PREFACE TO THE EPISTLES. THE Lord Jesus before his death informed his apostles, (John xvi. 12,) that he had “ many things to say to" them which they could not then bear; but that "when the Spirit of truth was come, he would guide them into all truth," or rather, "into all the truth," as es raoav тnv ahnbeiav properly signifies, namely, the whole truth comprehended in the gospel dispensation. From this it is evident, that Jesus, while he was on earth, did not declare, at least clearly and fully, all the doctrines of the gospel, all that was necessary to be believed and practised by mankind; but left many things to be revealed by the Holy Ghost, to the persons who, after his departure, were to make them known to the world. In this method of revealing the gospel, as Dr. Macknight has justly observed, "there was both dignity and propriety. For the Son of God came from heaven, not [chiefly] to make the gospel revelation, but to be the subject of it, by doing and suffering all that was necessary to procure the salvation of mankind. But although it was not our Lord's intention to make a complete revelation of the gospel in person, he occasionally delivered many [indeed, most] of its doctrines and precepts in the hearing of his followers, that when the persons commissioned by him to preach the gospel in its full extent, executed their commission, the world, by observing the perfect conformity of their doctrine with his, might entertain no doubt of their authority and inspiration, in those further discoveries which they made concerning the matters of which Christ himself had spoken nothing." One of the apostles, namely, Judas, having fallen from his office by transgression, the eleven judged it necessary to supply his place; and for that purpose chose Matthias, by lot. In this, however, some think they acted, not by the direction of the Holy Ghost, for he was not yet given them, but merely by the dictates of human prudence, which, on that occasion, they suppose, carried them too far; no man, nor body of men whatever, having power by their designation to confer an office whose authority was to bind the consciences of all men, and whose duties could not be performed without the gifts of extraordinary inspiration and miracles. To ordain an apostle, they say, belonged to Christ alone, who, with the appointment, could also confer the supernatural powers necessary to the function. Some time, therefore, after the election of Matthias, Jesus himself, they think, superseded it, by appointing another to be his apostle and witness in the place of Judas. "In the choice of this new apostle, Jesus had a view to the conversion of the Gentiles; which, of all the services allotted to the apostles, was the most dangerous and difficult. For the person engaged in that work had to contend with the heathen priests, whose office and gains being annihilated by the spreading of the gospel, it was to be expected that they would oppose its preachers with an extreme rage. He had to contend, likewise, with the unbelieving Jews living in heathen countries, who would not fail to inflame the idolatrous multitude against any one who should preach salvation to the Gentiles without requiring them to obey the law of Moses. The philosophers too were to be encountered, who, no doubt, laboured to destroy it by persecuting its preachers and abetters. The difficulty and danger of preaching to the Gentiles being so great, the person who enaged in it certainly needed an uncommon strength of mind, a great degree of religious zeal, a courage superior to every danger, and a patience of labour and suffering not to be exhausted, together with much prudence, to enable him to avoid giving just offence to unbelievers. Besides these, natural talents, education, and literature were necessary, in the person who endeavoured to convert the Gentiles, that he might acquit himself with propriety when called before kings, and magistrates, and men of learning. All these talents and advantages Saul of Tarsus possessed in an eminent degree; and, having been a violent PREFACE TO THE EPISTLES. persecutor of the Christians, his testimony to the resurrection of Jesus would have the greater weight, when he became a preacher of the gospel. Him, therefore, the Lord Jesus determined to make his apostle in the room of Judas; and for that purpose he appeared to him from heaven, as he journeyed to Damascus to persecute his disciples. And having convinced him of the truth of his resurrection, by thus appearing to him in person, he commissioned him to preach it to the Gentiles, together with the doctrines of the gospel, which were to be made known to him afterward by revelation. See Acts xxvi. 16-18. Such was the commission which Jesus, in person, gave to Saul of Tarsus, afterward called Paul; so that, although he had not attended Jesus during his ministry, he was, in respect both of his election to the office and his fitness for it, rightly numbered with the apostles."-Macknight. The apostles, having received their commission to preach the gospel to all nations, and being endued with divine inspiration and miraculous powers for that purpose, went forth and published the things which concerned the Lord Jesus, first in Judea, and afterward among the Gentiles; and, by the reasonableness of their doctrine, the holiness of their lives, the greatness of their sufferings, and the miracles which they performed, persuaded great multitudes, both of the Jews and Gentiles, to believe and obey the gospel, and openly to profess themselves Christ's disciples, notwithstanding, by so doing, they exposed themselves to sufferings and death. In is evident, therefore, that the world is indebted to the apostles, under God, for the complete knowledge of the gospel. Under God, it must be observed; for the praise of enlightening mankind is due only to them as instruments, the Divine Spirit communicating unto them that knowledge of the truths of the gospel wherewith they were to enlighten others, and confirming those truths by signs and wonders, and miracles innumerable. Because the Author of the Christian religion left nothing in writing for the instruction of the world, the apostles and others, who were witnesses of his holy and benevolent actions, his miracles, his sufferings, his resurrection and ascension, and who heard his divine discourses, besides preaching these things to all nations, have taken care that the knowledge of them should not be left to the uncertainty of a vague tradition, handed down from age to age. Four of these witnesses wrote, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, histories of Christ's ministry, to which the name of gospels hath been given; being the same which are in our possession at this day. In these excellent writings, every thing relating to the Lord Jesus is set forth in a plain, unadorned narration, which bears the clearest marks of authenticity. In like manner, that the revelation of the gospel doctrines, which was made to the apostles by the Spirit, and which they delivered to the world, in their discourses and conversation, might not be left to the uncertainty of tradition, but be preserved uncorrupted to the end of time, the Holy Ghost moved certain of these divinely-inspired teachers to commit their doctrine to writing, in epistles; some of which they addressed to particular churches, others to particular persons, and others to believers in general; all which are still in our possession. Inasmuch, then, as in the four gospels and in the Acts, we have the history of our Lord's ministry and of the spreading of the gospel in the first age, written by inspiration; and, seeing that, in the apostolical epistles, the doctrines and precepts of our religion are set forth by the like inspiration, these writings ought to be highly esteemed by all Christians, as the rule of their faith and practice; and no doctrine ought to be received as an article of faith, nor any precept acknowledged as obligatory, but what is contained in them. With respect, however, to the gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles, let it be remarked that, while the greatest regard is due to them, especially to the gospels, because they contain the words of Christ himself, we are not in them to look for a full account of the gospel scheme. Their professed design is to give, not a complete delineation of our religion, but the history of its Founder, and of that illustrious display which he made of his glory, as the Son of God and Saviour of the world, together with an account of the spreading of the gospel after our Lord's ascension. The gospel doctrine is to be found complete only in the epistles, where it is exhibited PREFACE TO THE EPISTLES. with great accuracy by the apostles, to whom the Holy Ghost revealed it, as Christ had promised. With regard to the authenticity of these epistles, we may observe, with Dr. Whitby, that if we consider all the writings which pass for authentic records in the world, we shall find there is not any reason to conceive them such, which is not, with advantage, applicable to these books. All the arguments which can be offered to prove a book or writing genuine, are only of two kinds; external, from the testimony of persons who lived near to the times of the author; and internal, from the things contained in, and asserted by, those writings, and the firm belief they obtained among them to whom they were directed and committed. The external testimonies have their force partly from the number and eminence of the testators, their nearness to the times when such writings are said to have been composed, or published from the original copies preserved by those to whom they were at first committed; and partly from the general reception and citation of them as the writings and records of such authors. Now, with respect to these external evidences, no writings can compare with these epistles, they having all the circumstances by which any writing can be proved genuine, and many others of great weight, which are peculiar to them, and which no other writings can pretend to. First. They have all the circumstances by which any writing can be proved genuine. 1. Their originals were preserved in their respective churches till Tertullian's time, who speaks thus to the heretics of his age, namely, of the third century: "Go to the apostolical churches, where their authentic epistles are still recited, representing the voice and face of each of them." 2. They were not doubted of, but, as Clement and Origen say, (excepting only the epistle to the Hebrews,) were generally received by all orthodox Christians throughout the world. 3. The writers by whom they were cited lived either in those times when they were written, as Clemens Romanus, or in the very next age, as Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, and Irenæus; who were, therefore, styled apostolical men. 4. Those who cite these writings were eminent, both for their learning, and for their sufferings for the faith contained in them; or for their opposition to it, as Celsus was. Now, surely, we have unquestionable certainty of books which have been handed down to us by the tradition of all ages of the church, inserted in all her catalogues, cited by all her writers, as books of divine authority, and by her very adversaries; preserved so long in their originals, and of the authenticity of which no doubt was ever entertained by any genuine member of the Church of Christ. But, besides this, it must be observed, Secondly. There are many circumstances of great weight, which are peculiar to these writings; as, 1. A general dispersion of them throughout all those places where any were converted to that faith which the apostles preached; for the apostles, says Irenæus, "first preached the gospel, and afterward, by the will of God, in Scripturis nobis tradiderunt, delivered it to us in writing, to be hereafter the pillar and foundation of our faith," lib. iii. cap. 1. Eusebius bears the same testimony, Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. cap. 37. 2. The translation of them into other languages; as into the Syriac, a translation so ancient, that it leaves out the second epistle of Peter, the second and third epistles of John, and the Revelation, as being books which, for a time, were controverted in some of the eastern churches; and into Latin, styled, in Jerome's time, "the old translation;" and very probably made when the Latin Church was first planted, it being the custom of all churches to read the Scriptures on the Lord's day, which certainly they would not do in a language not understood by those that heard it. 3. The constant reading of them, in public and in private, in their assemblies, and in their families and closets. "On Sundays," saith Justin Martyr, "all the Christians in the city or country meet together, and then we have read unto us the writings of the prophets, тa añoμvnμovevμata тwv añosov, the monuments of the apostles;" and having read them, they publicly expounded them to the people. They were also read by the most eminent and pious Christians every day, ut discat PREFACE TO THE EPISTLES. unusquisque ex Scripturis sanctis officium suum, "that every one may learn his duty from the Holy Scriptures."-Consti. of Clement, lib. vi. cap. 27. 4. The dreadful torments which the Christians chose to suffer, rather than they would desert the faith contained in these books, or deliver them up to their tormentors, and the infamy of those that did so, they being branded with the odious name of traditores, or "deliverers up," namely, of the sacred writings. Now, what writings in the world have been so generally dispersed, so much perused by all sorts of persons, friends, foes, asserters of and enemies to the faith of Christians? What laws or writings have been so early translated into other languages? Who were so much concerned to peruse any laws or writings, as all Christians were to peruse the laws of Christ? Who suffered so much for any books, as the Christians did for theirs? Since, then, this early reading of these records, in public and in private, by the Christians, this general dispersion of them through all Christian churches, this quick translation of them into other languages, this constant suffering for them, are all corroborating circumstances of the unquestionable evidence all Christians had obtained that they were genuine and authentic writings, and indeed what they pretended to be; it is also clear that these records are more worthy to be received as genuine, and books of unquestionable truth, than any profane writings in the world. We come now to speak of the internal arguments which are usually offered to prove other writings genuine. These are taken from the things contained in them; such as that they were proper to the times in which the authors were supposed to write, and free from every thing not well consistent with those times, which are mean and trifling circumstances, compared to those internal arguments which these epistles afford; that they are the authentic records of those apostles whose names they bear; and that those things which they assert, especially respecting the gifts and powerful operations of the Holy Ghost, both exercised by them, and conferred on others, with all the other facts which they attest, were unquestionably true. For, 1. It is not once or twice, it is not by the by; but it is frequently, professedly, and upon all occasions, that they refer to those miraculous powers and spiritual gifts, as yielding a full proof and confirmation of the testimony they bore to Christ; and that "Christ was among them;" and as a demonstration of the truth of their apostleship against all opposers, and of the preference of that faith which was attended with such gifts and powers, above the Mosaic law, which some desired to observe; spending whole chapters in discoursing of these spiritual endowments, distinguishing them somewhat nicely into gifts, administrations, and operations, ranking them under nine several heads, (1 Cor. xii. 8-10,) and specifying the very names of those who did by office exercise them; and showing the necessity there was of this variety of gifts and operations in the body; appealing to the senses, the consciences, and the experience of those to whom they wrote, touching the truth and certainty of what they asserted respecting these spiritual gifts. See especially Rom. xv. 18, 19; 1 Cor. ix. 1, 2; xii. 4, &c. ; 2 Cor. xii. 12; Gal. iii. 3-5; 1 Thess. i. 5. 2. These men, in these very writings, speak confidently of the "testimony of their conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity they had their conversation in the world;"-that they wrote no other thing than what their converts did acknowledge, and they trusted would acknowledge, to the end;—that they were "made manifest" to God, and they "trusted were also made manifest" in the consciences of those to whom they wrote; representing it as a great absurdity that they should be found false witnesses to God, and distinguishing themselves from others, whom they call false apostles and deceitful workers, by this very character of their sincerity. See 2 Cor. i. 13; v. 11; 1 Cor. xv. 15; 2 Cor. ii. 17; iv. 2; 1 Thess. ii. 3-10. Now, with what face could they have asserted these things, if they had known that in these very epistles they had declared (for instance, respecting their miracles) what even the senses and experience of those to whom they wrote must assure them won the greatest falsehoods? Or how could they to whom they wrote give credit to such impudent |