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

ὡς τινες, συστατικων επιστολων προς ύμας, η εξ ὑμων συστατικων ; ή επιστολη ήμων ύμεις εστε, εγ γεγραμμένη εν ταις καρδίαις ἡμων, γινωσκομένη και αναγινωσκομένη ύπο παντων ανθρωπων φανερόμενοι ότι εστε επιστολή Χριστε διακονηθεῖσα ὑφ' ήμων, εγγε γραμμένη 3 μελανι, αλλα πνευματι Θεου ζωντος· εκ εν πλαξι λίθιναις, αλλ' εν πλαξι καρδιας σαρκι

ναις.

Again, 2 Cor. ch. iii. 12, &c. at the word vail : “ Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech and not as Moses which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. But their minds were blinded; for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which vail is done away in Christ; but even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart: nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away (now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty). But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Therefore, seeing

we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not."

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

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

heavens, that he might fill all things). And he gave some, apostles," &c.

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

ye

spectly."

No. IV.

Although it does not appear to have ever been disputed that the epistle before us was written by St. Paul, yet it is well known that a doubt has long been entertained concerning the persons to whom it was addressed. The question is founded partly in some ambiguity in the external evidence. Marcion, a heretic of the second century, as quoted by Tertullian, a father in the beginning of the third, calls it the Epistle to the Laodiceans. From what we know of Marcion, his judgement is little to be relied upon; nor is it perfectly clear that Marcion was rightly understood by Tertullian. If, however,

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Marcion be brought to prove that some copies in his time gave εν Λαοδικειᾳ in the superscription, his testimony, if it be truly interpreted, is not diminished by his heresy; for, as Grotius observes, "cur mea re mentiretur nihil erat causa." The name εν Epar, in the first verse, upon which word singly depends the proof that the epistle was written to the Ephesians, is not read in all the manuscripts now extant. I admit, however, that the external evidence preponderates with a manifest excess on the side of the received reading. The objection therefore principally arises from the contents of the epistle itself, which, in many respects, militate with the supposition that it was written to the church of Ephesus. According to the history, St. Paul had passed two whole years at Ephesus, Acts, chap. xix. 10. And in this point, viz. of St. Paul having preached for a considerable length of time at Ephesus, the history is confirmed by the two Epistles to the Corinthians, and by the two Epistles to Timothy. "I will tarry at Ephesus unto Pentecost," 1 Cor. ch. xvi. ver. 8. "We would not have you ignorant

of our trouble which came to us in Asia,” 2 Cor. ch. i. 8. "As I besought thee to

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