew, that there is but one God; for demons 
 believe this, and tremble. This illustration seems to de- 
 note, that James is not addressing Christian believers 
 exclusively, or referring to the faith of the Gospel. 
 The Jews boasted of their creed ; and the Apostle 
 proceeds to show, from their own Scriptures, that the 
 faith in God which was imputed to Abraham for 
 righteousness, and which entitled him to the honour- 
 able designation of the Friend of God, was attested by 
 his obedience. It is by works, therefore, not by faith 
 only, a bare creed, that a man's character is attested 
 or justified. In like manner, Kahab showed her faith 
 by her works. The Apostle next adverts more 
 specifically to an evil already glanced at, their fond- 
 ness for setting up as teachers and censors, and the 
 unbridled license which such persons gave to their 
 tongue, in invectives and anathemas. To check the 
 former, he reminds them, that they would, by judging 
 others, expose themselves to the severer condemna- 
 tion : the latter vice, he exposes with great force of 
 
172 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 language by a series of striking metaphors. He 
 concludes this head of exhortation by contrasting 
 with the disputatious, envious, angry spirit of the 
 schools of earthly wisdom, the pure, peaceful, gentle, 
 and beneficent character of heavenly wisdom. As- 
 suming now a tone of severer rebuke, he indignantly 
 expatiates upon their conflicts and feuds, arising out 
 of their covetousness and sensuality; and recalls to 
 their recollection the declaration of Scripture, that 
 no one could love the world without being the enemy 
 See p. 98. of God. To correct this strong master passion, the 
 propensity to envy and covetousness, he reminds 
 them, that God had promised to bestow his grace 
 upon the humble ; and he exhorts them, therefore, to 
 submit to God and resist the Devil, who would then 
 flee from them,— alluding, probably, to the accounts 
 of the Temptation, and Satan's being put to flight 
 by Our Lord's rebuke. In the succeeding sentences, 
 he urges it upon the sinner and h5rpocrite to repent 
 and humble themselves sorrowfully before God. 
 Again addressing them as brethren, he warns them 
 against calumniating or sitting in judgment upon 
 each other,- so usurping the prerogative of the 
 Supreme Lawgiver who alone can save or destroy. 
 Next he reproves the presumption of those who 
 formed their worldly projects without reference to 
 the uncertainty of life and the permissive will and 
 providence of God. He then apostrophizes the rich 
 in terms partly borrowed from the ancient prophets, 
 with a sort of prophetic vehemence predicting the 
 calamities which should come upon them. He charges 
 them with oppression and rapacity which called out 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 173 
 
 for Divine retribution, winding up the solemn accusa- 
 tion with their having condemned and murdered 
 " the Just One." * Turning then to the Christian 
 brethren who were suffering under oppression and 
 persecution, he exhorts thera to be patient, for the 
 advent of the Lord, the righteous Judge, was drawing 
 nigh. He admonishes them against the use of pro- 
 fane oaths ; enjoins prayer as the best balm of 
 affliction, and thanksgiving as the best mirth ; re- 
 commends that the sick should send for the elders 
 of the congregation, by whom, in answer to the 
 prayer of faith, the gift of healing should be exer- 
 cised ; encourages them to pray for one another 
 under such circumstances, and illustrates the efficacy 
 of earnest, energetic prayer by the example of Elijah. 
 Finally, to encourage them in thus interceding for 
 each other, and supplicating Divine forgiveness, the 
 Apostle reminds them, that he who should turn a 
 sinner from the error of his way, would save a soul 
 from death, and hide from view a multitude of sins, so i joim 
 
 It is remarkable, that the Epistle seems to end 
 abruptly, without any Christian or Apostolic bene- 
 diction; which confirms the idea, that it was not 
 directed to Christian Jews exclusively, but was rather 
 a homiletic address to the Jewish people at large. 
 Lardner has cited from the Venerable Bede's Expo- 
 sition of the Epistle, a comment upon the first verse, 
 in which, referring the ' dispersion ' to the scattering 
 of the church that took place after the. death of 
 
 * On comparing this expression with the language of Stephen, 
 Acts vii. 52, and with Acts xxii. 14, there will appear no room to 
 doubt that Our Lord is referred to. 
 
 16. 
 
174 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 Stephen, he says : ' James writes this Epistle to those 
 who were scattered abroad and suflFered persecution 
 for the sake of righteousness ; nor to them only, but 
 also to those who, though they had believed in 
 Christ, were not careful to be perfect in good works, 
 as what follows in the Epistle plainly shows; and 
 likewise to such as continued unbelieving, and to the 
 utmost of their power persecuted those who believed.' 
 There is nothing in the Epistle unsuitable to the 
 circumstances of the period immediately following 
 upon the martyrdom of Stephen ; and it might have 
 been appropriately written by the Proto-martyr him- 
 self. 
 
 THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETEB. 
 
 inqiiiry as § 5. The First Epistlc of Peter is commonly supposed 
 
 to the date , , ., „ i i- 
 
 of the First to havc been written about a.d. 64 ; but this suppo- 
 Peter. sitiou rcsts entirely upon the erroneous assumption, 
 that it was written from Rome, taken in connection 
 with the generally admitted conclusion, that the 
 Apostle could not have visited that metropohs at an 
 earlier period.* No reUance can be placed upon the 
 testimony of Tradition on this point ; and an atten- 
 tive comparison of the Epistle with historical facts, 
 will lead to the conclusion, that it was written many 
 years before, and that it even preceded the earliest of 
 St. Paul's Epistles. 
 
 From comparing 1 Pet. iv. 16, " If any man 
 
 *: Baronius and some others assign it to the year 44, but upon no 
 ground that will bear examination. And Cave remarks : ' This 
 cannot be, Peter not being at Borne at that time.' 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 175 
 
 suffer as a Christian," with the statement, Acts xi. 
 26, that " the disciples were called Christians first in 
 Antioch," it is inferred, that the Epistle of Peter 
 could not have been written before the time at which 
 that appellation had become common, and therefore 
 not earlier than a.d. 42, the second year of Claudius 
 Caesar. And up to that time, the Apostles appear 
 to have resided in Judea. The martyrdom of James 
 the son of Zebedee, and the imprisonment of Peter, 
 are fixed by Mr. Greswell as having taken place at 
 the Passover of a.d. 43. Peter, on his escape, left a.u. 7S6. 
 Jerusalem, and departed " to another place." He Acts xii. 17. 
 would be likely to withdraw fi'om the dominions of 
 the king ; and some commentators have fixed upon this 
 period for his supposed first visit to Rome. It seems 
 far more probable, that he would repair to Antioch ; 
 whence, in the prosecution of his mission to the Cir- 
 cumcision, he would find it easy to proceed to visit 
 the Jewish colonies beyond the Euphrates. We find, 
 fi-om Gal. ii., that Peter came to Antioch while Paul 
 and Barnabas were staying there, and that he at first 
 fi-eely mingled with the Gentile converts; but, on 
 the arrival of some Jewish zealots from Jerusalem, he 
 separated himself, which drew upon him the faithful 
 rebuke of Paul. The date of this interview is fixed 
 by Mr.- Greswell, a.d. 52, and by Dr. Lardner, a.d. 
 50, agreeably to the general opinion, that it took 
 place after what has been called the Council of 
 Jerusalem, recorded Acts xv., which was held about 
 A.D. 60 or 49.* In that case, Peter must have re- 
 turned to Jerusalem subsequently to his imprison- 
 
 * Lardner says, 49 or 50 ; Greswell, ' about 48.' 
 
176 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 ment, and before his visit to Antioch. Still, in the 
 interval between a.d. 43 and 48, there would be 
 ample time for his journeying into distant parts. 
 Basnage, however, forcibly contends, that the inter- 
 view at Antioch must have occurred prior to the 
 Council of Jerusalem, since the dissimulation of 
 Peter would otherwise have been at variance with 
 voTv"p23i *^® decision of that synod, and without sufficient 
 motive. Nothing is more likely than that the arrival 
 of certain men from Judea, mentioned Acts xv. 1, 
 which gave rise to the council, is the same circum- 
 stance that is alluded to. Gal. ii. 12, in connection 
 with Peters conduct. Besides which, it is evident, 
 that, at the time, Paul and Barnabas were together ; 
 whereas, very shortly after their return to Antioch 
 from Jerusalein, they separated. We may therefore 
 date the arrival of Peter at Antioch about a.d. 47, or 
 early in a.d. 48 ; which still leaves the same interval 
 of four or five years for his apostolic travels. 
 
 That Peter did not visit Rome in this ' interval, is 
 certain ; first, because it is incredible, that he should 
 have been there before the Apostle Paul, and no 
 notice of the fact have been taken in the Epjstle to 
 the Eomans ; and secondly, because the vague tradi- 
 tion which is the only authority for Ms/ever having 
 visited Rome, makes Peter to have come .thither in 
 the reigii of Nei-o, about the year 63 or, 64. His 
 first Epistle is dated from Babylon ; - and. the an- 
 cient supposition that, under this name,- Rome was 
 intended, is one of the most unfounded ctuSjfectureis that 
 ever obtained the stamp of Tradition. Yet, it is men- 
 tioned by Eusebius as a prevailing opinion, and has 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 177 
 
 been eagerly adopted by writers of the Eoman com- 
 munion, in order to prove the contested point'of St. 
 Peter's residence in the imperial metropolis ; while 
 Protestant controvertists have favoured "a ' notion 
 which seemed to identify Eome, Papal as well as 
 Pagan, with the mystical Babylon.* No conceivable 
 reason, however, can be assigned, why Peter should 
 refer to the city from which he was sending saluta- 
 tions to the Asiatic Christians, under a figurative 
 name, when Paul, in writing to the Eomans and in 
 Epistles written fi-om Eome, uses no such reserve. 
 There could scarcely have arisen any diflerence of 
 opinion as to the place from which Peter dated his 
 Epistle, had not the Assyrian Babylon of the Old 
 Testament been the only city of that name known 
 to the Western Christians, the site of which had 
 long been reduced to utter desolation. But not only 
 might the name be understood (as Wetstein suggests) 
 of the region, which still comprehends several small 
 towns ;■!" there is historical evidence, that Seleucia, 
 which was built out of the ruins of the ancient city, 
 was known, in the Apostolic age, under the name of 
 Babylon. That Seleucia was the place from which 
 Peter dated his Epistle, there is little reason to ques- 
 
 * It has been sanctioned by Grotiujs, Cave, Whitby, and Lardner, 
 but is rejected by Greswell (vol. i. p. 127), as the most unnatural, 
 uncritical, and unsound imaginable. 
 
 t In Lardner, vol. vi. p. 266. Milman ' believes with Lightfoot, 
 that Babylonia was the scene of St. Peter's labours ;' and remarks, 
 that both Josephus, and Philo in two places, name Babylon ag the 
 habitation of the Great Eastern settlement. Hist, of Christianity, 
 b. i. c. 2 ; b. ii. c. 3. The notion, espoused by Greswell, (following 
 Le Clerc and Pearson,) that Babylon in Egypt is intended, is without 
 any support from evidence. 
 
 N 
 
178 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 tion. At that period, the city still retained the 
 genuine character of a Grecian colony, governed, as 
 an independent republic, by a senate of three hun- 
 dred nobles, while the people are said to have 
 included 600,000 citizens. The Jews were at one 
 Josephus, period very numerous ; and they could not have 
 c.9,'§8."' been overlooked or neglected by the Apostle of the 
 Circumcision. Between Antioch and Seleucia, there 
 must have been a constant commercial intercourse, 
 so that the Gospel would at an early period have 
 spread from the Syrian capital to the emporium of 
 the Persian trade. Cosmas of Alexandria, who 
 flourished in the first part of the sixth century, says : 
 * The Gospel was first preached by the Apostles 
 with great success in the Eoman Empire : soon 
 after that, it was preached in Persia by the Apos- 
 tle Thaddeeus. Accordingly, it is written in the 
 Catholic Epistles, " The church which is at Babylon, 
 elected together with you, saluteth you."' He 
 evidently places this Babylon without the bounds 
 of the Roman Empire, and in Persia, to which the 
 region at that time belonged ; and as he had been a 
 merchant, and had travelled in Persia, India, Ethio- 
 pia, and Arabia, he could scarcely have been mis- 
 taken upon a geographical point of so much notoriety. 
 The Apostle, in writing from the Seleucidan Babylon, 
 would naturally refer to the countries named at the 
 opening of his Epistle, in the order of proximity, 
 beginning with Pontus as the most easterly province, 
 and ending with the proconsular Asia and Bithynia ; 
 whereas, had he written from Rome, he would have 
 named them in a reversed order.* 
 
 * Wetstein adduces this argument, and Lardner only blunders in 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 179 
 
 We may then venture to assume as certain, that, ArgumMit 
 
 •' for its early 
 
 at the time of writing his First Epistle, Peter was at date. 
 Seleucia ; and the next point of inquiry is, whether 
 there is any internal evidence that would lead us to 
 fix the date of the Epistle at a period as early as his 
 first visit to Antioch will allow, viz., between a.d. 
 43 and 48, rather than at a later stage of his aposto- 
 lic career. 
 
 The opportunity afforded by the intended mission 
 of Silvanus to the Jews of the Dispersion in Pontus 
 and the other provinces of the Asiatic peninsula,* for 
 transmitting to them his Apostolic charge, appears to 
 have been the immediate occasion of its being written. 
 This Silvanus, if the same person with the Companion 
 of St. Paul and the Silas of the Acts, (as is generally 
 supposed, and can scarcely be regarded as question- 
 able,) must have come to Seleucia either prior to the 
 Council of Jerusalem, about a.d. 50, or after accom- 
 panying St. Paul to Rome ; and accordingly, the 
 Epistle must have been written either before a.d. 53, 
 or at a later period than is generally fixed for St. 
 Peter's martyrdom. In support of the earlier date, 
 an argument may be drawn from the manner in which 
 Silvanus is mentioned by the Apostle, — " a faithfiil 
 brother as I esteem him ; " since it is hardly suppos- 
 able, that no stronger terms of commendation would 
 have been employed, had the Epistle been written 
 
 his reason for rejecting it. We may suppose that the countries would 
 be named as they would occur in the route from Seleucia. 
 
 * These Jews, Prideaux supposes to be descended from the two 
 thousand families of the Jews of Babylonia and Mesopotamia whom 
 Antiochus transplanted into those provinces, and placed as a gar- 
 rison in the strongest fortresses. Josephus, Ant, xii. 3. 
 
 N 2 
 
180 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 after Silas had become so distinguished as to be se- 
 lected by the Church at Jerusalem as their envoy to 
 the Gentiles of Syria and Cilicia, and by St. Paul as 
 his companion and fellow-labourer. 
 
 Another consideration which seems to favour the 
 opinion of its early date, is the age of the Apostle at 
 the time of writing it. As he was married before he 
 was called by Our Lord to follow him, he must be 
 presumed to have been older than his Master, and 
 could not have been at that time under two or three 
 ii.D.27or28. and thirty. If this Epistle was written from Seleucia 
 about A.D. 48, the Apostle would at that time be 
 about fifty-three or fifty-four ; while, at the date usu- 
 ally assigned for the two Epistles, he must have been 
 upwards of seventy. That his First Epistle should 
 not have been penned before he had reached so ad- 
 vanced an age, is, on the face of the supposition, 
 extremely improbable. The Second Epistle bears 
 internal evidence of having been written not long 
 before his death ; but there is no reason whatever to 
 conclude that this was the case with the former one.* 
 The real or supposed difference of style, and the 
 doubts anciently entertained respecting the genuine- 
 ness of the Second Epistle, are opposed to the suppo- 
 sition that they were written at nearly the same time; 
 but those doubts would be in some measure accounted 
 for by the occurrence of an'interval between the two 
 Epistles, of fourteen or fifteen years,t inasmuch as the 
 First Epistle would have obtained a general circulation 
 
 * In styling himself a Co-elder (1 Ep, v. 1.), the Apostle cannot 
 mean to refer to his age. 
 
 t Mr. Greswell supposes an interval of six years to have occurred, 
 viz. from a.d. 59 to 65. 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 181 
 
 among the churches before the Second was written ; 
 and the circumstances of the times might have pre- 
 vented the latter from being so extensively published. 
 Whatever date, however, be assigned to the Second, 
 it seems reasonable to conclude, that the First Epistle 
 must have been written when the Apostle was in the 
 full maturity of his powers, and not later than the 
 period we have fixed upon as the true date. 
 
 It remains for us to examine, whether the refer- 
 ences to the external circumstances of the Asiatic 
 believers, in this Epistle, are in harmony with this 
 conclusion. It is evident, that it was addressed to 
 persons exposed to severe trials and persecutions, and 
 in danger of being excited to resistance, or involved 
 in political commotion. Now it was very shortly 
 after the death of Agrippa, in the fourth year of the 
 Emperor Claudius, a.d. 44, that those disorders broke 
 out in Judea, which issued in the ruin of the Jewish 
 nation. But the fiery trials which are referred to in Josephus, 
 this Epistle, as coming upon the family of God as c. 12.' 
 Christians, were to precede the calamities that would 
 eventually overtake those who were disobedient to 
 the Gospel ; and the end (t/Xo?) of the Jewish nation 
 seems more specifically pointed to in the prediction. 
 Till after the overthrow of the Jewish state, the per- 
 secutions to which the Christians were exposed, 
 came chiefly, if not uniformly, fi'om their Jewish 
 countrymen, not from heatheapersecutors.* This was 
 the case with the first persecution that scattered the 
 Church at Jerusalem, a.d. 37 ; and it was to "please Actsviii. 
 
 1-4. 
 
 * This was the case up to the persecution under Nero, a.d. 64, 
 which did not extend to the provinces. 
 
1^52 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 the Jews," that Herod stretched forth his hand to 
 vex certain of the Church. It was from the Jews of 
 Pisidia and Iconium, and their rulers, that Paul met 
 with such barbarous treatment in his first mission to 
 
 Actsxiii, those parts, A.D. 45. And in writing to the Mace- 
 donian Christians, a.d. 53, he refers to their having 
 suffered, at the hands of their countrymen, treatment 
 similar to that which the churches of Judea had sus- 
 tained from the Jews, whom he describes as " contrary 
 to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, 
 that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway;" 
 adding, that the Divine wrath was about to come 
 upon them to their utter destruction. The expression 
 
 1 Thess. ii. which he uses, et? TeXo;, forcibly recals the exclamation 
 of St. Peter, " What shall be the end of the disobe- 
 dient ? " Now we cannot suppose that the Christians 
 of Pontus or Cappadocia would escape the fate of the 
 churches of Judea, Syria, and Cilicia ; and if such 
 persecutions are referred to, — persecutions at the 
 hands of the Jews, we have an additional reason for 
 not assigning to the First Epistle of Peter a later 
 date than that which other considerations have led us 
 to assume, viz. about a.d. 48. If so, it was written a 
 few years before the earliest of the Pauhne Epistles ; 
 which, considering the difference of age between the 
 two Apostles, is more likely to have been the fact, 
 than that St. Paul should have preceded him as a 
 Writer. Once more, the absence of all reference, 
 in the First Epistle of Peter, to any of those heresies, 
 schisms, and disorders which too soon sprang up in 
 the churches, affords another indication of its early 
 date. 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 183 
 
 § 6. Viewed in this light, as, after the Gospel of Hamonyof 
 Matthew and the Epistle of James, the earliest of the doctrine 
 Scriptures of the New Testament, it acquires peculiar PauUne 
 interest as a portion of that documentary evidence by 
 which the truth of Christianity is established. As an 
 Apostle and eye-witness, the testimony of Peter to 
 the Resurrection of Christ (ch. i. 3, 21 ; and iii. 18, 
 21), to His Ascension and exaltation at the right 
 hand of God (iii. 22), as well as to the Crucifixion and 
 the sacrificial character of His voluntary death (i. 19 ; 
 ii. 21 — 24; iii. 18; v. 1), must be considered as of 
 at least equal value with that of any one of the Evan- 
 gehsts ; and the Gospel of Peter, comprised in this 
 Epistle, is to be held in as much reverence as the 
 Gospels of Mark and Luke. Again, in the perfect 
 harmony of doctrine between this Epistle and the 
 latest writings of St. Paul, we are furnished with a 
 proof, that Christianity did not, as some neological 
 critics have insinuated, undergo any change in the 
 teaching of the great Apostle of the Gentiles. Not 
 only is the fundamental doctrine of the Atonement 
 through Christ crucified as clearly taught in the 
 Epistle of Peter as in any of the Pauline writings, but, 
 brief as it is, there are not wanting decided allusions to 
 the doctrines of Justification by faith (ch. i. 21 ; ii. 
 4 — 8, 24 ; iii. 21); of Election or Divine Sove- 
 reignty in the calling of believers (i. 1, 15 ; ii. 9; 
 V. 10) ; of Regeneration (i. 23) ; and of the Head- 
 ship of Christ as Lord of all (ii. 25 ; iii. 22 ; v. 4). 
 
 § 7. The general design of the Epistle is, to confirm Analysis of 
 and encourage the Christian brethren of the Hebrew * ^ ^'** *' 
 stock in the Asiatic provinces, under the impending 
 
1^* THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 trial of persecution. In the opening salutation, the 
 Apostle tacitly contrasts with their political depres- 
 sion as exiles, dispersed over a foreign land, their 
 high calling as the objects of Divine favour, sanctified 
 in character, the redeemed servants of Christ ; and 
 he places before them the hope of their calling as that 
 which could alone sustain them under the trial of 
 their faith ; connecting the consummation of that 
 hope with the glorious appearing of the Saviour, the 
 object of that personal aflFection and confidence which 
 are essential to the beUever's fidelity. The salvation 
 they looked for in connexion with the glory of Christ, 
 is declared to have been the subject of those sublime 
 predictions in holy writ, of which the full import was 
 not comprehended by the Prophets themselves : they 
 were, indeed, most solicitous to ascertain to what 
 events or to what period of time they pointed ; and 
 were given to understand, that they related to a future 
 and distant day, the times of the Gospel ; and angels 
 themselves intently watched the development of those 
 prophetic intimations. Upon this glorious and blessed 
 hope, the Apostle exhorts the brethren to keep their 
 attention fixed, while bracing their minds for the 
 prosecution of their pilgrimage towards the heavenly 
 country. This exhortation to constancy, he follows 
 up by urging the motives which should induce them 
 to maintain a corresponding sanctity of character ; 
 namely, the filial obligation to imitate their heavenly 
 Father as holj^ — the all-discerhing scrutiny of His 
 eye to whom they must give account, — the inestim- 
 able price of their redemption, — and the designed 
 result of the resurrection of Christ. He then enjoins 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 185 
 
 upon thera the cultivation of fraternal affection, as 
 being one of the fruits and tests of the sanctifying 
 eflScacy of the truth. Having been spiritually new- 
 born, through the regenerating power of the Gospel, 
 they ought to put off, as the slough of the old nature, 
 everything inconsistent with mutual kindness, sin- 
 cerity, and ingenuousnesss, and to evince an aptitude 
 of mind for the reception of the pure doctrine of God's 
 word, strong and instinctive as the appetite of the 
 new-bom infant for its natural nourishment, that 
 they might advance in spiritual attainments, if indeed 
 they had experienced the grace of Christ. He then 
 places before them the dignity and end of their 
 calling as believers, under the figure of living stones 
 in the Spiritual Temple of which Christ is the life- 
 giving foundation, —or, in other words, a holy priest- 
 hood, whose fimction it was to offer up spiritual 
 worship acceptable through Jesus Christ. To explain 
 or to enforce his meaning, he cites from Isaiah the 
 prophetic reference to Messiah under the image of 
 the Corner-Stone of the Temple, rejected by the 
 Jewish architects, but chosen of God ; and he reminds 
 them, it was in accordance with the language of 
 ancient prophecy, that Christ should become a refuge 
 and rock of life to those only who received the 
 Gospel, while he was a stone of stumbling and ruin to 
 those who rejected the word preached to them. The 
 Apostle may probably have intended tacitly to refer 
 to the state of the majority of the Jewish nation at that 
 time, given over through their unbelief to infatuation. 
 The high prerogatives and exalted dignity which 
 belonged to ancient Israel as the chosen nation of 
 
186 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 Jehovah, he represents as now applying to those who 
 had been the subjects of the Divine illumination of 
 the Gospel, and who had been gathered out of a state 
 of political expatriation and moral darkness into the 
 kingdom of God. He then adjures them, as foreigners 
 and exiles in the world, to refrain from indulging 
 those desires and passions which are the enemies of 
 the soul, and to maintain a blameless consistency 
 before the heathen, that should constrain their calum- 
 niators to acknowledge the holy tendency of their 
 religion, and to give glory to God. From this motive, 
 they are enjoined to yield civil obedience, not only to 
 the supreme authority, but also to that of the pro- 
 vincial governors and subordinate magistrates; it being 
 the will of God, that, by exemplary conduct in this 
 respect, they should stop the mouths of those who 
 charged Christians with being seditious or disaffected 
 persons ; and they are cautioned against making 
 their spiritual freedom a cloak for political insubor- 
 dination. There is, he reminds them, a respect due 
 to all men, distinct from the love they owed to the 
 Christian brotherhood ; and while God alone is to be 
 worshipped, the King is to be honoured. He then 
 more especially admonishes those who were in the 
 condition of domestic servitude, to behave submis- 
 sively to their masters, although they might even be 
 severe or morose, and to bear with patience the unde- 
 served ill-treatment to which they might be subjected, 
 in conformity to the pattern set by Christ, who, 
 though spotless, endured reviling and suffering in 
 silent meekness, that he might expiate our sins, and 
 by his wounds afford healing balm to our souls. 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 187 
 
 Upon the same principle, the married women are cii.iii. 
 exhorted to submit to the will of their husbands, even 
 when they were unbelievers, as the most likely way 
 to win them over to the faith, and, in order to recom- 
 mend their religious profession, to adorn themselves 
 with the imperishable ornaments of a mUd, compliant, 
 gentle spirit and temper, after the example of holy 
 women of ancient time ; for so even Sarah acknow- 
 ledged her subjection to Abraham, by calling him 
 her lord ; and they would best prove themselves to 
 be her daughters, by imitating her, not only in this 
 respect, but also in her courageous faith. The 
 Apostle then points out the correlative obligations 
 under which Christian husbands are peculiarly laid, 
 to treat their wives with the tender consideration due 
 to them as standing in need of protection, and with 
 the honour they claimed as fellow-partakers of Divine 
 grace and the hope of the Gospel ; that so no impedi- 
 ment might be created by a want of harmony, to the 
 acceptableness of their joint supplications. These 
 special exhortations are summed up with a general 
 admonition to believers in every station and of every 
 class, to cultivate unanimity and mutual sympathy, 
 brotherly feeling towards the Church, benignity 
 towards all men ; when reviled or persecuted, re- 
 turning blessing for cursing, according as they were 
 called to bless others, that they might obtain the 
 promised blessing ; an evident allusion to the words 
 of Our Lord ; Matt. v. 44, 45, The Apostle supports 
 this declaration by citing, from the xxxivth Psalm, 
 the promise of the Divine favour annexed to meek- 
 ness, guilelessness, beneficence, and j)eacefulness. 
 
188 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 ^Vhile acting thus, they would have nothing to fear 
 from men ; for, if they should be called to suffer for 
 conscience' sake, they were still blessed. They ought 
 not, therefore, to quail before their persecutors, but 
 to fear God only, and to be prepared to give an 
 answer to those who challenged them respecting their 
 hope of eternal life, in a spirit of meekness and piety ; 
 shaming their calumniators by their virtuous conduct ; 
 and if then they were called to suffer, it would be 
 better to suffer for well-doing than for evil doing. 
 To reconcile their minds to the prospect of such a 
 trial of their faith, the Apostle again reminds them, 
 that Christ, the righteous One, had suffered in the 
 sinner's stead, to reconcile us to God; undergoing 
 bodily death as man, though in spirit triumphant 
 over death, or raised to life by the power of his God- 
 head,* and having ascended to the right hand of the 
 Father, where all angelic powers are made subject 
 unto him. 
 Ch.iii.i8— The passage which intervenes between verses 18 
 and 22 of the third chapter, is obviously a digression 
 from the practical argument, and has the appearance 
 of being parenthetically interposedf- It embraces 
 
 * apaarhs tS Siico/iei r^s ©eottjtos. CEcumenius. 
 
 t There is, perhaps, no other passage of the New Testament, upon 
 which the best commentators differ, not only from one another, but 
 even from themselves. Luther, Calvin, and Archbishop Leighton 
 adopted different interpretations at different periods. Melancthon, 
 Camerarius, and Castellio confess their inability to give a satisfac- 
 tory explanation. Steiger, after examining at length the five prin- 
 cipal interpretations, adopts the one which seems most conformable 
 to the plain and literal sense ; ' that Christ manifested himself to the 
 unbelieving dead.' But against this view, as well as against those 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 189 
 
 the following positions: That the jSpirit of Christ, 
 after his crucifixion, proceeded to that region of the 
 invisible world in which the spirits of the antediluvian 
 transgressors were held in custody ; and that to those 
 who were disobedient to Noah, Our Lord made pro- 
 clamation ; that, between the Ark in which Noah 
 and his family were saved in the General Deluge, 
 and Baptism, there is an analogy or correspondence ; 
 (either, we may suppose, because Baptism admits us 
 to that which was typified by the Ark, or as it intro- 
 duces us, by the regeneration which it symbolizes, to 
 a new life ;) the family of Noah being as it. were 
 buried to the old world, and, by a sort of resurrec- 
 tion, coming forth to the new world ; that by Baptism 
 we are to understand, not the mere ritual washing, 
 but the confession of a good conscience ; and that it 
 becomes the instrument of salvation in virtue of the 
 resurrection of Christ. This series of propositions 
 relating to Our Lord's descent into Hades, the ante- 
 diluvian transgressors, the small number saved in the 
 Ark, the saving virtue of Baptism, and the mystical, 
 analogy between this rite and the Ark, have so little 
 apparent congruity with each other, or with the drift 
 of the context, and involve so much that is obscure 
 and difficult of interpretation, that, in the whole 
 compass of the Apostolic writings, no other passage 
 occurs, having so much the appearance of a marginal 
 gloss. 
 
 As a further inducement to patience, or a reason ch. iv. 
 
 which he rejects, formidable objections lie. The exclusive reference 
 to the Antediluvians is left unaccounted for ; and the connexion 
 with the context is unexplained. 
 
190 THE EPISTLES OP 
 
 that they should fortify themselves against suffering, 
 the Apostle suggests the consideration, that by such 
 suffering they would be emancipated or discharged 
 from the servitude of sin; a declaration taken by 
 some of the ancient Expositors in an ascetic sense, 
 but more probaWy alluding to the principle of the 
 Roman law, by which a slave, on being delivered up 
 to punishment as a public offender, became thereby 
 freed from his former master, who thenceforth lost all 
 his interest in him. After undergoing his sentence, 
 the offender was enfranchised. Thus, the believer, 
 who was treated as an offender for Christ's sake, was 
 rendered spiritually free to live henceforward only to 
 God.* And the Apostle reminds them, that they 
 had too long lived conformably to the will of the 
 heathen world, and to the state of society around 
 them, which is characterized as dissolute and corrupt 
 in the extreme ; and their singularity in not going to 
 the same excesses, was but a theme of wonder and a 
 cause of resentment to worldly men, who calumniated 
 their motives ; for which they would have to give 
 account to Him who will be the judge of both living 
 and dead. And, as regards the dead, it is added, 
 the Gospel had been preached to them for this end, 
 that they might be judged, condemned, as regards 
 men, in the flesh, but might live to God in spirit. 
 (The sense of this parenthetical declaration is con- 
 fessedly obscure, and has been diversely interpreted, 
 as referring either to those Christians who had 
 
 * The same idea occurs in St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, ch. 
 vi. ; and so we may understand the expression, " cruciiied to the 
 world," Gal. vi. 14. 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 191 
 
 suffered martyrdom, or to those who, while living, 
 had set an example of subjecting themselves to the 
 condemnation of man and to personal suffering, that 
 they might live to God.) But the consummation of 
 all things, the Apostle reminds them, drew near ; which 
 should be a motive to the temperance and vigilance 
 that comported with the spirit of prayer. At the 
 same time, as if to discountenance an ascetic spirit, 
 St. Peter exhorts them to exercise mutual affection, 
 such as casts the mantle of forgiveness over the sins 
 of others, a generous hospitality, and active benefi- 
 cence as faithful dispensers of the manifold bounty of 
 God, according to their several endowments and fiinc- 
 tions, that God might in all be glorified through 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
 Once more reverting to the prospect of the fiery ch. iv. 12. 
 trials awaiting them, the Apostle admonishes them 
 not to think it strange that the purifying flame of 
 persecution should be sent among them for the trial 
 of their faith, but rather to rejoice in sharing the 
 sufferings of Christ, as a pledge of their partaking 
 hereafter of the joy of their Lord. To be reviled for 
 Christ's sake, carried with it this blessedness ; there 
 was the especial promise of the assistance of the 
 Spirit by which Christ is glorified. They are cau- 
 tioned, however, against rendering thetnselves ob- 
 noxious to punishment for any crime or political 
 offence. To suffer for our own fault, is no honour : 
 to suffer in the character of a Christian, ought to be 
 esteemed no shame. A time of trial had arrived, 
 which was to commence with God's family, in the 
 persecutions raised against them by their fanatical 
 
192 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 countrymen. But the timie of the ungodly would 
 come; and if the righteous were saved as it were 
 with difficulty, as passing through a fiery ordeal, how 
 should the transgressor be able to stand in the day 
 of penal retribution ? Those, then, who were called 
 to suffer in obedience to the will of God, ought with 
 confidence to commit their souls to His keeping. 
 ch. T. Finally, addressing himself to their elders or pas- 
 
 tors with the authority of an Apostle, St. Peter 
 charges them to tend the flock of Christ, not as by 
 compulsion or fi-om any sordid motive, nor in a spirit 
 of domination, but setting an example to their flocks, 
 and looking for their reward at the hand of the 
 Chief Shepherd. The younger members of the 
 Church are exhorted, at the same time, to submit to 
 the elder; and mutual deference and humility are 
 enjoined on all. Also, he encourages them, while hum- 
 bling themselves under God's hand, to devolve all their 
 anxieties upon Him. He then reiterates the solemn 
 admonition to be constantly on the watch, seeing 
 that their great adversary was prowling about for 
 prey ; and they must withstand him by stedfastness 
 in the faith. It is evident, that Satan is here referred 
 to as the instigator of those persecutions which pre- 
 sented the temptation to apostasy. As a motive to 
 stedfastness, they are reminded, that their brethren 
 throughout the world were enduring similar trials. 
 And the Apostle closes his exhortations with praying 
 that God would perfect them in stedfastness, patience, 
 and constancy. To this prayer succeeds a brief 
 doxology. The bearer of the Epistle, Silvanus, is 
 then mentioned ; and after conveying the salutations 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 193 
 
 of the Christian brethren in Babylon, the Apostle 
 closes with his benediction. 
 
 § 8. In the leading design of this Epistle, and in Coinci- 
 several of the topics introduced, a close resemblance the Epistles 
 may be traced between it and the Epistle of James, and Paul. 
 Both Apostles commence by calling upon the Chris- 
 tians they address, to rejoice under the trial of their 
 faith, — e'v irej/iao-jKoi? ir<i(K(Xo»; ; (Jamcs i. 2 ; 1 Pet. i. 6, 7;) 
 both exhort them, in similar terms, to lay aside their 
 contentions and angry feelings, and to receive with 
 aaeekness and simplicity the word of truth ; (James 
 i. 21, 1 Pet. ii. 1 ; ) in both, we find the same figure 
 employed to denote the frailty of human glory ; 
 (James i. 10, .1 Pet. i. 24;) in both, we find a 
 remarkable citation of the same passage from Proverbs 
 iii. 34 ; (James iv. 6, 1 Pet. v. 5 ;) and again, of 
 another passage from the same book. Proverbs x. 12, 
 (James v. 20, 1 Pet. iv. 8). These coincidences 
 afibrd a presumption that Peter had seen the Epistle 
 of James, and that it suggested some of the ideas he 
 has introduced, though in a varied form ; and if so, 
 we have the strongest possible testimony to the 
 genuineness and authority, as well as early date, of 
 the Epistle which we have on other grounds con- 
 cluded to have been the first written.* Similar coin- 
 cidences have been pointed out between this Epistle 
 and the Pauline writings ; e. g., in the eucharistic 
 commencement ; (i. 3, compared with Ephes. i. 3 ;) 
 in the exhortations addressed to servants and married 
 women; (ii. 18, iii. 1, compared with Ephes. vi. 5 ; 
 
 * Hug has employed this argument in support of the authenticity 
 of the Epistle of James. Vol. ii. p. 588. 
 
 O 
 
194 THE EPISTIES OF 
 
 Colos. iii. 18 ; 1 Tim. ii. 9 ;) and in particular modes 
 of expression. But, while Professor Hug hence 
 infers, that Peter, when he wrote this Epistle, must 
 have been conversant with the writings of Paul, who 
 was certainly much his junior, we should rather draw 
 the more natural conclusion, that Paul was acquainted 
 with the Epistle of Peter, when he composed his 
 later Epistles. Yet, after all, the agreement of ideas, 
 of doctrine, and of language, is not more exact than 
 we might expect to find in the compositions of fellow 
 Apostles, not only contemporaries, but both of them 
 Jews by birth and education, and divinely instructed 
 in the same truths, by which their minds were 
 moulded anew after the same model. Under either 
 point of view, the coincidences are interesting. 
 And with It is Satisfactory, too, to compare the language of 
 te^h^gof the Apostle Peter in this Epistle, with the speci- 
 mens of his oral teaching preserved by the sacred 
 Historian in the Acts of the Apostles, (ch. ii. 14 
 —40 ; iii. 12—26 ; iv. 8—12 ; v. 29—32 ; x. 34— 
 43,) which will be found, in several places, to 
 exhibit a striking coincidence even of expres- 
 sion.* It deserves notice, that the speeches of 
 Peter are reported more particularly than those of 
 any other Apostle ; which would lead us to infer, 
 that the Writer of the Book of Acts was more 
 intimately acquainted with Peter, or had especial 
 opportunities of informing himself upon the matter 
 of Peter's discourses. Yet, it is remarkable that 
 
 * Comp. Acts iv. 11, " This is the stone," &c., with 1 Pet. ii. 8. 
 
 V. 32, « and also the Holy Ghost," with 1 Pet. i. 12. 
 V. 30 i X. 39, "hanged on a tree," with 1 Pet. ii. 2'1. 
 
64. 
 
 JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 195 
 
 the Historian drops all mention of the proceedings 
 of this Apostle after the xvth chapter, in which his 
 name occurs for the last time. Now it is precisely 
 at this point in the history, that Silas, or Silvanus, 
 who had hitherto (as may be presumed from his 
 being the bearer of Peter's first Epistle) been in 
 intimate communication with that Apostle, attached 
 himself thenceforward to Paul. If Silvanus was the 
 author of the narrative, (as we have shown there is 
 every reason to believe,) what seems otherwise un- Seepp.s7- 
 accounted for, is explained at once, and in the most 
 natural manner. The Historian thus becomes him- 
 self the link between the two Apostles and their 
 separate missions ; that of Peter, which chiefly 
 occupies the first part of the narrative, being to 
 the Circumcision, and that of Paul and his colleagues, 
 which is the subject of the sequel, to the heathen. oaL ii. 9. 
 § 9. The life of Peter, thus far, may be traced from Tradition 
 the evangelical record ; but, where that ceases to afford Peter'a 
 us any light, we cannot take a step without finding ^ °"' 
 ourselves in bewildering uncertainty. From the 
 year 49 or 50, at which time the sacred narrative 
 leaves Peter at Jerusalem, to the supposed time of 
 his coming to Eome, (which, Lardner contends, could 
 scarcely be before a.d. 63 or 64,) ecclesiastical 
 history afibrds us no distinct or credible information. 
 Eusebius place^ Peter's first coming to Rome in the 
 second year of Claudius, a.d. 44, and his martyrdom 
 in the fourteenth of Nero, a.d. 69 ;* and during 
 this interval of five and twenty years, he is repre- 
 
 * Epiphanius places his martyrdom in the twelfth of Neyo. Cave 
 thinks the tenth most prohable. 
 
 O 2 
 
19C THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 sen ted to have been bishop of Rome. The fiction of 
 his first supposed visit, which is at variance with the 
 inspired record, has been sufficiently exposed by 
 ToLiT.jLm Lardner and Cave ; and it is as certain as anything 
 can be, for which we have only negative evidence, that 
 he had not visited Rome at the time of Paul's 
 writing to the Christians at Rome, a.d. 57 or 58, or 
 up to the date at which the history of the Acts 
 closes, about a.d. 63. The early and prevailing 
 tradition, that he sufiered martyrdom at Rome at the 
 same time as St. Paul, appears to rest upon no better 
 foundation than a forced interpretation of a passage 
 in the Epistle of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians, 
 in which the fa,ct, that both Peter and Paul were 
 martyred, is stated in plain terms, but no expression 
 indicates either the time or the place, or implies that 
 it was in the same place ; and an opposite inference, 
 namely, that Peter never was at Rome, has been 
 maintained by the learned Benson with more plausi- 
 bility.* Papias, the next authority, affirms, that 
 Peter was at Rome, and wrote his first Epistle from 
 that city ; an assertion which at once invalidates his 
 testimony, and shows that his opinion rested on no 
 better foundation than the mistaken notion, that by 
 Babylon Rome was intended. Irenaeus, Papias's 
 scholar, makes Peter and Paul to have been the 
 
 * Lardner, in contesting tlie opinion of Benson, does not display 
 his usual acuteness ; and shews more impartiality than judgment in 
 the stress he lays on the tradition. Among those who deny or doubt 
 that Peter ever was at Rome, are, Scaliger, Sahnasius, F. Spanheim, 
 Lightfoot, Bower, and Milman. See page 177, note t. It is contended 
 for or conceded by Cave, Pearson^ Le Clerc, Basnage, Barratier, and 
 GresweU. See Lardnef, vol. vi. p. 243 ; Greswell, vol. i. p. 84. 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 197 
 
 joint founders of the great and most ancient church 
 at Rome, which they are represented as having 
 handed over to the episcopal care of Linus ; a state- 
 ment palpably at variance with the sacred recordl Lardner, 
 Dionysius of Corinth, as cited by Eusebius, refers to voLvi.p.249! 
 the same Apostles as joint founders of the Corinthian 
 Church, and adds : ' In like manner, going together 
 into Italy, they taught there, and suffered martyrdom 
 about the same time.' In the time of Eusebius, 
 these were the best authorities for the fond tradition ; 
 unless we can believe the statement of Caius the Pres- 
 byter, that the trophies or tombs of Peter and Paul 
 were still to be seen in the cemeteries of Rome, with 
 their names inscribed upon them. Lardner remarks, 
 that ' it is not for our honour nor our interest, either as 
 Christians or as Protestants, to deny the truth of events 
 ascertained by early and well attested Tradition.' 
 In the present case, however, the tradition is not well 
 attested; and since it is admitted, that 'fables and 
 fictions have been mixed with the accounts of Peter's 
 being at Home,' and the statements of even the most 
 early writers respecting this Apostle are inconsistent 
 with historical fact, or irreconcilable with the sacred 
 records, it cannot be for the honour of Christianity 
 or for the interest of truth, to put faith in such un- 
 authenticated legends, how ancient and venerable 
 soever, or blindly to follow so blind a guide. If, See p. is. 
 when Paul wrote his Epistle to the Romans, the faith 
 of the Christians in that city was already " spoken of 
 throughout the whole world," it is clear, that neither Rom. i. 8. 
 Peter nor Paul could have been the founder or the 
 first bishop of the church in that city ; and if Peter 
 ever visited Rome, it must have been at a period 
 
198 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 subsequent to the latest of Paul's Epistles, i. e. after 
 A,D, 64, and under circumstances of which we have 
 no authentic record. Protestants have, as such, no 
 interest in discrediting the tradition, that he suffered 
 martyrdom at Eome ; for this may have been the 
 case without affording the slightest ground for the 
 claims of the Bishop of Eome to a fictitious succession 
 and an arrogant assumption of supremacy. 
 
 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PETER. 
 
 Date and $ 10. From what place the Second Epistle of Peter 
 
 istkfeatures was Written, wc have no means of ascertaining ; but 
 Second' ° it beoTS internal evidence of having been addressed to 
 pist e. ^YiQ same communities or description of persons as the 
 First, and at a date posterior to an Epistle of Paul 
 specifically written to the same persons also. The 
 words of Peter, ch. iii. 14, 15, would seem to be, if 
 not a citation, yet, a very distinct reference to some 
 passage in the Epistle in question : " And account that 
 the long-suffering of Our Lord is salvation ; even as 
 our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wis- 
 dom given unto him, hath written unto you." Now 
 there is extant no Epistle of St. Paul's in which these 
 precise words are to be found, but the sentiment is 
 in accordance with several passages in his writings ; 
 more particularly with I Thess. v. 1 — 9, and 2 Thess. 
 ii. 1 — 14. This Epistle of Peter could not, however, 
 have been addressed to Macedonian Greeks ; and we 
 are therefore led to look for the passage alluded to in 
 another Epistle, which, as being addressed to Hebrews, 
 (that is. Christians of the Hebrew stock, though not 
 inhabitants of Jiidea,) may well be supposed to have 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. ]9£) 
 
 been sent to those Jews of the Dispersion in the 
 Asiatic Peninsula, among whom Silvanus had formerly 
 laboured. The main design of the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, like that of the Second Epistle of Peter, 
 was, to warn them against the danger of being seduced 
 into apostacy through unbelief. At ch. vi. 11, we 
 find these expressions : " And we desire that every 
 one of you do show the same diligence to the full 
 assurance of hope unto the end." And at ch. x., the 
 inspired Writer encourages them by declaring, " He is 
 faithful that promised ;" but adds, that they " had need 
 of patience ; for yet a little while, and he that shall 
 come, will come, and will not tarry." This language 
 is in remarkable accordance with Peter's declaration, 
 " The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as 
 some men count slackness." There is also a solemn 
 reference, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, to the 
 approaching day of the Lord. (ch. x. 25). The 
 general coincidence, then, might appear sufficient to 
 warrant the conclusion, that Peter actually refers to 
 this passage in the writings of Paul. At the same 
 time, the sentiment, that "the long suflFering of 
 God is salvation," agrees most precisely with the 
 following passages in the Epistle to the Romans : 
 " Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness, and 
 forbearance, and long suffering; not knowing that 
 the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance." 
 (ch. ii. V. 4.) "What if God .... endured with 
 much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to 
 destruction, and that he might make known the 
 riches of his glory in the vessels of mercy." (ch. ix. 
 22, 23.) Now, as St. Peter supposes those to whom 
 
200 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 he wrote to be acquainted with other Epistles of St. 
 Paul besides the one specifically addressed to them, 
 we see no reason that he might not combine the more 
 precise reference to those striking passages in the 
 Epistle to the Romans with a general reference to 
 the exhortations contained in the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews. And this double reference, while it re- 
 moves every difficulty, is not only perfectly natural, 
 but is a mark of genuineness, since a writer forging 
 the name or authority of St. Peter would scarcely 
 have cited St. Paul's writings in this indirect, yet 
 most appropriate manner. 
 
 The Epistle to the Hebrews has generally been 
 supposed to be one of the latest of St. Paul's Epistles, 
 and to have been written about a.d. 63. To the 
 Second Epistle of Peter we must therefore assign a 
 later date ; and Mr. Greswell fixes it in a.d. 65. At 
 that time, St. Peter would have reached, if not have 
 passed, his seventieth year ; and his martyrdom, as 
 we may presume from his own language in this Epis- 
 tle, was near at hand. It appears, indeed, to have 
 been under the expectation of his approaching death, 
 that he was induced to write this farewell letter of 
 admonition to those " who had obtained like precious 
 faith with himself;" a style of address which indi- 
 cates, that, although it might be primarily designed 
 for the churches to whom his First Epistle was sent, 
 it was not meant for them exclusively. In the 
 interval which had elapsed since sending forth his 
 First Epistle, it is more than probable, that it had 
 come into general circulation throughout the whole 
 Christian Church ; and St. Peter might with the 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 201 
 
 greatest propriety, therefore, assume that this Second 
 Epistle would be received by all the churches. 
 
 On examining its general tenor, we find, that the 
 external circumstances of the churches addressed, 
 were very different from those of the period at which 
 the First Epistle was written ; and whereas the absence 
 of all reference to any existing heresies and disorders, 
 is an indication of the early date of the former 
 Epistle, the prophetic warnings in the Second seem 
 to imply a state of things belonging to a later period. 
 There is a similar difference observable between St. 
 Paul's Epistles to the Thessalonians, and those 
 addressed to Timothy. At the same time, it must 
 not be overlooked, that the description which St. 
 Peter gives of the false teachers, licentious professors, 
 and profane scoffers, is not applied to the actual state 
 of things. at that time, but to what should take place. 
 
 § 11. The Apostle, addressing beUevers, after the Analysis of 
 usual salutation, reminds them of the end of their high * ^ ^'^ ^' 
 calling, and of the design of the Gospel promises, 
 which were given that they might be made partakers 
 of a Divine nature ; using this consideration as a 
 motive to enforce the diligent cultivation of aU the 
 Christian graces, in order that they might not deceive 
 themselves with a barren knowledge, or fail of ob- 
 taining a joyful admission into the heavenly kingdom. 
 Aware that he must shortly be taken from them, and 
 put off the body, he deems it his duty to put them 
 in remembrance of these things, and to commit them 
 to writing, in order that, after his decease, they 
 should retain them in remembrance. Eor they, the seep.98. 
 Apostles, had followed no cunning fictions, or myths, 
 
202 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 in making known to them the second coming of The 
 Lord in power, having been eye-witnesses of His 
 Transfiguration, which at once attested his being the 
 Son of God, and was intended to foreshow His glory 
 when he shall "come in his kingdom." And be- 
 lievers had also, in confirmation of this testimony, the 
 prophetic word, the inspired Scriptures and the 
 declarations of inspired men, to which they are 
 enjoined to take heed, as to a lamp shining in a dark 
 place, till the morning should break upon them. 
 Prom the mention of the holy prophets of ancient 
 days, the Apostle takes occasion to advert to the 
 danger of their being misled by false prophets and 
 false teachers. There were such, he remarks, among 
 the Israelites in former times; and so there would 
 arise in the Church, teachers of pernicious heresies, 
 denying their Redeemer to be their Lord and 
 Master, and seducing many by their licentious 
 doctrines, so as to bring reproach upon the Gospel; 
 their only object being to make a gain of their dis- 
 ciples. But the punishment denounced against such 
 offenders would not long be delayed. St. Peter 
 adduces as warnings to such corrupters of the truth, 
 the punishment of the fallen angels, the destruction 
 of the antediluvian world, and the overthrow of the 
 Cities of the Plain. More especially would Divine 
 judgment overtake the persons whom he proceeds to 
 characterize as addicted to sensuality, despisers of all 
 authority, daring and insolent, calumnious revilers of 
 glory and excellence. By a series of forcible meta- 
 phors illustrative of the flagrant wickedness and fatal 
 issue of their course of apostacy, (which, as scarcely 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 203 
 
 harmonizing with the general style of the Epistle, 
 are thought to be cited from some ancient writer,) 
 the Apostle holds up the case of such characters as a 
 caution against following their pernicious ways. He 
 then repeats, that his object in this Epistle, as in his 
 former one, is to recall to their remembrance the 
 predictions of holy prophets, and the injunctions they 
 had received from himself and the other Apostles ; 
 and especially what had been declared as to the 
 scoffers who should rise up in the last days, ridiculing 
 the expectation of Our Lord's second advent and 
 the Day of Judgment. The unreasonableness of such 
 profane scepticism is exposed, by reminding them of 
 the destruction of the Old World by the Deluge ; and 
 so, the present Earth is destined to be destroyed by 
 fire. If The Lord may appear to delay His coming, 
 the lapse of time makes no difference in His purpose : 
 He delays, only from long-suffering, that all may 
 have the opportunity of being brought to repentance. 
 But the Day of The Lord will come suddenly upon 
 the world ; and it behoved them to live under the 
 constant influence of such an expectation, giving 
 diligence that they might be found spotless and 
 blameless at the coming of Christ. He then refers 
 to the admonitions they had received upon this sub- 
 ject from the Apostle Paul, to whose Epistles he 
 bears testimony as having been dictated by inspired 
 wisdom, although containing, like the other Scrip- 
 tures, passages diflScult to be understood by the 
 untaught and unstable, and liable to be fatally per- 
 verted by such persons to their own perdition. 
 Finally, the Apostle affectionately exhorts them, 
 
204 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 forewarned as they were of the danger of being 
 seduced from their stedfastness, to seek after an 
 increase of grace and knowledge. The Epistle con- 
 cludes with a doxology to Our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 Coincidence § 12. The close Correspondence between the de- 
 Kpistie of scription of the false teachers and apostates contained 
 in this Epistle, and that given by Jude, together with 
 the variation of style and manner, in contrast with the 
 character of the rest of the Epistle, as well as of the 
 former one, have given rise to much critical specula- 
 tion.* By some writers, the genuineness of the 
 Second Epistle has been called in question, on no 
 better ground than this difference of style ; while 
 others have deemed it necessary to suppose, that the 
 Apostle, in the second chapter, was carried away by 
 his subject, so as to rise into the animation and figura- 
 tive phraseology of the prophetic style. And Jude, 
 it has been suggested, might have seen and borrowed 
 from this Epistle.f A far more natural and satis- 
 factory explanation of the coincidence has been 
 proposed by Bishop Sherlock, who suggests, that both 
 Apostles cited from some ancient Jewish writer the 
 description which they apply to the times that were 
 coming on. ISTor does Lardner's objection to this 
 conjecture seem very forcible ; that the Apostles 
 
 * This difference is, after all, not greater than might be critically 
 shewn to exist, between Our Lord's denunciation of the Pharisees, 
 Matt, xxiii., and his parables and ordinary style of teaching. It 
 deserves notice also, that the Epistle of James contains some pas- 
 sages of very similar character, a series of figures being employed in 
 a strain of vehement denunciation, resembling that of the old prophets. 
 
 t Hug contends that Jude's Epistle must have been the first 
 written of the two. 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 205 
 
 needed not any other assistance than their own 
 inspiration and an acquaintance with the ancient Lardner, 
 
 ' vol. VI. 
 
 Scriptures of the Jewish Church. St. Paul did not pp. 257, si 4. 
 scruple to cite, in reference to the character of the 
 Cretans, one of their own poets ; and there is nothing 
 derogatory to the character of an inspired Apostle 
 in the supposition, that he borrowed language which 
 seems to partake of a proverbial or poetical style. 
 
 After all, the similarity between the two Epistles, 
 in the portion of each to which the remark applies, 
 is not more marked than the verbal difference ; which 
 is such as precludes the idea, that one writer copied 
 from or intended to cite the other. For mityai awipot, 
 
 " wells without water," and ve^iKai iito \aihx%0( iXawo/^evai, 
 
 " clouds carried with a tempest," in Peter, Jude has 
 
 reflXai atvipoi viro aveiiav itapa^epo/iei/aij " clouds without 
 
 water, carried about by winds ; " and, for i'^ripoyKa ykp 
 liaTaiiTriTOi ^Beyyii/.(vi>i, in the former, we have, in the 
 latter, to o-To/ia uvtZv \aKZi vnepoyKa. Here, the senti- 
 ment or idea is the same, but the expression is so 
 very different, as to render it wholly improbable that 
 the two passages had reference to any common 
 written document. Again, the " spots and ble- 
 mishes " (a-rfxoj Ko.) /*«/*(!,) of Peter, bears the same 
 relation to Jude's " spots in your love-feasts " (Jv raHf 
 ayoTcaii; i/iSy o-wAaSe?), but with a similar variation of 
 expression. In St. Paul's Epistles, however, we 
 find both the same thought and a similar phrase- 
 ology : "carried about with every wind of doctrine" 
 
 (icepifepoi/,evoi -Karri ivi/AU tiJ? iiiaa-Koklai) OCCUrS, Eph. iv. 
 
 14 ; and at 2 Tim. iii. 1, we have a closely parallel 
 description of the false professors who should spring 
 
206 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 up in the perilous times of the last days, — " arrogant " 
 (i!we/n)fayo;), " pleasure-lovers " (piX^'Sovoi), and in other 
 respects answering to the account of them given by 
 Peter and Jude. ■ Now it must be observed, that the 
 latter Apostle exhorts those to whom his Epistle 
 was addressed, to "remember the words which had 
 been spoken before by the Apostles of Our Lord 
 Jesus Christ ; how that they told you that there 
 should be in the last time scoffers {ejmduKTai — the 
 same word occurs in the same reference, 2 Pet. 
 iii. 2), "walking after their own lusts." And so 
 Peter writes his Second Epistle, " that they may be 
 mindful of the words spoken before by the holy pro- 
 phets, and of the commandments of us the Apostles 
 of the Lord and Saviour ; knowing this first, that 
 there shall come in the last days scoffers." It has 
 been supposed, that there may be an intended re- 
 ference to certain passages in the Pauline writings ; 
 (viz. 1 Tim. iv. 1,2; 2 Tim. iii. 1 ; and 2 Thess. ii. 
 3, 12 ;) but Paul himself, in the first of the passages 
 supposed to be referred to, appears to allude to some 
 express declaration that had been made under the 
 guidance of immediate Inspiration ; not a revelation 
 to himself, but a prophetic communication to the 
 churches, like those in the first chapters of the Apo- 
 calypse. We can scarcely doubt, therefore, that 
 Paul, Peter, and Jude refer to the same " words 
 spoken by holy prophets," the substance of which had 
 been carefully preserved, and communicated orally to 
 the churches, but had probably not been committed 
 to writing. We are not indeed required to suppose, 
 that the communication had been made through only 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 207 
 
 one medium, or at one time, as there were numerous 
 prophets in the churches, whose concurrent testimony 
 might be to the same effect. This view of the 
 subject seems to remove every difficulty, as it explains 
 why the prophecy is not cited verbatim by any 
 one of the sacred Writers ; and why, in referring to 
 it, the Apostles Peter and Jude should have so much 
 in common in their phraseology, without the one 
 copying from the other, as is shown by the variation. 
 Not only is the objection raised against the authen- 
 ticity of St. Peter's Second Epistle thus completely 
 disproved ; we are also furnished with an additional 
 argument in support of its genuine authority, by its 
 agreement with the Epistle which it more closely 
 resembles, as well as with those of Paul, written about 
 the same time, in the reference to the prophetic 
 declarations to which they all bear witness. 
 
 § 13. In connexion with those prophetic intima- imponof 
 tions, a phraseology is used by all three of the "tie last ' 
 Apostolic Writers, the precise import of which, if it *^^" 
 can be ascertained, would throw some light upon the 
 date at which the Epistles were written : — " in the 
 last time," — " in the last days," — " in the latter times 
 or seasons ; " expressions evidently used convertibly. 
 The question to be determined is, whether they are 
 to be taken in that general and comprehensive sense 
 which it is necessary to attach to them in some 
 connexions, as denoting the age of Messiah, or the 
 final dispensation ; or, whether, in these and some 
 other parallel instances, they are to be understood of 
 the close of a particular period. When St. Peter 
 speaks of Christ as having been " fore-ordained from iEp.i.2o. 
 
203 . THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 the foundation of the world, but manifested in these 
 last times ; " — when the Author of the Epistle to 
 
 ch. i. 2. the Hebrews says, that "in these last days," God 
 has spoken by his Son ;— and when, again, in the 
 
 Ch. ii. n: Book of Acts, we find the Apostle Peter applying to 
 the miraculous transactions of the day of Pentecost 
 the pre'diction of Joel relative to the last days ; — ^we 
 can scarcely err in concluding the Christian dispensa- 
 tion to be referred to, as that which, extending to the 
 end of time, will consummate the scheme of Divine 
 Providence. In the same sense, we may probably 
 understand the phrase, " the ends of the ages or 
 cycles ;" (1 Cor. x. 11; Heb. ix. 26 ;) that is, the final 
 cycle or era, the age of Messiah, to which the Jews 
 looked forward as the last dispensation. In these 
 cases, the term last has an obvious relation to pre- 
 ceding times. But when St. John admonishes his 
 
 1 Ep. ii. 18. spiritual children, that it is " the last hour," and, in 
 proof of this, refers to the many Antichrists that 
 had even then appeared, from which they might 
 know that it was the last hour, — it is evident that 
 he must refer to Our Lord's prediction, that there 
 
 Matt.xxiv. should arise false Christs and false prophets before 
 
 Seep. 154. the overthrow of the Jewish polity; and " the last 
 hour "seems to* point to the brief interval that yet 
 remained before the approaching day of wrath that 
 was to extinguish Jerusalem, and be the end of the 
 Jewish world ; a fearful emblem of the final and uni- 
 versal Judgment. 
 
 The expression of Jude is, however, somewhat 
 different ; and it has been suggested that, by " the 
 last time," may be intended " the last age of the 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 209 
 
 Apostles, when several had left the world, and few 
 of them were still surviving." Or rather, it might be Lardner, 
 understood of the closing years of that generation ™"^'"''' 
 which was not to pass away till Our Lord's predic- 
 tions had been accomplished. Considering, however, 
 the express declaration, that in the last days perilous 
 times of corruption and apostacy should coitie, as a 
 prophecy, and especially connecting it with the 
 language of St. Peter (ch. iii. v. 8 — 10), we must 
 conclude, that the phrase is to be understood in a more 
 indefinite sense, of times still in futurity. The whole 
 Book of the Eevelation may be viewed as a commen- 
 tary upon the expression. Of the duration of the 
 world, the early Christians had evidently no clear 
 ideas ; and they required to be reminded, that a 
 thousand years is with The Lord as one day. The 
 Apostles themselves, though taught by Inspiration 
 that a falling away or apostacy would intervene 
 between the first triumphs of Christianity and the 
 Day of The Lord, had, probably, no definite notion of 
 the ages that were to elapse before the Second 
 Advent. They would, therefore, knowing the Chris- 
 tian age to be the last dispensation, speak of the 
 things predicted of the distant future, as happening in 
 the latter time, in contradistinction from " the be- 
 ginning of the Gospel." Scoffers, sceptics, and 
 sensualists cannot, indeed, be regarded as peculiar to 
 any age or dispensation, or as distinguishing the 
 Christian age as such ; but, that they should arise in 
 the very bosom of the Church itself, was a fearful 
 consideration, and a proper subject of ApostoUc 
 warning. Indications must already have presented 
 
210 THE EPISTLES OF 
 
 themselves, in the characters of individual professors, 
 which led the Apostles to put the churches on their 
 guard ; and to such indications St. Paul very dis- 
 tinctly refers. 
 
 There is nothing, therefore, in the subject matter, 
 that requires us to assign a later date to the Second 
 Epistle of Peter, or to that of Jude, than to the Epis- 
 tles of Paul to Timothy ; and, although a date con- 
 siderably later has been conjecturally assigned by 
 some learned critics to Jude's Epistle,* yet, as the 
 same state of things seems to have existed in the 
 Church, or in some part of it, as when Paul and Peter 
 wrote, it is more probable that they were all written 
 about the same time, or between a.d. 62 and 66. 
 
 THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 
 
 Stipposed § 14. Eusebius mentions the Epistle of Jude among 
 
 from the those which were not universally received ; yet, of 
 
 Enoch^in its cauonicity and genuineness there is no reason 
 
 Epistle. to doubt. It is repeatedly cited by Clement of 
 
 Alexandria as of Apostohc authority ; also by Ter- 
 
 tullian, Origen, and Epiphanius. Jerome mentions 
 
 as a reason why it had been rejected by many, 
 
 that it contains a quotation from the apocryphal 
 
 Book of Enoch. That the passage is found in that 
 
 Book, of which an Ethiopic Version is extant, j 
 
 * Dodwell and Cave, a.d. 71 ; Beausobre, between 70 and 75 ; 
 Mill, 90. Hug contends, that Jude's Epistle bears marks of being 
 written before the Second of Peter, and consequently not later than 
 63 or 64. 
 
 + Edited, with a Translation, by Archbishop Laurence. Oxford, 
 1821. 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 211 
 
 is certain ; but it by no means follows, that the 
 Apostle cited them from that work, which, if the 
 composition of a Jewish writer of the time of Herod 
 the Great, as is supposed, must have been founded 
 upon some ancient tradition. It deserves remark, 
 that the Apostle does not cite the prophecy as Scrip- 
 ture, or introduce it with the formula, '"It is 
 written." That he should refer to a Jewish tradition 
 respecting Enoch, it has been argued, is not more 
 strange, than that St. Paul should mention Jannes 
 and Jambres as the two magicians of Pharaoh who 
 opposed Moses, on the authority of tradition, for 
 their names are not preserved in the Books of Moses.* 
 Yet, the cases can scarcely be deemed strictly parallel, 
 as the names of the magicians, by which they were tra- 
 ditionally known, was a circumstance quite immaterial ; 
 whereas the prophecy ascribed to Enoch was either 
 actually delivered by him to the antediluvian trans- 
 gressors, or was a Rabbinical fiction ; and if the latter, 
 there is a great difficulty involved in the supposition, 
 that St, Jude would, even by way of illustration, and 
 in accommodation to Jewish Christians, cite a spurious 
 prophecy upon so awful a subject. We therefore 
 conclude, that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, did in 
 fact warn the Antediluvians of a final judgment, 
 when the words as well as the deeds of the ungodly 
 will be judged; a point upon which the Apostle 
 evidently lays stress, and -to which Our Lord himself 
 
 * So Cave argues. See Lardner, vol. vi. p. 312. The names of 
 the two magicians are found in the Gemara, and are mentioned by 
 Numenius, a Pythagorean philosopher, and by the historian Arta- 
 banus. Davidson's Hermeneutics, p. 336. 
 
 P 2 
 
212 THE EPISTLES OP 
 
 Matt.xii.37. had directed the attention of his disciples. Assuming 
 this to be fact, it matters not whence St. Jude 
 derived his knowledge of the prophecy of Enoch ; 
 whether from a true tradition, of which the Author of 
 the apocryphal Book may have availed himself, or 
 from the teaching of Our Lord while upon earth. 
 It is not likely, indeed, that the prophecy, which has 
 nothing to distinguish it from similar declarations in 
 the Hebrew Scriptures, but its early antiquity, should 
 have been a fiction. The force of the Apostle's 
 reference depends upon the implied parallel between 
 the character and circumstances of the antediluvian 
 transgressors and those of Apostolic days. Our Lord 
 himself made use of a similar comparison : " As the 
 days of Noah were, so also shall the coming of 
 
 Matt. xxiv. the Son of Man be." We find in St. Peter's first 
 Epistle, a reference also to the disobedience of the 
 antediluvian world : — " when once the long-suffer- 
 ing of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark 
 
 1 Ep. iii. 20. was preparing." And, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
 Noah is represented as having, by the preparing of 
 an ark for the saving of his family, condemned the 
 
 Heb. xi.7. unbelieving world. It was, therefore, a feature of 
 the Apostolic teaching, that it constantly held out 
 the unbelief and the fate of the contemporaries of 
 Enoch and Noah, before the Flood, as a warning to 
 their own generation ; as well as the fearful overthrow 
 of the Cities of the Plain, and the punishment of 
 the Israelites who fell in the wilderness ; and St. 
 Jude declares, that he writes only to put them in 
 remembrance of what they had been taught, and 
 once knew. " It was no novel information that he 
 
 37 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 213 
 
 communicated, but simply a brief repetition of admo- 
 nitory facts. 
 
 That the language of Enoch should have been 
 traditionally preserved, though not recorded in the 
 Books of Moses, will appear less singular when it is 
 recollected, that the Prophet Micah has cited an 
 inquiry of Balak, with the answer of Balaam, as 
 known to the people of his day, and yet, no record of Mic. yi. s. 
 them is to be found in the Book of Numbers. 
 
 Whatever difficulty may be connected with the 
 general subject of Jewish traditions and opinions 
 which may be termed extra-Scriptural, the passage in iypa^oo, 
 Jude relating to Enoch claims to be regarded as a 
 mark of its genuiness and authenticity ; and admitting 
 the Epistle to be genuine, no believer in the Apos- 
 tolic Inspiration can question or doubt its canonical 
 authority. 
 
 § 15. There is another passage in this Epistle, which import of 
 has been treated as a difficulty, but evidently through " The Body 
 
 . . of Moses " 
 
 misapprehension. It is that in which the Apostle 
 refers to Michael's contending with the Devil about 
 the Body of Moses. Origen, in the third century, 
 supposed that St. Jude might refer to a book called, 
 " The Assumption or Ascension of Moses," although 
 it is doubtful whether any such book was then 
 extant : it was, probably, the forgery of later times. 
 This is, however, a point of small moment : the 
 intended reference is, unquestionably, to the vision in 
 Zech. iii. 1 — 3 ; and the passage in Jude's Epistle is 
 parallel with 2 Pet. ii. 11: " Whereas angels, who 
 are greater in power, bring not railing accusations 
 before the Lord." According to an interpretation 
 
214 THE EPISTLES OP 
 
 of the vision given by Ephrem the Syrian, Joshua, 
 the high-priest, represents the Jewish people ; and 
 the Body of Moses is evidently to be taken in a 
 sense corresponding to that in which Christians are 
 spoken of as composing the Body of Christ. The 
 subject of the contention in the vision was Jerusalem, 
 or the Jewish State, under the Mosaic dispensation, 
 of which Moses was the only legislative head ; and 
 the expression used by Jude intimates, that the 
 Jewish or Mosaic Church, not the Jerusalem above, 
 is there referred to. It may be observed, that these 
 allusions to ideas and expressions famihar to Jewish 
 readers, and intelligible to them only, afford a strong 
 presumption, that the Epistle of Jude was, like that 
 of James his Brother, and those of Peter, addressed 
 to Christians of the Twelve Tribes, or those of the 
 Circumcision. 
 Analysis of § 16. Unlike the Epistle of James, however, which 
 is addressed generally to the Hebrew nation, this 
 Epistle opens with a salutation which indicates that 
 it was intended for the sanctified and saved in Christ 
 Jesus. The Apostle states at once the reason which 
 had rendered it necessary for him to exhort them by 
 this Epistle to contend earnestly for the faith they 
 had received ; namely, the intrusion into the Church 
 of ungodly men who perverted the Gospel into a 
 doctrine of licentiousness, and denied the Lord Jesus ; 
 that is, either his Deity or his Divine authority. He 
 therefore reminds them of what they had already 
 been taught ; that the Israelites who were led forth 
 out of Egypt, nevertheless perished for their unbelief 
 in the wilderness ; that the angels who fell from their 
 
 the Epistle. 
 
JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 215 
 
 original dignity, were reserved in chains against the 
 Day of Judgment ; that the Cities of the Plain were 
 in like manner set forth as an example of the Divine 
 vengeance against transgressors ; and a similar fate 
 awaited these lewd fanatics, who are described as at 
 once sensualists, despisers of authority, and revilers ' 
 of dignities. Their presumption, in the latter respect, 
 is illustrated by what is recorded by Zechariah ; that 
 the Angel of the Lord, instead of railing against 
 Satan, said, " The Lord rebuke thee ; " whereas these 
 men reviled what they did not comprehend, and 
 abused what they knew by their senses and animal 
 instincts. They are further described as treading in 
 the steps of Cain, of Balaam, and of Korah; and 
 their characters are vividly portrayed in a series of 
 metaphors or emblems. To persons of the same 
 description, the prophetic denunciation of Enoch was 
 applied ; or rather, the fate of such transgressors was 
 foretold by the antediluvian Prophet, when he spake of 
 the coming of The Lord, to execute vengeance upon 
 those who were guilty of ungodly deeds and ungodly 
 speeches, — transgressors and blasphemers : and these 
 were both. The Apostles had forewarned them that 
 scorners, sensualists, schismatics of this description, 
 should arise in the last time ; and they ought not, 
 therefore, to be staggered at it, but to be on their 
 guard against them. St. Jude, addressing them as 
 beloved brethren, admonishes them, in conclusion, 
 to seek after an advancement in religious knowledge, 
 to cultivate the spirit of prayer, and to cherish in 
 their hearts the love of God and the hope of salva- 
 tion through Jesus Christ. Some of those who had 
 
216 THE EPISTLES OP JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. 
 
 thus erred, were to be pitied and forgiven : others 
 were to be saved as from the fire, escaping only with 
 life. The Epistle concludes with an appropriate and 
 sublime doxology to Him who alone could preserve 
 them from falling, and present them faultless, before 
 the presence of the Divine glory. 
 
 We have now examined all the Catholic Epistles 
 except that of St. John ; and this we reserve for a dis- 
 tinct chapter, together with the Apocalypse. We have 
 next to enter upon the consideration of the Pauline 
 writings, which constitute so large and precious a 
 portion of the Scriptures of the New Testament. 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 217 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 THE PAULINE EPISTLBS : THEIR TRUE ORDER AND DATE CHA- 
 RACTERS OP GENUINENESS POINT OF TIME AT WHICH|tHEY 
 
 CONNECT WITH THE HISTORICAL NARRATIVE IN THE ACTS 
 
 RETROSPECT OF THE ANTECEDENT HISTORY — DATE OP THE 
 
 MARTYRDOM OP STEPHEN AND CONVERSION OF SAUL REVIEW 
 
 OF THE APOSTOLIC HISTORY UP TO THE ARRIVAL OP PAtTL AT 
 CORINTH, A.D. 62. 
 
 § 1. Of the fourteen Epistles ascribed to the pen of dumber 
 St. Paul, thirteen bear his name, and no doubt can l^^p^nf 
 reasonably be entertained as to their genuineness or ^P^ties. 
 authority. The Epistle to the Hebrews is anony- 
 mous, and hence, even in early times, a difference of 
 opinion arose with respect to its actual authorship, 
 Eeserving this question for distinct inquiry, we have 
 before us thirteen Epistles, of which nine are ad- 
 dressed to seven different churches or Christian com- 
 munities ; and four to three individuals. The earliest 
 was the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, which, as 
 well as the Second, appears to have been written at 
 Corinth, a.d. 52. That to the Galatians was pro- 
 bably composed not later than the following year. 
 Those to the Corinthians, written from Ephesus and 
 
218 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 Philippi, and that to the Eomans, dated from 
 Corinth, must have been written between a.d. 56 
 and 58, inclusive. The First to Timothy, and that 
 to Titus, we shall see reason to refer to the same 
 period. The remaining five were all composed at 
 Rome, probably between a.d. 61 and 63. 
 Characters Although, as Dr. Paley remarks, in his ingenious 
 ness. work, ' On the Truth of the Scripture History of 
 
 St. Paul,' every thing about these Epistles indicates 
 that they proceeded from the same hand, yet, it is not 
 less certain, that they were originally separate pub- 
 lications. ' They form no continued story ; they 
 compose no regular correspondence ; they comprise not 
 the transactions of any particular period ; they carry 
 on no connexion of argument ; they depend not on 
 one another ; except in one or two instances, they 
 Horae Paul, refer not to one another.' Yet, as the learned Writer 
 has shown, they all, more or less, mutually illustrate 
 each other. He has also brought together from the 
 Acts of the Apostles, and from the several Epistles, 
 numerous passages, furnishing examples of unde- 
 signed coincidence, so striking as to establish at once 
 the substantial truth of the narrative, and the gen- 
 uineness of the Letters ascribed to the Apostle. Of 
 these coincidences, notice will be taken in the fol- 
 lowing pages ; although we shall see occasion to 
 difier fi-om some of the hypothetical opinions they are 
 adduced by the learned Writer to support. 
 Point at The period of the Evangelical history at which 
 
 connect with St. Paul's Writings connect (in point of date) with 
 the account of his Apostolic labours, is when Silas 
 and Timotheus joined him at Corinth, as mentioned, 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 219 
 
 Acts xviii. 5. Before we proceed to compare the 
 Epistles with the Narrative, it will be interesting to 
 trace up to this point the chronology of the leading 
 facts of the sacred annals, subsequent to the Day of 
 Pentecost, a. v. 30.* 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL REVIEW, A.D. 30 52. 
 
 § 2. The first remarkable event in the history of Date of the 
 
 . _ _ "' Martyrdom 
 
 the infant Church, which demands the attention of of Stephen 
 
 . . and Saul's 
 
 the chronologist, is the martyrdom of Stephen, and Conversion. 
 the persecution raised against the Christians of Jeru- 
 salem, with which it was followed up. How long 
 this occurred after the Effusion of the Holy Spirit, 
 has been a question among ancient as well as modern 
 writers. Some of the early chronologists imagined 
 that the stoning of Stephen took place in the very 
 year in which Our Lord suffered ; an opinion to 
 which Eusebius, with his usual want of judgment, 
 appears to have subscribed. Others place it in the 
 third, and others, again, in the seventh year after the 
 Ascension. Among modern writers. Cave supposes 
 Stephen to have been stoned, and Saul converted, in 
 the year 33, or the beginning of the year following ; 
 Pearson thinks that Stephen was stoned in 34, and 
 Saul converted in 35 ; L'Enfant and Beausobre place 
 Saul's conversion in a.d. 36 ; while F. Spanheim, 
 who is followed by Witsius and Fabricius, concludes 
 that it did not take place till the last year of Caius 
 
 * Milman assumes for the Crucifixion, a.d. 31 ; Benson, a.d. 29. 
 We have followed Greswell. See p. 122. 
 
220 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS, 
 
 Caligula, or the first of Claudius, a.d. 40, or 41. 
 Dr. Lardner, after citing these various opinions, 
 adduces reasons for coming to the conclusion, that 
 Saul was converted in a.d. 37, or, possibly, before the 
 end of 36, and that Stephen was stoned in the be- 
 ginning of the same year, or, at the soonest, near the 
 Lardner, end of 35. Finally, Mr. GresweU, by a very ela- 
 474—479'; borate deduction, fixes the latter event in May, 37, 
 p. 100. ' ' and the former in the autumnal quarter of the same 
 year. His arguments in support of this opinion (in 
 part the same as those adduced by Lardner*) are 
 drawn fi-om the history of the times ; and he shews, 
 that the lapse of time which this opinion assigns for 
 the transactions recorded in the first seven chapters 
 of the Book of Acts, is not more than sufficient, 
 according to the probability of the case, for the inter- 
 mediate events. 
 
 First. Some considerable time probably intervened 
 between the conversion of the three thousand, the 
 first-fiiTiits of the preaching of the Apostles on the 
 day of Pentecost, (Acts ii. 41,) and the miraculous 
 cure of the impotent man, (recorded ch. iii.) which 
 was followed by another signal addition to the number 
 of the believers (ch. iv. 4). 
 
 Secondly. The circumstances related in the fourth 
 chapter, (ver. 32 — 36,) and the effects which resulted 
 from the awful fate of Ananias and Sapphira, (ch. v. 
 12 — 16,) require us to suppose an interval of some 
 duration. Nor is it likely, that the second attempt 
 
 * Michaelis, followed by Eickhom and Milman, arrives at a 
 similar conclusion, fixing the persecution connected with the death 
 of Stephen in a.b. 37. 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 221 
 
 of the Sanhedrim to put a stop to the progress of the 
 
 new faith, would have followed very closely upon the ch. v. 17. 
 
 first. 
 
 Thirdly. The circumstances which led to the ap- 
 pointment of the Seven, to superintend " the daily 
 ministrations," arose out of the gradual multiplication ch. vi. 
 of the disciples ; and it was some time after this, that 
 " a great company of the priests became obedient to 
 the faith," and that Stephen rendered himself so 
 conspicuous by the miracles which he wrought, as 
 well as by his eloquence and holy zeal, as to become 
 the first victim of the ensuing persecution. 
 
 Fourthly. The nature of the advice given by 
 GamaHel, and adopted by the Jewish council, would 
 lead us to infer, that, for some time, at least, after 
 that decision, all violent proceedings against the 
 Christian beUevers would be suspended; and the 
 events which occurred during the latter part of 
 Pilate's oppressive administration, were of a nature to 
 absorb the attention of the Jewish rulers.* 
 
 It needs not be shown, that the events recorded, 
 and the intervals required or supposed, actually ex- 
 tended over seven years : it is enough for the present 
 purpose, that a considerable time must have elapsed ; 
 
 * ' As the jealousies which appear to have arisen in the iafant 
 community, would require some time to mature and grow to head, 
 we should interpose two or three years between this collision with 
 the authorities (Acts v. 17), and the next which first embrued the 
 soil of Jerusalem with the blood of a Christian martyr. Nor would 
 the peaceful policy adopted through the authority of Gamaliel have 
 had a fair trial in a shorter period of time : it would scarcely have 
 been overthrown at once or immediately by the more violent party.' 
 Milman's Hist, of Christianity, b. ii. c. 1. 
 
222 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 and nothing in the narrative forbids the supposition, 
 that the persecution connected with the death of 
 Stephen, which was the third attempt to suppress the 
 Christian faith, took place about seven years after 
 Our Lord's Ascension. 
 
 Now that the Sanhedrim should, in the case of 
 Stephen, have ventured to exercise the long sus- 
 pended right to inflict capital punishment, is a 
 circumstance which requires to be accounted for. 
 ' The Talmud itself,' Mr. Greswell remarks, ' greatly 
 as it stickles for the authority of the Sanhedrim in 
 other respects, admits, that this power had been 
 taken from it forty years before the destruction of 
 See also the Sccond Temple ; that is, as early as a.u.c. 783, 
 
 Lardner, . ^ t o x i i 
 
 voi.i.p.ios. at the very time when, according to St. John, the 
 members of this council themselves professed to 
 Pilate, it was not permitted them to put any man 
 to death. Nor is it any just ground of exception, 
 that, in some instances, the Jewish authorities appear 
 to have exercised this power, even after the period 
 in question ; for it is found, upon examination into 
 the circumstances of the time, that such instances 
 fall out critically between the demise of one of the 
 regular governors, and the appointment or the arrival 
 of another : that is, they fall out critically in an 
 interval of anarchy, during which the turbulent 
 spirit of the people, or the ambition of their rulers, 
 who never could brook with patience this deprivation 
 of their ancient privileges, had power to resume 
 Greswell, them, at least for a season, with impunity.' The 
 See also death of James the Just, brought about by the 
 vol. i. p. 99. contrivance of the younger Ananus, in the interreg- 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 223 
 
 num between the decease of Festus and the arrival See p. les. 
 of Albinus, the learned Anthor adduces as one case 
 in point ; and the martyrdom of Stephen appears, 
 from his investigation, to have been another ; such 
 an interregnum having occurred between the deposi- 
 tion of Pilate by Vitellius in the twenty-third of 
 Tiberius, (the latter half of a.u.c. 789,) and the 
 appointment of his successor. 
 
 Pilate was sent in disgrace to Rome, a.d. 36 ; but, 
 while Vitellius himself remained at Jerusalem, no 
 disorders of the kind could have taken place. He 
 had arrived there a second time, when tidings of the 
 death of Tiberius were brought, about May, a.u.c. 
 790 (a.d. 37) ; and the oath of allegiance to Caius 
 Caligula, his successor, was administered to his sub- 
 jects in Judea. ' Upon the second departure of 
 VitelUus, which took place without fiirther delay, the 
 Jewish nation and the Jewish council were absolutely 
 left to themselves. At Eome, the kingdom of Judea 
 had been already conferred by Caius on Herod 
 Agrippa ; but Agrippa did not visit his dominions 
 before the summer of the second of Caius, a.u. 791. 
 .... No juncture of circumstances could have been 
 more favourable for the eruption of the national 
 hatred against the Christian Church at Jerusalem, or, 
 as the enemies of that Church considered it, against 
 the sect of the Nazarenes, in its daily increasing and 
 flourishing state. The very fact, that Tiberius was 
 now dead, but only just known to be so, might be 
 the exciting cause of the violence itself; especially if 
 there is any foundation in truth for the tradition of 
 his memorable rescript in favour of Christianity^ 
 
224 
 
 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 Greswell, 
 vol. i. pp. 
 644, S. 
 See also 
 Lardner, 
 vol. i. p. 98. 
 
 See Acts v. 
 17. 
 
 Greswell, 
 vol. i. p. 548. 
 
 The intentions of his successor might not yet be 
 known ; or if the tidings of the favours which he 
 had already conferred on Agrippa, had reached 
 Judea, this would tend to encourage, rather than to 
 deter, the execution of any designs against the 
 obnoxious religion ; for the whole conduct of Agrippa, 
 subsequently, serves to demonstrate, that he was as 
 bigoted to the ancient faith, and as inimically dis- 
 posed towards Christianity, as any of his subjects.' 
 
 Up to the time of Stephen's martyrdom, the Sad- 
 ducees, not the Pharisees, appear to have had the 
 ascendancy in the Jewish council. To this sect, 
 Caiaphas belonged ; and that the same party who 
 had been instrumental in putting Our Lord to death, 
 were stiU in power, is distinctly intimated in the 
 history.* We learn from Josephus, that Caiaphas, 
 having been appointed high-priest by Gratus, about 
 the twelfth of Tiberius, continued in office till he was 
 removed by Vitellius in the twenty-third of that 
 emperor's reign. Annas himself, whom Quirinius 
 had appointed as early as a.u.c. 760, continued to be 
 the vicar of Caiaphas, even when he had been super- 
 seded by him, and, in point of precedence, was scarcely 
 to be distinguished from Caiaphas himself. When 
 Vitellius, at the Passover of a u.c. 790, deposed 
 Caiaphas, he appointed Jonathan, one of the sons of 
 Ananus ; and at the Pentecost of the same year, he 
 deposed this Jonathan, and appointed his brother 
 
 * Acts iv. 5, 6. Mr. Milman is mistaken in his remark, that a 
 revolution had taken place in the internal politics of the Sanhedrim^ 
 and that up to the death of Jesus the Pharisees were (in the council) 
 his chief opponents. 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 225 
 
 Theophilus in his stead. It was, probably, this 
 Theophilus who gave Saul his letters to Damascus, See Acts 
 and who was still living at the time of Paul's appre- 
 hension, twenty years afterwards. Thus, the high- 
 priest by whom Stephen was condemned, must have 
 been some one of the family of Ananus, and of the 
 sect of the Sadducees. 
 
 That the martyrdom of "Stephen took place at the 
 time of some Jewish festival, may be inferred from 
 the mention made of the African, Cilician, and other Act9vi.<!. 
 Jews* who are said to have disputed with him, and 
 who would not have been assembled at Jerusalem, 
 except upon the occasion of some one of the great 
 feasts ; and Mr. Greswell's conclusion is, that it may 
 be at least presumptively determined to have been 
 the feast of Pentecost, a.u.c. 79-0, or a.d. 37. 
 
 How long the persecution lasted, " which arose 
 about Stephen," we are not informed by the sacred 
 Historian ; but the circumstances which led to its 
 cessation, and to the rest subsequently enjoyed by 
 the churches throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and 
 Samaria, receive satisfactory illustration from external Acts ix. si. 
 
 history. 
 
 Soon after Caligula's accession, Dr. Lardner re- 
 marks, the Jews at Alexandria suffered very much at 
 the hands of the Egyptians in that city ; and, at length., 
 all their oratories there were destroyed. The Jewish 
 nation were soon, however, to have their very existence 
 placed in jeopardy. In the third year of Caligula, 
 
 * Those of Liberta, Cyrene, and Alexandria^ formed one syna- 
 gogue. Greswell, vol. i. p. 548. 
 
 Q 
 
226 CHEONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 (a.d. 39,) the Prefect Petronius was sent into Syria 
 with orders to set up the Emperor's statue in the 
 Temple at Jerusalem ; being enjoined, if the Jews 
 opposed it, to put to death all who made any resistance, 
 and to make the rest of the nation slaves. Petronius, 
 therefore, Josephus states, marched from Antioch into 
 Judea with three legions and a large body of auxiliaries 
 raised in Syria. All were hereupon filled with con- 
 sternation, the army being come as far as Ptolemais. 
 The Jews, then gathering together, went to the plain 
 near Ptolemais, and entreated Petronius in the first 
 place for their laws, and in the next place for them- 
 selves. Petronius was moved by their entreaties, and, 
 leaving his army and the statues at Ptolemais, went 
 into Galilee ; and at Tiberias, he called together the 
 chief men of the Jewish people, and exhorted them 
 to submit to the Emperor's orders. When they could 
 not engage so to do, he asked them, ' Will ye then 
 fight against Caesar ? ' The Jews answered him, that 
 they offered up sacrifices twice every day for Caesar 
 and the Roman people ; but that, if he would set up 
 the Images, he ought first to sacrifice the whole 
 Jewish nation, and that they were ready to submit 
 themselves, their wives, and children to the slaughter. 
 Petronius deferred his journey to Jerusalem, that the 
 Jews might not, out of concern for such a violation 
 of their religion, neglect their gathering in their 
 corn, it being then ripe, or lose the seed-time. He 
 was the more moved by this consideration, because it 
 was expected that Caligula would be at Alexandria 
 the next summer ; and he judged it not proper to do 
 anything that might hinder a sufficient plenty for the 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 227 
 
 company that would follow the Emperor from Italy, 
 and the concourse of the princes of Asia and other 
 great men in those parts. And, in his letter to 
 Caligula, he made use of this as the excuse for not 
 immediately executing his orders. ' It is very 
 likely,' concludes the learned Writer, ' that the per- 
 secution of the Christians ceased now, and that the 
 Jews were fully employed in warding off this terrible 
 blow from the Temple which was their glory and 
 confidence.' * 
 
 >& 3. In the account of the martyrdom of Stephen, Ase of Saui 
 
 •^ . •' . . ^' h's con- 
 
 Saul is styled, (according to the Received Translation,) version. 
 
 ' a young man ; ' but he must have been, in fact, a man 
 
 in the prime of life, for the expression in the original 
 
 (j/eavias) wBS nev£r applied, among the Greeks, to a 
 
 man under thirty years of age. To young persons Gresweri 
 
 under twenty, the term pueri or warSe? was applied ; 
 
 between twenty and thirty, they were juvenes or 
 
 vtavlaKoi, ; afterwards, they became adolescentes, vtavKii, 
 
 or young men ; after fifty, they began to be teputed 
 
 senes, ivpea-ptlTepoi, or elders. Saul must therefore, at 
 
 his conversion, have been between thirty and forty ; 
 
 and accordingly, in the Epistle to Philemon, written 
 
 about five and twenty years later, he describes himself 
 
 as Paul the aged {tt^tapikiii), an expression which he 
 
 would scarcely have deemed applicable to himself 
 
 under three-score. Indeed, it is not Hkely that a 
 
 man under the age of thirty-five or forty, would have 
 
 been entrusted by the high-priest and the estate of 
 
 elders with a commission to apprehend and bring 
 
 * Lardner, vol. i. pp. 101, 2. It is not certain whether Petronins 
 published this edict in a.d. 39 or in 40. 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 bound to Jerusalem any of the disciples of the new 
 faith which he should meet with at Damascus. If, 
 in the year 37, the date of Stephen's martyrdom, 
 Saul was about forty, (and he could not, as we have 
 seen, have been much under that age,) he would have 
 been born about the time of Our Saviour. A 
 native of Tarsus, he had been brought up in Jeru- 
 salem at the feet of Gamaliel; but, supposing him 
 to have been between twelve and fourteen when he 
 was taken to Jerusalem for the sake of perfecting 
 his education as a Pharisee,* and to have continued 
 there till he was twenty, he would have returned to 
 Cilicia long before the Baptist commenced his minis- 
 try, and might not have revisited Judea tiU after the 
 period of Our Lord's abode upon earth. He appears, 
 indeed, to have had no personal acquaintance with any 
 of the Apostles previously to his conversion, nor to 
 have witnessed any of the miracles wrought by them 
 before he became a persecutor. He had, however, 
 before he returned to Jerusalem, already acquired a 
 considerable reputation by his proficiency in Jewish 
 Gal. i. 14. lore ; and it is highly probable that he had already 
 Lardner, _ been iuvcsted with the office of a rabbi or doctor. 
 This would explain at once his professional zeal 
 against the new heresy, his influence with the high 
 priest, and the authority which he exercised, even 
 before he obtained letters to Damascus, in committing 
 men and women to prison at Jerusalem ; all which 
 indicates, that he was recognised in his public cha- 
 racter. Again, it is stated, that he consented to the 
 
 * Mr. Greswell cites the example of JoBephus as a case in point. 
 Vol. i. p. 666. 
 
 vol. V. p 487. 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 229 
 
 death of Stephen, which seems to denote an official 
 concurrence in his condemnation. After his conver- 
 sion, wherever he went, Saul entered boldly into 
 the synagogues of the Jews, and preached, as one 
 who, from station and office, had the right to teach. 
 It is remarkable, also, that we never read of his 
 having been excommunicated ; a circumstance ex- 
 plained by the evidence which the Talmud affiDrds, that 
 the Jews were ' very backward to excommunicate the 
 disciples of the wise, the doctors and teachers of the law.' voYtlp'isz. 
 
 § 4. We are not told whether Saul was among Personal 
 •them of Cilicia' who entered into dispute with s^T^ 
 Stephen ; but nothing is more natural than that his 
 professional jealousy and pharisaic bigotry should be 
 exasperated by his finding himself unable to resist 
 the wisdom and the spirit by which Stephen spake. 
 He had, probably, not been long in Jerusalem, 
 having, with others of his countrymen, come to 
 attend the Feast of Pentecost, but his reputation had 
 doubtless preceded him ; and to have been defeated 
 in disputation by the champion of the new faith, must 
 have excited the deepest mortification. No wonder, 
 then, that he so willingly lent himself to the conspiracy 
 against the innocent cause of it, and, when the blood of 
 the martyr was shed, " stood by, consenting to his death, 
 and kept the raiment of those who slew him." His Act9xxii.2o. 
 fury and malignity against the disciples of The Lord 
 had not abated, he was still " breathing out threaten- 
 ings and slaughter" against them, when, intending, 
 perhaps, to return to Tarsus by way of Damascus, 
 he desired of the high-priest letters to the rulers of 
 the synagogues in that city, that, if he found any 
 
2 230 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 Christians among the Jewish inhabitants, he might 
 bring them bound to Jerusalem. Time enough had 
 elapsed before his journey, to allow of its having 
 become matter of notoriety in Damascus, how much 
 ctsix. 13. evil he had done to the saints in Jerusalem ; but it 
 is not necessary to suppose that the interval extended 
 beyond five or six months ; the period which is sup- 
 posed to have intervened ^between the martyrdom of 
 Stephen and Saul's conversion. Mr. Greswell fixes 
 the latter event in November a.d. 37.* After his 
 conversion, he remained but a short time ('certain 
 days ') with the disciples at Damascus, before he went 
 into Arabia, the dominions of Aretas, which bor- 
 dered closely on the Syrian territory ; probably to 
 escape persecution from the Jews. This journey 
 mto Arabia is not noticed by the sacred Historian, f 
 as it was connected with no marked event, but simply 
 occupied the interval between Saul's first and second 
 residence at Damascus, where, on his return, he 
 abode *^many days.' The political events of the time 
 may have had some share in determining his move- 
 ments. Damascus was included in the tetrarehy of 
 Abilene, which had been bestowed on Herod Agrippa. 
 Previously to St. Paul's second residence in that city, 
 it had fallen into the hands of Aretas, who, at the time 
 of the death of Tiberius, was at war with the Tetrarch. 
 
 * A.U.C. 790. Dr. Burton did not hesitate to fix it as early as 
 A.D. 31, but on very insufficient grounds. 
 
 + Lardner speaks of Saul as having resided three years in Arabia, 
 which may be true, considering Damascus as included in the domi- 
 nions of the Arabian prince ; it being evident, from the narrative in 
 the Acts, collated with Gal. i., that he passed the greater part of the 
 three years in that city. 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 231 
 
 VitelHus, the prefect of Syria, was actually on his 
 march to invest Petra, the capital of the Arabian oresweii, 
 king, and to avenge the defeat of Herod, when the pp.'s6i,304. 
 tidings of that event led him to suspend his opera- 
 tions. For two or three years afterwards, the Roman 
 Presidents of Syria were too much occupied with the 
 movements of the Parthian princes, to have leisure to 
 attend to the petty feud between the vassal king of 
 Judea and the Arabian prince; and it was during 
 this time that Damascus became subject to Aretes. 
 Here, then, under the protection of his government, 
 Saul might esteem himself safe. Supposing the 
 last year of his residence in that city to have been 
 from the Passover of a.u.c. 793, the fourth of Caius, 
 to that of A.u.c. 794, the first of Claudius, this would 
 well accord with all the historical circumstances of the 
 
 raaa lb- Tol. i. 
 
 ^'**^' p. S62. 
 
 On the detection of the conspiracy against him, 
 Saul fled from Damascus by night, and, for the first 
 time after his conversion, repaired to Jerusalem, " to 
 see Peter, with whom he abode fifteen days." At Gal. a i8. 
 first, indeed, when he attempted to join the company 
 of the disciples, " they were afraid of him, and 
 believed not that he was a disciple," till Barnabas 
 brought him to the Apostles then residing at Jerusa- 
 lem, (namely, Peter and James, The Lord's Brother, ) 
 " and declared to them how he had seen The Lord in 
 the way, and how he had preached boldly at Damas- 
 cus in the name of Jesus." The persecution which Acts ix. 26, 
 
 . 27. 
 
 had raged during the three years preceding, had now, 
 apparently, subsided. Yet, when Paul ventured 
 openly to preach in the name of The Lord Jesus, and 
 
232 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 to dispute with the Hellenists or Grecian Jews,* they 
 conspired to slay him. Upon learning this, the bre- 
 thren conducted him (probably by night, as upon 
 another occasion, Acts xvii. 10) to CsBsarea, on his 
 way to his native city, Tarsus ; and he " came into 
 the regions of Syria and Cilicia."t It was, possibly, 
 during this voyage and subsequent travels, Dr. Lard- 
 ner remarks, that Paul met with some of those 
 dangers and diflSculties which it did not come within 
 the design of the Historian of the Acts to notice, but 
 which the Apostle himself glances at in the eleventh 
 chapter of his Second Epistle to the Corinthians. 
 Duration of § &• And HOW it was that the churches had rest 
 whicrLc- throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, to 
 the persecu- which, at this pcHod, the preaching of the Apostles 
 *"*"■ had been limited, and in which alone churches or 
 
 Christian synagogues had been formed. How long 
 the period of repose lasted, we are not informed ; but 
 it appears to have been undisturbed for about three 
 years, (viz. a.d. 39 — 41,) extending into the reign of 
 Claudius, till Herod Agrippa (who was at Rome 
 when Caligula was slain, and was very serviceable to 
 his successor in settling matters between him and the 
 Senate) took possession of his hereditary dominions, 
 and aimed to ingratiate himself with his subjects, by 
 the strictest profession of Judaism. It soon ap- 
 
 * i. e. Foreign Jews speaking Greek, or Jews of the Dispersion, 
 whose presence at Jerusalem indicates the time of some feast. 
 It is remarkable, that he who had consented to the death of Stephen, 
 should so nearly have fallen a victim to the same malign animosity. 
 
 t It is unnecessary, with Doddridge and others, to understand 
 Caesarea Philippi, though that would be in the land route. But 
 Paul would probably embark at CsBsarea Augusta for Antioch, 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 233 
 
 peared, that neither the great danger of utter national 
 ruin to which the Jews had been exposed in the 
 reign of Cahgula, nor the gracious as well as just 
 edicts passed in their favour by Claudius in the 
 beginning of his reign, had had any salutary effect 
 upon their minds. For, when Herod "stretched 
 forth his hand to vex certain of the church, and 
 killed James (the Son of Zebedee) with the sword," 
 the gratification which these cruelties afforded to the 
 Jews, was the inducement that led the Tyrant to Acta xii. 1,2. 
 seize and imprison Peter also. 
 
 § 6. The " persecution which arose about Stephen" Eraoftte 
 had evidently been general, and had scattered the dis- Jg tTthe 
 ciples, many of whom: had sought refuge in neighbour- 
 ing countries, — ^in Phenicia, Syria, and Cyprus ; and 
 wherever they went, they preached the faith of 
 Christ, but " to Jews only." At length, at Antioch, Acts xi. 19. 
 some of thfese Christian disciples, who were natives of 
 Cyprus and of Cyrene, and therefore spoke Greek, 
 preached Christianity to the Grecians in that city.* 
 In the mean time, Samaria had received the Gospel 
 at the preaching of Philip the Evangelist ; and the 
 Apostles Peter and John had visited the Samaritan 
 community on a special mission from the Church at 
 Jerusalem, and had in the fullest manner, as well by 
 
 * By this expression, Gentile proselytes are supposed to be in- 
 tended. Bloomfield, indeed, contends strenuously (with Matthaei) 
 for the various reading, Hellenists ; which is rejected, however, by 
 Griesbach, Knapp, Tittmann, and others upon strong evidence. 
 Mr. Tate remarks, that ' at this point in the progress of the Gospel, 
 direct converts from heathenism had not been made ; ' and that, by 
 "EWr/ve!, are clearly meant, Gentile proselytes who had become wor- 
 shippers of the True God. Continuous History, &c. p. 134. 
 
234 CBRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 the bestowment of spiritual gifts as by their un- 
 reserved intercourse with them, recognized these 
 aliens as Christian brethren. But the moment had 
 now arrived, when the gates of the kingdom of 
 heaven, into which the Jews as a nation had refused 
 to enter, were to be thrown open to the Gentile 
 world. Their persecution of the Church, following 
 upon the martyrdom of Stephen, may be regarded as 
 a deliberate rejection of the Gospel on the part of 
 the Jewish authorities, under every conceivable aggra- 
 vation of malignity. Now, therefore, "through their 
 fall," salvation was to be tendered to the Gentile 
 world; and the partition-wall in the Christian Temple, 
 which forbade the intrusion of the uncircumcised 
 within the sacred precincts, was to be thrown down. 
 The conversion of Cornelius, a centurion of the 
 Italian band, with all his family, at the preaching of 
 Peter, preceded by the heavenly vision which pre- 
 pared the Apostle to abandon at once all his national 
 prejudices, and followed by the miraculous effusion of 
 the Holy Spirit upon the Gentile converts, was 
 regarded at the time as the Divine intimation that 
 thenceforth the Gospel was to be preached to all the 
 563, sil^' tribes of mankind. This signal event, Mr. Greswell 
 
 So Lardner, ■■ i* m/^^ a ^ 
 
 i(oi.T.p.50o. places early m a.u.c. /94 or a.d. 41. 
 
 It must have been shortly afterwards, that the 
 Cyprian and Cyrenian disciples at Antioch, hearing, 
 possibly, of Peter's ha,ving opened the gates of the 
 Church to Cornelius and his household at CsBsarea, 
 began to preach to the Greeks in that city. No 
 sooner did tidings of their success reach the Apostles 
 at Jerusalem, than they sent forth Barnabas to visit 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 235 
 
 Antioch ; who, on finding so important a sphere of 
 labour, proceeded to Tarsus in search of Saul, and 
 brought him back with him as a colleague. All this 
 may have taken place in the course of that year ; and 
 during a whole year subsequently to the return of 
 Barnabas with Saul, " they assembled themselves 
 with the church, and taught much people ; and the 
 disciples," having become numerous, and being no 
 longer deemed a mere Jewish sect, received at 
 Antioch the appellation of Christians.* The year Acts xi. 26. 
 which Barnabas and Saul thus passed at Antioch, is 
 supposed to have comprised part of a.u.c. 794 and 
 795, (a.d. 41, 42,) as their subsequent mission to 
 Jerusalem with the contributions of the Syrian bre- 
 thren, in consequence of the prediction of Agabus, 
 could not have taken place later than the close of the 
 latter year or the spring of 796.t The famine is 
 stated by Eusebius, Orosius, and others, to have 
 taken place in the fourth year of Claudius Caesar ; 
 but it was probably not confined to a single year ; 
 and if it commenced in the third, it would be severely 
 felt in Judea as setting in immediately after a sab- 
 batic year, (a.u.c. 794, 5.) It must have been about 
 the time that Barnabas and Saul were on their route 
 to Jerusalem, that Herod Agrippa caused James, the 
 brother of John, to be apprehended and beheaded, 
 in order to gratify the malignant hostility of his 
 Jewish subjects to the Christians ; and that, seeing it 
 pleased the Jews, he proceeded to take Peter also. 
 
 * Probably from their fellow-citizens, or from the Soman autho- 
 rities. See Lardner, vol. v. p. 602. 
 
 t See the elaborate dissertation of Greswell, vol. i. pp. 565 — 70. 
 
236 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 Mr. Greswell fixes this event at the Passover of a.u.c. 
 796, After satiating his rage at Peter's miraculous 
 escape, the Tyrant quitted Jerusalem for Caesarea, 
 where, in the autumn of the same year, he died a 
 miserable death, the awful punishment of his boastful 
 impiety,* 
 
 Paul and Barnabas, having fulfilled their mission, 
 did not remain long in Jerusalem, where they could 
 hardly deem themselves secure, but returned to 
 Antiochr Lardner supposes, that it was during this 
 visit to Jerusalem, that Paul had that vision in the 
 Temple, to which he refers in his speech to the 
 Jewish people. Acts xxii. ] 7-. — 2 1 ; since, on that 
 occasion, he was directed to hasten his departure 
 from the city, the direction being accompanied with 
 the intimation that he was to be sent as an Apostle 
 to the Gentiles. But, at this time, Paul had already 
 commenced his labours among the Gentiles of Syria 
 and Cilicia ; and it is much more in accordance with 
 the account given of the transaction, to refer it to 
 his first visit after his conversion, a.d. 40. On this 
 second visit, it is not hkely that Paul would have 
 attempted to address the Jews of Jerusalem, who 
 had, so short a time before, conspired to assassinate 
 him; and the fate of James was a warning not to 
 expose himself to the rage of Herod. Nor would the 
 death of the King render it more safe to remain in 
 
 * A.D. 43, the third of Claudius. Greswell, vol. i. p. 564. Lard- 
 ner places it in 44. As to the appalling suddenness of his seizure, in 
 the midst of his splendour and the adulations of his court, and the 
 loathsome nature of the disease, the accounts of Luke and Josephus 
 fully coincide. 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 237 
 
 Judea. Whether the return of Paul and Barnabas 
 took place before or after that event, it would be 
 some time in the autumn of that year. And in the * 
 ensuing spring, they might set out on their first 
 Apostolic circuit. 
 
 § 7. With the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Date of the 
 Acts, commences that new and remarkable stage in the of Paul and 
 progress of Christianity, which was the result of the 
 Divine mission of Barnabas and Saul to the adjacent 
 nations of the Gentile world. The precise date of 
 their entering upon the work to which they were 
 especially called, there are no means of determining ; 
 but it could not, as we have seen, be earlier than the 
 beginning of a.u.c. 797, or a.d. 44 ; and, if we sup- The date of 
 pose a year to have intervened between their return andPearson. 
 from Jerusalem and the transaction recorded. Acts 
 xiii. 1 — 3, it may have been a.d. 45. Proceeding According 
 to Seleucia, at the mouth of the Orontes, they em- and Lard- 
 barked for Cyprus, of which island Barnabas was a 
 native, and where Je.wish converts had already made 
 known the Gospel among their own countrymen of 
 the Circumcision. They landed at Salamis, on the 
 eastern side of the island, where, finding Jewish syna- 
 gogues, they preached the word of God to them, and 
 afterwards went through the whole country to Paphos, 
 the seat of the proconsular government, at the wes- 
 tern extremity. Thence, they sailed for the opposite 
 coast of the Asiatic Peninsula, and landing at Perga, 
 in Pamphylia, (at or near the modern Kelendri,) pro- 
 ceeded up the country to Antioch, the chief city of 
 Pisidia, (represented, probably, by the modern town of Mod. Trar. 
 
 Mout,) where also was a synagogue of Jews ; and to 
 
 Asia Minor, 
 .306. 
 
238 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 them they preached the Grospel. On their refusing ti 
 receive it, the Apostolic Missionaries turned to thi 
 Gentiles ; and the word of The Lord was publishe( 
 through all that region. Expelled at length fron 
 the Pisidian territory, through the machinations o 
 their Jewish opponents, Paul and Barnabas crossec 
 the mountainous ridge which separates it on th( 
 north from the plains of Lycaonia, and proceeded ti 
 Iconium,* where finding a large community of Jews 
 part of whom became obedient to the faith, an( 
 meeting with still greater success among the Greel 
 inhabitants, they abode a long time. On being a 
 length compelled to seek safety from persecution bj 
 flight, they went on to Lystra and Derbe, cities o 
 Lycaonia, which formed the northern limit of theii 
 journey. Keturning by the same route to the coasi 
 of Pamphylia, they pursued the maritime road west' 
 ward from Perga to Attalia, near the border of Lycia 
 and there embarked for the Syrian Antioch, " whence 
 they had been commended to the grace of God foi 
 the work which they had fulfilled. . . . And there thej 
 Acts xiv. abode long time with the disciples." 
 Date of the $ §• For this circuit. Biblical chronologists have al- 
 jera^iem. lottcd from two to three years ; but an interval of fivt 
 years must have occurred between the departure o: 
 Paul and Barnabas for Cyprus (a.d. 44), and theii 
 subsequent journey to Jerusalem, as a deputation fron 
 the Church at Antioch, to confer with the Apostlef 
 and elders about the question raised by the Judaistic 
 zealots, if it is to this journey that St. Paul himsell 
 
 * Now Konieh, in lat. 37° 62'. long. 32° 40'. Mod. TrareUer 
 Asia Minor, p. 300. 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 239 
 
 alludes in the Epistle to the Galatians. It is evident, 
 indeed, that they remained at Antioch for a consi- 
 derable time after their return from their mission ; yet, 
 they may not have confined their labours to that city ; 
 and it is probable, that St. Paul would devote part 
 of the time to revisiting his native city and the 
 Cilician territory. Computing from the time of his 
 .conversion, a.d. 37, it would be about fourteen years, 
 in the year 50, that he went up to Jerusalem, on 
 this mission, with Barnabas and Titus ; and there 
 seems no reason to doubt that this gives the true date 
 of the "council of Jerusalem."* 
 
 On comparing the accounts given, respectively, by 
 the Apostle himself in the Epistle to the Galatians, 
 and by the Historian in the xvth chapter of Acts, 
 the occasion of the journey we find to have been, the 
 dissension and disputes raised in the Church at An- 
 tioch by certain men fi-om Judea, " false brethren," 
 who had " crept in " to act as spies upon the liberty 
 enjoyed by the Syrian Christians with regard to 
 Jewish ordinances, and who sought, by preaching the 
 necessity of circumcision, to impose upon them the 
 yoke of legal bondage. St. Paul states, indeed, that 
 he went up " by revelation " (^xara ainKa\vif^n^ • that 
 is, agreeably to Divine intimation or instruction ; 
 which is quite consistent with its being the result of 
 the determination of the Church under Divine direc- 
 
 * The supposed chronological difficulty has led some critics to read 
 four years for fourteen, without any sufficient evidence or reason. 
 Mr. Greswell, who fixes the Council in a.u.c. 800 or 801, a.d. 47,. 48, 
 is, on this point, unusually unsatisfactory (Vol. ii. pp. 18, 47). In 
 the Tahle appended to Gaescher's New Testament, the Council is fixed, 
 A.D. 52. Mr. Milman adopts the date of a.d. 49. 
 
240 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 tion ; also, that he went up to lay before them the 
 Gospel which he preached to the Gentiles, — to de- 
 clare what God had done by his instrumentality and 
 that of Barnabas in the conversion of the Gentiles, 
 that he might not have laboured in vain. Accor- 
 dingly, the narrative in the Book of Acts states, 
 that, when they were come to Jerusalem, they de- 
 clared all things that God had done with them ; but 
 that " there had risen up certain of the sect of the 
 Pharisees who believed, saying, that it was needful 
 to circumcise them, and to command them to keep 
 the law of Moses." * And when the Apostles and 
 elders were subsequently convened to consider the 
 matter, " the multitude kept silence, and gave audience 
 while Barnabas and Paul declared what miracles and 
 wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by 
 them." It is clear, therefore, that Paul went up to 
 Jerusalem, as much for the purpose of communicating 
 information as to the results of his ministry, and of 
 vindicating his apostolic authority, as of obtaining 
 the opinion of the Apostles and elders ; and that, as he 
 declares, they in conference " added nothing to him," 
 but recognized at once his Divine commission. " See- 
 ing," he says, " that I was entrusted with the Gospel 
 to the Uncircumcised, as Peter was to the Circum- 
 cised, and recognizing the gift bestowed upon me, 
 James, and Cephas, and John, who were looked up 
 to as pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right-hand 
 of fellowship in agreement that we should preach 
 
 * Doddridge, Grotius, Tlllemont, and Bloomfield understand these 
 words as those of the Historian ; but Lardner, with Beza, L'Enfant, 
 and Whitby, more justly considers them as the report of Paul and 
 Barnabas. 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 241 
 
 among the heathen, and they among the Jews ; sti- 
 pulating only that we should bear in remembrance 
 the poor (of the Circumcision in Judea), which I 
 have ever been ready to do." This agreement was, 
 no doubt, entered into, not at the public conference, 
 when " the whole multitude " were present, but at 
 the previous interview to which th« Apostle refers, 
 Gal. ii. 2, which was of a more private nature, and 
 at which the course to be adopted would be deter- 
 mined upon. It is impossible, that, after the public 
 decision recorded in the history, it should have been 
 requisite for St. Paul to take another journey to 
 Jerusalem, for the purpose of vindicating his pro- 
 ceedings ; or that, after his separation from Barnabas, 
 Paul should have been associated with him on this 
 errand to the Apostles. Every consideration, there- 
 fore, leads to the conclusion, that the same journey is 
 referred to in both accounts, and that it took place 
 in the fourteenth year after Paul's conversion, 
 A.D. 50.* 
 
 On their return to Antioch, Paul and Barnabas 
 were accompanied by two chief men among the 
 brethren, who were themselves prophets ; Judas sur- 
 named Barsabas, and Silas or Silvanus, who after- 
 wards became the chosen companion of the Apostle 
 Paul, and who, it has been shewn, there is s.trong 
 ground for identifying with Luke, the Evangelical 
 
 * Mr. Tate streniioTtsly contends for the posteriority of tlie council 
 .at Jerusalem to the journey related in Gal. ii., as shewn by the total 
 discrepancy of the two narratives. Hor. Paul. App. A. I have 
 .carefully examined his arguments, but am unable to perceive their 
 conclusiveness. 
 
342 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 Historian. From this point in the narrative, the 
 See p. 195. a,gjJQjjg a,nd adventures of St. Paul are brought before 
 us with much greater distinctness and minuteness, 
 while those of the other Apostles are lost sight of. 
 They were, indeed, still confined for the most part to 
 the scattered tribes of Israel, — the Circumcision ; 
 while the mission of Paul and his fellow-labourers was 
 to the world. With propriety, therefore, the sacred 
 Historian, having arrived at this stage in the pro- 
 gress of the Gospel, when its reception by the Greeks 
 of Syria and Asia Minor left no doubt as to the 
 purpose of God, drops the account of what was 
 taking place within the narrow limits of Judea, 
 destined soon to be the theatre of frightful disorders 
 and calamities, and relates the triumphant success of 
 the Apostolic ministry in distant lands. 
 
 One circumstance of some interest here deserves 
 our notice, which the Historian may have suppressed 
 through delicacy. We learn incidentally from St. 
 Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, that, while Paul and 
 Barnabas were at Antioch, (probably after their first 
 visit to Jerusalem,*) Peter arrived there ; partly, 
 we may suppose, to witness the flourishing state of 
 the Church, but also, in all probability, on his way to 
 prosecute his apostolic mission to the Jews of other 
 lands. For some time, he mixed familiarly at the 
 table with believers of all nations ; but, on the arrival 
 of some members of the Church at Jerusalem, 
 through fear of oflFending their Jewish prejudices, 
 he withdrew himself from the company of the Gentile 
 
 *See page 176. This opinion is supported also by Plank, who is 
 followed by MUman, b. ii. c. 2. 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 243 
 
 Christians, and the rest of the Jewish believers fol- 
 lowed his example, so that even Barnabas was led 
 away, and took part in this dissimulation. Paul's 
 bold and faithful expostulation had, no doubt, its in- 
 tended effect; and we may gather from the affec- 
 tionate reference to his beloved brother Paul, in Peter's 
 Second Epistle, that his being faithfully withstood 
 and reproved on this occasion by the great champion 
 of the privileges of the Gentiles and the unity of the 
 Christian fellowship, occasioned no interruption of 
 their friendship. 
 
 § 9. It appears to have been not long after their re- Separation 
 turn from Jerusalem to Antioch, and we may therefore Barnabas. 
 suppose it to have been in the ensuing spring,* that 
 Paul proposed to Barnabas to visit the brethren in 
 every city in which they had preached the word of 
 the Lord. Barnabas readily assented, but deter- 
 mined to take with them his nephew, John Mark, 
 who had before accompanied them through Cyprus, 
 but had declined to go any further, and, leaving 
 them, had returned to Jerusalem.'!" Paul appears 
 to have resented his deserting " the work," not with- 
 out apparent reason : and he thought it not good to 
 take with them one who had shown himself so wanting 
 in constaficy. Barnabas, on the other hand, took 
 the part of his young relative with so much warmth, 
 that it led to a separation between these two eminent 
 fellow-labourers. The last that we hear of Barnabas, 
 
 * Pearson, Basnage, and Lardner place it in the beginning of 
 A.D. 60 : the true date would seem to be 61. 
 
 + Lardner suggests, that Mark may have come to Antioch with 
 Peter. 
 
 R 2 
 
244 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 is, that, taking Mark as his companion, he sailed for 
 Cyprus, his native island ; and as we do not read 
 that Paul again visited it, we may conclude that they 
 agreed to take different directions in the prosecution 
 of their apostolic labours.* If, after having traversed 
 
 * It may be proper to notice liere, the question which has been 
 raised, whether Barnabas is to be ranked as an Apostle. St. Paul 
 may be thought to recognise him as such in his First Epistle to the 
 Corinthians (ix. 6), where he says : " Or I only and Barnabas, have 
 not we power to forbear working ? " And he certainly refers to him, 
 as equally entitled with himself to be supported by the hospitality 
 of the churches in the prosecution of his ministry. Again, the 
 Writer of the Acts expressly applies to Barnabas this designation 
 (ch. xiv. 4, 14) : " Part held -with the Apostles" (Paul and Bar- 
 nabas) " Which when the Apostles Paul and Barnabas heard." 
 
 . That Barnabas was in some sense an Apostle, is therefore undeni- 
 able ; and it may be assumed, that the Historian considered him en^- 
 titled to this appellation, as having been sent forth from the Church 
 at Antiach on the special work to which, with Saul, he had been 
 divinely called. In like manner, St. Paul refers to others of his 
 companions (1 Cor. viii. 23) as " Apostles of the churches." That 
 Barnabas was not, however, in the highest sense, an Apostle of 
 Christ, — that is, as sustaining permanently that character in virtue 
 of an immediate appointment by Christ himself, like St. Paul, who 
 claimed to be an Apostle as having seen the Lord (1 Cor. ix. 1), we 
 may conclude : 1, from the manner in which he is spoken of by the 
 sacred Historian, as " a good man full of the Holy Ghost and of faith" 
 (Acts xi. 24), like Stephen ; and he is mentioned among other pro- 
 phets and teachers in the Church at Antioch (xiii. 1) ; but not as 
 an Apostle, except as associated with Paul in his first circuit : 2, 
 from the marked manner in which St. Paul, in the Bpistle to the 
 Galatians, speaks of himself in the singular, as having received the 
 favour of the apostleship, when, if Barnabas had been in the same 
 sense an Apostle, he would naturally have said us, instead of me. 
 (Gal. ii. 7 — 9). To these arguments, Lardner adds the precedence 
 usually assumed by Paul, and given to him, although younger in 
 years and discipleship. (Lardner, vol. v. p. 275.) Further, in his 
 Epistle, which is received as genuine, but not canonical, Barnabas 
 disclaims apostolic authority ; and by the early Fathers, though some- 
 times styled an Apostle, he is ranked among companions of the 
 Apostles or apostolical men. 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 245 
 
 that island, Barnabas extended his travels to other 
 countries, the constant intercourse between Cyprus 
 and the ports of Egypt and Libya, would afford an 
 opportunity of which he would naturally be induced to 
 avail himself, of preaching to the Greeks of Alexan- 
 dria, Cyrene, and the Pentapolis. The ancient tradi- 
 tion, that Mark, going into Egypt, first preached the 
 Gospel there, and founded the church at Alexandria, 
 seems to impart some degree of probability to this 
 conjecture. He may first have accompanied Barna- 
 bas in a visit to those regions, and, at a later period, 
 have visited Alexandria a second time, where he is 
 reported to have died in the eighth year of Nero. fiof sk^^° 
 § 1 0. Paul^ having chosen Silas as his colleague in. second cir- 
 place of Barnabas, took a solemn farewell of the breth- withSiias! 
 ren at Antioch, and set forth on a longer journey than 
 he had hitherto undertaken. Instead of departing, as 
 before, by sea, he appears to have taken the customary 
 land route into Cilicia, and, from Tarsus, to have 
 crossed Mount Taurus, by way of the Cilician 
 Gates, into the plains of Lycaonia. Thus, it will be 
 seen from the narrative, he arrived at Derbe and 
 Lystra, by this route, in his way to Iconium and 
 Antioch.* At Lystra, he met with a young man. a 
 disciple, with whom he was so greatly pleased that he 
 adopted him as his spiritual son and assistant in his 
 evangelical labours. This was Timothy, the son of a 
 Greek, but of Jewish descent on his mother's side, 
 and therefore entitled to be received as one of the 
 sacred nation, on undergoing the rite of circumcision. 
 
 * By this route, he appears to have reached Derbe before Lystra ; 
 whereas, on the route from Iconium, Lystra occurs before Derbe. 
 
24C CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 Gai.ii.1— 3. Titus, being a Greek, when he accompanied the 
 Apostle to Jerusalem, had not been compelled to 
 undergo the rite; for to have exacted this from a 
 Gentile as the condition of his intercourse with the 
 Church at Jerusalem, would have been to contravene 
 the great principle of which it was the object of the 
 Apostle, in that visit, to obtain the formal recognition. 
 The case of Timothy was, however, wholly different ; 
 first, because his submitting to circumcision involved 
 no compromise of the privileges of Gentile believers ; 
 and secondly, because it was intended to qud,lify him, 
 not for intercourse with Christians, but for coming 
 into contact with Jews in the discharge of his duties 
 as an Evangelist ; otherwise he could never have 
 gained access to their synagogues. 
 
 From Iconium, the Apostle and his companions 
 appear to have taken a northern route through 
 Phrygia into Galatia, the capital of which is repre- 
 sented by the modern Angdra (^Ancyi'o).* Being 
 
 Actsxvi.6. "forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word 
 in Asia" (the proconsular province), they turned 
 towards Mysia. From Kutaya {CotycEum), near its 
 confines, a road runs to Broussa (Prusa), the capital 
 of the kings of Bithynia, by which they might natu- 
 rally have proceeded to that important city ; but 
 "the Spirit suffered them not." Their course was 
 again changed by a Divine intimation, for reasons un- 
 explained, but possibly as it would have led them 
 
 * As no single place of importance in the regicfn of Galatia is 
 mentioned in the narrative, Mr. Tate suggests, that the country may 
 have been inhabited vicatim, in small communities ; a supposition 
 agreeing with their Galatic or Gallic origin. 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 247 
 
 into a territory in which they would have been ex- 
 posed to personal danger. Skirting Mysia, therefore, 
 they reached the coast at Troas, having traversed 
 the whole length of the Asiatic Peninsula. 
 
 At Troas, a vision appeared to Paul in the 
 night, which decided his future course, and might 
 suggest the reason that his purpose had been con- 
 trolled, as regarded preaching the Gospel in Asia 
 and Bithynia at that time. A man of Macedonia 
 appeared to him in the attitude of beseeching him to 
 come over and help them ; after which, says the sacred 
 Historian, " we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, 
 assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us to 
 preach the Gospel unto them ; " language which 
 implies that the Writer was not merely a companion 
 of Paul, but one of his colleagues, and consequently 
 no other than Silas. Embarking at Troas for Samo- See page 57. 
 thrace, they thence crossed to Neapolis, (now Cavallo,) 
 the port of PhiUppi, in Macedonia Adjecta ; * and 
 in that flourishing city, they prepared to make some 
 stay. The signal success which attended their 
 ministry, the miraculous attestation of their mission 
 afforded by the case of the Pythoness, and their 
 triumphant vindication from the charge of being 
 political offenders, must have served to reconcile 
 them to a hastened departure from Philippi. Thence, 
 they passed through Amphipolisf and ApoUonia, to 
 Thessalonica, where Paul addressed himself at first, 
 agreeably to his constant practice, to the Jews, and 
 
 * That part of Thrace between the Strymon and the Nestus, 
 added to Macedonia by Philip, 
 t Now Emboli, on the Strymon. 
 
24a CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 afterwards with more success to the Gentiles. Being 
 See Pal. v's at Icnffth obliffcd, through a disturbance raised by the 
 
 Hor. Paul. ^ „ , • , o i • -r. i i ci-i 
 
 istThess. Jews, to flee by night from that city, raul and bilas 
 were sent on to Beroea. Thither they were followed 
 by their Thessalonian persecutors, who stirred up the 
 people at Beroea against them. On this, the Brethren 
 sent Paul away towards the sea, as if to embark ;* 
 but those to whose care he was confided, conducted 
 him by land to Athens, where he purposed to await 
 the arrival of his colleagues, Silas and Timothy. In 
 the midst of a city given up to idolatry and false 
 philosophy^ he was not forgetful of his mission, nor 
 "ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." In the syna- 
 gogues, he disputed with the Jews ; in the market- 
 place and inr- Areopagus daily with all who met with 
 him, including philosophers both of the Epicurean 
 and of the l^oic sects; and not wholly without success. 
 Pauipreach- §11. 'At Athens,' remarks Mr. Milman, ' the 
 Athens. Centre at once and capital of the Greek philosophy 
 and heathen superstition, takes place the first public 
 and direct conflict between Christianity and Paganism. 
 Up to this time, there is no account of any one of 
 the Apostles taking his station in the public street or 
 market-place, and addressing the general multitude. 
 Their place of teaching had invariably been the 
 synagogue of their nation, or, as at Philippi, the 
 neighbourhood of their customary place of worship. 
 Here, however, Paul does not confine himself to the 
 synagogue, or to the society of his countrymen and 
 their proselytes. He takes his stand in the public 
 
 ■* Mr. Tate supposes the Apostle to have been ' conducted ta 
 Athens by sea.' 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 249 
 
 market-place, probably not the Ceramicus, but the 
 Eretriac Forum, which, in the reign of Augustus, 
 had begun to be more frequented, and at the top of 
 which was the famous portico from which the Stoics 
 assumed their name, In Athens, the appearance of 
 a new public teacher, instead of offending the popular 
 feelings, was too familiar to excite astonishment, and 
 was rather welcomed as promising some fresh intellec- 
 tual excitement. Though they affect at first (proba- 
 bly the philosophic part of his hearers) to treat him 
 as an idle " babbler," and others (the vulgar, alarmed 
 for the honour of their deities) supposed that he was 
 about to introduce some new religious worship which 
 might endanger the supremacy of their own tutelary 
 divinities ; he is conveyed, not without respect, to a 
 still more public and commodious place,, from which 
 he may explain his doctrines to a numerous assembly 
 without disturbance. On the Areopagus, the Chris- 
 tian leader takes his stand, surrounded on every side 
 with whatever was noble, beautiful, and intellectual 
 in the older world ; temples, of which the materials 
 were only surpassed by the architectural grace and 
 majesty ; statues, in which the ideal anthropomorphism 
 of the Greeks had almost elevated the popular notions 
 of the Deity, by embodying it in forms of such 
 exquisite perfection ; public edifices where the civil 
 interests of man had been discussed with the acute- 
 ness and versatility of the highest Grecian intellect, 
 i all the purity of the inimitable Attic dialect, — 
 where oratory had attained its highest triumphs by 
 •' wielding at will the fierce democracy." .... It 
 was in the midst of these elevating associations, to 
 
250 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 which the student of Greek literature in Tarsus, the 
 
 reader of Menander and of the Greek philosophical 
 
 Miiman's poets, could scarcely be entirely dead or ignorant, 
 
 Chris- that Paul stands forth to proclaim the lowly yet 
 
 c. a ' ' " authoritative religion of Jesus of Nazareth.' 
 
 The exquisite propriety and wisdom of the Apos- 
 tle's discourse, as preserved by the sacred Historian, 
 are finely illustrated by the ingenious and learned 
 Author. The opening of it, he remarks, is in accord- 
 ance with the most perfect rules of art, — calm, tem- 
 perate, and conciliatory. Up to a certain point in the 
 higher view which he unfolded of the Supreme Being, 
 'the philosopher of the Garden, as well as of the 
 Porch might hsten with wonder and admiration. It 
 soared, indeed, high above the vulgar religion ; but, 
 in the lofty and serene Deity who disdained to dwell 
 in the earthly temple, and needed nothing fi-om the 
 hand of man,* the Epicurean might almost suppose 
 that he heard the language of his own teacher. But 
 the next sentence, which asserted the providence of 
 God as the active, creative energy, — as the conserva- 
 tive, the ruling, the ordaining principle, — annihilated 
 at once the atomic theory and the government of 
 blind chance, to which Epicurus ascribed the origin 
 and preservation of the universe. " This high and 
 impassive Deity who dwelt aloof in serene and 
 majestic superioHty to all want, was perceptible in 
 some mysterious manner by man : his all-pervading 
 providence comprehended the whole human race ; 
 man was in constant union with the Deity, as an 
 
 * The coincidence with the ' nihil indiga nostri ' of Lucretius, is 
 curious, Mr. Milman remarks,- even if accidental. 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 25l 
 
 offspring with its parent." And still the Stoic might 
 applaud with complacent satisfaction the ardent words 
 of the Apostle ; he might approve the lofty con- 
 demnation of idolatry : " We, thus of divine descent, 
 ought to think more nobly of our universal Father 
 than to suppose that the Godhead is like unto gold, 
 or silver, or stone graven by art or man's device." 
 But this Divine Providence was far different from the 
 stem and all- controlling Necessity, the inexorable 
 Fatalism of the Stoic system. While the moral value 
 of human actions was recognized by the solemn retri- 
 butive judgment to be passed on all mankind, the 
 dignity of Stoic virtue was lowered by the general 
 demand of repentance. The perfect man, the moral 
 king, was deposed, as it were, and abased to the 
 general level: he had to learn new lessons in the 
 school of Christ ; lessons of humility and conscious 
 deficiency, the most directly opposed to the principles 
 and the sentiments of his philosophy. The great 
 Christian doctrine of the Resurrection closed the 
 speech of Paul ; a doctrine received with mockery, 
 perhaps, by his Epicurean hearers ; with suspension 
 of judgment, probably, by the Stoic, with whose 
 theory of the final destruction of the world by fire, 
 and his tenet of future retribution, it might appear in 
 some degree to harmonize. Some, however, became 
 declared converts ; among whom are particularly 
 named Dionysius, a man of sufficient distinction to 
 be a member of the famous court of the Areopagus, Miiman's 
 and a woman named Damaris, probably of consider- chrl"^ " 
 able rank and influence.' c!T'^' 
 
 § 12. At length, his colleagues not having arrived, Paul at 
 
252 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 (probably through some alteration of the first arrange- 
 ment,) Paul "proceeded to Corinth, where he met 
 with a Jew of Pontus and his wife, recently arrived 
 from Rome, having been compelled to leave that city 
 by an edict of the Emperor Claudius ; and because 
 he was of the same craft with them, that of tent- 
 makers,* (it being customary for even the most 
 learned rabbins to be brought up to some manual 
 trade,t) Paul abode with them, and wrought with 
 his own hands for his maintenance, (as he had done 
 ]Thess.ii.9. before at Thessalonica,) that he might not be bur- 
 densome to any person. Corinth was the great 
 thoroughfare between Italy and Asia; and Aquila 
 and Priscilla had probably arrived there on their way, 
 for they left Corinth at the same time with St. Paul, 
 and afterwards settled in Ephesus. The decree 
 which led to their expulsion, was issued, according to 
 Lardner (who follows Basnage), in the eleventh year 
 of the reign of Claudius, a..d. 51 J ; and the meeting 
 of Paul with Aquila and Priscilla at Corinthy is sup- 
 posed to have taken place in the same year. If, how- 
 ever, St. Paul left Antioch in the spring of 51, we 
 
 * A coarse stuff, called cilidvm, madg of goats' hair; was manu- 
 factured in the native country of Paul, and used for portable tents. 
 This is supposed to have been the craft referred to. 
 
 t According to the Jewish maxim, ' He who teaches not his son. 
 a trade, teaches him to be a thief.' Nothing is more common than 
 to meet with such designations of their learned men as. Rabbi Jose 
 the tanner, Rabbi Joohanan the shoemaker, &c. Cave. It would 
 appear from this, that Our Lord's being taught the carpenter's handi- 
 craft, and working at it, would not be deemed derogatory to his char 
 racter as a Teacher. 
 
 X GresweU thinks it must have been in a.u.c. 803 (a.d. 50) at the 
 earliest. Vol. ii, p. 17. Hug brings Paul to Corinth in 65. 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 258 
 
 cannot assign much less than a year for his journey- 
 ings and sojournings in Asia Minor and Macedonia ; 
 and Basnage supposes them to have taken up a year 
 and a half. Assuming that Aquila and Priscilla had 
 already been a month or two at Corinth, we may 
 conclude that they left Rome some time in a.d. 51, 
 and that Paul joined them early in 52. 
 
 Some months had probably elapsed, during which 
 Paul had preached with great boldness and success, 
 when Gallio, the brother of Seneca, arrived at Co- Acts xTiii. 
 
 > , 12. 
 
 rinth, as praetor of the province of Achaia ; and the 
 Jews took advantage of his coming, to accuse Paul 
 before him of *' persuading men to worship God 
 contrary to the Law." Mr. Greswell has adduced 
 historical reasons for dating this occurrence not later Oresweii, 
 
 ° . vol. ii. p. 24. 
 
 than the autumn of a.u.c. 805 (a.d. 52). It is not 
 necessary, indeed, to understand the Historian of the 
 Acts as stating that Paul had been teaching at Co- 
 rinth a year and six months previously to his being 
 brought before Gallio : he seems to have remained 
 there a considerable time afterwards ; and the " year 
 and a half" may be understood as comprising the 
 whole length of his stay, which could not have ter- 
 minated earlier than tiieyear 53.* 
 
 Paul had not been very long at Corinth, (appa- 
 rently only a few weeks,) when he was joined by 
 Silas and Timotheus from Macedonia. This circum- 
 stance is adverted to in the First Epistle to the 
 
 * Mr. Greswell fixes the Apostle's departure from Corinth early 
 in the winter quarter of a.tt.c. 805 (a.d. 52) ; but his calculations 
 are governed by a fallacious inference respecting the time of ' the 
 Council of- Jerusalem,' , 
 
254 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 Thessalonians, which was evidently written shortly- 
 after their arrival, and consequently at Corinth ; not 
 at Athens, as the apocryphal note at the end of the 
 Epistle asserts. On comparing this Epistle with the 
 History, it may appear a discrepancy, that the Apostle 
 seems to speak as if he had sent Timothy to Thessa- 
 lonica from Athens. It is^ indeed, very possible, that 
 Timothy followed him to that city " with all speed," 
 agreeably to the message transmitted by the Apostle's 
 Beroean guides ; and that Paul, anxious to learn how 
 his Thessalonian converts endured the test of per- 
 secution, " thought it good to be left at Athens 
 alone," and sent him back to Macedonia. Dr. Paley 
 suggests this explanation, as affording one of those 
 striking instances of undesigned conformity between 
 the History and the Epistles, which attest the genuine- 
 ness and authenticity of both. ' 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, fiirnishes a circumstance which supplies that 
 omission.' Ingenious and probable as is this explana- 
 tion, it is not absolutely necessary to have recourse 
 to the supposition that Timothy came to Athens, 
 since he might receive the Apostle's instructions to 
 return to Thessalonica, instead of joining him at 
 Athens, as at first arranged, by some messenger 
 despatched to Bercea, where Silas appears to have 
 remained for a while. We may be reasonably sure 
 that, without some communication having passed 
 between them, Paul would not have, left Attica for 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 255 
 
 the Isthmus, nor could they have known where to 
 rejoin him. But, that both Silas and Timothy were 
 with him when he wrote his first Epistle, is clear, not 
 only from the history, but from their being joined 
 with the Apostle in the opening salutation ; and the 
 Epistle, by its peculiar phraseology, indicates that 
 the Writer considered himself as speaking for them as 
 well as for himself. 
 
256 
 
 THE EPISTLES OF PAUL 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 THE EPISTLES TO THE THESSALONIANS (l. AND II.), 
 THE GALATIANS, AND THE CORINTHIANS (l.). 
 
 THE BPISTLES TO THE THESSALONIANS ANALYSIS — CONTINUA- 
 TION OF THE NARRATIVE FROM THE TIME OF PAUL's LEAVING 
 
 CORINTH TILL HIS ARRIVAL AT EPHESUS, ACTS XVIII. 18 
 
 XIX. 1. THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS CHARACTER OF ST. 
 
 PAUL AS A RHETORICIAN ANALYSIS. — THE FIRST EPISTLE TO 
 
 THE CORINTHIANS : ITS DATE AND OCCASION ANALYSIS CHA- 
 RACTER OF THE COMPOSITION. 
 
 The First 
 Epistle to 
 the Thes- 
 salonians. 
 
 Lardner, 
 vol. vi. p. 6. 
 
 Analysis. 
 
 § 1 . The First Epistle to the Thessalonians is, un- 
 questionably, the earliest of St. Paul's writings ; and 
 towards the close of it occurs the remarkable charge, 
 that it should be read to all the holy brethren. ' Paul,' 
 observes the judicious Lardner, ' knowing the pleni- 
 tude of his apostolical commission, demands the same 
 respect to he paid to his writings with those of the 
 ancient prophets. This is a direction fit to be 
 inserted in the first Epistle written by him. And 
 the manner in which it is given, suggests an argu- 
 ment that this was his first apostolical Epistle.' 
 
 The occasion and object of this Epistle are obvious. 
 The Apostle had been anxious to revisit Thessalonica ; 
 and he wished these his converts, of whose exemplary 
 faith and obedience he speaks^ in the opening para- 
 
TO THE THESSALONIANS. 267 
 
 graphs, in terms of the warmest eulogy, to know that 
 he had endeavoured to come once and again, but had 
 been prevented by the obstacles thrown in his way ch. a is. 
 by Satan 5 he had therefore sent Timothy to exhort 
 and comfort them under the persecutions to which he 
 had heard they were exposed from their heathen 
 countrymen. And now that Timothy had returned to 
 him with such satisfactory accounts of their steadfast- 
 ness and constancy, and their aflfection for him, he 
 was filled with gratitude and joy on their behalf 
 before God. It was his daily prayer, that his way 
 might be directed so as to be able to revisit them. 
 In the mean time, in the latter part of the Epistle, Ch. iv. 
 he gives them apostolic exhortations and warnings 
 upon several points of conduct. The laxity of man- 
 ners and licentiousness which notoriomily prevailed 
 in their city, rendered it especially necessary to guard Lucian in 
 them against a class of sins, respecting which the isf!^"'* 
 standard of conventional morality is apt to be fear- 
 fully below the law of God, and of which, though 
 they may be practised with impunity as regards man, 
 God will be the avenger. Next, he exhorts them to 
 follow his example in supporting themselves by their 
 own industry, so as not to be burdensome to the 
 community. He then adverts to a mistaken view of 
 the Second Advent of Christ, the great object of 
 expectation to the Church, which had led them to 
 suppose that those who should be living at the time 
 would have some peculiar advantage, and for that 
 reason to indulge in an excess of grief on account of 
 the departed. In turning from idols to serve the 
 living and true God, they had also embraced the 
 
258 THE EPISTLES OF PAUL 
 
 glorious hope which led them to " wait for His Son 
 from heaven." And this event was probably believed 
 to be not so far off, but that many then living might 
 survive to witness it. The Apostles had no certain 
 knowledge on this point ; and of the times and seasons, 
 St, Paul had nothing to communicate beyond what 
 they already knew ; that the Day of The Lord would 
 come suddenly upon the world. But, speaking by 
 Divine authority, he assures them, that the resurrec- 
 tion of the just would take place prior to the descent 
 of The Lord from heaven, so that the living saints 
 would have no advantage over those who had long 
 been slumbering in their graves ; for whom, therefore, 
 it did not become them to mourn with the bitter 
 regret or despondency of the heathen, who had no 
 such hope, or as feeling parted from their deceased 
 friends for long. He exhorts them, accordingly, to 
 comfort each other with these considerations, and to 
 live in constant preparation for the coming of Our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. This is followed with a series of 
 practical admonitions. After solemnly commending 
 them to the Divine keeping, the Apostle bespeaks 
 their prayers for himself; directs that the Epistle be 
 pubUcly read; and closes with his Apostohc bene- 
 diction. 
 
 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. 
 
 Occasion § 2. It appears, however, from the Second Epistle, 
 
 the Second which was evidently written after no long interval, 
 
 ^P"'*'"- and while Paul was still at Corinth, that the Thes- 
 
 salonian Christians had either misunderstood the 
 
 Apostle's language, as implying that the Day of The 
 
TO THE THESSALONIANS. 269 
 
 Lord was to take place almost immediately,* or 
 had been led to entertain that persuasion by some 
 persons who pretended to have his authority for 
 the statement ; and that they had consequently been 
 much agitated and troubled by the false impression. 
 On being informed of this, the Apostle wrote to quiet 
 their alarm, and to rectify the misconstruction that 
 had been put upon his words. Referring to what he 
 had already told them on the subject, when he was 
 yet with them, he reminds them,-f that that Day 
 must be preceded by a predicted apostacy, and by 
 the appearance and temporary triumph of the Man of 
 Sin, the Spiritual Usurper, which could not itself 
 take place till certain hinderances were removed. He 
 then exhorts them to stand fast in the instructions 
 delivered to them, whether in writing or by word of 
 mouth, by himself and his colleagues. He bespeaks 
 their especial prayers, that he may be delivered from 
 perverse and faithless men; (alluding probably to his 
 Jewish assailants at Corinth, who accused him before 
 Gallic ;) and the Epistle concludes with some prac- 
 tical exhortations and directions how to deal with 
 disorderly and idle members of their own body. 
 
 & 3. Both these Epistles were written either in the Travels of 
 
 J. ii , ■ i^- • ,1 -^ St. Paul, 
 
 same year, J that IS, some time m the year 52, or, a.d.s3-^6. 
 possibly, the second early in 53, when the Writer, 
 having given up all intention of returning to Mace- 
 donia, was contemplating a visit to Jerusalem. His 
 
 * So Benson and Paley — ' as if we had said or written any such 
 thing.' 
 
 + Paley adduces the obscurity of this reference to a previous con- 
 versation as a striking mark of authenticity. 
 
 ± The opinion of Lardner, Milman, and Benson. 
 
 S 2 
 
2C0 THE EPISTLES OF PAUL 
 
 motive for wishing to attend the festival (probably 
 that of Pentecost) is not explained; but we may 
 naturally suppose that he would be desirous of com- 
 municating to the Apostles, and all who should be 
 convened at Jerusalem, the success of his labours 
 among the Greeks of Europe. The supposition, that 
 his visiting Jerusalem was in consequence of a vow, 
 is founded upon a mistaken construction of the narra- 
 tive ; as it was Aquila, not Paul, who must be under- 
 stood to have shorn his head in Cenchrea ;* and as 
 the Apostle had resided with Aquila and Priscilla, 
 and wrought at their craft, during his stay at Corinth, 
 their removal to Ephesus (probably on the expiration or 
 Mfilment of the vow of Aquila) may have determined 
 him to return to Syria, leaving Silas and Timotheus 
 behind. The ship in which he embarked, touched at 
 Ephesus, and staid there long enough to allow of his 
 entering into the synagogue on the Sabbath, and 
 reasoning with the Jews. On being pressed to 
 remain there longer, he " consented not," being bent 
 upon keeping the approaching festival in Jerusalem, 
 but promised to return, " God willing." Accord- 
 ingly, he sailed from Ephesus to Cesarea, where he 
 landed, and thence proceeded to Jerusalem, to salute 
 the Church, which was evidently the object of his 
 visiting Judea, in his way to Antioch. He made no 
 stay in Jerusalem ; but, at Antioch, which he might 
 
 * To shave the head was, generally, to declare the consummation 
 of the vow ; but of what nature this vow was, commentators are not 
 agreed. See Greswell, vol. ii. p. 23. Bloomfield in loco. That 
 Aquila is referred to, is clear from the transposition of his name 
 after that of Priscilla, which nowhere else occurs in the history, and 
 can be no otherwise explained. So Chrysostom, the Vulgate, and 
 the best commentators understand the words. 
 
TO THE THESSALONIANS. 261 
 
 reach in May, or early in June, he spent some time. 
 Before the autumn was far advanced, however, he 
 would set out upon his journey to Galatia and Phry- 
 gia. This was the third time he had made an 
 excursion into the Asiatic Peninsula, but only the 
 second time of his penetrating into Galatia ; and it is 
 a natural supposition, that what he had heard of the 
 unsteadiness and defection of his Galatian converts, 
 was the main inducement of his resolving to pay them 
 this visit. It is briefly stated by the sacred Historian, 
 that " he went over all the country of Galatia and 
 Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples ; " 
 and having made the circuit of these " upper re- 
 gions," he now passed through Asia, (in which he 
 had, at his previous visit, been forbidden to preach,) 
 and came down to Ephesus, where he proposed, 
 agreeably to his promise, to remain for some time. 
 
 For this journey, beginning at Antioch, and em- 
 bracing the tour of the Peninsula, we cannot allow less 
 than six or eight months ; and if so, the earliest period 
 that can be assigned for his reaching Ephesus, would 
 seem to be the autumn of a.d. 54. He remained there 
 for a period of three years (rfenfa"), that is, between 
 two and three, and then proceeded to Macedonia. His 
 departure took place in the summer, which must have 
 been that of either 57 or 56.* 
 
 * Mr. Greswell supposes the Apostle's stay at Ephesus to have 
 been during a.u.c. 806 — 809, or a.d. 52 — 56 ; (vol. ii. pp. 20, 36 ;) 
 but upon calculations already shown to be fallacious. Lardner sup- 
 poses Paul to have kept the Pentecost of a.d. 63 at Jerusalem, and 
 yet to have reached Ephesus in October or November of the same 
 year, wrhich seems scarcely possible, and to have remained there till 
 about Pentecost, a.d. 66. 
 
262 THE EPISTLE OE PAUL 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 
 
 Date of the ^ 4. If the view taken of the Apostle's reason for 
 
 Epistle to ... /^ T • 1 iTi'i i/~ii 
 
 the Gala- visitmg (ralatia be correct, the Lpistle to the (jala- 
 tian church must have been written in consequence 
 of the information that had been conveyed to him, 
 before he left Corinth. And such is the opinion 
 adopted by Lardner, after Beausobre and Benson, 
 upon grounds which seem not easily to be shaken. 
 In this Epistle, he expresses his surprise that they 
 should so soon have been turned aside unto another 
 Gospel; which indicates that no long time had 
 elapsed since they had embraced the Gospel which 
 he had preached among them; nor is there any 
 reference to the second journey which he made into 
 that region.* We know that the leaven of the 
 Judaistic schism was beginning to work in the churches 
 of Syria, before his first visit to Galatia ; and every 
 thing in the Epistle agrees with its early date. Be- 
 sides, as Lardner remarks, we seem to see the reason 
 of the Apostle's not returning directly to Ephesus 
 from Jerusalem. ' At Corinth, he heard of the 
 defection of many in Galatia. Whereupon he sent 
 away a sharp letter to them. But, considering the 
 nature of the case, he judged it best to take the first 
 opportunity to go to Galatia, and support the instruc- 
 
 * Hug and Greswell, indeed, arg^e, that to irporepov, Gal. iv. 13, 
 implies a first, in contradistinction from a second visit. But, though 
 it may be rendered, " the first time," it does not require to be so 
 takeij, and wiU not of itself support the notion of a second visit 
 previously to the Epistle. 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 263 
 
 tions of his letter. And both together had a very 
 good effect.' The learned Author remarks, that, at 
 the time of his writing to the Corinthians from 
 Ephesus, in 56, Paul had evidently (as appears from 
 ch. xvi. 1 ) a good opinion of his converts in Galatia, 
 and entertained no doubt of their observing his direc- 
 tions. We assume, therefore, that this Epistle was 
 written in 52 or 53, before he left the Isthmus for 
 Syria.* 
 
 $ 5. This Epistle is one of the most finished and character of 
 
 . ■, n r\ Tt ■•, . . 1 . St. Paul as 
 
 rhetoncal of bt. raui s compositions, and owing, per- a rtetori- 
 haps, to its having been written entirely with his own 
 hand, and not dictated, as was his usual practice, to 
 ah amanuensis, displays a terseness of style and close- 
 ness of argumentation, not so observable in his other 
 writings. Justin Martyr cites it as Paul's ' Oration 
 to the Greeks ; ' and it partakes very decidedly of an 
 oratorical character, being more rhetorical than de- 
 monstrativcf In this respect, it corresponds to 
 the character of his eloquence given by Longinus, 
 who, after enumerating some of the most renowned 
 orators of Greece, Demosthenes, Lysias, -^schines, 
 Isocrates, and others, says : ' To these may be added 
 Paul of Tarsus, who was the first, to my knowledge, 
 
 * Lardner, vol. vi. pp. 11, 12. The spurious inscription which 
 makes the Epistle to have been written at Rome, has no reasonable 
 foundation ; and Lardner has shown, that the various conjectures 
 which assign it a date as late as 67, 68, &o., are unsupported by 
 either internal evidence or probability. 
 
 t Lardner, vol. ii. p. 136. The Greek was used in all public 
 documents and inscriptions ; and the country was called GaUo-Orcecia, 
 though the Galatians were a Gaulish race. Hug, vol. ii. p. 363. 
 
264 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 who did not make use of demonstration ;'* — meaning, 
 who sought to persuade, rather than to prove. The 
 genuineness of this passage has, indeed, been ques- 
 tioned ; but, for the scepticism expressed, there 
 appears to be no foundation ; and Hug has both vin- 
 dicated the genuineness, and illustrated the correct- 
 ness of the criticism of the accomphshed Platonist. 
 ' Paul seems to the critic, to persuade rather than to 
 prove, and not without reason ; for the Apostk 
 either pre-supposes certain doctrines as known, and 
 joins others to them ; or he cites passages from the 
 Old Testament, the authoritative force of which the 
 heathen philosopher did not understand, and which he 
 was forced, therefore, to consider as mere erudition and 
 literary embellishment. Viewing the matter, then, as 
 he was obliged to view it, he could remark nothing 
 more accurately concerning him, than that he, the 
 first among all his predecessors, applied himself less to 
 proofs than to the excitement of the passions and to 
 
 p. 343. ' ' pathos.' In this Epistle, more especially, writing to 
 his own converts, he rests much on his apostolic 
 authority ; whereas, in writing to the Boman Chris- 
 tians, to whom he was not personally known, he rests 
 entirely upon argument. 
 
 Anahrsisof ^^6. lu the Opening salutation, St. Paul emphatically 
 asserts his plenary and independent authority as the 
 Apostle of Christ ; and he enters at once upon the 
 occasion of his writing to them, by expressing the 
 astonishment with which he had heard of their de- 
 
 * Or, as Lardner renders, ' Of whom I may say, that he first ex- 
 celled in an argument which is not of a demonstrative kind.' 
 Vol. vii. p. 379. 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 265 
 
 clension from the faith which they had so recently 
 embraced; solemnly declaring, that, if even an Apostle 
 or an Angel from heaven should come to them, 
 teaching a doctrine at variance with what they had 
 received from his lips, he would deserve to be held in 
 execration, since the Gospel which he had preached 
 among them was a revelation from God. To remove 
 all ground for doubt upon this cardinal point, the 
 Apostle proceeds to give them an account of his 
 previous history, of the circumstances attending his 
 conversion, and of his subsequent proceedings ; from 
 which it would be evident, that he was not indebted 
 for his knowledge of the Christian faith and doctrine 
 to human teaching, nor had received it upon the 
 authority of any Apostle; that his source of infor- 
 mation was immediate Inspiration ; and that he had 
 maintained his independence in differing from the 
 chief Apostles, who had recognized his Divine com- 
 mission, as the Apostle of the Gentiles, to be of 
 equal validity with their own. And he thus leads the 
 Galatian believers to infer, that, if he had felt himself 
 authorized, and bound in fidelity, to stand up for the 
 purity of the Gospel against Peter himself, when, by 
 his conduct, he but tacitly sanctioned the errors of 
 the judaistic zealots, much less would he suffer his See p. 242. 
 own converts to be led astray by intrusive teachers, 
 who could pretend to no apostolic authority, and 
 claimed no forbearance at his hands. He then 
 briefly shews the utter inconsistency of falUng back 
 upon the Law as a means or condition of acceptance 
 with God, which went to nullify the doctrine of the 
 Cross. By one of those rhetorical transitions with 
 
266 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 which the Epistle abounds, the inspired Writer then 
 makes a direct and passionate appeal to his converts: — 
 " By what sorcery has this delusion been imposed upon 
 you ? " He appeals to the results of his preaching, to 
 their own experience of the power of the Gospel, as 
 the simple effect of faith. The doctrine which makes 
 faith in God the way of acceptance, he shews to be in 
 accordance with what the Scriptures declare con- 
 cerning the faith of Abraham, and with the tenor of 
 the Divine covenant made with him ; which, as being 
 prior to the giving of the Sinaitic law, could not 
 depend upon the conditions of the Mosaic dispensa- 
 tion. The design of the Law, he shews to have 
 been, not to supersede the Covenant of Promise or 
 the exercise of faith, but to prepare the way, and 
 shew the necessity for the Gospel as a dispensa- 
 tion of mercy. Under the Law, the people of God 
 were in a state of nonage and subjection : by the 
 Redemption of Christ, they were put into posses- 
 sion of their rights and privileges as sons and heirs. 
 Those whom he was addressing, indeed, had not, 
 before their conversion, been in the condition of sub- 
 jection to the Law, but in a far more degrading 
 bondage as bowing down to imaginary deities. In 
 them, therefore, who had been turned from polytheism 
 to the knowledge of the True God, and raised to the 
 state of filial privilege, it was the more astonishing 
 and deplorable, that they should fall back into the 
 slavery of superstition. With affectionate earnestness 
 he pleads with them as his spiritual children ; reminds 
 them of the devoted regard they had professed for 
 him ; appeals to them, whether he had done any thing 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 267 
 
 to justify a change in their feelings towards him ; 
 and expresses his anxious desire to re-visit them in 
 person, that he might the better know how to combat 
 the arguments of their false teachers. At this point, 
 he suddenly strikes off into a fresh strain of argument, 
 addressed to the sticklers for the authority of the 
 Jewish law, and affording a fine specimen of the argu- 
 mentum ad kominem, or the persuasive, as distin- 
 guished fi'om the demonstrative mode. They appealed 
 to the Law, to the letter of the Old Testament ; but, 
 as the bondsmen of the Law, the language of Scripture 
 might be cited against them, as denoting their exclu- 
 sion from the blessing enjoyed by the spiritual pro- 
 geny of Abraham. In the Patriarch's two sons by 
 different mothers, the one bond, the other free, there 
 was afforded an emblematic illustration of the relative 
 position and spirit of the two contending parties, or 
 of the two Economies ; that of the Law, the Sinaitic 
 Covenant, gendering children into bondage ; and that 
 of Grace or Promise, the Gospel dispensation, under 
 which all the spiritually redeemed are free. The 
 latter are the true heirs, who, like Isaac, might suffer 
 persecution from those who were actuated by the 
 spirit of Ishmael ; but the Scripture should be fulfilled 
 in the expulsion or rejection of those who trusted for 
 salvation to the Law, like the Bondwoman and her 
 Son from the family of Abraham. 
 
 This allegorical accommodation of Scripture history, 
 which, if it seems not to have the force of strict logical 
 argument, is yet a reasoning from analogy, well-suited 
 to the purpose of persuasion, — was quite after the man- 
 ner, and in accordance with the taste, of the Babbinical 
 
268 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 school. By many of the Jewish writers, as by some 
 of the Christian fathers who were of the same school, 
 the allegorical interpretation of the Old Testament 
 was carried to an unwarrantable and ridiculous excess ; 
 historical facts not being, as by St. Paul, allegorically 
 applied, but converted into allegory, and the true 
 sense of Scripture lost in the mystical meaning attri- 
 buted to it. But, in the Apostle's figurative use of 
 the Scripture narrative, there is no mysticism ; and 
 his deduction fi^om it is entirely practical. He ex- 
 horts them, as children of the promise, and free-bom, 
 to stand firm in their Christian liberty. And he 
 proceeds, in the plainest and most emphatic terms, 
 to warn them, that, by submitting, as Gentiles, to 
 circumcision, they would virtually renounce Chris- 
 tianity for Judaism, and thereby forfeit all part in 
 the hope and grace of the Gospel. Again changing 
 his strain, he addresses them in the language of affec- 
 tionate and impassioned expostulation ; and using a 
 familiar agonistic metaphor, asks, who had turned 
 them from the course in which they had started so 
 well ? Yet he felt confident that they would not be 
 turned from the doctrine he had taught them ; and 
 the party who had unsettled them, whoever he was, 
 should bear the penalty of his sin. He then reminds 
 them of what he had suffered fi-om his own country- 
 men for maintaining that circumcision and an observ- 
 ance of the rites of Judaism were not necessary to 
 salvation, and ought not to be imposed upon the 
 Gentiles : in this doctrine consisted, in the eyes of 
 the Jews, the main offence of the Gospel. These 
 Galatian converts were called to the enjoyment of 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 269 
 
 freedom from that yoke of bondage ; and it became 
 them to assert that freedom, but not to abuse it. By 
 a natural transition, he follows up this consideration 
 with a series of practical admonitions, warning them 
 especially against the danger of mutual dissensions. 
 In conclusion, he adverts to his having written to 
 them thus copiously with his own hand, as a mark of 
 his affectionate solicitude ; warns them again of the 
 selfish views and party object of those who sought to 
 bring them under the yoke of Judaism ; and protests, 
 that to himself the Cross of Christ was the only 
 subject of glorying, for the sake of which he set light 
 by the opinions and applause of men, as one who had 
 no interest in the present world, and who bore in his 
 own person the marks of crucifixion to the world, the 
 scars of suffering for Christ (the stigmata of the Lord 
 Jesus). The Epistle concludes with the benediction 
 affixed to all his Letters to the Churches. 
 
 Such is the outline of this admirable composition, 
 which, apart from its inspired character and Apostolic 
 authority, might well challenge a comparison with 
 the finest productions of the great Orators of Greece 
 with whom Paul is ranked by the Author of the 
 Treatise on the Sublime. 
 
 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 
 
 § 7. During the Apostle's residence at Ephesus, Date and 
 he composed his Fourth Epistle, the first of the two l^^Zt^ 
 addressed to the Church at Corinth, respecting the ^^e Corin- 
 date and occasion of which there is no room for any *'''°*" 
 difference of opinion. At ver. 8 of the xvith chapter, 
 
270 THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 he announces his intention to go into Macedonia 
 by way of Corinth, but says, that he will tarry at 
 Ephesus till Pentecost, as there was a wide sphere of 
 labour opening to him there, while there were many 
 adversaries. That it was written at Ephesus, (not, 
 as the spurious inscription states, from Philippi,) is 
 further indicated by the salutation from the churches 
 of Asia, and from Aquila and Priscilla specifically. 
 On comparing these passages in the Epistle with the 
 history, we are enabled to fix with precision the 
 time of its being written ; in the interval between his 
 sending Timotheus and Erastus into Macedonia, 
 (Acts xix. 22,) and the tumult raised by Demetrius 
 and the silversmiths. And, as it was written some 
 time before Pentecost, so, from the allusion to keep- 
 ing the feast, 1 Cor. v. 7, 8, it was probably written 
 about the time of the Passover, or shortly before it ; 
 that is, in the spring. Mr. Greswell has also adduced 
 learned reasons for supposing that the disturbance 
 raised by Demetrius was at the time of the celebra- 
 Gresweii, tion of the Ephcsia, — games in honour of Artemis or 
 Acts xix. 3i! Diana, which were held in the summer. At that season, 
 the Asiarchs, who were magistrates annually chosen 
 (like the Roman jEdiles), having the superintendence 
 of religious festivals, public games, &c., would be found 
 assembled at Ephesus, as they appear to have been 
 when the disturbance occurred.* Immediately after 
 the suppression of the uproar, Paul called to him the 
 
 * See Greswell, vol. ii. p. 29. The learned Writer observes, that 
 the epithet veuR6pos, applied to the city in the speech of the town- 
 clerk or recorder, begins to appear on the coins of Ephesus first in 
 the reign of Nero, who acceded to the purple, a.u.c. 807 (a.d. 54). 
 
TO THE CORINTHIANS. 271 
 
 disciples, and took leave of thenty and departed to go 
 into Macedonia. 
 
 In the meantime, it appears that Timothy, having 
 accomplished the object of his mission to Macedonia, 
 had returned to Ephesus, where, on departing for 
 Macedonia, the Apostle besought him to abide. His i Tim. i. 3. 
 original instructions were, to proceed from Macedonia 
 to Corinth ; (as indicated 1 Cor. iv. 17 ; xvi. 10, 1 1 ;) 
 but that part of his instructions he was probably 
 unable to fulfil ; and Titus appears to. have been sent 
 there by the Apostle in his stead. 
 
 The immediate occasion of the Apostle's writing his 
 First Epistle to the Corinthian Church, was, the 
 account which he had received of the dissensions and 
 party divisions that had, since he left Corinth, broken 
 out among them. The arrival of Stephanas, Fortu- icor.i. 11. 
 natus, and Achaicus, as a deputation from the Church 
 with a contribution, which he acknowledges as a sea- iC0r.xTi.17. 
 sonable supply, afibrded the opportunity of which he 
 eagerly availed himself, to transmit to them his Apos- 
 tolic instructions. It was now three (or four) years since 
 he had personally laboured among them ; and in the 
 interval, ApoUos,* a learned Alexandrian Jew, who 
 had met with Aquila and Priscilla at Ephesus, and 
 from them acquired a more perfect knowledge of the 
 Christian doctrine, visited the Corinthian brethren, 
 and produced a very powerful impression by his 
 eloquence and erudition upon the minds both of 
 
 * A name contracted from Apollonius ; as Epaphras from Epa- 
 phroditus, and Artemas from Artemonius. As the name of a Jew, 
 it must have been a surname, and was probably given to the learned 
 Rabbi on account of his eloquence. 
 
272 THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 believers, whom he confirmed and edified by his gifts, 
 
 and of the Jews, whom he convinced by Scriptural 
 
 Aetsxviii. evidence that Jesus is the Messiah. The result, 
 
 27. . . 
 
 though it must powerfully have contributed to 
 advance the Christian cause in the polished and 
 voluptuous metropolis of Achaia, was, in one respect, 
 disadvantageous, by leading to the formation of a 
 party in the Church, who gloried in being the disci- 
 ples or followers of the learned Alexandrian, while 
 the converts of St. Paul stood up for his paramount 
 authority, or boasted of him as their master. There 
 appears to have been another faction, consisting, 
 probably, of Jewish believers who had first heard the 
 Gospel at Jerusalem, and who considered themselves 
 as the disciples of Peter or Cephas ;* and again, a 
 fourth sect or faction professed to be peculiarly, and 
 in an invidious sense, followers of Christ, and, as 
 such, not bound to receive the instructions, or to 
 acknowledge the authority of St. Paul. That 
 Comp. I Cor. Apollos was uot morc answerable than Peter, for the 
 2 Cor. X. 7. factious conduct of his professed disciples and zealous 
 partisans, is clear. He was at Ephesus when Paul 
 iCor.xiv.i2. wrote his Epistle to. the Corinthians; and we may 
 reasonably suppose that it was not till after he had 
 left Corinth, that the spirit of faction showed itself 
 in so determinate and mischievous a form. The 
 Apostle had urged his returning to Corinth with the 
 brethren ; but " his will was not at all to go at 
 
 * It has been inferred from 1 Cor. i. 12, that Peter must have 
 visited Corinth ; but, as Milman remarks, ' the passage by no means 
 necessarily implies the personal presence of Peter in that city. There 
 was a party there, no doubt a judaizing one, which professed to preach 
 the pure doctrine of Cephas, in opposition to that of Paul.' B. ii. c. 3, 
 
TO THE CORINTHIANS. 273 
 
 that time," though, it is added, " he will come when 
 he shall have convenient time." From the manner 
 in which St. Paul speaks of his " brother ApoUos " 
 in this passage, and throughout the Epistle, it is 
 evident that no jealousy or opposition existed between 
 them, and that they were one in heart as in doctrine- 
 There were among the -schismatical teachers, however, 
 those who boldly questioned St. Paul's apostolic 
 authority, and depreciated his character and claims. 
 Of some of these he speaks, in his Second Epistle, 
 with great severity, as false apostles, deceitful workers, 
 and ministers of Satan. They were, like himself, 2Cor.x.i3 
 Hebrews, and boasted of their Abrahamic descent ; ~ ' 
 and they had come to Corinth, probably, from Pales- 2Cor.xi.4. 
 tine. Although professed converts to Christianity 
 and " ministers of Christ," it would seem that some 
 of them were still Sadducees in heart in respect to 
 the doctrine of the Resurrection ; and that they had iCor.xv.ii 
 started doubts, very perplexing to the minds of 
 persons but recently brought out of the darkness (d 
 heathenism, as to the identity of the body that should 
 be raised. Other questions savouring of Eabbinical 
 casuistry and the puerility of Jewish superstition, 
 appear to have been mooted; and -concerning some 
 of these, the converts of St. Paul had appealed to 
 him for instruction. One case of^ grievous scandal is i Cor. vii. i. 
 referred to as matter of common report, such as even 
 the heathen morality did not tolerate ; namely, that 
 of a member of the Christian community who had 
 married his step-mother. It has been suggested, that 
 this might be connived at on the ground taken by the 
 Jewish casuists, that whosoever embraced Judaism 
 
 T 
 
274 THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 was regarded as new-born, and severed from all his 
 Seidenin preceding connexions, so that his mother, father, 
 p. 47. " ' brother, and sisters no more belonged to him. In 
 this case, his former connexions were not considered 
 in marriage ; so that, gross as was this case, it might 
 have been defended upon Jewish principles. The 
 question relating to the superiority of celibacy over a 
 married life, is also likely to have been suggested by 
 the dogmas of ascetics of the Alexandrian school. 
 The licentious manners which characterized this great 
 Emporium, rendered it the more necessary for the 
 Apostle, while rebuking with stern severity all sinful 
 conformity to the world, and everything bordering on 
 impurity, to discountenance an unsocial and repulsive 
 iCor.T.iO; separation, an ascetic self-mortification, or a needless 
 and superstitious scrupulosity. In these respects, the 
 wisdom of the Apostle is strikingly manifested. 
 
 Corinth had, from early times, been celebrated for 
 its commercial wealth, its luxury, and its profligate 
 manners. In its Temple of Venus, a thousand 
 priestesses ministered to dissoluteness under the 
 patronage of Eeligion. The 'prow and stern of 
 Greece,' the key and bulwark of the Peloponnesus,* 
 by its two ports it received, on the one hand, the 
 rich merchandize of Asia, and, on the other, that of 
 Sicily and Italy. Destroyed by the Komans (under 
 Mummius), it had risen again to the dignity of a 
 colony, and become the residence of the proconsul of 
 Achaia, under the Caesars ; and the ancient manners 
 had returned with its commercial prosperity. Of all 
 
 * Dion. Chrysostom. Mr. Milman styles it, the Venice of the 
 Old World. 
 
TO THE CORINTHIANS. 275 
 
 cities, this was accounted the most vohiptuous ; and 
 the Satirist could only jocularly affect to be at a loss Lndan 
 whether, in this respect, to give the preference to ™ "^' 
 Corinth or to Athens. At the same time, it was the 
 seat of polite learning, a favourite resort of the 
 sophists ; and its Isthmian games, one of the great 
 fairs of antiquity, attracted a vast concourse of 
 strangers from all quarters. 
 
 i 8. To the Church of God in this polished and Analysis of 
 
 . . ^ the Epistle. 
 
 dissolute metropoUs, composed of those who were 
 sanctified in Christ Jesus, (constituted holy persons,) 
 St. Paul addresses his Epistle ; associating with himself 
 in the opening salutation, Sosthenes, who is men- 
 tioned in the Apostolic History as the chief ruler of 
 the synagogue at Corinth, but who was now at 
 Ephesus with St. Paul, and is designated as a bro- Or their 
 ther. He begins with expressing his devout thank- 
 fulness that the testimony of Christ had been con- 
 firmed among them by so rich an impartation of 
 spiritual gifts, that, in this respect, they came behind 
 no other church, especially in the gifts of eloquence 
 and knowledge. He then proceeds at once to refer 
 to what he had heard of their party divisions, and to 
 disclaim having, while among them, afforded the 
 slightest countenance to the formation of a sect or 
 party in his own name. He had even scrupulously 
 abstained from baptizing disciples with hi^ own hands, 
 lest his motives should be misrepresented, or his con- 
 verts be called his followers, rather than Christians. 
 He had also, in executing his Divine commission by 
 preaching the Gospel, whether to the sceptical Jew 
 or to the philosophic Greek, confined himself to one 
 
 T 2 
 
276 THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 theme, most repugnant alike to Jewish prejudices and 
 to Grecian wisdom, Redemption through the Cross of 
 Christ, — a Crucified Messiah. And this faithful 
 saying, the substance of the Divine Message he 
 was sent to proclaim, he had not attempted to adorn 
 with the graces of oratory, or to recommend by 
 elaborate reasoning. Far from aiming to conciliate 
 admiration by a display of eloquence, or from assum- 
 ing the air of an ambitious philosopher who sought 
 to found a school, he reminds them, that he had 
 appeared among them labouring under bodily infir- 
 mity, and sufiering from the constant apprehension of 
 personal violence from his inveterate enemies ;* and 
 his preaching had not been set off by any of the 
 attractions of human rhetoric, but owed all its effici- 
 ency to the Divine influence attending the truth. 
 And why was this, but that their faith might rest, 
 not upon any human authority, but upon the' evidence 
 of Divine power ? As there were at Corinth some 
 persons who sought to detract from his authority by 
 depreciating his attainments, the Apostle intimates, 
 that, for the course he had adopted in preaching to 
 them, he had a special reason in their own inaptitude to 
 receive the profounder truths of Revelation, which can 
 be discerned and understood only by a spiritual mind. 
 There was a higher wisdom than that of this world, 
 into which he had been himself mitiated ; but they 
 were not prepared, even now, for its communication. 
 And the proof of this was suppHed by their conten- 
 tions and divisions, which showed them to be still 
 
 * Or, perhaps, under nervous tremor, occasioned by his bodily- 
 infirmity. 
 
TO THE CORINTHIANS. 277 
 
 childFen in Christianity, or unregenerate. He then 
 expostulates with them upon the inconsistency and 
 impropriety of their attaching themselves to any one 
 Minister of Christ in the spirit of worldly partisans), 
 and boasting of him as their leader, to the dispa- 
 ragement of others. He, Paul himself, from whom 
 they had first received the Gospel, as well as Apollos, 
 who had subsequently laboured among them, and 
 much more their other teachers, were but the instru- 
 ments, in the hand of God, of carrying on His work, 
 of building up His Church, that spiritual temple of 
 which Christ is the foundation ; and were no other- 
 wise to be estimated than as His servants, dispensers 
 of the treasure entrusted to them, indebted for all 
 their gifts and endowments to Sovereign Grace. He 
 then, in the language of irony, rebukes the vain- 
 glorious spirit by which, under the influence of their 
 false teachers and party leaders, many of them were 
 inflated, so that, like persons satiated at a feast, or 
 abounding in wealth, wanting nothing, independent, 
 and above control,* they reigned in the church 
 without the Apostles, — as if already in possession of 
 the felicity of the heavenly kingdom. With this 
 condition of luxurious ease or imaginary exaltation, 
 he pathetically contrasts the privations, ill-treatment, 
 sufferings, and toil, which he and his fellow-apostles 
 were called to endure. Under these circumstances, he 
 had set them an example of patience, meekness, and 
 humility, which, as their spiritual father, he exhorts 
 his converts to follow, rather than to copy the spirit of 
 
 * Comp. Rev. iii. 17. Or such might be the actual condition of 
 the Corinthian doctors, living in luxury and lording it as princes. 
 
278 THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 their new teachers. To recal to them his instructions, 
 he had'sent Timothy to visit them ; and though some 
 among them insolently presumed upon his not coming 
 in person, it was his intention very shortly to see them, 
 and to put to the proof the boastful pretensions of 
 their teachers. And it rested with them, whether he 
 should come to exert his apostolic authority judicially, 
 or in the spirit of affection and tenderness. 
 
 chap.T. Having adverted to the painful necessity under 
 
 which he might find himself placed, of dealing judi- 
 cially with offenders, the Apostle proceeds to explain 
 himself, by specifically referring' to the disgraceful 
 case of one of their number, who had married his 
 step-mother; and he directs them to act upon the 
 sentence which, thoiigh absent, he'^had felt authorized 
 to pass upon the delinquent, by formally excommuni- 
 cating hiln. The presence of such a man in their 
 religious assemblies, was like an unhallo'v^^ed leaven. 
 
 Compare corrupting the whole mass, and marring their Passover 
 feast. In reiteraitiiig- the direction to have no inter- 
 course with^persons living in open siti, he"explains, 
 that he does not refer to their mixing with uncon- 
 verted men in the ordinary business of life, but that 
 it applied only to their Christian brethren. Those 
 who were without the pale of the Church, must be 
 left to the judginent of God. 
 
 The broad distinction between the Church and the 
 world without, furnishes the Apostle with a ground 
 for rebuking them for carrying any of their dis- 
 putes before the heathen tribunals, to the scandal of 
 their religion. Either they ought to submit their 
 matters t6 arbitrators chosen from among themselves, 
 
TO THE CORINTHIANS. 279 
 
 or else to suffer wrong, rather than go to law before 
 the heathen. Instead of this, some of them were 
 chargeable with wronging and defrauding their breth- 
 ren. But unrighteous persons, such as these, would 
 be excluded from the kingdom of God. Upon this 
 point, the Apostle solemnly cautions them against 
 being deceived by any sophistry. No persons living 
 in the practice of vice could obtain an entrance into 
 the heavenly kingdom. Such had been the case, 
 indeed, with many of them before their conversion ; 
 but they had been cleansed from their sins, and made 
 holy and righteous. He therefore urges upon them, 
 by the solemn considerations arising out of their con- 
 secration to God and their relation to Christ, to keep 
 their bodies from defilement, and, as redeemed by a 
 precious ransom, to consider themselves, body and 
 spirit, the Lord's. 
 
 From the subject of these admonitions, he naturally chap. vii. 
 passes to the notice of a question which had been 
 submitted to him with respect to the expediency 
 of entering into the married state ; in treating which 
 he is careful to distinguish between what, as an 
 Apostle, he enjoined in the name of The Lord, and 
 what he offered merely as advice in matters which 
 admitted of option. Another question which had 
 been referred to him, related to the lawfulness of 
 eating food that had been offered in sacrifice to idols ; 
 which he decides in the affirmative, with thig restric- 
 tion, — that what is lawful in itself, becomes sinful, 
 if, by our act, we tempt or embolden others to do 
 wrong in going against conscience. He proceeds to 
 remind them, that he had himself acted upon this 
 
200 THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 principle of abstaining from the use of his Uberty and 
 undoubted rights for the sake of others. With some 
 abruptness, as if repeUing the insidious allegations of 
 the schismatical teachers who had denied his authority, 
 and depreciated the sacrifices he had made, he ex- 
 claims, " Am I not an Apostle ? Am I not free ? " 
 He was an Apostle, to whom, as to the other Apostles, 
 The Lord had appeared after His resurrection ; and 
 See p, ISO. the proof of his Apostlesrhip was, the success of his 
 labours among the heathen : — such was his answer to 
 those who disputed his claims. He had, therefore, 
 in common with the other Apostles,^ a right to be 
 maintained by those to whom he had preached the 
 Gospel, according to the ordinance of Christ ; yet, 
 he had waived this right, and supported himself, 
 while among them, by his own labour, that he might 
 preach the Gospel without charge. And he was free 
 from any obligation to man ; yet had he adapted his 
 conduct to all, like a servant or slave obliged to 
 please his master, for the sake of the Gospel, and 
 that he might be a fellow-partaker of salvation. 
 Comparing himself in this respect to a competitor in 
 the Isthmian and other public games, he proposes 
 his example for imitation, in seeking, by the prepara- 
 tory discipline of self-denial, to ensure his gaining the 
 reward of success. Many might start in the race, 
 who should never reach the goal. It was not enough, 
 therefore, to have been brought within the pale of 
 the Church. This consideration he enforces by re- 
 ferring to the sacred privileges enjoyed in common 
 by the children of Israel under the leadership of 
 Moses, who, nevertheless, for the most part perished 
 
TO THE CORINTHIANS, 281 
 
 in the wilderness, as the punishment of their sen- 
 suality, idolatry, and unbelief; sins into which the 
 Corinthian converts were not less liable to fall. More 
 especially he exhorts them to be on their guard 
 against provoking the Divine jealousy, by partaking 
 of the sin of idolatry ; and, reverting to the subject 
 of meats offered to idols, he lays down more expressly 
 the rule by which they ought to be guided, so as to 
 avoid injuring the cause of Religion, by throwing 
 stumbling-blocks in the way either of unbelievers or 
 of the weaker members of the Christian body. 
 
 The Apostle now turns to another subject. He chap. xi.^ 
 expresses his satisfaction that they had continued to 
 observe the institutions which he had established 
 among them ; but, as to the manner of observing 
 them, many improprieties had crept in, which, he pro- 
 ceeds to point out and rebuke. One related to the 
 unfeminine deportment of those women who, in the 
 exercise of their spiritual gifts, laid aside the veil, the 
 distinguishing mark of their sex. Another abuse 
 consisted in their disorderly celebration of the Lord's 
 Supper, at which'they appear to have split into little 
 parties, and, without waiting for one another, eaten 
 what^ they had severally provided. To expose the 
 gross perversion of the Eucharist which this un- 
 seemly practice involved, the Apostle gives them 
 a distinct account of the institution of the Supper 
 by Our Lord, as; it had been communicated to him 
 by immediate revelation; and he solemnly cautions 
 them against an unworthy or irreverent participation see p. 91. 
 of the sacred symbols of the Body and Blood of The 
 Lord. 
 
282 THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 Chap. xii. In the next place, the Apostle proceeds to treat of 
 the subject of Spiritual Gifts, with which, it appears, 
 the Corinthian Church was richly endowed, so as not 
 to be inferior in that respect to any other body of 
 Christians. First, he puts them on their guard, as 
 having once been idolaters, against false pretensions to 
 inspiration ; referring, probably, to the heathen oracles 
 and the Pythic divination ; or to some Gnostic pre- 
 tenders, possibly, who affected to be inspired, and yet 
 denied Jesus to be the Lord. The test of the teacher 
 was his doctrine. The diversified gifts of the Spirit, 
 moreover, had one common Author and source, and 
 were all alike intended to promote the edification of 
 the general body, their very diversity being adapted 
 to bind together its members in mutual dependence 
 and sympathy ; it became each individual, therefore, 
 to be contented with the function and place allotted 
 to him. All could not have those higher and more 
 extraordinary gifts which they too eagerly coveted ; 
 but he could shew them a more excellent method of 
 attaining what they ought to aim at, — the edification 
 of the Church, by the cultivation of Love. In an 
 exquisite rhetorical digression, he expatiates upon 
 the superiority of Love to all intellectual endowments 
 and preternatural gifts, in point of intrinsic excel- 
 lence, utility, and permanence. Eeturning then to 
 his theme, he teaches them, that, of all spiritual gifts, 
 that of prophecy, or speaking to men so as to edify, 
 exhort, and comfort them, was chiefly to be desired, 
 rather than the more extraordinary powers which 
 were given as a miraculous attestation of the truth 
 for the conviction of unbehevers. Finally, he exhorts 
 
TO THE CORINTHIANS. 283 
 
 them to exercise their several gifts in an orderly and 
 becoming manner. 
 
 Having now disposed of the questions which had ctap.x7. 
 been put to him, relating to matters of practice and 
 discipline, the Apostle enters upon a subject which 
 he appears to have reserved as the most important 
 and vital of all. There were some among the Corin- 
 thians who denied the future resurrection of the body. 
 In proceeding to combat this Sadducean heresy, he 
 begins by reminding them of that great event which 
 lay at the foundation of the Christian doctrine, and 
 which was the substance of the Gospel he had 
 preached to them ; the death of Christ, and his Re- 
 surrection on the third day, according to the Scrip- See p. yo, 
 tures. To deny that there is a resurrection, was to 
 deny this cardinal fact, and to make the Apostles 
 false witnesses. But Christ had risen as the first-fruits 
 and pledge of the future Resurrection ; and he was 
 to reign at the right hand of God, till the last enemy. 
 Death, should be subdued. Were there no resurrec- 
 tion to look forward to, the motive for patient endur- 
 ance would be destroyed, and the Epicurean maxim 
 would be wisdom. The Apostle refers to the peril 
 he had recently encountered at Ephesus from fero- 
 cious adversaries ; and appeals to them, what advantage 
 it could be to him to be in perpetual jeopardy of life, 
 unless he had looked for a joyful resurrection. Citing 
 part of a verse which is found both, in Euripides and 
 in Menander, but which had probably passed into a 
 proverb, he warns them aigainst the corrupting influ- 
 ence of familiar intercourse with the sensual. He then 
 proceeds to meet the objections which had been urged 
 
284 THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 against tEe doctrine of the resurrection of the body, on 
 the ground of the mystery attaching to the mode and 
 to the identity of the future body. The production of 
 a blade of com from a grain that appears to perish in 
 the ground, presents an analogous display of Divine 
 power, equally mysterious as to the mode ; but, as now 
 we see an infinite diversity in the composition of 
 material bodies, so will the human body that shall be 
 raised, differ, in its material structure and qualities^ 
 from the corruptible one that is committed to the 
 grave. The didactic style of the argument rises into 
 the fervour of eloquence, as the Apostle expatiates 
 upon the glorious nature of the change ; and he an- 
 nounces to them, as what had hitherto been a secret, 
 but which he was commissioned to divulge, that this 
 change would pass, in a moment, upon the bodies of 
 those who should be alive at the coming of Christ. 
 He exhorts them, therefore, as having this assured 
 prospect of a heavenly reward, to be stedfast and 
 unwearied in the service of the Lord. In conclusion, 
 he gives directions as to the collection which was 
 being made for the poor brethren at Jerusalem ; 
 informs them of his intention to visit Corinth, after 
 he had been into Macedonia ; commends Timothy (in 
 case of his visiting Corinth) to their cordial and 
 respectful treatment; makes honourable mention of 
 the Corinthian brethren who were returning to them 
 with this Epistle ; and concludes with the accustomed 
 salutation and benediction. 
 charMterof & 9. The ffcueral strain of this noble production of 
 
 the Epistle .''.,. ° . i- , •' , , , 
 
 ajacompo- inspired Wisdom is more didactic, though abounding 
 with rhetorical passages, than the Epistle to the Gala- 
 
TO THE CORINTHIANS. 285 
 
 tians, and most of St. Paul's writings. It seems as 
 if, in addressing the Corinthians, he restrained him- 
 self from any display of that " excellence of speech " 
 or rhetorical skill in which he was well qualified to 
 shine, as well as from topics of a recondite or lofty 
 character. It is observable, that the doctrines treated 
 of in this Epistle, are at once fundamental and 
 elementary ; such as, in another Epistle, are referred 
 to as among " the first rudiments of the Oracles of 
 God," and in which only novices required to be in- 
 structed again and again. To this class of truths, Heb. 7i.2. 
 the doctrine of the Resurrection clearly belongs, as 
 well as the nature of spiritual gifts, the design of the 
 Christian ordinances, and the practical subjects of 
 exhortation which occupy the larger portion. And 
 this adaptation of the Epistle to the character which 
 he himself gives of the Corinthian church, as com- 
 posed of persons endowed with knowledge, adepts in 
 the philosophy of the schools, but novices in the 
 school of Christ, is at once a mark of its genuineness 
 as a production of St. Paul, and an evidence of his 
 Apostolic wisdom. 
 
 In another point of view, this Epistle is valuable, 
 as furnishing a confirmation of the truth of the his- 
 toric record with regard to those miraculous endow- 
 ments- which attested the Apostolic commission. It 
 is quite incredible, that the Autljor of this Epistle 
 could have ventured to refer with so much minuteness 
 to diversities of gifts as actually possessed and exer- 
 cised by the Corinthian believers, if the fact had not 
 been matter of notoriety ; still less, that he would 
 have charged them with misusing for purposes of dis- 
 
28S THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 play their splendid and miraculous endowments. Yet, 
 the brevity with which these are incidentally enume- 
 rated, is remarkable, as it denotes that the persons to 
 whom he wrote were well acquainted with the diver- 
 sified character of those gifts, and required no 
 explanation of terms which to us have become 
 obscure and of uncertain import. For instance, it 
 is now difficult to asciertain the precise import of 
 the xoV5 ffojx'as. as distinguishable from the X(iV°« -t^^aiaxi -, 
 yet, the distinction must at the time have been well 
 understood as denoting a different kind of Inspira- 
 tion, — such, perhaps, as was peculiar, on the one 
 hand, to Apostles, and, on the other, to Prophets 
 and Teachers. Extraordinary as' was their character, 
 the Apostle does not expatiate upon them with a 
 view to magnify their importance, or to prove their 
 supernatural origin. With regard to those gifts, more 
 especially, which were a sign to unbelievers, there 
 was no possible room for deception or collusion. The 
 enemies of Christianity did not attempt to deny the 
 miracles wrought, but ascribed them to magical 
 and occult causes, or to the agency of evil spirits. 
 A belief in Inspiration was, in that age, common to 
 both the Jews and the Pagans; and if, on this 
 account, pretensions to Inspiration were the more 
 likely to be credulously received, it was the more 
 necessary that the miraculous gifts which were the 
 standing proof of the Ascension of Christ, and the 
 credentials of His Apostles, should be broadly distin- 
 guishable firom every false pretension, whether originat- 
 ing in possession, in fanatical delusion, or in imposture. 
 The Jewish Rabbles distinguish four degrees of 
 
TO THE CORINTHIANS. 287 
 
 Prophetic Inspiration ; assigning the lowest rank to 
 that in which the impression is made upon the imagi' 
 nation, as in dreams and visions, and in which the 
 prophet himself is not able clearly to discern the 
 mystical meaning of his parables and allegories. This 
 species of Inspiration, the seat of which is the imagi- 
 tive faculty, would be most easily imitated by pre- 
 tenders to divination. In the second degree, the 
 imaginative and the rational powers were equally 
 balanced. In the third, the prophetical spirit, acting 
 principally upon the reason and understanding of the 
 prophets, guided them consistently and intelligibly 
 into the comprehension of things. The last or high- 
 est degree was the Gradus Mosaicus, which the 
 Jewish writers held to be distinguishable, by the 
 absence of all ecstacy or impression upon the imagi- 
 nation ; by the immediateness and familiarity of the 
 Divine communication ; (as it is said, " The Lord 
 spake unto Moses face to face ; ") by its being un- ExoixxxUi. 
 attended with terror or mental disturbance ; and 
 lastly, by its constantly abiding or being at all times 
 available.* Whether these distinctions are in all 
 respects accurate or not, they may throw some light 
 upon the different kinds of Inspiration which are ob- 
 viously recognized by the New Testament writers. 
 As an instance of what might certainly seem to cor- 
 respond to the lowest degree, we may refer to the 
 prophetic impulse under which Agabus, after the 
 manner of the ancient prophets, is seen accompany- 
 ing with a symbolical action, the prediction that the 
 
 * See the learned Discourse ' of Prophecy,' in ' Select Dis- 
 courses,' by John Smith, Fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge. 
 
288 THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 owner of Paul's girdle would be bound by the Jews 
 Acts XX. 23. at Jerusalem. This species of Inspiration, by which 
 future events were predicted, is clearly ascribed to 
 the agency of the Holy Ghost ; yet, it was evidently 
 that which most nearly resembled the " spirit of divi- 
 ActBxvi.i6. nation" in the Pythoness, and could most easily be 
 simulated by impiostors. Accordingly, it was deemed 
 necessary to caution the churches not to believe 
 ijohniv.i. every spirit, but to try the spirits whether they are 
 of God, because many false prophets had gone forth. 
 The danger of being imposed upon by false prophets, 
 seems to have been specially provided against by a 
 1 Cor.xii.io. distiuct gift, that of " discerning of spirits," which 
 appears to have been deemed by no means of inferior 
 dignity or importance. It is remarkable, that Plato, 
 In his speakinsT of the power of divination as seated in the 
 See John imagmatiou, and interior to wisdom, lays it down as a 
 Disc p. 209. law, 'that prophets should be set as it were judges 
 over these enthusiastic divinations, which prophets 
 some ignorantly and falsely call diviners.' One of 
 the marks by which the genuine Divine inspiration 
 and the pseudo-prophetical spirit were distinguishable, 
 was, the self-command and calmness of judgment 
 attending the former, and the ecstatic, involuntary, 
 and ungovernable character of the latter- ' It is the 
 property of a diviner,' says Chrysostom, ' to be 
 ecstatical, to undergo some violence, to be tossed and 
 hurried about like a madman. But it is otherwise 
 Homily 28 with & prophiCt, whose understanding is awake, and 
 Cor. cited" his mind in a sober and orderly temper, and he 
 SmiA^" knows every thing that he saith.' St. Paul evi- 
 dently alludes to this characteristic of true Inspiration, 
 
TO THE CORINTHIANS. 289 
 
 when he tells the Corinthians, that " the spirits of 
 the prophets are subject to the prophets."* Any 
 uncontrollable impulse, therefore, was to be sus- 
 pected ; and the scene of confusion and tumult which 
 he describes as taking place in their assemblies, when 
 " every one had a psalm, had a doctrine, had a iCor.xiv.26. 
 tongue, had an interpretation," was not only un- 
 seemly, but even tended to render questionable the 
 character and source of the inspiration under which 
 they spake, since God could not be the author of 
 discord. "^^r. 35. 
 
 The inspiration and authority to which the Apos- 
 tles laid claim, were evidently of the highest degree, 
 corresponding to that Divine illumination which the 
 Jewish writers represent , as peculiar to their Master 
 Moses, — clear, distinct, serene, permanent. And it 
 is made a test of the inferior inspiration, that those 
 who possessed it recognized the paramount authority 
 which attached to the Apostolic. " If any one among 
 you is reputed to be a prophet or inspired person, let 
 him acknowledge what I write to you to be injunc- 
 tions of the Lord-" " He that is of God heareth us : 1C0r.xiT.37. 
 
 * ' An inspiration, abstractly considered, can only satisfy the 
 uiind of him to whom it is made of its own authority and authen- 
 ticalness ; and therefore, that one man may know that another hath 
 that doctrine revealed to him by a prophetical spirit which he de- 
 livers, he must also either be inspired, and so be in gradu, prophetioo 
 in a true sense, or be confirmed in the belief of it by some miracle, 
 whereby it may appear that God hath committed his truth to such 
 a one, by giving him some signal power in altering the course of 
 nature ; which, indeed, was the way by which the Prophets of old 
 ordinarily confirmed their doctrine, when they delivered anything 
 new to the people ; which course Our Saviour and his disciples also 
 took to confirm the truth of the Gospel.' — John Smith's Disc. p. 28(5. 
 
 U 
 
290 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 
 
 he that is not of God, heareth us not : hereby we 
 may know how to distinguish the spirit of truth from 
 iJoiiniv.6. that of error." Such lofty pretensions as these re- 
 quired to be sustained by evidence of no ordinary or 
 equivocal character; and accordingly, we find St. 
 Paul appealing to the proofs of his Apostleship 
 wrought among the Corinthians, " in signs, and 
 2Cor.vii.i2. Tvondcrs, and mighty deeds," while he "spoke with 
 iCor.xiv.i8. tongues" more than they all, and could boast of 
 visions and revelations vouchsafed to him, transcend- 
 ing any to which the pseudo-prophets could lay claim. 
 The latter fact rested, of course, upon his own testi- 
 mony ; but, as to the miraculous deeds to which he 
 appeals, the Corinthians are addressed as having wit- 
 nessed them. The fact, therefore, must have been 
 notorious. 
 
 The proof of the Apostolic Inspiration, then, is, 
 that the Apostles claimed implicit submission to 
 their authority as infallible and divinely commissioned 
 teachers, appealing to their miraculous powers as 
 credentials of their prophetic and plenary inspira- 
 tion, and that those claims were recognized. As it 
 is impossible they could themselves be deceived, either 
 they must have been what they claimed to be, infalli- 
 ble, or they were impostors. But, as it is impossible 
 that such imposture should not have been detected 
 and exposed, the history of Christianity attests at 
 once the irrefragable character of the evidence, and 
 the genuineness of those pretensions, by which the 
 Divine signet is affixed to all that they taught. 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 291 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 THE EPISTLES TO TITUS, I. TO TIMOTHY, II. TO 
 THE CORINTHIANS, AND TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 CONTINUATION OF THE NARBATIVB FROM PAUL's LEAVING EPHEStTS 
 
 TO HIS LAST VOYAdB TO JERUSALEM INQUIRY INTO THE DATE 
 
 OP THE EPISTLE TO TITUS AND FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY 
 
 DIFFICULTY RELATING TO PAUL's VISIT TO CRETE ANALYSIS 
 
 OF THE EPISTLE TO TITUS ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST EPISTLE 
 
 TO TIMOTHY — 'THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS : ITS 
 
 DATE AND CHARACTER AS A COMPOSITION ANALYSIS DATE 
 
 OF THE RAPTURE REFERRED TO IN CHAP. XII THE EPISTLE 
 
 TO THE ROMANS: ITS DATE AND OCCASION — ANALYSIS IIS 
 
 CHARACTER AS A -COMPOSITION. 
 
 ^ 1.. When St. Paul left Ephesus to go into Mace- continnar 
 donia, he desired Timothy to remain behind, while he Paul's 
 proceeded by way of Troas, where he expected to be i Tim.'i. s, 
 joined by Titus, whom he had sent to Corinth to 
 ascertain the effect produced by his Epistle to that 
 church ; and he was greatly disappointed and trou- 
 bled at not finding him there. He therefore hastened acor.u. is^ 
 onward to Macedonia, where Titus shortly afterwards n'. ' ''"' 
 arrived, bringing intelligence which filled the Apostle 
 with consolation and joy. After going over those 
 parts, (and it was probably -^in this journey that he Acts xx. 2. 
 penetrated into Dalraatia, and extended his ApostoHc 
 
 u 2 
 
292 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 Rom. XV. 19. circuit into lUyricum,) he came into Greece, where 
 he abode three months, part of which he must have 
 passed at Corinth. It was his intention thence to 
 proceed by sea to Syria ; but he was diverted from 
 this purpose by learning that his Jewish enemies had 
 Acts XX. 3. formed a plot to seize him, and were lying in wait for 
 his embarkation. He therefore returned to Philippi, 
 accompanied by Silas ; while Timothy, who had 
 joined the Apostle in Greece, together with a com- 
 pany of brethren, crossed over to Troas, and waited 
 there for St. Paul. It was after Easter that Paul 
 and his beloved colleague, Silas, sailed from Phihppi : 
 they reached Troas in five days, and remained there 
 a week, during which Paul wrought the miraculous 
 restoration to life of a young man, Eutychus, who 
 had fallen from a window in an upper room, and been 
 taken up dead. From Troas, he proceeded overland 
 to Assos (now Beyram), on the Adramyttian Gulf, 
 where he met the vessel in which the rest of his 
 party had embarked ; and, after four days sail, they 
 From Assofl reached Miletus, at the mouth of the Meander, 
 — toclfosV where they landed. St. Paul had not touched at 
 ^•iHumt Ephesus, because he was anxious not to be detained 
 Zl° ' "' in Asia ; but, from Miletus, he sent to the elders of 
 the Ephesian church, who came down to him, and 
 received that solemn and affecting charge from his 
 lips which is recorded in the Apostolic history. Paul 
 and his companions* then pursued their voyage, by 
 way of Bhodes, to Patara in Lycia, where they found 
 
 * Timothy, however, it is suggested by Lardner, probably parted 
 here from the Apostle, and returned to Ephesus, as he does not 
 appear to have attended him to Jerusalem. 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 293 
 
 a vessel bound for Phenicia. Landing at Tyre, they 
 spent a week with the disciples, and then sailed again 
 for Ptolemais (Acre) ; whence they proceeded to 
 CsBsarea, where they remained for many days before 
 setting out for Jerusalem, which, however, they 
 must have reached before Pentecost, or in about six Lardner, 
 weeks after leaving Philippi. If St. Paul left Ephe- "'' "^''^' 
 sus for Macedonia in the year 56, this must have 
 been (as Lardner supposes) the Pentecost of a.d. 58. 
 
 During the intervening two years, four of the 
 Epistles of Paul appear to have been written ; namely, 
 the Epistle to Titus, the First Epistle to Timothy, 
 the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, and the 
 Epistle to the Romans. Respecting the latter two, 
 there is no question : the date of the former two is 
 less certain and has been much controverted. 
 
 § 2. The First Epistle to Timothy is enumerated contro- 
 by Theodoret as the fifth of St. Paul's Epistles ; and ofthe rLe^t 
 referring to the Apostle's language in the opening TFmothy* 
 verses, he remarks: 'It is manifest, therefore, that, toTitusr* 
 when Paul went the second time into Macedonia, he 
 left the most excellent Timothy at Ephesus, to take 
 care of those who had received the salutary doctrine.' vol. vi. p. 17'. 
 In making it the fifth in order, however, he places it 
 after the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, and 
 before that to the Galatians ; in both which respects, 
 his opinion must be deemed erroneous. The Second 
 Epistle to the Corinthians could not have been 
 written before the Apostle had left Ephesus ; and 
 at the date of his writing it, Timothy, as appears 
 from the opening salutation, had rejoined him. The 
 Epistle to Timothy must therefore have been sent to 
 
29i CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 him at Ephesus, while the Apostle was still in Mace- 
 donia, and when he was contemplating a return to 
 Asia ; as is indicated by the expressions, " hoping to 
 iTim.iii.i4, comc unto thee shortly." Lardner, therefore, sup- 
 poses it to have been written before the end of the 
 year 56.* Those who adopt the hypothesis of a 
 later date, upon grounds which are examined and 
 rejected by the learned Writer, are compelled to sup- 
 pose it written after the release of the Apostle from 
 his first imprisonment at Rome. 
 
 This hypothesis, first started by Bishop Pearson, 
 and adopted by Paley, has found a very zealous 
 advocate in the late Rev. James Tate, Canon Resi- 
 dentiary of St, Paul's, in his * Continuous History ' of 
 the Apostle's Labours. Among the most important 
 subjects which he has aimed to elucidate^ he ranks 
 the posteriority of the First Epistle to Timothy and 
 that to Titus to St, Paul's first imprisonment at 
 Rome, which he represents as constituting ' the very 
 column on which the calculation adopted and main- 
 tained for what is called the Last Apostolic Progress 
 has entirely to rest for its support.' His ' original 
 argument against the early date of the First Epistle 
 to Timothy,' demands a brief examination. Mr. Tate 
 admits, that Timothy, after visiting the Macedonian 
 churches, might have visited the church at Corinth, 
 and yet have had time to arrive at Ephesus before 
 Paul's departure from that city. Of this, indeed, 
 
 * Dr. Burton refers it to a.d. 62. Pearson, Whitby, Basnage, 
 Cave, Fabricins, Mill, and GresweU contend for the later date of 
 64 or 66. Baronius, Estius, Lightfoot, Benson, Doddridge, Ham- 
 mond, and Hug agree with Lardner. 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 295 
 
 supposing him to have set out from Ephesus at the 
 end of winter, Professor Hug has shewn the practica- Hug. vol. ii. 
 bihty. The journey from Ephesus to Troas would 
 occupy four days ; the passage from Troas to Nea- 
 poUs, the port of Philippi, four or five days; on 
 leaving Macedonia, he would have a journey of about f™" 
 ten days to Athens, and thence of two davs to Co- Thessa- 
 
 . •' ' •' lonica,264 
 
 nnth; the voyage from Corinth to Ephesus would miles; from 
 occupy thirteen or fourteen days. Thus, allowing i™!f?t? 
 five or six weeks for his stay in the different places si miles'. 
 which he visited, the whole circuit might have been 
 performed in less than three months. 
 
 It is, however, objected, that, if Timothy had 
 joined the Apostle at Ephesus, after visiting Corinth, 
 St. Paul must, in that case, have received from him 
 * the very latest information of the now happy state 
 of things in the church at Corinth ; and being 
 released, therefore^ from all immediate solicitude about 
 the spiritual state of the Corinthian brethren, he 
 could not possibly have felt any anxiety or impatience 
 to hear the report of what must have been of an 
 earlier date, from the mouth of Titus, concerning 
 them. The supposed arrival, therefore, of Timothy at 
 Ephesus, before Paul departed from thence, thus 
 stands,' Mr. Tate contends, ' utterly irreconcilable 
 with the recorded fact, that Paul, when he reached 
 Troas, was labouring under affectionate disquietude 
 as to meeting Titus there ; which painful feeling was 
 unabated, till Titus after all came to him at Philippi, 
 and poured into his heart the consolatory intelligence 
 that all at Corinth was well.' Paul p. lef. 
 
 The whole force of this ' original argument ' de- 
 
29(> CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 pends upon the assumption, that Timothy had actually 
 visited Corinth, agreeably to his original instructions. 
 Not only is this assumed without evidence, but there 
 are reasons for a contrary conclusion. In the first 
 place, some doubt appears to have existed in the 
 Apostle's mind from the first, as to Timothy's being 
 able to visit Corinth ; for, while he speaks of having 
 sent Timothy to them, he expresses himself, towards 
 the close of the Epistle, in the language of doubt, as 
 ch; xvi. 10. if it were a contingency — " Now in case of Timothy's 
 Tate has comiug." In the second place, Titus's visit to Corinth 
 noticed. would have been unnecessary, had Timothy pro- 
 ceeded thither agreeably to the Apostle's original 
 intention ; and it may therefore be fairly concluded^ 
 that he was sent there in Timothy's stead. This 
 would explain why Timothy did not visit Corinth, 
 and why he returned to Ephesus the sooner, recalled, 
 it may have been, by the Apostle. At all events, 
 there seems to have been a change of the original 
 arrangement. In the third place, although Timothy's 
 name appears in the opening salutation of the Second 
 Epistle, and mention is made of his having preached 
 Christ to the Corinthians, in company with the 
 ch. i. IS. Writer and Silvanus, there occurs no reference what- 
 ever to Timothy's supposed visit to Corinth as the 
 Apostle's delegate^ That of Titus is repeatedly 
 spoken of; and it is in the highest degree improbable 
 that, if Timothy had recently visited Corinth, no 
 notice whatever should have been taken of the cir- 
 cumstance. But, if he had not, then the argument 
 drawn from the mistaken assumption is baseless. 
 There was ample time for Timothy's visit to Mace- 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 297 
 
 donia ; and nothing forbids the conclusion that he had 
 returned to Ephesus before St. Paul's departure, — 
 that he was left there by the Apostle, — and that he 
 did not rejoin him in Macedonia till the following 
 year. 
 
 How long St. Paul remained in Macedonia before 
 he went into Greece, does not appear from the his- 
 tory ; but, from his language in the Second Epistle 
 to the Corinthians, it is evident that he had been 
 detained much longer than he had expected, and that 
 his intention of wintering at Corinth, referred to in 
 his First Epistle, had been overruled. He had, as he 
 informs them, purposed to take Corinth in his way to 
 Macedonia, and afterwards to return from Macedonia, 
 by way of Corinth, in his way to Judea ; but the 
 first part of his plan was set aside by his taking the 
 route of Troas, and he had not been able to fulfil the 
 latter part, his voyage to Syria being postponed for a 
 year. Hence he deems it necessary to assure the 
 Corinthians, that he had not without sufficient reason 
 changed his purpose ; that he had even deferred his 
 visit to Corinth out of consideration to their interests; 2Cor.i.23, 
 but, as regarded their ready comphance with his 
 directions respecting the collection for the saints at 
 Jerusalem, he had confidently adduced their example 
 to the churches of Macedonia, boasting that Achaia had 
 been ready with its contributions a year before. This 
 proves that above a year must have elapsed between 
 his writing the First and the Second Epistle. The 
 winter after he left Ephesus, which he had thought of 
 spending at Corinth, must have been spent in Mace- icor.xvi.6. 
 donia, or in those parts. Now in writing to Titus, 
 
298 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 St. Paul directs that he should join him at Nicopolis, 
 for he had determined there to winter. This Nicopolis 
 must have been the city founded by Augustus, to com- 
 memorate his victory at Actium, situated in Epirus ; 
 since (as Mr. Greswell remarks) the Nicopolis on the 
 confines of Thrace was founded by Trajan, and was 
 not then in existence.* Lardner concludes, that the 
 winter which the Apostle passed in that city, was the 
 one which followed his departure from Ephesus, and 
 that the Epistle to Titus, as well as that to Timothy, 
 was written, about the same time, from Macedonia. 
 And such was the opinion of Theodoret. 
 
 Date of the § 3, But here a difficulty results from the fact, that 
 
 visit to Titus, when the Epistle was addressed to him, had 
 been left by the Apostle in Crete : this implies, that 
 St. Paul had himself visited that island, of which no 
 intimation is given in the Evangelical narrative. The 
 question arises, therefore, at what time could the 
 Apostolic visit to Crete have taken place ? 
 
 Professor Hug thinks, that the only journey in 
 which St. Paul could have left Titus behind him in 
 Crete, was, when he left Corinth with Aquila and 
 
 Acts xviii. Priscilla for Ephesus. ' That time alone he was so 
 near Crete as to have had an opportunity of going 
 there, either by embarking on board of a ship which 
 was bound thither, or by being driven there at sea.' 
 In the latter case, one of those perils at sea which he 
 mentions in 2 Cor. xi., may have taken place. 
 
 Hug, vol. ii. ' What otherwise,' he asks, ' was the cause, when 
 he had embarked for Syria, of his coming, instead, 
 
 * Greswell, vol. ii. p. 88. So Jerome thought, though Theodoret 
 and Chrysostom supposed the Thracian Nicopolis to be intended. 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 299 
 
 to Ephesus ? ' Yet, he supposes, somewhat inconsis- 
 tently, that the voyage by Crete was not an unusual 
 road of commerce between Corinth and Ephesus. 
 Conformably to this hypothesis, he supposes the 
 Epistle to Titus to have been written at Ephesus, 
 before St. Paul sailed for Syria ; and the Nicopohs 
 referred to, to have been the city of that name be- 
 tween Antioch and Tarsus. This opinion involves so 
 much that is purely conjectural, if not improbable, 
 that it has not found much favour with Biblical 
 critics. 
 
 Lardner agrees with Baronius and Lightfoot in 
 supposing that St. Paul's visit to Crete took place 
 between his leaving Ephesus for Macedonia and his 
 second visit to Corinth. ' It appears to me very 
 probable,' says the learned Writer, ' that, at this 
 time, Paul was in Illyricum and Crete. But I cannot 
 digest the order of his journeys, since St. Luke has 
 not related them.' It may be observed, indeed, that, 
 under the general expression, " he came into Greece," 
 might very well be included a visit to Crete. Had 
 the sacred Writer intended simply, that the Apostle 
 came from Macedonia to Corinth, he would scarcely 
 have said, that he came into Hellas, but rather into 
 Achaia, of which Corinth was the capital, Hellas 
 or Greece, in the largest sense, comprehended both 
 the Peninsula and the Islands of the JEgean Sea, as 
 well as the Continental provinces south of Mace- 
 donia ; but Greece Proper was limited to the country 
 south of Thessaly and Epirus, now divided into 
 Eastern and Western Hellas. There is, however, a 
 diflSculty which forbids our bringing the voyage to 
 
300 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 Crete within those three months, inasmuch as it must 
 have been prior to the Apostle's wintering at Nico- 
 polis, which was not in Greece. We are therefore 
 led to the conclusion, that, when Paul left Ephesus, 
 he was attended by Titus, and that, before he pro- 
 ceeded to Macedonia, he was induced to visit Crete, 
 possibly by finding a vessel bound for that island ; 
 and it might be his plan to pass by way of Achaia 
 into Macedonia, as he intimates in writing to the 
 Corinthians. "Circumstances induced him, however, 
 to leave Titus in Crete, and to deviate from his in- 
 tended route. He therefore charged Titus, after 
 executing his commission in Crete, to visit Corinth, 
 and thence to repair to Troas, where it is evident the 
 Apostle expected to find him. It is not unlikely 
 that the Epistle to Titus was written at Troas, where 
 Paul might learn that he was still in Crete ; and that 
 it was despatched to him by Artemas, or by Tychicus, 
 Tit. iii. 12. on whose arrival he was to hasten to join the Apostle 
 at Nicopolis. It may serve to strengthen the pro- 
 bability of this supposition, to observe, that ApoUos 
 was at Ephesus when Paul wrote his first Epistle to 
 the Corinthians, and that he was in Crete when Titus 
 was left there. We have no means of filling up the 
 hiatus between Paul's leaving Titus and reaching 
 Troas, on his way to Macedonia; but, when we 
 recollect that the only navigation in those times was 
 by short passages from port to port, or by coasting 
 voyages, we may account for its taking up sufficient 
 time to justify his expecting Titus at Troas. From 
 Crete, he would most likely make his passage in a 
 vessel bound for one of the Syrian ports, whence he 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 301 
 
 might proceed either by sea or overland : in either 
 case, he would be hable to detention at the important 
 cities in his route, and he would doubtless avail him- 
 self of every opportunity of preaching the Gospel 
 where it had not been preached. It is at least 
 certain, that large portions of St. Paul's hfe are passed 
 over in the history, which we know to have been 
 busily spent. From the Second Epistle to the Cor- 
 inthians, it appears, that he had thrice suffered ship- 
 wreck, and been a night and a day in the deep, of 
 which no account is to be found in the Acts ; he 
 must, therefore, have taken voyages which exposed 
 him to these misfortunes, previously to his journey to 
 Macedonia. Now, on no occasion would this have 
 been more likely to occur, than in his passage to and 
 from Crete. It must be confessed, as Paley remarks 
 of a different explanation, that ' the journey thus 
 traced out for St. Paul, is, in a great measure, hypo- 
 thetic ; but it should be observed, that it is a species 
 of consistency which seldom belongs to felsehood, to 
 admit of an hypothesis which includes a great number 
 of independent circumstances without contradiction.' ^"iii!"*"'' 
 
 The hypothesis which Paley adopts, is, that, after 
 his liberation from his first imprisonment at Rome, 
 St. Paul sailed into Asia, taking Crete in his way, 
 leaving Titus at Crete, and Timothy at Ephesus, as 
 he went into Macedonia, and writing to both not long 
 after, from the Peninsula of Greece. This hypo- 
 thesis cuts the knot of the diflSculty arising from the 
 attempt to combine the scattered indications of the 
 Apostle's proceedings into a consistent narrative ; 
 and it supposes him to have executed his intention of 
 
302 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 visiting Philippi and Colosse as soon as he should be 
 set at Hberty at Rome. But, in the first place, the 
 main reason for postponing the date of the First 
 Epistle to Timothy, is the assumption, which has 
 been shewn to be erroneous, that there was no journey 
 into Macedonia prior to Paul's imprisonment, which 
 accorded with the circumstance of his leaving Timo- 
 thy at Ephesus.* In the second place, as Lardner 
 argues, ' all that is said of Paul's going into Spain, 
 and Crete, and some other places, after being released 
 from his imprisonment at Rome, is mere conjecture, 
 without any good authority, either from the books of 
 the New Testament or very early antiquity. Nor is 
 it at all likely, that the Cretans should have been so 
 long without being instructed in the doctrine of the 
 Gospel.' Especially considering how much earlier 
 Cyprus and Libya had been evangelized, this will 
 appear a forcible argument. Again, the fact, that 
 Titus afterwards was sent into Dalmatia, while the 
 Apostle was a prisoner at Rome, affords a reason for 
 supposing that he had been there before, although it 
 is not stated in the history. But further, the internal 
 evidence is in favour of this early date. It is scarcely 
 reasonable to think, as Lardner remarks, that Paul 
 should have occasion, so late as the year 64 or 65, to 
 send to his assistants and fellow-labourers such par- 
 
 * Mr. Greswell is unusually positive in maintaining, that neither 
 Epistle could have been written before Paul's imprisonment at 
 Rome, or before a.tt.c. 817 (a.d. 64)"; but his main reasons are, that 
 ' the men speaking perverse things had not,' before then, ' risen up 
 in the Ephesian church ;' and that ' the constitution of the visible 
 church had not,' till then, ' assumed its settled and definite state 
 under the government of bishops, presbyters, and deacons.' 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 303 
 
 ticular directions concerning the qualifications of 
 
 elders (or bishops) and deacons, as are found in these 
 
 two Epistles. There were certainly elders at Ephe- 
 
 sus, exercising the episcopacy of the church, when 
 
 Paul touched at Miletus, in his way to Judea ; and, in 
 
 fact, in the very first apostolic circuit of Paul with 
 
 Barnabas, they " ordained elders in every church," Actsxiv.20. 
 
 who, in the Epistle to the Philippians, as well as in 
 
 the farewell address to those of Ephesus, are styled 
 
 episcopi, or bishops. Once more, Timothy, though 
 
 still youthful for a rabbi at the date of the First 
 
 Epistle addressed to him, as he was also when St. 
 
 Paul proposed sending him to Corinth, could scarcely 
 
 have been so young, seven and even ten years later 
 
 than the date of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, 
 
 as to lead the Apostle to say, " Let no man despise 
 
 thy youth." iTim.iv.12. 
 
 That the two Epistles, to Titus and to Timothy, bear 
 strong and all but indubitable marks of having been 
 written about the same time, is admitted on all hands ; 
 and both are impressed with the same character. The 
 question has been raised, whether they are to be con- 
 sidered as private letters, intended chiefly for the 
 guidance of the individuals to whom they were ad- 
 dressed, or as public charges, in which the Apostle 
 conveyed his exhortations indirectly to the churches. 
 That the latter is the true description, the internal 
 evidence sufficiently indicates, as well as their place in 
 the sacred Canon. 
 
304 THE EPISTLE OP PAUL 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO TITUS. 
 
 ciiaracte> ^ 4. The Epistle to Titus, probably the earlier of 
 toes of the the two, IS distinguished, as Professor Hug remarks, 
 by the strong marks of local reference. It might be 
 explained and •confirmed, in almost every sentence, by 
 citations from classical writers. ' Nature had en- 
 dowed this Island with all that renders man happy ; 
 the inhabitants, likewise, had formerly possessed a 
 constitution which was renowned, and frequently 
 compared with that of Sparta ; but, at this time, and 
 even long before, the state of laws and of morals had 
 
 Hug, part 11. > T-« 1 • 1 
 
 §91- sunk very low. Polybius characterizes them as 
 
 fickle, prone to quarrelUng, to civil disturbances and 
 frays, to robbery and violence ; as avaricious and 
 basely sordid, whence arose their treachery, their 
 false and deceitful disposition, which had passed into 
 a proverb. Even in the times of purer morals, they 
 were addicted to intemperance ; and their propensity 
 to incontinence is the subject of frequent censure by 
 ancient writers. One of their native writers, Epi- 
 menides,* bore that testimony to their brutish and 
 slothfiil character, which Paul pronounced to be so 
 true. Some of the Jews who had established them- 
 selves in Crete, the Apostle seems to have regarded 
 as more dangerous, in many respects, than the natives 
 themselves. There were Hellenistic Jews from Crete, 
 who had gone up to Jerusalem to attend the feast of 
 
 * Epimenides, the writer referred to as one of their prophets, was 
 reputed, Theophylact says, to be an able lidvns. Hence, Cicero ap- 
 plies to him the term, vaticinans. 
 
the Bpiatle. 
 
 TO TITUS. 805 
 
 Pentecost, and who witnessed the miraculoiis effects of 
 the effusion of the Holy Spirit ; and by converts from 
 among these Cretan Jews, the Christian faith was doubt- 
 less planted in that island. The mission of Titus, who 
 was a Greek, like that of the Apostle of the Gentiles 
 himself, would, however, be directed chiefly to the 
 heathen population, or to converts from heathenism ; 
 and it was over these, probably, as being unaccus- 
 tomed to the synagogue government by elders, that 
 he was to appoint episcopi, or bishops. 
 
 The Epistle opens with the customary salutation, Analysis of 
 in which the Apostle recognizes Titus as his spiritual 
 son ; and he then declares the object for which he 
 had left him in Crete ; as if to obviate all doubt or 
 question as to the authority by which Titus was 
 acting.* He proceeds to describe, less for the guid- 
 ance of Titus himself, we may suppose, than as an 
 admonition to candidates, the qualifications requisite 
 in a Christian pastor or ruler of the church ; and he 
 intimates, that the greatest caution would be requisite 
 in the selection of proper persons, on account of the 
 many ungovernable spirits and arrogant pretenders, 
 who would be ready to thrust themselves into the 
 sacred office; public teachers whose only motives 
 were venal, and who, for the sake of lucre, taught 
 things unbecoming. More especially were such cha- 
 racters numerous among those of the Circumcision, 
 with whom it would be necessary to take a decided 
 
 * Calvin remarks, that St. Paul wrote to Titus with a view to 
 arm him with his own authority in the discharge of the commission 
 intrusted to him, and that he did not write privately to Titus so 
 much as publicly to the Cretans. 
 
 X 
 
306 THE EPISTLE TO TITUS. 
 
 course, and to rebuke them sharply. The Apostle 
 next describes the virtues which ought severally to 
 distinguish the aged and the young ; exhorting Titus 
 to set a pattern, in his own conduct, of the virtues he 
 was to inculcate. He is instructed also to teach 
 the domestic slaves to be submissive and faithful ; 
 whereby, abject as was their social condition, they 
 would recommend the Christian doctrine; for the. 
 salvation of the Gospel, which was a redemption from 
 all iniquity, had been revealed to all orders and 
 classes of mankind. He was also to insist upon obe- 
 dience to governors and magistrates, and upon a 
 peaceable and meek deportment towards all men, as 
 pecuharly incumbent upon those who had been for- 
 merly, like the other heathens, slaves of the most 
 degrading lusts and hateful dispositions, and who 
 were indebted for their regeneration to the sovereign 
 grace of God. Although justification is by Grace, it 
 was necessary to insist upon the obligation under 
 which believers in God are laid, to maintain an hon- 
 ourable and useful course. Such matters of practical 
 exhortation were profitable ; but fiivolous inquiries, 
 scholastic subtilties, and casuistical wranglings were 
 to be avoided ; and one who persisted in contentious 
 opposition was, after a second admonition, to be re- 
 jected or shunned, as a man perverted or contemned 
 by his own conscience. Some brief directions are 
 then given to Titus, as to his joining the Apostle at 
 Nicopolis, and speeding Zenas and ApoUos on their 
 journey ; and the more immediate disciples or con- 
 verts of Paul are especially exhorted to maintain good 
 works, (by which, industrious labour seems especially 
 
THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 307 
 
 intended,) not only for the supply of their own neces- 
 sities, but also to enable them to shew hospitality and 
 liberality to others. The Epistle closes with a brief 
 salutation and benediction. 
 
 If this Apostolic Charge, distinguished by its 
 terseness, does not contain any bursts of eloquence, it 
 bears the stamp of Inspiration in the conscious autho- 
 rity and the wisdom which it displays. Nothing can 
 be more admirable than the skill with which so large 
 an amount of instruction, embracing doctrine, morals, 
 and discipUne, is compressed into an Epistle scarcely 
 exceeding in length many single chapters of the 
 other Books of the New Testament. 
 
 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY, 
 
 § 5. The First Epistleto Timothy had evidently the Analysis of 
 same general purpose as that to Titus, and, as Calvin to Timothy. 
 remarks, was written for the sake of others more than 
 of him to whom it was addressed ; containing many 
 things which would have been superfluous, had the 
 Apostle intended it for Timothy alone. It may 
 therefore be considered as, in efiect, an Epistle to the 
 church at Ephesus. As, in writing to Titus, the 
 Apostle begins with declaring for what object he had 
 left him at Crete, so, he commences this Epistle by 
 stating why he had desired Timothy to remain at 
 Ephesus ; namely, to oppose and counteract the insi- 
 dious eflbrts of the Eabbinical doctors and other 
 intrusive teachers to blend their dogmas and puerile 
 traditions with the Christian doctrine, as comprised 
 
 X 2 
 
308 THE FIRST EPISTLE OF 
 
 in the glorious Gospel which he was Divinely com- 
 missioned to preach. The reference to the high 
 trust committed to himself as an Apostle, calls forth 
 a devout and impassioned expression of gratitude for 
 the mercy which had been so signally shown to one 
 who had been a blasphemer and a persecutor, and 
 which, as an example of the Divine clemency, held 
 out encouragement to the vilest transgressors to 
 repent and believe. He then resumes the subject 
 of his charge to his son Timothy ; and he proceeds 
 to give directions, in the first place, relating to public 
 worship. To remove any doubts as to the propriety 
 of praying for heathen magistrates, the Apostle 
 enjoins that supplication and thanksgivings should 
 be oflFered on behalf of all men, and for kings and 
 rulers, therefore, more especially ; for the salvation 
 of the Gospel was to be proclaimed to all. Prayer 
 was to be offered not only for all, but by all men in 
 every place, without oflScial or ceremonial restrictions. 
 So, Bloom- As to Christian women, they also were to pray, 
 we musT'' but not to teach or to assume authority in the church ; 
 &ro5^ffls, and their most becoming ornaments were modesty 
 " ■ "■ ■ and beneficence. Next, the Apostle specifies the 
 qualifications required in one who aspired to the 
 office of a pastor or ruler in the church ; also, what 
 ought to be looked for in the character of deacons or 
 ministers, and deaconesses. These brief directions 
 he deemed it necessary to transmit, in order that, 
 if he (the Apostle) should be prevented from rejoin- 
 ing him, Timothy might know how to conduct the 
 affairs of the Christian household in the maintenance 
 of the Truth, the Mystery of the Faith, of which is 
 
PAUL TO TIMOTHY. 309 
 
 given a very remarkable summary in a hexalogue 
 of propositions or articles.* Adverting, then, to 
 the predictions which had foretold that apostacies 
 would occur, as the result of false doctrine and 
 Satanic delusions, the Apostle admonishes Timothy 
 to warn the brethren against them, and to be him- 
 self on his guard against being diverted from the 
 course of practical godUness ; to set an example to 
 believers, and to give all attention to those studies 
 which might quahfy him for the effective discharge of 
 his ministry. He instructs him to avoid assuming 
 the air of harsh authority, and to pay especial 
 respect to the widows of the church, who were really 
 bereaved and destitute. Some special directions are 
 given as to those who had families capable of sup- 
 porting them, and the younger widows who were 
 still marriageable ; also, with regard to the support of 
 the ruling presbyters or pastors, and the caution to 
 be exercised in receiving any complaints against 
 them. Timothy is very solemnly charged to shew 
 no partiality or respect of persons, and not rashly or 
 unadvisedly to appoint any one to an office in the 
 church. An exhortation to keep himself pure, in 
 reference to implication in the sins of others, is fol- 
 lowed by a caution against too rigid abstemiousness, 
 which seems intended to correct ascetic notions of 
 purity. A direction to inculcate upon Christian 
 servants or slaves, obedience and subjection to their 
 
 * See, on this remarkable passage, Dr. Pye- Smith's Scrip. Test. 
 vol. iii. pp. 321 — 328. Dr. Henderson's ' Great Mystery of Godli- 
 ness Incontrovertible.' Bp. Pearson on the Creed. Also, Eclectic 
 Rev. Nov. 1832, Art. Blomfield's Gr. Test. 
 
310 
 
 THE FIRST EPISTLE OP 
 
 Character- 
 istic marks 
 of the 
 Pauline au- 
 thorship of 
 the Epistle. 
 
 masters, whether believers or not, appears also de- 
 signed to correct the pernicious dogma of the Rabbi- 
 nical doctors, that conversion or regeneration released 
 men from their previous social relations. In refer- 
 ence to their notorious covetousness and love of 
 money, the Apostle very solemnly cautions Timothy 
 against imitating them in that respect. He adjures 
 him to maintain the good contest with a perpetual 
 reference to the prize of etertial Hfe and to the second 
 coming of The Lord. He gives him a special charge 
 to the rich ; and, after rteitei'ating the injunction to 
 keep the Truth entrusted to him pure from profane 
 logomachies and false philosophy, which had proved 
 fatal to some, concludes with his benediction. 
 
 § 6. This Epistle bears in every part such un- 
 equivocal marks of its Pauline authorship, that no 
 doubt of its canonicity appears ever to have been 
 entertained in ancient times. It was reserved for the 
 perverted leamiiig and subtilty of Schleiermacher, to 
 raise objections against its genuineness, equally arbi- 
 trary and futile. These have been satisfactorily 
 refuted by Professor Hug, and still more completely 
 and triunfphantly by Professor Henry Planck, the 
 learned son of a celebratted father.* The coincidence 
 in matter and in expeSsion between this Epistle and 
 the Second Epistle to Timothy, (which will come 
 under our notice hereafter,) is almbst Sufficient to 
 establish its genuineness. But it may be deemed 
 
 * Gottingen, 1808. It is sad to find Neander, while attaching 
 no force to the objections of Baur and others, expressing doubts as 
 to the genuineness of this Epistle, on such trivial grounds as his 
 feeling or fancy that there is something in the style not Pauline. 
 
PAUL TO TIMOTHY. 311 
 
 still more satisfactory to compare the language of the 
 Epistle before us with the Apostle's address to the 
 Ephesian Elders at Miletus, not quite two years 
 afterwards. It has been urged by the German 
 sceptic, that St. Paul there speaks of the heretics in 
 the future tense, as if they did not exist at the time, 
 but were about to arise : " For I know this, that, 
 after my departure, shall grievous wolves enter in 
 among you, not sparing the flock. Also, of your 
 ownselves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to 
 draw away disciples after them." But how did Paul 30. 
 know this ? In the Epistle to Timothy, this is ex- 
 plained: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that, ch. iv. 1. 
 in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith." 
 There is no indication in this Epistle, that the Ephe- 
 sian church had as yet been invaded by those whom 
 St. Paul designates as "grievous wolves," or that 
 heretical teachers had already sprung up from among 
 themselves. The Apostle may be supposed, in 
 writing to Timothy, to refer rather to what had 
 already occurred in the Corinthian church, as a 
 warning against allowing such men to obtain a foot- 
 ing at Ephesus. That Hymenseus, who is mentioned 
 as having 'made shipwreck as concerns the faith,' 
 was one of the Corinthian teachers, appears the more 
 probable from his being one who maintained that the 2Tim.ii.17. 
 Resurrection was past, — that there was, in fact, no 
 future resurrection of the body ; a Sadducean error 
 which, in writing to the Corinthians, St. Paul so 
 earnestly and eloquently combats. Alexander, the 
 ' other false teacher mentioned by name, has been con- 
 jectured to be the same as ' Alexander the copper- 
 
312 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 smith,' referred to in the Second Epistle. The 
 designation applied to him does not forbid our sup- 
 posing him to haye been a Eabbi, since the Jews were 
 accustomed to distinguish their learned men by the 
 craft to which they had been brought up ; as, Rabbi 
 See p. 2S2. Isaac the smith, &c. Calvin concludes, that he was 
 the Alexander of whom mention is made in the nine- 
 teenth chapter of the Book of Acts, and who, he 
 supposes, would have allayed the tumult at Ephe- 
 sus, had he not been repulsed ; and that he was an 
 Ephesian. All this is very doubtful. It might be 
 thought, on the contrary, that he was a stranger at 
 Ephesus ; for, when the people discovered that he was 
 a Jew, they refused to listen to him. With what 
 intent he was put forward by the Jews on that occa- 
 sion, is questionable ; probably with no design favour- 
 able to the cause of the Apostle.* The Alexander 
 referred to in the Epi&tle, must have been a professed 
 convert to the Christian faith, who had lapsed into 
 sin as well as error. Yet, there is no reason to sup- 
 pose that his heresy was the same as that of Hyme- 
 nseus ; for when, in the Second Epistle, St. Paul refers 
 to the Sadducean error respecting the Eesurrection, 
 maintained by Hymenseus and Philetus, Alexander's 
 name does not occur. His defection was, therefore, 
 probably of a diflFerent character ; but it had brought 
 him, as well as Hymenseus, under a judicial exclusion 
 from the church ; and the Apostle refers to them as 
 warnings to others. Their cases were of course well 
 known to Timothy, and their names might be familiar 
 
 * Professor Hug ranks this Alexander among the accusers of 
 the Apostle.. 
 
THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 313 
 
 to the Ephesian church ; but there is no ground for 
 concluding that they had belonged to that church, 
 or were Ephesian teachers. Nothing is more natural 
 than that the Apostle should be led by what had 
 taken place in the church at Corinth, and in the 
 churches of Galatia, to guard Timothy against the 
 danger to be apprehended from the intrusion of here- 
 tical teachers, although none might as yet have 
 appeared to trouble the church at Ephesus. 
 
 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 
 
 § 7. Both Timothy and Titus had rejoined the Bateand 
 Apostle before he composed his Second Epistle to the the Second 
 Corinthians; and the former, being associated with the'corin- 
 the Apostle in the opening salutation, must have been 
 with him at the time of its composition, while he was 
 still in Macedonia ; * probably in the autumn of the 
 year 57, when he was contemplating going into Greece. 
 Titus had certainly visited Corinth, (as we have sup- 
 posed, in his way from Crete to join the Apostle at 
 Nicopolis,) before the Second Epistle was written; 
 but he was now to return thither, accompanied by 
 
 * Paley remarks, that, in the First Epistle to Timothy, 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. But this is easily explaiued hy St. Paul's heing de- 
 tained longer in Macedonia than he anticipated, or by his having 
 put off for a year his intended journey to Syria. Timothy had re- 
 mained, probably, a year at Ephesus before he rejoined the Apostle, 
 and he might be desirous of obtaining his advice in a personal in- 
 terview. 
 
314 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 ch.viii. 18. Silas, bearing this Epistle, for the purpose more espe- 
 cially of completing the collection for the poor of 
 Jerusalem, respecting which, St. Paul tells them, he 
 had boasted to the Macedonians, that Achaia was 
 ready a year ago ; yet, he thought it prudent to send 
 the brethren before him, to make up their bounty, 
 lest, when he came, attended by some of the Mace- 
 donian brethren, he should find them unprepared, and 
 be exposed, as well as the Corinthians themselves, to 
 mortification. That he was intending shortly to fol- 
 low his messengers, is expressly stated. Twice before, 
 he had announced his purpose to revisit them, but 
 had been prevented from fiilfilUng his intention; 
 once, when he left Ephesus for Macedonia, and again 
 when he had intended to go by way of Corinth to 
 Judea in the spring, but had been obliged to defer 
 his visit to Jerusalem till the next year. This, there- 
 
 ch. xiii. 1. fore, was " the third time" he was coming to them, 
 
 ch. i. 16. or purposing to come, to pay them a second visit. 
 These particulars, gathered fi-om the Epistle itself, fix 
 the date, and explain the occasion of its being written. 
 
 Character of The ffcncral character of the composition is strik- 
 
 tne compoBi- , , ... 
 
 tioD. ingly dissimilar fi-om that of the First Epistle, which 
 
 is throughout admonitory, didactic, authoritative, we 
 might say polemical ; whereas this Epistle resembles 
 more that to the Galatians, in bearing the marks of 
 strong and mingled emotion, and in being more per- 
 suasive than dogmatic or argumentative, more replete 
 with pathos and an indignant eloquence than with 
 dialectic skill. For this dissimilarity, the different 
 circumstances under which it was composed, naturally 
 account. When he wrote the First Epistle, he had 
 
TO THE CORINTHIANS. 315 
 
 heard that the church was spUt into parties and fac- 
 tions, that disorderly practices as well as heresies had 
 sprung up, that his apostolic authority had been 
 called in question ; and he evidently felt considerable 
 doubt how far his own converts would remain faithful, 
 and what reception would be given to the counsels 
 and admonitions which he addressed to the church. 
 The information brought by Titus, though of a mixed 
 character, had removed this painful anxiety, and filled 
 him with joy, while it emboldened him to deal the 
 more plainly with those false apostles who still ven- 
 tured to depreciate his authority, and to misrepresent 
 his conduct and motives. 
 
 § 8. He begins the Epistle, according to his usual Analysis of 
 method, with expressions of devout gratulation, giving 
 thanks for the comfort Divinely vouchsafed to him 
 under the sufferings and troubles which he had en- 
 dured, referring especially to what he had been ex- 
 posed to at Ephesus ; and he gracefully intimates, 
 that these troubles had been permitted to come upon 
 him, that he might be the better qualified to impart 
 comfort to others, and that those to whose prayers he 
 ascribed his deliverance, might give praise to God for 
 his preservation. He then explains his delay in 
 coming again to visit them, assuring them, that it 
 arose from no levity of purpose or inconstancy ; that 
 he had written his former letter under much affliction 
 and anguish; that he had purposely deferred his 
 return to Corinth till he should ascertain how far 
 they would yield obedience to his instructions ; and 
 that he had with intense anxiety awaited the return 
 of Titus as the bearer of the desired information. 
 
816 . THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 Not finding him at Troas, he had hurried on into 
 Macedonia to meet him there. This recals to his 
 mind the triumphant success of his apostoUc labours 
 in that region, which he adverts to in the language 
 of thanksgiving ; but, aware that he had been accused 
 of boasting of his labours, he adds, that, if he were 
 disposed to praise himself, or felt to stand in any 
 need, like some who had obtruded themselves among 
 them, of letters of recommendation, he would adduce 
 them, his own converts, as his living credentials, bear- 
 ing on their hearts what the Spirit of Christ had, by 
 his hand, inscribed. If he extolled his ministry, it was 
 not fi-om any self-confidence,, but as trusting in God, 
 who had constituted him a minister of the new and 
 more excellent dispensation of the Spirit, which he con- 
 trasts with that of the Mosaic law and ritual. In the 
 discharge of this ministry, he had discarded aU reserve 
 or concealment; he did not veil the Gospel under 
 ambiguous phrases, to avoid offending the prejudices of 
 the Jew ; it was not his practice, to attempt to make 
 converts or to proselyte to Christianity, by craftily 
 keeping back or adulterating the truth ; but, by an 
 open manifestation of the whole truth, he commended 
 himself to every man's conscience ; so that, if there 
 was any obscurity in his teaching, (as had probably 
 been alleged,) and his Gospel seemed to be veiled, it 
 arose from the blindness of those who believed not, 
 whose minds were darkened by Satanic influence. 
 But, while he extolled his ministry, he was feelingly 
 conscious of his personal weakness and frailty. The 
 heavenly treasure was deposited in fragile vessels; 
 
TO THE CORINTHIANS. 317 
 
 and the power of God was rendered the more illus- 
 trious by the feeble instruments employed. 
 
 The Apostle proceeds pathetically to descnbe the ct. iv. 8. 
 manner in which he had been Divinely sustained 
 under complicated troubles and extremities, a sort of 
 perpetual crucifixion, by which he was made con- 
 formable to the death of Christ, in order that the 
 Divine power of the living Saviour might be mani- 
 fested in his body, so wonderfiiUy preserved amid 
 such perils and under such sufferings, for the benefit 
 of the Church. Supported by the strong assur- 
 ance of faith and the hope of eternal glory, he did 
 not faint, but looked forward to death as but an ex- 
 change of the earthly tenement for an eternal habita- 
 tion ; absence from the body being infinitely compen- 
 sated by an introduction to the immediate presence 
 of The Lord, at whose tribunal we must all appear. 
 
 After this touching and subUme digression, the CK vi. u. 
 Apostle returns to the subject of his ministry, which 
 he extols, not as deeming it necessary to commend it 
 to those whom he was addressing, but with a view to 
 furnish them with matter of glorying respecting him 
 and his fellow-labourers, in opposition to those who 
 appeared to do so, but were insincere. For, whether 
 he was transported, or seemed to exceed proper 
 bounds, it was for the cause of God ; or whether he 
 spoke (as in the First Epistle) in modest and humble 
 terms of his ministry, it was for their instruction and 
 benefit.* His ruling and binding motive was, de- 
 
 * Or, ' whether we he thought sane or insane, it is for God and 
 your sakes.' ' Sana envm erat gloriatio Pavili, vd sobria et sapient- 
 itsima inaania.' ^Calvin. 
 
318 
 
 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 1 Ep. i. 12. 
 
 Ch. xi. 22. 
 
 " Chryaoi- 
 tomus de 
 auditoribus 
 int&rprt- 
 iatur (avu), 
 guihua co- 
 operantur 
 ministn.'" 
 Calvin. 
 
 Ch. Ti. 3. 
 
 votedness to Christ, whose love in dying to redeem 
 all from death, (whether Jew or Gentile,) laid him 
 and all the regenerate under the strongest obligation 
 to consecrate their lives to his service. He had 
 therefore ceased to regard man according to human 
 estimate or opinion; and even Christ himself, he 
 knew or recognised only spiritually, or in his Divine 
 and exalted relation. Every real Christian was a 
 changed man, having undergone a heavenly trans- 
 formation of character corresponding to the spiritual 
 kingdom of Christ. The Apostle evidently alludes 
 to some of the Corinthian teachers, whose worldly- 
 mindedness discovered itself in their priding them- 
 selves upon personal and extrinsic recommendations. 
 It is probable that some of them deemed themselves 
 entitled to higher consideration, either as having per^ 
 sonally known Our Lord, or as standing more closely 
 related to him as Jews, than the Gentile believers. 
 St. Paul might have claimed the same honour of 
 national relationship to Christ; but he waives this 
 claim, recognising him only as his Master and Lord, 
 the Lord of all, without distinction of Jew or Gen- 
 tile. Moreover, he adds, God is the Author of this 
 new creation, for he it is who has reconciled us to 
 Himself through the sacrifice of Christ, and com- 
 mitted to us, the Apostles, the ministry of reconcilia- 
 tion; so that, as the ambassadors of Christ, our office 
 is to beseech men to be reconciled to God, and, as co- 
 operators with Him, to exhort you not in vain to 
 receive the Divine grace, while the day of salvation 
 lasts. 
 
 After this exposition of the nature and dignity of 
 
TO THE CORINTHIANS. 319 
 
 the Apostolic embassy, St. Paul returns to the manner 
 in which he had endeavoured to fulfil this ministry of 
 reconciliation, so as to bring upon it no reproach; 
 approving himself as God's minister by a patient en- 
 durance of the various sufferings and hardships, trials 
 and persecutions, to which the exercise of his oflBce 
 had exposed him, and by exemplifying the virtues 
 and graces of the Christian character. He winds up 
 this vindication of his ministry by describing the 
 moral paradox which his life exhibited, as happy in 
 the midst of so much misery, and, though himself poor, 
 yet making many rich. In this last expression, he 
 seems indirectly to point to the ingratitude of those 
 whom he had spiritually enriched, but who had so ill 
 requited him. And then, with a burst of feeling, he 
 apostrophizes the Corinthians as his spiritual children, 
 and professes the tender affection which he feels for 
 them ; for which, as his best reward, he entreats them 
 to shew the same expansive affection towards himself. 
 By this pathetic adjuration, he bespeaks their obedi- 
 ence to the solemn injunction to have no fellowship, 
 no close connexion or intimate society with unbe- 
 lievers and idolaters ; enforcing the admonition by a 
 reference to the promises of the New Covenant. He 
 then reverts to the idea which seems to oppress his 
 mind, — the ingratitude and causeless alienation from 
 himself of some individuals among them, when he had 
 not wronged, or corrupted, or deceived any of them. 
 But, as if suddenly correcting himself, he retracts the 
 charge, repeats the expression of his strong affection 
 for them, and declares, that he addressed them with 
 confidence, having occasion for high satisfaction and 
 
320 THE SECOND EPISTLE OP PAUL 
 
 joy in the effect which his former Epistle had pro- 
 duced. He now takes up the subject of Titus's 
 return from Corinth, bringing him the welcome 
 tidings for which, as he mentions in the beginning of 
 the Epistle, he had waited with so much anxiety ; and 
 dwells with cordial approbation on the manner in 
 which they had cleared themselves in the case of the 
 incestuous offender. He assures them, that Titus 
 remembered with much affection the reception they 
 had given him ; and repeats, that he feels he can 
 entirely confide in them. 
 Chap. viii. The Apostle now gracefully introduces the subject 
 of the collection which he was making for the church 
 at Jerusalem, by informing them how liberally the 
 churches of Macedonia had contributed, notwithstand- 
 ing their extreme poverty ; on which account, in order 
 that they, the Corinthians, who abounded in faith, 
 knowledge, and regard for himself, might not be out- 
 done in the grace of hberality, he had determined to 
 send Titus again to them, to complete the work of 
 collecting their contributions. He lays no command 
 upon them in this respect, but wishes them to give 
 according to their means, voluntarily, and from a 
 desire to please God. He tells them, that Titus had 
 most readily consented to undertake this service, 
 having in- the first instance gone to Corinth of his 
 own accord. He was now to be accompanied by 
 Silas, (who is plainly designated by the phrase, " who 
 was also chosen by the churches to travel with us,") 
 and by a brother, who, if a member of the Corinthian 
 church is intended, was probably Erastus, whom Paul 
 had sent into Macedonia with Timothy before he left 
 
TO THE CORINTHIANS. 321 
 
 Ephesus himself. The Apostle gracefully intimates, 
 that he deems it quite superfluous to say any thing 
 to them of the duty of ministering to the reUef of the 
 holy brethren, as, knowing the forwardness of their 
 zeal in this respect, he had held up their example to 
 the churches of Macedonia; but he had sent the 
 brethren to ensure their being quite ready against 
 his arrival, so as to justify his having boasted so con- 
 fidently of their liberality. He declares, moreover, 
 that liberality would ensure its recompense from God, 
 who loves the cheerful giver, and is able to enrich 
 those who are bountiful ; and that this contribution 
 from the Gentile churches would not only relieve the 
 wants of the saints in Judea, but would also be such 
 an evidence of their obedience to the Gospel and 
 generous kindness as would call forth heartfelt thanks- 
 givings to God on their account. He takes leave of 
 the subject with a devout expression of thanks to 
 God for his ineiFable gift. 
 
 And here, there is some reason to think, the Ch. x. 
 Epistle was intended to have been brought to a close. 
 The remaining portion is in a strain observably dif- 
 ferent from that which the Apostle "has thus far 
 maintained, and has been thought to exhibit even 
 more care and finish in the style*. We may suppose 
 
 * ' It is objected, how different is the tone of the first part, mild, 
 amiable, affectionate ; whereas the third part is severe, vehement, 
 castigatory. But who would divide Demosthenes' Oration ^w CoroncL 
 into two parts, because, in the more general defence, placidity and 
 circumspection predominate ; while, in abashing and chastising the 
 accuser, in the parallel between him and ^schines, words of bitter 
 irony gush out impetuously, and fall like rain in a stonn ?' Hi^, 
 Pt. II. § 102. 
 
 Y 
 
322 • THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 that, when he had written thus far, or had dictated^ 
 rather, the contents of the preceding chapters to 
 Timothy, (whom he unites with himself in the opening 
 salutation,) further information reached him from 
 Corinth, with regard to the conduct of the false 
 teachers, which induced him to resume the vindica- 
 tion of his apostolic authority and personal character 
 against their injurious insinuations. AUuding evi- 
 dently to what he had heard was said of himself, he 
 commences this fresh portion of the Epistle with 
 great spirit and dignity. " Now I, the same Paul, 
 beseech you, in the meekness and gentleness of Christ, 
 Or, mean in ^ho am Said to be, when personally present, lowly 
 
 appearance. ^ i t 
 
 among you, but, when absent, bold towards you ; I 
 
 entreat you that I may not be compelled to act with 
 
 that boldness, when I am with you, which I shall 
 
 Or, reckon deem it propcr to shew in respect to those who now 
 
 on shewing. ' ^ t , i 
 
 regard me as waikmg accordmg to human passions 
 and interests." And he proceeds to intimate, that, 
 feeble as he might be in body, he had the means of 
 enforcing his authority by weapons of spiritual mightj 
 and was prepared to exercise the powers entrusted to 
 him in the punishment of the contumacious. He 
 will not stoop to measure himself against his self, 
 sufficient and boastful detractors, but repels the 
 charge of having exceeded the limits of his commis- 
 sion, or gone beyond his province, in exercising his 
 authority over the Corinthian church. He had not, 
 in preaching the Gospel, obtruded upon the field of 
 another's labours, but had advanced to Corinth in the 
 regular prosecution of his ministry ; and he hoped, 
 when his work was done there, to extend the sphere 
 
TO THE CORINTHIANS. 323 
 
 of his labour to regions beyond ; — unlike the intrusive 
 teachers who had followed him, and boasted as if they 
 had achieved what they found ready to their hand. 
 It was commanded, that they should glory only in 
 The Lord ; and he alone was approved, who obtained 
 the Divine approbation. Yet, jealous lest these his 
 converts should be seduced from the simplicity of the 
 faith by those who sought to undermine his authority, 
 he begs them to bear with him in what might seem 
 the folly of self-commendation. In no respect, in 
 introducing the Gospel among them, had he shewn 
 himself inferior, in point either of knowledge or of 
 success, to the chief Apostles, whose followers some of 
 the false teachers professed to be. Was it to be 
 deemed a crime, that he had waived his right to have 
 the charge of his maintenance defrayed by the church, 
 working at his craft for his own support, and even 
 accepting of pecuniary aid from his Philippian converts, 
 that he might not he a burden to the Corinthians, or 
 afford an excuse for the exactions of those counterfeit 
 apostles, who set up for teachers only for the sake 
 of gain? Again he begs that those among them 
 who plumed themselves upon their wisdom, would 
 bear with him in his foolishness of boasting, as they 
 bore with and meekly submitted to the arrogance, 
 extortion, and insolence of the false teachers. He 
 could boast, as well as they, of his pure Hebrew 
 descent ; and, as a minister of Christ, which they 
 affected to be, he could boast of labours more abun- 
 dant, of persecutions, perils, and sufferings endured 
 in the cause of the Gospel, such as no one but him- 
 self had gone through, in addition to the constant 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 anxiety connected with the care of all the churches 
 he had planted. If he must needs boast, it should be 
 of his sufferings and tribulations for Christ's sake. 
 He specifies one particular occasion, on which he had 
 a very narrow escape of being apprehended and put 
 to death by the governor of Damascus. It was 
 unbecoming to speak thus of himself; yet, he must 
 proceed to another subject connected with his Apos- 
 tolic credentials, — visions and revelations from Hea- 
 ven. And to avoid the language of egotism, he now 
 speaks of himself in the third person. He knew a 
 Christian man who, above fourteen years back, had, 
 in a trance, been caught up into Paradise, where he 
 heard things unutterable, and had abundant revela- 
 tions made to him, of such a nature as might have 
 elated him too much, had it not been for a sharp 
 trial that was sent to chasten his pride and exultation. 
 This " thorn in the flesh " was of so grievous a cha- 
 racter, so mortifying, (evidently as. affecting in some 
 Gal, iv. 14. way his personal appearance, and tending to lower him 
 in popular estimation,) that he earnestly and repeat- 
 edly besought The Lord to remove it ; but he received 
 for answer, a Divine promise of adequate support 
 under his infirmities, which should but serve to illus- 
 trate the power of Christ. He could therefore take 
 complacency in those personal infirmities and external 
 trials and sufferings for Christ's sake, which were the 
 occasion of his experiencing larger communications of 
 supernatural strength and Divine energy. And now, 
 if, in doing justice to his own qualifications for the 
 Apostolic office, he had incurred the charge of the 
 folly of vain boasting, it was their fault who had 
 
TO THE CORINTHIANS. 325 
 
 rendered it necessary, when he ought rather to have 
 looked to them for his vindication as not inferior in any 
 respect to the chief among the Apostles, since all the 
 signs and miraculous credentials of Apostleship had 
 been manifested during his residence among them. 
 In no respect, he repeats, could they complain of 
 being inferior to the churches founded by other 
 Apostles ; — unless it were that he had laboured among 
 them gratuitously, without giving them the oppor- 
 tunity of contributing to his maintenance. This 
 wrong he ironically begs them to forgive, as, now that 
 he was purposing again to visit them, he intended to 
 adhere to his resolution, not to be chargeable to them ; 
 through no want of aflFection, but as willing to spend 
 and sacrifice his health, strength, and very life for 
 their sake. He then repels the insinuation that he 
 had made any gain of them by means of those whom 
 he had sent among them ; appealing to the conduct 
 of Titus and his companion. Yet, it was not for his 
 own sake, but for theirs, he deigned to notice the 
 calumnies circulated against him. He was afi:aid that, 
 when he came, he should find the church in such a 
 state as would render necessary the judicial exercise 
 of his Apostolic authority in a manner which would 
 leave no doubt of his commission ; but he besought 
 them to examine themselves, and to spare him this 
 occasion for severity, as he was anxious not so much 
 to establish his Apostolic claims as to promote their 
 perfection. With a few brief admonitions, he bids 
 them affectionately farewell, closing the Letter with 
 the Benediction which was his signature to all the 
 Epistles. 
 
326 
 
 THE SECOND EPISTLE OP PAUL 
 
 Date of the 
 
 prophetic 
 
 rapture. 
 
 See p. 237. 
 
 § 9. In the latter part of the Apostle's defence of 
 himself against his calumniators, several particulars of 
 his personal history are disclosed, of which, but for 
 the charges they are adduced to repel, we should 
 have had no intimation. The most remarkable is 
 the prophetic rapture, or trance, which he states to 
 have occurred about fourteen years before. If this 
 Epistle was written, as there is reason to suppose, in 
 the year 57, the circumstance referred to must have 
 taken place in 43, or about six years after his Con- 
 version ; and the time at which it seems most likely 
 that the Apostle should be favoured with that special 
 revelation, corresponds to this date ; namely, the 
 interval between his return from Jerusalem to Antioch, 
 with Barnabas, a.d. 43, and their setting out together 
 on their first Apostolic circuit. It may reasonably 
 be presumed, that the design of this extraordinary 
 manifestation was, to prepare him for the mission in 
 which he was so soon to engage, by strengthening his 
 faith, assuring him of the Divine favour, and bringing 
 vividly before his mind the glories of that Paradise 
 which awaited the faithful. When, three years be- 
 fore, the Lord had appeared to him as he was praying 
 See p. 236. in the Temple, and became entranced, the direction 
 he received, was, to depart from Jerusalem, as he 
 was to be sent far thence to the Gentiles. It is pro- 
 bable, therefore, that this more rapturous vision and 
 revelation had a similar design, bearing upon his 
 Apostolic mission. That it was intended for his 
 personal consolation, is evident ; for what he heard 
 and saw, he was not authorized to disclose ; and for 
 fourteen years, it would seem, that, with singular 
 
 Actsxxii.21. 
 
TO THE CORINTHIANS. 327 
 
 modesty, he had refrained from mentioning the oc- 
 currence. 
 
 ^10. With reffard to the precise nature of the Nature of 
 
 . '■ . . the thorn in 
 
 "thorn in the flesh" with which he was visited, the flesh. 
 various conjectures, some of them absurd and even 
 ludicrous, have been hazarded by commentators, an- 
 cient and modern. By Whitby, Doddridge, Mack- 
 night, Eosenmiiller, and other judicious critics, it is 
 supposed to have been a paralytic and hypochondriac 
 affection, occasioning a distortion of countenance and 
 other distressing effects. That his nervous system 
 was shaken from some cause or other, seems indicated 
 by his own language in several places ; more espe- 
 cially where he speaks of his coming before the Co- 
 rinthians under bodily infirmity and with much tremor, i Cor. ii. 3. 
 which, as his moral courage was so conspicuous, could 
 arise only from physical causes. Another ingenious 
 supposition is, that it might be chronic ophthalmia, 
 since, alluding to his infirmity, the Apostle says, that 
 his Galatian converts would readily have parted with 
 their own eyes, to give them to Mm. In support of Gai. iv. is. 
 this conjecture, it is urged, that the effect of the 
 miraculous light which shone round about him on his 
 way to Damascus, and produced for a time total blind- 
 ness, might leave a chronic weakness of sight, liable 
 to be aggravated by the state of his bodily health ; 
 and this personal blemish might expose him to the 
 scorn he seemed to fear. This would also account 
 for his usually employing an amanuensis. In styling 
 this infliction, whatever was its precise nature, a mes- 
 senger of Satan, — that is, sent by Satan, the Apostle 
 must be understood to refer to its being a hinderance 
 
328 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 1 ThesB. ii. in the discharge of his work ; and in ascribing physi- 
 cal disease, as well as other obstacles to success, to 
 the instrumentality of Satan, he uses language in 
 
 Lukexiiiie. perfect accordance with that employed by Our Lord 
 himself. 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 Date and § 11. Towards the close of the year in which the 
 
 the*Ep?sfle Second Epistle to the Corinthians was written, the Apos- 
 Romans. tie Came into Greece ; and at Corinth, where he proba- 
 bly spent the winter of 57, 58, he composed the most 
 elaborate of all his Epistles, — that addressed to the 
 Romans. That it was written from Corinth, is 
 manifest (as Theodoret remarks) from the concluding 
 part, in which the Apostle commends to their hospi- 
 tality and care, Phoebe, a deaconess of the church at 
 Cenchrea, * which was a borough of the Corinthians.' 
 ' Besides, he says, " Gaius, my host, and of the whole 
 church, saluteth you." By host, he means the person 
 who entertained him. And that Gaius was a Corin- 
 thian, we learn from the First Epistle to the Corin- 
 thians (1 Ep. i. 14.) The Epistle to the Bomans, 
 therefore, is the last of the Epistles written from Asia, 
 and Macedonia, and Achaia : the rest were sent from 
 Eome.' * As a further proof that this Epistle was 
 written at Corinth, Lardner adduces the salutation 
 sent to the Boman church from " Erastus, the cham- 
 
 * Cited by Lardner, vol. vi. p. 27. Theodoret, including the 
 Epistle to the Galatians among those written from Rome, makes the 
 Epistle to the Komans the seventh in order of time, whereas it is 
 properly the eighth. 
 
TO THE ROMANS. 329 
 
 berlain of the city ; " supposing, by the city, Corinth 
 to be meant. But whether this Erastus be the same 
 who is mentioned. Acts xix. 22, as one of St. Paul's 
 assistants, he professes himself unable to decide. The 
 time at which the Epistle was written, is clearly 
 indicated. The Apostle had completed his collections 
 in Macedonia and Achaia, and was about to set out 
 for Jerusalem. It was consequently near the end of ch. xv. 2S 
 the three months which he passed in Greece, and 
 therefore early in the year 58. 
 
 It appears from the Apostle's own language, that 
 he had for some time cherished a strong desire to 
 visit Eome, and had even repeatedly purposed to do 
 so, but had been prevented, partly by the call for his 
 labours in Asia, Macedonia, and Greece, and the 
 attention required by the churches he had planted, 
 and partly by his intermediate visits to Jerusalem. 
 It was with him a principle or rule of action, to leave 
 nothing unfinished in the line of his Apostohc course, 
 and not to proceed to a new region, till that to which 2 cor. x. le. 
 he had extended his ministry had been fully evan- 
 gelized. During the reign of Claudius, there would 
 moreover have been a political obstacle in the way of 
 his visiting the Imperial capital ; but this had ceased 
 at the death of that Emperor, in a.d. 54, when great 
 numbers of Jews returned to Eome ; as is evident 
 from the fact, that Suetonius and Dion Cassius speak 
 of their being very numerous under the following 
 reigns. Among others, Aquila with his wife Priscilla 
 had returned, probably with a view to settle some 
 secular affairs ; and St. Paul might have naturally 
 felt a wish to accompany them, had not the concerns 
 
330 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 of the churches detained him. It is evident from 
 the numerous salutations and the affectionate expres- 
 sions employed by the Apostle, that in the church at 
 Kome were included many of his countrymen and 
 intimate acquaintance. Some are referred to as his 
 kinsmen; others as his fellow-labourers or helpers; 
 Epsenetus, the first-fruit of Asia unto Christ, was 
 probably his convert; but Andronicus and Junias 
 are described as having become Christians before him, 
 and as having, as well as himself, suffered imprison- 
 ment in the cause of the Gospel. It is, therefore, a 
 credible supposition, that they were among the 
 " strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes," converted 
 on the day of Pentecost ; by whom, on their return, 
 the knowledge of the Gospel would first be spread in 
 the Metropolis of the Roman Empire. Rufiis, also, 
 a distinguished Christian, whose mother had shewn 
 much kindness to Paul, may have been one of the 
 first teachers of the faith of Christ at Rome : he was, 
 possibly, the same Rufus whose father, a native of 
 Cyrene, was compelled to assist in supporting the 
 Cross of Christ. 
 
 That the Christian faith was planted at Rome at 
 an early period, may be inferred from the fame which 
 the reception of the Christian doctrine by the church 
 at Rome had acquired throughout the world. Yet, 
 there is no reason to suppose that that church had 
 been either founded or visited by any of the Apos- 
 See p. 196. tlcs. That the Jews were very numerous at Rome, 
 there is abundant historical evidence. When Pompey, 
 about sixty-three years before the Christian era, over- 
 ran Judea with a conquering army, he caused many 
 
TO THE ROMANS, 331 
 
 of his Jewish captives to be sent to Rome, where 
 they were sold into slavery ; but their Roman masters 
 found it so inconvenient to have servants who per- 
 sisted in observing the Sabbath, and adhered to other 
 Jewish rites and customs, that they chose to liberate 
 them, in numerous instances, rather than keep them ; 
 and, as there was a large body of these liberated 
 Jews, Augustus assigned them a region beyond the 
 Tiber as their residence. There, Philo found them 
 occupying a distinct to^vn or quarter, just before the 
 time of Paul. When the first impressions produced Lmaiio ad 
 by the degradation of captivity began to wear away, 
 the Roman citizens seem to have regarded this Jewish 
 community with respect and interest. Ovid speaks .^■^- 1^. 
 of the synagogues as places of fashionable resort : 
 
 ' Ctdtaq-ue Judoe septima sacra Syro.' 
 
 Juvenal thus ridicules his countrymen for becoming 
 Jews : — 
 
 ' Quidam sortiti metuentem Sabbata patrem, 
 Nil prseter nubea et Coeli numen adorant : 
 Nee distare putant humana came suillam, 
 Qua pater abstinuit, mox et praeputia ponunt. 
 Bomanas autem soliti oontemnere leges, 
 Judaicum ediscunt, et servant, ac metuunt jus, 
 Tradidit arcano quodcunque volumine Moses.' 
 
 Juvenal, Sat. xiv. 96. 
 
 Tacitus refers to the presents sent by Roman pro- Hist. lib. v. 
 selytes to Jerusalem ; and represents the ' execrable 
 superstition' (Christianity) as breaking out again 
 after being repressed, and spreading not only through 
 Judea, but through even the City (Rome). Seneca 
 also, about the time that Paul wrote his Epistle to 
 
 c. 5. 
 
22. 
 
 332 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 the Romans, says, (in a fragment preserved by Au- 
 gustine,) that so many Romans had received the 
 Jewish (meaning the Christian) religion, that it was 
 received through all lands, and the vanquished had 
 thus given laws to the victors. It is clear, that the 
 class of proselytes or devout persons among the 
 Romans must have been numerous ;* and of these, a 
 large portion of the early converts to Christianity 
 consisted. Thus, there arose in Rome a Christian 
 church composed of Jewish and Gentile believers. 
 The greater part of the Jews at Rome, however, 
 when Paul arrived there as a prisoner, still adhered 
 to Judaism, regarding the followers of Christ as "a 
 Acta xxviii. scct everywhere spoken against." And no doubt, the 
 Christians still passed for a Jewish sect with the 
 Roman authorities. After the banishment of all 
 Jews from Rome by Claudius,-!" if any Christians 
 remained, they must have been converts from hea- 
 thenism; but it is doubtftil whether, at that time, 
 the Gospel had been openly preached at Rome to the 
 Gentiles, except to such as had already become pro- 
 selyted to the Jewish faith. When St. Paul ad- 
 dressed his Epistle to the church at Rome, in the 
 fifth year of Nero, the Jewish Christians had re- 
 turned, and formed, undoubtedly, the bulk of the 
 community of believers. 
 
 * TKey were denominated tre^iiivoi and metv£ntes. Josephus 
 (Antiq. xviii. 3) cites an instance in the case of Fulvia. 
 
 + The passage in Suetonius which attributes the banishment of 
 the Jews by Claudius to their turbulence, ' im/pidaore Ckristo,' can 
 scarcely refer to Christian Jews, but, more probably, to a tumult 
 occasioned by one of the false Christs by whom the Jews were con- 
 tinually deceived and led into rwolt. 
 
TO THE ROMANS. 333 
 
 The journey of Phoebe, — apparently a person of 
 some wealth and influence, probably a widow, and, like 
 Lydia of Thyatira, a trader, — who was proceeding to 
 Rome upon business, afforded to the Apostle an oppor- 
 tunity, of which he gladly availed himself, to send to 
 the Christians at Rome. His main object, in writing 
 to them, appears to have been, to assert and vindicate 
 that cardinal truth, so little understood and so reluc- 
 tantly received by the Jewish believers, but which, as 
 the Minister of Christ to the Gentiles, he felt more 
 especially bound to insist upon ; — the Universality of 
 the Christian Dispensation, as unfolding the only ch.i,s; 
 method of Salvation, and the essential Unity of the 
 Church, as opposed to all national distinctions, and 
 involving the common right of all believers of whatever 
 race, rank, or condition, as equal before God, to the 
 high privileges and spiritual blessings of the Gospel. 
 
 § 12. After the customary salutation, in which Analysis of 
 St. Paul asserts his apostolical authority, and an- * ^" ^' 
 nounces the great subject of his mission, he inti- 
 mates, that one motive of his addressing them was, 
 the lively interest which he took in them as a body of 
 Christians formed in the metropolis of the Empire. 
 That the Gospel had reached to Eome, and obtained 
 converts there, was a circumstance which could not 
 fail to attract general attention ; and it was, he tells 
 them, everywhere spoken of. It had long been his 
 anxious wish, to visit them for their mutual benefit, 
 in order that he might have at Eome also some fruit 
 of his apostolic labours. Neither fear nor shame had 
 deterred him from coming to proclaim the Gospel in 
 that city, for he was prepared to preach alike to the 
 
334 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 polished and the rude, that message of Divine mercy 
 which was addressed to all, and which was of saving 
 efficacy to all, whether Jew or Greek, who embraced 
 it by faith. He proceeds to insist on the necessity 
 of this further Revelation, to both Jews and Greeks. 
 The insufficiency, of the law and light of Nature, was 
 demonstrated by the awful moral condition of the 
 heathen world. Nor could the superior knowledge 
 which the Jew derived from the Written Law, the 
 Scriptures of the Old Testament, avail for his justi- 
 fication : on the contrary, it aggravated his guilt in 
 practising crimes which he condemned in the heathen. 
 The corruption of morals among the Jewish people 
 rendered them not less obnoxious than the Gentiles 
 to the righteous sentence of Divine condemnation. 
 Nor could the national privileges of the Jew avail 
 him more than his superior knowledge as the ground 
 of acceptance. Did God's chosen people, then, it 
 might be asked, possess no advantage above the 
 heathen ? Was the promise to their great ancestor 
 a nullity? No; but if, as this objection assumed, 
 it were incompatible with the covenant made with 
 Abraham, that God should punish the Jewish nation 
 for their delinquencies. He would no longer be the 
 righteous Governor of the world. li, however, the 
 question were. In what respect are we Jews better 
 than the Gentiles? the plain reply would be, In 
 no respect. Here the Apostle lays the axe to the 
 root of the self-righteous conceit of the Jews, and, 
 in order to substantiate his bold and explicit declara- 
 tion, adduces various passages from their own Scrip- 
 tures, affirming the universal depravity and guilt ; 
 
TO THE ROMANS. 335 
 
 which, being found in the Psalms and other prophetic 
 writings, could not refer to the heathen, but described 
 the actual state of morals among the Jews in the 
 brightest period of their political history. Nor was 
 this language, it is tacitly intimated, less applicable 
 to the nation then. Thus is the ground cleared for 
 the two cardinal propositions which it is the main 
 object of the Epistle to establish : First, that, to the 
 Jew, not less than to the Gentile, a further Revelation 
 was necessary ; since the Law, which had been super- 
 induced upon the light of Nature, and of which the 
 Jew boasted, served but to discover sin the more 
 clearly, and to render the transgressor the more 
 inexcusable : it made no provision for the remission 
 of sins, and it had proved as ineffectual to produce 
 obedience and sanctity, as to afford a ground of 
 justification at the Divine tribunal : — Secondly, that, 
 to both Jew and Gentile, one and the same revealed 
 method of salvation presented the only hope ; namely, 
 a free pardon through the redemption of Christ, — 
 an amnesty secured by his propitiatory sacrifice, ex- 
 tended to all who by faith embrace the proclamation 
 of mercy. With this sovereign dispensation of for- 
 giveness, this extra-legal justification of the guilty, — 
 the Divinely superinduced method of attaining 
 acceptance with God and eternal life, — merit could 
 have no possible connexion, and any claim founded 
 upon it was utterly incompatible. Therefore, the 
 Jew and the Gentile stood on the same footing. Yet, 
 this did not nullify ; it rather established the Law. 
 
 The objection of the Jew to a representation so ch. iv. 
 revolting to his national prejudices, is then put in 
 
336 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 this form : ' What did Abraham our father attain to ? 
 Upon what ground did he find favour with God ? ' 
 If justified by works, he had a ground for boasting. 
 But that he had no such ground before God, the 
 Apostle proves from the declaration, that his be- 
 lieving God was counted to him for righteousness ; 
 an expression tantamount to declaring that the 
 acceptance which he found, was, on the part of God, 
 gratuitous favour. And this view of the gratuitous- 
 ness of the reward of faith, as opposed to the reward 
 of merit, the Apostle confirms by the language of 
 David, celebrating the blessedness of the man who, 
 though consciously guilty, is graciously treated by 
 God as righteous. What was there, then, to limit 
 this blessedness of forgiveness and gratuitous accept- 
 ance to the Jew ? As regards Abraham, the decla- 
 ration related to his faith while yet in uncircumcision, 
 as the heathen still were ; and the rite was instituted 
 afterwards. Again, the Divine promise made to 
 Abraham was gratuitous, on the simple condition 
 of faith, and, as such, belonged to all his spiritual 
 children. And the record, that his faith was ac- 
 cepted by God as righteousness, was not intended 
 simply to do honour to Abraham, but rather to 
 instruct us into the only method of attaining to the 
 promises of the Gospel; namely, through faith in 
 God as having raised Jesus Our Lord fi'om the dead, 
 ch. V. The Apostle next proceeds to vindicate the holy 
 
 tendency and efficacy of this scheme of justification, 
 by shewing how faith in Christ introduces the 
 believer into a state of conscious reconciliation to 
 God, attended with a peace of conscience, a hope 
 
TO THE ROMANS. 337 
 
 unshaken by adversity, and a delight in God, which 
 no other principle could originate. Nor was it to be 
 regarded as more strange and mysterious, that all 
 these blessings should accrue to believers from the 
 death of Christ, — the fruit, not of our own obedience, 
 but of the reconcihation effected for us by another, — " 
 than is the fact, that all evil has been introduced into 
 our world by the disobedience of one man. The 
 Apostle then draws a parallel between the First 
 Parent and Head of our fallen race, and Christ as 
 the Fountain of Spiritual life to all who stand related 
 to him through faith as their head and vicarious 
 representative, with a view to illustrate the glorious 
 efficacy of his mediatorial intervention. 
 
 Lest, however, this representation of the sove- Ch. yI. 
 reignty and plenitude of Divine Grace should seem 
 to afford any encouragement to a continuance in sin, 
 the Inspired Writer proceeds to show, that so licen- 
 tious an inference would involve a moral contradic- 
 tion. The believer has undergone a change which 
 mainly consists in his becoming dead to sin. By our 
 baptismal profession, we die and are buried with 
 Christ to our former selves and to the service of sin, So oai. m. 
 
 27. 
 
 our old master; and bemg made partakers of the 
 power of His resurrection, enter upon a new life, 
 over which sin and death have no power. As en- 
 franchisement, under the Roman law, in the case of a 
 convict who had previously been in a servile condi- 
 tion, was the accompaniment of pardon or deliverance 
 from his sentence, so, he who, by participation in the 
 death of Christ, has died to sin, is at once judicially 
 absolved and emancipated from its vassalage. But to 
 
338 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 obey sin, is to become its vassal, and to take all the 
 fearful consequences. There is no alternative but 
 being either the slaves of sin or the servants of God. 
 And the Apostle adduces the consideration of the 
 willing obedience which the Koman converts had 
 yielded to vice and impurity in their unregenerate 
 state, as a strong motive to devote themselves with 
 not less alacrity to the service of Eighteousness, their 
 new master. 
 
 Ch. vii. A fresh topic is now introduced, — a point of peculiar 
 
 delicacy in reference to the prejudices of the Jew ; 
 and the Inspired Writer shews his consummate skill 
 in handling it. In virtue of his union to Christ, the 
 believer not only stands discharged from the penalty, 
 and released from the bondage of sin, but is placed 
 in a new relation to the Law. It was an axiom with 
 the Jewish Eabbies, that the obligations of law cease 
 and determine at death. Now this may result, in the 
 case of parties bound to each other, from the death 
 of either, the law dying or determining in the person 
 of the claimant, on the dissolution of the legal tie. 
 Now Christ, by dying, became discharged from the 
 Law ; and Christians, participating in his death, 
 become also dead to the Law, are freed from its rule, 
 as an economy or covenant, so that no obhgations 
 which once attached to them as Jews, could stand in 
 the way of their obedience to Christ. They had 
 died to the Mosaic Law as a master, in order that 
 they might enter into a new and spiritual service, one 
 of filial obedience. 
 
 Chap. vii. 7. To guard against any misconception of this alle- 
 gorical language, as if it implied anything derogatory 
 
TO THE ROMANS. 339 
 
 to the Law of God itself, the Apostle explains, that it 
 is through no fault of the Law that it stirs up man's 
 sinful propensities, rather than produces holiness ; — 
 that, acting upon his corrupt nature, it serves only to 
 detect, elicit, and even excite those propensities, fur- 
 nishing occasion for their development, since, where 
 there is no law, there is no room for disobedience, and 
 sin remains latent. Such, the Apostle adds, was his 
 own experience. He was once, as a Pharisee, leading 
 a life of self-complacent freedom from actual transgres- 
 sion, till that commandment which forbids even covet- 
 ous desire and envy, was so brought home to him as 
 to lead to the detection of the latent and unsuspected 
 sinfulness of his heart, and to destroy his fond hope 
 of meriting salvation by perfect obedience, induc- 
 ing a sense of self-condemnation. The Law, in itself, 
 then, is holy, just, and excellent, though it is the bane 
 of the transgressor; sin rendering that which is in 
 itself good and tending to happiness, the instrument 
 of death, and thereby shewing more emphatically its 
 own character of essential evil. This consequence, 
 the Apostle proceeds to shew, results from the con- 
 trariety of the Law of God, in its spiritual import, 
 to man's earthly and corrupt nature, as sin's bonds- 
 man. For a man who approves not his own actions, 
 who feels unable to act as he would do, and does what 
 he hates, acknowledges, on the one hand, the excel- 
 lence of the Law, to which his conscience and judg- 
 ment assent ; and, on the other hand, shews that he is 
 not the master of himself, his free-agency being con- 
 trolled by the indwelling principle of sin. And 
 speaking of his own experience, the Apostle describes 
 
 Z 2 
 
340 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 the internal conflict occasioned by the desire after 
 virtue, without the moral ability to act up to the con- 
 victions of the judgment ; the conscience being sub- 
 ject to the law of God, while the will is dragged 
 down by the law or dominant power of sin. Such a 
 man was like a prisoner fastened to a festering corpse. 
 Who could deliver him ? An ejaculation of thanks- 
 giving here bursts from the inspired Writer ; but he 
 pursues his description, and winds it up with the 
 declaration, that a new principle of spiritual life, 
 derived from Christ," had effected his emancipation 
 from the law of sin and death. Thus, what the Law 
 could not accomplish, not from any inherent defect, 
 but through man's moral impotency, has been effected 
 by the propitiatory sacrifice of the Son of God, which 
 has procured our justification, and at the same time 
 our spiritual emancipation, in virtue of the new prin- 
 ciple of life imparted to the believer. Only as they 
 gave evidence of being governed by this spiritual 
 principle, could any individuals be regarded as belong- 
 ing to Christ. But the truly regenerate have im- 
 parted to them a filial spirit, corresponding to their 
 new relation as the adopted sons of God, co-heirs 
 with Christ of the heavenly glory. 
 ch. viii. 18. Kindling at the thought of the felicity that awaits 
 the heirs of salvation, the Apostle here rises into a 
 strain of the noblest eloquence, in contrasting the 
 transitory sufferings of the present life with the glory 
 of that day of the public inauguration of the redeemed 
 sons of God, to which all nature is represented as 
 looking forward with eager expectation, as the hour 
 of deliverance from the penal sentence, when all 
 
TO THE ROMANS. 341 
 
 things shall be renewed. This transporting prospect 
 might well reconcile the Christian to patient endur- 
 ance. But he is not left, to his own strength ; the 
 Spirit of God comes to the aid of his weakness, as 
 the promised Paraclete ; and he is cheered with the 
 assurance, that all his trials and afflictions shall sub- 
 serve the ultimate purpose of God, the conformity of 
 all his chosen people to the image of His Son. He 
 may therefore defy every accuser, every foe, secure of 
 triumphing over all calamities and imaginable evils, 
 since nothing can separate him from the love of God 
 in Christ Jesus. 
 
 This sublime rhetorical digression closes what may ch. ix. 
 be considered as the first part of the Epistle. Having 
 now vindicated the cardinal doctrine of Justification 
 by Grace from the misapprehensions and cavils of its 
 Pharisaic opponents, (grounded upon its seeming to 
 disparage or nullify the Law, and to lead to licentious 
 inferences,) the Apostle returns to his primary sub- 
 ject, the main source of ofience in the Gospel he 
 taught ; namely, the admission of converts from 
 heathenism to an equality with Jewish believers in 
 the Church of Christ, and their consequent exaltation 
 above the greater part of the chosen nation as unbe- 
 lievers rejected of God. In again approaching this 
 repulsive topic, he solemnly professes his deep sorrow, 
 as a Jewish patriot, at the guilt and doom of the 
 sacred nation to which he gloried in belonging, and 
 from which, in his humanity, the Messiah himself 
 sprang. But their rejection involved no failure of the 
 Divine promises, which had never, in their highest 
 import, appertained to the whole of Abraham's pos- 
 
342 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 terity. There had always been a chosen portion, a 
 spiritual line, limited first to that of Isaac, and again 
 to Jacob ; and there was a rejection of Esau, though 
 born of the same mother. God claimed as His pre- 
 rogative to act thus sovereignly in the bestowment of 
 His mercy. Nay, in the case of Pharaoh, the Scrip- 
 ture represents the Divine Being as raising up an 
 individual for the purpose of signalizing His power 
 and justice. But if, in either case, His wiU or purpose 
 takes effect, it may be asked. Why does He blame 
 those who are but His instruments ? The Apostle 
 meets this objection, first by citing the language of 
 Isaiah, rebuking the impiety of those who charged 
 their guilt upon their Maker. He then shews the 
 unreasonableness of the cavil. No injustice is in- 
 volved in the exercise of the Divine sovereignty. 
 God endures the wicked with much long-suffering, 
 before He uses them to illustrate the terrors of His 
 indignation, and not before they have made them- 
 selves meet for destruction. And so, with regard to 
 the Jews as a nation, the Apostle shews, by numerous 
 citations, that the sovereign limitation of the Divine 
 favour to those who had embraced the call of the 
 Gospel, and the extension of mercy to multitudes of 
 every nation, were in accordance with the express 
 language of Hosea and Isaiah, who had both predicted 
 the calling of the Gentiles, and declared that only a 
 remnant of the Jewish nation should escape destruc- 
 tion. And the cause of their ruin was also foretold ; 
 their unbelief regarding the Messiah, — their rejection 
 of the Corner-Stone of the True Temple. 
 Chap. X. Again, the Apostle expresses his fervent concern 
 
TO THE ROMANS. 343 
 
 for the salvation of his countrymen ; and he concedes, 
 that their opposition to the Gospel arose from a mis- 
 taken zeal for the Law of Moses. But what the Jew 
 aimed at attaining by his external observance of the 
 Law, was now conferred as a free gift upon every 
 believer in Christ without distinction of nation. It 
 followed, then, that the Gospel, being thus free and 
 unlimited in its tender of mercy, should be proclaimed 
 to all mankind. The fact, that the Gentiles had 
 heard and embraced the Gospel, was decisive as to 
 the duty of preaching it to them. And the language 
 of ancient prophecy shewed that their becoming the 
 people of God in the place of disobedient Israel, was 
 a fulfilment of the Divine warnings. 
 
 Still, God had not utterly rejected His chosen people ; ch. xi. 
 but, as in former times of national apostacy, had 
 manifested His faithfulness to His covenant with Abra- 
 ham, and His sovereign mercy, in reserving to Himself 
 an Israel within Israel. Although the Jewish nation 
 were now the victims of their own blindness and 
 obduracy, there was still a reserve, who were indebted 
 for their salvation, not to their merit or desert, but 
 purely to Grace. And as the rejection of the Jews 
 was not total, so neither is it final. Their rejection 
 of the Gospel was the occasion of God's adopting the 
 Gentiles into His family, and thus, their loss was the 
 world's gain ; but this extension of the Divine mercy 
 to the Gentiles, was both adapted and designed to 
 excite the emulation of the Jews, when they saw other 
 nations pressing into the Church. As th'e Apostle 
 of the Gentiles, St. Paul extolled his office, in order 
 that he might excite his own countrymen to emulation, 
 
344 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 and prove the instrument of saving some. Addressing 
 the Gentile believers, he instructs them, that they 
 ought to desire with affectionate interest the restoration 
 of the Jews as a nation to the Divine favour, looking 
 forward to it as a moral resurrection, a glorious event 
 in which the whole world would have reason to 
 rejoice. To check any feeling of ungenerous triumph 
 over the fallen Jewish Church, he reminds them, that 
 they derived their ecclesiastical sanctity, as God's 
 people, from union to the ancient Jewish stock, to 
 which they imparted no inherent virtues of their own, 
 for they were by nature wild and barren. And if, 
 to make room for their being grafted in, some of the 
 branches had been broken off, this penal excision, the 
 punishment of infidelity, would befal the engrafted 
 branches also in case of disobedience. And the 
 Jewish nation, on renouncing their unbelief, should 
 be re-instated. This event was not merely desirable, 
 but predicted and certain, as the fulfilment of the 
 Divine covenant with their ancestors. The Apostle 
 bespeaks the respect and kindly concern of Gentile 
 Christians for his own nation, upon the twofold 
 ground, that it was for their sakes the Jews were now 
 treated as enemies to God, and that still, for the sake 
 of their forefathers, they were beloved, and therefore 
 not cast off for ever ; it being intended by God, that 
 the conversion of the Gentiles should ultimately lead 
 to the restoration of the Jews, and thus illustrate the 
 glorious mercy of God to both. The Apostle closes 
 this vindication of the Divine procedure with a sub' 
 lime burst of devout admiration of the unfathomable 
 
TO THE- ROMANS. 3i5 
 
 wisdom and self-originate goodness of the Creator, the 
 source, sustenance, and end of all being. 
 
 The second part of the Epistle may be considered 
 as closing with the Eleventh Chapter ; the remainder 
 being devoted to a series of practical injunctions. 
 
 And first, the Apostle adjures the believers by the ch.xii. 
 manifold mercy which God had shewn them, to con- 
 secrate their own persons as a living sacrifice to his 
 service, and not to conform to the manners and 
 maxims of the world. Next, in virtue of his inspired Or of the 
 
 age. 
 
 authority, he enjoins upon them a sober and modest 
 self-estimate ; that, whatever were their several gifts 
 and functions, every one should be careful to dis- 
 charge the particular duty devolving upon him, 
 contenting himself with his office or station in the 
 Christian body. He then proceeds to inculcate those 
 Christian virtues which it behoved them all to culti- 
 vate ; — unafiected benevolence, combined with a 
 discriminating love of excellence, and strong fraternal 
 affection among themselves, such as would produce 
 mutual emulation in respect and kindness ; diligence, 
 activity, and zeal, as The Lord's servants ; cheerfulness, 
 patience, and assiduity in prayer ; liberality towards 
 their needy brethren, generous hospitality to stran- 
 gers ; towards persecutors and enemies a disposition 
 to return good for evil ; a sympathizing and peaceable 
 spirit, and true humility. He more especially cautions 
 them against seeking to revenge themselves, if called 
 to sufier injurious or contumelious treatment, retribu- 
 tion being the Divine prerogative. But, in reference 
 to civil government, he especially enjoins it as a duty 
 of general obligation, to be in subjection to magis- 
 
348 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 tracy, as the ordinance of God: on this ground, poli- 
 tical obedience is enforced by religious considerations. 
 Tribute and taxes were, therefore, to be paid con- 
 scientiously and without scruple, even to heathen 
 rulers, as their due. In a word, every social obligation 
 is included in the principle of loving our neighbour as 
 ourselves. Next, the Apostle appeals to them as 
 persons upon whom the light of heaven had dawned, 
 to cast away sleep and sloth, to renounce deeds that 
 shun the light, and to clothe themselves with the 
 Christian armour, as the soldiers and followers of 
 Christ ; not allowing their necessary care for the body 
 to degenerate into intemperance or self-indulgence. 
 This exhortation naturally connects itself with the 
 subject of the existing disputes and scruples relating 
 to the use of animal food. Josephus states, that there 
 were certain Jewish priests at Rome who Hved entirely 
 upon fruit, from the dread of eating any thing unclean. 
 St. Paul directs the Eoman Christians to treat such 
 scruples in their brethren with forbearance, and to 
 waive all controversy. The Christian of more en- 
 lightened faith was not to despise his superstitious 
 brother, nor was the scrupulous believer to constitute 
 himself the judge or master of another's conscience. 
 So, as to the sacredness attached to particular days, 
 a difference of opinion ought to be mutually allowed, 
 when both parties were equally conscientious, since it 
 was the disposition of heart towards God that gave 
 its character to the action. Besides, to assume to sit 
 in judgment upon our brethren, is to entrench upon 
 the prerogative of Christ as the appointed Judge of 
 all. The Christian ought rather to forego any indul- 
 
TO THE ROMANS. 347 
 
 gence that might lay a snare in the way of another, 
 by leading him to violate his conscience. Although 
 no food was in itsell^ unclean, yet, to one who deemed 
 the ceremonial distinction between clean and unclean 
 meats to be still in force, that became defiling which 
 had no inherent impurity. That is to say, the con- 
 science is defiled by any wilful opposition to the rule 
 of duty, or what we suppose to be duty, even when 
 the conviction that the thing is unlawfiil, is erroneous. 
 Those of strong faith should therefore bear with the 
 weak, denying themselves for the benefit of their 
 brethren, after the example of Our Lord, who in 
 nothing sought his own pleasure. The Apostle winds 
 up this series of exhortations with a prayer that God, 
 the author of all patience and consolation, would 
 endue them with the spirit of mutual forbearance and 
 concord, that they might admit one another to fel- 
 lowship and kindly intercourse, as Christ had re- 
 ceived them all into His family without distinction. 
 
 To enforce this motive to Christian union, the ch. xv.s. 
 Apostle, by a natural, though somewhat abrupt trans- 
 ition, recurs to the cardinal doctrine he had been 
 labouring to establish. What I maintain, he says, 
 is, summarily, that Jesus Christ came as a Minister 
 to the Jewish nation, in accordance with the Divine 
 promises, that the faithfulness of God might be glori- 
 fied ; yet not for the sake of the Jews alone, since it 
 had been equally the matter of prophecy, that the 
 Gentiles were to unite with His people in glorifying 
 God for His mercy. And he prays that they might all 
 be filled with peace and joy through the hope of the 
 Gospel. Hastening now to a conclusion, he explains 
 
318 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 his motive for addressing them in his capacity as the 
 Apostle of the Gentiles ; adverts to the success which 
 had crowned his labours ; explains the course which 
 he had adopted in pubHshing the Gospel where Christ 
 had not been proclaimed ; and gives that as the only 
 reason of his not having visited Rome. Having no 
 longer any thing to detain him in those regions, it 
 was his intention, after he had gone up to Jerusalem, 
 as the bearer of the contributions made by the Gen- 
 tile churches of Macedonia and Achaia, to visit Italy 
 and Spain. And he earnestly bespeaks their prayers, 
 that he might be preserved from the hands of his 
 unbelieving countrymen in Judea, so as to come to 
 them in gladness. He then subjoins his emphatic 
 valedictory salutation, 
 ch. xvi. The remainder of the Epistle may be regarded as 
 
 a sort of postscript. The Apostle commends to their 
 sympathy and protection, the Sister who was the 
 bearer of it ; and sends salutations to Aquila and 
 Priscilla, and other personal friends who were then at 
 Rome. He cautions them to beware of those who 
 would introduce among them any party divisions, to 
 serve their own selfish and ambitious ends ; and re- 
 minds them of the cheering assurance, that God would 
 shortly crush the serpent's head beneath their feet ; 
 adding his accustomed benediction. Salutations fol- 
 low, from some of St. Paul's companions at Corinth ; 
 among others, from Tertius, his amanuensis on this 
 occasion ; Gains, his host ; and Erastus, chamberlain 
 of the city. The ApostoUc benediction is then re- 
 peated ; and the whole is wound up with a doxology. 
 These were probably added by the Apostle witih his 
 
TO THE ROMANS. SiO 
 
 own hand, such being his "token in every Epistle." 2TheBs.iii. 
 The doxology is strikingly characteristic, its clauses 
 exhibiting a rapid and natural succession of teeming 
 thoughts, all converging to the grand idea which 
 possessed and governed the Writer's mind, — the 
 calling of the Gentiles to be fellow-heirs with the 
 people of God, — the long concealed mystery which 
 prophecy had obscurely intimated, but which he was 
 commissioned to divulge to all nations.* 
 
 § 13. Much has been said about the obscurity and 
 enigmatical character of this inspired master-piece of 
 theology. It must, indeed, be admitted, that the 
 Apostle's mode of argumentation is often highly 
 elliptical, and that there is, occasionally, a rhetorical 
 abruptness which renders it difficult to supply the 
 connecting links of thought. Yet, no other of St. 
 Paul's writings has the appearance of being more 
 carefully composed ; and there occur in it fewer of 
 those digressions and divergencies which have been 
 deemed characteristic of his style. Among " things 
 hard to be understood " and liable to be wrested by 
 the unlearned or indocile, might rank, perhaps, his 2Pet.iii.i6. 
 bold personification of sin and righteousness as two 
 masters, and of Law, under the same idea, in allusion to 
 the peculiar conditions of Roman slavery °,-f and again, 
 
 * In some manuscripts, this doxology is found inserted at the end 
 of the fourteenth chapter ; but the internal evidence is strongly 
 opposed to this transposition, which receives no sanction from either 
 the more ancient Codices or the Versions. It probably originated 
 with some Transcriber who imagined that the Epistle ought, like 
 Paul's other Letters, to close with the Benediction. 
 
 t ' Every freeman who, under the Roman law, incurred a capital 
 sentence (dimimitio capitis'), forfeited from that moment his civil cha- 
 
350 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 his rhetorical description of universal Nature agoniz- 
 ing and waiting with eager expectation for the day of 
 Redemption. But much of the phraseology which 
 wears to us a technical and recondite character, was at 
 the time familiar and plain, being strictly conformable 
 to Jewish notions and current forms of expression. 
 Thus, in the terms which he employs in this Epistle, 
 to illustrate the Christian doctrine of Reconciliation, 
 and to combat the Jewish notion of a legal righte- 
 ousness, it appears from the extant writings of their 
 most approved ancient authors, that St. Paul was 
 accommodating himself to their constantly received 
 opinions concerning the Law and the works of the 
 Law, and was borrowing the language of their own 
 schools.* 
 
 racter or personality. He ceased to he a citizen or subject, and be- 
 came, in the language of English jurists, dead in law. So far, his 
 new condition was that of the private slave, who had no civil exist- 
 ence, being regarded, not as a person, but as a thinff. The Roman 
 lawyers' (to distinguish their peculiar condition) ' denominated 
 these convicts servipcence, slaves of punishment ; personifying, as it 
 were, the vengeance of the law, and placing it in the relation of 
 master. From this metaphor or fiction, several curious, and some 
 humane practical consequences were deduced. The servus pcence, for 
 instance, who had been a private slave at the time of his conviction, 
 was, on any deliverance from his sentence,, by pardon or otherwise, 
 no longer in a servile condition, but entitled to freedom ; for, the 
 rights of his former master, having been transferred to punishment, 
 could no longer be asserted by him ; and a release from his new 
 metaphorical master was enfranchisement. Thus, if he was sen- 
 tenced to fight as a gladiator, or vdth wild beasts at the public 
 shows, and escaped with life, or if, after being sent to the mines or 
 mineral works, he was pardoned by the emperor, he became a free 
 man.' Stephen's ' Slavery of the British West India Colonies De- 
 lineated,' vol. i. p. 329. 
 
 * See, for an ample illustration of this remark, the learned John 
 Smith's ' Discourse of Legal Righteousness and of the Righteous- 
 
TO THE KOMANS. 351 
 
 The complaint which has been raised against the 
 Apostle as " hard to be understood," and the objec- 
 tion taken more especially to this Epistle, relate not 
 to his style, however, or to any recondite allusions, 
 so much as to his doctrinal statements and their sup- 
 posed tendency. That there should be any room for 
 misapprehension upon this point, — ^that so important 
 a portion of the recognized Rule of Faith should 
 partake of an enigmatical or ambiguous character, (as 
 the debates respecting the Pauline doctrine would 
 seem to shew,) presents, at first view, a serious diffi- 
 culty. The idioms of a foreign dialect, and the 
 allusive language of familiar writing in remote times, 
 may be expected to prove sources of difficulty in 
 arriving at the precise meaning of particular phrases ; 
 but these rarely leave at all questionable a writer's 
 drift. Obscure passages occur in the text of classic 
 authors, which employ and baffle the ingenuity of 
 critics ; but it is not often that the sense of a para- 
 graph is at all doubtful. There must be some other 
 cause than lies in the mere style and diction of St. 
 Paul's Letters, that renders his doctrine hard to be 
 understood by learned divines and polemics, and 
 capable of being made the subject of critical contro- 
 versy. 
 
 ness of Faith.' (Select Discourses, 8vo. 1660.) ' It is not,' he re- 
 marks, ' merely a subtile school controversy which the Apostle 
 seems to handle, but it is of a greater latitude ; it is, indeed, con- 
 cerning the whole way of life and happiness, and the proper scope 
 of restoring mankind to perfection and union with the Deity, which 
 the Jews expected by virtue of that system and pandect of laws 
 which were delivered upon Mount Sinai, augmented and enlarged by 
 the Gemara of their own traditions.' Ch. ii. 
 
362 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 The very circumstance, however, which may, on a 
 superficial view, appear a difficulty, will admit of an 
 explanation that affords an argument in favour of 
 the truth of the doctrine and of the inspiration of the 
 Apostolic writings. The main source of the obscu- 
 rity complained of is to be found in the originality of 
 the Pauline, or, rather, of the Christian doctrine, and 
 in its contrariety to the natural current of human 
 opinions. . No man who had wished to found a sect, 
 or a new system of religion, that should meet with 
 ready or general acceptance, would have chosen as 
 its ground-work, doctrines so entirely repugnant to 
 every Jewish prejudice and to all Gentile philosophy. 
 Nor can it be plausibly explained, how such doc- 
 trines as Paul taught, should have originated with a 
 Jew of Tarsus, a pupil of Gamaliel, unless we receive 
 the Apostle's own declaration, that it was not after 
 man, — that he "neither received it of man, neither 
 was taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." 
 
 The originality of the doctrine taught in the New 
 Testament has been forcibly adduced by a learned 
 Prelate as an important feature of the internal evi- 
 dence of Christianity itself.* As the faciUty with 
 
 * ' If it is thought that the anomalies of human nature make it 
 impossihle always to determine, from any ordinary rules of conduct, 
 what enterprise man may or may not take in hand, then I look to 
 another test, to the religion itself, instead of to the persona 
 who introduced it. And I argue, that the main doctrines of Chris- 
 tianity, the condemnation of mankind as corrupt in the sight of 
 God, and the atonement made upon the cross hy Jesus as a Mediator 
 between the offenders and their Judge, are doctrines which we can- 
 not, on any rational or probable grounds, attribute to imposture. 
 Taking them as maintained by the Apostles, with all their attending 
 circumstances of the resurrection of the dead, the future judgment. 
 
TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 which we understand any subject, depends upon its 
 relation to our previous knowledge, it naturally fol- 
 lows, that a slow reception will be given to doctrines 
 of a character altogether original, and which do vio- 
 lence to the fixed associations of mankind. The 
 same false assumptions that render it hard to believe 
 the doctrines, render them also hard to be understood^ 
 because they come between the understanding and 
 the only source of knowledge. The doctrines in 
 question are to be learned solely from the New 
 Testament: they originated in those writings; and 
 the knowledge of them so absolutely depends upon 
 the Book from which they are drawn, and upon the 
 authority of which they rest, that it has uniformly 
 been found to decline in exact proportion as the study 
 ^f the Scriptures has been neglected. During the 
 long eclipse of Scriptural light which preceded the 
 Reformation, this knowledge appeared to be lost. 
 When the Rule of Faith was rescued from the cells 
 of monkish ignorance, and was once more allowed to 
 speak for itself, the Pauline doctrine of Justification 
 by Faith, the ' Ariiculus stantis vel cadentis Eccle- 
 sice^ was re-discovered ; and it has gained acceptance, 
 and maintained its prevalence, in proportion to the 
 
 the final pDDishment of the wicked, and the eternal happiness of the 
 redeemed, we cannot trace their origin to any known or accessible 
 source in the belief of those times and countries. Neither can we 
 account for tlieir reception. There was nothing in the doctrines 
 themselves to allure or conciliate, and the minds both of Jews and 
 Gentiles were utterly unprepared to embrace a religion which had 
 nothing in common with their former opinions, and directly opposed 
 some of their strongest prejudices.' Bp. Sumner's ' Evidence of 
 Christianity,' ch. iii, 
 
 2 A 
 
354 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 diffusion of the sacred Scriptures and the exclusive 
 homage paid to their authority. The Scriptures may 
 be made to furnish, hy partial citation, a seeming 
 proof of opposite doctrines ; but what they really 
 teach, can best be ascertained by the opinions which 
 they exclusively originate; — that is, which the im- 
 plicit and devout study of the Sacred Text is found 
 uniformly, on the broad scale of general experience, 
 to produce. Tried by this test, the Protestant doc- 
 trine must be admitted to be the true interpretation. 
 It is the only one which can clearly be traced to the 
 simple study of the New Testament as its source ; 
 and those who oppose the doctrine, are equally distin- 
 guished by their opposition to the unrestricted circu- 
 lation of the Inspired Volume. The state of the 
 case between the contending parties, is this. The one 
 maintains, that St. Paul's writings are obscure, para- 
 doxical, and difficult of interpretation: the other, 
 that the genuine import of his expressions, and the 
 whole drift of his arguments, are plain and unequi- 
 vocal. Surely there is, prima facie, a probability 
 that the Apostle is best understood by the latter. 
 And yet, when the critical acumen and erudition of 
 many who take the former view are considered, the 
 only adequate explanation of the difficulty they com- 
 plain of is, that they do not understand St. Paul, 
 because they, ab origine, differ from him. ' The 
 doctrine of Christian religion propounded to us by 
 Our Saviour and his Apostles,' remarks one of the 
 most learned English divines of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, ' is set forth with so much simplicity, and yet 
 with so much repugnancy to that degenerate genius 
 
TO THE ROMANS. 355 
 
 and spirit that rules in the hearts and lives of men, 
 that we may truly say of it, it is both the easiest and 
 the hardest thing : it is a revelation wrapt up in a 
 complication of mysteries, like that book of the Apo- 
 calypse, which both unfolds and hides those great 
 arcana that it treats of; or as Plato sometimes chose 
 to explain the secrets of his metaphysical or theolo- 
 gical philosophy, Bo-re avayvobi ja.^ yvZ, that he that read 
 might not understand, except he were a son of wis- 
 dom, and had been trained up in the knowledge of it. 
 The principles of true religion are all in themselves 
 plain and easy, dehvered in the most familiar way, so 
 that he who runs may read them; they are all so 
 clear and perspicuous, that they need no key of ana- 
 lytical demonstration to unlock them, the Scripture 
 being written doctis pariter et indoctis ; and yet it is 
 " wisdom in a mystery which the princes of this world 
 understand not;" a sealed book which the greatest 
 Sophies may be most unacqiuainted with: it is like 
 that pillar of fire and of a cloud thait parted between 
 the Israelites and the Egyptians, giving a clear and 
 comfortable light to all those that are under the 
 manuduction and guidance thereof, but being full of 
 darkness and obscurity to those that rebel against it.'* 
 
 * John Smith's Select' Discourses, pp. 307, 8. 
 
 2 A 2 
 
350 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 THE FIVE EPISTLES OF PAUL WRITTEN FROM ROME. 
 
 SEQUEL TO THE TRAVELS OP ST. PAUL THE EPISTLE TO THE BPHE- 
 
 SIANS: TO WHOM ACTUALLY ADDRESSED ANALYSIS OP THE EPIS- 
 TLE — ITS CHARACTER AS > COMPOSITION. THE SECOND EPISTLE 
 
 TO TIMOTHY : ITS TRUE DATE SENT TO TIMOTHY AT .BPHESCS 
 
 ANALYSIS OP THE EPISTLE. THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS : 
 
 BY WHOM SENT WAS PAUL PERSONALLY KNOWN TO THE COLOS- 
 SIANS ? ANALYSIS OP THE EPISTLE POINTS OP COINCIDENCE 
 
 BETWEEN THIS EPISTLE AND THAT TO THE EPHESIANS NATURE 
 
 OP THE HERESIES REFERRED TO. THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON 
 
 CHARACTER OF THE ANCISNT DOMESTIC SERVITUDE — ANALYSIS 
 OP THE EPISTLE — ITS CHARACTER AS A COMPOSITION. THE EPIS- 
 TLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS : ITS PECULIAR CHARACTER AND 
 
 OCCASION ANALYSIS OPjTHE EPISTLE — CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER 
 
 WHICH IT APPEARS TQ HAVE BEEN WRITTEN. 
 
 Sequel to § 1 . We must now resumc and complete the personal 
 narrative. naiTativc. Accordlng to the computation adopted by 
 Lardner, St. Paul reached Jerusalem, agreeably to 
 his purpose, just before the Pentecost of a.d. 58. 
 Mr. Greswell contends, however, that it was the 
 Pentecost of the second of Nero, a.u.c. 809, an- 
 swering to a.d. 56. His main reason for this opinion 
 is, that, when Paul was brought before the Sanhe- 
 drim, over which Ananias presided, there appears to 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 357 
 
 have been no regular high-priest; for so he thinks 
 we are to understand St. Paul's declaration, that he Actsxxiii.s. 
 did not know there was a high-priest. Ananias had 
 been succeeded, in the first or second year of Nero, 
 by Jonathan, the son of Annas, who, shortly after 
 his appointment, was assassinated, at one of the 
 Feasts, by the sicarii (assassins)* referred to by the 
 chief-captain Lysias, in his conversation with Paul, ^^{^'^'^' 
 by the subornation of Fehx. The next high-priest ^"^'^^^1^^ 
 of whom mention occurs, was Ishmael, who was ap- 
 pointed by Agrippa the Younger, previously to the 
 removal of Felix ; and as that removal cannot well 
 be placed later than the fifth of Nero,t the appoint- 
 ment of Ishmael could not be later than the fourth, 
 A.u.c. 811. It follows that, between the death of a.d. S8. 
 Jonathan, in the first or second of Nero, and the 
 appointment of Ishmael, in the fourth, there was no 
 regular high-priest. When Paul was" subsequently 
 cited before Festus, Ishmael had been for some time 
 appointed ; and it is observable, that, while the name 
 
 * ' After the tumults between the Samaritans and the Jews, 
 during the administration of Cumanus, Ananias had been sent as a 
 prisoner to Rome, to answer for the charges against his nation. 
 After two years, he had been released by the interest of Agrippa, 
 and allowed to return to Jerusalem. In the meantime, the high- 
 priesthood had been filled by Jonathan, who was murdered by as- 
 sassins in the Temple, employed or at least connived at by the 
 governor, Ananias appears to have resumed the vacant authority, 
 until the appointment of Ismael, son of Fabi, by Agrippa.' Mil- 
 man's History of Christianity, b. ii. c. 2. 
 
 t The ground for this opinion is, that Pallas, the brother of Felix, 
 whose'' interest at the Roman Court was employed to shield Felix 
 from punishment, is stated by Tacitus to have lost his influence in 
 the second year of Nero. There is_ a diificulty in reconciling here 
 Josephus with Tacitus. 
 
368 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 of the acting high-priest is not mentioned in the 
 narrative, Festus speaks of the high-priests in the 
 plural, doubtless including Ananias under that desig- 
 Gresweii, uation. St. Paul arrived at Jerusalem two years 
 I— 11. ^^' before the removal of Felix, at which time he had 
 been many years in office ; and if he was removed 
 not later than the fifth of Nero, this would require us 
 to suppose that Paul arrived not later than the third. 
 Such is the substance of Mr. Greswell's ingenious 
 argument, which is, however, far from conclusive as 
 to the exact date. . Admitting the correctness of the 
 statement, that Felix was removed in the fifth of 
 Nero, there is no necessity for taking the expression 
 Acts xxiT. rendered " two years," as denoting two full years ; 
 and nothing, apparently, forbids the supposition, that 
 Ishmael was appointed in the last year of Felix's 
 government, shortly before his removal. If so, St. 
 Paul may be supposed to have arrived at Jerusalem 
 in the fourth of Nero, and yet, more than a year 
 before Fehx was superseded by Porcius Festus. The 
 removal of Felix, however, may possibly not have 
 taken place till the sixth or seventh of Nero.* 
 
 On the fourth day after his arrival, having been 
 previoijsly seen in company with Trophimus, an 
 Ephesian, Paul was recognized in the Temple by some 
 Jews from the province of Asia, and denounced to 
 the enraged multitude as having preached against the 
 Nation, and the Law, g,pd the Temple, and polluted 
 the sacred precincts with the presence of a Gentile, 
 
 * Hug makes Paul to. have arrived at Jerusalem in the fifth of 
 Nero, and Felix to have been removed in the seventh- Milman has 
 followed Lardner. 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 359 
 
 ■whom he was supposed to have introduced within the 
 pillars on which an inscription, in Hebrew, Greek, 
 and Latin, forbade the advance of any who were not 
 of pure Jewish blood. He would probably have 
 fallen a victim to the popular fury, had he not been 
 rescued out of their hands by the Tribune Lysias, by 
 whom he was secured in the castle of Antonia, bound 
 to two soldiers. The next day, he was brought before 
 the Jewish Sanhedrim to be examined ; when the dis- 
 sension which arose between the Pharisaic and Sad- 
 ducean parties respecting him, assumed so violent 
 a character, that the chief-captain sent soldiers to 
 take him by force from among them, and bring him 
 back. On receiving information from Paul's nephew, 
 that a conspiracy had been formed by more than forty 
 men to assassinate the prisoner, Lysias sent him by 
 night, under a strong guard, to Caesarea, the residence 
 of the Koman provincial governor, about 60 miles 
 from Jerusalem. Paul arrived there apparently the 
 third day after his apprehension. Five days subse- 
 quently, his accusers, Ananias and the elders of his 
 party, who were of the Sadducean faction, with the 
 hired pleader Tertullus, came down to Cfesarea to 
 appear against him. In his reply to their accusation 
 beflTfe Felix, Paul stated, that but twelve days had 
 elapsed since he came up to Jerusalem to worship ; 
 which accurately accords with the preceding calcula- 
 tion. Some days afterwards, Paul was again ex- 
 amined by Felix, in the presence of his wife Drusilla, 
 a daughter of Herod Agrippa and Cyprus, and 
 consequently by both parents a Jewess; and after 
 this, he was repeatedly sent for by Felix, and con- 
 
360 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 versed with, in the hope that Paul would offer to 
 purchase his discharge. Mr. Greswell dates the be- 
 ginning of Paul's two years' imprisonment at Caesarea 
 from his second examination by Felix, and makes it 
 terminate about the end of June, A.u.c. 811. Be- 
 tween the arrival of Porcius Festus and his hearing 
 the case of Paul,, there was an interval of seventeen 
 days J and a considerable time appears to have elapsed 
 after the arrival of King Agrippa and Berenice, before 
 Paul was examined in their presence. Some further 
 time would intervene before the determination to send 
 him to Italy was put in execution. The learned 
 Author concludes,, therefore, that Paul's departure for 
 Rome could not take place before the beginning or 
 the middle of August, a.u.c. 811, towards the close 
 of the fourth of Nero. He supposes that he arrived 
 at Crete about the time of the autumnal equinox ; 
 that the ship sailed from Lassea, with a view to reach 
 more convenient winter-quarters, in the middle or 
 towards the end of October ; that they were wrecked 
 on the coast of the island of Melite,* some three 
 weeks from that time ; that in the fourth month after 
 the shipwreck, (so he understands ch. xxviii. 11,) 
 they sailed from that island, — consequently in Feb- 
 ruary or March, a.u.c. 812 ; and that, in rather more 
 than another fortnight, Paul arrived at Borne, that is, 
 in the spring of a.d. 59. Dr. Lardner supposes it 
 to have been the spring of a.d. 61. Both chrono- 
 
 * Whether the island of Malta, or a small island called Melite, in 
 the Adriatic, is still an unsettled question. In support of the latter 
 opinion, it is urged, that Malta is not ' in Adria,' though Melite is ; 
 that, in the latter island, there are snakes, in Malta none ; and that 
 the people of Malta were, in Paul's time, not harharous, but civilized.. 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. S61 
 
 legists allow something less than three years for all 
 that occurred between the arrival of Paul at Jerusa- 
 lem at the Pentecost, and his reaching the Eoman 
 metropolis. Assuming, therefore, as most probable, 
 that it was the Pentecost of 58, his arrival at Rome 
 may be fixed in 61. 
 
 For two whole years (or an entire- two years), Paul 
 dwelt in his own hired house, apart from the other 
 prisoners, but chained by the hand to a soldier who 
 guarded him, according to what was deemed the most 
 honourable custody.* In this state, he " received all 
 that came unto him, preaching the kingdom of God,, 
 and teaching the things which concern the Lord 
 Jesus with all boldness, no man forbidding him." Actsxxiv.. 
 Here the Apostolic narrative breaks off; and it has 
 found no authentic continuator. Whether, at the 
 end of the two years, he was released, and permitted 
 to leave Rome, or whether he remained there till he 
 suffered martyrdom, cannot be with any certainty 
 determined. Lardner supposes, that the Apostle 
 obtained his release in the year 63 ; that he returned 
 from Rome to Jerusalem ; f that he subsequently 
 visited Ephesus, Colosse, Phihppi, and Corinth ; and 
 then again proceeded to Rome, where he, was a 
 second time imprisoned, and shortly afterwards called 
 to resign his life for the name of Christ. The perse- 
 cution of the Christians at Rome by Nero, on the 
 pretext that they had been concerned in the conflagr- 
 
 * This was the custodia mHitaris. From Josephus, we learn that 
 even Herod- Agrippa, when a prisoner at Rome, was chained to a, 
 soldier, and that he was indebted to high interest at court for the 
 visits of his friends. Ant. xviii. 6. § 7. 
 
 t The supposition that he went into Spain, Lardner rejects,. 
 
362 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 
 
 ration that destroyed great part of the city, broke 
 out towards the close of 64 ; and both Paul and Peter 
 are supposed to have suffered martyrdom in the fol- 
 lowing year, the twelfth of Nero. Lardner, with his 
 usual modesty and caution, says : ' I do not presume 
 to assign positively the year of the martyrdom of 
 these two Apostles. I have mentioned the specious 
 and probable arguments of two very eminent chrono- 
 logers (Pagi and Basnage) in favour of the year 65. 
 JSTor do I think the Apostles survived that year. 
 But I cannot say whether their martyrdoms happened 
 in the year 64 or 65. Pagi says, that Peter and 
 Paul were taken up and imprisoned in 64, and put to 
 death in the year 65. But I know nothing of the 
 imprisonment of the Apostles at this time. There 
 may be, in late and fabulous authors, large and par- 
 ticular accounts of their imprisonment just before 
 their martyrdoms. But there is little or no notice 
 taken of it by the most ancient writers. If Peter 
 and Paul were come to Eome before the city was set 
 on fire, and before the persecutions of the Christians 
 began, (which is not improbable,) they might be 
 taken up, and soon put to death, before the end of 
 
 Lardner, ^ , 
 
 Toi.T.p.s3s. the year 64. 
 
 Mr. Greswell, while treating as unquestionable the 
 truth of the tradition, that both St. Paul and St. 
 Peter suffered martyrdom at Eome, and under the 
 reign of Nero, doubts whether they suffered in the 
 same year ; a statement of which ' no trace appears 
 in the earhest and most authentic Christian writings,' 
 but which 'begins to appear first, Uke many other 
 precarious assumptions of the same kind, only in the 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS. 363 
 
 later and the least entitled to credit.' A very ancient 
 tradition makes St. Paul to have preached the gospel 
 thirty-five years after his conversion ; which, reckoning 
 fi-om A.D. 37,* would place his martyrdom in the 
 third or fourth year of Vespasian, a.d. 72. Jerome 
 makes both Apostles to have suffered in the thirty- 
 seventh year after the Ascension, answering to a.u.c. 
 819, or A.D. 66. But Mr. Greswell shews, that no 
 dependence can be placed upon these traditions. ' As 
 to St. Peter,' he remarks, 'when he first came to 
 Rome, before his death, and how long he had been 
 there when that happened, — whether he was brought 
 there as a prisoner, or whether he was apprehended 
 in Eome itself, — ^before whom he was tried, and at 
 what time of the year he might be executed, — these 
 are points on which we are destitute of all positive 
 information, and can advance only conjectures. The 
 total absence of any allusion to him in the Epistle to 
 Timothy, seems to me a strong presumptive argument 
 that he was either not alive or not present at Rome, 
 when that Epistle was written.' The hypothesis of QresweU 
 the learned Writer is, that Peter suffered crucifixion ™'- "• p- ^^' 
 in A.u.c. 818, a year before Paul, and that the latter ^.d. 65. 
 Apostle was apprehended and tried in Asia, and sent 
 a second time to Rome, where, as a Roman citizen, 
 he suffered decapitation in a.u.c. 819; all which a.d. eff. 
 confessedly rests upon no more solid basis, than a con- 
 jectural reconciliation of contradictory, and therefore 
 apocryphal traditions. 
 
 * But his conversion was probably placed a.u.c. 784 (ad. 31), 
 thirty-five years from which would bring us to a.d. 66, agreeably to 
 the date given by Jerome. 
 
3G4 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 It only remains for us to see what light is thrown 
 upon these points by the later Epistles of St. Paul, 
 which were written from Rome during his imprison- 
 ment. Concerning four of these, there is no question 
 that they were composed antecedently to the period 
 at which the Book of Acts terminates ; namely, the 
 Epistles to the Ephesians, to the Colossians, to the 
 Philippians, and to Philemon. Respecting the date 
 of the Second Epistle to Timothy, there is much 
 diversity of opinion j but it will be shown, that there is 
 no solid ground for referring it to a later period. 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 
 
 The Epistle § 2. The Epistle to the Ephesians first claims 
 
 to the Ephe- ... i- i i ; -ii 
 
 sians— to exammatiou, bemg, by general consent, considered 
 ally ad- as the earliest of those written from Rome, Lardner 
 
 supposes it to have been composed very soon after his 
 
 arrival there, before the summer of a.d, 61.* The 
 
 immediate occasion of Paul's writing to the Asiatic 
 
 2 Tim. IT. believers was, the mission of Tychicus, whom he was 
 
 sending to Ephesus for the purpose of explaining all 
 
 ch. vi. 22. that had befallen him. His object was, to exhort 
 
 ch. iii. 13. them not to be discouraged at his sufferings in their 
 
 Ch. vi. 19. cause, and to bespeak their prayers on his own behalf, 
 
 that he might discharge his commission with the 
 
 fi'eedom and boldness of an ambassador, though in 
 
 bonds. At the time of its composition, therefore, he 
 
 would seem not to have appeared before Nero ; nor 
 
 * Neander contends, indeed, upon very fanciful and slender 
 grounds, that the Epistle to the Colossians was first written. The 
 evidence to the contrary will appear in the sequel. 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 365 
 
 were his bonds, as yet, " manifest in all the palace." Phii. i. is. 
 It was natural that he should in the first instance 
 address himself to the Christian church at Ephesus, 
 as the metropohs of Proconsular Asia. 
 
 It has been made a question, however, in ancient 
 as well as in modern times, whether this Epistle was 
 actually addressed to the Ephesians. The name of 
 that city, which occurs in the opening salutation ac- 
 cording to the received text, does not appear in all the 
 extant MSS. ; and it is an ancient supposition, that it 
 was originally addressed to the Laodicean church, 
 being the Epistle referred to, CoL iv. 16.* The 
 chief reason insisted on by those who adopt this 
 opinion, is the absence of all allusion to the Apostle's 
 labours among those to whom he is writing, and the 
 omission of any particular salutations. St. Paul had 
 passed more than two years at Ephesus ; yet, he does 
 not speak as remembering, but as having heard of 
 their faith and love. Yet, as some years had elapsed 
 since he visited Ephesus, he may in this language be 
 well understood as referring to . the satisfactory ac- 
 counts of their stedfastness, which had been brought 
 to him by Tychicus. He had intended to revisit iTim.iii.14. 
 them, but had been prevented, and, in his last voyage 
 to Jerusalem, found it necessary to sail by Ephesus, 
 
 * Marcion is reproached by Tertullian with ha,ving altered the 
 title of the Epistle to Ad Laodicenos, contrary to the received tradi- 
 tion. Dr. Lardner has shewn most satisfactorily, that no credit is 
 due to Marcion's opinion. Works, vol. vi. pp. 142 — 151. The 
 learned Author has also replied to the arguments of Mill, Pierce, 
 and Benson, who call in question the 'authenticity of the present 
 designation. They have been followed, however, by Paley (^Hor, 
 Paid.) and by Greswell, vol. ii. p. 67. 
 
366 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 Still, it may be deemed singular, that he should send 
 no salutation to the bishops or elders of the church, 
 with whom he had so affectionate an interview at 
 Miletus. Another^ peculiarity is, that no colleague 
 or companion is associated with the Apostle in the 
 opening salutation, as in the Epistles to the Philip- 
 pians, the Colossians, and the Thessalonians. This 
 Lardner, is explained, if we suppose, (with Lardner, Greswell, 
 Greswe^i, ' and Hug,) that Timothy was not among the Apos- 
 Hug'il'iu', tie's traveUing companions to Rome, but that he 
 joined him between the time of his writing the 
 Epistle to the Ephesians, and the date of those to 
 the Colossians and to Philemon ; attended, probably, 
 by Tychicus, Epaphras, from whom the Apostle 
 received so cheering an account of the faith and love 
 of the brethren at Colosse, and others. Of all that 
 Acts XX. 4. are named as having accompanied Paul into Asia, 
 most of whom doubtless attended him in his journey 
 Actsxxvii.2. to Jerusalem, Aristarchus of Thessalonica is alone 
 mentioned as having embarked with him for Rome ; 
 although it is clear from the narrative, that he was ac- 
 companied also by the sacred Historian, whom we have 
 identified with his faithful colleague Silas or Silvanus. 
 The non-appearance of his name in the salutation 
 might be explained by supposing that he was absent 
 from Rome at the time ; but another reason may be 
 assigned, which seems more satisfectory. Silas does 
 not appear to have shared the Apostle's labours at 
 Ephesus, as he did in Macedonia and Greece. Now, 
 in every case in which Paul associates the name of a 
 colleague with his own, it will be found, either that 
 they had laboured together in that region, as had 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 307 
 
 Paul, Silas, and Timotheus at Thessalonica, or that 
 the individual bore a special relation to the church 
 addressed, as in the case of Sosthenes, whose name 
 appears at the opening of the First Epistle to the 
 church at Corinth. Silas was with the Apostle 
 when he wrote the Epistle to the Colossians ; but, if 
 he had not visited Colosse, this will sufficiently 
 explain why his name is not united with that of 
 Timothy in the salutation. 
 
 There is reason to doubt, however, whether the 
 Epistle to the Ephesians was addressed to any parti- 
 cular church or local community exclusively ; and 
 Archbishop Usher's opinion, that it was a circular 
 Epistle generally intended for the several churches of 
 Asia, while it removes every difficulty, is borne out 
 by internal evidence. It is, on the one hand, in the 
 highest degree improbable, that St. Paul would write 
 to the churches of Philippi, Colosse, and Laodicea, 
 and pass over the Christians at Ephesus, the most 
 numerous and important church in Asia j and we 
 must therefore adhere to the opinion, that the Epistle 
 was primarily intended for the Ephesians, to whom 
 Tychicus appears to have stood in close relation, as 
 being either (like Trophimus) an Ephesian by birth, 
 or a minister among them. On the other hand, if it 
 was a circular Epistle, the name of the church might 
 have been purposely left vacant by the transcriber in 
 some copies which the Apostolic legate would be 
 charged to deliver to the churches in his route. He 
 would of course reach Ephesus first ; whence, as he 
 was especially deputed to visit Colosse, he must have 
 passed through Ionia, and by way of Laodicea. In 
 
368 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 like manner, an Epistle transmitted from Ephesus, 
 must have reached the Colossians through the Laodi- 
 cean church, the last in that direction towards Phrygia. 
 It is, therefore, a very reasonable and natural suppo- 
 sition, that " the Epistle from Laodicea " referred to. 
 
 See p. 5. meant the Epistle received from Laodicea ; namely, 
 that which had already been transmitted to that 
 church by Tychicus ; a copy of the Epistle to the 
 
 See Lard- Gentile bclievcrs of Ephesus and its province, Asia. 
 
 n6r vol. vi» 
 
 p. 141. Colosse, which was in the neighbourhood of Laodicea, 
 was in another province ; and as an Epistle to the 
 Christians at Ephesus was an Epistle to the churches 
 of Asia,* so, an Epistle to those at Colosse was in 
 fact an Epistle to the Phrygian churches. This 
 affords a suiBcient reason for their being separately 
 addressed, and for the different topics of exhortation 
 and warning. 
 
 We are then to regard this as the Encyclical Epistle 
 of Paul, the prisoner for the name of the Lord, to 
 the Gentile Christians of Asia — Asiatic Greeks, for 
 whose sake, and in whose cause, he had been appre- 
 hended and delivered to the Romans. It was by 
 Jews of Asia, probably of Ephesus, who saw him in 
 the Temple, that he had been denounced as having 
 brought Greeks into the holy enclosure ; "for they 
 had seen before with him in the city, Trophimus, an 
 
 Actsxxi.29. Ephesian," whom they recognized, and must therefore 
 have been previously acquainted with. Emphatically, 
 therefore, might the Apostle write: " I, Paul, the 
 
 * Writing from Ephesus, the Apostle says : — " The churches of 
 Asia salute' you." 1 Cor. xii. 19. So, the Second Epistle to the 
 Corinthians is addressed to " aU the saints in all Achaia." 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 369 
 
 prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles." It is 
 observable, that there is no reference, in the Epistle, 
 to the Jewish portion of the Ephesian church or to 
 their Elders. The salutation is general, — to saints 
 and believers, the holy and faithful in Christ. It 
 was addressed, not to his own immediate converts, 
 but to the numerous body of believers, "both Jews Actsxix.10, 
 and Greeks," resident at Ephesus, or occasionally 
 resorting thither from all parts of Asia. To a large 
 proportion of these, the Apostle would be known only 
 by reputation ; but he assumes that they would all Lardner, 
 have heard of the specific commission entrusted to ^ " 
 him as the Apostle of the Gentiles, in which character 
 he writes to them. He might naturally feel some ch. ii. 10, 
 solicitude as to the impression which his apprehension iv. 17. 
 and imprisonment had produced upon their minds, 
 either as tending to lower his Apostolic authority and 
 to detract from his reputation, or as adapted to dis- 
 courage the timid, and to afford an advantage to the 
 Jewish zealots, who were the great opponents of the 
 mystery which he gloried in disclosing and pro- 
 claiming, — the Unity and Universality of the Church 
 as the Body of Christ. The whole Epistle is admi- 
 rably adapted to counteract this expression. 
 
 § 3. Immediately after the opening salutation, the Analysis of 
 inspired Writer begins by celebrating the exuberance ° '"*' ^' 
 and freeness of the Divine mercy and beneficence in 
 the extension of the blessings of Kedemption to the 
 Gentiles, which he declares to be the development 
 of an eternal purpose, self-originate and absolutely 
 gratuitous, effected by the mediatorial intervention 
 and propitiatory sacrifice of Christ. The discernment 
 
 2 B 
 
370 THE EPISTLE OP PAUL 
 
 of this mystery to which he had attained, he ascribes 
 to Divine revelation, thus tacitly disclaiming any 
 pretension to superior natural wisdom, and intimating 
 that he derived from Inspiration the sanction of 
 his apostolic authority. And he addresses the Gen- 
 tile believers as having obtained, through their 
 reception of the Gospel, an inheritance in Christ in 
 common with himself and Jewish Christians, of which 
 they had the token and earnest in the baptism of the 
 Holy Spirit. On this account, and because he had re- 
 ceived satisfactory information of their stedfastness 
 in the faith and affection towards the brotherhood, he 
 gave thanks to God continually ; and he prayed that 
 they might be still more fully enlightened as to the 
 glorious nature of the object of their hopes, the dignity 
 to which they were called, and the wondrous display 
 of Divine Omnipotence in their regeneration and 
 adoption, in virtue and as the fruit of the resurrection 
 and exaltation of Christ as his people's Head, the 
 Administrator of all things, and the only Source of 
 every perfection. That glorious intervention of 
 Omnipotence on behalf of the Church in the person 
 of its Divine Head, the Apostle proceeds to remind 
 them, had taken place while they were still in a state 
 of spiritual death, pursuing a sinful course in confor- 
 mity to the age and to its ruler, the Prince of 
 Darkness ; hence, it could be ascribed only to the 
 sovereign and abundant mercy of God. And this 
 salvation being a gift, obtained by faith, and there- 
 fore unmerited, left no room for boasting ; believers 
 being, as such, the workmanship of God, created 
 anew for the performance of good works, not saved as 
 the reward of them. 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 371 
 
 The Apostle proceeds to exhort them to bear in ch.ii. ii. 
 remembrance the condition of moral degradation, 
 helplessness, and alienation from God, from which 
 they had been rescued by the Gospel. As heathens, 
 they were at a greater distance from God than the 
 Jews, who, as the worshippers of the true God, drew 
 nigh to his chosen seat, and among whom, as a na- 
 tion, Jehovah dwelt. But, in Christ Jesus, Jew and 
 Gentile were brought into the same near relation to 
 God ; while, by the death of Christ, all those ritual 
 observances which separated the Jewish nation from 
 the heathen, and were both the symbols of division 
 and the occasion of their repugnance to other nations, 
 were abolished, their typical design being fulfilled. 
 Thus had Christ died as well to remove the barrier to 
 mutual union, as to reconcile both divisions of man- 
 kind to God. The proclamation of a Divine amnesty 
 was therefore to be addressed by the ambassadors of 
 Christ alike to those who were far off and those who 
 were nigh. And through the One Mediator, under 
 the guidance of the same Divine Paraclete, both en- 
 joyed the like filial access to the Father. Now, there- 
 fore, they were, in all respects, fellow-citizens of the 
 heavenly Jerusalem, and component parts of the 
 Living Temple, the Church of God. For this reason, 
 the Apostle proceeds to say, he addressed them in 
 the character of a prisoner in the cause of Jesus 
 Christ for the sake of the Gentiles at large ; pre- 
 suming upon their having heard of the special revela- 
 tion and commission divinely vouchsafed to him, in 
 reference to the calling of the Gentiles ; and for this 
 reason also, he made it the subject of his supplica- 
 
 2 B 2 
 
372 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 tdons, that they to whom he was writing might not be 
 discouraged at what had befallen him, but might be 
 strengthened by the Spirit of Christ, and enabled to 
 comprehend the love of Christ to His Church in all 
 its plenitude and extent. 
 ch.iT. In entering upon a strain of practical exhorta- 
 
 tion, the Apostle again adverts to his being then in 
 bonds for the cause of Christ ; in which character he 
 beseeches them to maintain a conduct worthy of the 
 exalted privileges to which they had been called ; 
 inculcating, first, the virtues of humility, meekness, 
 and mutual kindness, and that fraternal union and 
 concord which became them as members of one body 
 under one Divine Head. That unity, the very 
 limitation and diversity of the gifts bestowed upon 
 them severally, was adapted and designed to promote, 
 by rendering them needful and useful to each other ; 
 and these were to be exercised with a constant refer- 
 ence to the object for which they were bestowed, 
 their progressive advancement in the knowledge of 
 Christ, and the edification of the whole body. Re- 
 suming the strain of practical exhortation, the Apostle 
 solemnly adjures them to maintain a course and con- 
 duct that should exhibit a broad contrast to that of 
 the unconverted and unenlightened Gentile world, 
 and to their former lives. Descending to particulars, 
 he inculcates veracity, as opposed to all fi-aud and 
 deceit, — placableness, — ^honesty and industry, with a 
 view to being in a condition to succour the neces- 
 sitous, — purity of speech, as opposed to all sins of the 
 tongue, — kindness and generosity towards each other, 
 ' — and an abhorrence of those sins of sensuality and 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 373 
 
 excess, and of that indecent jesting, which worldly- 
 men were prone to think of lightly, and even to palli- 
 ate by immoral sophistry, as not deserving of Divine 
 punishment. They were not only to abstain from 
 such sins, but to avoid the company of all who prac- 
 tised them, and to rebuke the deeds of darkness by 
 throwing upon them the light of truth and holiness in 
 their example. In order to this, they are exhorted 
 to observe great circumspection and temperance, and, 
 instead of seeking exhilaration from wine, to cultivate 
 the spirit of joyous devotion and thanksgiving. 
 
 The Apostle next enforces by motives peculiar to ch. .. 21. 
 the Gospel, an exemplary discharge of the relative 
 duties. Those of the conjugal relation are enforced 
 upon wives and husbands by the consideration, that 
 the marriage tie had been employed to illustrate the 
 relation between Christ and the Church mystical ; and 
 thus, the ineffable love of the Eedeemer to his Church, 
 represented under this analogy, becomes a model of 
 that affection which the husband owes to his wife, 
 while claiming, as her head and protector, deferential 
 subjection and reverence. The honour due from 
 children to their parents, is enforced by a reference to 
 the fifth commandment of the Decalogue with the 
 promise annexed to it. And parents are cautioned 
 against the opposite errors of undue harshness and 
 severity, and the neglect of instruction and discipline. 
 The relation between masters and bond servants, is 
 then referred to. As the servant of the Lordi, the 
 Christian slave was endowed with the spirit of a 
 free man, though not emancipated from political 
 thraldom, or released from the obligation of social obe- 
 
374 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 dience ; and his master or lord is reminded, that he lies 
 under the same moral obligation to act conscientiously 
 towards his servants, and that his condition or rank 
 makes no difference in the sight of Him who is the 
 common Lord and Master of all. 
 
 ch. vi. 10. Finally, the Apostle exhorts his Gentile brethren 
 to arm themselves with Divine strength, that they 
 might be able to sustain the arduous contest with 
 visible and invisible foes. He describes the spiritual 
 panoply in which they must be arrayed in order to 
 resist successfully the assaults of the Devil ; and 
 enjoins upon them constant vigilance and prayer. 
 He then gracefully bespeaks their prayers on his own 
 behalf, that he might honourably acquit himself as an 
 ambassador of Christ, though in bonds, when he 
 should be brought up for a public hearing at Caesar's 
 tribunal. He informs them, that he had sent Tychi- 
 cus to them, that they might learn how he was cir- 
 cumstanced, and receive comfort and assurance from 
 the sight of their brother. And he concludes the 
 Epistle with his Apostolic salutation and benediction. 
 
 Elevated & 4. When we reflect upon the circumstances under 
 
 piifl.TfliCt(*r ox 
 
 this Epistle which this noble Epistle was composed, the dignity 
 
 as a com- - , ,, . _ ., ,.,.. 
 
 position. 01 Style and elevation oi sentiment by which it is 
 characterized, must appear the more striking.* Instead 
 of being depressed by his position, the Apostle seems 
 to have his whole mind occupied with the transcendent 
 excellency of the privileges and hopes of the Christian 
 fellowship and the anticipated triumphs of the Gos- 
 pel. Nothing is more remarkable than the glowing 
 
 * Grotius speaks of this Epistle as surpassing all human elo- 
 quence. Cited by Lardner, vol. vi. p. 28. 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. S75 
 
 language in which he expatiates upon the mystery or 
 hidden doctrine that he glories in having had revealed 
 to him, the doctrine of " the unsearchable riches of 
 Christ," by the development of which the wisdom of 
 God is declared to receive fi-esh illustration in the 
 view of celestial intelligences ; the discovery of the 
 aU-comprehensive character of the Christian economy, 
 as embracing all nations, in contrast with the re- 
 stricted nature of the Jewish dispensation. With a 
 generosity as much above the spirit of his nation and 
 age, as his conceptions transcended the worldly notions 
 of the " natural man" or the political dream of the 
 Jew, St. Paul exulted in the free proclamation of the 
 Divine amnesty to all, in its anticipated diffusion 
 throughout the earth, its assured triumph over every 
 form of idolatry, and its beneficial results in subduing 
 national antipathies and re-uniting the human family 
 in one society. Next to the thought of the glory of 
 Christ, he appears to delight in the idea of the glory 
 of the Church ; or, rather, these, in his conception, 
 formed but two parts of one complex magnificent 
 idea, the body corresponding to the Divine Head, 
 the heritage or kingdom to the possessor or lord, as 
 the fullness, the ux'^pui^a of Christ. In contrast, 
 moreover, with the ceremonial sanctity and external 
 splendour of the Jewish Church in its most palmy 
 days, he contemplated the moral regeneration effected 
 by the Christian doctrine, the spiritual life which it 
 conveyed, the purity, dignity, and blessedness which 
 were, to each individual believer, the practical results. 
 And with these characteristic features of catholicity 
 and spirituality, in which the true grandeur and 
 
S76 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 beauty of the Christian economy consist, he con- 
 nected its perpetuity as the final dispensation which 
 was to last till all things should be subdued to Christ, 
 and he should deliver up the mediatorial kingdom to 
 the Father. 
 
 In all his Epistles, St. Paul insists more or less 
 upon these topics — the oneness of the Church, the 
 universality of the Gospel dispensation, and the 
 boundless extent and freeness of the Divine grace ; 
 but in no other does he dwell with so much fervour 
 upon the glorious character of the Christian calling. 
 It seems as if he was particularly solicitous to guard the 
 Ephesian and other Asiatic believers against thinking 
 meanly of the religion they had embraced, because it 
 was devoid of outward pomp and the splendour of a 
 worldly sanctuary. In the Epistle to the Colossians, 
 written so soon afterwards, and containing many 
 parallel passages, the Apostle touches but slightly 
 upon the unity and dignity of the Church, but dis- 
 covers more anxiety to caution them against Rabbi- 
 nical and Gnostical corruptions of the Gospel. In 
 writing to the Romans, his main object is, to shew 
 the universal necessity of the Christian Revelation 
 and its adaptation to all mankind, as presenting to 
 Jew and Gentile alike the only method of salvation 5 
 to vindicate on this ground the preaching of the 
 Gospel to the Gentiles, and to combat the pharisaic 
 pride and national prejudices of Jewish Christians. 
 In addressing the luxurious and polished citizens of 
 the Achaian metropolis, he had to insist upon the 
 unity of the Church as a society, in opposition to 
 sectarian and party divisions, and to recal them from 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 377 
 
 the vain philosophy of human schools to the simpli- 
 city of the Christian doctrine. But, in the Epistle 
 to the Ephesians, it would seem, that the aim of the 
 inspired Writer was, to impress the Gentile converts 
 with a deep sense of the inestimable privileges and 
 honours to which they had been raised by the gra- 
 tuitous favour of God, in order that, being " rooted 
 and established by love," they might be rendered 
 proof against the seductive effect of the false glory 
 attaching to the pompous worship, the wealth, and 
 fame, and magnificence of the national Temple. The 
 repeated comparison of the Christian body to an 
 edifice, which occurs in this Epistle, has a peculiar 
 force and beauty, if we suppose the architectural 
 metaphor to have been suggested by the recollection 
 of the Ephesian fane, the admiration of the world. 
 In one instance, indeed, the Jewish Temple is more 
 directly alluded to, where the Apostle speaks of the 
 partition- wall which separated the inner inclosure or 
 sanctuary from the Court of the Gentiles. But, 
 when he compares the whole Church to a symmetrical 
 structure rising up into a holy temple for the inhabi- 
 tation of the Deity ; and again, when he speaks of 
 the immeasurable dimensions of the plan of Divine 
 love, — it is natural to suppose that he intended to 
 suggest a tacit comparison between the vast and 
 magnificent fabric in which the Ephesians gloried, 
 and the spiritual temple of living architecture, of 
 which Christ is the comer-stone. It is as if St. 
 Paul sought to arm the minds of these Gentile con- 
 verts against the reproach cast upon Christianity, as 
 a religion without altars, or temple,, or priesthood^ 
 
378 THE EPISTLE OP PAUL 
 
 and therefore without any visible bond of unity. 
 Among the ancient heathen, the tutelary deity and the 
 national temple or sanctuary constituted the strongest 
 bond of national union or political federation. Thus, 
 the temple of the Tyrian Hercules was the centre of 
 the Phenician League, as that of Jupiter Latialis 
 was of the Latin confederacy. The Grecian states, 
 in like manner, though often at mutual variance, felt, 
 at least for the time, to be members of one commu- 
 nity, when assembled to celebrate the festival of the 
 Olympian Jove. And of the great Goddess Artemis 
 or Diana, the tutelary deity of Ephesus, and the pro- 
 tectress of the whole Ionic confederacy, it is said, 
 " all Asia was a worshipper." Nothing, then, could 
 be more appropriate or graceful than the metaphorical 
 language in which the Apostle illustrates the essential 
 unity of the Church, and inculcates the duty of con- 
 cord, in allusion to what formed, among the Gentiles, 
 a bond and centre of union. The followers of Christ 
 had, it was true, no material temple, no local sanc- 
 tuary ; for this were not less incompatible with the 
 universal character of Christianity as embracing all 
 nations, than with the spirituality of its worship ; but 
 they were themselves component parts of a Divine 
 superstructure, resting upon the foundation of the 
 Apostles and Prophets, and cemented by a living 
 principle of union. And the oneness and universality 
 of the Church are described as corresponding to the 
 unity of the Godhead, and to the relation in which 
 all mankind stand to their common Creator. 
 
 The passionate attachment of the Jew to his Na- 
 tional Temple and worship, formed one of the greatest 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 379 
 
 impediments to his embracing the Christian faith. 
 The national dispute with the Samaritans, which led 
 to such rancorous animosity, related mainly to the 
 Temple, the symbol of Jewish union. With the 
 destruction of that Temple was inseparably associated 
 the idea of the overthrow of their national polity. 
 But this sentiment was not peculiar to the Jews : the 
 attachment of the heathen to their national altars 
 and sanctuaries, was equally strong. " Hath a nation 
 changed its gods, which are yet no gods? " And if Jer. ii. ii. 
 the national religion was a bond of internal union, it 
 was also a source of international hostility, dividing 
 race from race by antipathies which, if not origi- 
 nating in a difference as to the object of worship, yet 
 borrowed from religion their strength and sanction. 
 The religious institutions of the Hebrew people, by 
 which their nationality was fostered, were designed, 
 indeed, to keep them separate from the idolatrous 
 nations. But the genius of the Gospel is wholly 
 opposed to national distinctions, there being in Christ 
 neither Greek nor Jew, " neither Barbarian nor 
 Scythian, bond nor free." The truth of Christianity 
 is staked upon its universality. Claiming the homage 
 and acceptance of all nations, it is designed to be a 
 bond of international amity and concord throughout 
 the world. Such is the sublime idea of the Divine 
 purpose of the Gospel, which filled the mind of Paul 
 with holy transport, and which he prays that these 
 Asiatic believers might be taught to apprehend. In 
 order to counteract the fascination of a pompous 
 ritual, a gorgeous architecture, a national hierarchy, 
 and the false glory of a spurious catholicity, there 
 
380 THE SECOND EPISTLE OP 
 
 must be a spiritual illumination, an enlightenment 
 of the heart, enabling the Christian to perceive the 
 true grandeur in all its vast dimensions, the spiritual 
 but essential unity under all internal diversities, the 
 sacred dignity and moral glory under all circum- 
 stances of outward depression and meanness, of the 
 only Church which can be universal or One ; the 
 " Body of Christ ; " the Living Temple " built toge- 
 ther for a habitation of God by the Spirit." 
 
 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 The Second & 5. The ucxt Epistk, in the order of composi- 
 
 Epistle to. .^ i-n x i c^ 
 
 Timothy, tiou, appears, irom mternai evidence, to be the oe- 
 about the coud Epistle to Timothy, which Lardner supposes to 
 Paul's first have been sent away together with that to the Ephe- 
 
 appearance . -i ,i n -i • l^ /• n ■• 
 
 beforeNero. sians, or shortly after it, m the summer oi a.d. 61. 
 As this is a point which has been strongly contro- 
 verted, (many learned Biblicists supposing it to have 
 been written during a second imprisonment of the 
 Apostle several years later,) it will be necessary to 
 adduce the reasons for adopting the conclusion affirm- 
 ing its eariier date. 
 
 As it is evident, that Timothy was not with the 
 Apostle when he composed the Epistle to the Ephe- 
 sians, but that he had joined him before he wrote the 
 other Epistles dated from Rome, it is a natural sup- 
 position, that the Apostle had sent for him in the 
 interim. Now, in the Second Epistle to Timothy, we 
 find St. Paul urging him to use diligence to come to 
 to him before winter, and to bring with him Mark, 
 
PAUL TO TIMOTHY. 381 
 
 because Luke alone remained with him. Demas had 
 pusillanimously fled to Thessalonica ; Grescens had 
 departed for Galatia ; Titus for Dalmatia ; and Ty- 
 chicus had been despatched to Ephesus. When, 
 however, the Apostle was inditing the Epistle to 
 the Colossians, not only had Timothy joined him, but 
 Mark also ; Luke was still with him ; and Demas 
 had returned and been restored to the Apostle's 
 favour, for his name appears associated with those of 
 Luke and Mark in the salutations sent to the Colos- 
 sians, and also in the Epistle to Philemon.* Tychi- 
 cus is referred to in the former Epistle as having been 
 sent to Colosse with Onesimus ; and he had, doubt- 
 less, already left Kome for Ephesus. These, it must 
 be acknowledged, are coincidences which afibrd a 
 strong presumption that the Second Epistle to Timo- 
 thy was written between the dates of those to the 
 Ephesians and the Colossians. The circumstances 
 are such as are not likely to have attended a second 
 imprisonment of the Apostle four or five years after. 
 It would especially, as Lardner remarks, be unreason- 
 able to say, that Luke was with the Apostle at Kome 
 during a second imprisonment, since we see that his 
 history of the Apostle terminates with his two years' 
 imprisonment when sent thither by Festus. Other 
 assistants and companions of St. Paul are referred to. 
 Erastus is stated to have abode at Corinth, and Tro- 
 phimus to have been left at Miletus sick. Now as 
 Erastus is expressly mentioned as having been sent Actsxix.22. 
 
 * Grotius concludes from these passages, that Demas had re- 
 pented of his fault ; and if so, as Beza perceived, this Epistle to 
 Timothy must have preceded his repentance. 
 
382 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 by the Apostle from Ephesus to Macedonia, and his 
 name does not occur among those of the company 
 
 Acts XX. 4. who attended him on leaving Macedonia for Asia,, it 
 is quite in accordance with probability, to infer that 
 he returned to Corinth, and did not accompany the 
 Apostle to Jerusalem. Trophimus, whom we might 
 have expected to find attending him to Rome, though 
 not mentioned as having taken his passage in the 
 same vessel,* probably because he did not complete 
 the voyage, may nevertheless have embarked with 
 him, and have been put on shore at Miletus, f on 
 account of illness ; for the ship in which they sailed 
 fi"om Caesarea, touched at Myra on the coast of 
 Lycia ; and that to which Paul and the other pri- 
 soners were there transferred, " sailed slowly many 
 
 Actsxxvii. days," which would doubtless afford an opportunity of 
 landing on the coast of Asia. 
 
 The circumstances of the Apostle's imprisonment 
 at the time of his writing the Second Epistle to 
 Timothy appear, moreover, to correspond precisely 
 to those described by the Sacred Historian. He 
 
 2Tim.i. 16. refers to his being bound with a chain ; yet, he was 
 evidently at liberty to "receive all that came unto 
 him." Thus, he sends salutations to Timothy fi-om 
 several individuals, who must have had iree access to 
 him. Otherwise, indeed, he would scarcely have 
 desired Timothy to come to him. The cause of his 
 imprisonment also was the same. Speaking of him- 
 self as an apostle and teacher of the Gentiles, Paul 
 
 * Aristarchus is described as the Apostle's fellow-prisoner, 
 t Beza's conjectural reading of Melite for Miletus, approved by 
 Grotius, is shewn by Lardner to be unnecessary. 
 
PAUL TO TIMOTHY. 383 
 
 adds : " For which cause I also suffer these things." 
 If he was ever subjected to a second apprehension 
 and imprisonment, it is not Hkely to have been upon 
 the same account as that for which he was " deU- 
 vered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the 
 Romans." 
 
 Another strong argument that this Epistle was 
 written when Paul was sent bound from Judea to 
 Rome, is founded upon his language in the fourth 
 chapter : " At my first answer, no man stood with 
 me, but all men forsook me ... . Notwithstand- 
 ing the Lord stood with me, and strengthened 
 me, . . . and I was delivered out of the mouth of 
 the Lion." There can be no doubt that these ex- 
 pressions denote his having been brought before 
 Nero, who must be intended by " the Lion." The 
 very same metaphor, Mr. Greswell remarks, is ap- 
 plied, in Josephus, by Marsyas, the freedman of 
 Herod Agrippa, to Tiberius. The force of the tense Joseph. 
 used in speaking of this deliverance ("I have been ch"v?.'§ro"" 
 delivered ") implies, that it was a recent event. He 
 had escaped, for the time, from the Lion's jaws ; but 
 the phrase, " at my first answer," indicates that he 
 expected to be again called upon for his defence, — 
 that he had only been remanded. He evidently 
 wrote this Epistle to Timothy soon after the result 
 of this his first audience, under the impression of 
 escape from imminent present danger, and in uncer- 
 tainty as to the final issue. Now we can scarcely 
 suppose that he would have been long at Rome, if 
 Nero was there, without being " brought before 
 Caesar," agreeably to the angeUc intimation given 
 
384 THE SECOND EPISTLE OP 
 
 Actsxxvii. him in a vision during his voyage; and we thus 
 arrive at almost a certainty as to the precise date of 
 the Epistle and the circumstances under which it was 
 written. 
 
 But there is another circumstance connected with 
 his defence or apology, which shows that it must have 
 been made at this time. He says : " The Lord 
 stood with me and strengthened me, that by me the 
 preaching might be fully known, and that all the 
 Gentiles might hear." This we know to have been 
 the result of his examination prior to his writing the 
 Epistle to the Philippians, and could not be said (as 
 Lardner remarks) of any supposed second imprison- 
 ment. " I would ye should understand," he writes, 
 " that the things which have happened unto me have 
 fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel, 
 so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the 
 
 Phiii. 13. palace and in all other places." 
 
 Among the reasons for assigning a later date to 
 the Second Epistle to Timothy, it has been urged, 
 that the Writer had a strong and lively presentiment 
 that the time of his departure was come, — that his 
 martyrdom was at hand.* But he had expressed a 
 similar presentiment in his farewell interview with the 
 Ephesian brethren at Miletus ; and his state of feel- 
 ing when he wrote to the Philippians, was precisely 
 such as we might imagine to have been produced by 
 
 * Greswell, vol. ii. p. 86. Eusebius, Jerome, and Chrysostom 
 were led by these expressions to infer, that this was the last Epistle 
 of Paul, written shortly before his martyrdom ; but Lardner and 
 Hug, with Lightfoot, Baronius, and others, have shewn that this 
 opinion has no solid foundation. Lardner, vol. vi. pp. 38, 72. Hug, 
 Part II. § § 122, 123 ; 131. 
 
PAUL TO TIMOTHY. 385 
 
 the uncertainty of his fate. He expresses his confi- 
 dence that Christ would be magnified in his body, 
 whether by life or by death, while scarcely knowing 
 which to desire, in precisely the spirit of one " ready 
 to be offered up," and who felt that he had well-nigh 
 " finished his course," although, at the date of that 
 Epistle, the expectation of his being spared to revisit 
 his beloved converts in Macedonia preponderated. 
 ' That Paul had now no certain and prophetic view 
 of suffering martyrdom immediately,' Lardner re* 
 marks, * is apparent from several things in this Epis' 
 tie ; particularly from his desiring Timothy to come 
 to him, and to bring Mark with him as profitable for 
 the ministry. He supposed, therefore, that he should 
 have an opportunity to employ him in the service of 
 the Gospel. He likewise must have hoped to receive 
 and use the things left at Troas, which he desired 
 Timothy to bring to him,' ' The Apostle's words,' ch. k. v. 18. 
 adds the learned Writer, '.to me it clearly appears, 
 express faith in God and hope of the Divine protec" 
 tion in future difficulties and dangers ; or that God 
 would still dehver him and uphold him in His service, 
 against all the designs of evil men ; and when he had 
 done the work still remaining for him to do, and ful- 
 filled his testimony to the Gospel, he should be 
 brought safe to the heavenly kingdom.' 
 
 There is another coincidence between the language 
 of the Apostle in this Epistle and that which occurs 
 in the Epistle to the Philippians, which has not ob- 
 tained due notice. He says, in the former: "This 2 Tim. i. is. 
 thou knowest, that aU they who are in Asia," (but 
 which ought to be rendered, those of Asia, for so 
 
 2 c 
 
386 THE SECOND EPISTLE OP 
 
 Ghrysostom, Theophylact, and the Greek writers 
 
 generally understand the expression, as denoting the 
 
 See Lard- Asiatic Christians then at Eome,) "are turned away 
 
 H6F vol VI 
 
 p. tio. from me ; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes." 
 This agrees with and may partly explain what he 
 says afterwards : " At my first answer, no man stood 
 with me, but all men forsook me." Dr. Hammond 
 paraphrases the former passage thus : ' Thou hast 
 heard that^ in my affliction, I have been deserted by 
 all the Asiatic Christians at Rome, except only Onesi- 
 phorus.' Beausobre and other learned critics suppose 
 the Apostle to refer to some Asiatic believers who 
 had unkindly left Paul, and returned to their own 
 country. He complains, indeed, specifically, of 
 Demas, as has already been noticed. But, among 
 those who were turned away or alienated from him, it 
 seems natural to include those who, actuated by a 
 spirit of rivalry, stood aloof from the Apostle of the 
 Gentiles, while they preached the Christian doctrine 
 with a view to draw off his disciples or adherents, and 
 form a party or school of their own, thinking thereby 
 
 Phil. i. 16. to " add affliction to his bonds." Nothing is more 
 likely than that this course should have been adopted 
 by some of the Asiatic "false brethren," and that 
 Phygellus and Hermogenes were of the number. If 
 so, well might the Apostle, in writing to Timothy, 
 complain of their cruel desertion and treachery, and 
 pray that " it might not be laid to their charge," — 
 that is, might be forgiven them. 
 
 Upon the whole, Lardner's conclusion, expressed 
 with his usual modesty, after a very carefiil examina- 
 tion of the evidence for and against the date which 
 
PAUL TO TIMOTHY. 387 
 
 he adopts, seems amply warranted : * It appears to 
 me very probable, that this Second Epistle to Timo- 
 thy was written at Epme when Paul was sent thither 
 by Festus. And I cannot but think, that this ought 
 to be an allowed and determined point.' * 
 
 In the year 61, the seventh of Nero, Burrhus was 
 the prefect of the prestorium, or commander of the 
 praetorian guard, to whom Julius the Centurion gave 
 up his prisoner ; and, from his humane character, it is 
 inferred, that Paul might be indebted to his good 
 offices, as well as to the favourable report of the 
 Centurion, for the mild character of his imprisonment. 
 The custodia militaris, in which the prisoner was put 
 under the care of a centurion, and chained to a sol- 
 dier, was in itself a favour ; but much depended upon 
 the kind disposition of the centurion who had the 
 charge of him, and of the alternate guard to whom 
 he was chained. The free intercourse he enjoyed 
 with his friends, was an exception to the general 
 practice such as few could hope for. Had he been 
 sentenced to the harder lot of the career, he would 
 have been fortunate in not being obliged to renounce 
 the light of day. At his audience before the Empe- 
 ror, besides Burrhus, other courtiers and persons of 
 distinction must have been present ; and there, Paul 
 
 * Lardner, vol. vi. p. 64. The learned Author states, that he has 
 followed Lightfoot, Baronius, Estius, Hammond, and Witsius. Cave 
 also was of the same opinion when he wrote his Lives of the Apos- 
 tles, though elsewhere he speaks as if he had changed his mind : if 
 so, it must have been, Lardner thinks, in deference to Pearson, to 
 whom the contrasfy opinion is chiefly to be ascribed, as well as the 
 notion according to which ' Paul's lion' dwindles down into Helius, 
 the emperor's freed man and favourite. 
 
 2 2 
 
388 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 and Seneca may have met. On the death of Bur- 
 rhus in the year 62, the eighth of Nero, the com- 
 mand was divided betvreen Fenius Eufus and Sofonius 
 Tigellinus, two men of very different character.* 
 The death of Burrhus is mentioned by Tacitus as 
 having occasioned great consternation, as Httle good 
 was to be expected from the sluggish harmlessness of 
 one of his successors (Fenius Rufus), and still less 
 from the insatiable depravity of the other, who, in the 
 end, acquired the whole confidence of the Emperor, 
 and an exorbitant power. Seneca soon felt the 
 
 Hug,_voi. ii. altered air of the court, and retired after the 
 death of his friend. Up to that time, the cha- 
 racter of Nero had not been developed in all its 
 atrocity, but was as yet almost unsullied. It was, 
 therefore, a favourable period at which the Apostle 
 arrived at Rome ; and the overruling wisdom of 
 Divine Providence is strikingly manifested in the 
 singular concurrence of circumstances to which he 
 was indebted for the indulgence extended to him. 
 How long after the death of Burrhus this was con- 
 tinued, we have no means of ascertaining. That he 
 was ever set at liberty, is not to be gathered from any 
 thing in the New Testament. Chrysostom states, 
 that Paul ' was at first brought before the Emperor, 
 and escaped ; but, when he had converted his cup- 
 
 voi.vi.p!so. bearer, then he was beheaded.' 
 
 The Epistle § 6. We have next to consider where Timothy 
 
 Timothy at himself was, when St. Paul, in this Epistle, directed 
 
 Ephesus. 
 
 * ' Had the command been divided at the time of St. Paul's ar- 
 rival, the extreme accuracy of St. Luke would have induced him to 
 write To7s <rTpaToirfSdpxai^.' Greswell, vol. ii. p. 62. 
 
PAUL TO TIMOTHY. 389 
 
 him to come to him before the winter set in. He had 
 accompanied the Apostle from Macedonia into Asia ; Acts xx. 4. 
 after which, we hear no more of him in the History ; 
 and as there is no intimation that he was with the 
 Apostle at Jerusalem, it is probable that Timothy, as 
 well as Tychicus, remained in Asia. A few years 
 before, St. Paul had besought him to remain at Ephe- 
 sus : for some reason, however, which we must sup- 
 pose to have been good and sufficient, he made no 
 very long stay, but soon rejoined the Apostle in 
 Macedonia. That he should return to Ephesus the See pp. 292, 
 first favourable opportunity, where his presence was 
 deemed of so much importaince, it is but reasonable 
 to conclude ; and such an opportunity was afforded 
 when Paul and his companions touched at Miletus. 
 Accordingly, Lardner supposes that Paul parted with 
 him there, and that, ' when the elders of Ephesus 
 were come to Miletus, Timothy joined himself with 
 them, and stood at the head of them, and conse- 
 quently was one of those of whom it is said : " And 
 they aU wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck, and kissed 
 him ; sorrowing most of all for the words which he 
 spake, that they should see his face no more." Of Acts xx. 37. 
 this, Paul takes notice in the most affectionate man- 2 Tim. i. 4. 
 ner : " Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of 
 thy tears, that I may be filled with joy." Doubtless 
 Paul was much affected by the tears of all the rest, but 
 especially with Timothy's ; and was now " greatly 
 desirous to see him," who had been so deeply struck 
 with the thoughts of never seeing his face any more. 
 The observation that Paul refers to the tears shed by 
 his friends at his parting with them at Miletus, 
 
390 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 appears to me very obvious ; and it will directly lead 
 us to the true date of the Epistle. It is a most pro- 
 per beginning of a letter sent by Paul to Timothy 
 at Ephesus, soon after his arrival at Kome from 
 Palestine, at the time we suppose ; but it is very 
 unlikely to be taken notice of in an epistle written 
 several years afterwards, and after there had been an 
 interview, as there certainly was, when Paul was at 
 
 Lardner, -p, , 
 
 vol. vi. p. 40. Jtlome. 
 
 This is a happy instance of ingenious but solid 
 induction ; and there is not less beauty than apparent 
 truth in the conjecture. In the Epistle itself, there 
 are several indications which confirm the opinion that 
 Titnothy was then at Ephesus. Paul directs him to 
 salute thie household of Onesiphorus, who was an 
 Ephesian ; also Prisca and Aquila, who had probably 
 
 ch.Li6— 18. returned to Ephesus. He warns him against Alex- 
 ander the smith, who, if the same as the person 
 referred to in the first Epistle, (i. 20,) was, probably, 
 either an Ephesian or the Jewish Eabbi mentioned 
 
 Actsxix.33. in the Acts as put forward by the Jews to address 
 the Ephesian populace. Again, Timothy is directed 
 to take Troas in his way to Rome, in order to 
 bring the cloak and books which Paul had left 
 there with Carpus. Now Troas was the place at 
 which Timothy had met the Apostle m his last jour- 
 ney from Macedonia to Jerusalem ; and Paul writes 
 to him as acquainted with Carpus, and aware that 
 these things had been left with him,* From Troas, 
 
 * LigMfoot supposes that his cloak was his Roman garb, which, 
 in going into Judea, he Would lay aside for his Jewish habit ; or per- 
 haps it was a winter garment, which he expected to require. 
 
PAUL TO TIMOTHY. 391 
 
 they had proceeded to Miletus, sailing by Ephesus ; 
 and in leaving Asia for Italy, Timothy would find it 
 the most convenient plan to adopt the same route. 
 If this Epistle was sent away in May or the beginning 
 of June, as Lardner supposes, Timothy would receive 
 it in time to make his arrangements for reaching 
 Kome before winter. 
 
 § 7. The contents of this Epistle have been Analysis of 
 already to some extent anticipated, but they may be ** ^p'^*'*- 
 summed up in a brief analysis. The Apostle com- 
 mences it with a strong expression of his affectionate 
 regard for his son Timothy, and his ardent wish to 
 see him, remembering the tears which he shed at 
 their last parting. He exhorts him not to be 
 ashamed of suffering for the Gospel, or of him, Paul, 
 as the Lord's prisoner, for he was not himself 
 ashamed of what he was suffering. He enjoins upon 
 him stedfastness in the doctrine in which he had been 
 instructed by the Apostle, reminding him of some 
 who had proved unfaithful in his hour of trial. 
 Timothy is then charged to provide for the trans- 
 mission of the Apostolic doctrine and instructions, by 
 committing what he had learned to faithful men who 
 should be able to teach others. He is cautioned 
 against entangling himself in worldly business and 
 engagements ; and is exhorted to display in the ser- 
 vice of the Gospel the fortitude of the soldier, the 
 discipUne of the wrestler, and the patience of the 
 husbandman. The Apostle then reminds him, or 
 rather bids him ever to bear in mind, what was the 
 sum and substance of the Gospel he preached: 
 "Jesus Christ raised from the dead, of the seed of j^X%. 
 
392 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 David." Both parts of this statement had already 
 been questioned or impugned ; some denying the re- 
 surrection of Christ, and others his humanity. For 
 preaching this Gospel, Paul was suffering as a crimi- 
 nal ; but he was consoled with the thought, that the 
 doctrine was obtaining a free and unfettered course, 
 and with the assurance that those who suffered for 
 Christ should be partakers of his heavenly reign. 
 Upon these simple truths, the main facts of the 
 Gospel, Timothy was to insist, in opposition to the 
 logomachies of the sophists and the profane babblings 
 of false philosophy. Such was the heresy of Hyme- 
 nseus and Philetus, who, probably by resolving the 
 resurrection into an allegory, maintained that it was 
 past, and thus subverted the faith of some ;* although, 
 as the Apostle adds, the foundation-stone of God 
 remained firm, bearing on it a double inscription: 
 " God knows who are his own," and, " Let every 
 one who bears the name of Christ depart from ini- 
 quity." The Apostle, then resuming the strain of 
 admonition, enforces upon Timothy purity, self- 
 government, uprightness, love and peacefulness to- 
 wards all true Christians, gentleness and meekness 
 towards opponents. He reminds him of the predict 
 tion, that, in the last days, perilous times were to 
 See pp. 206, arise, times of degeneracy ; one prominent feature of 
 which would be, seducing teachers and perverse oppo- 
 nents of the faith. But he expresses his confidence 
 in his son Timothy, as having been fully conversant 
 
 * To those who had embraced Gnostic notions respecting matter 
 as the cause of evil, tlie re-union of tlie soul to the body must baye 
 been a doctrine very repulsive. 
 
PAUL TO TIMOTHY. 393 
 
 with his own teaching, example, fortitude, and suffer- 
 ings, and as being well grounded and established in 
 the Christian doctrine, having from childhood been 
 acquainted with the Holy Writings, upon which he 
 pronounces a striking and emphatic eulogy. Finally, 
 he solemnly charges him to be indefatigable, courage- 
 ous, faithful, and vigilant in the discharge of his 
 ministry, and the more so as his own course was 
 nearly run, and the time of his departure was at 
 hand. In conclusion, the Apostle urges Timothy to 
 join him at Rome, adding some particulars with regard 
 to his own situation which have already been noticed, 
 and closes the Epistle with salutations and his usual 
 valediction. 
 
 Between the First Epistle to Timothy and the 
 Second, there is a very marked coincidence, both in 
 the topics of admonition, and in some of the expres- 
 sions, so as to identify them as the composition of 
 the same Writer, yet with a perceptible difference in 
 the tone and character, such as was perfectly natural 
 under the varied circumstances, but which no imitator 
 of the Apostle's style could have imparted to a spu- 
 rious Epistle.* The former Epistle, it was remarked, 
 was in, effect addressed to the church at Ephesus, 
 and was designed as much to sustain Timothy in 
 the discharge of the commission entrusted to him, by 
 the sanction of Apostolic authority, as to convey to 
 him personally any information or directions. Al- 
 though the Second Epistle partakes somewhat more 
 of the character of a personal communication from 
 
 * See the sound observations, on this point, of Hug, vol. ii, 
 §§107,128. 
 
394 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 the Apostle to his son Timothy, there can be no 
 doubt that it was equally intended for the instruction 
 and admonition of the Ephesian church. And if, as 
 has been shewn to be probable, it was sent at the 
 same time as the Epistle to the Ephesians, which 
 was addressed to the Asiatic converts from among 
 the Gentiles or Greeks, we seem to have a reason, in 
 addition to the explanation already ^ven, for the 
 omission, in the latter, of any direct counsels or in- 
 structions to the elders of Ephesus or the Jewish por- 
 tion of the Christian body. These were addressed in the 
 public charge to Timothy ; as, in the message from Our 
 Lord to the church of Ephesus, which John was com- 
 manded to write, they were also addressed through the 
 oflScer styled the SyyeXo? (minister). In both the Epistles 
 to Timothy, we find the same remarkable phraseology 
 employed in reference to heretical teachers and their 
 doctrines, of which, it has been observed, the Apostle 
 speaks more unreservedly and distinctly than in his 
 iTim.i. 4; letters to the churches. In both, he speaks of their 
 
 iv« 7 ■ vi 4 • - 
 
 26.-2 Tim! myths or fables, profane and vain babblings, and 
 IT. 4.' ' logomachies. In both, he refers to Hymenseus by 
 name, joining with him, however, Alexander in the 
 First Epistle, and Philetus in the Second. This 
 variation is easily explained by supposing that Alex- 
 ander had not maintained the same heresy as Hyme- 
 naeus, although, having " made shipwreck concerning 
 faith," he had incurred the same exemplary punish- 
 see p. 312. mcut. lu both Epistlcs, we find the same earnest 
 1 Tim. iv. admonitions to Timothy upon the subject of his own 
 2fim.ii.22. conduct, and with reference to his youth. Still, the 
 Second Epistle is in no part a duplicate of the First. 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 306 
 
 Considering the interval which had elapsed since the 
 former Epistle was written, (not less than five years,) 
 it is perfectly natural that the Apostle should re- 
 iterate the admonitions and cautions he had given to 
 him. Yet, it may be observed, that Timothy is ad- 
 dressed, in the later Epistle, not as " the youth" who 
 had yet to qualify himself, by study and meditation, 
 for the discharge of his function as a teacher, but as iTim.iv. 
 an adept in the Christian doctrine, fully competent to ' 
 transmit it to others, discharging the work of an 
 Evangelist. Even these exhortations, however, would ?'^S"i"-^' 
 scarcely have been appropriate, had the Second Epistle 
 been written five or six years later. 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 
 
 § 8. The next Epistle that claims our attention is The Epistle 
 that addressed to the Christians at Colosse, written loaMans'— 
 after Tiinothy had joined the Apostle at Eome, and sJnt!'"'" 
 sent, together with the Epistle to Philemon, who 
 was one of the Colossian brethren, by Onesimus. 
 Tychicus is also mentioned as having been sent to 
 Colosse, to inform them of the Apostle's situation, 
 and to comfort their hearts ; as, in the Epistle to the 
 Ephesians, he is stated to have been sent with the 
 same commission to Ephesus. Hence it has been 
 inferred, that he was the bearer of both Epistles ; and 
 it is supposed by Lardner and Hug, that he under- 
 took two journeys into Asia for this purpose, having 
 returned to Home in the interim. It seems more 
 likely, however, that he was followed by Onesimus, 
 who joined him in Asia, bearing the later Epistle. 
 
396 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 The Apostle had heard, by Epaphras, of the faith 
 and charity of the brethren at Colosse ; and he had 
 we may therefore infer, been sent to Rome by the 
 Colossians. Mr. Greswell suggests, that he may 
 have accompanied Timothy; and he supposes, with 
 Grotius, that he is the same person as Epaphroditus, 
 mentioned in the Epistle to the Philippians.* In 
 that to Philemon, he is styled by the Apostle, his 
 fellow-prisoner ; which we are not, perhaps, to under- 
 stand literally, but as implying the companion of his 
 imprisonment. If, however, Epaphroditus is referred 
 to, the Apostle may elegantly allude to his imprison- 
 ment by sickness, " because for the work of Christ he 
 Phil. ii. 30^ was nigh unto death." 
 
 Was Paul § 9. A question has been raised, whether St. Paul 
 EnowrTto^ was personally known to the Colossians ; those critics 
 who adopt the negative, grounding their opinion upon 
 
 sians :' 
 
 the words : " I would that ye should know what great 
 conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, 
 and for as many as have not seen my face in the 
 Col. ii. 1. flesh." Theodoret, in the fifth century, suggested 
 the proper explanation of this passage : ' They should 
 consider that the meaning of the words is this : " I 
 have not only a concern for you, but I have also 
 great concern for those who have not seen me." And 
 if it be not so understood, he expresses no concern 
 for those who had seen him, and had been taught 
 by him.f Moreover, the blessed Luke says, in the 
 
 • Beausobre and Lardner admit the name to be probably the 
 same, while doubting the identity of the person. 
 
 t That this is the meaning, appears from what follows — ' that 
 their hearts' (not your) ' may be comforted.' Theod. in loco^ 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 307 
 
 Acts, " And after he had spent some time there, he 
 departed, and went over all the country of Galatia, 
 and of Phrygia in order." Colosse is a city of Phrygia ; 
 and Laodicea, the metropolis of the country, is not 
 far fi-om it. How was it possible for him to be in 
 Phrygia, and not carry the Gospel to those places ? 
 And in another place, the blessed Luke says : " Now 
 when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the 
 region of Galatia, and were forbidden by the Holy- 
 Ghost to preach in Asia." ' As Dr. Lardner re- in Lpdner, 
 marks, after citing this passage, St. Luke has not ™ ' '■^' 
 named any places in Galatia visited by St. Paul, yet 
 he must have planted divers churches in its cities and 
 towns ; and so, ' the accounts given of his journeys 
 in Phrygia, are sufficient to assure us that he preached 
 the Gospel there, and made converts, and planted 
 churches in the chief cities.' In fact, it is evident 
 from the whole tenor of the Epistle, that the Apostle 
 is writing, not to strangers, but to his personal 
 friends and disciples, those whose order he had wit- 
 nessed, though he was now absent from them in body, 
 and present with them only in spirit, and who were 
 also well acquainted with his beloved son and col- 
 league Timothy, and with the other companions of 
 the Apostle whose names occur in the salutations. 
 Philemon of Colosse was at all events St. Paul's 
 convert.* Had Epaphras been, as some have con- 
 jectured, their first instructor in Christianity, and the 
 founder of the church, his name would doubtless have 
 appeared in the opening salutation, in the place of 
 
 * Mr. Greswell's conjecture, that Paul might have converted 
 Philemon at Rome, is strangely forced and improbable. 
 
398 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 Timothy's, or in addition to it ; but, in that case, the 
 Apostle would not have used such an expression con- 
 cerning him as, " who is one of you ; " nor have 
 deemed it necessary to recommend him so strongly 
 to the esteem and regard of the Colossian brethren.* 
 Analysis of § 10. After the customary Apostolic salutation, 
 St. Paul commences the Epistle with declaring, that 
 he gave thanks to God in his constant supplications 
 for them, having been informed of their fidelity and 
 charity, on account of the heavenly inheritance which 
 was laid up for them, according to the Gospel which 
 they had embraced ; and that he had never ceased to 
 pray that they might be filled with the knowledge of 
 God's wiU and all spiritual wisdom, so as to maintain 
 a conduct worthy of the Christian name ; being en- 
 dued with Divine strength to endure every trial with 
 patience, and rendering thanks to God for their 
 redemption from the Power of Darkness, and transla- 
 tion into the kingdom of the Son of God. The men- 
 tion of the Redeemer leads the Apostle to break off 
 into one of those sublime digressions by which his 
 writings are characterized, in order to expatiate upon 
 the Divine attributes and mediatorial glory of the 
 " Word made flesh," as the head of the Church, and 
 to advert to the purpose of -the Father to reconcile 
 all things to himself by Christ. He then reminds 
 them (as he had done the Ephesian believers) of their 
 former condition of ahenation and wickedness, in 
 which the Gospel had found them, — that Gospel, 
 
 * Lardner has with minuteness insisted upon the internal evi- 
 dence, in a chapter entitled, ' That the churches of Colosse and 
 Laodicea were planted by the Apostle Paul.' Works, vol. vi. p. 161. 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 399 
 
 addressed to every creature, which he had been com- 
 missioned to preach, and for which he was now 
 suffering in their cause ; it having been especially 
 committed to him, to publish the long-concealed mys- 
 tery of the extension of Divine mercy to the Gentiles. 
 The aim of all his labours and efforts in the discharge 
 of this ministry, was this, — to present every man 
 perfect in Christ Jesus ; and he wished them and all 
 their fellow-believers in Phrygia to know what intense 
 solicitude he felt, that they, by an experience of the 
 consolations of the Gospel, might be so fully assured 
 of its truth, as to adhere to the doctrine they had been 
 taught, — the mystery of God the Father and of 
 Christ, as comprising all the hidden treasures of wis- 
 dom and knowledge. He thus expresses himself, he 
 says, in reference to the danger of their being seduced 
 by plausible but false representations ; and he exhorts 
 them to adhere with stedfastness and gratitude to 
 what they had received and been taught. 
 
 The Apostle then proceeds to counsel and admonish ch.ii. 8. 
 them with more direct reference to the particular 
 errors against which it was necessary to put them on 
 their guard ; a fallacious and vain philosophy, having 
 its origin in human opinions, and framed of worldly 
 elements, incompatible with the simplicity of the 
 Christian doctrine. In opposition to the dogmas 
 alluded to, they are instructed to bear in mind, that 
 in Christ the true wXij/)s./*a or fiiUness of the God- 
 head dwelt personally and really, his body being the 
 very Temple of Deity ; and that in Him, therefore, 
 believers had everything requisite for their perfection; 
 in Him, their only Head, they were consummate or 
 
400 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 complete, who is the Head of every order of intel* 
 ligence exercising authority and power. United to 
 Him by faith, they needed no ritual circumcision, 
 being morally sanctified, — having, in their baptism, 
 stripped themselves of their old nature, and buried it 
 in the grave of Christ, that they might rise to a new 
 life. The same Divine power which had raised Christ 
 from the dead, had raised them from spiritual death ; 
 all their sins being forgiven through the satisfaction 
 made to the Law by His death, who had cancelled its 
 penal claims by paying the ransom, and, as a victor, 
 had spoiled the rulers and powers of darkness of their 
 prey, triumphing openly over them. 
 Ch. ii. 16. Such being their privileged condition, they are 
 exhorted not to allow any one to impose upon them 
 the ordinances of the Mosaic law, in regard to diet 
 or the Jewish festivals and sabbatical years, which 
 belonged to an emblematic economy ; or to seduce 
 them by Gnostic errors incompatible with allegiance 
 to Christ as the vital head of his body. As having, 
 in virtue of their union to Christ, died to the world, 
 and risen the partakers of a heavenly life, they are 
 exhorted to refuse conformity to worldly institutes 
 and human traditions, and to set their aficctions upon 
 heavenly objects and the hope of glory. Those 
 earthly lusts and vices which drew down the Divine 
 displeasure upon the heathen, and in the indulgence of 
 which they had once lived, they are exhorted to slay ; 
 to divest themselves of all the evil dispositions which 
 belonged to their old sinful nature, and to put on 
 the Christian character, consisting in a resemblance 
 to Christ, borne by all his true disciples, of whatever 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 401 
 
 nation or condition. Above all, they are enjoined to 
 cultivate mutual love and concord as one body, and 
 to give expression to their gratitude to God in social 
 worship and hymns of praise, performing all in the 
 name of The Lord Jesus, and presenting through 
 Him their thanksgiving to the Father. 
 
 After these general admonitions, the Apostle sub- Ch.iii, is. 
 joins brief exhortations to wives and husbands, chil- 
 dren and parents, servants and masters. He then 
 exhorts them to be constant in prayer and thanks- 
 _giving ; and bespeaks their intercessions for himself 
 that he might be assisted to acquit himself as an 
 ambassador of Christ in bonds. Finally, he enjoins 
 upon them circumspection towards those without the 
 Church, and recommends them to be prepared with 
 an apt answer to all who should question them re- 
 specting their faith or hope. 
 
 The Apostle, in conclusion, mentions his having 
 sent to them Tychicus and Onesimus, who would 
 inform them more &lly of his circumstances ; he 
 sends salutations from his fellow-labourers, with a 
 special commendation of Epaphras, as having a very 
 affectionate concern for them and the brethren in 
 Laodicea and Hierapolis, to whom he desires to send 
 salutation also ; he directs that this Epistle should be 
 publicly read among the Colossian brethren, and 
 then in the church of the Laodiceans, sending a gee p. ms. 
 special message to Archippus, to discharge his min- 
 istry with care ; and then adds with his own hand 
 (the rest having doubtless been written by an amanu- 
 ensis) the touching farewell, — " Keraember my 
 bonds. Grace be with you. Amen.* 
 
 2 D 
 
402 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 Pointe of §11. Between this Epistle and that to the Ephe- 
 
 and differ- siaos, there are numerous coincidences ot sentiment, 
 tweenthis and some of expression ; yet, in most of the parallel 
 
 Epistle and .i i ^ * t tr* i i* 
 
 that to the passages, the phraseology is diiterent ; and in many 
 p esians. jjjgj^jjggg^ ^]jg correspondence is not more close than 
 may be observed between passages in this and in other 
 Epistles.* For instance, the remarkable expressions, 
 " buried with Christ in baptism," and " being dead 
 with Christ," as well as the general strain of thought 
 
 Rom. Ti. 3 in Col. ii. 12, 13; iii. 3, are found in the Epistle to 
 the Romans. In the latter Epistle, also, we find the 
 " mystery " relating to the calling of the Gentiles 
 
 Rom.xTi.25. spokeu of in terms similar to those used at Col. i. 26. 
 Again, the declaration, that in Christ there is no 
 distinction between Greek and Jew, bond and free. 
 
 Col. iii. u. occurs in the Epistle to the Galatians. Still more 
 
 Gal. iii. 28. ., . . , ^ 
 
 striking IS the correspondence between the caution 
 against submitting to the imposition of Jewish ordi- 
 nances, and the Apostle's remonstrance with the Ga- 
 Coi. ii. 16. latians for turning again to worldly elements, and 
 Gal. iv. 9. " observing days, and months, and times, and years." 
 Other coincidences might be pointed out between 
 passages in this Epistle and in other parts of the 
 Apostolic writings ; but, ' in all that have been now 
 referred to, the Epistle to the Ephesians presents no 
 corresponding expressions.^ In fact, although there 
 is a general resemblance in the plan of the two Epistles, 
 with many exhortations in common, yet, as formerly 
 Seep. 366. remarked, the aim and drift of the Apostle in the 
 one addressed to the Asiatic believers, are very dif- 
 
 * A table of the corresponding passages is given by Home (voL 
 iv. p. 381 ), who makes them extend to 66 verses out of 96 ! 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 403 
 
 ferent ; the main topics upon which he there expa- 
 tiates, are different ; and so is the character of the 
 composition, which is at once more copious and more 
 finished, more fervid and more elevated. Yet is the 
 Epistle to the Colossians highly valuable, not only for 
 the practical instruction which it embodies, but espe- 
 cially for those inspired testimonies which occur in it, 
 to the proper deity and mediatorial glory of the Son 
 of the Father, " the Image of the Invisible God." 
 
 § 12. With regard to the specific heresies to which Nature of 
 the Apostle refers in this Epistle, as well as in those referred \o' 
 to Timothy and to the Ephesians, there has been Epistle. 
 much learned debate. The inquiry is one of con- 
 siderable historical interest, though of small importance 
 to the plain Bible reader, except as it may serve to 
 give a more precise meaning to some of the phrases 
 employed by St. Paul in opposing those false doc- 
 trines. There is, in particular, one remarkable form 
 of expression frequently occurring in the Pauline 
 writings, which may receive some light from this 
 investigation ; namely, that in which the Apostle 
 refers to superhuman intelligences under the names 
 of " principalities and powers, thrones and dominions." iioni.yiii.38. 
 It is manifest, that, when Our Lord is represented as iii^ io\ vC 
 having " spoiled principalities and powers," and again, le'; ii. id, 
 when the Christian soldier is admonished that he has 
 to wrestle against them, and " against the rulers of the 
 darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness 
 in high places," evil intelligences are referred to. 
 Now in the demon ology of the Oriental school, 
 these same expressions are employed to denote the 
 different orders of spirits to whom was assigned the 
 
 2 D 2 
 
 l.'i. 
 
Hug, vol. ii. 
 
 404 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 office of governing the world. In the book " On the 
 Mysteries of the Chaldeans and Egyptians," attributed 
 to the Syrian Philosopher, Jamblichus of Chalcis, a 
 sketch of this extraordinary system is given, of which 
 the learned Professor Hug has furnished the following 
 ^^^^- abstract: — 
 
 ' The nature of the gods is a pure, spiritual, and 
 perfect unity. With this highest and perfect imma- 
 teriality, no influence on matter is conceivable ; con- 
 sequently, no creation or dominion of the world. 
 Certain subordinate deities must, therefore, be ad- 
 mitted, which are more compounded in their nature, 
 and can act upon gross matter. These are the creators 
 of the world (Stjpoupyoi) and the rulers of the world 
 {^Koa-iMK(aropei). The supcrfor dcities are, however, the 
 real cause of all that exists ; and from their fullness 
 (wX5j;iaj«a) it derives its existence. 
 
 ' The succession from the highest deities down to 
 the lowest, is not by a sudden descent, but by a grada- 
 tion from the highest, most pure, and spiritual nature, 
 down to those which are more substantial and mate- 
 rial, and which, as the most nearly related to the gross 
 matter of the creation, consequently possess the pro- 
 perty of acting upon it. In proportion to their 
 purer quality or coarser composition, they occupy 
 different places as their residence, either in a denser 
 atmosphere or in higher regions. The highest among 
 these classes of spirits are called afxm or afxiKov ahiot. 
 Others among the divine natures (&£"«» ot(na<) are 
 intermediate beings (/*e'<ra(). Those which occupy 
 themselves with the laws of the world, are also called 
 ■Afixovrei, rulers ; and the ministering spirits are SuW/zeic 
 
Hug, vol. ii. 
 
 TO THE COLOSSIANS. 405 
 
 (powers), and a^yeXoi (angels). The afxdr/yeKo^ (arch- 
 angels) are not generally recognised in this theory : 
 they are said to have been first introduced by Por- 
 phyry. If we take also into consideration the Hma-lai, 
 of which Justin Martyr speaks, we shall have enume- 
 rated the greater part of the technical appellations of 
 this Demonology,' § 12s, 
 
 In this system, there is obviously something more 
 than a resemblance to that of the Magian philosophy. 
 The jneVaj, or intermediate beings, are the furukers * 
 of the Persian mythology, the subordinate agents of 
 Ormuzd (or Oromazes), the author of all good, who 
 keep watch against Ahriman, the author of evil, and 
 his agents, as connected with the human soul : they 
 are the suggesters of all good principles, the genius 
 or external conscience which deters man from evil. 
 Other Magian notions may also be distinctly traced in 
 the account given by Jamblichus of the superior and 
 inferior deities. This Oriental system, commonly 
 known as the Babylonian or Chaldsean, had long been 
 familiar to the Greeks, It had extended to Rome 
 before the reiga of Augustus, and was in the full 
 progress of its extension during the Augustan age. 
 The practical part of the system was occupied with 
 the precepts, by observing which, a person might enter 
 into communication with the intermediate spirits or 
 demons, through whose assistance its votaries aspired 
 to the acquisition of superhuman knowledge, the power 
 of predicting future events, and of performing super- 
 natural works. The philosophers of this school were 
 
 * The furuhers or feruers correspond in many respects to the 
 ideal archetypes of Plato and the good demon of Socrates. 
 
406 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 known under the names of Magi and Chaldeans, terms 
 used -interchangeably. They had found their way to 
 the Imperial palace. Tiberius had received instruc- 
 tion in their philosophy, and was a believet in their 
 magical powers : — 
 
 " Principis Augusta Caprearum in rupe sedentis 
 Cum, grege Chaldoeo." — Juvbnal, Sat. x. 93. 
 
 Nero caused a great number of them to be brought 
 over from Asia, not unfrequently at the expense of 
 the provinces. The Magi or Chaldeans, as we learn 
 from Tacitus, Suetonius, and Juvenal, were the per- 
 sons consulted in all great undertakings. ' When 
 conspiracies arose, they predicted the issue ; they in- 
 voked spirits, prepared offerings, and, in love affairs, 
 were obliged to afford aid from their art. As they 
 found access to and favour with people of all classes 
 in the Metropolis, so did they also in the Provinces. 
 Paul found a magus* at the court of the proconsul at 
 Paphos. (Acts xiii. 6.) Such was that Simon in 
 Samaria (Acts viii. 9), who was there considered as 
 a higher being of the spiritual class. The expression 
 is remarkable, as it is a part of the technical language 
 of the Theurgists : they called him, Su'vajUi; toE ©eou 
 ixeydxti, a great power of God. So, also, Pliny calls 
 some of the demons and intelmediate spirits by whose 
 co-operation particular results were effected, — potes- 
 tates. Justin Martyr, _ the fellow-countryman of 
 Simon, has preserved to us some technical expressions 
 of his followers : he says, that they ascribed to him the 
 
 * 'O M«7oj appears, as Dr. Wait suggests, to be the translation of 
 the title, 'EAu^oi, 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 407 
 
 high title, 'Titepdva itaiTiiq a/J^i??, Ka\ e^oviria;, xai Suya/ACBj 
 
 ' Above every princedom, authority, and power.' § ifs™ 
 
 To the magical arts professed by these philoso- 
 phers, (although the pure Magian philosophy is 
 supposed to have been free from these pretensions,) 
 we find numerous references in the New Testament. 
 It is mentioned as one result of the Apostle Paul's 
 labours at Ephesus, that many who were addicted to 
 such arts, brought a quantity of their magical and 
 theurgic books, and burned them publicly. That Actsxix.is. 
 city had long been celebrated for its magi ; and the 
 Ephesian amulets (a^e^tfapi^aKa) and Ephesian charms 
 (ypaiA/Aara) wcrc spclls highly cxtoUcd for obtaining au- 
 thority over the demons.* Now, in his First Epistle 
 to Timothy, the Apostle Paul expressly refers to these 
 " doctrines of demons," or demonological tenets ; and, i Tim. iv. i. 
 in the Second Epistle, he compares the opponents of 
 the Gospel to Jannes and Jambres, the magicians who 
 withstood Moses by their arts. In the Epistle to the 
 Colossians, he speaks of a " worshipping of angels," in 2 Tim. hi. 8. 
 connexion with intrusive speculations concerning the 
 invisible world ; which also seems to point to similar 
 notions. In the Zend-Avesta, the only extant frag- 
 ment of the Magian sacred books, there are given 
 liturgical services and prayers for all sorts of occa- 
 sions ; some addressed to the guardian angels of the 
 Sun and the Planets; some to the various good genii 
 
 * Hug, vol. ii. § 126. The learned Author cites an inscription 
 found among the ruins of Miletus, proving the prevalent belief, in 
 those regions, of the theurgic doctrines. As late as the fourth cen- 
 tury, the Synod at Laodicea instituted severe edicts against angel- 
 worship, magic, and incantations. See Neander's History of the 
 Church (by Ryland), vol. i. p. 382. 
 
408 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 who preside over the different elements of nature and 
 productions of the earth. The leading duties of the 
 Parsee religion are, accordingly, first, to adore Or- 
 muzd, the author of all good ; and, next, to reverence 
 all the angels and subordinate spirits, his agents, with 
 which Nature swarms in all her elements, and to pay 
 them honour and worship. The prayers which are to 
 be recited, are considered as a sort of charms or in- 
 cantations. The whole system, as it still survives in 
 the creed of this remarkable race,^ is founded on the 
 supposition of a continual warfare between good and 
 evil spirits, which fill all nature ; and religion is but 
 the art of gaining the aid of the former, and,, by ob- 
 servance of the law, of inducing them to assist the 
 votaries of Ormuzd, against the powers of evil.* 
 
 With the mystical philosophy of the Magian 
 school, which identified the Evil Principle with mat- 
 ter, was closely connected an asceticism having for 
 its professed object to disengage the soul from servi- 
 tude to the body. According to Jamblichus, to eat 
 meat or partake of any slain animal, nay, even to 
 touch it,, was held to be contaminating. Matrimony 
 was deemed incompatible with the attainment of per- 
 fection. Bodily exercises and purifications, though 
 not productive of the gifts of prophecy, were supposed 
 to be conducive to them. To these notions, f rather 
 than to the Jewish laws respecting food, the Apostle 
 
 * Cbnder's ' "View of all Religions,' p. 610, Iti the public prayers,, 
 much use is made of the consecrated water, which is supposed to be 
 powerful in repelling demons. 
 
 + No Parsee can eat or drink out of the same vessel with a person 
 of a different religion. As to their diet, all birds and beasts of prey, 
 
1—3. 
 
 TO THE COLOSSIANS. 409 
 
 may be thought to refer under the expression, worldly 
 elements, at Col. ii. 20, where he speaks of such 
 ordinances as forbade touching this and tasting that, 
 which had a semblance of wisdom in a neglecting or 
 punishing of the body. To the same dogmas he alludes, 
 when he tells Timothy, that " bodily discipline pro- 
 fiteth httle ; " and mentions, in immediate connexion i Tim. iv. 8. 
 with demonological doctrines, the forbidding to marry, 
 and the commanding to abstain from meats ; conditions i Tim. iv. 
 insisted upon in the Magian philosophy, as necessary 
 to a communication with the spiritual world. More- 
 over, what he says of the seared consciences of these 
 apostates, their deceptions and their avarice, is cer- 
 tainly, Professor Hug remarks, more applicable to 
 that class of men, than to any other. None, according 
 to the testimony of all antiquity, were more chargeable 
 with such immoralities, than the pretended confidants 
 of the Occult Powers. 
 
 Some learned writers have supposed that, in the 
 heretical teachers to whom the Apostle refers, we 
 may recognize the distinguishing features of the 
 Jewish sect of the Essenes. What is said of absti- 
 nence, of chastising the body, of observing the cere- 
 monial law, and of the reverence paid to angels, it 
 has been remarked, might suit that sect, in common 
 with other ascetics. But there is no ground for imput- 
 ing to the Essenes the extreme immorahty with which 
 St. Paul charges these seducers ; since the contem- 
 poraries of that Jewish sect mention them with honour 
 and respect, and extol the leading men as the most 
 
 ■with the dog and hare, are forbidden ; and in India, they generally 
 abstain from beef. 
 
410 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 Hug, vol. ii. virtuous of their age. It is probable, however, that 
 Neander, both the asceticisui of the Essenes, and the grosser mys- 
 note! ^' ' ticism which sought to blend itself with the Christian 
 doctrines in the Gnostic heresy, had a common source 
 in the Oriental school of philosophy,* which had its 
 followers among the Jews as well as among the hea- 
 then. ' We here see,' remarks Neander, ' a ten- 
 dency, first germinating in the circle of Judaism, 
 from which, in the following century, manifold branches 
 proceeded, of a Gnosticism that corrupted the simple 
 Gospel. Paul probably had cause, . from his expe- 
 rience during his long sojourn in the Lesser Asia, to 
 apprehend the springing up of a tendency so injurious 
 to the Gospel ; and hence we may account for his 
 warnings addressed to the elders of the Ephesian 
 church. His apprehensions were now verified. Jewish 
 false teachers of this tendency had made their way 
 into the church at Colosse. In a country like Phrygia, 
 where a propensity for the mystical and the magical 
 was always rife, (as is evident from the forms of 
 religion peculiar to that country, — the worship of 
 Neander, Cybcle, and afterwards Montanism,) such a tendency 
 376, '378.' would be peculiarly dangerous to Christianity.' 
 
 In the example of Paul, the learned Writer pro- 
 ceeds to remark, ' we recognize the peculiar character 
 of the ApostoUc mode of refuting error, by seizing 
 the root of the doctrine in its fundamental religious 
 tendency, and opposing to it the spirit of the Gospel. 
 
 * Gnosticism combined the Platonic theory of Emanations with 
 the Magian demonology and the doctrine of two original principles, 
 good and evil. In the Manichean heresy, the mixture of the Magian 
 philosophy with Christian ideas, is still more palpable. 
 
Tol.i.p.382. 
 
 TO THE COLOSSIANS. 411 
 
 Thus, he repressed the boasting of a pretended supe- 
 rior wisdom and a delusive acquaintance with spirits, 
 without setting himself to oppose each separate parti- 
 cular error, by exhibiting a truth that marks the 
 central point of Christianity ; that, by communion 
 with Christ alone, we receive all the fulness of the 
 Divine life ; by Him alone we are introduced into the 
 kingdom of God ; and we belong to that same king- 
 dom to which all higher spirits belong, by union with 
 Him as the common head of the whole ; in Him we 
 have all things which are needed for the development 
 of the internal life ; and hence we need no other 
 Mediator. Toi.i.D.38 
 
 There is one difficulty, however, which the learned 
 writers above cited have overlooked, in pointing out 
 the apparent allusions, in the language employed by 
 St. Paul, to the Magian demonology. If, under the 
 terms, ' principalities or primacies, powers, rulers,' he 
 refers to the spiritual agencies, the gods or demons of 
 the Chaldean philosophy, does he not thereby recog- 
 nize their existence, and so far sanction a belief in 
 the system ? We cannot for a moment suppose that 
 the Apostle meant to represent the Christian as 
 warring against fabulous or allegorical enemies, where 
 he speaks of wrestling not against flesh and blood, 
 but against the princedoms, the powers, the world- 
 rulers of this darkness, the spiritual agents of wicked- 
 ness in the heavens. Does he, then, in thus referring 
 to real existencies, to mighty intelligencies, hostile to 
 Christ and his servants, borrow the language of popu- 
 lar superstition, in accommodation to notions abso- 
 lutely false and antichristian ? Such a conclusion 
 
412 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 seems utterly inadmissable. Upon this principle of 
 accommodation, the sacred Writer might, with as little 
 impropriety, have spoken of having to wrestle against 
 the gods of Greece and Rome, against the Artemis 
 • of the Ephesians, the Aphrodite of the Corinthians, 
 the Pallas of the Athenians, in sacrificing to whom, 
 he declares, that the Gentiles sacrificed to demons, 
 icor.x.2o. and not to God. But, if his language is not to be 
 understood allegorically or in accommodation, it de- 
 notes his belief in the actual existence and agency of 
 the powers and orders which seem to correspond to 
 those of the Magian system. And of course, as- 
 suming the Apostolic inspiration, the behef so ex- 
 pressed, must be held to establish the fact, that they do 
 exist as real and potent adversaries. 
 
 The only satisfactory way of solving the difficulty 
 is, by supposing, that, instead of Truth borrowing 
 the language of Fiction, Fiction had appropriated that 
 of Truth, in blending the discoveries of Eevelation 
 with its own puerilities ; in the same way as, subse- 
 quently, the doctrine of the Logos was accommodated 
 to the reveries of the Neo-Platonists. The Magian 
 religion was itself essentially a corruption of the 
 Mosaic. The notion of a Good and an Evil Princi- 
 ple warring against each other, and opposed as Light 
 and Darkness, bears an obvious relation to the re- 
 vealed fact, that our world is the theatre of an awful 
 conflict between the Serpent and the Seed of the 
 Woman, the Destroyer and the Eedeemer of our 
 race. Like all other heresies, this primitive error 
 arose from the endeavour to accommodate truth to 
 the speculations of philosophy or to the gross corrup- 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 413 
 
 tions of the vulgar. Zoroaster, who is supposed to 
 
 have been of Jewish origin,* appeared as a reformer, 
 
 professing to bring back the reUgion of the Persians 
 
 to the purity of the Abrahamic faith ; and his object 
 
 seems to have been, to graft the doctrine of One 
 
 Supreme Being upon the national superstition. In 
 
 the message to Cyrus, which Isaiah was commissioned 
 
 to deliver, there is an evident allusion to the Magian 
 
 doctrine of Two Eternal Principles : " I am Jehovah, 
 
 and there is none else : I form the Hght, and create 
 
 darkness ; I make peace, and create evil ; I the Lord 
 
 do all these things." Zoroaster is supposed to have i8a.xiT.6,7. 
 
 borrowed his emblematic worship of Fire from the 
 
 Shekinah ; and his mythology seems to have been 
 
 compounded of the Jewish doctrine of angels with 
 
 the ideal creations of a mystical Pantheism, such as, 
 
 from the earliest historic times, has been cherished 
 
 by the Indian schools from which Pythagoras, Plato, 
 
 and Zeno drew their Oriental wisdom. 
 
 * ' Hyde and Prideaux laboured to prove that Zoroaster had been 
 a pupil of Daniel, and derived those notions which seem more nearly 
 allied to the purer faith, from his intercourse with the Hebrew pi-o- 
 phet, who held a high station under the victorious Medo-Persian 
 monarchy. But, in fact, there is such an originality and complete- 
 ness in the Zoroastrian system, and in its leading principles, as 
 clearly to indicate an independent and peculiar source, at least in 
 its more perfect development.' Milman's Hist, of Christianity, b. i. 
 c. 2. The ' hypothesis' maintained by Hyde, Prideaux, Anquetil 
 du Perron, Kleuker, Herder, Malcolm, and Von Hammer, which 
 places Zoroaster under the reign of Darius Hystaspes or Gushtasp, 
 is, however, perfectly reconcileable with the supposition, that the 
 Magian faith had its origin in more remote antiquity, and that Zoro- 
 aster, like Buddha, had his predecessors, if, indeed, the appellative 
 itself was not given to more than one personage. See Mod. Trav. 
 Persia, vol. i. pp. 46 — 61. 
 
414 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 Some Biblical interpreters of the neological school 
 have contended, indeed, that the Jews borrowed their 
 notions of Angels from the old Persian mythology, 
 during their long exile in the East.* Professor 
 Moses Stuart has ably refuted this notion. 'A 
 superficial observer,' he remarks, * is struck with 
 wonder, when he sees an Ormuzd corresponding in 
 many respects to John's Logos ; then, an Ahriman 
 tallying so well, in a variety of ways, with Satan ; 
 then the Amshaspands or seven good archangels,-}" 
 seemingly correspondent to the* seven archangels of 
 the New Testament ; and, last of all, the Izeds, 
 their subordinates, seeming to correspond to the 
 secondary angels or subordinate spiritual agents dis- 
 closed in the Scriptures.' But the points of discre- 
 pancy are not only more numerous and more striking 
 than those of resemblance : they are such as can 
 leave no doubt which system borrowed from the 
 other. * What have we now in the Scriptures ? ' 
 continues Mr. Stuart. ' One only living and true 
 God, the Creator of all things by His Logos. There 
 
 * Mr. Milman speaks of it as generally admitted, that the Jewish 
 notions about the Angels, and what may be called their demonology, 
 received a strong foreign tinge during their residence in Babylon. 
 ' The transition from the primitive,' (we would rather say the scrip- 
 tural,) ' to the Babylonian belief, may be traced,' he remarks, ' in 
 the apocryphal book of Tobit, no doubt of eastern origin.' But the 
 learned Author lays himself open to just censure, when he seems to^ 
 confound the doctrines of Revelation with the reveries of the Tal- 
 mud, and speaks of Our Saviour as ' condescending to the popular 
 language' in sanctioning the Magian doctrine of Guardian Angels. 
 
 t ' They are usually, however, reckoned six ; Oromasd (or Or- 
 muzd) being sometimes included to make up seven. Six seems to 
 have been the sacred number with the Persians, as seveA was that 
 of perfection among the Jews.' Milman. 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 415 
 
 is no Dualism ; no created gods ; no equality between 
 Satan and the Logos of God ; no power in Satan to 
 create ; no worship of angels, for this is most abso- 
 lutely forbidden ; no annihilation of evil angels at the 
 end of the world ; no penitence and submission of 
 Satan ; no distinction of sex among the angels ; above 
 all, not a trace of the/erMcr* ; no worship or homage 
 paid to these simply ideal existences. Well may we 
 ask, how comes it that the Hebrews, if they derived 
 all their Angelology from the Parsees (or Magians), 
 should have admitted only so few particulars, and 
 excluded, yea, proscribed all the rest ? ... If Zoro- 
 aster obtained from the exiled Jews* a knowledge of 
 their Angelology, he might incorporate this with his 
 own and the Parsee system already extant, and thus 
 compound a system different from either of the others, 
 and yet partaking in some measure of all. Parsee 
 Angelology looks very much as if it were made up in 
 this way. The feruers must be of heathen origin. 
 Dualism must be of heathen origin. But some of 
 the attributes of Ormuzd and Ahriman, the different 
 orders of angels, good and bad, and the like, look 
 very much like being taken from the Jewish notions.' BiUiotheca 
 That the Magian philosophy, which, like Moham- pp-ubjifis! 
 medism, borrowed from Jewish sources, should, like 
 that in later times, have gained converts among the 
 Jewish rabbins, and blended itself with a corrupt 
 Judaism, is not surprising. The Romish corruption 
 of Christianity has derived some of its 'beggarly 
 elements ' from the same source. Hence, the admo- 
 
 * The Ten Tribes were carried away captive into Assyria B.C. 678 ; 
 and the birth of Zoroaster took place, according to Kleuker, b.c. 689. 
 
416 THE EPISTLE OF 
 
 nitions and cautions of the Apostle, relating primarily 
 to the Magian and Gnostic heresies, are not less 
 applicable to the angelolatry and asceticism of Popery. 
 Even among Protestants, there is exhibited a tendency 
 to opinions respecting the. power and agency of 
 Satan, bordering on the Magian superstition and the 
 old Dualism, and requiring the correction of more 
 scriptural ideas.* Falsely and calumniously, indeed, 
 has the Augustinian or Evangelical school of theology 
 been charged with an approach to Manichean notions. 
 The Pauline doctrine, while recognizing and esta- 
 blishing the fact, that the Christian has to sustain a 
 contest with the powers of darkness, arms him 
 against the terrors of superstition, by representing all 
 the principalities and powers of the invisible world 
 as subject to the Son of God, the Head and Lord of 
 the Universe, by whom and for whom all things, 
 whether in heaven or on earth, were created, and in 
 whom resides the fulness of Deity. 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON. 
 
 The Epistle § 1 3. The short but very elegant Letter to Phile- 
 mon: 'who ™oii of Colosse, was evidently written and sent at 
 mus? °^^* the same time as the Epistle to the Colossian church. 
 Onesimus, to whom it relates, was a fugitive slave or 
 bond servant, who had found his way to Rome, and 
 was there converted by the Apostle. How he be- 
 came introduced to St. Paul, we are not informed. 
 
 * The Swedenborgian heresy is a curious illustration of this tten- 
 dency of mysticism, and strongly partakes of a Magian character. 
 
PAUL TO PHILEMON. 417 
 
 It seems most likely, that Onesimus had attached 
 himself to the service of some of the Asiatic brethren 
 who were visiting Eome, and that by this means he 
 became known to the Apostle. Jerome imagines, 
 that he had robbed his master of money sufficient to 
 enable him both to reach Italy, and to support him- 
 self at Rome in luxury ; a supposition for which 
 there is no authority. The language of St. Paul, 
 " If he has done thee any wrong, or owes thee any 
 thing," by no means warrants such an inference, but 
 rather implies the contrary. Tradition, upon this as 
 upon most other points of fact, supplies no certain or 
 credible information. We do not even know of what 
 nation or race Onesimus was, for his Greek name was 
 doubtless given to him by his master. It is not im- 
 probable, that he was a Scythian, belonging to one 
 of those tribes who are addicted to selling their chil- 
 dren into slavery 5 and if so, we may suppose that St. 
 Paul alludes to him when, writing to the Colos- 
 sians, he introduces the words, " whether Barbarian 
 or Scythian, bond or free," in asserting that all 
 national distinctions are merged in the Christian fel- 
 lowship. 
 
 § 14. Whether a bond servant by birth or by pur- character of 
 chase, Onesimus was evidently in domestic servitude ; domestic 
 a condition essentially different from that of predial 
 slavery, which was a penal bondage, though often 
 confounded under a common term. Among the 
 Romans, whose slave-code was more severe than that 
 of any other ancient nation, the mere servus or pri- 
 vate slave was subject, indeed, to the judicial autho- 
 rity of his master, the pater-familias, which extended 
 
 2 E 
 
418 THE EPISTLE OF 
 
 also to his own children ; but the servus was always 
 distinguished from the ergastulus or convict slave. 
 
 See p. 349, and from the servus poencE or public slave. The 
 condition of the ergastuli more nearly resembled that 
 of the field negroes of Colonial Slavery, with this 
 material diiFerence, that it was ostensibly penal. 
 The domestic servitude into which numbers entered 
 by voluntary contract,* and the penal servitude 
 which was a criminal punishment, must, in the nature 
 of things, have been essentially diflferent. The 
 Roman slave, it has been clearly established by a 
 learned Civilian, was, even under Tiberius and Nero, 
 in a state less degraded and less wretched than that 
 of our Colonial negroes under Slavery ; and the 
 dreadful severity of the English Colonial law was in 
 melancholy contrast to the comparative mildness of 
 the Roman, in reference to criminals and fugitives. 
 At Rome, the civil magistrate was not authorized to 
 punish the ofience of flight in a slaye, but was 
 directed merely to send the fugitive home to his 
 master ; except in the case of desertion to a public 
 enemy. The flight of a convict slave from the mines 
 or pubhc works was punished with severer labour, a 
 stricter mode of confinement, and an extension of the 
 term of penal servitude ; but was not, as in the 
 British West Indies, punished with death. Again, 
 
 Stephen's the redeemable condition of the ancient domestic 
 
 Slavery of 
 the Bntish 
 West India Roman citizens, in the better times of the Republic, were not 
 
 Colomes, permitted to sell themselves into servitude ; but the Apostle Paul 
 
 evidently refers to this practice, when he writes to the Corinthians, 
 
 " Be ye not the slaves of men." Again, he enjoins upon , those in 
 
 bondage : " If thou mayest be made free, use it rather." 1 Cor. vii. 
 
 2], 23. 
 
PAUL TO PHILEMON. 419 
 
 slavery, distinguished it not less broadly and essen- 
 tially from the modem predial bondage of the Colo- 
 nies. At Athens, the slave, when possessed of pro- 
 perty enough to redeem himself, could, by paying the 
 value of his servitude, compel the master to accept it 
 as the price of his enfranchisement. At Borne, the 
 practice of permitting slaves to purchase their free- 
 dom was so common, that, according to Cicero, the 
 sober and industrious slaves who became such by cap- 
 tivity in war, seldom remained in servitude above six 
 years. Besides the facility given to self-redemption, 
 there were numerous modes of manumission by the 
 Roman law, as well as of public enfranchisement. 
 'The reformation of the servile code of Rome,' it has 
 been remarked, 'was attended with no civil disorders, 
 because manumissions, through the benign influence 
 of Christianity, became so numerous soon after that 
 reformation commenced, that the slaves speedily 
 ceased to bear a dangerous proportion in number to Stephen, 
 the free citizens and libertines of the Empire.' 377-9.^' 
 
 It is important to have a correct idea of the ancient 
 domestic servitude, on account of the numerous allu- 
 sions to it in the Apostolic writings, which otherwise 
 cannot be understood; and also because, on the tole- 
 ration of that description of slavery by the inspired 
 Founders of the Church, an argument has been 
 built in vindication of the lawfulness of consigning a 
 whole race of men to abject, hopeless, brutal bondage 
 as predial slaves. Even the milder domestic slavery 
 of ancient heathenism was so far incompatible with 
 the spirit of Christianity, that it disappeared before it. 
 The Apostles, disclaiming all political authority, 
 
 2 E 2 
 
420 THE EPISTLE OP 
 
 could not adopt any more direct course for bringing 
 about its abolition, than by proclaiming the equality 
 of the bond and the free in the Christian brotherhood, 
 by discouraging voluntary servitude, and by teaching 
 the Christian slave to deem himself the Lord's free- 
 man, and, if he had the power, to obtain his enfran- 
 1 Cor. vii. chisement. Any direct interference with social 
 
 Ol 09 * 
 
 institutions would have been unsuitable to their office 
 as ministera of Christ. But, in the Epistle to Phile- 
 mon, who has been, by an absurd abuse of terms, 
 styled a slave-holder, St. Paul has pronounced a more 
 emphatic condemnation of slave-holding by Christians, 
 than could have been conveyed by more direct pro- 
 hibition. We may assume, that Onesimus felt it his 
 duty to return to his master, and that St. Paul 
 sanctioned this view, which was in accordance with 
 the Roman law directing that the fugitive should be 
 sent home. The Apostle would have been glad of 
 his services, but would not retain him without his 
 master's consent. He therefore sends him back with 
 this Letter. 
 Analysis. § 15. After an aiFectionate salutation from himself, 
 as Paul the prisoner of Jesus Christ, and from 
 Timothy his brother, to Philemon, Apphia his wife, 
 and Archippus, a Christian teacher at Colosse, with 
 their household, the Apostle expresses his devout 
 thankfulness and joy at hearing of Philemon's faith 
 and liberality, which gracefully introduces his request- 
 ing as a fevour, w^hat he might have been bold, as a 
 minister of Christ, to enjoin. There is deep pathos 
 in the language he employs : " Yet, for love's sake, 
 J rather beseech- thee, being such a one as Paul, 
 
PAUL TO PHILEMON. 421 
 
 aged, and now also a prisoner for Jesus Christ, I 
 beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have 
 begotten in my bonds." He then hints, that the 
 change produced in his character, had converted an 
 unprofitable servant into a valuable one, and that thus 
 his flight had been overruled for the benefit of his mas- 
 ter, who is exhorted to receive him back as no longer 
 a mere slave or servant, but a Christian brother, and 
 as such to be beloved ; nay, as a part of the Apostle 
 himself, being his spiritual oflPspring. For any wrong 
 or debt chargeable upon him, the Apostle undertakes 
 to be answerable ; yet, he tenderly appeals to Phile- 
 mon as his own convert, who owed to him even his own 
 self; and he expresses his confidence that his Colossian 
 brother would do more than comply with this request. 
 He then begs him to prepare a lodging at Colosse, as 
 he hoped, in answer to the prayer of his friends, 
 to be soon set at liberty. Salutations from Epaphras 
 and from the Apostle's fellow-labourers then with him, 
 and the Apostolic benediction, conclude the Epistle. 
 
 § 16. If, at the date of the martyrdom of Stephen, its character 
 Paul was between thirty and forty, he must now, Bhion.""^" 
 A.D. 62, have been upwards of threescore, and with 
 propriety, therefore, might refer to his venerable age. See p. 227. 
 Dr. Paley has remarked, how characteristic the ten- 
 derness and delicacy of this Epistle are, of the ardour 
 and sensibility of the Writers mind. ' Without 
 laying aside the apostolic character, he softens the 
 imperative style of his address, by mixing it with 
 every sentiment and consideration that could move 
 the heart of his correspondent. St. Paul's discourse 
 at Miletus, his speech before Agrippa, and, indeed, 
 
422 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 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 
 
 Horse Paul. .* r 7^7 
 
 c. 14. mitigate the harshness of some disagreeable truth.' 
 
 Of the successful result of his appeal to Philemon, 
 we cannot doubt. When Ignatius wrote his Epistle 
 to the Ephesians, about the year 107, their bishop's 
 name was Onesimus ; and Grotius supposes him to 
 have been the same as the convert of St. Paul ; but, 
 remarks Dr. Lardner, * that is not certain.' Indeed, 
 as five and forty years must have intervened, it is 
 scarcely probable. In the ' Apostolical Constitutions,' 
 Onesimus is said to have been bishop of Beroea, and 
 Philemon to have been ordained by the Apostles, 
 bishop of Colosse ; a fair specimen of the silly legends 
 which supplied the place of historical records. Co- 
 losse was overthrown, together with the neighbouring 
 cities, by an earthquake, in the latter part of Nero's 
 reign. Yet, if we may believe Theodoret, the house 
 in which Philemon dwelt, was still remaining there 
 
 Lardner, when he wrotc. It is just possible, that local tradi- 
 tion might have preserved the knowledge of the site ; 
 but, concerning the city itself, there are few traces in 
 history; and its ruins are, with some uncertainty, 
 
 Mod.Trav. identified with those found near Khonos, about three 
 
 p. isi hours from Laodicea. 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 423 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 
 
 ^17. We now come to the latest of the Epistles character 
 
 ■" , * and occasion 
 
 bearing St. Paul's name, written during his imprison- ofthe Epistle 
 ment at Rome ; that to the church at Philippi, the lippians. 
 first of the European cities in which he preached, 
 and towards the inhabitants of which he appears to 
 have cherished a peculiar affection, on account of their 
 exemplary and generous character. In no other 
 portion of his writings does the Apostle disclose so 
 much of his personal feehngs, or unbosom himself 
 with such affectionate confidence. The strain in 
 which he addresses the Philippian believers, more- 
 over, is one of unqualified commendation, his admo- 
 nitions being unmingled with reproof; an observation 
 which will not apply to any other Epistle, except 
 those to the Macedonian Christians of Thessalonica, 
 written ten years earlier. In their gratefiil attachment 
 to the Apostle, and their liberal spirit, the Philip- 
 pians appear to have excelled even the Thessalonian 
 church. 
 
 Philippi is described by St. Luke as a chief city Actsxvi.12. 
 of that part of Macedonia, and a colony. It was see p. 247. 
 situated beyond the Strymon, in the part of the 
 province, extending from that river on the south- 
 west to the Nestus (or Kara-su), which originally 
 belonged to Thrace. It was inhabited by the Edones, 
 and was conquered by Philip, who added it to Mace- 
 donia, and it was thence distinguished as Macedonia 
 
 .,.,.,., . , Mod.Trav. 
 
 Adjecta. Amphipolis claimed to rank as the capital Turkey, 
 of the district ; but Philippi was probably at this 
 
424 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 time the more considerable. The appellation wf^n) wo'x»? 
 (principal city) occurs so often on coins, as to indi- 
 cate that it was assumed by two or three cities of the 
 same province, and is not to be understood exclusively 
 of a capital. Dion Cassius states, that Julius Caesar 
 planted a Roman colony at Philippi ; and by Augustus, 
 it was enlarged and endowed with peculiar privileges. 
 Its magnificent ruins are found about ten miles from 
 Cavallo, which represents its ancient port, Neapolis. 
 A small stream, formed by the fountains from which 
 it derived its first name, Crenides^ flows by the ruins 
 into the Strymon. Philippi, in modern times, has 
 given title to a Greek prelate, who is styled Arch- 
 bishop of Philippi and- Drama. The latter is the 
 capital of the modem pashalic, and may therefore be 
 considered as having succeeded to the honours of the 
 Roman city, amid the ruins of which a fair is said to 
 be still annually held. 
 
 The immediate occasion of this Epistle was the 
 return of Epaphroditus to Philippi, who, subsequently 
 to his arrival at Rome, had been seized with a dan- 
 gerous illness, which had nearly proved fatal, and who 
 
 fee p. 396. was now anxious again to see his friends. If he was 
 the same person as Epaphras, we must suppose that, 
 in his route from Colosse to Rome, he had passed 
 through Philippi, and had been charged by the be- 
 lievers in that city with their contributions for the 
 support of their spiritual father under his protracted 
 imprisonment. From the expressions used by the 
 
 ch. ii. 30. Apostle, " not regarding his own life," it has been in- 
 ferred, that the illness of Epaphroditus was brought on 
 by his hastening to reach Rome,- in the execution of 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 425 
 
 his commission, or that previous indisposition had 
 been so aggravated by this exertion, as nearly to have 
 proved fatal. Mr. Gresvrell suggests, that his sick- 
 ness was probably a fever, originating in the peculiar 
 unheaithiness of Eome towards the close of the 
 summer quarter ; and he supposes it to have occurred 
 after the Epistle to the Colossians, in which Epaphras 
 is so honourably mentioned, had been sent off by One- 
 simus. The Phihppians had heard, however, of his 
 having been taken ill ; and Epaphroditus was aware of 
 this circumstance ; which implies, that some brethren 
 from Eome had passed through Philippi, who had 
 communicated that intelligence ; and this was probably 
 the route taken either by Tychicus or by Onesimus. 
 
 ^18. The Epistle opens with the customary Apos- Analysis of 
 tolic salutation, in which St. Paul associates with " ^" *' 
 himself his son Timothy, who shared in his strong 
 regard for the Philippian brethren ; and to them his 
 zeal and affection were well known. There is one 
 peculiarity in the salutation ; it is the only instance 
 in which the bishops and deacons of the Church are 
 distinctly mentioned ; a circumstance which seems to 
 indicate that those terms of office had not yet come 
 into universal use, in application to the elders and 
 ministers of the churches. The term JwiV/towas origin- 
 ally designated persons holding secular offices among 
 the Greeks, like our word superintendent or overseer; 
 and it was probably first extended to religious; function- 
 aries in the Gentile churches of Macedonia and Asia, 
 in lieu of the Jewish terms, presbyter, or elder, 
 and chief ruler of the synagogue (Ajj^Kruv^ywyo?). The Compare 
 bishop was evidently the pastor (wofftV-), asnd the same, iPet.v;2/ 
 
420 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 perhaps, as the iiyovixevoi of the Epistle to the Hebrews. 
 It was, probably, by degrees that these general terms 
 acquired their more specific ecclesiastical import. 
 
 The Apostle commences with expressing the devout 
 thankfulness and joy with which he bore in recollec- 
 tion their reception of the Gospel and their exem- 
 plary constancy fi^om the first ; a joy and satisfaction 
 heightened by his assured persuasion that the Author 
 of that good work in their hearts, would carry it for- 
 ward to its consummation at the day of Christ's 
 second coming. And it was but right he should 
 cherish these favourable opinions and hopes concern- 
 ing them, inasmuch as, in his bonds and in his public 
 defence of the Gospel, they had aU been joint con- 
 tributors of the gift he had received by the hand of 
 Epaphroditus. He calls God to witness, how strong 
 were his paternal yearnings towards these his spiri- 
 tual children ; and he expresses the sum of his prayers 
 on their behalf, to be, that their spiritual knowledge 
 and discrimination might keep pace with their increase 
 of love, and that their conduct might be guileless and 
 irreproachable to the end, abounding in the fi-uits of 
 piety. 
 Ch. i. 12. After this introduction, he mentions the immediate 
 
 object of his writing to them. He was anxious that 
 they should know that his imprisonment had not ob- 
 structed, but rather promoted the cause of the Gospel, 
 by the notoriety which his imprisonment on such a 
 charge had acquired in the Imperial Court and else- 
 where, and by the encouragement which had been 
 thereby afforded to others to preach the Christian 
 doctrine boldly and fearlessly. Among those who 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 427 
 
 were thus emboldened by his example, some were 
 influenced by sinister motives. It would seem that 
 the fame or popularity of the Apostle, the crowds 
 attracted by his eloquence, and the success of his 
 teaching, had inspired with envy some of the Jewish 
 teachers who had embraced Christianity, and stirred 
 up in them an ambitious zeal to make converts among 
 the population of Eome. Hitherto, probably, no 
 Christian teacher had ventured to address himself to 
 the Roman people, for the church at Rome was com- 
 posed exclusively of Jewish converts. But now, St. 
 Paul's example, and the 6clat which his sufferings and 
 heroism threw around his person, had provoked emu- 
 lation and jealousy in some who were ill-disposed 
 towards him, and who, by drawing off attention from 
 him, and making a party of their own, desired to add 
 distress to his bonds.* There were others, however, 
 who, in preaching Christ, were actuated by sincere 
 zeal, and who acknowledged that it was simply for 
 the defence of the Gospel he was placed in his present 
 position. The Apostle expresses his magnanimous 
 joy that, in either case, the Gospel was more boldly 
 and widely proclaimed, and his confidence that this 
 circumstance would turn to his advantage ; for, with 
 the special aid of the Holy Spirit, in answer to their 
 prayers, he felt assured of clearing his character from 
 every charge, so that, by his boldness of utterance 
 
 * Either by bringing suspicion on his character, as if he owed his' 
 imprisonment to some other offence, or, perhaps, by depriving him 
 of succour, and reducing him to actual straits for his own support ; 
 for he speaks of the supplies sent him by the Philippians as most 
 seasonable. 
 
428 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 (jparrhesid) when called upon for his defence, the 
 honour of Christ might be promoted, whatever were 
 the issue to himself, whether life or death. But, 
 living or dying, Christ was his portion,* the source 
 of his felicity. The end for which he laboured and 
 was willing to labour, was, that Christ might be 
 magnified ; but, looking forward to death as a release 
 which should introduce him to the immediate presence 
 of The Lord, he knew not whether to deem life or 
 death more desirable. Conscious, however, that his 
 life was of importance to the Church, and that he 
 might be of further service to his converts, he in- 
 dulged a confident expectation that he should yet be 
 spared to promote their spiritual advancement and 
 joy, and, by returning to them, on his liberation, 
 excite their gratitude and triumph on his account. 
 Yet this was uncertain ; and all he had to request 
 was, that, whether he lived to see them again or not, 
 he might have the joy of knowing that they were 
 maintaining a conduct worthy of the Gospel ; sted- 
 fast, united, strenuous, and courageous, undismayed 
 by threats or persecution, counting it an honour to 
 suffer for the cause of Christ. This request he urges 
 with a pathetic adjuration : "If you would offer me 
 any Christian consolation or any comfort arising from 
 love, if there is any communion of spirit between us, 
 if you have any feeling and compassion for my suffer- 
 ings, act so as to make me perfectly happy, by culti- 
 vating unanimity, mutual affection, simpHcity of 
 motive, a modest estimate of yourselves, a generous 
 
 * So Calvin construea the passage : ' Mihi enim vivendo Christus 
 est, et moriendo lucrum;" i.e. " tam in vita quam in morte." 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 429 
 
 regard for each other, a spirit of condescension and 
 self-sacrifice after the example of the Lord Jesus." 
 In illustration of the condescension of Christ, the 
 Apostle introduces one of the noblest and most re- 
 markable confessions or declarations of the proper 
 deity of Our Lord in the whole compass of his 
 writings. Eeferring, evidently, to Our Lord's hav- 
 ing made himself equal with The Father, for which he 
 was charged by the Jews with blasphemy, St. Paul 
 declares,* that, subsisting as God, He deemed it no 
 usurpation to make himself equal with God; yet, 
 divesting himself of his Divine glory, assuming the 
 character of a servant of the Father, He appeared in 
 the shape of sinful man, subject to all the conditions 
 of humanity, even to death, and, of all deaths, the 
 most ignominious and painful. As the reward of 
 this stupendous self-sacrifice, Christ, as Mediator, is 
 exalted to the right-hand of the Father, according to 
 the language of Jehovah by Isaiah, " Unto me shall 
 every knee bow ; " the universal empire and supre- 
 macy of Christ redounding to the glory of the 
 Father. 
 
 Eesuming the strain of affectionate exhortation, ch. iv. 12. 
 the Apostle enjoins his spiritual children, who had 
 always been obedient to his instructions, not only 
 while he was with them, but more exemplarily still in 
 his absence, — to labour with awe and reverence to 
 secure their own salvation, remembering that both the 
 will or desire, and the strength or abihty to perform, 
 
 * See page 94. in fujptp^ eeS, and ^p^V Soi\ov, are evidently anti- 
 thetical, and inaply, in each reference, not semblance, but essential or 
 actual capacity or character as God and as a servant. 
 
430 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 were of God, working in them according to His sove- 
 reign mercy. They are then cautioned against in- 
 dulging envy or a contentious spirit ; in order that, 
 being both inoffensive (or blameless) and guileless, 
 God's children in the midst of a depraved and sinful 
 world, they might shine like lamps or stars in the 
 surrounding darkness, holding forth the Christian 
 doctrine in all its refulgence ; and that so, in the day 
 of Christ, he might rejoice in them as the fruit and 
 crown of his labours. Should he be called to shed 
 his blood as a victim in the service of the Gentiles^ 
 he was prepared to rejoice even then, and to call on 
 them to rejoice with him. He ^ hoped, however, 
 shortly to spare Timothy to visit them, as soon as 
 his own fate was determined ; and he hoped that he 
 should also come again to them himself. Meantime, 
 he had deemed it necessary to despatch Epaphroditus, 
 who, having been dangerously ill, was anxious to 
 return, and whom he commends to their affectionate 
 regard. 
 Ch. iii. Again resuming the strain of admonition from 
 
 which he had digressed, he exhorts them to rejoice 
 in their Christian privileges, and to be on their 
 guard against false teachers, whom, for their rapacity 
 and uncleanness, he stigmatizes as dogs ; at the same 
 time marking them out as of the Jewish school, 
 sticklers for the rite of circumcision, by styling them, 
 " the Excision" or " the Schism," and by claiming, for 
 the spiritual worshippers who gloried only in Christ, 
 the honourable title of the True Circumcision or 
 Israel of God. In all upon which these Jewish 
 teachers prided themselves, the Apostle intimates. 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 431 
 
 that he could more than compete with them ; but he 
 had learned to regard all his advantages of birth and 
 his personal pretensions as valueless or detrimental, 
 for the sake of the surpassing excellency of the 
 knowledge of Christ, justification through faith in 
 Him, and participation in the power and glory of His 
 Kesurrection. And he describes himself as a racer 
 in the stadium, who had not yet reached the goal, 
 but was stretching on towards the mark, eager to 
 grasp the prize. This was what became those who 
 were the most advanced in the school of Christ ; 
 and whatever were their several degrees of attain- 
 ment, their rule and aim should be the same. The 
 Apostle then more explicitly proposes to them his 
 own example, in contrast with the conduct of the 
 false teachers against whom he had repeatedly warned 
 them, — men of sordid motives and corrupt minds. 
 The true Christian is a citizen of the heavenly king- 
 dom, and his expectations are directed to the blessed 
 hope of the glorious appearing of The Saviour and 
 the resurrection of the body. By this consideration, 
 he affectionately enforces upon them stedfastness in 
 their Christian profession. To this exhortation he 
 subjoins special admonitions to two of his female 
 helpers, to act in cordial cooperation ; and to his 
 faithful colleague, (by whom, possibly, Epaphroditus 
 is intended,) to aid them both, as they had been of 
 great assistance to himself and his fellow labourers in 
 the ministry. 
 
 And now he reiterates the exhortation which seems ch.iT.4. 
 the burden of the Epistle, — to rejoice in the Lord ; 
 with which he connects the duty of exhibiting to- 
 
43-2 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 wards all men mildness and suavity of deportment ; 
 and, as an antidote to anxiety about the future, he 
 enjoins them to commit all their cares and wants to 
 God, uniting thanksgiving with prayer, by which 
 their minds would be fortified by a peace indescrib- 
 able. Finally, he exhorts them to study all that is 
 true, and venerable, and just, and pure, and reputable, 
 virtuous or praiseworthy, all that they had learned of 
 him or witnessed in his example. So would they 
 secure the presence of the God of Peace. 
 
 Oh. iv. 10. In conclusion, he tells the Philippians what joy 
 their renewed demonstration of afiection and care for 
 him had inspired. Not because he stood in need of 
 the supply they had transmitted to him, for he had 
 been discipHned to the endurance of want ; but be- 
 cause it was an expression of sympathy in his suffer- 
 ings which was creditable to them. They were the 
 only church to whom, at his first preaching among 
 them, he had been indebted for support ; for, even at 
 Thessalonica, he had maintained himself by the labour 
 of his hands. It was not, therefore, that he coveted 
 the gift itseF, but that he rejoiced in it as what would 
 redound to their own benefit. The ample supply he 
 had received, was an acceptable sacrifice in the sight 
 of God, who would richly remunerate them with 
 every needful blessing. The subject is wound up 
 with a brief doxology. Then follow salutations, in 
 which it is remarkable that the names of no indivi- 
 duals occur ; and the Apostolic benediction, as usual, 
 
 circum- seals the Epistle. 
 
 under which § 19. It is evident, that St. Paul, at the time of 
 
 waa written. Writing this Epistle, was expecting to be summoned 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 433 
 
 before the Emperor for his final hearing, and that he 
 considered life or death to be staked on the issue. 
 He had once been delivered out of the mouth of the 
 Lion, but could not with any certainty calculate upon 
 the Tyrant's decision. Nothing can be more admir- 
 able than the magnanimity which, under such cir- 
 cumstances, he displays in this Epistle, the calmness 
 with which he contemplates martyrdom, as a victim 
 ready for the offering, and the absorption of self in 
 fidelity to the cause and service of Christ. His 
 sole anxiety is, that he may acquit himself honourably 
 as the ambassador of Christ. In vain we wish that 
 some record had been preserved of his defence before 
 the Emperor, similar to that which the faithful pen 
 of the Evangelical Historian has recorded of his 
 eloquent oration before Felix and Agrippa. Where 
 the narrative of Luke breaks off, all historical infor- 
 mation ends, and the rest is mere conjecture.* 
 
 But the question naturally arises, Why did the 
 sacred Writer carry the history no further ? At the 
 time of Paul's sending off the Epistles to Philemon 
 
 * ' At this instant,' says Milman, ' we pass at once from the 
 firm and solid ground of authentic and credible history, upon the 
 quaking and insecure footing of legendary tradition. The last fact 
 which we receive from the undoubted authority of the Writer of the 
 Acts, is, that two years passed before the Apostle left Rome.' (Mil- 
 man, b. ii. c. 2.) But nothing is said of his leaving Rome ; and the 
 two years, for any thing that appears to the contrary, may have 
 elapsed previously to his being summoned for a hearing before the Em- 
 peror. Mr. Milman's unqualified assertion has already been noticed 
 at p. 63, that the abrupt termination of the Book of the Acts covM 
 not be caused by the death of the Writer. The learned Author 
 assumes, that Luke "prohahh/ survived St. Paul," of which he offers 
 no proof ; and the reference to Luke in the Second Epistle to Timothy, 
 points to no later date than that at which the History breaks ofiF. 
 
 2 F 
 
434 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 I 
 
 and the Colossians, Luke was still with him ; but, in 
 writing to the Philippians, he speaks of Timothy- 
 alone. He says indeed, " The brethren who are 
 with me greet you ; " which may intend those who 
 are specified by name in the previous Epistles ; but 
 surely he would not have described himself as having 
 no companion like-minded, except Timothy, had 
 Luke still been with him. Yet, how can we imagine 
 that Luke would have deserted the Apostle at such a 
 juncture ? And if he had left Kome upon any mission, 
 the circumstance would assuredly have been adverted 
 to, as explaining his absence. More especially, in 
 addressing the Christians of Philippi, where Paul and 
 Silas had laboured together, might we have looked 
 for some mention of his distinguished and faithful 
 colleague, either in the opening salutation, if with 
 him, or in some other part of the Epistle, if not. 
 The conclusion to which all these considerations con- 
 duct us, is, that the silence observed by the Apostle 
 respecting one whom he must have held so dear, 
 arose from his removal by death. And it is by no 
 means improbable, that he was carried off by the same 
 ' distemper to which Epaphroditus had nearly fallen 
 a victim ; which would well accord with the language 
 of St. Paul, that, in the event of his death, he would 
 
 See p. 63. have had " sorrow upon sorrow." 
 
 The history of the Acts has all the appearance of an 
 unfinished narrative ; and it breaks off where no writer 
 who had survived the Apostle could have thought of 
 terminating the narrative, without giving any account 
 of his being brought before Caesar, agreeably to the 
 
 Acts xxvii. angelic declaration. Now, " at his first hearing," 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 436 
 
 Luke was still living, and with the Apostle; nor is 2Tim.iv.ii. 
 it possible to suppose that he was of the number who, 
 on that occasion, timidly or faithlessly forsook St. 
 Paul.* If, then, Luke did not stand by him, it must 
 have been owing to some sufficient cause which pre- 
 vented it ; and what but illness could have been that 
 sufficient cause ? Before the Apostle was summoned 
 to that second and final hearing which he was anti- 
 cipating when he wrote to the Philippians, at which 
 time he was yet uncertain how it would go with him, 
 Epaphroditus had fallen sick; and, as we suppose, 
 Luke (or Silas) had died. The pen had fallen from 
 his hand before he could record whether the Apostle 
 was at that time delivered from the mouth of the 
 Lion ; and thus, the History leaves us in the same 
 suspense as the latest of St. Paul's Epistles ; a striking 
 mark of its authenticity. The reverence felt for the 
 Writer's memory might possibly withhold any sur- 
 viving disciple from adding to the precious record. 
 
 But must we not recognize a Divine purpose in 
 this ? All that it concerns the Church to know, has 
 been preserved to us ; and if an impenetrable veil 
 has been drawn over the closing scene of the Apostle's 
 labours, as over the martyrdom or death of all the 
 other Apostles, James alone excepted, it may be in- 
 tended to check the fond disposition which too soon 
 discovered itself in the Church, to lay an undue stress 
 upon martyrdom, to honour the martyr above the 
 saint, to ascribe to suffering in the cause of Christ 
 
 * 2 Tim. iv. 16. The ndmes may be understood of the witnesses 
 on whose testimony the Apostle had relied to rebut the charge 
 brought against him. 
 
 2 F 2 
 
436 THE EPISTLE TO 
 
 even an expiatory virtue. In reproof of a supersti- 
 tious curiosity respecting the death or sepulture of 
 either Paul or Peter, we seem to hear the living 
 voice of the Apostle, issuing, not from the tomb, 
 but from the sacred page, " Was Paul crucified for 
 you?" 
 
THE HEBREWS. 437 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 
 
 ANCIENT OPINIONS RESPECTING THE OMISSION OP THE WBITEb's 
 NAME — ORIGIN OF THE DOUBTS RELATING TO ITS PAULINE 
 AUTHORSHIP EXTERNAL EVIDENCE OP ITS CANONICAL AUTHO- 
 RITY — CHARACTERISTIC DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE APOSTOLIC 
 AND THE PATRISTIC WRITINGS CONFLICTING CRITICAL DECI- 
 SIONS RESPECTING THE STYLE OF THE EPISTLE UNCERTAINTY 
 
 OF THE VERBAL CRITERION OF AUTHORSHIP— ORIGIN OP THE 
 DOUBTS ENTERTAINED IN THE WESTERN CHURCH RESPECTING 
 
 THE APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY OF THE EPISTLE MODERN GROUNDS 
 
 OF HESITATION IN RESPECT TO ITS PAULINE AUTHORSHIP TO 
 
 WHOM WAS THE EPISTLE ADDRESSED i ANALYSIS OF THE CON- 
 TENTS PECULIARITIES OF PHRASEOLOGY ITS CANONICAL AU- 
 THORITY NOT AFFECTED BY THE SUPPOSITION THAT IT WAS A 
 JOINT COMPOSITION PROBABLE DATE OP THE COMPOSITION. 
 
 § 1. There remains for distinct consideration, the Ancient opi- 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, which Origen, in the third spectingthe 
 
 , . omission of 
 
 century, says, the ancients, not without reason, tie writer's 
 have handed down as Paul's, although who wrote it,' "™^' 
 he adds, ' God only knows certainly.' The doubts 
 which existed at that early period, related to its 
 authorship, not to its canonical authority, and could 
 have arisen only from its being anonymous ; but it is 
 a striking proof of the unfaithfulness of Tradition, 
 that what must have been originally well known to all 
 
Tol.ii.p.225. 
 
 438 THE EPISTLE TO 
 
 who received the Epistle, should have become so 
 See p. 19. soon a matter of uncertainty. Clement of Alexan- 
 dria, receiving the Epistle as the work of -St. Paul, 
 supposes that, in writing to the Hebrews, who were 
 prejudiced against him, the Apostle did not prefix his 
 name through precaution, lest he should deter them 
 from reading it. He also cites the opinion of his 
 master Pantsenus, whom be styles ' the blessed Pres- 
 byter,' that Paul omitted the customary salutation 
 because, as his mission was especially directed to the 
 Gentiles, he was too modest to style himself an 
 Lardner, Apostle in Writing to the Hebrews. The more pro- 
 bable explanation is, Jthat, as it is a treatise or homily, 
 rather than a familiar Epistle, the Writer deemed 
 the customary salutation unsuitable. It was, perhaps, 
 ^aidertaken and commenced for the instruction of the 
 churches of the Hebrew stock, without respect to 
 any particular occasion. Undoubtedly, however, as 
 Lardner remarks, ' they to whom it was se^nt, and by 
 whom it was received, kiiew very wellfrom whom it 
 came.' How is it /possible that they should not have 
 known the Writer, when he promises shortly to visit 
 'them in company with Timothy, and saids salutations 
 to them from the Italian brethren? The notion, 
 that the Apostle conceded his name from policy or 
 prudence, must thereifore be discarded; and equally 
 untenable is the supposition, that any luncertainty 
 driginally attached to its authorship. 
 Origin of § 2. Among the Apostolic writings, two important 
 
 relative to and iuvaluable treatises, the Epistle in question and 
 authorship, the GathoHc Epistle of John, have been transmitted 
 to us under the same predicament : the Writers not 
 
THE HEBREWS. 430 
 
 having prefixed their names, it can be gathered only 
 from internal evidence, or from fallible tradition, which 
 of the Apostles was the writer. The historical evi- 
 dence that the Apostle John was the author of the 
 Catholic Epistle, is not much stronger than that 
 which may be adduced in favour of the Pauline origin 
 of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The precise date of 
 the Epistle of John cannot be determined with any 
 more certainty ; nor has any information been pre- 
 served as to the church or the persons to whom it 
 was addressed. But the tradition which ascribed it 
 to the Beloved Disciple, was sustained by such indu- 
 bitable internal evidence, that no reasonable doubt 
 could arise respecting its authorship. In the case of 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews, the genuineness, authen- 
 ticity, and canonical authority of the book were 
 equally well attested ; but the testimony of Tradition, 
 even in the second century, was not uniform as to 
 its author ; and the internal evidence was deemed 
 less decisively in favour of its PauUne origin. After 
 stating, that not without reason had the ancients 
 handed it down as the production of Paul, Origen 
 adds : ' If I was to speak my opinion, I should say, 
 that the sentiments are the Apostle's, but the lan- 
 guage and composition another's, who committed to 
 writing the Apostle's sense, and, as it were, reduced 
 into commentaries the things spoken by his master. 
 .... But the account come down to us is various ; 
 some saying, that Clement, who was bishop of 
 Eome, wrote this Epistle ; others, that it was Luke, Lardner, 
 who wrote the Gospel and the Acts.' That it was MaJih-?®^" 
 not written in the usual style of Paul, and that it TOUv?p!2i4. 
 
440 THE EPISTLE TO 
 
 wanted his name, were the only reasons for doubting 
 it to be his ; yet, so firmly fixed was the belief in its 
 canonicity and inspiration, that neither circumstance 
 was allowed to detract from its authority, or to cast 
 uncertainty over its being the genuine production of 
 the Apostolic age. It was not acknowledged as 
 Apostolic on the ground of being Paul's, but was 
 ascribed to Paul as unquestionably Apostolic and 
 worthy of the chief of the Apostles. 
 External § 3. That, duriug the first century after the 
 
 its canonical Apostolic age, it was generally received as Apostolic 
 Scripture, is clear from the fact, that it was inserted 
 among the canonical books of the churches, both in 
 the East and in the West, that it was comprised in the 
 Peshito-Syriac and Old Latin Versions, and that it 
 was certainly admitted by the Alexandrine and Pa- 
 lestine churches. Clement of Rome, who wrote his 
 A.D. 96. Epistle towards the close of the first century, repeat- 
 edly cites or alludes to the language of this Epistle, 
 although he does not name its author. The copious 
 use which he makes of its language, in a manner 
 precisely similar to that in which he refers or alludes 
 to passages in the other Apostolic Epistles, proves 
 that it must have been written by one for whom he 
 had such deference as it is not conceivable that 
 Lardner, he would entertain for any one but an Apostle. The 
 46-fio!'^' only Epistle which he expressly names, is the first 
 'Apostolic Epistle of Paul to the church at Corinth, to which 
 575, etJ^. his own Epistle was addressed: 'Take into your 
 hands the Epistle of the blessed Paul the Apostle.' 
 The Epistles to other churches might, possibly, not as 
 yet be in their hands. Considering the relation in 
 
THE HEBREWS. 441 
 
 which Clement stood to the Apostle Paul, the refer- 
 ences he makes to the Epistle to the Hebrews, whe- 
 ther regarded as direct citations or as mere allusions, 
 would aflFord a presumption in favour of its Pauline 
 origin. Still, as the Epistles of James and Peter are 
 referred to by him in the same manner, all that can 
 be inferred with certainty, is, that he regarded the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews as Apostolic Scripture, not 
 that he knew it as the work of Paul. 
 
 In the Epistle of Barnabas, which, whether the 
 genuine production of the Companion of Paul, or 
 not, is allowed to be certainly as ancient as the latter 
 part of the first century,* there are some apparent 
 allusions to the Epistle to the Hebrews ; although, in 
 Lardner's opinion, the Writer often argues like the 
 Author of that Epistle, without borrowing from him. Lardner, 
 In that of Polycarp, a.d. 108, there occurs a more Forster%p." 
 distinct and formal reference to a passage in the ~ 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, as a precept of Apostolical 
 authority, together with some slighter and less une- 
 quivocal allusions. Similar coincidences have been Forster's 
 pointed out in the Epistles of Ignatius, about a.d. AutT'pp" 
 107. The writings of all the Apostolic Fathers (as it.™. S99 
 they are usually styled) are mainly ' a catena, or Lardner, 
 tessera rather,' it has been remarked, of sentiments ^° "' ^' 
 and phrases taken from the New Testament. Thus, 
 the whole Epistle of Polycarp is made up of these, 
 though but few books are cited or expressly named. 
 ' So many exhortations in the words of Christ and 
 his Apostles, in so short a letter, are,' remarks Dr. 
 
 * Lardner supposes it to hare been written soon after the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem, or a.d. 71. 
 
442 THE EPISTLE TO 
 
 Lardner, * a lively evidence of the respect which 
 Christians had for these books, and that these things 
 were deeply engraved on their memories. For it is 
 from thence chiefly, as I apprehend, Polycarp bor- 
 rowed these expressions, without looking into the 
 books themselves.' * Had the Epistle to the He- 
 brews been of non-apostolical authorship, or of post- 
 apostolical date, we may safely assume, that it would 
 have abounded in like manner with citations or allu- 
 sions to the books of the New Testament. The 
 absence of these must, therefore, be regarded as a 
 clear proof of its early date and apostolicity. And, 
 inasmuch as all the citations or references found in 
 the writings of the early Fathers, relate to the cano- 
 nical Scriptures, we have the strongest reason for 
 concluding, that those portions which correspond to 
 passages in the Epistle to the Hebrews, were not 
 simply taken from that Epistle, although the Epistle 
 is not expressly named, but were cited or referred to 
 as canonical Scripture. Thus, Justin Martyr (a.d. 
 140), speaking of Our Lord, says : ' This is He who, 
 after the order of Melchisedec, is king of Salem, 
 Lardner, and- etcmal priest of the Most High;' — a reference 
 vo .u.p. . ^^ ^^^ declarations contained in the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, which cannot be mistaken, and which shows 
 the light in which the Epistle was regarded both by 
 Justin himself and by those whom he is addressing, 
 
 * Lardner, vol. ii. p. 109. The Epistle of Polycarp contains quo- 
 tations from 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1 and 2 Thessa- 
 lonians. Words spoken by Our Lord are quoted, which are found 
 in Matthew and Luke ; and undoubted references occur to Acts, 
 Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, 1 and 2 Thes- 
 salonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Hebrews, 1 Peter, and 1 John. 
 
THE HEBREWS. 443 
 
 since he assumes that they were acquainted with the 
 passage alluded to. It is obvious, that an indirect 
 reference of this description to the books received by 
 the churches as Holy Scripture, is as satisfactory a 
 testimony as a formal citation. 
 
 § 4. The striking difference observable between the character- 
 canonical Epistles and the earliest of the patristic encebe- 
 writings, in the respect above adverted to, — that is. Apostolic 
 the absence of citations, with one or two remarkable Patristi* 
 exceptions, in the former, and the frequent references ^" ™^*' 
 to Apostolic Scripture in the latter, — seems to form 
 a safe criterion of the claim of any particular book to 
 be received as genuine and authoritative. Upon the 
 strength of this marked difference of character alone, 
 were there no other reason, we should be warranted 
 in concluding, that the Epistle to the Hebrews could 
 not have been the production of either Clement, 
 Barnabas, or Polycarp. But it is impossible for any 
 competent reader not to be struck also with the 
 obvious inequality and inferiority of style in the post- 
 apostoBc writers, the moment they quit the ground 
 of Scripture, or deviate from the Apostolic track of 
 thought and expressions. Whether the difference be 
 ascribed in part to the superior genius and intellectual 
 power of the authors of the books of the New Testa- 
 ment, or be referred purely and entirely to the Divine 
 inspiration under which they spoke and wrote, it is 
 too strikingly evident to be mistaken or questioned.* 
 
 * ' The venerable fragment which bears the name of Barnabas, is 
 allowed to be an exposition: of Scripture little less weak or mystical 
 in some parts than the wildest comments of the Talmud. St. Cle- 
 ment records as a fact, the natural history of the phoenix ; Hermas 
 
444 THE EPISTLE TO 
 
 When, therefore, Origen decided that the ancients 
 had not without reason handed down the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews as the writing of Paul, he must have 
 meant, that the internal evidence forbade the suppo- 
 sition of its being the work of any uninspired pen, at 
 least as regards the subject matter. 
 Conflicting & 5. Clement of Alexandria, who flourished in the 
 Bions re- latter years of the second century, is the earliest writer 
 style of the who cites the Epistle to the Hebrews as St. Paul's. 
 '"^ "■ In his Stromata or various Discourses, there occurs 
 the following decisive reference : ' Nor does Paul 
 appear to have blamed philosophy in his Epistles, 
 though he would not have the more perfect return to 
 it. Wherefore, writing to the Hebrews who were 
 declining from the faith to the law, " Have ye need," 
 says he, "that one teach you again which be the 
 first principles of the oracles of God, and are become 
 such as have need of milk and not of strong meat ? " ' 
 And in many other places of these works, pointed 
 out by Lardner, Clement quotes this same Epistle as 
 ToLiLp'm the Apostle's, the Divine Apostle's, and Paul's. In 
 
 is a Platonist ; Justin trifles strangely about the derivation of the 
 word " Satan ;" Clemens Alexandrimis and Jerome are equally fond 
 of an internal and figurative sense in the historical parts of Scrip- 
 ture ; and the tales of Antony and Hilarion, as recorded , by the 
 latter, are neither more probable nor more ingenious than the 
 miracles of Rabbi Chanina. But, as evidences of the contemporary 
 faith and existing tradition of their brethren, all these have kept, 
 and always must keep, their weight with candid men ; and we 
 should no more think of disbelieving their testimony on points 
 where they were likely to be well informed, because on others they 
 were apparently credulous, than we should fling Livy to the moths, 
 because he has filled his book with prodigies.' Bishop Heber's Reply 
 to the British Critic, p. 13. 
 
THE HEBREWS. 446 
 
 his Institutions, according to the testimony of Euse- 
 bius, giving a short explanation of all the canonical 
 Scriptures, he says, ' that the Epistle to the Hebrews 
 is Paul's, and that it was written to the Hebrews in 
 the Hebrew language ; that Luke, having carefully 
 translated it, published it for the use of the Greeks ; 
 and that this is the reason of that conformity of style 
 which is found in this Epistle and in the Acts of the 
 Apostles.' And he proceeds to assign the traditional 
 reason, that Paul did not prefix his name to the 
 Epistle, lest he should offend the Hebrews who had 
 conceived a prejudice against him. It is obvious, Lardner, 
 however, that the explanation given of the omission " '■^' 
 of the Writer's name, could rest upon nothing more 
 than conjecture ; and the notion, that the Epistle was 
 written in Hebrew, because it was written to Hebrews, 
 must also be regarded as a gratuitous assumption, 
 since there could be no stronger reason that Paul 
 should write to the Hebrews in Hebrew, than that Peter 
 and James, in writing to the Twelve Tribes, should 
 employ the same language. It does not appear cer- 
 tain, that this notion originated with Clement ; though 
 it has been thought that he adopted the theory of a 
 Hebrew original in order to meet the imaginary objec- 
 tion to the received tradition respecting its author, aris- 
 ing fi-om the style. On the other hand, Origen, while Forster, 
 deeming the style much more elegant and finished ^'^^^' 
 than that of Paul's other Epistles, appears to have 
 had no suspicion of its having been written originally 
 in Hebrew or Syriac ; and therefore he inclines to the 
 supposition, that the matter or substance of the in- 
 structions contained in the Epistle, was dictated by 
 
446 THE EPISTLE TO 
 
 St. Paul, but that the composition was from the pen 
 of one of his disciples or companions.* He does not 
 drop a hint of its being a translation ; but his argu- 
 ment implies a belief, that the Epistle was originally 
 written in Greek. Eusebius, in referring to the use 
 made of this Epistle by Clement of Rome, mentions 
 the tradition, that, ' Paul having written to the 
 Hebrews in their own tongue,, some think .that Luke, 
 others, that this very Clement translated it ; which 
 last,' he adds, ' is the more likely, since there is a 
 great resemblance between the style of the Epistle of 
 Clement and the Epistle to the Hebrews, as well as 
 Lardner, between the sentiments of those writings.' But this 
 606. ' ' remark shows only how little confidence can be 
 reposed in the judgment of Eusebius. There is no 
 reason to suppose, Lardner remarks, that Clement 
 understood Hebrew or Syriac, though perhaps Luke 
 might. Besides, unless the style of Clement's Epis- 
 tle can be deemed very superior to that of the Pau- 
 line Epistles in general, what ground is afforded for 
 supposing the Epistle to the Hebrews not to have 
 been the composition of St. Paul ? The internal 
 evidence is entirely opposed to the notion that the 
 Greek text is a translation; and the mis-directed 
 ingenuity which has been employed to make it 
 appear to be not simply a translation, but, in some 
 places, even an inaccurate one, affords a striking in- 
 
 * ' The stylfe of the Epistle to the Hebrews has not the Apostle's 
 rudeness of speech, who has confessed himself rude in speech, that is, 
 in language, 2 Cor. xL 6. But this Epistle, as to the texture of the 
 style, is elegant Greek ; as every one will allow, who is able to judge 
 of the differences of style.' Origan in Eusebius, b. vi. c. 25. See 
 Lardner, vol. ii. p. 495. 
 
THE HEBREWS. 447 
 
 stance of the rash and licentious application of conjec- 
 tural criticism. The modern critic who has most 
 strongly maintained this opinion,* (Michaelis,) admits 
 at the same time, that the Greek style of this Epistle 
 ' is superior to that of every book of the New Testa- 
 ment, with the exception, perhaps, of the speeches of 
 St. Paul recorded in the Acts. But, though the 
 language of these speeches is equally good and fluent 
 with that of the Epistle to the Hebrews, it is still of 
 a very different kind.' In direct contradiction to the 
 judgment of Clement of Alexandria, who detected a 
 conformity of style between this Epistle and the Acts, 
 the German critic affirms, that, ' instead of there 
 being any similarity, there is really so considerable 
 a difference that they cannot have proceeded from 
 the same writer.' Lardner's judgment, in some de- 
 gree, accords with this. ' There may be,' he remarks, 
 ' more art and labour in the writings of Luke, than 
 in those of the other Evangelists, but not much 
 elegance that I can discern. The Epistle to the 
 Hebrews is bright and elegant from the beginning to 
 the end, and surpasseth as much the style of St. 
 , Luke, as it does that of St. Paul in his acknowledged 
 Epistles. In short, this is an admirable Epistle, but 
 singular in sentiments and language ; somewhat differ- 
 ent in both respects from all the other writings in the 
 New Testament; and whose is the language, as seems 
 to me, is altogether unknown : whether that of Zenas, 
 or ApoUos, or some other of the Apostle Paul's 
 
 * See Michaelis by Marsh, vol. iv. p. 242. This opinion is ably 
 controverted by Hug, as well as by Bertholdt, though the latter does 
 not admit its Pauline origin. 
 
448 THE EPISTLE TO 
 
 assistants and fellow labourers.'* Professor Hug 
 thinks the difference in tone and dissimilarity of lan- 
 guage, in comparison with St. Paul's other writings, 
 which he recognizes in this Epistle, may be accounted 
 for by the circumstances under which he imagines it 
 to have been written. ' It is Paul's language, but it 
 is his more dignified language. The more I become 
 acquainted with the writings of the Apostle,' remarks 
 this accomplished Critic, ' the more I am tempted to 
 account the Epistle to the Hebrews as his master-piece. 
 It bears the seal of perfection, just as the Epistles to 
 the Thessalonians denote the commencement of his 
 career as an author.' f On the other hand. Professor 
 Stuart, in his zeal to establish the Pauline authorship 
 of the Epistle, labours to prove, in opposition to every 
 critic, ancient and modern, that it abounds with 
 Hebraisms, and that ' Greek more elliptical, ^ more 
 involved, more intricate and dark,' is not to be found 
 in the writings of Paul. Yet, he thinks the style of 
 Luke approximates much nearer to that of the Epis- 
 tle to the Hebrews, than the style of Barnabas, to 
 
 Seep. 19. whom TertulUan ascribes it. 
 
 Uncertainty § 6. Thesc Conflicting critical judgments prove, at . 
 
 criterion of least, how diflicult it is to identify any writer by his 
 ors ip. g^yjg^ g(j varied is the character of Paul's acknow- 
 ledged compositions, that the authenticity of the 
 First Epistle to Timothy has been rashly impeached 
 
 * Lardner, vol. vi. p. 107. Luther conjectured that ApoUos was 
 the author of the Epistle, founding his supposition on the character 
 given of him, Acts xviii. 24, 28. 
 
 t Hug, vol, ii. § 143. He deems the supposition admissible, that 
 Luke may have ' influenced the expressions,' by co-operating in the 
 treatise. 
 
THE HEBREWS. 449 
 
 by a German critic of no mean name, principally on Schieier- 
 the ground, that the language cannot be that of see p. 310. 
 Paul ; and the remarkable difference of tone and 
 style between the latter part of the Second Epistle 
 to the Corinthians and the preceding portions, has 
 been thought sufficient to furnish an objection against 
 its genuineness. That the Epistle to the Hebrews is See p. 321. 
 not written in the usual style of the Apostle's fervid, 
 vehement rhetoric, that the diction is more carefully 
 rounded into elegance and beauty, must be admitted, 
 unless we would go against the general sentence of 
 the most competent judges of ancient and modern 
 times ; but the instances are too numerous of a 
 writers having departed from his usual manner, to 
 allow of our regarding that difference of style as 
 conclusive evidence. Between the speeches of Paul 
 and the style of this Epistle, there is assuredly not 
 so striking a contrast as between the Speeches of 
 Charles James Fox and that philosophical States- 
 man's Historical Fragment. The result of a very close 
 and minute collation of the terms and phrases which 
 occur in this Epistle and in the acknowledged writings 
 of Paul, has established, that, in the use of particular 
 words, and in certain peculiarities of style, (such as 
 the use of the paranomasia, the sudden digression 
 suggested by a word, and the recurrence to the same 
 word or phrase,) there is a much nearer approach to 
 identity of manner, than has generally been recog- 
 nized, or than consists with the confident denial of 
 its Pauline authorship.* At the same time, this 
 
 * See especially Mr. Forster's ' Apostolical Authority of the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews,' pasdm. 
 
 2 G 
 
450 THE EPISTLE TO 
 
 species of evidence fails to demonstrate that the 
 Epistle could not be the composition of any other 
 Apostolic writer. Some of the coincidences adduced 
 might be paralleled by Pauline phrases occurring in 
 the Epistles of Peter ; and a still more marked resem- 
 blance is perceptible 'between the diction of the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews and that of the Acts. How 
 could it be otherwise than that the companions and 
 fellow-labourers of the Apostle should, in the incul- 
 cation of the same truths, employ a similar phraseo- 
 logy, and, being alike Hebrews, exhibit, in the use of 
 See p. 193. the Greek language, common peculiarities ? 
 Origin of § 7- Assumiug that the Apostle's thoughts had 
 
 entertained been clothcd with the polished and flowing diction of 
 Western this Epistlc by the hand of one of his disciples or 
 Bpectingthe compauions, the Alexandrian critics did not deem 
 authority of that a rcason for questioning its canonical authority. 
 ^'^ ^" It would have been strange, indeed, had the very 
 beauty of the composition been made a ground for 
 depreciating its intrinsic value and authenticity. But, 
 at a later period, other objections were raised against 
 the authority of this Epistle, which appear to have been 
 occasioned by a misinterpretation or rejection of some 
 of its doctrines. Eusebius, referring to a disputation 
 held at Rome by Caius, a most eloquent man, in the 
 time of Zephyrinus, with Proculus, a patron of the 
 Cataphrygian heresy, states, that, in reproving the 
 rashness and audaciousness of his adversaries in com- 
 posing new Scriptures, Caius makes mention of but 
 thirteen Epistles of Paul, not reckoning that to the 
 Hebrews with the rest. ' And indeed,' adds the 
 venerable Historian, ' to this very time, by some of 
 
THE HEBREWS. 451 
 
 the Komans, this Epistle is not thought to be the 
 Apostle's.' In a Catalogue of the canonical books 
 discovered by Muratori at Milan, and supposed to 
 belong to the commencement of the third century, or 
 the close of the second, not only is the Pauline 
 authorship of the Epistle denied, but it is absurdly 
 described as having been forged in the name of Paul 
 by the Alexandrians, to favour the heresy of Mar- 
 cion.* Yet, before the time of Caius, or the date of 
 this Catalogue, the Epistle was included in the old 
 Italic Version as an apostolic writing ; a proof that 
 no suspicion was then entertained of its being the 
 forgery of an Alexandrian. The opposition to its 
 authority appears to have been confined (at least till 
 the rise of Arianism in the East) to the Koman 
 Church, and to have been grounded purely upon 
 doctrinal objections to certain passages ; in parti- 
 cular to Heb. vi. 4, 5,1 by which the Montanists (and 
 afterwards the Novatians) defended their dogma, that 
 those who had become guilty of grievous crimes, 
 could no more be admitted to the communion of the 
 Church. Strange as it may appear, for no better 
 reason than the seeming countenance which the 
 authority of this Epistle gave to the so deemed 
 heretics, the pubHc and ecclesiastical use of it was 
 interdicted, and its authenticity questioned or denied. 
 
 > 
 
 * ' Thus,' remarks Hug, ' that a self-opiniated man might main- 
 tain his orthodoxy, the Apostle himself must submit to become a 
 heretic' 
 
 t TertuUian vigorously defended, from this text, the Montanist 
 tenet referred to, in his book Be Pudicitid. Augustin, Theodoret, 
 Macarius, and others, notice and refute the Novatian interpretation 
 j>f this passage. See Hug, pt. ii. § 140. 
 
452 THE EPISTLE TO 
 
 The arguments by which the Latins attempted to 
 justify their objections, were drawn from its being 
 anonymous, contrary to Paul's practice, from its 
 greater elegance of style, and from other supposed 
 internal criteria, but no appeal was made to any tra- 
 ditional or historical ground for denying its Pauline 
 authorship ; a proof that no such ground could be 
 taken by those who would gladly have availed them- 
 selves of it. On the other hand, Jerome and Augus- 
 tine, who, with their extensive literature and reading, 
 outweighed all the West, were satisfied that it was the 
 genuine composition of Paul; and it is inserted in 
 the Catalogue of the third Council of Carthage in 
 397, over which Augustine exercised great influence. 
 From that time, the Greek and Latin Churches gene- 
 rally concurred in acknowledging its canonical autho- 
 rity. This, indeed, may be considered as established,, 
 beyond all reasonable question, by the external evi- 
 dence, independently of the internal criteria of 
 authorship.* 
 Modem § 8. There have been learned critics and cora- 
 
 f esitetion mcntators in modern times, who, while fully satisfied 
 hsTa'S'iJie" as to the claim of this Epistle to the character of 
 authorship. Apostolic Scrfpturc, have felt a difficulty in coming 
 to the conclusion, that St. Paul was the writer. 
 Thus, the judicious Calvin declares, ' that he could, 
 
 * Lardner has cited a chain of testimonies, Greek and Latin, 
 from A.D. 107 to 1070. Vol. vi. pp. 88—91. In Lower Egypt, it 
 ranked inunediately after the Epistle to the Galatians, till about the 
 fourth century, as appears from the Codex VcUicarms. In the time, 
 of AthanasiuB, it was placed after 2 Thessalonians. In the version 
 of Upper Egypt, it stood between 2 Corinthians and Galatians. 
 
THE HEBREWS. 453 
 
 ■not be brought to acknowledge Paul to be the 
 author ; the very manner of teaching and style suffi- 
 ciently indicating it to be the composition of ano- 
 ther.* Yet,' he says, 'I receive it without contro- 
 versy as ranking among the Apostolic writings.' 
 Erasmus addresses his readers in similar language: 
 ' I would have you value this Epistle none the less 
 because it has been doubted by many, whether it is 
 Paul's or another's. Certainly, whoever was the 
 author, it is on many accounts worthy of being read 
 by Christians ; and while it differs far and wide from 
 the style of Paul, as regards the phraseology, it as 
 closely approaches to the Pauhne spirit and senti- 
 ments.' t 
 
 The strongest reason for questioning its being the 
 writing of St. Paul, and that on which Calvin lays 
 the greatest stress, is founded upon a passage in the 
 second chapter, in which the Writer seems to rank 
 himself with those who had received the Christian 
 doctrine from the Apostles.J Many passages may 
 be adduced from the Epistles of St. Paul, in which 
 he gracefully joins himself with those he is addressing 
 in the language of caution and admonition ; but, 
 jealous as he always is of the independent source of 
 
 * ' Ego lU^avlvm agnoscam authorem adduci nequeo : . . . . ipsa do- 
 cendA ratio et gtyhis aUii/m quam Pwuhi/m, esse satis testantur .'.... Ego 
 vero earn inter Apostolicas sine controversid amplector.' 
 
 t ' Optime lector, nihilo minoris velim esse tibi hanc Epistolam, 
 qiiod d mvMis dAthitatv/m, dt Pavli esset an cdteriris. Certe cwiuscunque 
 est, midtis nominibus digna est quae legatur a Ohristianis : et ut a. 
 stylo Pavli, quod ad phrasim attinet, longe lateqv£ discrepat, ita ad 
 spiritwn et pectus PavMnwm, vehementer accidit.' 
 
 t So also Luther, Grotius, and Le Clerc. Wetstein, Lardner, and 
 Stuart combat this objection. 
 
464 THE EPISTLE TO 
 
 his Apostolic commission and instructions, he is never 
 found associating himself with those who were in- 
 debted to the Apostles for their knowledge of Christ. 
 Upon every other point he discovers an unaffected 
 humility, acknowledging himself as "less than the 
 least," unworthy of the honourable commission en- 
 Eph. iii. 8. trusted to him, because he had been a persecutor of 
 the Church ; but, with regard to his knowledge of 
 " the mystery of Christ," he deemed himself " not a 
 
 Gan^'i'^'^" ^^^^ ^®^™^ t^® ^^''y chiefest Apostles," and professed 
 to be not indebted to any human instructor. The 
 passage in question sfaikingly corresponds, however, 
 to the language of Luke in the introduction to his 
 Gospel ; and it would be strictly appropriate as pro- 
 ceeding from the companion of St. Paul. It is, 
 indeed, remarkable, how every thing seems to favour 
 the idea, that that Evangelist had some hand in its 
 composition. In answer to the objection above 
 referred to, it has been urged, that, writing to the 
 Hebrews of Palestine, St. Paul would not stand so 
 much on his apostolic character, the church being 
 there under the direction of the Apostles of the Cii^ 
 cumcision. But it is by no means certain that it was 
 addressed to the churches in Judea ; and it is equally 
 questionable whether, at the date of this Epistle, any 
 of the Apostles remained behind at Jerusalem. 
 Again, it has been said, that the passage in question 
 no more implies that the Writer was exclusively 
 indebted to others for his knowledge of the Gospel, 
 than it denotes a consciousness that he was under a 
 temptation to apostatize. Allowing to this explanation 
 its utmost force as the best way of reconciling the 
 
THE HEBREWS. 455 
 
 mode of expression with what St. Paul insists upon 
 in writing to his own Galatian converts, it must still Gai.i. 12, 
 be considered as one of those deviations from the 
 Apostle's usual style, which may justify the doubts 
 entertained respecting the authorship of the Epistle 
 by critics who, like Calvin, have no bias against the 
 opinion that it is Paul's, and no hesitation in admitting 
 its Apostohc authority. 
 
 § 9. Our next inquiry is, To whom was this Epistle To whom 
 addressed ? The general superscription, " to the Epistle ad- 
 Hebrews," is supported by the prevaihng opmion of 
 Antiquity. Chrysostom states, that it was sent to 
 the believing Jews of Palestine ; an opinion adopted 
 by Theodoret and Theophylact, and, among modem 
 writers, by Lightfoot, Whitby, Mill, Pearson, Capel- 
 lus, Beza, Hallet, Lardner, and Hug. Yet, in the 
 Boman Catalogues from the end of the second cen- 
 tury, it is described under the title of Epistola ad 
 Alexandrinos, probably from the notion that it was 
 directed to the Christians at Alexandria. Wetstein 
 conjectured, that it was written by Paul to the Jewish 
 believers at Bome, soon after he had been released 
 from his imprisonment in that city ; an opinion which 
 has found a recent advocate in the late Bishop of 
 Meath (Dr. Dickinson), who supports it by remark- 
 ing : ' Hence, the writer, in his concluding words, 
 mentions those from Italy as particularly joining in 
 the Apostle's prayers for the welfare of those to whom 
 the Epistle is addressed.' Michaehs and Eichhorn Dr. cooke 
 also contend, that the salutation indicates that the 'History of 
 parties referred to had come from Italy, and were out anity,'p.i63. 
 of that country when the Epistle was despatched. 
 
456 THE EPISTLE TO 
 
 Lardner and others, on the contrary, adduce it as a 
 proof that the Writer was then in Italy ; and Stuart 
 contends, that the phrase may be rendered simply, 
 ' the Italians.' In either case, we must suppose Ita- 
 lian brethren of the Hebrew stock to be intended by 
 the designation ; Italian Jews, not Romans, that is, 
 not Roman citizens. All that can be with certainty 
 inferred, perhaps, is, that either the Epistle was 
 written from Italy, or it was sent to parties in Italy ; 
 so that, if we reject the latter explanation as un- 
 supported by any other reason, it seems to leave no 
 room for doubt that the Epistle was written from 
 Rome.* 
 
 That it was addressed to the Hebrews of Palestine, 
 there is, however, strong ground for questioning. 
 Sir Isaac Newton thought, that 'this Epistle was 
 written to Jewish believers who left Jerusalem about 
 In A.D. 66. the time that the war broke out, and went into Asia.' 
 Dr. Wall agrees, that the Epistle was written to 
 Hebrews ; but, * for the place or country,' he thinks, 
 ' they were rather the Hebrew Christians of Asia, 
 Macedonia, Greece, &c., where Paul had spent most 
 Lm/neJ '^^ ^^^ time, than that they were those of Jerusalem.' 
 vol. vi. p. 79. Jt is^ indeed, scarcely conceivable, if the Epistle pro- 
 ceeded from St. Paul, that he should bespeak the 
 prayers of the Hebrews of Palestine, that he might 
 be restored to them the sooner. ' One would think,' 
 Dr. Wall remarks, 'that Paul should have prayed 
 and purposed to go any whither, rather than to Jeru- 
 
 * Had it been sent to Jewish believers at Rome, it is morally 
 impossible that its authorship should have been a question in the 
 Roman Church., 
 
THE HEBREWS. 467 
 
 salem, where he had been so ill used, and where he 
 fell into that five years' imprisonment.' It is no suffi- 
 cient answer to this objection, that ' Paul might now 
 desire to see his countrymen in Judea.' The expres- 
 sion, " restored to you," denotes more than this ; 
 implying a closer relation between the Writer and 
 those whom he was addressing, than existed between 
 the Apostle of the Gentiles and the churches of 
 Judea ; such as bound him to those whom he re- 
 garded as his spiritual children. But, further, the See i Cor. 
 mention of Timothy, while it accords with the Pau- u'. 19.' 
 line authorship of the Epistle, forbids the supposition 
 that if was addressed to the Hebrews of Judea. 
 Timothy was a native of Lycaonia, the son of a 
 Greek ; and we have no reason to suppose that he 
 was even personally known to the churches of Pales- 
 tine. He was not among those who accompanied 
 Paul in his last journey to Jerusalem ; and it does not 
 seem likely that the Apostle would announce an 
 intention to revisit Judea in company with him, for 
 whom he found such constant occupation in visiting 
 the churches which he had planted in other regions. 
 Once more, if we suppose this Epistle to be specifi- 
 cally referred to by the Apostle Peter in his Second 
 Epistle to the Jews of the Dispersion in the Asiatic See p. ise. 
 Peninsula, we must conclude that it was addressed to 
 the same communities ; that is, to Hebrew Christians 
 out of Palestine ; including, perhaps, the Galatians, 
 to whom some critics have conjectured that it was spe- 
 cifically sent. 
 
 In support of the opinion, that it was addressed to 
 the believers in Judea, Lardner refers to such expres- 
 
468 THE EPISTLE TO 
 
 sions as the following : — " has spoken unto us by His 
 ch. i. 2;ii. Son," — " and was confirmed unto us by those who 
 
 1 i . iv. 2. <■ 
 
 heard him," — " for unto us was the Gospel preached," 
 &c. ; which he deems especially suitable to those 
 living in Palestine, where Christ himself first taught, 
 and then his disciples, confirming their testimony with 
 numerous miracles. But the sacred Writer may 
 surely be understood as referring to the Jewish people, 
 to whom the Gospel was everywhere first addressed, 
 irrespectively of the country which they inhabited. 
 The phrase, " was confirmed to us by those who 
 heard him," seems rather to imply, that these Hebrews 
 were not among those who had themselves heard Our 
 Lord. Again, the reproof conveyed to them in the 
 remark, that, in point of time, they ought to be quali- 
 
 ch. V. 12. fied to be the teachers of others, the same learned 
 Writer thinks, may most properly be understood of 
 Christians in Jerusalem and Judea, to whom the 
 Gospel was first preached. Yet, we find St. Paul 
 reproving the Corinthian believers in similar terms, 
 
 1 Cor. iii. ]. as being but novices, " babes in Christ." Once more, 
 the circumstances of suffering and persecution which 
 these Hebrews had passed through, " the great fight 
 of afflictions" in former days, and the references to 
 their deceased rulers or pastors, are insisted upon by 
 Lardner, Hug, and other learned writers, as clearly 
 pointing to Palestine and Jerusalem. Some had 
 been made a gazing-stock by reproaches and persecu- 
 tions ; others had sustained the spoUing of their 
 
 Heb. X.32 goods ; but they had not yet resisted unto blood. If 
 this may have been applicable to the churches of 
 Judea at the date of this Epistle, (although, in the 
 
THE HEBREWS. 469 
 
 cases of Stephen and James, blood had been shed in 
 
 the cause of the Gospel,) it was not less applicable to 
 
 Jewish believers in the adjacent countries. " Thus, 
 
 the Thessalonians had " suffered like things " of their See p. i82. 
 
 own countrymen, even as the churches of God in 
 
 Judea had of the Jews. No massacres of believers i Thess. u. 
 
 14. 
 
 in Christ had as yet taken place, either in or out of 
 Palestine. The passages referred to furnish no evi- 
 dence, therefore, that the Epistle was written to the 
 Hebrew Christians in Judea ; and the reasons against 
 that supposition, are accordingly left to operate in all 
 their force. The reference to their liberality in min- 
 istering to the saints, though susceptible of a different Heb. vi. lo. 
 explanation, seems best to agree with the generosity 
 shown by the churches out of Judea in contributing 
 to the poor saints of Jerusalem, especially in the 
 years of scarcity. Once more, the allusions to the 
 contests of the stadium favour the opinion, that the 
 Epistle was addressed to Hebrews of the Dispersion, 
 rather than to those of Palestine, who were not familiar 
 with such spectacles. 
 
 It is at all events sufficiently clear, that the In- 
 spired Writer addresses Christians thoroughly conver- 
 sant with the Jewish ceremonial and all the Levitical 
 institutes, who were in peculiar danger of falling back 
 into Judaism, the temptation to apostatize arising 
 from the persecutions to which they were exposed on 
 the part chiefly of their Jewish brethren. To fortify 
 their minds against this fiery trial of their faith and 
 constancy, he sets before them the supreme authority, 
 the pecuHar sanctions, and the transcendent glory of 
 the Christian Dispensation, as concurring to render 
 
460 THE EPISTLE TO 
 
 unbelief the more inexcusable, and apostacy the more 
 criminal and fatal. 
 Analysis & 10. In the vcrv exordium of this homiletical dis- 
 
 ofthe '^ •' - . . 
 
 Epistle. course, the sacred Writer argues the superiority of 
 the Christian dispensation from the higher character 
 of the Mediator of the New Covenant as the Eternal 
 Son of God ; greater than all the Prophets, higher 
 than the Angels; superior to Moses, superior to 
 Aaron. And he shews that the death of Christ, far 
 from diminishing His Mediatorial glory, was the great 
 means of accomplishing the work of expiation and 
 redemption, to fulfil which the Son of God assumed 
 humanity. Having cited from the prophetic Scrip- 
 tures the declaration respecting the supreme priest- 
 hood of the Messiah, the Writer shews in what sense 
 Melchisedek was a type of Christ ; and argues, that 
 the abrogation of the Levitical institutes was implied 
 in the prediction announcing the appointment of a 
 new priesthood in the person of the Messiah. He 
 then expatiates upon the transcendent glory of the 
 Christian dispensation, and cites Prophecy as a wit- 
 ch, vii. 7. ness to its superior excellence and perpetuity. He 
 next illustrates the emblematic and temporary nature 
 of the Levitical institutes and ritual ; and shews how 
 all the emblems of the Old Covenant are realized in 
 Christ. The death of Our Lord, as a sacrifice, is 
 shewn to be the necessary ratification of the New 
 Covenant ; and its intrinsic and perpetual eflScacy is 
 contrasted with the typical and ceremonial virtue of 
 the emblematic sacrifices, as being a real propitiation, 
 absolute and final. 
 Ch. A. 19. The Inspired Writer then proceeds to shew, how 
 
THE HEBREWS. 461 
 
 these views supply the ground of holy confidence, 
 and motives to constancy. He points out the aggra- 
 vated guilt"* and awful issue of apostacy from the 
 Christian faith. And, reminding the Hebrew be- 
 lievers of their cheerful fortitude and faithful adhe- 
 rence under former trials, he admonishes them that 
 their only security lay in maintaining the life of faith. 
 Faith, he shews to have been the main principle of 
 Eeligion in every age ; and he illustrates its operation 
 and triumphant efficacy in the instances of the Patri- 
 archs, of Moses, and of the long line of heroes, martyrs, 
 and confessors, whom he represents as looking down 
 upon those who were engaged in prosecuting the 
 same contest for the heavenly prize ; Christ Jesus 
 being at once their leader and great exemplar, and 
 the final arbiter and distributor of the rewards. As 
 a further antidote to discouragement under their trials, 
 he reminds them, that these were but the parental 
 discipline by which they were to be trained for im- 
 mortality. He enjoins upon them a tender mutual 
 consideration and watchfulness ; and hints at the 
 danger of their bartering, like Esau, spiritual privi- 
 leges and eternal hopes for present gratifications. He 
 then draws a vivid contrast between the awful cir- 
 cumstances which attended the delivery of the Law 
 at Sinai, and the transcendent glory of the Celestial 
 Jerusalem ; and infers the greater danger of turning 
 away from the voice of the Son of God speaking to 
 us in the Gospel. 
 
 At this point, the argument is brought to a close ; ch. xiii.. 
 and what follows is in a hortatory strain, so different 
 as to appear to have been added as an epistolary 
 
462 THE EPISTLE TO 
 
 postscript. To this portion of the Epistle, bearing 
 more strongly than any other part the marks of the 
 Pauline manner, the language of the Writer seems 
 alone applicable : "I beseech you, brethren, bear with 
 this word of exhortation, for briefly I have written to 
 you." Understood of the entire Epistle, it seems 
 scarcely to accord with the character of the composi- 
 tion, as one of the longest and most elaborate writings 
 in the New Testament. The Apostle exhorts them 
 to cultivate both fraternal affection and hospitality ; to 
 sympathize with those who were suiFering persecution ; 
 to hold in honour the marriage relation; to study 
 contentment ; to cherish the memory of their deceased 
 pastors ; and to be on their guard against novel tenets, 
 mingling ritual observances with the faith they had 
 received ; reminding them, that, as Christ suffered 
 without the gate of Jerusalem, so they ought to be 
 prepared to go forth to Him, renouncing, for His sake, 
 their interests as members of the Jewish community, 
 being citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem. He enjoins 
 upon them, as their only acceptable sacrifices, con- 
 stant thanksgiving and acts of beneficence. He ad- 
 monishes them to yield obedience and deference to 
 their pastors ; entreats their prayers on his own 
 behalf, that he might the more speedily be restored 
 to them ; and finally commends them to the grace of 
 the Supreme Pastor of the Church. The Epistle 
 concludes with the customary salutation and bene- 
 diction. 
 Pecniiari- § 1 1- From this Outline of the argument, it will be 
 sMimy in™ seeu at a glance, that the matter of the Epistle, as 
 ^'^ ^' regards the leading topics, the strain of argument. 
 
THE HEBREWS. 4fi3 
 
 the very similies and images employed, is truly Pau- 
 line; yet, not more so than might be expected 
 in the composition of one who was constantly asso- 
 ciated with him in his Apostolic labours ; while there 
 is observable in the exhibition of the same doctrines, 
 and in the use of the same words, a certain peculiarity 
 of phraseology. For example, in the Epistle to the 
 Komans and other of his writings, St. Paul speaks of 
 the believer as justified by the blood of Christ, and as 
 redeemed by his blood ; employing, in the former in- 
 stance, a forensic term ; in the second, a metaphor 
 alluding to the state of slaves and captives. But, in 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews, the same doctrine is 
 conveyed under a form of expression borrowed from 
 the Levitical ritual ; and, instead of justified, believers 
 are said to be purified or sanctified by the blood of 
 Christ ; the terms, dytd^eiv, Ka6affC,iiv, and TcXciS<ra< taking 
 the place of hKaimv. In one passage of St. Paul's 
 writings, we find, indeed, these different but equi- 
 valent forms of expression associated: — 1 Cor. vi. 11. 
 
 dWd, atitKoiaairBe, aKKa iiyid(r9'>iT€, aXK' HtKawByiTe, JLhC USC 
 
 of dyiai^eiv in the scusc of to purify fi:om sin, or to 
 cleanse by expiation, is so rare, however, in the 
 Pauline writings, and so marked in the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, as to amount to a characteristic difference. 
 Not less peculiar is the use of the term reXetSa-at, " to Heb. x. u. 
 perfect," in relation to the conscience or the state of 
 the worshipper as justified. In an agonistic sense, 
 the term occurs both in this Epistle and in the Pauline 
 writings, but not in any other Epistle in the former 
 acceptation. Again, in the Pauline Epistles, the 
 believer is represented to be justified by fmtfi, to be 
 
464 THE EPISTLE TO 
 
 saved or preserved by hope: in the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, although we find a reference to " the righte- 
 
 ch. xi. 7. ousness of faith," yet, faith, considered as the confident 
 expectation of what we hop6 for, is insisted upon, as 
 the principle upon which the perseverance to salvation 
 depends, rather than as the ground upon which the 
 undeserving are admitted to the gratuitous mercy of 
 God. We find the same quotation from Habakkuk 
 introduced in the first chapter of the Epistle to 
 the Komans, and in the tenth chapter of the Epistle 
 to the Hebrews; but, on examining this apparent 
 coincidence, it is found to present a remarkable dif- 
 ference in the use made of the passage cited. 
 
 Canonical % \2. Thcsc peculiarities may be thought to weiffh, 
 
 authorityof ' . ^ •, i i-«. • i , 
 
 the Epistle morc thau any perceptible dinerence m the structure 
 by the sup- of the scntcnces, or than the number of AVaf Uyliteva, 
 it was a fouud iu this Epistle, in favour of the opinion, that 
 posUion" some other hand than that of Paul himself had a 
 share in its composition.* Nor does this seem a 
 very improbable supposition, when we recollect, that 
 several of St. Paul's Epistles were sent in the joint 
 name of the Apostle and one or more of his col- 
 leagues ; as, for instance, the Second Epistle to the 
 Corinthians and the Epistles to the Philippians and the 
 Colossians, in which he associates Timothy with him- 
 
 * Mr. Townson has remarked, incidentally, that ' Paul has one 
 mode of citing the Old Testament to the Hebrews, and another to 
 the churches of which the Gentiles were members.' In other words, 
 the formula used in this Epistle, is peculiar to it and to Matthew's 
 Gospel. Tpiupa is never used, but such words as A^yei, iiaprvpei, iipvitf, 
 <f^ai. But this peculiarity is explained by its being addressed to 
 Hebrews, who were accustomed to this use of the term said prefixed 
 to a quotation. Davidson's Hermeneut. pp. 451 — 454. 
 
THE HEBREWS. 4C5 
 
 self in the opening salutation, and those to the Thes- 
 salonians, in which that of Silas, as well as of Timothy, 
 is united with that of the Apostle. In these Epistles, 
 it is probable that Timothy acted as his amanuensis, 
 while the composition was dictated by St. Paul ; yet, 
 had the substance only been dictated, and the Epistle 
 actually composed by Timothy or by Silas, in fulfilment 
 of his instructions, the Apostolic signature, which 
 was " the token in every Epistle," would have been 
 sufficient to stamp it with all the authority of Apos- 
 tolic inspiration. In the supposition that the treatise 
 or homily in question was composed by one of St 
 Paul's immediate colleagues, there is nothing, there- 
 fore, which detracts in any degree jfrom its claim to 
 be regarded in the light in which it would be received 
 by the churches, if it came to them in his name and 
 with his sanction. With regard to Silas, we know 
 that he was recognised as endowed with the prophetic 
 gift ; and we should be warranted, therefore, in re- A«ts xv. 32. 
 garding any writing of his as bearing the authority 
 of prophetic inspiration. But if, in addition to its 
 being of inspired authorship, it was put forth under 
 the superintendence and direct sanction of the Apos- 
 tle himself, it must have had precisely the same claim 
 to be received as authoritative, that would attach to 
 any Apostolic composition. The close connexion 
 between Paul and Luke' has been considered as im- 
 parting an Apostolic sanction to the writings of the 
 Evangelist; and this ancient opinion would have 
 appeared to rest upon far stronger grounds, had the 
 identity of that Evangelist with Paul's chosen col- 
 league, Silas, been understood. In like manner, the 
 
 2 H 
 
466 THE EPISTLE TO 
 
 tradition, that the Epistle to the Hebrews was com- 
 posed by Luke, would have seemed to carry with it a 
 higher degree of probability, had it come down to us 
 in another shape, the name of Silvanus being substi- 
 tuted for that of Luke, or rather the true character 
 of Luke having been recognised. The Epistle to 
 the Hebrews, had it opened with the customary 
 salutation, might then have borne with the utmost 
 propriety the joint names of Paul and Silvanus, like 
 those to the Thessalonians. 
 
 If, however, it was not the composition of St. 
 Paul, although, in its subject matter, a faithful tran- 
 script of his doctrine, we may account at once for his 
 not prefixing his name to it, when, with the addition 
 of the Apostolic injunctions subjoined in the last 
 chapter, he sent it forth to the churches. It is possi- 
 ble, that his faithful colleague had, by that time, been 
 removed by death, and that Paul had to put his 
 finishing hand, as well as his Apostolic seal, to what 
 Silas had prepared. These, it may be said, are mere 
 conjectures ; an hypothesis is, however, of some use, 
 if it serves but to show how, upon a given supposition, 
 objections and difficulties would be removed, or con- 
 flicting opinions reconciled. The conclusion to which 
 these remarks are intended to conduct the reader, is, 
 not that the Epistle could not have been written by 
 Paul himself, notwithstanding the deviation it exhibits 
 from his usual style, but that, if it was not written by 
 him, both internal and external evidence would lead 
 us to refer its composition to Silas or Luke ; that its 
 canonical authority is not afiected by that supposition ; 
 that not only are the matter and doctrine Pauline, 
 
THE HEBREWS. 467 
 
 but it comes to us with the authority of Paul stamped 
 upon it, having been sent forth by the Apostle himself; 
 and, finally, that not without the strongest reason, 
 therefore, the ancients have, as Origen testifies, handed 
 it down as Paul's. The churches, in fact, received it 
 fi-om him, and upon his authority. 
 
 i 13. The precise date of the composition cannot Probable 
 
 1-1 -1 • 1 mi -T • • date of the 
 
 be With certainty determmed. i he prevailing opinion Epistle. 
 is, that it was written by the Apostle Paul at Rome, 
 towards the close of his imprisonment, or shortly after 
 he had obtained his hberty. Lardner, adopting this 
 opinion, supposes that Timothy was sent to the 
 Philippians, agreeably to the Apostle's intention 
 intimated in the Epistle to that church, on his Ptn. ii. is. 
 having gained good assurance of being speedily re- 
 leased ; and that the Epistle to the Hebrews was 
 written during his absence. The learned Critic inter- 
 prets the reference to Timothy at ch. xiii. 2, of his 
 having been "sent abroad."* He concludes, fur- 
 ther, that this Epistle was written at Eome, or some- 
 where in Italy, in the beginning of the year 63, and 
 that it was the last written of all St. Paul's Epistles. 
 Mr. Greswell assigns the same date (a.u.c. 816) to 
 the composition of the Epistle, f although he makes 
 the Apostle's imprisonment to have terminated two 
 years before (a.u.c. 814), and imagines that he visited 
 Spain in the interim. We may assume, then, as at Gresweii, 
 
 '^ "" vol. u. p. 78. 
 
 * So Mill also intei-prets the expression ; and Beausobre. 
 
 + Mill, Wetstein, and Tillemont assign the same date to the 
 Epistle. Hug also supposes it to have been written by the Apostle 
 after his liberation, in the beginning of the tenth of Nero. Neander 
 (following Bleek) supposes it to have been written in the last year 
 of Nero's reign, by ' an apostolical man of the Pauline school.' 
 
 2 H 2 
 
468 THE EPISTLE TO 
 
 least highly probable, that the Epistle was finished 
 and sent from Italy in the year fixed upon with the 
 general concurrence of these learned Writers. It 
 may nevertheless have been undertaken and partly 
 composed some years before. The marks of care 
 and polish which it exhibits, indicate that it had 
 been not hastily written. Considering how much 
 Paul wrote during his imprisonment at Rome, under 
 circumstances far from favourable to such employ- 
 ment, and recollecting too, that he passed two years 
 at Caesarea, during which we cannot imagine him to 
 have been idle, (although we have no record how 
 he was employed during that interval,) one is tempted 
 to conjecture, that this Epistle, if indeed his actual 
 composition, had been begun at that time, when he 
 enjoyed a considerable degree of liberty. Or, if it 
 was undertaken at his dictation, and Silas or Luke 
 had any hand in its composition, since the Historian 
 of the Acts appears to have remained in Judea while 
 the Apostle's fate was yet in suspense, no time would 
 seem to have afforded a better opportunity for under- 
 taking such a work; and yet, no suitable occasion 
 could have presented itself for sending it forth, till 
 after they had together reached Eome. The un- 
 finished composition, which seems brought to a close, 
 so far as regards the main argument, at the end of 
 chapter xii., might have been so far prepared, in readi- 
 ness for an opportunity of transmitting it to the 
 Asiatic Brethren of the Circumcision by a trusty 
 brother, and finished, at length, by the Apostle's 
 own hand, when the occasion presented itself. If 
 See p. 198. this Epistle is referred to (as has been shown to be 
 
THE HEBREWS. 469 
 
 probable) by the Apostle Peter, we cannot assign to 
 it a later date than a year or two prior to his Second 
 Epistle. Had we not reason to conclude that it was 
 sent from Italy, this consideration would even lead us 
 to fix upon an earlier date. But, if sent from Kome, 
 subsequently to Timothy's arrival there, and yet 
 during his absence, it must have been finished after 
 the Epistle to the Philippians, and may consequently 
 be regarded as the latest communication from the 
 Apostle's pen. 
 
 Here then we reluctantly take a final leave of 
 this great Champion of the Faith and of the Free- 
 dom of the Gospel. To a certain extent, the Epis- 
 tles of Paul form a sort of autobiography, and, in 
 addition to their Divine instructions, are invaluable 
 as exhibiting an example worthy, next to that of Our 
 Lord himself, of being studied as a model. The sin- 
 gleness of purpose and setf-devotion, the entire dis- 
 interestedness and enlarged benevolence, the moral 
 courage and fortitude, the combination of a lofty 
 spirit with a most entire resignation of will, which are 
 the prominent features of the moral portrait, attest 
 the power of Divine Grace, that, in an instant, trans- 
 formed the proud, impetuous, malign, fanatical Phari- 
 see into the very image of Christ, an ardent zeal for 
 whose glory became thenceforth the all-absorbing 
 master passion of his soul. Such was the character 
 of the great Apostle of the Gentile world. 
 
470 THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 
 
 CHAP. XL 
 THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 
 
 THE CATHOLIC EPISTLE OF JOHN : ITS UNDOUBTED GENUINENESS 
 — ALLUSIONS TO THE GOSPEL OE JOHN — OPINION THAT II WAS 
 
 SUPPLEMENTAL TO THE GOSPEL ITS DATE ANTECEDENT TO THE 
 
 OVEETHROW OP JERUSALEM THE LABOURS OP JOHN STRICTLY 
 
 CONTEMPORANEOUS WITH THOSE OF PAUL HERESIES COMBATED 
 
 BY JOHN SIMILAR TO THOSE REFERRED TO IN THE PAULINE 
 EPISTLES — COINCIDENCES BETWEEN THE CATHOLIC EPISTLE OE 
 
 JOHN AND THE PAULINE WRITINGS THE EPISTLE OF JOHN 
 
 PROBABLY SENT TO CORINTH — THE EPISTLE TO GAIUS THE 
 
 EPISTLE TO THE ELECT LADY CHARACTER OF THE GENERAL 
 
 EPISTLE AS A COMPOSITION — ANALYSIS — PECULIARITIES OP EX- 
 PRESSION IN REFERENCE TO UNION WITH THE DIVINE NATURE — 
 CONTROVERTED PASSAGE ON THE THREE HEAVENLY WITNESSES. 
 
 TheCa- § 1. Like the Epistle to the Hebrews, the sacred 
 tbof jol'n: book which bears the title of the First Epistle Gen- 
 edgrniiiiie- Grd of John, partakes of the homiletic, more than of 
 the epistolary character. The writer has not deemed 
 it necessary to prefix, his name ; thete is neither gen- 
 eral nor personal salutatiOHj nor any indication of the 
 persons to whom it was addressed. Yet, even had 
 there been no traditional testimony respecting its 
 authorship, the internal evidence would have been 
 suflacient to establish its genuineness, not only as an 
 
THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 471 
 
 Apostolic writing, but also as the composition of the 
 same inspired pen that wrote the Gospel of John. 
 
 There has never been, in fact, any difference of 
 opinion upon this point. Origen says : ' John, be- 
 sides the Gospel and the Revelation, has left us an 
 Epistle of a few lines. Grant also a second and a 
 third, for all do not allow these to be genuine.' Eu- 
 sebius uses similar language, echoing the testimony 
 of Origen : ' Besides his Gospel, his first Epistle is 
 universally acknowledged by those of the present 
 time, and by the ancients ; but the other two are 
 considered doubtful.' It is difficult to discover any Lardner, 
 
 p 1 1 , .1 , . yol.vi.p.27S. 
 
 reason tor the doubt entertamed as to the genuraeness 
 of the two shorter Epistles, which so closely resemble 
 the first in sentiment, phrase, and manner. Of the 
 thirteen verses contained in the Second Epistle, eight 
 are found in the First, either in words or in sub- 
 stance. If not the genuine Letter of the Apostle, it 
 must have been the forgery of an imitator of his 
 style ; and one would be at a loss to conceive of a 
 motive for the imposition. These two Epistles, it has 
 been said, are not worth contending about ; and they Lardner, 
 may be of small doctrinal importance ; yet, as they ™ ^'- ^" 
 probably owe their preservation among the canonical 
 Scriptures to their having been written at the same 
 time as the First Epistle, and sent with it, their 
 genuineness is a point of some interest, as they may 
 assist us in determining with some probability to whom 
 the First Epistle was addressed. 
 
 & 2. Throughout the General Epistle, there is a AUuaionin 
 
 11 n 1 f~i 1 I'l'ii- the opening 
 
 marked reference to the Gospel, to which, indeed, it of the 
 
 n • ^ ■ 1 p 1 Epistle to 
 
 IS regarded by some critics as forming a kind oi supple- John's 
 
472 THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 
 
 ment. The very opening appears to refer to a former 
 work; and, although the language may be understood 
 as relating generally to the Apostolic testimony, yet, 
 it acquires a peculiar emphasis and appropriateness, if 
 taken as referring to the Gospel : " That respecting 
 Or, the life- the Word who is Life, which took place from the first, 
 
 giving , _ _ 
 
 Logos. ' De of which we were eye-witnesses, which we contemplated 
 
 pmfico.' and palpably handled, — for the Life was manifested 
 (in the flesh*), and we beheld and bear witness, and 
 announce to you, that Eternal Life which was with 
 The Father, and was so manifested to us, — what we 
 beheld and heard, we announce to you, in order that 
 you may partake with us of that fellowship which we 
 
 1 Ep. i. 1, 2. have with The Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." 
 Now as this declaration cannot be understood of the 
 -subsequent contents of the Epistle, if it refers to any 
 written communication or record, it must be intended 
 to describe the Gospel, the commencement of which 
 so strikingly corresponds to that of the Epistle : "In 
 the beginning was the Word. ... In Him was Life, 
 and the Life was the Light of men. . . . And the 
 Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we 
 beheld his glory." Moreover, supposing the declara- 
 tion to refer to the book concerning the Logos or 
 Life-giving Word, (which had been written expressly 
 that those to whom it was sent might believe Jesus 
 to be the Son of God, and that, believing, they might 
 
 John XX. 31. have life through his name, ) there seems to be a more 
 apparent object or purpose in the Writers so solemnly 
 affirming his personal knowledge of the events he had 
 
 * if irapKl is plainly to be understood, as it is expressed, 1 Tim. iii. 
 16 ; and i^avepiieri may be regarded as synonimons with trapf iyivero. 
 
THE EPISTLES OP JOHN. 473 
 
 recorded, and the certainty which attached to his 
 testimony. And this introductory reference to his 
 own Gospel might be intended to serve instead 
 of any personal designation of himself, to stamp au- 
 thority upon the exhortations which he was about to 
 deliver to them, in order that they might attain to 
 the full measure of the joy of faith. The inspired 
 Writer bespeaks their dutifiil attention, by describing 
 himself as that Apostle and Evangelist to whom they 
 were indebted for the precious document alluded to. 
 
 § 3. The opinion, that the Epistle was designed to Opinion 
 accompany the Gospel, has been advanced by Pro- intended to 
 
 n TT 1 1 • • 1 • • 11 accompany 
 
 fessor Hug ; and he imagines that they were originally the Gospel. 
 placed together in the canon. No scholar, he re- 
 marks, can be ignorant, that a different division and ar- 
 rangement of the sacred books were adopted by tran- 
 scribers at different times from different views, and 
 that the earlier arrangement soon became obsolete 
 and forgotten. Thus, in some ancient Alexandrian 
 Codices, the Epistle to the Hebrews occupied a place 
 immediately after that to the Galatians, and, in others, 
 after the Second Epistle to the Corinthians. Now, it 
 is remarkable, that, in the Cambridge Codex, the last 
 verses of the Third Epistle of John are written upon 
 the front side of a page on the back of which is the 
 beginning of the Acts, together with this inscription: 
 ' EpistolcB Johannis III. Explicit — Incipit Actus 
 Apostolorum.' Thus, continues the learned Critic, 
 we have documentary evidence that the transcriber 
 had before him an ancient book, in which the Epistles 
 of John were placed after the Gospel, immediately be- 
 fore the Acts of the Apostles. Assuming the Gen- 
 
474 THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 
 
 eral Epistle to have been originally an accompaniment 
 to the Gospel, inseparable from it, a sort of dedication 
 of it to the community to whom it was sent, he would 
 assign to the composition of the Gospel and of the 
 Epistle the same date ; one so late, however, as to 
 be at variance not only with tradition, but with all 
 reasonable probability.* 
 The Epistle & 4. Without embracing the learned writers hypo- 
 
 wntten be- . " . / '■ 
 
 fore the thesis, that the Gospel and the Epistle were published 
 
 overthrowof -i-ii 
 
 Jerusalem, at the Same time, and mtended to accompany each 
 other, we may regard it as at least highly probable, 
 that they were sent to the same Christian community, 
 and at no very distant interval. If, then, the Gos- 
 pel of John was published as early as about a.d. 62, 
 we shall be led to assign to the Epistle a date not 
 many years later. This must have been the case, if, 
 as there is reason to conclude, it was written previously 
 
 See p. 90. to the destruction of Jerusalem. 
 
 This opinion, which has been adopted by many 
 BibHcal critics of high authority,! is naturally de- 
 duced from the emphatic declaration in the second 
 chapter : " Little children, it is the last hour : " that 
 is, of the Jewish polity. Whatever other construction 
 may be put upon the phrase, its apparent reference to 
 Our Lord's prediction, that many Antichrists should 
 
 See p. 208. grisc before the overthrow of the Temple and Nation, 
 taken in connexion with the Apostle's argument, 
 
 * See p. 90. Thus, the publication of John's Gospel has been 
 strangely assigfued to the first year of Nerva, a.d. 97, when the 
 Apostle was upwards of ninety ! 
 
 t By Grotius, with whom, as to the date of the Epistle, agree 
 Hammond, Whitby, Benson, Hales, Michaelis, and Mactnight. 
 
THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 475 
 
 that they might know it was the last hour, because 
 many Antichrists had already appeared, — seems to put 
 it almost beyond question, that this is the true inter- 
 pretation.- Indeed, had the destruction of Jerusalem 
 taken place, we might surely have expected to find 
 some allusion to that awful catastrophe of the Jewish 
 nation, by which so signal a confirmation was afforded 
 of the truth of Christianity. 
 
 Another reason for rejecting the hypothesis of a 
 much later date, has been deduced from the Apostle's 
 language in addressing those who ranked in the 
 Church as fathers from their age or standing : " Be- 
 cause ye have known Him who is fi:om the beginning." 
 That Our Lord, The Word who " was in the be- 
 ginning," is designated by this phrase, can scarcely 
 be doubted ; and if, by the knowledge ascribed to 
 these fathers, a personal acquaintance with Christ is 
 implied, between thirty and forty years fi-om the 
 Ascension, there might be many surviving who had 
 personally conversed with him ; but this could hardly 
 be the case fifteen years later. The interpretation 
 upon which this argument rests, is, however, ques- 
 tionable. The knowledge of Christ which is spoken 
 of, like the knowledge of The Father, may be under- 
 stood of a spiritual apprehension derived fi:-om Divine 
 illumination. A stronger argument may be built 
 upon the Apostle's language (ch. ii. 8) : "A new 
 commandment I write unto you." In whatever sense 
 we take the expression, we can hardly suppose that 
 St. John would have couched his exhortation in this 
 form, had he been writing, as some have imagined, 
 fifty or sixty years after the first promulgation of the 
 Gospel. 
 
476 THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 
 
 The notion, that St. John should have found no 
 occasion for addressing this Apostolic charge to the 
 churches during the lapse of more than half a century, 
 and that he should have written his first Epistle at 
 the age of eighty or ninety years, is, indeed so im- 
 probable, that one is astonished to find it entertained 
 by learned critics without the shadow of proof.* No- 
 thing short of positive testimony or the clearest in- 
 ternal evidence could render it credible, that James, 
 Peter, Jude, and Paul should severally have addressed 
 Epistles to various portions of the Church, during 
 the twenty years ranging from a.d. 45 to 65, and 
 that John should not have followed their example till 
 between twenty and thirty years afterwards. The 
 only reason for such an opinion appears to be the 
 gratuitous assumption, that he wrote this Epistle, if 
 not his Gospel, after his exile in Patmos, which is 
 supposed to have terminated at the death of Domi- 
 tian, A.D. 97. There is not the slightest ground for 
 this assumption, or for supposing them to have been 
 composed during his exile. On the contrary, if the 
 latest of the other three Gospels was written about 
 62, even if we regard the Gospel of John as supple- 
 mental to all of them, it is not likely that it would be 
 sent forth many years later. But there is no clear 
 evidence of its having been even of later date than 
 See p. 86. that of Lukc. 
 
 § 5. There has been a strange propensity in Bibli- 
 
 * Milman and Le Clerc place it in a.d. 91 or 92 ; Whiston in 
 82 or 83 ; Basnage in 98 ; Baronius in 99 ; Hug in 96 ; Lardner 
 inclines to 80, or later ; Michaelis in 70 ; Whitby, Grotius, Ham- 
 mond, and Macknight, some years earlier. 
 
THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 477 
 
 cal critics, to post-date all the Apostolic writings. The labours 
 On examining the Epistle before us, we shall find strictly con- 
 no indications of its having been written at an era ouswith 
 posterior to that of Paul's apostolic labours, with Paul. 
 which those of John were strictly contemporaneous. 
 When Paul went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas 
 (a.d. 50), to confer with the Apostles, John was one 
 of the three who entered into the agreement, that 
 Paul and Barnabas should prosecute their mission to 
 the heathen, and they, James, Peter, and John, theirs 
 to the Circumcision. This agreement was doubtless 
 adhered to ; and it affords a reason for supposing that 
 the Epistles of Peter and John, like that of James, 
 were addressed, as well as their oral ministry, to be- 
 lievers of the Jewish race. 
 
 Of the personal history of the Apostle John, from 
 the latest reference to him in the New Testament, (as 
 present on the occasion above referred to,) till the 
 closing years of his life, we h£^ve not even any traditional 
 account. It is inferred from the Apocalypse, that See p. 88. 
 the Soman Asia was the sphere of his apostolic 
 labours towards the close of the first century; and a 
 writer of the second century mentions his tomb as Lardner, 
 
 '' , Tol.v. p.411. 
 
 then to be seen at Ephesus. What countries he 
 visited during the intervening forty years, — whether, 
 with other Christian fugitives, he took refuge at 
 Pella beyond the Jordan, when the Eoman armies 
 encircled Jerusalem, and subsequently returned with a.d. 66. 
 those who took unmolested possession of the ruins, — 
 or whether he quitted Palestine for ever, previously 
 to the destruction of the city and the Jewish pohty, — 
 whether, like Peter, he visited the Jewish communi- 
 
478 
 
 THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 
 
 See pp. 18, 
 88. 
 
 Heresies 
 combated 
 bj John, 
 similar to 
 those re- 
 ferred to in 
 the Pauline 
 Epistles. 
 
 1 Cor. X. 14. 
 
 See p. 84. 
 
 ties at Antioch and Seleucia, Alexandria and Cyrene, 
 extending at length his circuit to the cities of the 
 Asiatic Peninsula and Greece, — or whether he fixed 
 his abode in the midst of a chain of Jewish colonies 
 in the Lesser Asia, — Tradition has left us to con- 
 jecture, without affording the slightest aid to the 
 inquiry. 
 
 § 6. That his Epistle was addressed to Christians 
 of some standing, is evident ; that they were of the 
 Hebrew stock, * the Circumcision,' may also be 
 assumed; and it is further obvious, that they were 
 residing in countries in which idolatry prevailed : 
 hence, the admonition with which the Epistle con- 
 cludes, " Keep yourselves from idols ; " and which 
 has its exact counterpart in the warnings addressed 
 by St. Paul to the Corinthian church : " My dearly 
 beloved, flee from idolatry." Indeed, on comparing 
 the Epistle of John with the Pauhne writings, we may 
 discover references, in both, to the same corruptions 
 of the faith, the same heresies, and the same moral 
 evils. It has been supposed, that St. John wrote to 
 combat certain Gnostic heresies which did not spring 
 up till towards the close of the Apostolic age, — those 
 of Cerinthus and Carpocrates. But, if we find Paul, 
 as early as a.d. 56, plainly pointing to the same 
 description of errors, we must conclude that there 
 can be no such ground for inferring that the Epistle 
 of John belongs to a later period. 
 
 Simon Magus has been considered as the founder 
 or leader of the Gnostics called DocetcE, from a 
 Greek word implying their belief that the body of 
 Jesus was a phantom ; to which notion John appears 
 
THE EPISTLES OP JOHN, 479 
 
 to allude. Now this impostor had been encountered 
 by the Apostle in his native city, Samaria, before the 
 conversion of Saul of Tarsus, about a.d. 36. Hav- 
 ing professedly embraced Christianity, the Samaritan 
 heresiarch appears to have attempted to graft upon it 
 the system of the Magian philosophy, and to have 
 represented Christ as a Divine Emanation too pure See p. 406. 
 to have been really incorporated with the gross matter 
 of a human body. Hence, the notion afterwards 
 maintained by one branch of the Gnostic heretics, 
 that Jesus was a mere man, but that the Christ was 
 an Emanation from God, which became united to the 
 man Jesus at his baptism, and continued so united to 
 him till his crucifixion, when the Christ returned to See Burton, 
 
 . . p. 146. 
 
 heaven. The Ebionites,* who adopted this notion, 
 are said to have first appeared as a sect in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Pella, about the time that the Christians 
 of Jerusalem took refuge there ; and they were pro- 
 bably disciples of the Samaritan impostor. If so, 
 their tenets must have been making progress during 
 many years ; and at any time posterior to the year 
 36, there may have been occasion to warn believers 
 against this pestilent heresy. 
 
 § 7. In the Epistle of Paul to the Colossian be- Coinci- 
 lievers, there occurs a very distinct reference to the tween this 
 Masian philosophy. The Ephesian exorcists and the Pauline 
 
 .. .1*. • inT writings. 
 
 magicians, mentioned, Acts xix., were probably Jew- 
 ish Gnostics ; and, in writing to Timothy, at Ephe- 
 sus, the Apostle reminds him of the prediction, that 
 many should be seduced from the faith by doctrines 
 
 * Their name signifies in Hebrew, poor, but may hare been de- 
 rived, as Dr. Burton suggests, from an individual named Ebion. 
 
480 
 
 THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 
 
 See pp. 407, of demoDs, — those of the Oriental demonology. In 
 the Epistles to the Corinthians, if we meet with 
 no distinct allusions to Gnostic tenets, there occur 
 admonitions very similar to those which we find in 
 the Epistle of John, in reference to the Gnostic 
 spirit. The following are instances of striking coin- 
 cidence of sentiment and expression : — 
 
 1 John. 
 
 "Every one that loveth . . . 
 knoweth God: he that loveth 
 not, knoweth not God." Ch. iv. 8. 
 
 " Every spirit that confesseth 
 that Jesus Christ is come in the 
 flesh, is of God : every spirit that 
 confesseth not, &c., is not of 
 God." Ch. iv. 2, 3. 
 
 " Who is a liar but he who 
 denieth that Jesus is the Christ?" 
 Ch. ii. 22. 
 
 " He that knoweth God, hear- 
 eth us." Ch. iv. 6. 
 
 " And the world passeth away, 
 and the lust thereof." Chrii. 17. 
 
 " Little children, keep your- 
 selves from idols." Ch. v. 21. 
 
 1st Epist. to the Cor. a.d. 56. 
 
 " But if any man love God, 
 the same is known of him." (Or, 
 by him God is known.) 1 Cor. 
 viii. 3. 
 
 " No man can say that Jesus 
 is the Lord, but ' by the Holy 
 Ghost. No man speaking by 
 the Spirit of God, calleth Jesus 
 accursed." 1 Cor. xii. 3. 
 
 " If any man think himself to 
 be spiritual, let him acknowledge 
 what I write to you to be the 
 commandments of the Lord." 
 1 Cor. xiv. 37. 
 
 " For the fashion of this world 
 passeth away." 1 Cor. vii. 31. 
 
 " My dearly beloved, flee from 
 idolatry." 1 Cor. x. 14. 
 
 " The darkness is past, and 
 the true light now shineth : he 
 that saith, he is in the light, and 
 hateth his brother, is in darkness 
 even until now." Ch. ii. 8. 
 
 " Sin is the transgression of 
 the law." Ch. iii. 4. 
 
 Epist. to the Romans, a.d. 67. 
 
 " The night is far spent, the 
 day is at hand ; let us cast o£f 
 the works of darkness." Rom. 
 xiii. 12. 
 
 [" We are not of the night, nor 
 of darkness." 1 Thess. v. 5.] 
 
 " For where no law is, there is 
 no transgression." Rom. iv. 16. 
 
THE EPISTLES OP JOHN. 
 
 481 
 
 1 John. 
 
 " Hereby know we that we 
 dwell in Him, and He in us, 
 because He hath given us of His 
 Spirit." Ch. iv. 13. 
 
 " He that believeth on the Son 
 of God, hath the witness in him- 
 self." Ch.v. 10. 
 
 " Beloved, now are we the sons 
 of God, and it doth not yet ap- 
 pear what we shall be." Ch. iii. 2. 
 
 " But . . . when He shall ap- 
 pear, we shall be like Him, for 
 we shall see Him as He is." Ch. 
 iii. 2. 
 
 " He that saith he abideth in 
 Him, ought himself so to walk 
 even as He walked." Ch. ii. 6. 
 
 Epist. to the Romans, a.d. 67. 
 
 " If so be that the Spirit of 
 God dwell in you. If any man 
 have not the Spirit of Christ, he 
 is none of His." Bom. viii. 9. 
 
 " The Spirit itself beareth wit- 
 ness with our spirit that we are 
 the children of God." Bom. viii. 
 16. 
 
 " For as many as are led by 
 the Spirit of God, they are sons 
 of Grod . . . and if children, heirs." 
 Bom. viii. 14, 17. 
 
 Epist. to the Colos. a.d. 61. 
 
 " When Christ who is our 
 life shall appear, then shall ye 
 also appear with Him in glory.'' 
 Col. iii. 4. 
 
 [" Fashioned like unto His glo- 
 rious body." Phil. iii. 21.] 
 
 " As ye have received Christ 
 Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in 
 Him." Col. ii. 6. 
 
 In some of these parallel passages, the phraseology 
 is so closely similar as to suggest the idea, that the 
 Apostle John might have a designed reference to 
 the language of St. Paul ; which, considering that St. 
 Peter expressly refers to his Epistles, is by no means 
 an improbable supposition ; nor would it require us 
 to assign a later date to this Epistle, than to the 
 Second Epistle of Peter. The comparison will at all 
 events render it evident, that both Apostles not only 
 taiught the same doctrines, but also found occasion for 
 addressing to the churches the same admonitions. 
 
 § 8. It will be observed, that the First Epistle of The General 
 
 Paul to the church at Corinth furnishes the most John prob- 
 ably sent to 
 2 I Corinth. 
 
482 THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 
 
 striking instances of coincidence with the language 
 and doctrine of John ; and there is this further coin- 
 cidence between them, that both Epistles were ad- 
 dressed to communities whose outward circumstances 
 were apparently prosperous. The warnings and ex- 
 hortations in both, point to love of the world and 
 conformity to its sinful manners as the dangers to 
 which Christians were chiefly exposed. We find no 
 reference to trials arising from persecution, as in the 
 First Epistle of Peter, or in that to the Hebrews. 
 Now it is a little remarkable, that Paul wrote that 
 Epistle to the Corinthian church from Ephesus, and 
 that John is supposed to have been residing at Ephe- 
 sus when he wrote this Epistle. Between Ephesus and 
 Corinth, there was so constant an intercourse, that 
 we cannot suppose the Apostle would have taken up 
 his abode in the former city, without opening a com- 
 munication with the numerous Jewish Christians in 
 the Achaian metropolis. To whom then would he 
 be more likely to have occasion to address an Epistle 
 reiterating those exhortations and admonitions which 
 they had received from the Apostle of the Gentiles 
 some eight or ten years before ? And if he had not 
 yet visited Corinth, what is more natural than that he 
 should have intended to follow up his Epistle by a 
 personal Arisitation ? 
 The Epistle § 9. Now in the shorter Letters to Gains and the 
 Corinth. unknown Lady, the Apostle expresses his hope of 
 shortly seeing them and speaking face to face. Those 
 Letters bear every mark of having befen written at 
 the same time as the General Epistle, and were pro- 
 bably transmitted with it. There was a Gains re- 
 
THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 483 
 
 siding at Corinth when Paul wrote his Epistle to the Rom.xvi.23. 
 Romans ; but, as the name was a common one, no 
 stress could be laid upon that circumstance, if we had 
 nothing more than a mere name. But Paul speaks 
 of Gains of Corinth as being his host and that of the 
 whole church ; an honourable record of his generous 
 hospitality ; and we find John bearing testimony to 
 the beloved Gaius whom he is addressing, in precise 
 accordance with this : " Beloved, thou doest faith- 
 ftilly whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to 
 strangers, who have borne witness of thy love before 
 the chiirch : whom if thou bring forward on their 
 journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well ; because 
 for His name's sake they went forth, taking nothing 
 of the Gentiles : we therefore ought to receive such, 
 that we might be fellow-helpers to the truth. " Now 3 John 5 
 to whom can St. John here allude, but to those who 
 went forth preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles, 
 and, like the Apostle Paul and his immediate asso- 
 ciates, preaching it freely ? In writing to the Corin- 
 thians, St. Paul lays especial stress upon his not having 
 been burdensome to them ; and he appeals to fhem, 
 whether Titus and the brother who accompanied him, 
 did not walk in the same spirit, in the same steps, — 
 that is, "taking nothing of the Gentiles." That Paul 2cor.xii.17, 
 himself, and Titus or Timothy, are personally referred 
 to in the Epistle to Gaius, it might be rash to affirm 
 without more positive evidence ; yet, we cannot but 
 regard it as at least a striking coincidence, that we 
 have extant the witness borne before the church, by 
 the Apostle Paul, to the hospitality of an individual of 
 this name ; and with that testimony, we must suppose 
 
 2 I 2 
 
*^ THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 
 
 John to have been acquainted. There is nothing 
 to forbid the supposition, that Gaius the Corinthian 
 is the person referred to ; and, if so, there is some 
 ground for concluding, that the General Epistle of 
 John was primarily addressed to the Jewish portion 
 of the Christian church at Corinth, and that it was 
 written not long after Paul's last visit to that city.* 
 At all events, the language addressed to Gaius does 
 not comport with the notion of a much later date. 
 t?thSt § 10- The Second Epistle of John is addressed to 
 ^^^' a Christian matron whose name is not given, unless 
 we render the words of the salutation, with Grotius, 
 Wetstein, Middleton, and others, " The Elder to the 
 Lady Eclecta;" — or, with Benson, Heumann, and 
 Neander, " The Elder to the Elect Kyria."t But to 
 either interpretation it is a sufficient objection, that 
 Kyria occurs in the fifth verse, evidently in the sense 
 of " lady ; " and Eclecta in the last verse, where it 
 can be translated only as an epithet. The only 
 reason assigned for rejecting the common interpreta- 
 tion { is, the absence of the definite article in the ori- 
 ginal; but this grammatical pecuharity may be 
 accounted for by the occurrence of the relative pro- 
 noun in immediate sequence. Thus, in our own 
 
 * It is scarcely worth notice, that the venerable Bede, on the 
 authority of some Latins, styles it, ' the Epistle of John to the Par- 
 thians ;' a mistake which Professor Hug thinks may have arisen 
 from an ancient subscription to the Second Epistle : jrpos napBevovs 
 ( Virgmes), abbreviated into UapBovs. 
 
 f The fantastic notion, that a church, not a person, is intended 
 by the designation, (embraced by Whiston,) is disproved by what is 
 said in the conclusion of the Epistle. 
 
 J This, the common opinion, is supported by Beza, Mill, Lardner, 
 and the best ancient authorities. 
 
THE EPISTLES OP JOHN. 485 
 
 language, we are accustomed to employ the indefinite 
 article, even in speaking of God, when the Divine 
 name is connected with the relative pronoun, or with 
 a qualifying sentence : e. g. " Thou art a God ready 
 to pardon," (Neh. ix. 17.) "Thou art not a God 
 that hast pleasure in wickedness." (Ps. v. 5.) "A 
 God that hidest thyself." (Isaiah xlv. 15.) "A Son 
 whom He hath made heir of all things," (Heb. i. 
 2,) may be cited as an example of the same con- 
 struction. We should accordingly be justified in 
 rendering the address in this Epistle : " The Elder 
 to a Chosen (i. e. Christian) Lady and her Children 
 whom I love in truth." In fact, we cannot sup- 
 pose there was any person who would have been 
 entitled to be addressed as the Chosen Lady, by way 
 of pre-eminence. The proper name of this Lady may 
 have been inscribed on the outside of the Epistle : it 
 was at all events known to the bearer of it. As the 
 Writer suppresses his own name, it is not surprising 
 that he should not have deemed it necessary to men- 
 tion either that of the party addressed, or that of the 
 Chosen (or Christian) Sister who, with her children, 
 sent salutations. If, as is most probable, this Epistle 
 was transmitted at the same time as the Epistle to 
 Gains, we may conclude that the Lady was resident 
 at the same place; that is, at Corinth. Now St. 
 John's eulogistic language forcibly recals the high 
 character given by St. Paul, in his Epistle to the 
 Romans, of a deaconess of the church at Cenchrsea, 
 who had been a protectress of many, and of the Apostle 
 himself In the same Epistle, honourable mention is 
 
486 THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 
 
 also made of many Christian matrons to whom the 
 churches were greatly indebted ; — Priscilla the consort 
 of Aquila, Mary, Tryphena^ Tryphosa, Persis, and the 
 Mother of Kufusi — all probably of Jewish family, 
 and personally known to the Apostle previously to 
 their settling at Rome, or during the period that all 
 Jews were banished from the Imperial Capital by 
 Claudius. In like manner, this Corinthian lady was 
 doubtless of the same nation as the Apostle John, 
 and personally known to him, although he might not 
 yet have visited Corinth. It may have been no other 
 than " Phoebe our sister " herself: at all events, she 
 was one of kindred character and excellence, — an- 
 swering to St. Paul's requirements : " well reported 
 of for good works, having brought up children, having 
 entertained strangers, having relieved the afflicted, 
 iTim.v.io. having diligently followed every good work." This 
 short Epistle is interesting, therefore, as a memorial of 
 the exemplary character of a Christian matron and 
 mother, honoured and beloved by that Disciple whom 
 Jesus loved. May not this be one reason that it 
 has been preserved, together^ with the Epistle to 
 Gaius, as an accompaniment of the General Epistle ? 
 Character of §11. Let US uow examine the construction and 
 Epistle as a couteuts of this remarkable Epistle, which, though 
 composi ion. ^^^ ^^ ^^ j^^^ ^ ^^^^ ^^ somc critics have been led to 
 
 imagine, was probably the last production of an Apos- 
 tolic pen, with the exception of the Apocalypse. As 
 a composition, the Epistle is singularly inartificial, 
 and is strongly marked by the sententious, antithe- 
 tical style of the Hebrew school, although it differs 
 
THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 487 
 
 very remarkably from that of the Epistle of James, 
 which partakes more of the Greek elegance.* The 
 sentences, for the most part, are apparently but 
 slightly connectedj often reading like detached para- 
 graphs ; yet, two leading ideas govern and connect 
 the entire train of thought. The whole Epistle may 
 be summed up in two propositions, with the practical 
 deductions connected with them : " God is light — 
 walk in light : God is love — walk in love." The 
 former, answering to the " Be ye holy, for I am koly," 
 of St. Peter, is styled an old commandment, for it 
 had been given them from the beginning by Moses : 
 the latter was the new commandment received from 
 Christ. To enforce these two fundamental precepts, johnxiii.34. 
 the foundation of all practical godliness and benevo- 
 lence, is the main design of this Apostolic address ; 
 but with this is interwoven a strain of cautionary 
 remarks in reference to antichristian corruptions of 
 the faith. 
 
 § 12. The Epistle opens with declaring the pur- Analysis of 
 pose for which the Gospel had been preached to those 
 who had received it from the Evangelist and his 
 fellow Apostles ; namely, that they might be brought 
 into a state of communion with God and with His Son 
 Jesus Christ. In order that they might realize all 
 the blessedness of this communion, it was necessary 
 that they should have wrought into their minds this 
 
 * It is distinguished by some remarkable philological peculiari- 
 ties, in common with the Gospel of John ; e.cf. the use of all the 
 Greek tenses as aorists ; the use of (tai for yitfi and Se ; the emphatic 
 use of ivTos; the pleonasms and metonymical use of words, — as 
 " the victory which overcometh," " sinneth a sin," &c. ; " we have 
 the petitions," i.e. things petitioned for, &c. 
 
 the Epistle. 
 
488 THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 
 
 cardinal truth with all its practical consequences: 
 God is pure, unmixed light. To pretend to com- 
 munion with Him, while our course is one of darkness 
 or impurity, is to be guilty of falsehood and hypo- 
 crisy. But, to fit us for this high and holy commu- 
 nion, the blood of Jesus Christ must have cleansed 
 us fi-om sin. To say that we have no guilt to expiate, 
 no moral defilement to wash away, would be to 
 deceive ourselves fatally, and to show that we have 
 not embraced the truth : those only who confess their 
 
 SoRom.x.io. sins, can obtain the Divine forgiveness and sanctify- 
 ing grace. To deny that we are sinners who need a 
 Saviour, is to contradict God Himself by impugning 
 His word. These things the Apostle insists upon, to 
 guard them against a sinful course on the one hand, 
 and, on the other, that, if any had fallen into sin, 
 they might be brought to confession and repentance ; 
 encouraged by the consideration, that they had Him 
 for an Advocate before the Father, who has offered 
 up Himself as a propitiatory sacrifice to take away the 
 sins of the world. 
 
 ch. ii. 3. The Apostle proceeds to show, that the true test 
 
 of that knowledge of God to which so many pre- 
 tended, is, the keeping of the Divine command- 
 ments : by this rule, the pretension of abiding or dwel- 
 ling in God must be tested ; and one who used this 
 language, was bound to walk after the Divine exam- 
 ple. And this, the Apostle adds, was no new pre- 
 cept, but one which they had had from the beginning. 
 But he proceeds to lay down a further rule or test, 
 which was a new precept, nevertheless it was the truth, 
 because the darkness of the old economy had passed 
 
THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 489 
 
 away, and the light of the Gospel was now shininsr ; Compare 
 namely, that he alone who loves his Christian brother, 
 affords any evidence of being enlightened : he who 
 hated his brother, was still in a state of moral blind- 
 ness. 
 
 The Apostle then, addressing severally the young, ch. u. 12. 
 the elders, and those in the prime of life, assumes, as 
 the ground upon which he wrote to them, their ex- 
 perimental acquaintance with the grace of God. To 
 those who were young or novices, he wrote as having 
 obtained forgiveness and the spirit of adoption ; to 
 the fathers, as having known the Eternal One (the 
 Logos) ; to those in the strength of manhood, as 
 having by faith overcome the Tempter. By these 
 considerations he adjures them not to set their affec- 
 tions upon the world and its pleasures, possessions, or 
 pomp, declaring love to the world to be incompatible Kom.viii. 
 with the spirit of God's children ; and he contrasts 
 the transitory nature of sublunary things with the 
 immortal reward of obedience. 
 
 This thought, that the time was short, is then ch. a. is. 
 expressed more emphatically : It is the last hour : 
 by which we understand the Apostle as declaring the 
 near approach of the predicted judgments upon the 
 Jewish people, the close of that dispensation. As a 
 sign of its being the last hour, he refers to the appear- 
 ance of antichrists, impostors, and deniers of Christ, 
 who had sprung up in the church itself, in fulfilment 
 of Our Lord's prediction ; alluding, probably, to Simon 
 the Magian among others, and to such as Hymenaeus 2 Tim. ii. 17. 
 and Philetus. Their having withdrawn themselves 
 from the church, and set up as leaders of a new sect. 
 
490 THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 
 
 was a proof that they never really belonged to the 
 body of Christ. But those whom the Apostle was 
 addressing, had received from Christ the gift of the 
 Spirit as a spirit of discernment ; and he wrote to 
 them as to those who knew the truth, out of which 
 nothing false could spring. Who then could bear 
 more broadly marked the character of a liar and an 
 impostor, than he who denied Jesus to be the Christ ? 
 Such a one was emphatically the Antichrist, who in 
 effect denied both The Father and The Son. But, by 
 adhering to the Gospel they had been taught from 
 the beginning, they would abide both in The Son and 
 in The Father, and obtain that eternal life which God 
 had promised. While the Apostle deemed it needful 
 to give them this caution respecting the false teachers 
 who sought to seduce them from the faith, he ex- 
 presses his confidence that they had been so taught 
 by the Spirit of God, that they stood in no need of 
 being instructed in the faith by human teachers bring- 
 ing a new doctrine ; and he exhorts them to hold fast 
 the truth, and to abide in Christ as they had been 
 taught by the Spirit, that so they might not be 
 ashamed to meet The Saviour at His coming. 
 
 ch.ii. 29. The Apostle now, with some apparent abruptness, 
 lays down another position or rule, which seems 
 intended ftirther to explain what abiding in Christ 
 practically involves ; namely, that, as Christ is righte- 
 ous, so must every one be characterized by righteous- 
 ness who is bom of God. Kindling at the thought 
 suggested by this expression, (which receives its 
 explanation from what is more fully declared in the 
 
 Vers. 12, 13. first chapter of his Gospel,) the Apostle breaks forth 
 
THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 491 
 
 into a devout exclamation of wonder and gratitude at 
 the transcendent love of God in admitting believers 
 to the glorious privilege of sonship. But, as the 
 world did not recognize Christ as the Only-begotten Comp. John 
 Son of The Father, His followers cannot expect to be ' 
 recognized as the sons of God, there being at present 
 no apparent tokens of their glorious distinction, as 
 destined to be conformed to the image of Christ. Cofap.Rom. 
 Every one who possessed this hope, however, would 
 seek to resemble Him now in moral purity. All sin is 
 a violation of law, and therefore a crime; and the Rom.iT. is. 
 very design of Christ's manifestation in human nature 
 was, to take away our sin. He was sinless ; and no 
 one who abides in Him, can wilfully sin ; nor can any 
 one who hves in sin have known Him. The Apostle 
 winds up this train of argument by emphatically 
 reiterating the proposition they are adduced to esta- Ch.ii. 29. 
 blish, and which was practically denied by the " de- 
 ceivers ; " namely, that he whose deeds are righteous, 
 is alone righteous, his character corresponding to that 
 of Christ. The sinner, on the contrary, shows him- 
 self to be a child of the Devil, the author and parent 
 of sin, to destroy whose works the Son of God ap- 
 peared on earth. Again, the child of God has 
 within him a Divine principle which is in its very 
 nature opposed to, and incompatible with sin. Thus 
 are the children of God and the children of the devil 
 respectively distinguished. No one is truly the child 
 of God, who does not practice righteousness. Nor can 
 any one have claim to this character, who is devoid of 
 love to his Christian brother. The latter position, 
 the Apostle supports by referring to Our Lord's 
 
492 THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 
 
 injunction to His disciples to love one another; by 
 adducing the example of Cain, the first murderer, 
 as an illustration of the malignity of hatred in the 
 unregenerate ; and by laying it down as the broad 
 distinction between the world, by which the children 
 of God must expect to be hated, and the regenerate, 
 that the latter are united by mutual affection, while 
 he who is actuated by a spirit of hatred, and perse- 
 cutes his brother, is at heart a murderer. But this 
 love to the brethren must be practically demon- 
 strated ; and, as Christ manifested His love by laying 
 down His life for us, we ought to be prepared to make 
 a similar sacrifice for the sake of our brethren. How 
 could this love, then, dwell in one who, possessing 
 wealth, could see his brother in distress and close 
 his heart against him ? It is only when our actions 
 correspond to our professions, that we can have any 
 assurance, in approaching the Searcher of Hearts, 
 that we are His children, and that our prayers will be 
 
 John XV. 7. heard. The sum of what God has commanded is, 
 that we should believe upon His Son and love one 
 another ; and only he who keeps His commandments^ 
 
 John XT. 4. abides in Christ, and Christ in him ; and His abiding 
 in us is to be ascertained by His having bestowed upon 
 us His spirit. 
 
 ch. iv. But they were not, the Apostle proceeds to say, to 
 
 give credit to the pretensions of all who laid claim to 
 having received the Spirit. Many false prophets 
 were abroad. He especially warns them against 
 those false teachers who denied the real humanity 
 of Jesus Christ, (the heresy of the Docetce,) that 
 being a mark by which they might recognize the 
 
THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 493 
 
 predicted Antichrist. They had been proof against 
 those seducing spirits, and had triumphed over them, ch. a. is. 
 because they were taught and sustained by a mightier 
 Spirit than that which works in the children of this 
 world. The world Hstened to these false teachers, 
 because their doctrine was suited to worldly minds : 
 the children of God would listen to the voice of the 
 Apostles. By this test, the spirit of truth was to be 
 discriminated from the spirit of error. 
 
 Again the Apostle returns to the theme from ch.iv.?. 
 which he had digressed for the purpose of warning 
 them against heretical teachers ; and in reiterating the 
 exhortation to mutual love, he traces up the principle 
 of love to its Divine source. Love proceeds from 
 God, who is Love, pure benevolence ; and the love 
 of The Father has been manifested to us by His send- 
 ing forth His only-begotten Son to become a sacrifice 
 for sins. The consideration of this the highest ex- 
 pression of the Divine love, affords the strongest 
 reason why we should, by loving one another, show 
 ourselves to be the children of God. God is invisi- 
 ble, but He dwells in those whose hearts are the seat 
 of this Divine principle ; and we may know that we 
 are abiding in God, and that He dwells in us, because 
 He has endowed us with the Spirit. Although no 
 one has seen God, the Apostle repeats what he had 
 declared at the opening of the Epistle, that he had 
 himself beheld that to which he had borne testimony, 
 — that The Father had sent His Son to be the Saviour ^ 
 of the world. Only he who confessed belief in this Compare 
 truth, could attain to the privilege of union with God. 
 Moreover, the Apostle had an assured knowledge and 
 
404 THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 
 
 belief of the love which God had displayed towards 
 us. As the conclusion, then, he reiterates the cardi- 
 nal proposition, " God is love ; " whence it follows, 
 that it is by love we must become united to God. 
 
 ch. iv. 17. The Apostle now proceeds to show how this love 
 to God will operate. When it is perfected in us, it 
 will give us assurance of our being approved in 
 the day of judgment, because we are conformed to 
 Christ here ; and it will exclude all slavish terror ; 
 for, if we love God, He must have first loved us. 
 Next, this love is incompatible with an evil disposi- 
 tion towards our brethren, since love to an Unseen 
 Being is a higher attainment than love to our fellow 
 creatures whom we see and converse with. More- 
 over, the same authority commands us to love God 
 and to love our brother. Again, as every true 
 beUever in Christ has been born of God, love to 
 God Himself, the Author of their regeneration, will 
 produce love to the Divine offspring. The conclu- 
 sion is, that we shall love all the children of God, 
 when we truly love God and keep His commandments. 
 Keeping the commandments is a further test of love 
 to God, since to His children they will not be burden- 
 some or grievous, inasmuch as a principle of faith has 
 been implanted in them, adequate to overcome the 
 temptations of the world. The belieVer in Christ as 
 the Son of God can alone attain to this moral con- 
 quest. 
 
 Ch. v. 7. Here the Apostle again digresses from his hortatory 
 
 strain, to oppose the erroneous and heretical notions 
 maintained by some respecting the Person of Our 
 Lord. The passage has occasioned much perplexity 
 
THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 495 
 
 and difFerence among commentators, owing to the 
 uncertainty of the precise allusion. As there were 
 some who acknowledged Christ to be a teacher sent 
 from God, but denied His Atonement, we may under- 
 stand the Apostle as intending to declare, that Jesus 
 not only came baptizing with water, but also purify- 
 ing or making atonement by his blood. Or, since 
 some held, that Jesus was by birth a mere man, and 
 that the -Sion, Christ, became united to him at his Marsh's 
 baptism, it may be intended to intimate, that, as He Toi.iv.p.4d]. 
 then first came forth as the Messiah, when He was byRyiand, 
 declared to be the Son of God, commencing His min- 
 istry with water ; so, by His death. He was declared 
 to be the Son of God in the flesh, shedding His blood 
 on the Cross as an expiation for sin, which attested 
 His partaking of the real nature of man, at once Jesus 
 and the Christ.* And to this truth respecting His 
 Son, God had borne witness by the gift of the Spirit. 
 The Apostle speaks of the Water, the Blood, and 
 the Spirit as three concurrent witnesses to the same 
 truth ;f which he subsequently explains to be in sub- 
 stance, that God has given to us eternal life, and that 
 this life is in His Son. This three-fold witness is 
 interpreted of the miraculous effusion of the Spirit, 
 the water of baptism, emblematic of regeneration, 
 and the blood represented in the Lord's Supper. He 
 who believes in the Son of God has moreover within 
 himself the witness of God, the Holy Spirit ; whereas 
 
 ge non pnarmsma, sect verum hominem esse, qui ex 
 gpiritu, sangv/me, el aqud seu humore constaret.^ Wetstein on John 
 xix. 34, 36. 
 
 t In this analysis, verse 7 is passed over upon critical grounds. 
 
496 THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 
 
 he who rejects the Divine testimony respecting Christ, 
 makes God to have set his seal to a falsehood, and, 
 not holding the truth concerning The Son, cannot be 
 a partaker of that eternal life which is in Him. 
 ch. V. 13. The Apostle, now drawing his Epistle to a conclu- 
 sion, tells those believers to whom it is addressed, 
 that his object has been, to confirm them in the assu- 
 rance that they were partakers of eternal life through 
 faith in Christ, and to strengthen their confidence in 
 Him as their Mediator and Advocate. He adduces 
 this consideration as an encouragement to pray for 
 each other, especially in the case of a brother who 
 had fallen into sin, yet not into hopeless and fatal 
 apostacy. No child of God, however, it is inti- 
 mated, will fall under the dominion of sin, but will so 
 keep himself that the Evil One shall not have power 
 to harm him. Finally, the Apostle reminds them, 
 by a strong affirmation, of their distinguished position 
 with its high responsibilities, as the sons of God in 
 the midst of a world stiU subject to the Power of 
 Evil ; God having imparted to them understanding to 
 embrace the Truth, and that spiritual knowledge of 
 the True God and His Son Jesus Christ, which is 
 eternal life : as such, he affectionately exhorts them to 
 guard against being implicated in the sin of idolatry. 
 As if concluding a discourse, rather than an Epistle, 
 the Inspired Writer adds to this parting exhortation 
 an emphatic Amen. 
 Peculiar § 13. The analysis of this unique portion of the 
 
 m reference ApostoUc wrftiugs, has iuscnsibly expanded into expo- 
 with the sition, in the attempt to illustrate its plan and scope, 
 nature. ^^^ to tracc the unbroken, but scarcely perceptible 
 
THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. ^97 
 
 chain of thought which connects the several proposi- 
 tions and varied reiterations of the same general idea. 
 The phraseology of the Apostle is sometimes enigma- 
 tical from its very simplicity and conciseness ; while it 
 is distinguished by a sort of emphatic tautology, both 
 in the construction of the phrases and in the repetition 
 of the same words, similar to what we find occasionally 
 in the teaching of Our Lord himself. These pecuH- 
 arities may be considered, perhaps, as belonging less 
 to the individual Writer, than to his age and country. 
 Yet, John's early and intimate acquaintance with Our 
 Lord's teaching, may be supposed to have naturally 
 produced a resemblance to it in his style. With 
 regard, however, to some remarkable modes of ex- 
 pression which are repeatedly introduced, and which 
 wear a mystical character, — in particular, the phrase, 
 dwelling in God, and having God dwelling within 
 us, — we may safely assume, that such phraseology did 
 not originate either with the Apostle or with the 
 Christiaii school, but was current among the Gnostic 
 pretenders to union with the Deity. The Apostle 
 employs these phrases only to refute the false notions 
 of which they were the vehicle. 
 
 The cardinal doctrine of that Pantheistic mysticism 
 which has from time immemorial maintained itself in 
 the schools of the East, Indian, Persian, and Magian, 
 is, that, by mere knowledge and the efforts of con- 
 templation, man may attain to a beatific absorption 
 into the Divine Essence. This mysticism sought to 
 ally itself to Christianity, but found in it, as embo- 
 died in the Apostolic teaching, an uncompromising 
 antagonist. Some doctrines might seem to be com- 
 
 2 K 
 
498 THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 
 
 mon to the two systems. Thus, the Apostle may be 
 understood as tacitly conceding to the mystic school, 
 that the knowledge of God is the Supreme Good ; 
 that by this knowledge we are to seek re-union to 
 God, a participation of the Divine nature ; and that 
 to have God abiding in us implies the highest virtue, as 
 dwelling in God expresses and constitutes the highest 
 bliss. But then, in direct opposition to the vain 
 speculations of the ascetic philosophy, he teaches, 
 that the true knowledge of God consists in a spiritual 
 apprehension of the Divine character, not in a barren 
 intellectual speculation ; that it has respect to what 
 God has revealed, and involves a belief of the Truth ; 
 that it is, in fact, faith, not the boasted knowledge of 
 things, which re- unites to God, and overcomes the 
 world. He insists, that all pretensions to religion are 
 vain, which will not endure the practical test of a holy 
 life ; and that the moral deification of man is to be 
 attained by conformity to the Divine Perfection, not 
 by absorption into the Divine Essence. By this 
 practical doctrine, he cuts up mysticism by the root, 
 charging it with making God Himself a Uar, and 
 declaring, that no man could either know God, or 
 have communion with Him, who did not believe upon 
 His Son, in whom alone we have eternal life. 
 
 The force and propriety of the Apostle's language 
 and strain of argument will appear still more evident, 
 if we consider their precise adaptation to the doctrines 
 and pretensions which are to this day maintained by 
 the Buddhic and other sects. After the lapse of 
 eighteen centuries, this Apostolic Epistle is as admir- 
 ably fitted to counteract the extant Gnosticism of 
 
THE EPISTLES OP JOHN. 490 
 
 the heathen world, as it was originally to check the 
 progress of any ancient heresy. No portion of the 
 New Testament would be so suitable, translated into 
 the sacred language of India, to put into the hands of 
 a Buddhist, or to be circulated, in a Persian version, 
 among the Sooffee sectaries of the Mohammedan 
 world. ' Genuine Buddhism,' says a learned Orien- 
 talist, ' never seems to contemplate any measures of 
 acceptance with the Deity, but, overleaping the bar- 
 rier between finite and infinite Mind, urges its fol- 
 lowers to aspire by their own efforts to that Divine 
 perfectibility of which it teaches that man is capable, 
 and by obtaining which man becomes God. Genuine 
 Buddhism has no priesthood : the saint despises the 
 priest ; the saint scorns the aid of mediators, whether 
 on earth or in heaven.' Buddhism knows no sin, no Hodgson's 
 repentance, no fear, no hope ; it regards knowledge BuddMsm. 
 as the only virtue, and apathy as the highest bliss. R. Asiatic 
 Such was the source firom which Pythagoras, Plato, voi.ii.p'.254. 
 and Zeno derived their oriental wisdom ; and the 
 Gnostic adulterations of Christianity flowed, through 
 a different channel, from the same corrupt fountain. 
 In Opposition to all such " false philosophy and vain 
 deceit," the Apostle John declares : " Whosoever shall 
 confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth 
 in him, and he in God ; for this is the record, that 
 God hath given to us eternal life, and this Ufe is in 
 His Son." 
 
 § 14. It would scarcely be proper to close this Thecontro- 
 
 . . ni-n-i ■!! • 1 verted pas- 
 
 exammation oi the iiipistle, without advertmg to the sage on the 
 critical controversy which has divided BibHcal scholars veniy wit- 
 of the greatest eminence in erudition, acumen, and 
 
 2 K 2 
 
600 THE EPISTLES OF JOHN, 
 
 piety, respecting the passage in the Authorized Ver- 
 sion, declaring that " there are Three that bear testi- 
 mony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy 
 Ghost ; and these three are one." That this passage 
 forms no part of the genuine Greek text, may now be 
 considered as put almost beyond controversy. There 
 is, indeed, no ground to believe that the interpola- 
 tion (which originated, probably, in some ancient 
 gloss ^afted upon the sacred text by a transcriber) 
 dates from an earher period than the fifth century. 
 The learned 'Dr. Scholz* sums up the evidence 
 which «ompels him to reject the clause from his critical 
 edition of the New Testament, in the following anno- 
 tation: * After the words. Three Witnesses, the 
 Vulgate has the addition as follows : in heaven ; the 
 Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these 
 three are one : and three witnesses are upon the 
 earth. — But no Greek manuscript, except three 
 which are quite modern ; no Ancient Version, except 
 the Latin [Vulgate], and that only subsequent to the 
 fifth century; no Greek, Syriac, or Latin Fathers 
 (except a few Latin, beginning with Vigilius of Tap- 
 sus, in the fifth century) ; have this addition. Also, 
 internal evidence, from the want of connexion, speaks 
 against it ; as there is no occasion furnished for intro- 
 ducing the Heavenly Witnesses.' A striking proof 
 that the passage is spurious, is afforded by the form in 
 which it appears in some modem Greek manuscripts, 
 
 * As a Roman CathoJic, the learned Critic might have been ex- 
 pected to defer to the authority of his Church ; but he has shown 
 that ' his critical integrity is superior to his papal predilections.' 
 See Dr. J. P, Smith's Scrip. Test. vol. iii. p. 128. 
 
THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 601 
 
 where the absence of the Article before the words, 
 itariif, Xo'yo?. and icvevjia, betrays a translation from the 
 Latin, a translation into bad Greek. Bishop Hor- See Home's 
 sley and some other writers, assummg the genuineness voi.iv.p.448. 
 of the clause, have endeavoured to furnish a coherent 
 exposition of the whole context, in accordance with 
 this hypothesis. But, even if the difficulty of satisfac- 
 torily interpreting the testimony of the " Three in 
 Heaven " could be removed, this process would not 
 prove the words to be ApostoHc Scripture. 'In- 
 ternal evidence,' remarks the learned Translator of 
 Michaelis, ' may shew that a passage is spurious, 
 though external evidence is in its favour; for in- 
 stance, if it contain allusions to things which did not 
 exist in the time of the reputed author. But no 
 internal evidence can prove a passage to be genuine, 
 when external evidence is decidedly against it. A 
 spurious passage may be fitted to the context, as well 
 as a genuine passage. No arguments, therefore, 
 from internal evidence, however ingenious they may 
 appear, can outweigh the mass of external evidence 
 which applies to the case in question.' * To contend 
 for the genuineness of a clause found in no Greek 
 manuscript of any authority, is, indeed, to adopt a 
 course tending to shake confidence in the integrity of 
 
 * Marsh's Lectures, part vi. Cited by Home, vol. iv. p. 470, who 
 has given a fair abstract of the arguments pro and contra the genu- 
 ineness of the clause. Bishop Burgess, the latest biblical critic of 
 note who has contended for the affirmative, argues at consider- 
 able length in favour of the superiority of internal evidence, even 
 when external evidence is decidedly against a passage ; but has been 
 ably replied to, and his arguments refuted, by Crito Cantabrigiensisi 
 (Bishop Turton). 
 
502 THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 
 
 the sacred text. No supposed theological or polemical 
 advantage that could be gained from the reception of 
 the passage as Inspired Scripture, could compensate 
 for the uncertainty which would be introduced into 
 all critical investigations, by a departure from the rule 
 of abiding by the results of a collation of the ancient 
 codices, which, with all their innumerable minor vari- 
 ations, exhibit so wonderfiil an accordance as mutually 
 to attest their substantial fidelity. Hitherto, the 
 result of all the indefatigable labours of Biblical critics, 
 of various countries and religious communions, not 
 always prosecuted in a spirit favourable to the genuine 
 doctrine of Scripture, has tended only to establish, 
 even by means of the various readings, the authority 
 and uncorrupted genuineness of the Greek text. 
 The few instances of apparent interpolation, which 
 may easily be accounted for as ancient glosses incor- 
 porated with the text by a transcriber, are immaterial 
 in themselves, and do not afiect the sense ;* so that, 
 whether rejected or retained, they cannot be consi- 
 dered as adding anything to, or aught diminishing of 
 Holy Scripture. 
 
 The first eleven verses of the eighth chapter of 
 John's Gospel, furnish the only instance of a passage 
 of any length, which, being wanting in some ancient 
 manuscripts, has been considered as of doubtful au- 
 thenticity, f Of the disputed readings to which a 
 
 * Such as the clause marked in the Authorized Translation as 
 doubtful or spurious, 1 John ii. 23, -Which is nevertheless considered 
 fey the best critics as genuine ; and the last clause of Rom. xi. 6. 
 
 t A brief summary of the evidence, external and internal, is 
 given in Bloomfield's Greek Testament ; and it is shown, that there 
 is no sufficient ground for questioning its genuineness. 
 
THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 603 
 
 controversial importance has been attached, two only- 
 are really of importance ; those which occur at Acts 
 XX. 28, and at 1 Tim. iii. 16. With regard to the 
 former, the preponderance of evidence is in favour of Smith's 
 
 Script. Test. 
 
 the reading, "the Church of the Lord;" but this voi.iiip.66! 
 phrase denotes, quite as unequivocally as the reading 
 of the Keceived Text, the divinity of the Proprietor 
 and Redeemer of the Church, the Object of its wor- 
 ship, who has " given Himself for it, that He might 
 sanctify it and present it to Himself, a glorious 
 Church."* That the Son of God should be styled 
 absolutely God, according to the received reading, (as 
 at Tit. ii. 13,) is not so decisive a testimony to His 
 true and proper Godhead, (since the Arian might 
 contend that the word is to be taken in a lower 
 sense,) as is fiirnished by passages which clearly 
 ascribe to Our Lord the attributes, the acts, and the 
 peculiar relations of Deity. 
 
 In the other case, the received reading, " God 
 manifest in the flesh," is supported by preponderating 
 evidence ; while those critics who prefer the various Smith's 
 reading »« to 0€o«, by connecting the relative pronoun voi.iii.'p.322! 
 with 0"S %Svri>(, give the same sense to the passage. Its 
 import is fixed, indeed, beyond all controversy, by 
 John i. 14, and 1 John i. 2, as relating to " The Word 
 
 * Eph. V. 27. In this remarkable passage, Dr. Burton remarks, 
 ' we should rather have expected n? 06# ; but St. Paul uses eam-f on 
 account of the union of the Father and the Son.' And the use of 
 eouT^j in such a connexion is a more direct and striking proof of the 
 deity of Christ, than the occurrence of the word @eoS at Acts xx, 28. 
 Athanasius, in a passage cited by Dr. J. P. Smith, speaks of such 
 expressions as ' blood of God,' as unauthorized by Scripture, and 
 ' the daring attempts of Arians.' Script. Test. vol. iii. p. 65. 
 
•'504 THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 
 
 who was made flesh," — the " great mystery of the 
 faith." Thus, whichever reading is preferred, the 
 sense is unequivocal. 
 
 The time was, and not very far back, when any 
 critical emendations of the Keceived Text were viewed 
 with suspicion and alarm. It could not but be kno\ra, 
 indeed, though it was reluctantly acknowledged, that 
 the Received Text was faulty, that the various read- 
 ings were numerous, that no standard text, in fact, 
 existed. And infidelity and heresy took advantage 
 of this undeniable fact, to insinuate the possible cor- 
 ruption and uncertainty of the Text, and to predict 
 discoveries fiivourable to their own wishes. Hostile 
 criticism, conducted by the most assiduous ingenuity 
 grafted upon the most profound learning, has since 
 then done its worst. And what is the result ? The 
 ten thousand variations, instead of lessening the cer- 
 tainty of the record, only confirm it. We have, 
 what is even better than any standard text, the ascer- 
 tained fact, that the most corrupt text exhibits no 
 variation affecting a single doctrine or sentiment of 
 the Inspired Writers. After collating almost innu- 
 merable manuscripts of all ages, versions in different 
 languages, and citations of the New Testament by 
 Greek and Latin Fathers, it has been found, that the 
 variations inevitable in multiplied transcriptions during 
 the long succession of centuries, numerous as they 
 are, do not present a single instance of serious discre- 
 pancy. Thus has critical collation placed beyond all 
 scepticism the inviolability of the Sacred Scriptures ; 
 while the proposed and admitted emendations have 
 restored the sacred text to almost undisputed purity, 
 
THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 505 
 
 SO that it is now in a far more satisfactory state than 
 the text of any other ancient writing.* * It must be 
 regarded,' remarks an eloquent Writer, ' as a circum- 
 stance of pecuHar significance, that the documents of 
 our faith have just passed through the severest pos- 
 sible ordeal of hostile criticism, at the very moment 
 when they are in the course of delivery to all na- . Taylor's 
 tions.' The same age has witnessed the application ofEnthnsi- 
 of a stupendous amount of labour, erudition, and ^'"'^' 
 critical skill to the illustration of the Sacred Scrip- 
 tures, and the unprecedented multiplication of editions 
 in all the languages of the Earth. Nor is it the least 
 important result of the critical controversies which 
 have arisen respecting disputed texts, the system of 
 Recensions, the use and force of the Greek Article, 
 and the principles of Biblical interpretation, that they 
 have tended tp substitute, as the basis of theological 
 science, for the vague and dubious authority of 
 prescription, the legitimate authority of inductive 
 evidence. 
 
 * The probability of restoring the genuine text of any author, 
 Michaelis remarks, increases with the increase of the eopies ; and 
 the most inaccurate and mutilated editions of ancient writers are 
 precisely those of whose works the fewest manuscripts remain. 
 ' In profane authors,' says Dr. Bentley, ' whereof one manuscript 
 only had the luck to be preserved, (as Velleius Paterculus among 
 the Latins, and Hesychius among the Greeks,) the faults of the 
 scribes are found so numerous, and the defects so beyond all redress, 
 that, notwithstanding the pains of the leamedest and acutest critics 
 for two whole centuries, those books still are, and are likely to con- 
 tinue, a mere heap of errors. On the contrary, where the copies of 
 any author are numerous, though the various readings always in- 
 crease in proportion, there, the text, by an accurate colkttion of 
 them made by skilful and judicious hands, is ever the more correct, 
 and comes nearer to the true words of the author.' (Remarks' on 
 Free-thinking.) Home's Introduction, vol. ii. parti, ch.iii. § 6. 
 
flOG THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 TIME AT WHICH THE APOCALYPSE WAS COMMUNICATED HYPO- 
 THESIS OF AN EABLIEK DATE UNTENABLE WHO ARE INTENDED 
 
 BY THE SEVEN KINGS INTERNAL EVIDENCE IN FAVOUR OF THE 
 
 TRADITIONAL DATE RETROSPECT OF THE PREVIOUS FIVB-AND- 
 
 THIRTY YEARS — PRIMARY DESIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE PA- 
 RALLEL DESIGN OF OUR LORd's PREDICTIONS HISTORICAL 
 
 SKETCH OP THE PERIOD COMPRISED IN THE FIRST SIX SEALS- 
 PERIOD OF THE FIRST SIX TRUMPETS THE THIRD AND LAST 
 
 WOE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF THE APOCALYPSE PROVED BY THE 
 
 HISTORIC FULFILMENT ORIGIN OF THE DOUBTS ENTERTAINED, 
 
 AND OP THE CONFLICTING SCHEMES OF INTEKPRETATION DE- 
 SIGN AND IMPORT OP THE SERIES OF VISIONS RELATING TO 
 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST — VISIONS OF THE SEVEN-HEADED AND 
 
 THE TWO-HORNED BEASTS VISIONS RELATING TO THE FUTURE 
 
 A PRIORI INTEKPRETATION UNAUTHORIZED PRACTICAL USE 
 
 AND FINAL PURPOSE OP THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 Time at § 1 . WiTH the exceptioii of the Apocalypse, all the 
 Apocaiyp'Le Books of the New Testament appear to have been 
 munira?Jd given to the Church between the years 42 and 66 of 
 the Christian Era. The generation of the Jewish 
 people who had witnessed Our Lord's ministry and 
 miracles, must, during that interval, have nearly 
 passed away. For forty years, as with their ancestors 
 in the Arabian Wilderness, the Divine patience had 
 been exercised towards the rebeUious nation who had 
 rejected the Son of God, when, at length, Jerusalem 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 507 
 
 was taken and destroyed by the Koman General. As 
 early as a.d. 66, before the city was surrounded by 
 the Eoman army, most of the Christian inhabitants 
 had left it ; and a company of these refugees took up 
 their abode at Pella on the eastern side of the Jordan. 
 Before that time, probably, Peter had glorified God JohnMi.i9. 
 by his martyrdom ; Paul had also finished his course ; 
 and although nothing is certainly known of the per- 
 sonal history of the other Apostles, subsequent to the 
 time at which the sacred narrative closes, we have no 
 reason for supposing that, with one extraordinary 
 exception, they survived the destruction of Jerusalem.* 
 Assuming them to have been about the age of thirty 
 when they were called and sent forth by Our Lord, 
 (and some of them were certainly above that age,) 
 they would, if living at the fall of the City, have 
 been between seventy and eighty. Now it is scarcely 
 within probable calculation, that, even if they escaped 
 martyrdom or any fatal casualty, they would reach 
 that age. At all events, their peculiar mission to the 
 Jewish people would have been fulfilled. They had 
 gone forth from Judea into all the adjacent countries, 
 preaching the Gospel to all nations, fi-om Scythia and 
 Parthia in the East to the extreme bounds of the 
 West. " Their words had gone to the ends of the 
 world." But their message was every where directed Rom. x. is. 
 in the first instance to the Dispersed of Israel ; and 
 in fact, although the honour had been conferred upon 
 
 * The reference which occurs in the Epistle to the Hebrews 
 (xiii. 7), to the deceased rulers of the Church, can be understood of 
 none so naturally as of the Apostles. 
 
508 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 Peter, of opening the kingdom of heaven to the 
 Gentiles, the Apostles seem always to have felt that 
 their personal mission was to those of the Circumci- 
 sion. Peter was, probably, one of the latest survivors 
 of the Twelve ; and his death, according to the vary- 
 ing testimony of Tradition, occurred between a.d. 65 
 
 |eepp.i9s, and 69. The protracted life of the Apostle John 
 was evidently altogether extraordinary. Even if 
 Tradition had been silent. Our Lord's words, "If I 
 
 Johnxxi.22. will that he tarry till I come," — would have afforded 
 ground to conclude, that he was destined to outlive all 
 his brethren. Those words had been misunderstood, 
 at the time, as an intimation that he was not to die; 
 but, understanding Our Lord's coming in the sense 
 in which it must elsewhere be taken, as denoting His 
 judgments upon Jerusalem, we are warranted in in- 
 ferring, that John alone, of the Twelve, did tarry or 
 survive till that event. According to the general 
 consent of ecclesiastical writers, his life was extended 
 five and twenty years afterwards, beyond the close of 
 the first century ; at which period he must have been 
 a hundred years of age, still retaining, if the compo- 
 sition of the Apocalypse be correctly assigned to a 
 few years before his death, the vigour of his faculties. 
 Irenseus, the disciple of Polycarp, who flourished 
 towards the close of the second century, speaking of 
 the name and number of the Beast in the Apocalypse, 
 says : ' For it was seen no very long time ago, but 
 almost in our own age, towards the end of the reign 
 
 toLv.p.lis. of Domitian ;' — words which cannot without violence 
 be interpreted otherwise than as referring to the vision 
 
vol, V. p. 41 1. 
 
 THE APOCALYPSE. 509 
 
 itself. And Victorinus, in a Commentary upon the Lardner, 
 Apocalypse, written towards the close of the third i79;volV. 
 century, expressly states, that the Apocalypse was 
 seen by the Apostle John in the Isle of Patmos, 
 when banished thither by the Roman Emperor Do- 
 mitian. Eusebius cites two passages from Irenseus, 
 in which the Apostle is stated to have lived in Asia 
 till the reign of Trajan; and Jerome repeats the Lardner, 
 same statement ; adding, that, dying at a great age, 
 in the 68 th year of Our Lord's Passion (answering to 
 A.D. 100, the third of Trajan), he was buried near 
 the city of Ephesus. Li fact, with the solitary excep- iwd. 
 tion of Epiphanius,* (whose authority is of no weight,) 
 all ancient testimony is in accordance with the tradi- 
 tion, that St. John was banished into Patmos in the 
 reign of Domitian, and in consequence of the edict 
 against the Christians issued by that Emperor, to- 
 wards the close of his reign. After the death of that 
 Tyrant, his edicts having been repealed by the senate 
 on account of their excessive cruelty, John returned 
 
 * Epiphanius is not only too late a writer to be of authority, 
 having flourished in the fourth century, but, unless the text is cor- 
 rupt, he has committed a chronological error which at once dis- 
 proves his statement, in making John to have been ninety years of 
 age in the reign of Claudius, the date to which he ascribes both the 
 Apocalypse and|the Gospel. Lardner, vol. iv. p. 190 ; vol. v. pp. 416, 
 429. Of stiU less authority is the opinion of Arethas, the author of 
 a Commentary on the Revelation, who states that it was composed 
 before the destruction of Jerusalem. The earliest date assigned to 
 this writer is the sixth century. See Lardner, vol. v. p. 103. But 
 Mr. EUiott points out a clear mark of his belonging to the eighth, 
 in a reference which occurs to the Saracenic capital of Bagdad, 
 founded a.d. 762. Elliott, vol. L p. 39. 
 
510 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 to Ephesus. Domitian was assassinated, Sept. 18, 
 A.D. 96 ; and as the persecution which he originated, 
 began in the fourteenth year of his reign, if St. John's 
 exile took place in that year, it could not have lasted 
 more than two years, if so long, at the accession of 
 Nerva. This Emperor, after a reign of little more 
 than a year and four months, died Jan. 27, a.d. 98 ; 
 and was succeeded by Trajan. If St. John survived 
 till the third year of Trajan's reign, he must have 
 lived three years after his return from Patmos, and 
 have died, a.d. 100 or 101, when upwards of a hun- 
 
 Lardner, j j n 
 
 voi.v.p.426. dred years or age. 
 
 Hypothesis & 2. The subscriptiou to the Syriac Version of the 
 
 ofanearliei ., ^ • ■, i ■, • ■ 11 
 
 date un- Apocalypsc affirms, mdeed, that it was written by the 
 Apostle John in the reign of Nero ; * but, as the 
 Apocalypse was not translated into Syriac till the 
 sixth century, (it is not included in the Peshito Ver- 
 sion,) the subscription is of no force. The opinion 
 which assigns to its composition this early date, has 
 been espoused, in modern times, by Sir Isaac Newton, 
 Bishop Newton, Dr. Tilloch, Dr. Lee, and Moses 
 Stuart, and, among Continental writers, by Wetstein, 
 Grotius, Bertholdt, and Vogel.f The arguments in 
 support of this opinion are founded partly upon as- 
 
 * ' The revelation which was made by God to John the Evange- 
 list in the Island of Patmos, whither he was banished by the Em- 
 peror Nero.' The Syriac of the Apocalypse is now known to be 
 part of the Philoxenian version made by Polyoarp at the beginning 
 of the sixth century. Elliott, vol. i. p. 39. 
 
 t This is not given as a complete enumeration. On the other 
 side, it may be sufficient to mention Mill, Le Clerc, Basnage, Span- 
 heim, Lowman, Lampe, Laidner, Burton, Woodhouse, and Elliott, 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. fill 
 
 sumptions which have been shewn to be at variance 
 with historical evidence ; * partly upon supposed allu- 
 sions, in the Apostolic Epistles, f to passages in the 
 Apocalypse, from which Dr. Tilloch has gone so far 
 as to argue the chronological priority of this Book to 
 the earliest of the Pauline writings. Some commen- 
 tators, moreover, in support of the hypothesis that 
 the Revelation was written before the Jewish war, 
 have applied its symbolic predictions to the calamities 
 about to come upon the Jewish people, and to the 
 destruction of Jerusalem ; J but the fanciful or vio- 
 lent interpretation of the prophetic language, which is 
 required by this hypothesis, is sufficient to demonstrate 
 its utter improbability. 
 
 § 3. The only direct argument from internal evi- who are 
 
 '. r.1 •• lA intended by 
 
 dence m favour of the opmion, that the Apocalypse the seven 
 was composed in the reign of Nero, rests upon the 
 construction which some modern expositors have put 
 upon Rev. xvii. 10, as referring to the emperors who 
 
 * Of this description is the alleged early existence otpseudo Apor 
 calypses ; especially that of Cerinthus, who is asserted to have died 
 before St. John. But there is no authority for assigning to the false 
 Revelations so early a date ; and it is doubtful whether Cerinthus 
 flourished in the first or in the second century. Lardner, vol. viii. 
 p. 409. Elliott, vol. i. p. 41. An able refutation of Tilloch's hypothesis 
 will be found in Eclectic Review, second series, vol. xxiii. p. 343. 
 
 t Dr. Tilloch refers to 1 Thess. i. 10 ; iii. 13 ; iv. 16 ; v. 1 ; com- 
 pared with Apoo. vi. 16 ; xix. 14 ; :si.l6; xiii. 6, &c. See Elliott, 
 vol. i. pp. 41, 42, notes. 
 
 X Lardner, vol. vi. p. 326. ' If the Revelation was written before 
 that war,' Wetstein remarks, ' it is likely that the events of that 
 time should be foretold in it,' This may be granted, but the con- 
 verse will be as good an argument. If there is no clear prediction 
 of the kind, it is likely'the Revelation was not written before the 
 war. 
 
512 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 had reigned up to that time. Reckoning from Julius 
 Caesar, as the founder of the monarchy, Nero would 
 be the sixth ; hence, it has been contended, that this 
 passage fixes the composition in his reign.* Eich- 
 horn, however, and some other recent critics, adopting 
 a similar exposition, but reckoning from Augustus, 
 pass over Galba and his two successors, and place 
 the Apocalypse in the reign of Vespasian as the sixth 
 Emperor, t Professor Lee again, following the still 
 more fanciful conjecture of Lactantius, interprets the 
 seven kings of those emperors who were remarkable 
 for the part they took in the persecutions of the 
 Church ; namely, Domitian, Decius, Valerian, Aure- 
 lian, Diocletian, Maximianus, Galerius.J To any 
 construction of the passage, however, which requires 
 us to suppose the seven hills of Rome to be symbo- 
 lical of as many individuals, there would attach the 
 strongest improbabihty. In a figurative description 
 of a city, we should expect that a much larger por- 
 tion of its history would be taken into account, than 
 a single dynasty or form of government, not reaching 
 
 * It has also been adduced as an argument in support of this 
 hypothesis, that i^aretves, in which the mystical number of 666 is to 
 be found, was the cognomen of Nero ; an assertion for which there 
 appears no good authority. 
 
 + See Dr. Wait's Preface to Hug's Introduction, pp. clxxxvi, 
 cxcii. Bolten, who contends that the Apocalypse was composed in 
 Hebrew, finds a fanciful proof of this in his notable discovery ef the 
 mystical number in Titus JFlavius Ve^asianus, written in Syriac 
 diaracters. lb. p. cxcvi. Professor Benary, of Berlin, finds the 
 number in the value of the letters in Hebrew which form the name, 
 Nero C<ssar, as given in the Talmud ; while Professor Ewald would 
 reduce our choice to Aarrtives, with the received reading of xi^t "' 
 Cxsar Remce in Hebrew letters, with the reading X'*'- 
 
 J Lee's Sermons and Dissertations, p. 336. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 513 
 
 further back than a century ; nor would it be con- 
 gruous to interpret the foundations of the city which 
 is represented as the local seat of the personified 
 Power, as denoting historical personages. The seven 
 heads of the Beast are stated to be at once seven 
 hills and seven kings. That is to say, they denote 
 topographically the Seven-hilled City,* which, politi- 
 cally, had existed, or would exist, under seven forms 
 of government, the foundations, successively, of its 
 greatness. The language of Livy and Tacitus forms 
 the best commentary upon this part of the symbolical 
 description. f The former enumerates Kings, Consuls, 
 Dictators, Decemvirs, and Military Tribunes, as the 
 five previous forms of government. The latter, with 
 more precision, while noticing the interregna which 
 occurred between the distinct constitutional forms, 
 still makes these the same in number : ' Kings first 
 had possession of the City of Eome. Brutus esta- 
 blished civil liberty and the Consulship. Dictator- 
 
 * The following are instances, from the classic writers, of the 
 familiar designation of Home by this topographical feature : — 
 ' Sed quae de septem totwm drcv/mspicit orbem 
 
 Montibvs, imperii Roma Deumqtie locus,^ — Ovid. 
 ' Bis qwihus septem plcumere coUes.'' — Horace. 
 ' Septem, urbs <dta jugis, toti qiue prcesidet orbi.' — Propertius. 
 t ' Quae, ah condita urbe Bomd ad captam eandem, v/rbem, EoTnani sni 
 regibus primv/m, coTisiUibus deinde, ae dictatorihus, decem/virisque, ac 
 tribunis conwdarihus gessere.^ — Livii, lib. vi. c. 1. 
 
 ' Urbem, Bom/rnn aprindpio Beges habuere. Libertatem, et Consvla- 
 twm L. Brutus instituit. Dictaturoe ad teinpus sumebantur. Neque 
 Becemviralis potestas ultrd biennium,, neque Tribwnorwm miliiwm con- 
 sulare jus diu valuit. Non Cirmw, non SuMce longa dominatio : et 
 Pompeii Crassique potentia cito in Ccesarem, Lepidi atque Antonii 
 arma in Augustum, cessere : qui cuncta discordiis dviliivjsfesm, nomine 
 Principis sub imperium accepit.' Tacit. Annal. lib. i. c. 1. 
 
 2 L 
 
514 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 ships were for a time assumed. The power of 
 Decemvirs did not flourish above two years ; and 
 the consular power of Military Tribunes for only a 
 short time. Not long did the domination of Cinna 
 or that of Sylla last. The power of Pompey and 
 Crassus soon merged in Caesar ; the armed domina- 
 tion of Lepidus and Antony in Augustus, who, with 
 the title of Prince, took under his sway the whole 
 State, wearied of civil discords.' Understanding, then, 
 the expression jSao-iXc?; in the sense of potestates, 
 governing powers or heads, the sixth would date from 
 the supremacy of Augustus, or, including the twelve 
 years of his joint reign as the chief of the second 
 triumvirate, from a.u.c. 710. This sixth head, the 
 Imperial power, remained unchanged till Diocletian 
 (in A.D. 284) once more altered the form of govern- 
 ment, assumed the Persian diadem, with the robe of 
 silk and gold, and the title of despot, and became, as 
 Gibbon bears witness, ' like Augustus, the founder 
 Elliott, of a new empire.' Under this form, the dragon power 
 Bso-sig^' of Paganism received its " deadly wound" from Theo- 
 dosius, who first surmounted the globe on the Roman 
 coins with a cross ; and, ' like Thebes, or Babylon, or 
 Carthage, the name of Eome might have been erased 
 from the earth,' as the seat of empire, had not an 
 eighth form arisen out of the seven ; or, in the words 
 of the Historian, ' if the city had not been animated 
 by a vital principle which again restored her to honour 
 and dominion/ under the Pontificate.* 
 
 * Gibbon, ch. xlv. In corroboration of this remark, Mr. Elliott 
 cites (after Vitringa) the remarkable testimony of two learned pon- 
 tifical writers of the middle age. Augustin Steuchus (who was 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 515 
 
 The striking correspondence of historical testimony 
 to the symbolic description in the prophecy, leaves 
 no room for reasonable doubt as to the true import ; 
 and that mistaken interpretation which has afforded 
 the most plausible argument for referring the compo- 
 sition to the reign of Nero, may be dismissed as not 
 merely improbable and incongruous, but also mani- 
 festly erroneous. We have thus the ground cleared 
 for inquiring how far the internal evidence favours the 
 tradition which assigns it to the reign of Domitian. 
 
 § 4. Now, in the first place, the Epistles to the internal 
 seven Asiatic churches evidently describe or imply a in favour of 
 
 its tradi- 
 
 state of things denoting the lapse of a considerable tionai date. 
 time from the first planting of Christianity by the 
 Apostles ; during which the Ephesian church, though 
 it had withstood the seductive influence of false 
 teachers, had nevertheless declined from its "first 
 love ; " that of Sardis had sunk into a death-like 
 formalism ; and that of Laodicea into lukewarmness 
 and spiritual pride. But the church at Ephesus was 
 
 librarian to the Pope) thus writes : ' The Empire having been over- 
 thrown, unless God had raised up the Pontificate, Rome resuscitated 
 and restored by none, would have become uninhabitable,- and been a 
 most foul habitation thenceforth of cattle. But, in the Pontificate, 
 it revived as with a second birth ; its empire in magnitude not indeed 
 equal to the old empire, but its form not very dissimilar : because 
 all nations, from EaSt and from West, venerate the Pope not others 
 wise than they before obeyed the Emperoj's.' Flavio Blondus, a 
 celebrated antiquary of the fifteenth century, says : ' The Princes 
 of the world now adore and worship as Perpetual Dictator, the suc- 
 cessor, not of Csesar, but of the Fisherman Peter ; that is, the 
 Supreme Pontifi> the substitute of the aforesaid Emperor.' Gibbon 
 styles Gregory the Great, ' the Saviour of Rome.' His pontificate 
 lasted from a.d. 690 to 604. 
 
 2 L 2 
 
51C THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 not founded by St. Paul till the latter part of the 
 reign of Claudius, a.d. 54; and, in writing to the 
 Ephesians from Eome seven years later, he commends 
 their fidelity and love to all the saints. The other 
 Asiatic churches were, probably, planted by the 
 Apostle about the same period. The rise of the 
 Nicolaitans as a sect, may also be thought to mark 
 a later era than that of the first propagation of the 
 Gospel. Moreover, it is evident, that those churches 
 had been exposed to external trials, and had sustained 
 persecution. More stress has been laid, than sober 
 criticism will warrant, upon another supposed mark 
 of later date, in the circumstance, that the Epistles 
 which St, John was directed to write, are addressed 
 to the " Angels " of the several churches. It has 
 been imagined, that this appellation implies ah Epis- 
 copacy dififerent from that which was exercised by 
 the presbyters or bishops of the Pauline churches. 
 But there is no ground for this assumption. The 
 term rendered Angel, taken by itself, conveys the 
 idea of service or ministry, not of rule or dignity ; 
 and appears to be borrowed from the synagogue,* 
 having been employed to designate an officer to whom 
 letters intended for the whole congregation (as these 
 Epistles obviously were) would properly be addressed. 
 It is observable, that no charge is given, in these 
 Epistles, to any individual as bearing rule or office : 
 it is the entire church as a collective body, that is, in 
 
 * ' Neither the chamn or angel of the synagogue, (which was a 
 purely ministerial, comparatively a servile office,) nor the heads of 
 the assembly, possessed any peculiar privilege, or were endowed with 
 any official function as teachers of the people.' Milman, b. ii. c. 4. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 617 
 
 each case, the subject of admonition and warning. 
 There is nothing to forbid the supposition, neverthe- 
 less, that there existed in the several churches, pastors 
 and teachers agreeably Jo the primitive model. 
 
 At the time at which these Epistles were written, 
 persecution, whether proceeding from the Jewish au- 
 thorities or from heathen governors, had ceased or 
 been suspended : the churches were at rest, although 
 an approaching day of trial is predicted. This state 
 of things agrees with the tradition which assigns the 
 composition of the Apocalypse to the bright interval 
 between the death of Domitian and the reign of 
 Trajan. But a very striking chronological mark has 
 been detected in one of the early visions, by the 
 learned and ingenious Author of the * Hora. Apoca- 
 lypticce,' which fixes with certainty the composition 
 at this precise epoch ; that is to say, just before the 
 accession of Nerva, When the First Seal of the 
 prophetic scroll was opened, the Apostle beheld the 
 representation of a white horse, the rider upon 
 which " had a bow, and a crown was given to him, 
 and he went forth conquering and to conquer." The Rev. vi. 2. 
 white horse is obviously the symbol of martial 
 triumph; the laurel crown (o-Te'pavo?) is the imperial 
 badge worn by all the Roman Emperors till the 
 assumption of the Oriental diadem by Diocletian ; 
 but the bow, the national weapon and emblem of the 
 Cretans, is a distinctive symbol, and receives its only 
 satisfactory explanation from the fact, that Nerva,, 
 who was the first Emperor of Colonial extraction, 
 was of a Cretan family. Trajan was adopted by 
 Nerva, Hadrian by Trajan, Antoninus by Hadrian, 
 
S18 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 Aurelius by Antoninus ; so that, according to the 
 Roman law of adoption, all this line of Emperors 
 would be reckoned as of Nerva's family ; and the 
 Cretan bow would thus form the appropriate designa- 
 tion of a dynasty under which the condition of the 
 human race is affirmed by Gibbon to have been the 
 most happy and prosperous of any period in the 
 history of the world.* So far as regards the date 
 of the Apocalyptic vision, there seems, then, a con- 
 currence of evidence, external and internal, fully 
 establishing the correctness of the tradition which 
 assigns it to the closing years of the reign of the last 
 of the Flavian family. 
 Retrospect « ^ Here let us pause and cast a retrospective 
 
 of the pre- J r r 
 
 anTtMrt S^^^^^ ^"^^^ *^^ preceding five and thirty years of the 
 years. fij-gt ccutury, during which the aged Apostle re- 
 mained the only depositary of the plenary Apostolic 
 inspiration and authority. Upon this interesting 
 period, however, as Dr. Burton has remarked, ' the 
 Christians of the third and fourth centuries appear 
 to have been almost as much in the dark as ourselves. 
 Traditions must have been extant in the second cen- 
 tury, connected with the history of the Apostles, and 
 collections of them are stated to have been made by 
 
 * Elliott, vol. i. pp. 47 — 60. A Greek epigram or epitaph is 
 cited from the ' Aidhologia Chmca^ in which the emhlematic mean- 
 ing of the bow is actually explained to signify, that the deceased 
 was a Cretan — tav Kfnaaav Sc -ra rofo. Vitringa, correctly interpret- 
 ing the emblematic picture in other respects, stumbled at the bow as 
 deeming it an ' Asiatic and barbarous weapon.' ' Suh honk et lau- 
 datis principibus a Nerva usque ad CommodMm, fades Bomani Imperii 
 satis fuit cequahUis, et emblemate alhi equi cum, sessore vietorioso flgwari 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 519 
 
 writers of that period; but they have not come 
 down to our day, except, perhaps, amidst a heap of 
 extravagant fictions which make it impossible for us 
 to ascertain whether any of the stories are genuine.' p- 134. 
 Nor is this so much to be wondered at, when we 
 recollect, that, while the secular history of this period 
 relates chiefly to the affairs of Western Europe, the 
 principal scene of the Apostolic labours, and of the 
 early history of the Church, was laid in Eastern Europe 
 and Western Asia ; countries of which the literature 
 and historic records have for the most part perished. 
 
 The persecution of the Christians under Nero, 
 which commenced about the middle of Nov. 64, 
 appears to have ceased only with the death of that 
 tyrant in 68 ; so that, for four years, the followers 
 of Christ must have been exposed to every species of 
 insult and outrage under the sanction of the Imperial 
 authority. Strange to say, ancient authors leave us 
 in doubt as to the extent of this persecution ; whe- 
 ther it was general throughout the Empire, or limited 
 to those who, fi-om their residence at Rome, might be 
 considered as implicated in the crime of setting fire 
 to the city. Dr. Burton remarks, that 'the rapid 
 progress of Christianity may have led to the same 
 results in difierent countries, and provincial magis- 
 trates may have been encouraged in any acts of 
 cruelty, by knowing that the Emperor allowed the 
 Christians to be tortured ; but there is no evidence 
 that Nero published any general edict which made 
 Christianity a crime, or which ordered the magistrates 
 to suppress it.' Mosheim, however, has adduced a p.^Vs"' 
 passage fi-om TertuUian's Apology, which strongly 
 
520 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 supports the opinion, that Nero, as well as Domitian, 
 promulgated edicts against the Christians; and if 
 such edicts were promulgated, not a question can 
 remain of their having been carried into effect 
 throughout the provinces.* 
 
 The three successors of Nero in the Empire held 
 their disputed titles for only eighteen months ; and in 
 the year 69, Vespasian was declared Emperor, while 
 still engaged in prosecuting the Jewish war. In the 
 fourth year of that memorable contest, the command 
 of the besieging army having devolved upon Titus, 
 the city of Jerusalem was taken, after a six months' 
 siege, attended by unparalleled horrors and calamities ; 
 and the Temple, contrary to the wish of the fioman 
 
 * ' At the time when Tertullian wrote his Apology, that is, before 
 the end of the second century, and before the Emperor Severus had 
 enacted any new laws against the Christians, the Roman magis- 
 trates were accustomed to reply to any who might come forward on 
 behalf of the Christians, that in this respect nothing was left to 
 their discretion ; that, however desirous they might feel to spare 
 these unfortunate people, it was impossible for them to do so, since 
 the laws were peremptory to the contrary. This pretence, Tertullian 
 attacks with great eloquence, and exposes its weakness and fallacy 
 by various ar^ments, of which the following is not one of the least 
 forcible. " Those laws to which yon refer, as not permitting you to 
 suffer the Christians to exist, were enacted by princes whose cmelty, 
 impiety, and mad frenzy, ye cannot but regard with detestation ; 
 namely, by those monsters of the human race, the Emperors Nero 
 and Domitian. Their successors in the government of the empire 
 have all been too deeply impressed with the sentiments of justice 
 and benevolence to follow th^ir example," Now if this state- 
 ment of Tertullian be deserving of credit, and there is certainly no 
 reason whatever to suspect its accuracy, there can be no doubt 
 that Nero as well as Domitian promulgated edicts against the Chris- 
 tians ; and if those edicts were promulgated, not a question can 
 remain of their having been carried into effect throughout aU tlie 
 provinces.' Mosheim's CommentarieSj vol. i. p. 18^ 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 521 
 
 general, was consumed by fire. More than a million 
 of Jews are calculated to have perished during the 
 siege ; and, in the course of the seven years' war, 
 according to Josephus, the numbers who fell victims 
 either to the sword, to famine, or to pestilence, 
 amounted to 1,337,490. This awful catastrophe does 
 not appear to have produced any effect upon the 
 external circumstances of the churches planted in 
 Gentile lands. The reigns of Vespasian and Titus 
 present no instance of the molestation of Christians 
 on account of their religion ; and the Jewish perse- 
 cution of believers having been finally arrested by 
 the calamities of the nation, the churches must have 
 enjoyed outward peace, while Christianity continued 
 to make triumphant progress. That peace does not 
 appear to have been disturbed during the earlier part 
 of the reign of Domitian. His persecution of the 
 Christians, as atheists and enemies of the State, began 
 in the latter years of his reign ; when Flavins Cle- 96.' 
 mens, who had not only been consul the preceding 
 year, but was even nearly related to the Emperor, 
 and whose sons had been destined to succeed to the 
 Empire, fell a victim to the jealous accusations of the 
 heathen priesthood and the cruelty of the Tyrant. 
 Arraigned on the charge of atheism and Jewish 
 manners, Clemens was put to death, while his wife, 
 Domitilla, the niece of the Emperor, was banished to 
 a desert island. Banishment to distant islands was PandatoL. 
 at that time a common punishment; and, as this 
 second persecution of Christians, as atheists, was felt 
 in various parts of the Empire, the banishment of the 
 Apostle John to the Isle of Patmos, is in accordance 
 
 A.D. 9i or 
 
522 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 with what is known to have taken place in numerous 
 instances at this period*. The Epistles to the seven 
 churches, it has already been remarked, afford suffi- 
 cient evidence that the Christians to whom they were 
 addressed, had been suffering persecution ; and An- 
 tipas, of Pergamos, has had the honour conferred 
 upon him, of being especially named by the pen of 
 Inspiration, or, rather, by Our Lord himself, as a 
 faithful martyr. That the Apostle John was sen- 
 tenced to penal exile on account of the Christian 
 Rev. i. 9. doctrine and testimony, is clearly implied by his own 
 with vi. 9. declaration ; and it has even been inferred from the 
 ' Meiaiio strength of the phrase " tribulation," that he was 
 
 damnai'us.' i i i • i • • mi 
 
 Primasius, Condemned to labour m the mines or quarries. Im 
 Elliott. scene of his exile renders it probable that it took 
 place under the authority of the proconsul of Asia, 
 although in consequence of the Imperial edict, and 
 that the Apostle had been previously residing at 
 Ephesus. Ancient writers are not agreed as to the 
 authority by which this persecution was stayed. Ac- 
 cording to Hegesippus and TertuUian, Domitian re- 
 lented before his death, and retracted his edict; 
 Mosheim's wHlc Lactantius and others represent the revocation 
 centT§36. as the act of the Senate, upon Domitian's death. 
 At all events, the Apostle's recal may be supposed to 
 have followed immediately upon the accession of 
 I^erva. This second persecution appears to have 
 
 * The story of his having been sent to Rome, and plunged into a 
 vessel of boiling oil, from which he came out unhurt, rests on the 
 insufficient authority of Tertullian, and is generally rejected as one 
 of the many fabulous legends of the age. Mosheim suggests, that 
 Tertullian may have converted a metaphor, intended to express the 
 Apostle's escape from a iiery trial, into a literal fact. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 523 
 
 been both much shorter and less severe than that 
 under Nero. 
 
 § 6. Such, then, were the historical circumstances Primaiy do- 
 under which the Apocalypse was imparted to the Apocalypse. 
 beloved Disciple. Sixty-five years had elapsed since 
 Our Lord had ascended to The Father ; and the ter- 
 rible day of The Lord to the Jewish world, with 
 which a mistaken expectation had identified His 
 personal return, had at once explained and fulfilled 
 the Divine prediction. Jerusalem was lying in ruins ; 
 the Jewish polity had been finally overthrown ; and 
 the Lesser Asia was filled with the remnants of the 
 dispersed nation.* Of these, the seven Asiatic 
 churches to whom the Divine communications were 
 primarily addressed, chiefly, if not entirely consisted. See Rev. a. 
 Within a circuit of less than four hundred miles, were 
 situated the seven flourishing commercial cities con- 
 taining these Christian synagogues, all of which had 
 probably been favoured with the personal instruction 
 
 * ' As the aged Apostle looked round from the rooky summit of 
 Patmos, and followed with his eye in the distant horizon the in- 
 dented coast of Asia, and then of Thrace and Greece, with its bays, 
 and gulfs, and islands, and far-stretching capes and promontories, 
 it would rest ever and anon on the sites of Christian churches : first, 
 those of proconsular Asia, where Timothy had fallen asleep, and 
 Antipas recently suffered martyrdom, and Polycarp yet remained a 
 faithful witness for Christ ; churches under St. John's own imme- 
 diate superintendence : — ^then the Macedonian and Greek churches 
 of Philippi, and Thessalonica, and Bersea, and Athens, and Corinth : 
 whUe yet further, beyond where the eye might penetrate, he knew 
 that alike in the distant West on the one side, and the South and 
 East on the other, Christian churches existed there too, instinct with 
 spiritual life, in holy fellowship ; whence the daily incense arose of 
 prayer and praise and adoration to the same Saviour-God and to the 
 Lamb.' • Elliott, vol. i. pp. 53, 64. 
 
 9;iii. 9. 
 
524 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 and ministry of the last surviving Apostle. To- 
 gether with the neighbouring churches, they consti- 
 tuted the most numerous and important portion of 
 the Christian community, in the very centre and 
 heart of civilization. It was doubtless for reasons 
 connected with the " tribulation " under which they 
 had been suffering, and with the further trials im- 
 pending over them, that the Apostle was directed to 
 shew to them, for the confirmation of their faith, the 
 things that should "shortly come to pass." The 
 primary design of the prophetic disclosure was, evi-? 
 dently, to prepare the minds of the generation Uving 
 at the commencement of the second century, for 
 " the hour of temptation " or trial that was at hand, — 
 for events which they were personally to witness ; 
 events which were the commencement of the long 
 series of calamities more obscurely unfolded in the 
 subsequent parts of the prophecy, and which, fi-om 
 their very nature, could not be completed shortly.^ 
 It may be safely assumed, that this inspired book, as 
 a whole, was delivered to the Asiatic Christians, as 
 fraught, in the first instance, with important instruc- 
 tion to them, in the same manner as the Book of 
 Isaiah or that of Ezekiel was, as a whole, committed 
 
 * Michaelis contends, that ' if we consider the Apocalypse as a 
 divine work,' we must, in reference to the time at which it was 
 written, ' confine our choice to those dates which precede the com- 
 mencement of the Jewish war ; for thus only shall we he enabled to 
 shew that its first prophecies were fulfilled in a short time.^ Marsh's 
 Michaelis, vol. iv. p. 503. It is a sufficient reply to this rash asser- 
 tion, that the events in which the seven churches were immediately 
 interested, did shortly come to pass, though these were hut introduc- 
 tory to a chain of events extending indefinitely into the future. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 625 
 
 to the Jews of their day, primarily for their own ad- 
 monition and instruction, although not to the exclu- 
 sion of a further a,nd permanent purpose ; and it is 
 by placing ourselves in their position, that we shall 
 be best enabled to appreciate the value as well as the 
 express design of the Revelation. 
 
 With regard to the events which were shortly to 
 come to pass, there can be no question that the 
 design of the prophetic warning was, to incite them 
 to watchfulness, repentance, zeal, and stedfastness in 
 the prospect of the approaching day of trial. And 
 we cannot err in supposing, that the intimations 
 vouchsafed respecting the history of the Church in 
 succeeding ages, were intended to confirm their faith 
 in the ultimate triumph of that " kingdom which 
 cannot be shaken." It is difiicult for Christians in Heb.xii.28. 
 the present happy era, which throws its light back 
 upon the darkness that then rested upon the future, 
 adequately to appreciate the consolatory effect of 
 such intimations, how general or obscure soever they 
 might be. ' General notions and assurances,' as 
 Dean Woodhouse remarks, ' are suflScient to sup- 
 port our faith, if not to gratify our curiosity.' Such 
 general assurances, the Christians of the second 
 century would be at no loss to deduce from the Divine 
 communications made to the Apostle; for much of 
 the symbolic imagery and figurative idiom which are 
 obscure to us, and a source of perplexity to commen- 
 tators, would to them convey an obvious and une- 
 quivocal meaning. That is to say, the enigmatic 
 phraseology would be a source of as little diflSculty to 
 the contemporaries of St. John, as the language of 
 
620 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 heraldry or of numismatics is to us ; * although the 
 precise nature and time of the events predicted, would 
 remain in designed mystery till interpreted by the 
 event ; agreeably to Our Lord's declaration, " It is 
 not for you to know the times and the seasons which 
 Acts i. 7. the Father hath put in his own power." 
 
 The general subject of the Apocalypse is, the 
 sufferings of the Church of Christ, and the eventual 
 punishment of its adversaries. It is, in fact, St. 
 Paul's prophetic disclosure to the Macedonian Chris- 
 tians, written large for the benefit of the Asiatic 
 churches. The argument of the Book might be 
 summed up in the language of the brief prediction 
 delivered more than forty years before : " The day 
 of £!hrist shall not come, till there shall have taken 
 place an apostacy, and the man of sin, the son of per- 
 dition, be revealed, whom The Lord shall consume 
 with the spirit of His mouth, and destroy with the 
 
 * We cannot suppose, for instance, that the Christians of the first 
 century could be at any loss to decipher the complex sypibol of the 
 quadriform fSox or living creature, respecting which such absurd 
 reveries have been put forth by commentators, ancient and modern ; 
 any more than, in the present day, an educated person would be at a 
 loss to understand the symbol of the Russian Eagle, the British Lion, 
 or the Horse of Hanover. The bow in the hand of the Triumphant 
 Horseman would probably be interpreted as readily then, as the tri- 
 dent in the hand of Britannia is now. The allusions, again, to the 
 scenery and serv^ice of the Temple, which it now requires much 
 learned labour to illustrate, must have been understood at once by 
 the Jewish Christians, conveying distinct ideas which, to us, are 
 shrouded in enigma. Thus Time, while the true interpreter of Pro- 
 phecy as regards the event, may but render the prediction darker 
 and less certain, as respects the precise import of the phraseology in 
 which it is conveyed ; a fact and distinction too generally over- 
 looked. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 627 
 
 brightness of His coming." As Our Lord appealed 2TheBs.ii. 
 to the Old Testament predictions in proof that all 
 that had taken place concerning Himself, was in 
 accordance with what was written — " Ought not 
 Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter 
 into his glory ? " — so, of the prophecies of the Kew 
 Testament, a similar use might be made, to confirm 
 the wavering or perplexed faith of believers in a 
 day of darkness and declension, or of fiery persecu- 
 tion, whether from Pagan or fi*om Papal Rome :^ 
 Ought not the Church to have suffered these things, 
 and through such tribulation to enter into glory? 
 How obscurely soever the precise nature and origin 
 of those calamities were intimated, enough would be 
 gathered from the prediction to satisfy the believer, 
 that their occurrence was not at variance with the 
 purpose, or inconsistent with the fidelity of God; 
 that Christ had not abandoned His Church ; but that 
 all the wrong and suffering were permitted, in pursu- 
 ance of the determinate counsel of God, though ef- 
 fected by wicked agency, and for a final purpose 
 that would redound to the Divine Glory. 
 
 § 7. It has always been one design for which the Parallel 
 Almighty has vouchsafed to the Church prophetic OM?!o?d'8 
 intimations relating to the undeveloped schemes of 
 His providence, to correct misapprehensions or to 
 rectify erroneous anticipations as to the future, — to re- 
 press impatience or to prevent discouragement, under 
 apparently adverse dispensations. Thus, the original 
 promise made to Abraham, that his posterity should 
 possess Canaan, was accompanied with the intimation, 
 that its fulfilment would not take place for above 
 
528 THE>POCALYPSK.' 
 
 four hundred years, because " the iniquity of the 
 Gen. XT. 16. Amoritcs WES uot yet full." A similar lesson- accom- 
 panied Our Lord's prediction respecting the overthrow 
 of Jerusalem, in which we have a striking exemplifi- 
 cation of two descriptions of prophecy ; one clear and 
 definite, intended to warn the disciples of the coming 
 events ; the other purposely indefinite, and designed 
 to check and regulate their hasty anticipation of the 
 final issue. The double question of the Disciples, 
 which gave occasion to the twofold prediction, evi- 
 dently betrayed mistaken views respecting the conse- 
 quences of the overthrow of the Temple and Jewish 
 Mattxxiv.3. pohty. Their first inquiry, " When shall these 
 things be?" referred to the preceding prediction 
 relating to the destruction of the sacred edifice. 
 But, with that event were associated, in their expec- 
 tations, the second coming of Our Lord and " the end 
 of the world." Having as yet no correct conception 
 of the spiritual nature of the kingdom which He came 
 to establish upon earth, they expected his speedy 
 return for the purpose of restoring the Jewish com- 
 monwealth to more than its pristine glory. Instead 
 of giving at once a direct answer to their question, 
 Our Lord commences by cautioning them against 
 becoming the dupes of those impostors who should 
 come in His name, or assume His character. To such 
 rumours of His return, they must pay no attention, 
 because a series of events were first to take place, which 
 would try their faith, and many of His professed 
 followers would be seduced into apostacy ; but the 
 Gospel would triumph over all opposition, and spread 
 through the known world ; and then " the end " of 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 620 
 
 the Jewish poUty should come. Having thus in- 
 structed them, that the predicted event was not to 
 ensue immediately, or " yet," Our Lord proceeds 
 to communicate to them the unequivocal signs which 
 should precede the horrors of the siege, in order that, 
 warned by the presage, they might effect their timely 
 escape. So specific was the event foretold, so dis- 
 tinct the token, that the Christians were at no loss 
 how to understand the application, but, when the 
 circumstances took place, profited by the prediction, 
 and were saved from the miseries which befel their 
 unbelieving and infatuated countrymen. At ver. 29 Matt. xxW. 
 of the chapter which contains the prophecy, the pre- 
 diction respecting the "tribulation of those days" 
 terminates; and Our Lord then proceeds, in lan- 
 guage as highly figurative as the former part is dis- 
 tinct and literal, to indicate the changes and revolutions 
 which were to occur subsequently to the overthrow of 
 Jerusalem, " till the times of the Gentiles should be 
 fulfilled ; " in order, we may conclude, to teach his Lukexxi.24. 
 disciples not to identify with that day of tribulation 
 His final coming in the clouds of heaven, and to lead 
 onward their anticipations to a far more glorious 
 period, when they should indeed behold their Master 
 and Lord on the throne of His glory, and themselves 
 partake of that glory. With regard to the first train 
 of events, which were to ensue in the time of the 
 generation then existing, or before it had passed 
 away, a specific sign was given : " When ye shall see 
 all these things," — the predicted signs and visible 
 presages of the approaching destruction, — " know 
 that it is near, even at the doors." And it has been 
 
 2 M 
 
530 
 
 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 ^KfiiTjr. 
 
 remarked, that the budding of the fig-tree might 
 itself serve as a presage ; for the siege commenced 
 precisely at the same time of year as that at which 
 the prediction was uttered ; just before the Passover, 
 when the fig-tree was putting forth its leaves. But, 
 with regard to the Second Advent of Our Lord, the 
 subject of the second part of the prophecy, no specific 
 sign is given. On the contrary, " of that day and 
 hour," when " heaven and earth shall pass away," no 
 man knoweth, no, not the angels in heaven : it is 
 among the times and seasons which The Father has 
 " put in His own power," and which the Son of Man 
 was not commissioned to reveal. 
 
 Now, on turning to the Apostolic Epistles, we find 
 the same combination of explicitness as to the preli- 
 minary signs, and reserve as to the ultimate events, 
 Comp.Matt. the samc blending of caution and consolation in the 
 
 XXIV 4 
 
 2Thess.ii.3. prophctic references or disclosures. In language 
 which forcibly recals our Lord's admonition, if it be 
 not a direct citation, St. Paul cautions the Macedo- 
 nian believers against being deceived by false alarms, 
 as the end could not be, till an existing hinderanoe or 
 restraint, the nature of which he had orally explained, 
 should be removed, and, as the result, the mystery of 
 iniquity be developed, which, for a time, should 
 usurp the Divine prerogative, and produce a fearful 
 apostacy. The Thessalonians, it is clefar, must have 
 known to what the Apostle alluded : the removal of 
 the hinderance was to be a specific sign, although the 
 subsequent events were veiled in obscurity. 
 
 It is reasonable to conclude, that the Revelation 
 made to the Asiatic churches would partake of the 
 
 And of St. 
 Paul's pre' 
 diction. 
 
 See pages 
 206—210 
 257—259, 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 531 
 
 same mixed character; the proximate events being 
 clearly indicated, to guide and sustain their faith ; the 
 sequel left in mystery, to repress and baffle curiosity. 
 And such appears to be the fact. Whether they 
 comprehended distinctly the precise import of the 
 emblematic representations in the early visions, or 
 not, they would have no difficulty in gathering from 
 them, that a long series of events, the general com- 
 plexion of which was dark and disastrous, had to take 
 place ; — that the period of triumph and prosperity 
 would be succeeded by times of political conflict, op- 
 pression, and suffering; that the swordsman on the 
 fire-coloured charger, the holder of the scales of ad- 
 ministration on the black horse, and the ghastly 
 spectre on the livid-green horse, must each pass ; and 
 that still, the cries of martyred saints would continue 
 for a season to ascend : " How long, O Lord, holy 
 and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood?" 
 But " it was said unto them, that they should rest yet 
 a time." If the symbols were mysterious, the lesson 
 was plain, nor could the general import of the pro- 
 phetic representation be mistaken. 
 
 We have assumed, that the symbols which consti- 
 tute the cipher of Prophecy, would be better under- 
 stood at the time, than they are likely to be in the 
 present age ; and it was in some respects more im- 
 portant that those who were immediately concerned 
 in what was shortly to take place, should understand 
 the emblematic language of the prediction, than that 
 we should be able to detect the precise correspon- 
 dence of the figurative representation in every parti- 
 cular to the historical counterpart. A glance, 
 
 2 M 2 
 
532 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 however, at the times which formed, to the prophetic 
 eye of the Inspired Apostle, the proximate ftiturity, 
 will enable the reader to perceive the appropriateness 
 of the imagery, and to realize in some faint degree, 
 how wisely it was adapted to prepare the anxious or 
 too sanguine minds of the Christians of the post- 
 apostolic age, for the unlooked-for and prolonged 
 struggle between Paganism and the Kingdom of 
 Christ. 
 Historical § 8- From the accession of Nerva, in the year 96, 
 thl'^erifd to about the year 107, the spirit of persecution 
 1™!^ fast appears to have been restrained. In that year, Igna- 
 six Seals, jj^g^ ^]jq 'g g^^ted to havc presided over the church 
 at Antioch from the year 70, and who must therefore 
 have escaped the storm which broke over the Church 
 in the latter years of Domitian's reign, was denounced 
 to the Emperor Trajan, then on his way to make war 
 against Parthia ; and the Emperor consented to send 
 the aged bishop to Rome,- to be exposed to the wild 
 beasts in the amphitheatre. The revived persecution 
 appears to have been, at this time, local as well as 
 A.D. ui. temporary. It was not till four years later, that the 
 Emperor, in reply to the Letter of Pliny the Bithy- 
 nian Pro-Prsetor, was called upon to give a public 
 decision upon the propriety of dealing with Chris- 
 tianity as a capital crime. In consequence of that 
 decision, there can be no doubt, the spirit of persecu- 
 tion would be more active than before ; but it does 
 not appear that, during the reign of Trajan, the pro- 
 gress of the Christian faith was impeded by any 
 systematic opposition on the part of the Government. 
 The latter years of that Emperor's reign were occu- 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 633 
 
 pied with political disasters and reverses, which must 
 have diverted attention from the affairs of the Chris- 
 tians. Before his death, which occurred at Selinus 
 in Cilicia, in a.d. 1 17^ nearly all his conquests in the 
 East were lost. The reign of his successor, Hadrian, 
 which extended over the ensuing twenty years, was 
 not unfavourable to the Christians ; and the persecu- 
 tion to which they were in various parts of the 
 Empire exposed, under Antoninus Pius (a.d. 138 — 
 161), and in the first part of the reign of Marcus 
 Aurelius, his successor, proceeded from the instiga- 
 tions of the pagan priests and philosophers, and the 
 savage hostility of a barbarous populace, more than 
 from imperial edicts. In 165, Justin Martyr sealed 
 his " Apology " for the Faith with his blood, at 
 Bome ; and about the same time, Publius, bishop of 
 Athens, suffered martyrdom. Papias, bishop of Hier- 
 apolis in Phrygia, suffered in 163 ; and the aged and 
 apostolical Polycarp was burned in the amphitheatre 
 at Smyrna, in 167. The cruelty and ftiry of perse- 
 cution appear to have been unabated till the accession 
 of Commodus, in 180. 
 
 The reign of this Emperor ushered in an era of Eraofdvii 
 civil war and bloodshed, to which the symbol of the ^^'"'^°''*'*- 
 red horse fitly corresponded, characterized by the 
 power of the sword in the hand of the Praetorian 
 prefect.* ' The licentious ftiry of the Praetorian 
 
 * ' It was the Prefect of the Praetorian guard that, with others, 
 conspiring against and murdering Commodus, first introduced the 
 reign of the sword. It was the Praetorian guard that, after setting 
 up Pertinax as his successor, a month or two afterwards assassinated 
 him. It was the Pr^torian guard that sold the empire to the highest 
 
634 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 guards,' says Gibbon, 'was the first symptom and 
 cause of the decline of the Eomaij Empire.' Under 
 Commodus, and during the first nine years of Septi- 
 mius Severus, however, the churches continued to en- 
 joy an exemption from serious molestation. It was 
 not till the year 202, that the latter Emperor adopted 
 a contrary policy. By the end of the second century, 
 the Christian Religion had extended itself from 
 Persia and India on the East, to Spain and Britain on 
 the West. The church of Carthage was now rising 
 into importance ; and even in the interior of the 
 Afi-ican continent, there were communities of Chris- 
 tians. TertuUian, who flourished at this period, states, 
 that the army was filled with Christians ; that they 
 held offices in provincial towns, transacted business in 
 the Forum, held seats in the Senate, and were found 
 residing in the very palace of the Emperor. The 
 circumstances which led to the issuing of the intole- 
 rant edict of Septimius Severus, prohibiting all per- 
 sons from embraeitig the religion of either the Jews 
 or the Christians, are not clearly ascertained. Dr. 
 Burton suggests, that it might be owing, in some 
 measure, to the increasing unwillingness of the 
 
 bidder, Julian, and so kindled the flames of the civil war, through 
 which the first Severus fought his way to the throne. It was the 
 Praetorian guard that, after an enlargement of their numbers and 
 power by Sevwus, returned almost immediately after his death to 
 their former deeds of blood, and, generally with civil war follow- 
 ing, massacred Caracalla, Heliogabalus, Alexander Severus's chief 
 minister, and then, after a brief respite during the remainder of 
 that prince's reign, his successors, Maximin, Maximus, Balbinus.' 
 Montesquieu and Denina aptly describe the Praetorian Prefects as 
 the Grand Viziers of those times ; and their guards resembled the 
 Janissaries. Elliott, vol. i. pp. 50, 61. ' 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 635 
 
 Christians to serve in the army. * Some of them Burton, 
 had objections, on religious grounds, to all military 
 service ; and as they grew bolder by their numbers 
 and the temporary cessation of persecution, they 
 would more openly show their dislike to the reli- 
 gious ceremonies which soldiers were required to 
 attend. A warlike emperor like Severus, who owed 
 his throne to military activity, and who was con- 
 stantly engaged in wars, was likely to have this 
 conduct of the Christians pointed out to him, if he 
 did not feel the effects of it in the diminution of his 
 forces. The very weakness of the Empire, which 
 was beginning to show its inability to resist barbarian 
 incursions, was likely to increase the prejudices against 
 the Christians.' Although the letter of the edict has 
 not been preserved, it is evident, that death was the 
 penalty of its being violated ; and the property of the 
 sufferers became confiscated. During the seven years 
 from 202 to 208, a cruel persecution appears to have 
 been the result, both in the capital and in the pro- 
 vinces ; and under its severity. Christian writers, 
 misled, perhaps, by political indications of the weak- 
 ness of the Empire, began to predict that the end of Burton, 
 the world was at hand. '"' 
 
 From the death of Severus, in the year 211, to Era of fiscal 
 the accession of Decius in 249, with the exception "pp'^^^'""- 
 of the short reign of the savage tyrant Maximin, 
 the churches enjoyed a season of comparative secu- 
 rity. It was, perhaps, fortunate for the Christians, 
 that Caracalla and Geta, the two sons of Severus, 
 were jealous of each other ; and that Caracalla, after 
 murdering his brother, that he might have the Empire 
 
536 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 to himself, was a tyrant to all his subjects. Such 
 conduct, as was the case in the reign of Commodus, 
 drew off the attention of the heathen from perse- 
 cuting the Christians. Caracalla, in his childhood, 
 had had a Christian nurse, and, whether this circum- 
 stance had any influence upon him or not, he com- 
 menced his reign by allowing all exiles, whatever had 
 been the cause of their banishment, to return home ; 
 and many Christian refugees availed themselves of 
 the edict. The reign of Caracalla, though favour- 
 able to the progress of Christianity, marks, however, 
 another stage in the decline of the Empire. Bf the 
 memorable edict with which his name was associated, 
 the Roman city was made co-extensive with the 
 Empire; and the provincials thus admitted to the 
 honour of Roman citizenship, were thenceforth re- 
 quired to pay both their provincial tributes, as before, 
 and, in addition, the distinctive taxes of the Roman 
 citizen. As the edict was compulsory, the weight of 
 taxation thus forced upon the provinces was so into- 
 lerable, that, in the language of Gibbon, * every part 
 of the Empire was crushed under the weight of 
 Caracalla's iron sceptre.* Alexander Severus, who, 
 after the short reigns of Macrinus and Elagabalus, 
 succeeded the latter Emperor, (his cousin,) attempted 
 to reform the abuses and mitigate the injustice of 
 this system of exaction ; and he greatly reduced the 
 proportion of the provincial tribute. But 'his pru- 
 dence was vain ; his courage fatal.' His assassination 
 was owing to the dissatisfaction of the troops accus- 
 tomed to have lavished upon them, the com, wine, 
 and money of the provinces ; and after his death, the 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 587 
 
 evil soon became as oppressive as before. To this 
 state of things, and to the misery resulting from the 
 fiscal oppression of the provincial presidents or pro- 
 consuls, the symbol of the black horse, having for its 
 rider one whose office was to hold the balance or ad- 
 minister equity, appears chronologically, and with exact 
 propriety, to correspond. It was an era in which justice 
 itself would raise its voice in vain for the oppressed.'* 
 The charge which accompanied the graphic symbol, 
 " See that thou wrong not in regard to the oil and ju^MikVis. 
 the wine," may be supposed to be addressed to the 
 power personified, (that of the provincial pro-praetors,) 
 not to defraud or oppress. By their exactions, the 
 agriculture of the provinces was ruined, and prepara- 
 tion was made for the famine, pestilence, and desola- 
 tion which ensued during that era of terrible mortality 
 symbolized by the fearful emblem of the Uvid horse 
 and its ghastly rider. 
 
 Within twelve or fifteen years after the death of Eraofmor- 
 Alexander Severus, commenced that dark period of 
 complicated calamity, when, says Gibbon, * the 
 ruined empire seemed to approach the last and fatal 
 moment of its dissolution.' In the course of a few 
 
 * Mr. Elliott, to whom we are indebted for this solution of the 
 prophetic enigma, has illustrated it from ancient medals exhibiting 
 the balance, an ear of wheat, and a corn-measure, as the emblem of 
 Roman pro-praetors and procurators ; and he cites from an old Apo- 
 calyptic expositor, Tichonius, a similar view of the symbol : — 
 ' Mabebat staieram in mam/u,, — libram, — id est examen ceguitatis ; quia, 
 dv/mfingit sejvMitiam, tenere, per siTmdationem Icedit.^ See Ezek. xli. 
 10. Mr. Elliott has shewn, by a very elaborate deduction, that the 
 price implied by a denarius for a Roman chaenix of wheat, which 
 was equal to a quarter of a modiVfS or peck, was an equitable, not a 
 scarcity price. Elliott, vol. i. pp. 66 — 76. See Gibbon, ch. vi. 
 
638 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 months, six princes had been cut off by the sword, 
 when the third Gordian, at a tender age, was raised 
 to the throne as a pageant sovereign, the real power 
 being in the hands of his minister. His reign and 
 life were cut short by the usurper Philip, who had 
 risen from the obscurity of an Arab robber to the 
 dignity of Praetorian prefect. From his elevation to 
 the death of the Emperor Gallienus, ' there elapsed 
 twenty years of shame and misfortune. During that 
 calamitous period, every instant of time was marked, 
 every province of the Roman world was afflicted, by 
 barbarous invaders and miUtary tyrants.' ' Our habits 
 of thinking,' continues the Historian, * so fondly 
 connect the order of the universe with the fate of 
 man, that this gloomy period of history has been 
 decorated with inundations, earthquakes, uncommon 
 meteors, preternatural darkness, and a crowd of pro- 
 digies, fictitious or exaggerated. But a long and 
 general famine was a calamity of a more serious kind. 
 It was the inevitable consequence of rapine and 
 oppression, which extirpated the produce of the pre- 
 sent, and the hope of future harvests. Famine is 
 almost always followed by epidemical diseases, the 
 effect of scanty and unwholesome food. Other causes, 
 however, must have contributed to the famous plague 
 which, fi-om the year 250 to the year 265, raged 
 without intermission in every province, every city, 
 and almost every family of the Roman empire. 
 During some time, 5,000 persons died daily in 
 Rome ; and many towns that had escaped the hands 
 
 of the barbarians, were entirely depopulated 
 
 Could we venture to extend the analogy of Alexan- 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 539 
 
 dria' (where above half the people appear to have 
 perished) ' to the other provinces, we might suspect, 
 that War, Pestilence, and Famine, had consumed, in 
 a few years, the moiety of the human race.' It is Gibbon, 
 
 ., , . vol. i. c. 10. 
 
 impossible for language to supply a more strikmg and 
 emphatic commentary upon the Apocalyptic emblem : 
 ' And the name of his rider was Death ; and power 
 was given to him to kill, on the fourth part of the 
 earth, with the sword, and with famine, and with 
 pestilence, and with the wild beasts of the earth.' 
 That is, each of the four terrific agencies had its part 
 allotted in the desolation of the Empire. Within a 
 few years after the death of GaUienus, the multipli- 
 cation of wild beasts in some parts of the Empire, 
 had become a crying evil, of which Christians were Eiiiott, 
 upbraided with being the guilty cause. " '' ^' 
 
 The history of the Church during this calamitous Corruption 
 period, affords little relief to the gloomy picture. The tianity. 
 forty years of tranquillity (so far as regards perse- 
 cution) which had followed the death of Septimius 
 Severus, had allowed the Christians to multiply their 
 churches, and promulgate their doctrines, without fear. 
 ' But, though Christianity had been gaining ground 
 for so long a period,' remarks Dr. Burton, 'it had 
 not in every respect the same pure and heavenly 
 aspect as in its earlier days, when the behevers were 
 of one heart and one soul. It now numbered in its 
 ranks many wavering and timid disciples, who were 
 little prepared to stand the fiery trial, and to come 
 out unhurt. Prosperity and security were beginning 
 to show their usual effects. The difference between 
 heathens and Christians, as to the performance of 
 
540 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 their moral and social duties,_ was no longer so 
 strongly marked. Religious speculations had more 
 than disturbed the unity of faith ; and a contempo- 
 rary writer, himself a bishop and martyr in the cause, 
 informs us, that the manners of the Christians, and 
 even of the clergy, had been becoming gradually 
 corrupt. He speaks of a secular ostentatious spirit 
 being very apparent. Marriages were formed with 
 heathens ; and even bishops were seen to neglect 
 their flocks, and employ themselves in the most ordi- 
 nary occupations, with a view to getting money. 
 The honest recorder of his brethren's shame looked 
 upon the conduct of the new Emperor, Decius, as a 
 chastisement from Heaven, intended mercifully to 
 Burt™. correct the increasing corruption.' At the end of 
 A.D. 249, or early in 250, he issued an edict by 
 which Christians were to be compelled to sacrifice to 
 the gods ; and every quarter of the Empire soon pre- 
 sented scenes of suffering and slaughter.* The per- 
 secution continued and renewed by Gallus and Vale- 
 rian, was checked by the captivity of the latter 
 Emperor, who, in 259, was taken prisoner by the 
 Persians ; and, from the accession of his son, Gal- 
 lienus, dates the commencement of another period of 
 peace ; marked, however, as former intervals of secu- 
 rity had been, by the growth of dissensions and the 
 
 appearance of new heresies. 
 
 • 
 
 * Origen was imprisoned, and continued in that state till the 
 death of Decius. The storm raged severely in Asia Minor; and 
 Eudtemon, Bishop of Smyrna, is mentioned as having heen terrified 
 into a denial of the faith. Others had the courage to suffer martyr- 
 dom. The whole of Egypt became once more a scene of cruelty and 
 outrage. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 541 
 
 At length, in the year 284, commenced the reign Era of 
 which restored, under a new constitution, the Eoman 
 Empire to a considerable degree of its former strength 
 and grandeur ; but no sooner had the restoration been 
 consummated, than, in the very year in which Diocle- 
 tian celebrated the last triumph that Rome ever saw, Gibbon. 
 a persecution began, the fiercest, the most general, 
 and the longest that the Christian Church had yet 
 encountered. At the instigation of his son-in-law, 
 Galerius, the Eastern Caesar, who was the inveterate 
 enemy of the Christians, Diocletian had been pre- 
 vailed upon to issue an order in 298, that all persons 
 holding office about the court or in the army should 
 be required to be present at sacrifices. Early in 303, 
 under the same sinister influence, the Emperor issued 
 a more decisive edict, ordering the churches of the 
 Christians to be pulled down, and their sacred books 
 to be burned. This was followed by another edict, 
 directing, that all Christians who held any public 
 stations should be removed ; that inferior persons 
 should be subject to torture and imprisonment ; that 
 no Christian should be allowed to be plaintiff in any 
 cause ; that their religious meetings should be strictly 
 suppressed ; and that the houses in which they were 
 held, should be forfeited for the use of the State. In 
 this series of cruel edicts, Diocletian declared his 
 intention of abohshing the Christian name. The 
 demohtion of the great church at Nicomedia, (Feb. 
 24, 303,) and the burning of the sacred books in it, 
 by the soldiery, were the signal for commencing the 
 persecution ; and there, also, the example was set, of 
 punishing with death those Christians in office who 
 
542 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 refused to attend the sacrifices. Diocletian is sup- 
 posed to have been roused to more vigour by a fire 
 having twice broken out in his palace at Nicomedia, 
 which was maliciously attributed to Christian incen- 
 diaries. The first objects of his severity were, his 
 own wife Prisca, and, what is still more extraordinary, 
 her daughter Valeria, the wife of Galerius, both of 
 whom had embraced Christianity, and both of them 
 were compelled to join in a sacrifice. Copies of these 
 Imperial orders were sent to all the provinces ; and 
 in some places, we are told, they arrived in time for 
 the heathen to have the special gratification of de- 
 stroying the churches on Good Friday. Edicts still 
 more decisive and barbarous followed ; and Christian 
 blood began to flow in all parts of the Empire. The 
 abdication of Diocletian in 305, occasioning a new 
 partition of the Empire, led to the cessation of active 
 persecution in Western Europe and Afirica ; but, in 
 the Eastern provinces, the cruelty of Galerius was 
 seconded by Maximinus, till, in 311, the dying 
 persecutor, conscience-smitten, issued an edict, which 
 bore the names of Licinius and Constantine as well as 
 his own, rescinding the intolerant Edicts, and restor- 
 ing to Christians. liberty of religious worship.* 
 
 * ' As Decius by the Gothic sword, so Valerian had his reign cut 
 short by 'the Fersi£^l ; and Gallienus, his son and successor, trem- 
 bling under God's sore judgment, though stiU, as before, uncon- 
 verted, sensual, hard-hearted, issued for the first time, a.d. 26 1, an 
 edict of toleration to Christianity.^ Elliott, vol. i. p. 100. In like 
 manner, Galerius was suddenly arrested by th« Divine vengeance ; 
 and ' the whole Roman world was witness of the public and humi- 
 ,liating acknowledgment of defeat extorted from the dying Emperor.' 
 ' It is certainly singular,' remarks Mr. Milman, (whose language we 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 543 
 
 It is remarkable, that the accession of Diocletian 
 forms a chronological era, instituted for astronomical 
 purposes, and, until the introduction of the Christian 
 era in the sixth century, of general use among Chris- 
 tian writers, by whom it is called ' the Era of Mar- 
 tyrs.' Throughout the two centuries subsequent 
 to the death of the last of the Apostles, Christianity 
 had to sustain a precarious sufferance on the part of 
 the Imperial authorities, alternating with seasons of 
 cruel persecution, of which the most protracted and 
 severe were, under the Second Antonine between 
 160 and 180; under Septimius Severus, from 202 to 
 208 ; under Decius and his successors, a.d. 249 — 
 259; and under Diocletian, a.d. 303 — 312.* Du- 
 ring this whole period, from the time of Trajan's 
 celebrated Kescript, (the first law against Christians 
 as suck,-\) the aspect of the political world presented 
 
 have just cited,) that the disease vulgarly caUed being eaten of 
 worms, should have been the destiny of Herod the Great, of Gale- 
 rius, and of Philip II. of Spain.' A deep and fetid ulcer preyed on 
 the lower regions of the Emperor's body, and ate them away into a 
 mass of living corruption. The Edict not only condescended to 
 apologize for the past severities against the Christians, but, what 
 was still more remarkable, closed with an earnest request to the 
 Christians to intercede for the suffering Emperor in their prayers. 
 Milman, b. ii. c. 9. 
 
 * The notion of ten distinct persecutions, though it may be 
 traced back to the fifth century, Mosheim has shown to be wholly 
 built on popular error, and to have probably originated in the silly 
 fancy of some ancient commentator, that the Ten Plagues of Egypt 
 were typical of the persecutions which the Christians suffered before 
 the reign of Constantino. Lactantius enumerates only six. In- 
 cluding the Neronian and that under Domitian, those referred to in 
 the text make up that number. 
 
 + The Edicts of Nero and Domitian were directed against them 
 as atheists, and as plotting treason against the State. 
 
5U THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 a contest between the Imperial delegate of the Prince 
 of this worid, the head of the kingdom of Pagan 
 darkness, and the Divine Founder and Head of the 
 Church, the King of kings. But, under the severity 
 of the last prolonged persecution, the voice of " those 
 who had been slain for the word of God and for the 
 testimony which they held," seemed " to wax louder 
 and louder," — the voice of their blood crying to Hea- 
 ven, " How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou 
 not avenge our blood on them that dwell on the 
 earth ? " The correspondence of the historical record 
 to the symbol of the Fifth Seal, is too exact to be 
 mistaken. 
 Era of Con- What the vision of the next Seal typified, the 
 
 stantine. , , j l ' 
 
 highly figurative language employed renders less 
 obvious ; yet, there can be no reasonable doubt that 
 it describes the historical sequel, — the final overthrow 
 of Paganism by Constantine. This was not less 
 signally the accomplishment of Divine predictions, 
 than the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus had been. 
 The import of the metaphorical description, as de- 
 noting political judgments and revolutions, could 
 scarcely be mistaken by those who were familiar with 
 rsa.xiii. 9, the pai^allcl passages in the prophecies of Isaiah, 
 xxxii.7,8; Ezckiel, and Joel, referring in similar terms to the 
 31 ; iii is'; overthrow of Babylon, of Egypt, and of other powers 
 symbolized by the heavenly luminaries. In fact. 
 Our Lord's own language in the prediction relating 
 to the destruction of Jerusalem, which appears to be 
 a citation from Joel, strikingly corresponds to the 
 imagery of the Apocalypse. As to what is said of 
 the Antichristian host hiding themselves in the dens 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. £45 
 
 and rocks, and calling on the mountains to fall on 
 them, we find language strictly parallel employed by 
 Hosea, by Isaiah, and by Our Lord himself- Nor Ho8.x. s; 
 
 ■11 1 1 r. Isa.ii. 19; 
 
 Will there appear to be any want of correspondence Luke xxiii. 
 between the prediction and its historical fulfilment, 
 when the death-bed terrors and agonies of Galerius 
 and Maximin,* and the consternation and flight of 
 the vanquished Pagan hosts are considered. ' It was 
 not,' remarks Mr. Elliott, ' the terror of their earthly 
 ■victor only, that oppressed them. There was a con- 
 sciousness of the powers, of Heaven acting against 
 them ; above all, Christ, the Christians' God. For 
 the war, in each case, was felt to be a religious war. 
 When Max en tins went forth to battle, he went forti- 
 fied by heathen oracles, and relying on the heathen 
 gods ; the champion of heathenism against the cham- 
 pion of Christianity. When Maximin was about to 
 engage with Licinius, he made his vow to Jupiter, 
 that, if successful, he would extirpate Christianity. 
 When Licinius, again, was marching against Con- 
 stantino, he, in public harangue before the soldiers, 
 ridiculed the Cross, and staked the falsehood of 
 Christianity on his success.' ' Licinius,' says Gibbon, Elliott, 
 'felt and dreaded the power of the consecrated ban- '^' 
 ner, the sight of which, in the distress of battle, 
 animated the soldiers of Constantine with invincible 
 
 * Maximin, after his defeat by Licinius, ' is said to have revenged 
 his baffled hopes of victory on the Pagan priesthood who incited him 
 to the war, by a promiscuous massacre of all within his power.' 
 His last imperial act was the promulgation of an edict restoring to 
 Christians the confiscated property of their churches. ' His bodily 
 suflFerings completed the dark catalogue of persecuting Emperors 
 who had perished under the most excruciating torments : his body 
 was slowly consumed by an internal fire.' Milman, b. ii. o. 9, 
 
 2 N 
 
546 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 enthusiasm, and scattered terror and dismay through 
 Gibbon, the ranks of the adverse learions.' With Maximin, 
 
 ch. 20. 
 
 the last hope of Paganism had expired. The hier- 
 archy which he had established, fell at once. The 
 chief magistrates of almost all the principal cities, 
 under whose authority Paganism had renewed its 
 more imposing form, were executed as his adherents 
 by Licinius ; who, again, on his perfidious apostacy to 
 the Pagan cause, after sustaining a series of defeats, 
 humbly sued for mercy at the feet of the conqueror, 
 and perished ignominiously. 
 The first & 9. Passinar over the intermediate vision of the 
 
 fiix Trum- 
 
 pets. Sealing of the servants of God, which is obviously 
 
 not referrible to any historical transaction, we come to 
 the Seventh Seal, which opens with an interval of 
 stillness in the political firmament, — a respite, from 
 the threatening tempests about to desolate the Poman 
 world.* This chronological intimation, Mr. Elliott 
 considers as corresponding to the state of things 
 during the seventy years that intervened between 
 Constantine's final victory over Licimius, a.d. 324, 
 and Alaric's invasion of the Empire, a.d. 395. The 
 death of the Emperor Theodosius was the signal foT 
 the first bursting into action of the ' Gothic woe.' 
 He died in January, S&S ; ' and before the end of 
 winter,' says Gibbon, ' the Gothic nation was in 
 arms.' From this period to the establishment of the 
 Lombards in 565, a century and a half of calamities 
 almost unexampled, fulfilled the denunciations of the 
 
 * Mr. Elliott wotild render the passage, " there had been still- 
 ness," &c. ; and he cites from Pliny, the phrase silente ado, as illus- 
 trating the expression, Rev. viii. 1. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 547 
 
 first four tfumpets, terminating in the overthrow of 
 the Western Empire. It belongs to the province of 
 the expositor, to trace minutely the correspondence of 
 the symbolic figures to the historical event. Inter- 
 preted by their use in other prophetic Scriptures, 
 they would naturally be understood as prefiguring 
 the ravages of some terrible invaders from the frozen 
 regions of Northern Germany, who should first de- ciaudian 
 solate the European continental provinces of the tCFnvasion 
 Western Empire ; then, its provinces, coasts, and and hi™ 
 fleets in the Mediterranean ; a fresh and dreadful haU-sto™. 
 scourge being superadded on the lUyrian river-fron- 
 tier and praefecture, and on the Alphie regions also, 
 the local source of the European waters ; with, finally, 
 the extinction of the Imperial dynasty of the West, 
 and, soon afterwards, of the subordinate oflSces and 
 government also. Not only did the successive EiHott, 
 invasions of Alaric and Rhadagaisus, of Genseric, ™''^' 
 Attila, and Odoacer, occur in this order, and take 
 this geographical course; but the able Writer to 
 whom we have so ofl;en referred, has shewn, that, in 
 the exposition of this part of the Apocalyptic pro- 
 phecies, as well as in the preceding visions, the lan- 
 guage of the infidel Historian often supplies the best 
 commentary upon the symboHc description, as well as 
 the true solution of the prophetic enigma. 
 
 Thus, describing the formidable emigration of the First irmp- 
 Vandalsy Suevi, and Burgundians, which issued from Rh^dagaTt 
 the coast of the Baltic under Ehadagast or Ehada- *"*^'™''- 
 gaisus, he says : ' The dark cloud which was collected 
 along the coast of the Baltic, burst in thunder upon 
 the banks of the Upper Dasnube.' Speaking of the S"' 
 
 2 N 2 
 
648 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 invasion of Gaul by the remains of the same great 
 army, he uses this striking language : * On the last 
 day of the year (a.d. 406), in a season when the 
 waters of the Ehine were probably frozen, they en- 
 tered, without opposition, the defenceless provinces of 
 GauL This memorable passage of the Suevi, the 
 Vandals, the Alani, and the Burgundians, who never 
 afterwards retreated, may be considered as the fall of 
 the Roman Empire beyond the Alps ; and the barriers 
 which had so long separated the savage and the 
 civilized nations of the earth, were from that fatal 
 
 moment levelled to the ground This scene of 
 
 peace and plenty (the banks of the Ehine) was sud- 
 denly changed into a desert ; and the prospect of the 
 smoking ruins could alone distinguish the solitude of 
 nature from the desolation of man. . . . The consuming 
 flames of war spread from the banks of the Ehine 
 over the greatest part of the seventeen provinces of 
 Gaul.' The invasion of Italy by Alaric was attended 
 by the remarkable circumstance, that, when encoun- 
 tered by ' an Italian hermit,' who denounced the in- 
 dignation of Heaven against the oppressors of the 
 earth, ' the saint himself,' says the Historian, ' was 
 confounded by the solemn asseveration of Alaric, that 
 he felt a secret and preternatural impulse, which 
 directed, and even compelled, his march to the gates 
 of Eome.' When at length he appeared, for the 
 third time, with his forces under the walls of the 
 capital, treachery gave him an easy conquest. ' At 
 the hour of midnight, the Salarian gate was silently 
 opened, and the inhabitants were awakened by the 
 tremendous sounds of the Gothic trumpet. Eleven 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. £49 
 
 hundred and sixty-three years after the foundation of a.d. 4io. 
 Rome, the Imperial City, which had subdued and 
 civilized so considerable a part of mankind, was de- 
 livered to the licentious fury of the tribes of Germany 
 and Scythia.' But this woe passed away ; and ' in Gibbon, 
 less than seven years, the vestiges of the Gothic in- "^ " 
 vasion were almost obliterated.' 
 
 To the Vandal Genseric was allotted the conquest Gensenc. 
 of ihe maritime provinces of Afnca and the Islands, 
 — all that belonged to the Western Empire in the 
 Mediterranean. During the eighteen years pre- 
 ceding, no new invasion had broken on that portion 
 of the Empire, when, in a.d. 429, ' ow a sudden, the 
 seven fruitfiil provinces from Tangier to TripoU, were 
 overwhelmed by the invasion of the Vandals.' In 
 430, Hippo was taken and burned. Eight years 
 afterwards, Carthage fell into their hands, and the 
 lands of the proconsular province were divided among 
 the barbarians. Issuing from this ancient port, the 
 Vandal fleets again claimed the empire of the Medi- 
 terranean. Sicily was conquered by them, and Sar- 
 dinia ; the coasts of Spain and Gaul, and of Italy up 
 to the head of the Adriatic, were mercilessly ravaged; 
 and twice, in the harbours of Carthagena and Bona, 
 the Roman navies, collected for the destruction of the 
 Vandal power, were utterly destroyed. ' The fire of the 
 Vandal volcano,' observes Mr. ElUott, ' might not 
 spend itself, until not only what was habitable in the 
 Western sea was destroyed, but " the third part of the 
 ships " also ; those that navigated the sea-third of the 
 Western Empire.' * 
 
 * All that was in the " third part of the sea," — ^tbat vast basin of 
 
650 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 Attjia. Long before the death of this ' tyrant of the sea,' 
 
 Attila, ' the scourge of Ged,' crossing the Ehine at 
 Basle, A.D. 450, bad converted its valley into a scene 
 pf desolation and woe ; burning the cities, massacreing 
 the inhabitants, and laying waste the country. Re- 
 pulsed at Chalons, he retraced his st^s, and directed 
 his ravages to the " fountains of waters " in the Alpine 
 valleys of Italy. Aquileia, Pavia, Verona, Mantua, 
 Milan, and Turin, felt his vengeance. His retreat 
 was as sudden as his appearance. The meteor was 
 extinct, Attila was suddenly cut of by apoplexy, 
 A.D. 453; and the empire of the Huns passed away. 
 
 Odoacer. It was reservcd for Odaacer, chief of the Heruli, 
 
 one of the remnants of the host of Attilaj to abolish 
 the very name and oflSce of Roman Emperor of the 
 West. The submissive Senate 9ent wmay t/ie im-- 
 perial inaigmci to Constantinople, professing that 
 one Emperor wa§ sufficient for the whole Empire ; 
 and thus, ' of the Roman Imperial Sun, the third 
 which appertained to the Western Empire was 
 eclipsed, apd shone no more,' In the course of the 
 events which rapidly followed, the subordinate lumi- 
 naries were also extinguished- About a.d. 550, the 
 name and functions erf Consul and Senate, ' the last 
 rays of the old government of Rome,' were extinguished 
 by the generals of Justinian. 
 
 Era of An awful pause of gloom and dire presage ensued, 
 
 symbolized by the vision of the Angel denouncing a 
 triple woe by reason of the other three trumpet-voices 
 yet to sound ; and this period forms the boundary 
 
 the Western Mediterranean between the Straits and Sicily, and the 
 Adriatic Gulf. ElUo.tt, vol, i. p. 220. 
 
 Justinian. 
 
cenic Woe. 
 
 THE APOCALYPSE. 651 
 
 line between the ancient and modem divisions of 
 Koman History. It is remarkable, that the historian 
 commemorates ' the comets, earthquakes, and plagues 
 which astonished and afflicted the age of Justinian ; ' 
 in whose reign, according to Procopius, by the triple 
 scourge of war, pestilence, and famine, a hundred 
 millions of the human race are computed to have 
 perished. And now the Eastern third of the Roman 
 world becomes the scene of the Divine judgments 
 upon the apostate Church. That the fifth woe is to TheSara- 
 be referred to the Saracenic irruption, has been so 
 generally admitted, that it can only be necessary to 
 illustrate the beauty of the characteristic symbols, 
 and the chronological precision which designate this 
 event, — distant from the age in which the vision was 
 presented to the eye of the Apostle upwards of six 
 centuries. As to the emblematic representation, the 
 locust clearly indicates the Arabian desert as the quarter 
 from which these devastations were to proceed ; their 
 horse-like appearance implied that they were hordes 
 of cavalry; their lion-teeth, that they would be 
 destroyers ; the apparently incongruous combination 
 of masculine faces with the hair of women, is ex- 
 plained by the national characteristic of the Arab, — 
 the moustache and beard with hair long and uncut, as 
 described by St. John's contemporary, PUny ; * 
 while, in the turban and iron cuirass of the Saracen 
 warrior, we have the diadem and breast-plate of the 
 symbolical figure. Not less distinctive is the re- 
 
 * ' Arahes miPrati degmU, awt intonao crine. Barba dbraditv/r,prce- 
 terquam in superiore labro. Aliis et hcec intonsa.' Nat. History, vol. 
 vi. p. 28. 
 
552 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 striction put upon the destructive career of the 
 locust warriors, not to hurt the grass, or any green 
 thing, or any tree ; which finds its precise counterpart 
 in the Koran, In the invasions of the Goths, Van- 
 dals, and Huns, the desolation of the trees and herbage 
 was a striking feature ; and hence it is expressly 
 referred to in the prediction. In that of the Saracens, 
 an extraordinary contrast was exhibited. The order 
 of the Khalif Aboubeker, issued to the Arab hordes 
 on their first invasion of Syria, was: 'Destroy no 
 palm-trees, nor any fields of corn ; cut down no finiit- 
 trees, nor do any mischief to cattle,' If the corre- 
 spondence of the prediction to the historical fulfilment 
 be denied, it would seem impossible to establish the 
 true application of any prefigurative language. Then, 
 as to the limitation of their commission to five months, 
 i. e. of years; reckoning from a.d. 612, when Mo- 
 hammed first publicly announced his mission, to the 
 removal of the seat of the Khalifate to Bagdad in 762, 
 the interval is just 1 50 years. The latter epoch is with 
 propriety fixed upon as the termination of the woe, — 
 the settlement of the locusts far eastward, away from 
 Christendom, being the era from which historians date 
 the decline of the Saracenic power. About the same 
 time, in the West, the Christian remnant in the moun- 
 tains of Spain began to roll back the tide of war upon 
 the Moorish conquerors.* 
 The Turk- After this woe had past, another pause ensued, 
 
 ish Woe. - . . 
 
 before, at the sounding of the sixth trumpet, a new 
 army of horsemen rushed forth from the Euphratean 
 
 * Elliott, vol. i. pp.283 — 292. It has been remarked, that five 
 literal months is the term of the ravages of locusts. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 553 
 
 boundary, to accomplish the Divine judgments upon 
 the Greek Empire. In the year 1057, Togrul Bey, 
 the head of the Seljookian Turkmans, having deposed 
 and imprisoned the last khalif of the Bowid dynasty, 
 was publicly proclaimed protector and governor of 
 the Moslem empire. In 1063, his successor, Alp 
 Arslan (the ' valiant lion '), ' passed the Euphrates, at 
 the head of the Turkish cavalry ; and the loss of the 
 kingdom and frontier of Armenia was the news of a 
 day.' In the fatal field near Malazgerd, a.d. 1071, 
 the Greek Emperor, who had advanced to meet the 
 invader, was defeated and taken prisoner ; and the 
 fate of the Asiatic provinces was irreversibly sealed. 
 Th^ conquest of Asia Minor, and the foundation of 
 the Turkish principality of Koum, under Suleiman, 
 with Nice as his capital, were achieved in 1074 ; 
 * the most deplorable loss that the Church and the 
 Empire had sustained since the first conquests of the 
 Khalifs.' For two centuries, the Crusades served to Gibbon, 
 stay the fiirther progress of the Turkman power, and 
 even rolled back for a while the tide of conquest ; till 
 the Seljookian kingdom revived under the Ottoman 
 dynasty, and the victorious army of Sultan Murad 
 (or Amurath), crossing the Hellespont, overran the 
 European provinces from the Danube to the Adriatic. 
 Constantinople, ' surrounded both on the Asiatic and 
 the European side by the same hostile monarchy,' at 
 length, after a siege of fifty-three days, was subdued 
 by the Ottoman artillery, the fortifications which 
 had stood for ages being dismantled on all sides by 
 this new and terrible engine of warfare, and ' her 
 religion was trampled in the dust by the Moslenj 
 
654 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 conquerors.' The accomplished and execrable Mo- 
 hammed II. united under his sceptre all the provinces 
 in Europe which had formerly belonged to the Eastern 
 division of the Koman Empire, and the whole of Asia 
 on this side of Mount Taurus. From the first loosing 
 of the Turkish power, in Jan., 1057, to the faU of 
 Constantinople, May 29, 1453, there is an historical 
 interval of 396 years and 130 days; to which, if we 
 interpret the prophetic term, — >" an hour, a day, a 
 month, and a year," upon the year-day principle con- 
 tended for by Mr. Elliott and other expositors, the 
 chronology of the prediction will precisely corre- 
 spond. Nor has any other satisfactory explanation 
 of the chronological formula been proposed.* The 
 descriptive traits of the Turkish horsemen are not less 
 characteristic than those of the Saracenic hordes. From 
 their first appearance, the Ottomans have shewn a 
 fondness, in their warlike apparel, for the colours de- 
 scribed in the vision, — fire-colour, hyacinth, and 
 sulphur-like, — red, blue, and yellow. When it is 
 added, that, out of their mouths issued, as if in cor- 
 respondence to their tri-coloured breast-plates, fire, 
 (blue) smoke, and sulphur, the allusion to the newly- 
 invented artillery used by the Ottomans in the siege 
 and capture of Constantinople, is so obvious, so exact, 
 and so striking, that it is astonishing any difierence of 
 opinion should have existed as to its being the true 
 interpretation. 
 
 * A recent writer (Mr. Habershon) has explained this hour, 
 month, day, and year as intended to mark the appointed time for 
 the Turks retaining their capital and-empire ; which, reckoning. 396 
 years from the fall of Constantinople, will terminate in 1849. See 
 Elliott, vol. in. p. 1150. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 655 
 
 The precise duration of the Turkish woe is not 
 indicated by any chronological mark, for there is no 
 propriety in regarding it as co-extensive with that of 
 the Ottoman Empire itself. The most brilliant 
 period in the annals of that Empire is the reign of 
 Soliman I., the contemporary of Charles V., under 
 whom the Ottoman assumed the novel attitude of a 
 maritime power : Rhodes was now wrested from the 
 Knights of St. John, while, on the continent, Hun- 
 gary was added to the dominions of the Sultan, The 
 decline of the Ottoman power dates from the acces- 
 sion of Murad III., a.d. 1574. From that time, 
 the Ottomans were continually engaged in destructive 
 hostilities with Persia, which at once diverted their 
 attention from their European neighbours, and ex- 
 hausted their treasury ; while, in their occasional wars 
 with Austria, though attended by varying fortune, 
 every campaign tended to weakea th^e opinion which 
 had been entertained, that their armies were invin- 
 cible. In 1683, the Turkish forces penetrated to 
 Vienna, and laid siege to that capital, but were de- 
 feated by the allied army under Sobieski with great 
 slaughter, and their disgraceful flight and subsequent 
 reverses unveiled their weakness to Europe. The 
 peace of Carlowitz, in 1698, confirmed the humiUa- 
 tion of the haughty Mussulman power, whose armies 
 had once made all Christendom tremble. It was not, 
 however, till 1774, that, after a war against Austria 
 and Russia united, signalised by victory after victory 
 on the part of the allied forces, the terms of peace 
 dictated by Prince Romanzoff, proclaimed that its yoi!ii!p.760; 
 
 t P L, vol. iii. p. 
 
 day of power was past. io4o. 
 
656 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 The third § 1 0. Between the commencement of this woe, ushered 
 
 and last 
 
 Woe. in by the sixth trumpet, and the third and last woe, 
 there intervenes a series of visions (occupying chap. 
 X. and xi. to ver. 13.), in part retrospective and 
 synchronizing with the events predicted under the 
 fifth and sixth trumpets, Keserving our notice of 
 these predictions, we pass on to where, at chap. xi. 
 ver. 14, the prophetic history takes up the series of 
 judicial calamities announced by the trumpet-bearing 
 angels : " The second woe is past, and, lo ! the third 
 woe Cometh quickly." This is the last of the three 
 woes denounced previously to the sounding of the 
 fifth trumpet, and is evidently the subject of the 
 seventh; and as the seventh seal comprised the 
 events predicted under the successive trumpets, so, 
 the woe ushered in by the seventh trumpet appears 
 to consist of the seven last plagues symbolized by the 
 vials or bowls qf the wrath of God. On comparing 
 chap. xi. 19, with chap. xv. 5, it will be seen, that 
 the intermediate visions (like those between chap. x. 
 1, and chap. xi. 13) are an interruption of the chain 
 of predictions ; yet, they occur in their proper order, 
 filling up a chronological interval. 
 
 T^ Seven In interpreting the symbolic language of the Vials, 
 consistency requires that we should adhere to the 
 meaning which the same or corresponding expressions 
 bear in the previous visions. Now, between the first 
 four vials and the first four trumpets, there is a striking 
 similarity, indicating, apparently, the same local scene. 
 The first vial is poured upon the land — the continent 
 of E,oman Christendom ; the second, upon the sea, — 
 the maritime countries, or the maritime power and 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 657 
 
 commercial wealth of the nations who are the subject 
 of the predicted judgments; the third, upon the 
 rivers and fountains of water, — the basins of the great 
 European rivers, the Ehine, the Danube, and the Po, 
 and the Alpine and sub- Alpine provinces ; the fourth, 
 upon the Sun, — the symbol of the Imperial Power ; 
 the fifth, upon the seat of the Beast, — Rome ; the 
 sixth, upon the great river Euphrates, the original 
 seat and eastern fi'ontier of the Turkish power; the 
 last into the air, the political atmosphere, — ^producing 
 social convulsions, symbolized by a tremendous earth- 
 quake. Whether these several calamitous visitations 
 have already taken place, is a question which the 
 reader may determine for himself, by reflecting upon 
 the whole series of events connected with, or rising 
 out of, the French Revolution ; — upon the frightful 
 and grievous eruption which overspread the face of 
 society, diffusing a moral contagion, — the naval 
 wars and fierce continental struggles, — ^the desolating 
 conquests and cruel spoliation, — the subversion of em- 
 pires and breaking up of old political systems, — events 
 corresponding in order as well as in locality to the 
 symbolic description,* — which the history of Europe 
 during the last half century exhibits. If the interpreta- 
 tion given of the sixth trumpet is correct, the burden of 
 the seventh must relate to times not very distant from 
 our own. Nor is it a questionable position, 'that events 
 not less momentous in their results, while equally 
 terrible in their nature, than the final overthrow of 
 the Greek Empire, have taken place on the broad 
 stage of the European world within the last fifty 
 
 * See Appendix (C). 
 
658 
 
 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 Divine au- 
 thority of 
 the Apoca- 
 lypse at- 
 tested by 
 the his- 
 toriical fulfil- 
 ment of the 
 predictions. 
 
 Rot. iv. 1. 
 
 years. That the seventh trumpet has sounded, seems, 
 then, a reasonable conclusion; and if so, the only 
 question that remains will be, whether the third pre- 
 dicted woe is past, or remains at least partially to be 
 fulfilled. 
 
 § 1 1. Here, then, on the verge of the undeveloped 
 future, we pause to review the evidence supplied by 
 the historic fulfilment of the long chain of predictions, 
 that the Apocalypse is what it purports to be, a Re- 
 velation from Heaven ; — not simply the composition 
 of an inspired Apostle, as it is regarded by those 
 critics who speak of it as if the scenic visions were the 
 offspring of poetic invention, and the language bor- 
 rowed from the ancient prophets,* but much more 
 than this ; — a Revelation made by Our Lord Jesus 
 Christ unto His servant John, and a record of " all 
 things that he saw," as manifested to him by the 
 Angel s>ent as the beajrer of the Divine communica- 
 tions, and commissioned to shew to the Apostle " the 
 things which must be hereafter." f Either it is a 
 
 * Thus, Bertlioldt and Eiohhiom, while vindicating^ the Apostolic 
 authorship of the Apocalypse against the audacious and trivial ob- 
 jections of Cludius and other critics of the neological school, speak 
 of the materials of the book as certainly mere fiction. • John had 
 not really the visions, but himself invented them.' (Wait's Preface 
 to Hug, p. clxxxviii.) The learned Translator of Hug speaks him- 
 self of the author of the Apocalypse as- having been ' well versed in 
 the Rabbi'aicail, if not the Cabbalistic writings of his day,' and a» 
 forming his style upon the Prophetic and other Jewish writings,, 
 and altuding to Jewish opinions, traditions, and phraseology. 
 
 t Rev. i. 1 — 3. The first three verses of the received- text form 
 the title, and are no part of the book itself, which begins at verse 4, 
 This is evident from the variations of the title in different codices 
 and ancient versions. In the Codex Ephrem it is entitled, ' The 
 Revelation of John.' See Home's Introd. vol. iv. p. 478. The title 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 559 
 
 Divine book, in substance a revelation from God, 
 written for the benefit of the Church of Christ by 
 Divine command, or, whatever genius, Eabbinical 
 learning, or sagacity may be ascribed to its Author, 
 the Apocalypse must rank, as a work of fiction, with 
 the Visions of the Shepherd of Hermas, the apocryphal 
 prophecies of the pseudo Esdras, the Book of Enoch, 
 and other supposititious writings of the same age. 
 To some of these works, the Book of Eevelation pre- 
 sents so close a resemblance in its phraseology and 
 imagery, as to suggest the explanation, that either 
 the Author was acquainted with these fictitious writ- 
 ings, and borrowed from them, or that those Writers 
 must have imitated the Apocalypse.* It would not be 
 difficult to adduce evidence that all these apocryphal 
 writings are of later date, and cannot have been imitated 
 by the inspired Author. Yet, in establishing the origin- 
 ality of the Apocalypse, we shall have gained nothing, 
 if it must still be regarded as a human composition, or 
 if it cannot be shewn to be truly a prophetic history, 
 bearing internal evidence of proceeding from the 
 Spirit of Christ. " The spirit of prophecy" is ex- 
 pressly declared in this book to be, "the witness or ReY.xix.io. 
 testimony of Jesus," whether as having Our Lord for 
 
 in the Authorized Version is,, however, home out by ch. iv. 1 ; xix. 
 10 ; xxii. 6, 16. 
 
 * ' It is very probable,' remarks Dr. Larfner, ' that Hennas had 
 read the Book of St. John's Revelation, and imitated it. He has 
 many things resembling it.' (Lardner, vol. ii. p. 69.) The Book of 
 Enoch mentions a vision of seven stars, which are explained to be 
 angels. ' That either John had seen this book, or that this part was 
 borrowed from John, is evident,' says Dr. Wait, ' from the similar 
 effect produced by the vision.' See other coincidences in the notes 
 to Hug's Introd. part ii. § § clxxvi, vii. 
 
560 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 its author or for its object. It is true in either sense ; 
 and regarding the prophecy as foreshewing the grand 
 outUnes of the Divine administration of Him who has 
 ascended on high " that he might fulfil all things," 
 having had committed to Him all power in heaven and 
 on earth, its accomplishment furnishes the strongest 
 conceivable evidence of the ascension, glory, and 
 deity of Christ. 
 
 This purpose, it is obvious, the Apocalypse caii 
 Subserve, only so far as it can be shevra to have been 
 historically and precisely fulfilled. The ultimate 
 object of the Old Testament prophecies was not an- 
 swered till they had been fulfilled in the manifestation 
 and work of the Son of God. Then, and not till 
 then, was the prophetic testimony clearly understood, 
 as furnishing the credentials of Our Lord's mission, 
 the identification of His person^ the explanation of 
 the grand stumbling-block of His suflferings, and an 
 irrefragable evidence of the truth of Christianity to 
 the end of time. In the same manner, the' ultimate 
 design of the New Testament predictions cannot 
 be answered, till their truth is attested by their 
 fulfilment. Whatever instruction may be derived 
 from unfulfilled prophecy, it cannot answer this pur- 
 pose. Yet, strange to say, some modem ' students 
 of prophecy ' have described it as a ' a thing most 
 stupid and preposterous, to study the prophecy with 
 reference only,to the part which is fulfilled, which has 
 irring's become history, and is no longer prophecy;' and 
 Fore- have asserted, that he who uses prophecy only with 
 Toi.i.'p.'30. application to the past, doth merely confess that he 
 . useth no part of it in the way in which it ought to be 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 561 
 
 used. According to this rash and pernicious notion, 
 the prophecies of Isaiah have become spiritless and 
 useless to the Church of Christ, because they have 
 been fulfilled. We cannot wonder that, pursued in 
 this spirit, the study of the Apocalypse should tend 
 only to fanaticism. 
 
 § 1 2. Nothing has contributed to brinff the authen- Ancient 
 
 ,..■'„,. T • T 1 , ■ . 1 doubts re- 
 
 ticity 01 this inspired book into question, so much as spectingthe 
 
 ,1 . I . 1 (1 n ■ n- authority 
 
 the mistaken practice, too early fallen into, of interpret- of the Apo- 
 
 11 1 • ini'i- calypse at- 
 
 mg events by the prophecy, instead oi deciphenng trfbutaWeto 
 prophecy by the key of history. It is a remarkable schemes of 
 fact, that the authority and genuineness of the Book tion. 
 were generally, if not universally, acknowledged during 
 the second century, yet, in the third, they had already 
 been called in question ; not on the ground of any 
 deficiency of external evidence, but because the no- 
 tions of the Millennarians, professedly founded on the 
 Apocalypse, were gross, extravagant, and mischievous. 
 A prophetic mania, a sort of Fifth-monarchy madness, 
 had arisen within the Church; and at Arsinoe in 
 Egypt, that land of plagues and heresies, the chimera 
 of a Millennary reign had gained such hold upon the 
 minds of Christians, as to banish fi-om their thoughts 
 the most important precepts of their religion. The 
 adversaries of these Millennarian fanatics were there- Marsh's 
 fore induced, for reasons which are now allowed to be voUv!^p.47'6. 
 weak and trivial, to deny that St. John was the voi.ii°p!^69i. 
 author, and, in defiance alike of probability and of 
 tradition, to ascribe its composition to Cerinthus.* 
 
 * The Apocalypse is referred to by Justin Martyr (a.d. 140) as 
 the writing of the Apostle John ; was so received by Papias (a.d. 
 116); by Melito, Bishop of Sardis (a.d. 177); and is repeatedly 
 
 2 
 
502 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 In ancient, as in modern times, the Book of Eevela- 
 tion has had its Divine authority impugned by infidels, 
 and doubted by the pious, owing to the presumptuous 
 speculations of fanatical expositors, from Papias and 
 Nepos, down to Frere, Irving, and Miller. 
 Seurcesof That its true historic interpretation should not have 
 
 erroneous . n i /^i r. 
 
 inteqireta- been discovcrcd m the early times oi the Unurcn, 
 affords no cause for surprise ; since, although the 
 symbolic language would, as has been remarked, be 
 less enigmatical to those who lived near the time of 
 St. John, they could infer from it only the general 
 character of the impending events. It is in vain, 
 therefore, 4;o look to Irenaeus, or Victorinus, or Are- 
 thras, for aid in determining the historical application 
 of the visions to events and eras which were to them 
 future. It is more perplexing to find modem expo- 
 sitors so widely at issue with regard to the import and 
 chronology of those portions of the Revelation which 
 confessedly relate to past events. Yet, some of the 
 obvious sources of error have already been pointed 
 out. For instance, it is not surprising that expositors 
 who adopt the hypothesis, that the Eevelation was 
 written in the time of Nero, and that its earlier predic- 
 tions describe the destruction of Jerusalem, should, by 
 their own confession, find it impossible to attach any 
 definite meaning to its symbolical imagery. Thus, 
 Professor Hug tells us, that very many of the indi- 
 
 cited as the Revelation of John, by Irenaeus (a.d. 178), by Clement 
 of Alexandria (a.d. 194), and by Tertullian {about a.d. 200). By 
 Caius, about the year 212, it was first ascribed to Cerinthus. 
 (Lardner, vol. vi. pp. 318, 319.) Dr. Lardner, in his account of 
 Dionysius of Alexandria, has examined and refuted the ancient 
 objections to its apostolic authority. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 563 
 
 vidual delineations and images in this great work are 
 by no means significant, but simply ornamental ; that 
 the numbers are seldom to be accepted arithmetically ; 
 that seven is the sacred number, serving merely for 
 embellishment; that the round numbers, and times, 
 and half-times admit neither of a chronological nor of 
 a numerical calculation ; and finally, that there are, 
 in the whole, but two historical events which are 
 even thus capable of interpretation, exclusive of the 
 triumph of Christianity ; the destruction of Jerusalem 
 and the destruction of Rome! No wonder that the Hug, part ii. 
 erudition of Grotius and Wetstein, and of their mo- 
 dem followers, should have failed to throw any light 
 upon the mystic pages to which they applied so forced 
 and false a scheme of interpretation. Starting fi-om 
 a fallacious theory, they inevitably became bewildered 
 in the attempt to harmonize the prediction with the 
 fact. In the same manner, expositors of the school of 
 Mede have lost their way through forsaking the clew 
 of history, and trying to make the mysterious an- 
 nouncements of Prophecy square with their anticipa- 
 tions of events yet future. A third source of erroneous 
 interpretation has been, the scheme which has deserted 
 the historical interpretation for the allegorical or mys- 
 tical. To this school of expositors we must refer the 
 learned and excellent Dean Woodhouse, who adopted 
 the theory which regards the Apocalypse as a prophe- 
 tical history of the fate and fortunes of the Christian 
 Church, and interprets the emblematical representa- 
 tions of spiritual conditions and judgments. This 
 erroneous scheme has naturally arisen, as all errors 
 breed their opposites, out of the feeling of dissatis- 
 
 202 
 
564 THE apocalypse: 
 
 faction with the Rabbinical reveries and poUtical 
 speculations of a certain class of literal expositors. 
 
 Regarding the Apocalypse as a prophetic disclosure 
 of the scheme of Divine Providence, intended to be 
 understood only as developed by events, we find a 
 correspondence so exact, when the key of history is 
 applied with competent skill, that even an infidel must 
 be struck with the marks of preternatural foreknow- 
 ledge stamped upon the sacred record.* Who could 
 have predicted, at the time when St. John beheld 
 these visions, the four stages of prosperity, gradual 
 declension, and calamitous ruin, through which the Ro- 
 man Empire was to pass ? And if it had been possible 
 for human sagacity to anticipate the Divine judgments 
 upon the persecutors of the Church, and the prO' 
 
 • Very striking is the testimony borne to tie internal evidence of 
 the Divine origin of the Revelation, by the Father of modem Uni- 
 tarianism. ' Indeed,' says Dr. Priestley, ' I think it impossible for 
 any intelligent and candid person to peruse it, without being struck, 
 in the inost forcible manner, with the peculiar dignity and sublimity 
 of its composition, superior to that of any other writing whatever r, 
 so as to be convinced that, considering the age in which it appeared, 
 
 none but a person divinely inspired could have written it 
 
 Besides, notwithstanding the obscurity of many parts of this book, 
 enough is sufficiently clear ; and the correspondence of the prophecy 
 with the events, so striking as of itself to prove its Divine origin. 
 
 These prophecies are also written in such a manner as to 
 
 satisfy us, that the events announced were really foreseen; they 
 being described in such a manner as no person, writing without that 
 knowledge, could have done. This requires such a mixture of clear- 
 ness and obscurity as has never yet been imitated by any forgers of 
 prophecy whatever. Forgeries, written of course after the event, 
 have always been too plain. It is only in the Scriptures, and espe- 
 cially in the Book of Daniel, and this of the Revelation, that we 
 find this liappy mixture of clearness and obscurity in the account of 
 future events.' Notes on Scripture, vol. iv. pp. 673, 4. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 666 
 
 tracted struggle which the Christian Faith had to 
 endure with Paganism, prior to its final political over- 
 throw, who could have imagined that the secular 
 establishment of Christianity would be succeeded, at 
 no distant interval, by a series of calamities not less 
 indicative of the Divine displeasure against the 
 general apostacy of the Christian world ? Once 
 more, who could have predicted, that " the rest of 
 the men who were not killed by these plagues," 
 would yet " not repent of the works of their hands," 
 of their idolatry, their murders, their sorceries, their 
 fornication, and their thefts ? — that, upon this account, Rev.ix, 20, 
 yet another series of plagues should be poured out 
 upon the same geographical localities that had been 
 made the theatre of the preceding convulsions and 
 calamities ? Yet, such is briefly the history of poli- 
 tical Christendom, viewed in relation to the moral 
 government of God, during the seventeen centuries 
 embraced by the Apocalyptic visions. With regard 
 to those portions of the Apocalypse which comprise 
 the Seals, the Trumpets, and the Vials, there seems 
 scarcely room for rational scepticism as to the true 
 interpretation. 
 
 § 13. But might we not expect to find, running Design and 
 parallel with this series of Divine judgments, some thJinte'i- 
 prophetic notices of the preservation, in unbroken "uionsf 
 succession, of a faithful reserve, a true Church in the 
 midst of the prevailing apostacy, — to relieve, as it 
 were the darkness of the picture, to sustain the faith 
 of the pious, and to illustrate the fidelity of the 
 Redeemer to his promise, that He would be with His 
 followers to the end of the world ? Although the 
 
566 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 Apocalypse is, mainly, a history, not of the Church, 
 but of the kingdoms of the world, of the fortunes 
 of political society, yet we do find interwoven with 
 the prophetic narrative, a series of visionary repre- 
 sentations, not to be interpreted of historical events, 
 but full of mystical meaning ; sometimes, like the 
 Greek chorus, suspending the action to declare the 
 purpose of the drama ; at other times, partaking of a 
 supplemental character, and synchronizing with the 
 preceding predictions. In interpreting these visions, 
 to which secular history presents no exact counter- 
 part, there is, of course, greater difficulty and more 
 room for difference or mistake. Yet, Mr. Elliott, in 
 his recent work, has cleared up so much of the ob- 
 scurity which fanciful and conflicting comments had 
 thrown over these portions of the Apocalypse, that it 
 seems no longer difficult to read aright their general 
 import. 
 Vision of the Prcviously to the unsealing of the prophetic scroll, 
 the four the Apostle had had presented to him, while in a 
 tmei "^^ trance, an emblematic vision of the Divine Majesty, 
 ' "' in which a form of glory was beheld upon a throne, 
 canopied by a rainbow, with a crystal pavement before 
 the throne ; around it were seated four and twenty 
 venerable crowned forms ; and in front, four figures 
 of complex shape, studded with eyes, to indicate 
 their ever-wakeful activity, day and night. The 
 close resemblance between this representation and the 
 description of the quadriform living creatures in the 
 first vision of Ezekiel, has led various expositors to 
 speak of the imagery employed by St. John as 
 selected from that Prophet, or as formed upon his 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 567 
 
 vision. Were we to admit this, we must, of course, 
 view the Apocalypse as a fiction. St. John affirms, 
 that he saw what he describes ; nor is there any 
 more reason to suppose that his description is ficti- 
 tious, than to regard that of Ezekiel as mere poetic 
 invention. On comparing the two descriptions, how- 
 ever, we find a difference between them, which affords 
 a convincing proof that St. John did not copy from 
 Ezekiel, but described the appearances presented to 
 him. By Ezekiel, the living creatures were seen in 
 motion, and he perceived them to be quadriform. To 
 St. John, it would seem that only one face of each 
 figure was visible, so that each appeared to him to 
 have a different form, although, from the parallel 
 vision, we may suppose them to have been quadri- 
 form. In neither vision can we imagine that the 
 true forms of actual existences are portrayed j but it 
 might be expected, that the emblematic appearances 
 would be similar, as having a corresponding import. 
 The true meaning, we venture to believe, was per- 
 fectly well understood by the ancient Jews, although 
 to us the hieroglyphic has become an insolvable 
 enigma. It evidently expressed, however, or in- 
 cluded, the idea of universality or totality ; and one 
 of the most probable conjectures derives the complex 
 emblem from the banners of the four tribes who occu- 
 pied the outermost posts of the encamped host of 
 Israel. In the vision of Ezekiel, the appearances 
 are supposed to refer to the angelic hosts: in the 
 Apocalypse, it is clear that they denote the general 
 company of the redeemed; although, as the scene is See chap. t. 
 
 ver. 9. 
 
668 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 the heavenly temple or the invisible world,* we must 
 suppose the spirits of the departed just to be intended. 
 By them, and by the four and twenty elders, homage 
 and worship are rendered to The Lamb ; and by them 
 the chorus of praise is sustained, which ever and anon 
 breaks upon the ear of the rapt Apostle in the inter- 
 vals between the historic visions. 
 
 In a human composition, these elders and living 
 creatures, together with their angelic associates, might 
 be termed the machinery ; but, apart from the impro- 
 priety of applying that term to the visions of Inspira- 
 tion, there is a most essential distinction between the 
 allegories of poetic invention and the hieroglyphical 
 combinations which are intended to exhibit what is 
 not ideal, but real, though by an emblematic medium. 
 The distinction is not merely between truth and 
 fiction, because allegory and fiction may be the 
 vehicle of truth, but between what is pictured to 
 the imagination, and what is both in form and in 
 substance unimaginable, — an idea addressed to the 
 understanding. An emblem is not a picture : it is a 
 sign of what really exists, but not of any appearance 
 in nature. For example, the representation of " a 
 Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and 
 cii.v.Ter.6. sevcn cycs," would not form a picture, any more 
 than the monstrous combinations of mythology or 
 the red lions or two-headed eagles of heraldry ; but 
 
 * Compare Rev. xi. 19 ; xv. 5 ; xvi. 17. The same idea of the 
 heavenly abode of Christ as a temple, is conveyed in the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews, ch. ix. 1], 12, 24 ; and in the words of Our Lord him- 
 self: " In my Father's house" (the temple) " are many mansions." 
 John xiv. 2. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 569 
 
 the symbol cannot be mistaken as descriptive of the 
 character and attributes of The Lord Jesus Christ. 
 All the appearances of the Apocalyptic visions are, 
 in like manner, symbolic, not pictorial; imbodying 
 ideas, but not images ; what is revealed as truly, ex- 
 isting, being left as unima^nable as ever. Thus, in 
 the visions of the new heaven and new earth, all that 
 is symbolical, — the city with its twelve foundations, 
 the river of the water of life, the tree of life on either 
 side of it,— baffles conception. Those passages which 
 convey the most distinct and impressive ideas of the 
 heavenly felicity, are all literal and negative : " God 
 shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and there 
 shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, 
 nor shall there be any more pain, for the former 
 things are passed away." ch.xxi.4. 
 
 It might seem superfluous to insist upon what is so 
 obvious, were it not that many critics have spoken 
 of the poetical imagery of the Apocalypse, and some 
 have even found fault with its incongruous images as 
 poetry ; whereas, there is, properly speaking, no 
 imagery, no scenery, nothing addressed to the ima- 
 gination, throughout the book. In order to under- 
 stand its design and construction, this must constantly 
 be borne in mind. Every thing in it is hteral truth, 
 conveyed in symbolic language or ideographic cipher. 
 
 At chap, vii., between the opening of the sixth vision of 
 and of the seventh seal, there occurs an account of the ^ *^ '"^" 
 command which the Apostle heard given to the four 
 destroying angels, to suspend the execution of their 
 commission* till a certain number from all the twelve 
 
 * ' The threatening tempest of barbarians, -which so soon sub- 
 
570 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 tribes of Israel had been sealed in their foreheads. 
 The familiar language of Oriental metaphor is here 
 turned into symboUc action ; from which St. John 
 would be at no loss to infer, that, in the times to 
 which the vision pointed, of the great body of the 
 professed Israel of God, (which must denote the 
 Christian body,*) a small elect number only would 
 Compare be found holv and faithful, " sealed unto the day of 
 
 Eph. iv. 30; _, , . ,, -„t, /. i • ■ jf 
 
 i.i3. 2 Cor. Redemption. Wherefore such a commission oi 
 
 i. 22 
 
 wrath against the Empire, after the glorious revolu- 
 tion which had established Christianity, but because a 
 wide-spread apostacy had already commenced ? But 
 as, in ancient days, God declared to Elijah, " I have 
 reserved to myself seven thousand men who have not 
 bowed the knee to Baal ;" so, at this period of general 
 defection from pure Christianity, there would be " a 
 Rom. xi. remnant according to the election of grace." Such 
 appears, clearly, to be the import of the vision, to 
 which the historical fact precisely corresponds. After 
 the overthrow of the Pagan supremacy by Constan- 
 tine, the Roman people in multitudes, and at length 
 in the mass, embraced Christianity ; and the laws 
 passed, constituting heathen worship illegal, must 
 have tended still further to extend the Christian pro- 
 fession at the expense of its purity and distinctive 
 
 verted the foundation of Roman greatness, was still repelled or sus- 
 pended on the frontiers.' Gibbon, ch. 30. 
 
 * That they were among the inhabitants of the countries about 
 to be visited with Divine judgments, is evident : that is, of Roman 
 Christendom. The Christian Israel must therefore be intended ; 
 and the proportion, estimated by the numbers of the Twelve Tribes 
 under David and Solomon, would be about one in fifty. See EUiott, 
 vol. i. pp. 129—135. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 671 
 
 character. The baptismal rite now came to be 
 regarded as a spiritual preservative and safeguard, 
 and to be styled, accordingly, • the seat, the Lord's 
 mark, the illumination, the phylactery (or charm), 
 the investiture of incorruption, the salvation ; ' and Binffham, 
 ' the Rehgion of Sacraments ' was substituted for the Eiuott, 
 Apostolic doctrine. Those times of apostacy had ^''■'■^' 
 also their Elijah, in Augustine. To his writings, in 
 which the doctrines of Grace stand out in broad 
 contrast to the corruptions of the age, the preserva- 
 tion of scriptural Ught is chiefly attributable, during 
 the dark night which preceded the dawn of the 
 Eeformation.* Although the number of the sealed 
 formed a small proportion of the general body, (that 
 is, in relation to the existing generation,) yet, the 
 Apostle afterwards beheld, prospectively, their future 
 numbers, as gathered out of all nations and tribes, to 
 be beyond calculation. It is observable that, in the 
 vision, he does not witness the seaUng, but only hears 
 the number of the sealed. But he afterwards beholds 
 them as having triumphed over all the sufferings and 
 persecutions to which they had been exposed, "a 
 multitude which no man could number," — in a state 
 of beatitude before the throne of God. 
 
 Between the sixth and the seventh trumpets, occur vision of 
 a series of symbolic visions, relating in like manner to ^tMhe*' 
 the history of Eehgion or of the True Church. At "p^"^""''- 
 chap. X., the descent of a mighty Angel with an open 
 
 * Elliott, vol. i. pp. 168 — 178. Augustine was born near Hippo, 
 A.D. 364, during the reign of Constantius ; was converted at Milan 
 by the preaching of Ambrose, about 386 ; was ordained Presbyter in 
 391, and Bishop of Hippo in 395 ; and lived till a.d. 430. 
 
672 
 
 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 Ezek. ii. 8 ; 
 iii. 3. 
 
 Vision of 
 the measur- 
 ing of tlie 
 Temple. 
 
 The Two 
 
 Witnesses. 
 
 book, denotes some remarkable Divine intervention, 
 at a period corresponding to the time of the Refor- 
 mation of Luther. The book in the Angel's hand, 
 St. John is commanded to take and eat ; as the Pro- 
 phet Ezekiel was directed to eat the inscribed roll 
 which contained the burden of his message to the 
 House of Israel. The contents of this open book 
 were also to be proclaimed " before many people, and 
 nations, and languages, and kings." It seems, there- 
 fore, no violent interpretation of this part of the 
 vision, to apply it to the revival of Evangelical preach- 
 ing, in connexion with the translation and publication 
 of the Sacred Scriptures, — so long closed to the 
 people.* 
 
 The succeeding but continuous vision of the mea- 
 suring of the Temple (chap, xi.) appears to answer, 
 in its general import, to the selection and sealing of 
 the faithful servants of God in the viith chapter; 
 denoting a separation of the true from the nominal 
 and apostate Church, — a period at once of reform 
 and of suffering. The Two Witnesses who are de- 
 scribed as prophecying or bearing testimony during 
 forty-two months of years, or 1260 mystical days, 
 and which are also designated as two olive-trees, sup- 
 plying with oil the two lamps burning before The 
 Lord, — are interpreted most satisfactorily as signi- 
 fying the twofold succession, in Eastern and Western 
 Christendom, of churches or communities with their 
 
 * Had the little book constituted, as Mede supposes, a new divi- 
 sion of the prophecy ranging through chapters xi, xii, xiii, &c., it 
 would, Mr. EUiott remarks, have appeared closed in the first in- 
 stance, and been gradually unroUed. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 673 
 
 pastors, adhering to the faith of the Gospel amid 
 the general apostacy. At the commencement of the 
 sixteenth century, the Papal crusades against the 
 heretics, and the bloodhounds of the Inquisition, had 
 apparently extirpated these witnesses for Christ.* 
 At the Fifth Lateran Council, held at Rome from 
 A.D. 1512 to 1517, under the pontificates of Julius II. 
 and Leo X., a fresh bull was issued against the rem- 
 nant of the Bohemian Hussites, who were summoned 
 to appear to plead before the Council ; but no answer 
 was returned; no movement was made. ' The May,isi4. 
 Orator of the Session ascended the pulpit, and, 
 amidst the applause of the assembled Council, uttered 
 that memorable exclamation of triumph, " Jam nemo 
 reclamat, nuUus obsistet ! " — There is an end of 
 resistance to the Papal rule : opposers there exist no 
 more.' The joy and self-gratulation which were ex- 
 pressed, at the closing of the Council, strikingly an- 
 swer to the Apocalyptic picture. In the language 
 of an elegant historian, ' the pillars of the Papal 
 strength seemed visible and palpable ; and Rome 
 surveyed them with exultation from her golden pa- 
 laces. The assembled princes and prelates separated 
 from the Council with complacency, confidence, and 
 
 * See authorities in Elliott, vol. ii. pp. 714 — 716. ' At the com- 
 mencement of this (xvith) century,' says Mosheim, ' no danger 
 seemed to threaten the Roman pontiffs. The agitations previously 
 excited hy the Waldenses, Albigenses, Beghards, and more recently 
 by the Bohemians, had been suppressed by counsel and the sword ; 
 and the wretched surviving remnant of Bohemian heretics were an 
 object of contempt rather than fear.' See also Waddington's History 
 of the Reformation, vol. i. pp. 8, 9. The repose of the church ' was 
 disturbed by no aggressions from without, by no discord from with- 
 in.' ' The power of the pope was de facto paramount.' 
 
574 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 mutual congratualations on the peace, unity, and 
 purity of the Church.' Thus, literally, did " they 
 who dwell on the earth rejoice and make merry, be- 
 cause those two prophets had troubled them that dwell 
 
 Rev. xi. 10. on the earth." But short was their triumph. On the 
 31st of October, 1517, precisely three years and a 
 half from the day in which the Orator of the Lateran 
 Council pronounced his paean of exultation, Luther 
 posted up his thesis at Wittenberg, and thereby 
 struck the first blow of the Reformation. Six years 
 afterwards. Pope Adrian, in a brief addressed to the 
 Diet at Nuremberg, wrote : ' The heretics Huss and 
 Jerome are now alive again in the person of Martin 
 
 Elliott, Luther,' Not only did the Witnesses revive, and 
 
 vol. ii. pp. . , . . , . . 
 
 732, 3. obtain a farm pohtical standing, to the consternation 
 of their enemies, under the adopted name of Pro- 
 testants ; * but, as the language of the prediction is 
 supposed to indicate, they were soon raised, at the 
 Imperial call, to secular ascendancy. By the cele- 
 brated treaty of Passau, Aug. 12, 1552, (confirmed at 
 Augsburg in 1555,) Protestants, equally with Eo- 
 manists, were admitted to sit as judges in the Im- 
 perial chamber. At the same time, there was a great 
 political convulsion ; England, one of the ten king- 
 doms of the Papacy, was divorced fi-om " the Great 
 City;" and the Seven United Provinces,t after a 
 protracted and sanguinary war of seven and thirty 
 
 * A word signifying, according to its Latin etymology, Wit- 
 nesses. 
 
 + Mr. Elliott shews, that kirra x'^iaScs may properly be interpreted, 
 teven princedoms or provinces ; and that their political slaughter 
 must be intended. Vol. ii. pp. 746 — 761. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE, 676 
 
 years, were wrested from Spain and Rome, and formed 
 into the Protestant Republic of Holland. 
 
 In this rapid sketch, it has only been attempted to 
 indicate the general correspondence of the history of 
 the Reformation to this remarkable prophecy; re- 
 ferring the reader to Mr. Elliott's elaborate researches 
 for ftirther illustration.* No other interpretation of 
 this vision has ever been proposed, having the slightest 
 pretension to credibility or consistency ; and if any 
 reader, after making himself acquainted with the whole 
 of the historic evidence adduced in that work, can 
 resolve the marvellous correspondence into fanciful 
 accommodation or accidental coincidence, he must be 
 possessed of a most credulous incredulity. 
 
 & ] 4. The next vision, which is introduced abruptly, vision of 
 lion IT- • the Sun- 
 
 appears to be the nrst oi a new and distmct series, clothed 
 
 extending through the twelfth and following two 
 
 chapters. That of the Woman clothed with the sun, 
 
 being evidently introductory to the vision of the 
 
 seven-headed monster rising out of the sea, must 
 
 therefore relate to an antecedent period, and appears 
 
 to describe the final struggle between the Christian 
 
 Church and the Pagan dragon. The symbolic Ian- Elliott, 
 
 guage is, however, more enigmatical than that of any 779—783.' 
 
 other portion of the Apocalypse ; and, in order to 
 
 justify the explanation of which it is susceptible, it 
 
 * The illustration of this portion of the Apocalypse (ch. xi.) oc- 
 cupies 246 pages of Mr. Elliott's second volume, and forms one of 
 the most interesting and valuable sections of his work. The poli- 
 tical establishment of the Reformation, he remarks, synchronizes 
 with the termination of the Turkish woe, so exactly as to verify the 
 chronological precision of the intimation, (ch. xi. 14), immediately 
 after the political earthquake, — " The Second Woe is past." 
 
676 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 would be necessary to go too much into expository 
 details. For the same reason, it will be proper to 
 refrain from entering upon the discussions connected 
 with the characteristics of the two bestial monsters, 
 headed a™d ^^^ Hsing from the sea, and the other from the earth. 
 slast'"™^'^ The former, which is described as having seven heads 
 and ten horns surmounted with diadems, and as de- 
 riving its power from the Pagan dragon, has been, 
 almost by general consent, interpreted as denoting 
 the Western Empire revived, or the Romano- Gothic 
 of the sixth century, comprising ten kingdoms,* which 
 acknowledged the Bishops of Rome as their spiritual 
 headj having no other bond of union. The other 
 The Two- ^ild beast, two-horned like a lamb, is represented as 
 Beast. exercising all the power of the first wild beast that 
 preceded him, and is subsequently described more 
 unequivocally as " the False Prophet" which wrought 
 Compare miracles before the Beast. This seems to identify 
 20 and xiii. the secoud beast with an ecclesiastical power, such as 
 that of the Papacy, related to the Western Empire, 
 yet distinct from it. To this second beast is applied 
 
 * At the epoch of a.d. 632, which is fixed upon by Mr. Elliott, 
 there existed, on the platform of the Western Roman empire, the 
 following ten kingdoms : the Anglo-Saxons, the Franks, the Allman 
 Franks, the Burgnndians, the Visigoths, the Suevi, the Vandals, the 
 Ostrogoths, the Bavarians, and the Lombards. Notwithstanding 
 many intervening revolutions and changes in Western Europe, 
 ten has been generally noted as the number of the Papal kingdoms. 
 Thus, Gibbon, speaking of Roger, first King of Sicily, a.d. 1130, 
 says : ' The nine kings of the Latin world might disclaim their 
 new associatie, unless he were consecrated by the aulSiority of the 
 Supreme Pontiff.' The nine kings were those of France, England, 
 Scotland, Castile, Aragon, Navarre, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary. 
 Elliott, vol. ii. pp. 866 — 870. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE, fi77 
 
 I 
 
 the arithmetical enigma which makes his designation 
 to comprise the numerals 666; an enigma which, 
 after all the ingenuity that has been exercised upon 
 it, has received as yet no satisfactory solution.* In 
 immediate contrast with this pretended Lamb or 
 False Prophet, the Apostle beheld, " standing on 
 Mount Sion," The Lamb of God surrounded with the 
 chosen number of his true followers, who had been 
 sealed with the Divine name ; indicating the contem- 
 poraneous persecution of the True Church, From 
 them ascends a chorus of rejoicing and praise, as upon 
 the occasion of some great deliverance ; or, as sug- 
 gested by Mr. ElUott, analogous to the choral harp- 
 ings and songs which attended the re-dedication of 
 the Temple in the time of Ezra and ISTehemiah, and See Ezra iii. 
 
 ^ .10. Nell. 
 
 denoting the joy of true Christians at the time of ' the xii. 27. 
 Glorious Reformation.' f 
 
 & 15. And now anew series of visions commences. The Gospel 
 
 . . . bearing 
 
 An angel is seen flying through mid-heaven, bearing Angei. 
 a copy of the Everlasting Gospel which was to be pro- 
 mulgated to every nation and people. He is followed 
 by a second angelic herald, announcing the im- 
 pending fall of the mystic Babylon ; and by a third, 
 warning all against receiving the mark of the Beast, 
 
 * See page 612. Mr. Elliott adopts the ancient solution which 
 finds the nnmber in Aareiros. We must confess our doubts are not 
 removed. 
 
 t Mr. Elliott understands the " new song" as meaning ' the new 
 and blessed doctrines of the Reformation.' It might be deemed 
 fanciful to cdnsider the harpings as symbolical of the very remark- 
 able rise and spread of psalmody at the time of the Reformation ; 
 .and yet it is certain, that this formed a very marked feature of the 
 great Protestant revival. 
 
 2 P 
 
578 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 t 
 
 and thereby participating in the Divine judgments to 
 be inflicted upon his worshippers. After this, a voice 
 from Heaven commanded the Apostle to write: 
 " Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord ; " either 
 in contrast to the fate of the followers of the Beast, 
 or as pre-indicating the fearful nature of the coming 
 judgments ; for, immediately afterwards, was seen a 
 symbolical representation of a mystical harvest and 
 vintage, which evidently denote a time of judgment 
 and tremendous destruction. Of the latter part of 
 this series of visions, no satisfactory interpretation has 
 been, or probably can be given, since they relate, 
 apparently, to what is still future, and subsequent to 
 the overthrow of the mystic Babylon. It is startling 
 to find them ushered in with a symbol of the wide dif- 
 ^"'<!?*' fusion of the Gospel, which has been supposed to 
 
 vol. 111. pp. J^ ' -Tr 
 
 1171—1182. mark the present era of evangelical missions. 
 The Seven Auothcr great and marvellous symbol is next ex- 
 ing Angels, hibited ; that of seven angels prepared to pour forth 
 firom their bowls the seven plagues of the last pre- 
 dicted woe ; preparatory to which, the Apostle beholds 
 the victorious company of the faithful standing by a 
 sea of lava,* and singing a song answering to that of 
 Moses and the children of Israel on the overthrow of 
 Pharaoh in the Ked Sea. The prophetic history 
 here takes up the series of events which had been 
 brought down to the close of the sixth trumpet ; and, 
 the seventh angel having already sounded, the pouring 
 fourth of the seven vials, which form the burden of 
 that trumpet, is described. 
 
 * " A vitreoTis sea mingled with fire," Rey. xiv. 2 ; an expression 
 strikingly descriptive of a flood of burning lava. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 579 
 
 Under the seventh vial, or as immediately subse- 
 quent to the convulsions of that period, the doom of Babylon the 
 Babylon the Great is fulfilled. In a distinct vision, 
 the Apostle is shewn a symbolical representation of 
 the City so designated — " the great city which reign- 
 eth over all the kings of the earth;" a harlot 
 richly attired, seated upon a beast with seven heads 
 and ten horns, with a golden cup in her hand, full of 
 abominations. That Kome is the site intended by 
 the seven heads, symbolical at once of seven hills and 
 of seven successive forms of government, cannot be 
 doubted : the only question that can be raised is, 
 whether Pagan or Papal Rome is here portrayed. 
 We have already seen, however, that the enigma of 
 the seven kings, the Beast himself being an eighth, See p. sis. 
 receives its exact historical solution fi-om the fact, 
 that the Imperial head existing in the time of St. 
 John, was the sixth ; that the altered form of govern- 
 ment under Diocletian, corresponds to the seventh ; 
 and that the eighth head, occupying the place of one 
 of the seven, which had been " wounded to death," ch. xiii. 3. 
 accurately answers to the Papal Empire, the ten 
 horns denoting the ten Western European kingdoms. 
 Besides which, the regular chronology of the visions 
 forbids our referring the description to the Rome of 
 the Caesars. It follows, then, that the predicted des- 
 truction of the City, and of the Polity identified with 
 it, must still remain to be fulfilled ; and the language 
 employed suggests the idea of a sudden destruction 
 effected by the tremendous agency of volcanic fire. 
 * The Mistress of the World, in the decrepitude of 
 her power, still retains the style of royalty, and sits 
 
 2 p 2 
 
680 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 as a queen, clothed in fine linen, and purple, and 
 scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, 
 and pearls ; having in her hands that golden cup of 
 intoxication ; — the very personification of all the splen- 
 dours of the present world ; and the catalogue of her 
 merchandize may still be emphatically summed up 
 with " slaves and the souls of men," On the other 
 hand, that seat of hers is continually trembling with 
 the slight but fearful indications of the subterranean 
 fires which lurk beneath, ready to renew those ravages 
 of which the whole region exhibits traces, in the 
 formation of the hills and the character of the soil. 
 It is impossible not be struck with this fact, in con- 
 nexion with the evident allusion, in the language of 
 the prediction, to volcanic phenomena. It is at least 
 possible, that the craters of the Alban hills may again 
 open their dreadful artillery upon the city, or that 
 the Curtian Gulf may itself become the mouth of the 
 Conder'8 fumace, and in one day all this glory, and pomp, and 
 
 Italy, Tol.iii. • i ,, , i , » > 
 
 p. 411. nches, " come to nought 
 
 Final de- The fall of the Great City is not immediately at- 
 
 the^BeMt" tended by the destruction of the Papal polity. The 
 Prophet! subsequent vision represents the Beast or Imperial 
 power, and the False Prophet or Papal power, with 
 the confederate kings, arrayed in war against " The 
 Word of God " and the army of his faithful followers, 
 fi-om whom they receive their final overthrow.* After 
 this, the Apostle beheld the vision of the binding of 
 
 * It IB deserving of notice, that the destruction is effected by the 
 sword proceeding out of tTie mouth of the Conqueror, Rev. xix. 21 ; 
 a representation strikingly agreeing with 2 Thess. ii. 8, and illus- 
 trated by Heb. iv. 12. 
 
THE APOCALYPSK. C81 
 
 the dragon, and his imprisonment in the bottomless 
 abyss for a thousand years, during which those who 
 are represented as " having part in the first resurrec- 
 tion," live and reign with Christ. Upon this brief 
 and mysterious intimation, what is termed the doc- 
 trine of the Millennium entirely rests. At the close 
 of this Millennium, Satan is loosed, and gathers the 
 nations once more to battle against " the beloved City." 
 Fire from heaven consumes the rebellious hosts ; and 
 Satan is cast into the lake of fire. The visions of the 
 Final Judgment, the new Heaven and new Earth, and 
 the Heavenly Jerusalem, close the wondrous history. 
 To the unfulfilled predictions may be applied the em- 
 phatic words of Cowper's noble hymn : — 
 
 ' God is his own interpreter, 
 And he will make it plain.' 
 
 § 16. In the preceding rapid review of the Apoca- a prion 
 lyptic visions, the Writers aim has been, to throw tionsim- 
 out the grand outlines of the prophetic narrative by 
 the light which History casts upon the mystic scroll, 
 in order that the full evidence of its Divine Inspira- 
 tion and authority may be^at once perceived. Many 
 persons who have been perplexed by the erroneous 
 and conflicting theories of commentators, will doubt- 
 less be surprised at finding how large a proportion of 
 the Apocalypse is plainly legible by means of the 
 historic key to the prophetic cipher. More especially 
 will they be struck with the very subordinate import- 
 ance of those questions which have occupied the 
 principal attention of expositors, and given rise to 
 interminable speculation and controversy,* and, above 
 
 * Such as, the name and number of the Papal Beast ; the precise 
 
682 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 all, with the slender foundation afforded by the sacred 
 text for the visionary schemes of ancient and modern 
 Millennarians. Those who adopt the hypothesis, that 
 the Millennium, whether understood of a period of 
 earthly happiness or of calamity to the Church, is past,* 
 are bound to show by historical evidence, when it 
 
 commencement and termination of the 1260 days ; the year-day 
 principle ; the time from which the Millennium is to be computed ; 
 whether the thousand years are to be taken literally, or as denoting 
 an indefinite period, or as extending to 360,000 years, &c. &c. 
 
 * There have been four principal solutions of the " Millennary 
 First Resurrection." The earliest (which might on that very ac- 
 count be presumed to be erroneous) is the literal interpretation 
 adopted by Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenseus, and the early Chihasts, 
 —founded less upon the Apocalypse than upon the Old Testament 
 prophecies and Jewish tradition, — which supposes a pre-millennial 
 resurrection of saints and martyrs, to reign upon earth. This 
 theory, revived by Mr. Mede in his Clams Apostolica (1627), has 
 been espoused by Daubuz, Bishop Newton, Dr. Thomas Burnet, Dr. 
 GiU, Mr. Bickersteth, and other expositors of the same school, to 
 whom must now be added Mr. EUiott himself. The second theory, 
 which prevailed from the days of Augustine to the Reformation, 
 interprefs the First Resurrection as a spiritual one, that of dead 
 souls from the death of sin ; dating the commencement of the Mil- 
 lennium from Our Lord's public ministry. This view has been 
 advocated by Lightfoot, Usher, and more recently Professor Lee, 
 who closely follows Arethas and some other ancient expositors. The 
 third solution, that proposed by Grotius and Hammond, supposes the 
 First Resurrection to be ecclesiastical, and to have had its commence- 
 ment from the overthrow of Paganism by Constantine, extending 
 from the fourth to the fourteenth century. This hypothesis requires 
 us to suppose Rome Pagan, not Papal, to be intended by the Apoca- 
 lyptic Beast ; which is the explanation adopted by all the Romish 
 expositors, and insisted upon with unbecoming positiveness by Dr. 
 Lee. Lastly, by Whitby, Vitringa, Lowman, Faber, and ArchbisliOp 
 Whately, the First Resurrection is understood to be symbolical of a 
 resurrection of the principles, doctrine, and spirit of the martyrs, — 
 a spiritual revival in the church j the time still future. Witsius 
 considers those who were behfeld sitting on thrones (Rev. xx. 4), as 
 being, not the souls, of the martyred, but their oppressors. Adopting 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 683 
 
 commenced and tenninated. But, if it be still future, 
 it is not within the legitimate province of the Biblical 
 expositor to supply the interpretation. It is, indeed, 
 strange, that it should not be at once perceived, that 
 the interpretation of unfulfilled prophecy is prophecy ; 
 nay, that to interpret what is mysteriously indicated, 
 requires a preternatural knowledge of the future, on 
 the part of the expositor, even superior to that of the 
 prophet himself, who may be unconscious of the pre- 
 cise import of his own predictions. Thus, we find 
 the Prophet Daniel unable to understand the visions 
 which were presented to him, till he was " made to 
 know the interpretation of the things." There would Dan.Tii. le. 
 seem to be no difierence, in this respect, between a 
 vision or dream, and a recorded prediction. B:espect- 
 ing both, the question put by Joseph to Pharaoh's 
 officers seems equally pertinent, " Do not interpreta- 
 tions belong to God ? " In those cases, then, in Gen. xi. s. 
 
 this view, an American writer (Prof. Bush) has endeavoured to shew, 
 that the thousand years are to he understood of a period most calami- 
 tous to the church ; i.e. from a.d. 450 to 1463. By those expositors 
 who regard the Millennium as a definite period stiU future, its com- 
 mencement has been confidently dated from various periods, ranging 
 from A.D. J 370 (Johannes de Supescissa) to 2036 (Sir Isaac Newton), 
 Mede dated the Millennium from 1716 ; Ness, in 1679, from 1865, 
 the period adopted also by Faber; Dr. Hales, from 1880; Bishop 
 Newton, from 1987. It may reasonably be doubted, however, 
 whether the thousand-years is to be understood of any de/mite 
 period, which would ill accord with aU the prophetic notices of 
 time in the Apocalyptic visions. According to an ancient expositor 
 (Arethas), it denotes an indefinite duration, — ' cmt m/idtitudinem aut 
 perfectionem.' Other questions might be raised ; far instance, whe- 
 ther the reign of the risen martyrs is to be on earth or in heaven. 
 But the whole subject, if the prophecy remaips to be unravelled by 
 the event, may be regarded as one of mere speculation, and beyond 
 the province of the biblical expositor. 
 
684 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 which the interpretation has not been given, it surely 
 'ought to be presumed, that it is reserved to be unfolded 
 by the event, and that all attempts at a priori expla- 
 nation are alike unauthorized and fallacious^ Experi- 
 ence tends to establish the same conclusion. There 
 cannot, perhaps, be adduced a single instance in which 
 a prediction relating to a future event has been cor- 
 rectly interpreted before its fulfilment. Were all the 
 volumes that have been put forth upon unfulfilled 
 prophecy, and every word that has been written upon 
 the subject of the Millenniumj committed to the 
 flames, not a scintilla of scriptural light would be 
 extinguished, not a particle of real information lost. 
 The design for which the Apocalypse was given, does 
 not require that its undeveloped mysteries should be 
 expounded by predictive speculations ; nor can the 
 evidence of its Divine authority be strengthened by 
 * anticipating what time alone can interpret.* 
 
 But ought not the Church to concern herself about 
 unfulfilled prophecy ? Most assuredlyj so far as re- 
 gards the general intimations intended to conduct the 
 eye of faith to the great terminal event. It is the 
 business of the Church, to watch the unfolding of the 
 scheme of Divine Providence, but not to pre-interpret- 
 it. The Revelation was intended to minister instruc- 
 tion and consolation to the Christians of the second, 
 third, and fourth centuries, who could not possibly 
 understand the precise nature of the events sym- 
 
 * Mr. Elliott apologizes for venturiHg on the awfnl and myste- 
 rious subjects of unfulfilled prophecy, as having acted ' only under 
 a sense of the necessity laid on' him ' as an expositor.' Vol. iii. 
 p. 1388. It is certainly a duty of very imperfect obligation. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 685 
 
 bolized by the visions ; and we know as a fact, that 
 all their attempts at interpretation proved fallacious. 
 One event, indeed, stood out broadly revealed, the 
 destruction of Kome ; but how little could the Chris- 
 tians of the eighth or tenth century anticipate the 
 revival of the city under an eighth form of govern- 
 ment, and the glory of the Papal empire ! To a 
 devout student of the sacred page in the time of 
 Justinian or Phocas, how inscrutable an enigma, too, 
 would the symbolical description of the Saracenic 
 locusts or of the Turkish horsemen have presented ! 
 The computation of the 1260 days would have been 
 at that time not less inexplicable. The application of 
 the year-day principle to the prophecy would, a priori, 
 have been incapable of proof, and might seem scarcely 
 compatible with probability ; nor would it have been 
 possible to fix upon the time from which the calcula- 
 tion must commence.* Those parts of the Apoca- 
 
 * It is admitted, that, for the first four centuries, the days men- 
 tioned in the prophecies of Daniel and in the Apocalypse were inter- 
 preted literally hy the Fathers of the church ; but, from the fifth to 
 the twelfth century, a mystical meaning came to be attached to the 
 period of 1260 days, though not the true one. At the close of the 
 fourteenth century, Walter Brute first suggested the yewr-day inter- 
 pretation, which was fully espoused by the Magdeburg Centuriatorsj 
 and applied to the Papacy. Elliott, vol. ii. pp. 966 — 972. That the 
 true solution of the enigma should not have occurred to the earlier 
 writers, is not surprising. It was not intended, and was scarcely 
 possible, that it should be shewn, a priori, that such was the prin- 
 ciple of interpretation. As Mr. EUiott remarks, wliile the period 
 was yet distant, a moral purpose was answered by a temporary veil 
 of mystery being thrown over the prophetic period ; for the church 
 was not to know the times and seasons, that she might be kept from 
 the earliest age in the attitude of watchful expectation. It was, 
 accordingly, not till the time drew near, that the solution of the 
 chronological enigma began to be perceived. Nor does it form any 
 
686 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 lypse which are to us the most clear and certain in 
 their import, would at that period have been shrouded 
 in the deepest mystery. Yet, even then, " the sure 
 word of prophecy " was as " a light shining in a dark 
 2 Pet. i. 19. place," by means of which enough might be seen of 
 futurity to prevent erroneous anticipations or utter 
 despondency. The end of the world, so frequently 
 supposed to be at hand, the dial of prophecy shewed, 
 was not yet. The kingdom of Christ, which there 
 has always prevailed so strong a tendency to identify 
 with outward pomp and political ascendancy, was, for 
 long ages, to be visible only in the loyalty, and faith, 
 and patience of the scattered flock who witnessed 
 against the surrounding apostacy. How do we trace 
 the true Church of Christ in the prophetic history ? 
 Under what position and circumstances is it to be 
 recognized ? First, we are shown the souls of the 
 martyrs crying aloud, " How long, O Lord, holy and 
 cii.vi. 10. true?" Next are seen the sealed number, saved out 
 ch. vii. u. of great tribulation. Then, the witnesses prophecy- 
 ch. xi. 3. ing in sackcloth. And again they appear as a select 
 number, " the redeemed first-fruits unto God and 
 Ch. xiy. 4. the Lamb." All this, apart from any foreknowledge 
 of the events predicted, would be fraught with im- 
 portant instruction. The proof afforded by the Reve- 
 lation, that the militant and suffering condition of the 
 True Church was in accordance with the intimations 
 of the Divine purpose, and implied no unforeseen 
 
 objection to its truth, that the a priori evidence scarcely amounts to 
 probability, when the & posteriori denronstration is all but irresist- 
 ible. It seems to be the Divine intention, that the discovery of the 
 prophetic mystery should wait upon the facts, not anticipate them. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 587 
 
 failure or reversal of the dispensations of Heaven, 
 must powerfully have contributed to fortify the faith 
 of the pious, and to check the risings of infidelity. 
 
 § 17. This valuable purpose, the Apocalypse is practical 
 still not less adapted to answer. While History fiir- 6^™™- 
 nishes the key to its symbols, the Prophecy, as deve- ^ipocaiypse. 
 loped, throws back its light upon the events recorded, 
 and shows the meaning of History itself. Nothing 
 has furnished the infidel with so plausible a ground 
 for assailing the Christian faith, as the transactions 
 which form the matter of ecclesiastical annals ; and 
 even upon ingenuous minds, the perusal of Church 
 history is likely to leave a very painful and injurious 
 impression. To the poisonous influence of Anti- 
 christian works of this description, the Apocalypse 
 supplies a Divine antidote. Let the Prophetic his- 
 tory be collated with the Providential, and it will 
 then be seen, to whom the controversies and bitter 
 contentions, the heresies and scandals, the cruelties 
 and wrongs falsely charged upon the Church of 
 Christ, are truly to be . ascribed ; namely, to a 
 regnant Apostacy, fi-om which, throughout the visions 
 of this sacred book, the True Church is carefully dis- 
 criminated. 
 
 Another most instructive lesson, the prophetic 
 revelation was adapted to convey to the early Chris- 
 tians, not less than to those of the present day. As 
 extending to the end of time, and comprising the 
 sequel of this world's sad history, it seems designed 
 to exclude the expectation of any future revelation, 
 and to put a definite bound to all hopes relating to 
 this sublunary scene. It is the last Oracle of Pro- 
 
588 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 phecy, the last Divine communication to the world. 
 With the life of St. John, the apostolic age was 
 about to close ;"and the canon of inspiration was now to 
 be completed for ever. The Church had entered on 
 the last time, the final dispensation ; and was thus 
 shut up to the " blessed hope " of the glorious ap- 
 pearing of the Eedeemer, and the manifestation of 
 the sons of God. 
 
 The Book is commonly styled, " The Eevelation 
 of John ; " but this is really a misnomer. The Eeve- 
 lation was made to the Apostle John, and by him 
 recorded for the Church in all ages ; but it is " the 
 Eevelation of Jesus Christ." " The Lord God of 
 the holy prophets sent his Angel^to show unto His 
 servants the things that must shortly be done." . . . 
 " I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you 
 Rev.xxii. 6, thesc things in the churches." If we receive its 
 sayings, we must regard it as, in subs'tance, the actual 
 communication of Our Lord, comprising a disclosure 
 of the scheme of His providential administration ; the 
 character he bears, being not only that of Head of the 
 Church, but also that of the Sovereign Prince of all 
 the kings of the earth, " King of kings, and Lord of 
 lords." For, while the visible kingdom of Christ, 
 composed of His true disciples and followers, is "not 
 of this world," in respect to either its origin or its 
 policy, the supreme dominion of Our Lord, to which 
 he is exaltedj is no figurative or spiritual, but an 
 actual empire ; and in the visions of this Book, the 
 affairs of earthly kingdoms, the revolutions of poUti- 
 cal society, are exhibited as subordinate to His all-^ 
 controlling purpose. As the administrator of all 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 589 
 
 power and rule in heaven and on earth, the reign of 
 Christ is as strictly personal, as if the throne of 
 His glory was visibly established in this province of 
 the Divine empire, instead of being at the right-hand 
 of The Father. Those writers who speak of the per- 
 sonal reign of Christ on earth as future, seem, by 
 identifying that reign with a fiiture manifestation 
 of His personal glory, to overlook the cardinal 
 fact, that He who is to be the future Judge, is now 
 the " Lord of all," in his own person " upholding " Heb. i. 3. 
 and governing " all things by the word of his power." 
 Of this truth, the Apocalypse seems designed to fur- 
 nish constantly accumulating evidence, in the cor- 
 respondence between the prophetic outline and the 
 long succession of events. It is the history of that 
 heavenly reign, that final dispensation, which dates 
 from Our Lord's ascension to the throne of The Fa- 
 ther ; a reign disputed and resisted in this world by 
 principalities and powers, yet, not the less uninter- 
 ruptedly and signally carried on by the varied agencies 
 employed in the execution of the Divine judgments, 
 and in the administration of the moral government of 
 the world. Inasmuch, however, as the triumph of 
 this kingdom involves a conquest of those principa- 
 lities and powers who are warring against it, iand to 
 whom the Apostolic writings ascribe an actual and 
 potent influence upon human affairs, that consumma- 
 tion must be attended with important political results. 
 Our Lord, when upon earth, expressly disclaimed, 
 not only for Himself, but also for his followers, the 
 weapons of secular force; the coercive principle of Joiinxix.36. 
 human governments being utterly inapplicable to the 
 
690 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 promotion of truth, or to the moral subjugation of the 
 world to Christ. Yet, the kingdoms of this world, 
 which are political kingdoms, are ultimately to be 
 merged in that dominion which Our Lord has founded ; 
 for " He must reign," tiU he shall have " put down 
 
 iOor.xv.26. all rule, and all authority, and power." 
 
 To this glorious issue of the Providential scheme 
 traced out in the Visions of the Apocalypse, the ex- 
 pectations of the heavenly worshippers are represented 
 as being constantly turned ; evidently with a view to 
 lead forward the hopes of the Church in the same direc- 
 tion. Our Lord assured His disciples, that, when the 
 Spirit of Truth was come. He would " shew them things 
 to come ; " adding : " He shall glorify me, for He 
 
 johnxiv.u. shall reccivc of mine, and shall shew it unto you." 
 In this wonderful Book, we seem to have the specific 
 fiilfilment of this promise. It appears to have for its 
 especial design, to exhibit to the Church the power 
 and glory of her ascended Lord. The deity of the 
 Only Begotten of The Father, the Lord of angels 
 and of men, is, in the visions of this Book, displayed 
 in all the effulgence of the Divine attributes. He 
 whom the Beloved Apostle had proclaimed, in his 
 Gospel, to be " The Word who was in the begfnning 
 with God, and who was God," styles Himself, in this 
 Book, " the Omega" as well as "the Alpha,"—" the 
 Beginning and the End, the First and the Last." 
 As, "by Him were all things created that are in 
 Heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, — 
 all things were created by Him and for Him, who is 
 
 Coi.i.16,17. before all things, and by whom all things consist;" 
 so, by Him will the new heavens and the new earth 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 691 
 
 be called into existence. " He that sate upon the 
 
 throne said, Behold, I make all things new." Thus K,eT.ixi.i,s. 
 
 are the Genesis and the Finis of this world's history 
 
 connected with Him to whose first advent, as " the 
 
 seed of the woman who should bruise the serpent's 
 
 head," the earliest promise pointed; while the last 
 
 promise of the sacred volume, issuing fi'om the lips of 
 
 the glorified Redeemer, assure us of His second 
 
 advent : — " Surely I come quickly." Kev.xxii.20. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 (A.) 
 
 Luke 
 
 ii. 
 
 1. 
 
 
 i. 
 
 67. 
 
 
 ii. 
 
 7. 
 
 
 11. 
 
 22. 
 
 Matt. 
 
 , ii. 
 
 1. 
 
 
 ii. 
 
 14. 
 
 
 ii. 
 
 19. 
 
 Luke 
 
 ii. 
 
 42. 
 
 
 iii. 1. 
 
 Matt. 
 
 , iii 
 
 t. 13. 
 
 Luke 
 
 iii 
 
 .21. 
 
 John 
 
 ii. 
 
 13, 
 
 Luke 
 
 iii 
 
 .20. 
 
 John 
 
 V. 
 
 1. 
 
 Matt, 
 
 , iv 
 
 .12. 
 
 Mark 
 
 . i. 
 
 14. 
 
 John 
 
 vi. 
 
 4. 
 
 Matt- 
 
 . xiv, 10. 
 
 John 
 
 vi. 
 
 4. 
 
 Matt. 
 
 , xvii. 
 
 John 
 
 vii 
 
 .14. 
 
 
 X 
 
 .22. 
 
 
 XI 
 
 
 Matt. 
 
 xxi. 12. 
 
 John 
 
 xiii. 1. 
 
 CHRONOLOGY OF THE GOSPELS. 
 
 B.C. J. P. 
 
 Edict 9f Augustus 5 4709 
 
 Birth of John the Baptist ....... 5 
 
 Birth of Jesus Christ (April) 4 4710 
 
 Presentation in the Temple .... (May) 4 
 
 Arrival of the Magi 4 
 
 Flight into Egypt (Aug.) 4 
 
 Death of Herod (March) 3 4711 
 
 A.D. 
 
 Jesus accompanies Joseph and Mary to Jerusa- 
 lem 8 4721 
 
 Commencement of John's Ministry .... 26 4739 
 
 f Baptism of Jesus Christ 27 4740 
 
 First Appearance of Our Lord in the Temple . — 
 
 Imprisonment of John (May) — 
 
 Our Lord's second visit to Jerusalem .... — 
 
 [■ Commencement of Our Lord's public ministry — 4741 
 
 Second Passover 28 
 
 Death of John the Baptist .... (Sept.) 28 
 
 Third Passover 29 4742 
 
 Transfiguration of Christ — 
 
 Feast of Tabernacles — 
 
 Feast of Dedication — 
 
 Raising of Lazarus 30 4743 
 
 Second Cleansing of the Temple — 
 
 Last Supper — Fourth Passover — 
 
 The Resurrection — 
 
 The Ascension . . — 
 
 2 Q 
 
5M 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 (B.) 
 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS AND APOSTOLIC EPISTLES. 
 
 Part I. — From the Pentecost op a.d. 30 to the First Persecution, 
 
 A.D. 37. 
 
 CHAP. 
 II. 
 
 IV. 32. 
 
 V. 17. 
 
 VI. 
 
 VII. 59. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 17 
 
 Acts i — viii. a.d. a.tj.c. tiberius 
 
 EfiFiision of the Spirit 30 783 
 
 Cure of the Impotent Man — 
 
 Conversion of the five thousand ... — 
 First attempt of the Sanhedrim to sup- 
 press Christianity — 
 
 Community of goods ■=— 
 
 Death of Ananias and Sapphira ... — 
 
 Second attempt to suppress Christianity 33 ? 786 
 
 Advice of Gamaliel — 
 
 Appointment of the Seven 35 ? 788 
 
 Conversion of many Priests .... — 
 
 Disputation with Stephen 37 790 
 
 Martyrdom of Stephen — 
 
 Philip preaches in Samaria — 
 
 Peter and John visit Samaria .... — 
 
 Baptism of the Ethiopian — 
 
 20 
 
 22 
 
 CAicrs. 
 1 
 
 PartII. — From the Conversion of Saui,, a.d. 37, to the Council at 
 Jerusalem, a.d. 50. 
 
 CHAP, Acts ix — xv. a.d. a.u.c. caius. 
 
 IX. 3. Conversion of Saul .... (Nov.) 37 790 1 
 
 Saul retires into Arabia 38 791 
 
 Saul returns to Damascus — 
 
 tx. 26. Saul visits Jerusalem 40 793 4 
 
 IX. 30, Saul is sent to Tarsus — 
 
 IX. 31. Rest of the Churches 39—41 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 695 
 
 CHAP. A.D. 
 
 X. Conversion of Cornelius 41 
 
 XI. 26. Disciples at Antioch first called Christians 42 
 xii. 28. Famine predicted by Agabus . . ' . . — 
 
 Gospel of Matthew 42 ? 
 
 XI. SO. First Mission of Saul and Barnabas to 
 
 Jerusalem 43 
 
 [2 Cor. xii.] Rapture of St. Paul . — 
 
 XII. 1. Martyrdom of James the Son of Zebedee -^ 
 23. Death of Herod Agrippa . . . . . — 
 
 Epistle of James 44 1 
 
 XIII. Paul and Barnabas sent forth . . . < 45 
 First Epistle of Peter 48 ? 
 
 XIV. 26. Paul's return to Antioch 48 
 
 [Gal. ii. 11.] Arrival of Peter at Antioch .... — 
 
 XV. 2. Second Mission of Paul and Barnabas to 
 
 Jerusalem (with Titus) 50 
 
 [Gal. ii.] Council of Apostles and Elders ... — 
 
 A.U.C, 
 
 704 
 795 
 
 796 
 
 798 
 
 803 
 
 CLAUD, 
 1 
 
 Part III. — From the Union of Paul and Silas, a.d. 51, to their 
 Arrival at Rome, a.d. 61. 
 
 CHAP. Acts xv — xxiv. a.Ii. a.u.c. claud. 
 
 XV. 40. Paul sets out with Silas on his second 
 
 circuit 61 804 10 
 
 XVI. 8. Paul arrives at Troas — 
 
 xviii. 2. Edict of Claudius against the Jews . . — 804 
 
 Gospel of Mark 51 ? 
 
 XVII. 15. Paul at Athens 52 805 11 
 
 xviii. Paul at Corinth — 
 
 Paul brought before GaUio .... — 
 
 First Epistle to the Thessalonians . . — 
 
 Second Epistle to the Thessalonians . . 63 806 12 
 
 Epistle to the Galatians — 
 
 XVIII. 18. Paul leaves Corinth for Syria .... — 
 XVIII. 22. Paul visits Jerusalem (4th time after his 
 
 conversion) — 
 
 XVIII. 23. Paul visits Galatia in his route to Ephesus — 
 
 ( 13 
 
 XIX. 1. Paul arrives at Ephesus 64 807 \ , 
 
 V 1 NERO 
 
 2 Q 2 
 
596 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 CHAF. A.D. A.C.C. 
 
 First Epistle to the Corinthians ... 66 809 
 
 [1 Tim. i. 2.] Paul's visit to Crete — 
 
 Epistle to Titus.. . , — 
 
 First Epistle to Timothy, — 
 
 Second Epistle to the Corinthians . . £7 810 
 
 XX. 3. Paul's second residence at Corinth . . 57, 8 
 
 Epistle to the Romans 58 811 
 
 XX. 6. Paul sails from Philippi for Syria . . — 
 
 XXI. 17. Paul reaches Jerusalem — 
 
 xxiT. 27. Felix superseded by Festus 69 812 
 
 XXVII. 1. Paul sails for Home 60 813 
 
 Gospel of John 60 ? 
 
 xxvin. 14. Paul arrives at Eome 61 814 
 
 Epistle to the Ephesians — 
 
 Second Epistle to Timothy — 
 
 Epistle to the Colossians ..,..— 
 
 Epistle to Philemon . , ^ , , . . — 
 
 Gospel of Luke — 
 
 The Acts 62 815 
 
 Epistle to the Philippians — 
 
 Epistle to the Hebrews 63 ? 
 
 Epistle of Jude 64 ? 
 
 Second Epistle of Peter 65 ? 
 
 The Apocalypse 96 
 
 NKRO. 
 
 2 
 
APPENDIX. 697 
 
 (C.) 
 CHRONOLOGY OF THE APOCALYPSE, 
 
 CHAP. A.D. 
 
 V. First Seal. Era of Roman prosperity . . 96 Nerva. 
 
 Second Seal. Era of civil discord under the 
 
 Praetorian sword . . , . 180 Commodus. 
 
 Third Seal. Era of fiscal oppression ... 211 Caracalla. 
 
 Fourth Seal. Era of mortality 248 Philip. 
 
 Fifth Seal. Era of Martyrs 284 Diocletian. 
 
 Sixth Seal. Era of Constantine .... 324 Constantine. 
 
 VIII. Seventh Seal. Interval of Stillness . . . 324 — 395 
 
 First Trumpet. Alaric and Rhadagaisus . 396 — 410 
 
 Second Trumpet. Genseric 429 — 477 
 
 Third Trumpet. Attila 450— 453 
 
 Fourth Trumpet. Odoacer, &c 479— 662 
 
 IX. Fifth Trumpet. The Saracens .... 612—762 
 Sixth Trumpet. The Turks 1067—1453 
 
 X. Descent of the mighty Angel with an open 
 
 book 1517 
 
 XI. Ministry of the Two Witnesses 529—1789 
 
 Death of the Witnesses 1 614 
 
 Resurrection of the Witnesses 1517 
 
 Their Political Ascension 1652 
 
 The Tenth Part of the Great ■» England sepa-\ 
 
 Cily destroyed by an > rated from >1634 
 Earthquake .... J the Papacy J 
 The Seven United Provinces wrested from 
 
 Spain and Rome 1679—1609 
 
 16. The Seventh Trumpet. 
 XVI. First Vial. Ulcerous eruption — first out- 
 break of the ' French malignant distem- 
 per'* 1789 
 
 Second Vial. Maritime Warst .... 1793—1815 
 
 * The expresBion of Burke> See Elliott, vol. iii. p. 1073. 
 
 + In this great naval war of twenty years, there were destroyed, nearly 200 ships of 
 the line, between 300 and 400 Mgates, and an almost incalculable number of smaller 
 vessels of war and ships of commerce. Such a period of maritime warfare is unexampled 
 in history. Elliott, vol. iii. p. 1080. 
 
S98 APPENDIX. 
 
 CHAP. ■*-^' 
 
 Third Vial. Desolation of the Basins of 
 the Rhine, the Danube, and the Po, and 
 of the Alpine provinces* 1793 — 1805 
 
 Fourth Vial. Judgment upon the Imperial 
 Power — Extinction of the Germanic 
 Empiret 1806 
 
 Fifth Vial. Judgment upon Rome — In- 
 corporation of the States of the Church 
 with the French Empire J 1809 
 
 Sixth Vial. Judgment upon the Ottoman 
 
 or Euphratean Power § 1820 
 
 Seventh Vial. Social Convulsions — Tripar- 
 
 tition of {he European Commonwealth || **** 
 xviii. Overthrow of the Papal Babylon. 
 
 * * * » * » * 
 
 INTERMEDIATE VISIONS.— (See page 665.) 
 
 IV, V. The Heavenly Temple — Chorus of Worshippers. 
 
 VII. The Sealed Number (Era of Augustine) — Chonis of the 
 
 Faithful. 
 
 XI. The Measuring of the Temple — Chorus of Elders. 
 
 XII, Conflict between the Sun-clothed Woman and the Pagan 
 Dragon. 
 
 ^Rise from the Sea of the Seven-headed, ten-homed Wild 
 
 Beast. 
 ^ Rise from the Land of the Two-horned Beast. 
 
 i; 
 
 * Elliott, vol. iii. pp. 1083—1087. 
 
 f " In 1806, the year after the battle of Austerliti!, we read of the leBunciation by 
 the German Emperor, on Napoleon's requirement, (just as by Augustulns on Odoacer's 
 order,) of his title of Emperor of the Holy Homan Empire and of Germany." See 
 Elliott, vol. iii. pp. 1091. 
 
 J lb. pp. 1104 — 1109. In 1809, Napoleon issued from Schoenbrunn and Vienna his 
 decrees revoking Charlemagne's donations to the Holy See, and annexing Rome itself to 
 the French Empire. 
 
 § lb. pp. 1142 — 1164. Since 1820, Wallachia and Moldavia, Serviaand Greece, have 
 been rescued from the Turkish yoke ; Egypt is virtually independent ; and Algiers a 
 French colony. 
 
 II EUiott, vol. iii. pp. 1252— 12S5. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 69D 
 
 CHAP. 
 XIV. 
 
 XV. 
 
 XVII, 
 
 XIX. 
 
 XXI, XXII, 
 
 Chorus of the Faithful Followera of the Lamb. 
 
 Vision of the Three Herald Angels, bearing the Gospel and 
 
 announcing the doom of Babylon. 
 Vision of the Harvest. 
 Vision of the Vintage. 
 Chorus of the Victors over the Beast. 
 Vision of the Mystical Babylon. 
 Chorus of Heavenly multitudes. 
 Triumphal Procession, 
 Binding of Satan. 
 The Judgment. 
 The New Heaven and New Earth. 
 
EDITIONS OF WOEKS KEFERKED TO. 
 
 Benson's (Dr.) Chronology of Our Saviour's Life. 8vo. Cambridge 
 
 University Press. 
 Burton's (Dr. Ed.) History of the Christian Church. 12mo, Second 
 
 Edition. London, 1837. 
 Bloomfield's Greek Testament with English Notes. Second Edition. 
 
 2 vols. 8vo. 1836. 
 
 Davidson's (Dr. S.) Sacred Hermeneutics. 8vo. Edinburgh, 1 843. 
 
 Elliott's (Eev. E. B.) Horse ApocalypticBe. 3 vols. 8vo. London, 1844. 
 
 Foestee's (Rev. C.) Apostolical Authority of the Epistle to the He- 
 brews. 8vo. London, 1838. 
 
 Greswell's (Rev. E.) Dissertations upon the Principles and Arrange- 
 ments of a Harmony of the Gospels. 3 vols. 8vo. Oxford, 1830. 
 Supplementary Volume, 1834. 
 
 Hug's (Professor) Introduction to the New Testament. Translated by 
 Dr. D. G. Wait. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1827. 
 
 Horne's Introduction to the Critical Study of the Scriptures. Seventh 
 Edition. 4 vols. 8vo. 1834. 
 
 Laedner's (Dr. Nath.) "Works. 10 vols. 8vo. London, 1829. 
 
 Lee's (Dr. S.) Sermons and Dissertations. 8vo. London, 1830. 
 
 Marsh's (Bp.) MiehaeUs's Introduction to the New Testament. 6 vols. 
 8vo. London. 
 
 MicHAELis's Burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. From the Ger- 
 man. 12mo. 1827. 
 
 Milman's History of Christianity. 3 vols. 8vo. London, 1840. 
 
 Neander's History of the Planting of the Christian Church. Trans- 
 lated by Ryland. 2 vols. 12mo. Edinburgh, 1842. 
 
 Paley's Horse Paulinse. Carried out and illustrated by James Tate, 
 M.A., &c. 8vo. London, 1840. 
 
 Smith's (John) Select Discourses. Third Edition. 8vo. London, 1821. 
 
 Smith's (Dr. J. P.) Scripture Testimony to the Messiah. Third Edition. 
 
 3 vols. 8vo. 1837. 
 
 Vidal's Mosheim's Commentaries on the Affairs of the Christians. 
 
 8vo. London, 1813, &c. 
 Vindication of the Authenticity of the First Two Chapters of the 
 
 Gospels of Matthew and Luke. By a Layman. 8vo. London, 1822. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Acts of the Apostles, the, written by Silas, 67 ; date of, 61 ; chronology of, 
 219 ; et seq. ; 291, et sea. ; 356, et seq. ; Appendix (B.) See Apostles. 
 
 Alexandria, the source of Western recensions, 62. 
 
 Angel, import of the term, 516. 
 
 Angelology, Jewish and Magian, discriminated, 414. 
 
 Angels, notions relating to, 404, 414. 
 
 Apocalypse, the, when communicated to St. John, 606 ; hypothesis which as- 
 signs it to the reign of Nero untenable, 610 ; who are intended by the Seven 
 Kings, 611 ; internal evidence of its traditional date, 616 ; historic import 
 of the symbolic rider upon the white horse, 517 ; Neronian persecution, 
 .619 ; persecution under Domitian, 621 ; primary design of the Apoca- 
 lypse in reference to the Christians of that age, 523 ; parallel design of 
 Our Lord's predictions, 627 ; and of St. Paul's, 530 ; condition of the 
 Church under Nerva, Trajan, and the Antonines, 632 ; era of the praeto- 
 rian power of the sword, 633 ; era of fiscal oppression, 635 ; era of mor- 
 tality, 537 ; corruption of Christianity, 539 ; era of martyrs, 641 ; 
 erroneous notion of ten persecutions, 643 ; era of Constantino, 544 ; cala- 
 mities indicated by the first four trumpets, 540 ; the Saracenic woe, 661 ; 
 the Turkish woe, 552 ; the third and last woe, 566 ; the seven vials, ib. ; 
 historical proof of the Divine origin of the Revelation, 668 ; ancient 
 doubts attributable to fallacious schemes of interpretation, 661 ; ancient 
 testimonies, ib., note ; sources of erroneous interpretation, 662 ; testi- 
 mony of Dr. Priestley to the internal evidence of its Divine authority, 
 664, note ; design of the non-historical visions, 665 ; vision of the four 
 living creatures, 566 ; the symbols hieroglyphic, not pictorial, 669 ; 
 vision of the sealing, 669 ; era of Augustine, 571 ; vision of the angel 
 with the open book, ib. ; the measuring of the temple, 572 ; the two 
 witnesses, w. ; the sun-clothed woman, 576 ; the two wild beasts, 676 ; 
 the Gospel-bearing angel, 577 ; the seven vial-bearing angels, 678 ; doom 
 of the Papal Babylon, 679 ; the millennium, 681 ; a priori interpretation 
 unauthorized, ib. ; four theories respecting the First Resurrection, 682, 
 note ; year-day principle of interpretation, 586 ; practical use and final 
 purpose of the Apocalypse, 587. 
 
 Apociyphal Gospels, 64. 
 
 Apostles, Acts of the, chronology of the, 219 ; transactions recorded in the 
 first seven chapters, 220 ; historical circumstances connected with the mar- 
 tyrdom of Stephen, 222 ; age of Saul at his conversion, 227 ; historical 
 circumstances connected with his residence at Damascus, 230 ; duration 
 of the rest of the churches, 232 ; era of the first preaching to the Gentiles, 
 233 ; the famine predicted by Agabus, 235 ; martyrdom of James, the 
 brother of John, ib. ; first mission of Paul and Barnabas to the Gentiles, 
 237 ; council at Jerusalem, 238 ; Paul separates from Barnabas, 243 ; 
 was Barnabas an apostle ? 244, note ; second circuit of Paul in company 
 
602 INDEX. 
 
 with Silas, 248 ; vision at Troas, 247 ; Paul at Athens, 248 ; Paul at 
 Corinth, 252 ; Paul's visit to Syria and Galatia, 260 ; his residence at 
 Ephesus, 270 ; his visit to Macedonia, 291, 297 ; his last voyage to Jerusa- 
 lem, 292 ; date of his visit to Crete, 298 ; historical circumstances connected 
 with the time of his arrival at Jerusalem, 356 _; his apprehension, 368 ; 
 sent to Rome, 360 ; circumstances of his imprisonment at Rome, 361, 
 382, 387, 433 ; abrupt termination of the narrative accounted for, 434 ; 
 see Appendix (B.) 
 
 Apostolic inspiration, criteria of, 12, 286, 289. 
 
 Apostolical men, import of the phrase, 11, 244, 
 
 Appearances of Our Lord after his resurrection, 131, 151. 
 
 Ascension of Our Lord, 140 ; proof of the, 141, 588. 
 
 Authenticity, proofs of, 10, 14 ; uncertainty of the verbal criterion of, 22, 
 448 ; of tie first two chapters of Matthew, 33. 
 
 Babylon, the scene of Peter's apostolic labours, 177 ; the church at Rome 
 not intended by, i}., 196. 
 
 Baby;lon, the Papal, 676, 679. 
 
 Baptist, John the, 112, 116 ; date of his ministry, 117 ; Of his imprisonment 
 and death, 118, 122. 
 
 Barnabas, sent in search of Saul, 235 ; first mission of, in company with 
 Saul, to Jerusalem, ib. ; first mission of, to the Gentiles, 237 ; second 
 mission to Jerusalem, 239 ; separates from Paul, 243 ; whether to be 
 ranked as an Apostle, 244, note ; Epistle of, 441, 443, note. 
 
 Biblical criticism, satisfactory resiilts of, 502, 604. 
 
 Birth of Christ, date of the, 118, 121, 122. 
 
 Buddhism, affinity of, to Gnosticism, 499. 
 
 Canon, the, determined by historical evidence, 9 ; not by the council of 
 Laodicea, ih. ; how formed, 12 ; not dependent on Tradition, 16. 
 
 Canonicity, criteria of, 12, 167, 441 — 443. 
 
 Cerinthus, whether referred to by St. John, 84, 478 ; doubtful whether he 
 lived in the first century, 611, note. 
 
 Christ, Our Lord Jesus, date of the birth of, 118, 121, 122 ; genealogies of, 
 103 ; temptation of, 107 ; baptism of, 112, 113 ; first miracle of, 114 : 
 sudden appearance of, in the Temple, 116 ; duration of the ministry of, 
 117 ; transfiguration of, 136 ; resurrection of, 122, et seq. ; a/ppearances 
 of, after his resurrection, 131, 161 ; ascension of, 140 ; reign of, 143, 688 ; 
 appearance to Saul, 160 ; revelation made by, to John, 668, 688. 
 
 Chnstians, when first so called, 176. 
 
 Chronology of the Acts, 219, et eeq. ; 291, et seq. ; 366, et seq. Appendix (B). 
 
 Chronology of the Gospels, 121. Appendix (A). 
 
 Chronology of the Apocalypse. Appendix (C). 
 
 Church of Christ, history of the, 219, et seq. : 291, et seq. ; 356, et seq. ; 632^ 
 et seq. ; see Apocalypse and Apostles ; Paul's idea of the, 375. 
 
 Church of Rome, tradition relatmg to, 18, 197, 330 ; see Rome. 
 
 Circumcision of Timothy, reason of, 246. 
 
 Clement of Alexandria, testimony of, to the Epistle to the Hebrews, 438, 
 444. 
 
 Clement of Rome, epistle of, 440, 443 note, 446. 
 
 Colossians, Paul's Epistle to the, 396 ; question whether Paul was per- 
 sonally known to the, 396 ; analysis of the Epistle, 398 ; points of coin- 
 dence with the Epistle to the Ephesians, 402 ; specific nature of the 
 heresies referred to, 403. 
 
INDEX. 603 
 
 Corinth, celebrated for its luxury and licentiousness, 274 ; arrival of Paul 
 at, 252 ; the Epistle of John probably sent to, 481 ; see Corinthians. 
 
 Corinthians, Paul's First Epistle to the, date and occasion of, 269 ; analysis 
 of, 275 ; character of, as a composition, 284 ; valuable as a documentary 
 confirmation of the miraculous gifts of the Apostolic age, 285. 
 
 Corinthians, Second Epistle to the, date and occasion of, 313 ; character of, 
 314 ; analysis of, 315 ; date of the Apostle's rapture, 326 ; nature of his 
 thorn in the flesh, 327. 
 
 Council of Jerusalem, date of the, 239. 
 
 Council of Laodicea, 9. 
 
 Criteria of Apostolic authority, 12, 151, 244 note, 289. 
 
 Criteria of Canonicity, 12, 157, 440. 
 
 Cyrenius, when governor of Syria, 76. 
 
 Date of Herod's death, 78, 106, 121 ; of Our Lord's birth, 118, 121, 122 ; 
 
 of Stephen's martyrdom, 219, 225 ; see Chronology and Appendix.' 
 Deity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, scriptural evidence of the, 81, 141 — 144, 
 
 403, 429, 603, 559, 688—691. 
 Duration of Our Lord's ministry, 117 — 122. 
 
 Enoch, Book of, 210. 
 
 Ephesians, Paul's Epistle to the, 364 ; to whom actually addressed, 365 ; 
 analysis of, 369 ; character of the composition, 374. 
 
 Epistle of James, 157 ; see James. 
 
 Epistle of John, the First, 470 ; the Second and Third, 482 ; see John. 
 
 Epistle of Jude, 210 ; see Jude. 
 
 Epistle of Peter, the First, 174 ; the Second, 190 ; see Peter. 
 
 Epistles of Paul, 217 ; to the Colossians, 395 ; First to the Corinthians, 
 269 ; Second to the Corinthians, 313 ; to the Ephesians, 364 ; to the 
 Galatians, 262 ; to the Hebrews, 437 ; to Philemon, 416 ; to the Philip- 
 pians, 423 ; to the Romans, 328 ; to the Thessalonians, First and Second, 
 264^8 ; First to Timothy, 307 ; Second to Timothy, 380 ; to Titus, 304 ; 
 see Colossians, Corinthians, &e. 
 
 Era, the Christian, 118, 121 ; of Constantino, 644 j of Diocletian, 641 ; see 
 Appendices (A. B. and C), 
 
 Essenes, the, 409. 
 
 Evangelist, a title given to preachers, 165. 
 
 Evangelists, the Four, order of^ 54 ; the evidence of Christianity inde- 
 pendent of their testimony, 148 ; see Gospels and Harmonies. 
 
 Evidence of Christianity independent of the Evangelists, 148 ; inferred 
 from the originality of the doctrine, 352 ; inferred from the historical 
 fulfilment of prophecy, 668 ; see Criteria. 
 
 Fathers, the Apostolic, writings of, characterized, 441. 
 Four Gospels recognized by Tatian in the second century, 8 ; ancient order 
 of the, 64 ; see Gospels. 
 
 Galatians, Paul's Epistle to the, date of, 262'; rhetorical character of, 263 ; 
 
 analysis of, 264. 
 Gamaliel, advice given by, 221. 
 
 Genealogies of Our Lord, the two, how reconciled, 103. 
 Gnostic heresy, nature of the, 410, 478, 497 : references to in the Apostolic 
 
 writings, 408, 479, 498. 
 Gospel History, chronology of the, 121 ; harmonies of the, 100. 
 
604 INDEX. 
 
 Gospel of John, specific design and character of the, 79 ; see John. 
 
 Gospel of Luke, 65, et seq. ; see Luke. 
 
 Gospel of Mark, design and character of the, 39 ; see Mark. 
 
 Gospel of Matthew, 24, et seq. ; the true proto-evangelion, 36 ; see Matthew. 
 
 Gospel of Paul, independent source of the, 91. 
 
 Gospels, Apocryphal, of later oririn than the Four, 64. 
 
 Gospels, the Four, recognised hy Tatian, 8, 100 ; ancient order of the, 54 ; 
 true sources of, 35, 74 ; allusions to, in the Epistles, 92, et seq. ; incom- 
 pleteness of the information in, 144. 
 
 Harmonies of the Four Gospels, remarks on, 100, difficulties attending, 
 103, et seq. 
 
 Hehrews, the Epistle to the, 437 ; the omission of the writer's name fanci- 
 fully accounted for, 438 ; origin of doubts relative to its authorship, ii ; 
 external evidence of its canonioity, 440 ; striking difference between the 
 apostolic and the patristic writings, 443 ; conflicting critical decisions 
 respecting the style of the Epistle, 444 ; uncertainty of the verbal crite- 
 rion of authorship, 448 ; doctrinal grounds of scepticism as to its Pau- 
 line authority, 460 ; modern doubts, reasons for, 452 ; opinions of Calvin 
 and Erasmus, 463 ; inquiry to whom the Epistle was addressed, 456 ; 
 not to Hebrews of Palestine, 456 ; analysis of the Epistle, 460 ; pecu- 
 liarities of phraseology, 462 ; canonical authority not affected by joint 
 authorship, 464 ; probability that Silas had a hand in the composition, 
 465 ; probable date of the Epistle, 467 ; character of St. Paul, 469. 
 
 Heresies, nature of those referred to by John, 478, 496 ; bv Paul, 311, 392, 
 394, 403 ; by Peter, 206. 
 
 Herod, death of, question relating to the true date, 78, 106, 121 . 
 
 Herodotus, ancient doubts respecting his authenticity disproved by modern 
 investigation, 22. 
 
 Inscriptions appended to the Epistles, of no authority, 2, 264, 263 note, 610. 
 Inspiration, Apostolic, proof of the, 12, 286 ; characteristics of, 289. 
 Inspiration, Prophetic, different degrees of, 286. 
 
 James, the Epistle of, not universally recognized as canonical, 10 ; reasons 
 of the doubt respecting its canonicity, 157 ; date of, 164, 167 ; not op- 
 posed to the Pauline doctrine, 164 ; to whom addressed, 168, 173 ; ana- 
 lysis of, 169 ; coincidences with the First Epistle of Peter, 193. 
 
 James, the son of Alphseus, Our Lord's kinsman, 158 ; president of the 
 church at Jerusalem, 161 ; martyrdom of, 162, 222 ; the author of the 
 Epistle, 168. 
 
 James, the son of Zebedee, martyrdom of, 233, 235. 
 
 Jerusalem, siege of, 620 ; Our Lord's prediction relating to the destruction 
 of, 628. 
 
 Jesus Christ ; see Christ. 
 
 John, the Apostle, notices relating to, in the evangelical history, 88, 233, 
 477, 508 ; traditions relating to, 18, 89, 477, 508—510, 622 and note. 
 
 John, the Baptist, notices relaiting to, 112, 116—118, 122. 
 
 John, the Catholic Epistle of, its indubitable genuineness and canonicity, 
 470 ; opening reference to his Gospel, 471 ; opinion that it was appended 
 to the Gospel, 473 ; its true date, 474 ; the labours of John strictly con- 
 temporaneous with those of Paul, 477 ; heresies combated by John 
 similar to those referred to in the Pauline Epistles, 478 ; coincidences 
 with the PauUne writings, 479 ; the Epistle of John addressed to the 
 
INDEX. 606 
 
 Corinthian church, 481 ; its general character, 486 ; analysis, 487 ; 
 phraseology allusive to Gnostic tenets, 496 ; equally adapted to counter- 
 act the Buddhic philosophy, 499 ; controverted passage on the ' three 
 witnesses,' 499 ; satisfactory results of collation, 604. 
 
 John, the Epistle of, to Gaius, 482. 
 
 John, the Epistle of, to the Elect Lady, 484. 
 
 John, the Gospel of, its specific design and character, 79 ; how far supple- 
 mental, 83 ; not written against heretics, 84 ; written before the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem, 86 ; different opinions as to its date, 89, 609 ; probable 
 allusion to in Paul's Epistle to the Philippians, 94 ; analysis of the first 
 four chapters, HO, et seq. 
 
 John, the Revelation of, 606 ; see Apocalypse. 
 
 Jude, Epistle of, its date, 210 ; grounds upon which its canonicity has been 
 questioned, ib. ; prophecy of Enoch, 211 ; the body of Moses, 213 ; ana- 
 lysis of the Epistle, 214 ; coincidences with the Second Epistle of Peter, 
 204. 
 
 Justin Martyr, testimony of, to the Epistle to the Hebrews, 442 ; martyr- 
 dom of, 633. 
 
 Laodicea, council of, 9. 
 
 Laodicea, epistle from, 6, 365, 368. 
 
 Last days, import of the phrase, 207. 
 
 Latinisms in Mark's Gospel, 63. 
 
 Literary history of the New Testament, scantiness of materials for the, 1 ; 
 no part of Christian evidence, 3. 
 
 Logos, import of the term, 81 ; not answering to the Persian Ormuzd, 414. 
 
 Luke, biography of, 66 ; the same person as Silas, 67, 247 ; reasons for sup- 
 posing that he did not survive St. Paul, 62 ; his character as an his- 
 torian, 66 ; see Silas. 
 
 Luke, the Gospel of, its probable date, 66, 61 ; its reference to previous ac- 
 counts explained, 64 ; its variations from Matthew's Gospel accounted 
 for, 67 ; additional facts contained in, 72 ; characteristics of style, 66, 
 
 76 ; critical difficulty relating to the date of the taxing, 76 ; the 
 
 fifteenth year of Tiberius, 78. 
 
 Magi, the, time of their visit, 105. 
 
 Magian philosophy, sketch of the, 404, et seq. ; allusions to, in the apostolic 
 
 writings, 408, 479. 
 Manifestations of Christ after his resurrection, number and order of the, 
 
 131 ; to St. Paul, 161. 
 Mark, the Evangelist, the same as John Mark, 47 ; probably referred to in 
 
 the Gospel as having followed Christ, 43 ; notices relating to in the New 
 
 Testament, 48 ; tradition respecting, 60. 
 Mark, the Gospel of, its probable date, 38 ; its specific design and character, 
 
 39 ; instances of supplemental description, 40 ; deviations from Matthew, 
 
 43 ; written probaMy in Egypt, 60. 
 Martyrdom of James, the son of Alphas, 192, 222 ; of James, the son of 
 
 Zebedee, 233 ; of Peter, 18, 196, 362 ; of Paul, 18, 388 ; of Polycarp, 
 
 633 ; of Stephen, 219, 226. 
 Martyrs, era of, 641. 
 Matthew, the Gospel of, not a translation from a Hebrew original, 24 — 30 ; 
 
 its probable date, 31 ; its distinctive character, ib. ; authenticity of the 
 
 initial chapters, 33 ; composed from notes of Our Lord's teachmg, 36 ; 
 
 the true proto-evangelion, 36 ; internal marks of early date, 37. 
 
606 INDEX. 
 
 Millenarians, ancient, extravagant notions of, 561. 
 
 Millennium, the, 681 ; different periods assigned for its commencement, 
 683, note. 
 
 Ministry, Our Lord's, prior to John's imprisonment, 110 ; its formal com- 
 mencement, 115 ; duration of, 117. 
 
 Mission of Paul and Barnabas, date of the, 237. 
 
 Moses, body of, import of the phrase, 213. 
 
 Neander, Professor, remarks of, on the supposed opposition between the 
 Epistle of James and the Pauline doctrine, 165 ; doubts of, respecting 
 the genuineness of the First Epistle of Paul to Timothy, 310 note ; 
 remarks of, on the Gnostic heresy, 410. 
 
 New Testament, the, general view of its contents, 6 ; ancient division into 
 two parts, 7 ; numerous quotations from, in the early Fathers, 16. 
 
 Onesimus, tradition relating to, 417. 
 
 Originality of the Christian doctrine, an argument for its Divine origin, 352. 
 
 Pantheistic mysticism opposed by St. John, 497. 
 
 Patristic writings, the, characteristically distinguished from the apostolic, 
 
 441—444. 
 Paul, the Apostle, independent character of his testimony, 91, 150 ; ap- 
 
 Eearances of Christ to, 152 ; fourteen epistles ascribed to, 217 ; age of at 
 is conversion, 227 ; personal history of, 229; first visit of, with Bar- 
 nabas, to Jerusalem, 235 ; first mission of, with Barnabas, to the Gen- 
 tiles, 237 ; second visit of, with Barnabas, to Jerusalem, 239 ; separation 
 of, from Barnabas, 243 ; second apostolic circuit in company with Silas, 
 245 ; preaches at Athens, 248 ; arrives at Corinth, 261 ;_ his first epis- 
 tle, 266 ; visits Jerusalem, and returns by way of Galatia to Ephesus, 
 269^—261 ; subsequent travels previous to his last visit to Jerusalem, 
 291 ; date of his visit to Crete, 298 ; date of his rapture, 326 ; nature of 
 his thorn in the flesh, 327 ; date of his last arrival at Jerusalem, 366 ; 
 circumstances of his apprehension, 369 ; arrival at Rome, 361 ; uncer- 
 tainty attaching to his supposed release and subsequent travels, 302, 361, 
 433, 467 ; his first hearing, 383 ; nature of his imprisonment, 387 ; cir- 
 cumstances of his death, 388 : his situation when writing to thePhilip- 
 pians, 432 ; his character, 469 ; his rhetorical genius characterized by 
 Longinus, 263 ; remarks upon the character of his compositions, 218, 
 263, 284, 307, 321, 349, 374, 421, 448. 
 
 Pauline Epistles, number and order of the, 217 ; distinctive features of the, 
 376 ; allusions in the, to the Gospels, 92 j coincidences with the writings 
 of Peter, 193 ; and of John, 479 ; see Paul, 
 
 Persecution, that which arose about Stephen, the third attempt to suppress 
 Christianity, 222 ; duration of, 225 ; effects of, 233 ; the Neronian, 519 ; 
 that under Domitian, 621 ; under Trajan, 632 ; under S. Severus, 635 ; 
 under Decius, 640 ; under Diocletian, 641. 
 
 Persecutions, the ten, erroneous notion of, 643. 
 
 Person of Our Lord, heretical notions respecting the, 479, 494. 
 
 Peter, Simon, special references to, in Mark's Gospel, 42 ; his connexion 
 with John Mark, 47 ; Our Lord's appearance to, 131, 188 ; date of his 
 imprisonment by Herod, 176 ; his visit to Antioch, ib. ; Babylonia the 
 scene of his labours, 177 ; his age at the time of writing his First Epistle, 
 180 ; tradition relating to his martyrdom at Rome, 18, 196 — 8, 362, 368 ; 
 authorities for and against the opinion that Peter visited Rome, 196 
 
IISrDEX. 607 
 
 note ; Protestants have no interest in discrediting the tradition, 198 ; 
 disciples of, at Corinth, 272. 
 
 Peter, First Epistle of, inquiry as to the date of the, 174 ; written from 
 Bahylonia, 177 ; internal marks of early date, 179 ; external history in 
 agreement with this conclusion, 181 ; its harmony with the Pauline 
 doctrine, 183 ; analysis of, 183 — 193 ; coincidences with the Epistles of 
 James and Paul, 193 ; with the oral teaching of Peter, 194 ; allusions in, 
 to the Gospel of Matthew, 97. 
 
 Peter, Second Epistle of, to whom addressed, 190 ; coincidences with the 
 Epistle to the Hehrews, 199 ; its date, 200 ; analysis of, 201 ; coinci- 
 dences with the Epistle of Jude, 204. 
 
 Philemon, Paul's Epistle to, 416 ; who was Onesimus, 417 ; character of 
 the ancient domestic slavery, ib. ; analysis of the Epistle, 420 ; its cha- 
 racter as a composition, 421. 
 
 Philippians, Paul s Epistle to the, occasion of, 423 ; analysis of, 425 ; cir- 
 cumstances under which it was written, 432, 
 
 Pilate, deposition of, 223. 
 
 Polycarp, epistle of, 441, 442, note ; martyrdom of, 633. 
 
 Prophecy, gift of, 282, 286—8 ; purpose and use of, 525, et seq. ; 5Q0,etseq. ; 
 imfiilfilled, not within the province of the expositor, 684. 
 
 Prophetic inspiration, different degrees of, 286. 
 
 Proto-evangelion, theory of a supposed, 36. 
 
 Rest of the churches after the first persecution, duration of the, 232. 
 
 Resurrection, Our Lord's, alleged discrepancies in the accounts of, exa- 
 mined, 122 et seq. ; evidence of the fact independent of the testimony of 
 the Evangelists, 148 ; independent testimony of St. Paul, 160 ; con- 
 nexion of the resurrection with the ascension and reign of Christ, 143 ; 
 St. Paul's argument on, 283. 
 
 Resurrection, the first, theories relating to, 682. 
 
 Revelation, the, of St. John, title of, 610 note, 668 note ; see Apocalypse. 
 
 Revolution, the French, indicated by the apocalyptic vials, 667, and Ap- 
 pendix (C.) 
 
 Romans, Paul's Epistle to the, date and occasion of, 328 ; analysis of, 333 ; 
 its character as a composition, 349 : source of the obscurity complained 
 of, 351. 
 
 Rome, church at, by whom founded, 18, 197, 330 ; authorities for and 
 against Peter's having visited, 196, 363 ; Jews numerous at, 330 ; ar- 
 rival of Paul at, 360 j epistles of Paul written from, 364 ; no evidence of 
 Paul's second imprisonment at, 381 ; topographical designation of, in the 
 Apocalypse, 513, 679. 
 
 Sanhedrim, right of to inflict capital punishment, 222 ; parties in, 224. 
 
 Saul, age of, at his conversion, 227 ; personal history o^ 229 ; see Paul. 
 
 Scriptures, the, see New Testament. 
 
 Seleucia, probably intended by Babylon, 177. 
 
 Silas, proof of his being the writer of the Acts of the Apostles, 67, 247 ; the 
 same as Lucas, 59. 
 
 SQvanus, the same as Silas and Lucas, 69 ; see Silas. 
 
 Simon Magus, 406, 478. 
 
 Slavery, Roman, character of the, 349 note, 417. 
 
 Stephen, date of the martyrdom of, 219, 226 ; Saul's share in the condemna- 
 tion of, 229. 
 
 Symbolic language and imagery, remarks on, 526, 668, 9. 
 
608 INDEX. 
 
 Tatian, the author of the Dia, Tessaron, 100. 
 
 Taxing, the, under Cyrenius, difficulty respecting its date, 76. 
 
 Temptation, Our Lord's, variation in the accounts of, explained, 107. 
 
 Testament, the New, contents of, 5 ; ancient division of, 7- 
 
 TertuUian, testimony of, to the authentic Scriptures, 13 ; to the martyrdom 
 of Paul and Peter, 18 ; ascribes the Epistle to the Hebrews to Barnabas, 
 19 ; statement of, respecting the laws against the Christians, 520 note. 
 
 Theophilus, a person of distinction at Rome, 61. 
 
 Thessalonians, Paul's First Epistle to the, written from Corinth, 254 ; the 
 earliest of Paul's writings, 266 ; analysis of, 256. 
 
 Thessalonians, Second Epistle to the, occasion and analysis of the, 258. 
 
 Timothy, first notice of, 245 ; joins Paul at Corinth, 253 ; left at Ephesus,> 
 291 ; joins the Apostle in Greece, 292 ; his supposed visit to Corinth in 
 the interim disproved, 296 ; parts with Paul at Miletus, 389 ; joins him 
 at Rome, 380 ; not personally known to the churches of Judea, 457 ; First 
 Epistle to, 307 ; Second Epistle to, 380. 
 
 Timothy, Paul's First Epistle to, when written, 293 ; not a private letter, 
 303 ; analysis of, 307 ; marks of Pauline authorship, 310. 
 
 Timothy, Second Epistle to, written prior to Paul's first appearance before 
 Nero, 380 ; sent to Timothy at Ephesus, 888 ; analysis of, 391 ; coinci- 
 dences with the First Epistle, 393. 
 
 Titus, Paul's Epistle to, when written, 293 ; to be considered as a public 
 charge, 303 ; characteristic features of, 304 ; analysis of, 305. 
 
 Titus, the attendant of Paul and Barnabas on their mission to Jerusalem, 
 239 ; why not circumcised, 246 ; joins St. Paul in Macedonia, 291 ; 
 visits Corinth in place of Timothy, 296 ; when left at Crete, 298 ; after- 
 wards sent to Dalmatia, 302 ; Epistle to, 304. 
 
 Tradition, its incompetency as a substitute for historic records, 17 ; its 
 uncertainty no discouragement in Biblical investigations, 21. 
 
 Trance, nature of the prophetic, 162, 326. 
 
 Transfiguration, the, 136. 
 
 Visions, prophetic, character of, 162, 287, 666. See Apocalypse. 
 
 Witnesses, the three heavenly, controverted passage relating to, 499. 
 Witnesses, the two, how to be interpreted, 572 ; death of, 673 ; and re- 
 : vival, 674. 
 
 Year-day principle of interpretation, 585. 
 
 Zend-Avesta, the, 407. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LEONARD SBELEY, PRINTER, THAMES DITTON, SURREV. 
 
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