Another consideration is, that Seneca's philosophy was the Stoic; and he might soon and easily discover that the doctrines of the Jewish teacher upon the moral and physical government of the Supreme Mind, had a striking affinity to his own. The many sublime truths of theology, comprised in the Stoical system, are well displayed by the learned Thomas Gataker in his Preface to his Antoninus, of which a good abstract is prefixed to Simpson's Epictetus, Cebes, and Theophrastus. That the distinguishing doctrines of Christianity were to the Roman Philosopher "a stumbling-block and foolishness," there is too much reason to believe: but he might make many visits to Paul's "hired lodging," and contract a feeling of reverence and admiration for the man in whom shone such noble qualities; before he had proceeded to the length of finally rejecting the Gospel. His own theology was Pantheistic; his sublime of virtue was proud contempt of pain, or to end it by self-murder; his fortune was splendid, and he contradicted his philosophy by his avarice; but he was a man of mild and gentle manners, his thirst for knowledge was insatiable, and with good reason it may be supposed that whatever he had heard casually and imperfectly of Christianity he found to have so many points of affinity with his many excellent sentiments, as to create a strong desire to obtain a further acquaintance with it. It would have been much more surprising, if the author of the Natural Questions, who took so vast a range in physical inquiries, and drew from them moral reflections of exquisite beauty, (cap. vii. § 30,) had felt no desire to draw knowledge from the Jewish sage. Inviting opportunity existed. During a period which might extend over many months, Seneca had it in his power to hold high converse with the Christian prisoner, and could scarcely avoid the acquiring of something from the riches of divine philosophy.

If this hypothesis be accepted, a just and reasonable cause is found of those coincidences in sentiment and phraseology which so abundantly exist; but which, without such an hypothesis, must appear unaccountable. Godfrey Less, a man whose learning and piety rendered him a worthy judge, in an

unfinished work (über die Religion, ihre Geschichte, Wahl, und Bestätigung, I. 193,) on Religion, its History, Selection, and Establishment, thus writes upon the remarkable points of resemblance between the Epistle to the Hebrews and Seneca's Treatise on Providence ; "If this book was actually written by Seneca, and has received no interpolations, he must have read the Epistle to the Hebrews. For indeed one may well suppose that a philosopher, a man of extensive reading, and living in Rome, where was a Christian church so considerable as to have become an object of attention to Nero, would not fail to see the writings of that community." Cited by Gelpke, p. 49.

The Christian scholar will be well rewarded for reading Seneca's treatise, by the many admirable sentiments which he will find, and often most happily expressed notwithstanding a little affectation of point and contrast. In relation to the present argument, the observance of coincidences will be found very striking. But the perusal of Mr. Gelpke's work will, if I mistake not, be eminently satisfactory, by its luminous treatment of the books compared, by its clear and candid argumentation, and even by its being, to a considerable extent, a commentary upon the Epistle. He shews, to my conviction, that the position which, on various grounds he establishes, of the connexion between Paul and Seneca, obviates many difficulties which have been brought as objections to the Epistle; and brings a moral proof of great cogency that none but Paul could be its author.

Neither Mr. Stuart nor Mr. Forster could be acquainted with this interesting treatise, as their works were written, if not printed, before it was published: and Gelpke's earlier work had certainly not come to their knowledge, as very few copies were printed, and those were chiefly distributed among the author's friends. It was entitled, An Investigation of the Probability of the Intercourse traditionally affirmed to have taken place between the Apostle Paul and Seneca the Philosopher.*

* De Familiaritate quæ Paulo Apostolo cum Seneca philosopho intercessisse traditur, Verisimillima. Leipzig, 1813.

Another and that very important contribution to the evidence on the great question has been made by a person from whom it might little have been expected, and whose suffrage as an argument from probability is of value, because his predilections were likely to have borne his judgment in the opposite direction. He is no other than the greatest surviving patriarch of the German Anti-supernaturalists, Henry Eberhard Gottlob Paulus. In 1833, he published The Admonitory Writing of the Apostle Paul to the Hebrew Christians; faithfully translated, with Elucidatory Parentheses, a Continuous Exposition, a Critical Introduction, and Observations on Difficult Passages.* He discusses "the Origin of the Epistle” at great length, and with a remarkable acuteness and penetration. He is particularly happy in treating the differences in the choice of words, and the style which are observable in a comparison with the other Epistles of Paul; and accounts for them by estimating the very different state of mind in which the apostle could not but be, in reference to the occasion and design of this treatise or even oration, rather than epistle, as compared with the others. He pictures the apostle as pouring forth the stream of holy eloquence, with a power and fervour unrivalled, till he has comprehended all his objects. In a few sentences at the close of the address, he comes down to the epistolary style. Dr. Paulus conjectures that Luke employed the pen in writing down the speech which thus flowed from his great companion's animated lips. He observes,-" Very different from each other are a dictated letter, and an address of exhortation which had before been perfectly thought over, its plan systematically sketched, and then the whole committed to writing. From this very different ground-work, origination, and design, the great difference, impossible to be mistaken, between the apostle's letters and this Paraclesis, is perfectly explicable, and is founded in

Des Apostels Paulus Ermahnungs-Schreiben an die Hebräer Christen; wortgetreu übersetz, mit Erläuternden Zwischensätzen, einer fortlaufenden Sinnerklärung, kritischen Einleitung, und Bemerkungen über schwerere Stellen. Heidelberg, 1833.

the very nature of the case. The much more definite and precise arrangement of the whole body of materials, and the selection of the most expressive Greek words, are plainly manifested the rounding of the periods is as certainly in this case characteristic, as the exquisite invention and the ample unfolding of the arguments, particularly from the application of Old Testament passages. But all this shews only the difference between what Paul could effect when merely dictating a letter, and when composing a methodical deduction according to a settled plan. On the other hand, the matter contained, down to the smallest particulars, is all so genuinely Pauline, that certainly no other person, if even the apostle had furnished him with the sentiments, could possibly have introduced so much of the characteristic peculiarity." Introd. p. xxi.

This Introduction occupies sixty-four large pages: but it would be impossible for me to do it justice by any abstract, and to insert the whole would be manifestly improper. The reader will not forget that it expresses the judgment of a man who has distinguished himself by rejecting to a great extent, though not so far as some of his more daring followers, the miraculous facts and most essential doctrines of Christianity. The peculiar value of his declarations on the authenticity of the Epistle to the Hebrews, lies in their being the results of an investigation merely literary and critical, and to which his general prepossessions were little likely to have disposed him.

This note may have appeared tedious; but, considering the weight of talent and of illustrious names which have been arrayed against the reception of this Epistle as of Paul, it is important to have the mind settled upon good grounds in a conviction of its being the genuine work of the Apostle of the Gentiles, the product of inspiration, and stamped with the authority of heaven.

Y

Note XXV.-page 202.

ON THE CONNEXION OF THE IDEAS OF RANSOM AND
ATONEMENT.

In the passage here quoted, Egypt is said to become the ransom (kopher) for the Jewish nation; as the course of calamitous events which appeared impending over the latter, was averted; and, by the remarkable providence of God, was made to fall upon the former. The same idea occurs in two passages of the Proverbs. "The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead." xi. 8. "The wicked is a ransom (kopher) for the righteous, and the transgressor instead of the upright." xxi. 18. Frequently, in the Book of Psalms, it is made an observation upon the conduct of Providence, that "the wicked fall into the pit which they have digged," that the mischievous devices which they had planned against the servants of God, are not only frustrated, but fall back upon the heads of their authors. So Haman came to the wretched end which he had prepared for Mordecai; and the accusers of Daniel were thrown to the lions' den, out of which he had been delivered. Such instances may be deemed moral elucidations of the words ( kaphar and

its cognate forms) so often occurring in the Old Testament, to denote the pardon of sin, deliverance from its consequences, and the means of obtaining those results.

The primary meaning of the verb is to cover, to draw over ; and, in the conjugation pihel, it acquired the significations to forgive (as it were, to cover an offence,) and to do any act which should be the cause or occasion of forgiveness; and thence, by a further process in the flow of ideas, to compensate, to expiate, to propitiate, and to accept an expiation: and these senses passed on to the cognate noun. Jacob's hope, under the alarming anticipation of meeting his brother, was, "I will propitiate (akapperah) his presence with a gift."