but admire the force and sublimity of the expressions. Though he never departs from the authority of the apostolic character, yet the sensibility of his own heart frequently leads him to appeal to the feelings and affections of those to whom he writes; and the zeal of his temper is so constantly apparent throughout his Epistles, that no one can read them with attention, without catching some portion of that fire by which he was animated.

PART II.

CHAPTER THE EIGHTH.

OF THE

GENUINENESS AND ARRANGEMENT

OF

ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES.

OF
Or the fourteen Epistles ascribed to St. Paul (a)

F

in our canon, the first thirteen have, in all ages of the Church, been universally acknowledged to be written by that Apostle. Some doubts have been entertained, as we shall see hereafter, concerning the Epistle to the Hebrews. As the testimonies in favour of the Genuineness of these thirteen Epistles are nearly the same, I shall, to avoid repetition, state them all at once; and I am the more inclined to do this, because the style of these different Epistles is so exactly the same, and of so peculiar a kind (b), that whatever

(a) The learned are not agreed whether these be the only Epistles which St. Paul wrote. I am inclined to think they are, as no other Epistle written by this Apostle is quoted or referred to by any of the Fathers. (b) Vide Paley's Hora Paul, c. I. p. 16,

whatever proves any one of them to be genuine, may be considered as a proof of the Genuineness of them all.

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

1

Dionysius of Alexandria, Eusebius, Athanasius, Epiphanius, Jerome, Augustine, and Chrysostom.

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

The brevity of the Epistle to Philemon, and the private nature of its subject, account for its not being quoted so early or so frequently as the other Epistles of St. Paul. It appears from the above statement, that Tertullian is the earliest author who mentions this Epistle; but he tells us, that it was received by Marcion, who lived in the beginning of the second century. It was always inserted in every catalogue of the books of the New Testament; and, short as it is, it bears strong internal marks of being the genuine production of St. Paul.

The respective dates of these Epistles will be. considered when we speak of them separately; but in the mean time we may observe, that they are not placed in our Bibles (c) in the order in which they were written. The Epistles to whole churches are placed before those which are addressed to particular persons. The Epistle to the Romans is placed first, probably because, when

(c) The order of these Epistles is different in different Greek MSS.

when the Gospel was propogated, Rome was the mistress of the world. The Epistles to the Corinthians are placed next, because Corinth was at that time the capital of Greece. Then comes the Epistle to the Galatians, who were not the inhabitants of a single city, but of a country in Asia Minor, in which several churches had been founded. This is followed by the Epistle to the Ephesians, Ephesus being the principal city of Asia Minor. Philippi was a Roman colony, which might, perhaps, cause the Epistle to the Philippians to be placed before those to the Colossians and Thessalonians, whose cities were not distinguished by any particular circumstance. The Epistles to Timothy have the precedence among those which are written to individuals, because there are two of them; or, because they are the longest; or, because Timothy was a frequent and favourite companion of St. Paul. Then follows the Epistle to Titus, who was a preacher of the Gospel; and the last of these Epistles is that to Philemon, who was probably a private Christian. The Epistle to the Hebrews seems to have been placed the last of all St. Paul's Epistles, because, as was just now observed, some doubts were at first entertained whether it were really written by that Apostle,