effects of the Judaizing teachers. It is also the very term used to describe the exhortations of Judas and Silas, which served for an antidote to the same corruption of the faith in the church of Antioch. They "exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them,” (κài έπεorýρičav.) In like manner Paul, on his second visit, passed through Galatia, "confirming all the disciples,” (ἐπιστηρίζων πάντας τοὺς μαθητάς.)

7. The historical analogy on this view is worthy of observation. Paul and Barnabas preach the gospel in Syria, Cilicia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia. False brethren enter in, and trouble the disciples. The decree or letter of the council is procured and sent, and then Paul and Silas pass through Syria and Cilicia, "confirming (Encorηpiovres) the churches." They next preach throughout Phrygia and Galatia. During their absence in Europe, false teachers trouble the Galatian churches. Paul writes this severe letter of rebuke; and then, about a year afterwards, 66 departed and went in order through the country of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples." He preaches at Thessalonica after he has left Galatia. When he proceeds to Corinth disorders creep in. He writes two letters of admonition, and then, after a longer delay, goes into Macedonia on a second visit, and gives them much exhortation, Acts xx. 2. In like manner he labours at Corinth for eighteen months. During his absence, great disorders and abuses arise. He writes two letters of faithful and affectionate reproof, and then he pays them a second visit. This uniform analogy, in four distinct and successive theatres of apostolic labour, is a powerful confirmation of the view now offered, and may even be regarded as an indirect coincidence, that evinces the truth and reality of the whole narrative.

No. VIII.

Gal. ii. 5. "To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you."

More correctly, that the truth of the gospel might continue unto you (diapéivṛ πpòs vμās). In other words, that it might continue so as to reach unto you. This is a minute and delicate agreement with the history, so delicate that it is lost in the usual version. At the date of the council, Galatia had not yet received the gospel; but the apostle visited them, and founded churches among them, on his very next journey.

CHAPTER III.

THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS.

THE two epistles to the church at Corinth abound with local and personal allusions, and have naturally supplied Paley with the largest materials for his work. The Horæ contain twelve

articles upon each letter, and many of the coincidences developed in them are remarkably interesting and conclusive. After so large a harvest, it would occasion no surprise if we found only a scanty gleaning. This, however, is not the case. Several of the coincidences that remain are perhaps equally striking as those which he has already developed. Since the argument is cumulative, the chapter on this epistle in the Horæ should first be read, before examining the further coincidences, which will be given in the following pages.

No. I.

1 Cor. i. 1. "Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth."

These words, in the opening of the letter, are the subject of a note in the Hora Paulinæ, which Paley has not inserted in the text, because the coincidence is made to depend on a various and less authentic reading. If, however, we can discover a probable coincidence, without recourse to critical violence, it may claim a lawful place in the argument.

First, it is remarkable that, while Silvanus and Timothy are joined in the superscription of two letters, and Timothy alone in four others, Sosthenes is joined here in the address to the Corinthians, while his name never occurs again in all the thirteen letters. Silvanus is named in the epistles four times, and Timothy eighteen times; but Sosthenes here only. Many others, as Luke, Demas, Aristarchus, are named repeatedly, who are never joined in the superscription. It is natural to conclude that there must be some reason, peculiar to the church of Corinth, why Sosthenes is thus associated with the apostle in this letter only.

When we turn to the history of Paul's abode at Corinth, we have the following statement:

Acts xviii. 12-17. "And when Gallio was deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against

Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat, saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law. And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you: but if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters. And he drave them from the judgment seat. Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat; and Gallio cared for none of these things."

If Sosthenes had been beaten by the Jews, no one would have doubted that the same person was meant, here and in the epistle. Some manuscripts have that reading, while others omit either term. Paley conjectures that this last was the original text, and that various supplements have been added, according to the views of the transcribers. But besides the fact that most manuscripts read "all the Greeks,” it is required by the scope of the passage. When the Jews had been repelled with ignominy from the judgment seat, it would be a most unlikely moment for them to venture on an act of violence, even in Gallio's presence; and not less unlikely that the actual ruler of the synagogue should be a Christian and not simply a Jew. The passage clearly speaks its own tale. On the contemptuous repulse of the Jews, the Greek mob, who disliked their religion, and still more their turbulence, seized the opportunity given them by this public disgrace, to inflict a kind of rude justice, as they would reckon it, on the ruler of the synagogue, the leader of those Jews, whom Gallio had driven away as foolish and troublesome accusers. Gallio himself, secretly pleased that the mob should second his own contempt for the Jews, looked on coolly, and refused to interfere. It is thus morally certain that Sosthenes is here exhibited as the leader of the unbelieving and calumnious Jews.

How, then, can the two passages be shown to coincide? Simply by a reference to the statement a few verses before. "And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house." If one chief ruler had already been converted to the faith, clearly the supposition is not at all violent, that the same change might also occur in the case of Sosthenes, his immediate successor in the office. The

history will even go still further, and suggest a very probable occasion of his conversion. It is plain that, after the repulse by Gallio, the Jews were the objects of popular odium, and endured a sort of temporary persecution. We are sure that Paul would have no sympathy with the Greek rioters; and it is almost certain, from his conduct on other occasions, that one of his first efforts would be to express his sympathy for the chief ruler of the synagogue, now in his turn the object of scorn and ill treatment from a licentious populace like that of Corinth. It would not be surprising if such an exhibition of love to an enemy, at such a time, were the means of bringing him to repentance, and turned the ringleader of opposition into "Sosthenes our brother."

We have thus two imperfect presumptions in the history, from the case of Crispus his predecessor, and the probable conduct of St. Paul at a critical season, to render the conversion of Sosthenes highly credible. His name, in the superscription of the letter, since it must be the name of some one well known at Corinth, and of influence there, turns this credible conjecture into a certainty. And now the history, in its turn, explains the superscription. For if Sosthenes had been the ruler of the Jewish synagogue at Corinth; the leading adversary of the apostle, and since then a convert to the faith, and a beloved brother, no name could be so suitable and impressive to unite with his own in the opening salutation. Saul the persecutor and blasphemer, turned into Paul the apostle, and Sosthenes the leader in persecution against that apostle, now become Sosthenes our brother, were two trophies of Divine grace that might fitly stand side by side, and which, when combined, would appeal with double power to the church at Corinth. We have thus a coincidence, most indirect and circuitous, yet beautifully complete. The evidence of personal identity, though constructive, amounts to a moral certainty, while the previous history of Sosthenes is a complete key to his place in the superscription of this one epistle alone.

No. II.

1 Cor. i. 4-7. "I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; that in everything ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge,. .....so that ye come behind in no gift."

It appears from these opening words that the Corinthian

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converts had eminent gifts of "knowledge and utterance," and hence, from the comparatively low moral standard they had attained, they must have been exposed to a great danger of pride in these endowments.

Now if we read the letter with care, we shall discover a peculiar style of remonstrance running through its whole course, and exactly suited to counteract and expose this evil. To show this, it is necessary to quote several passages, and if they are read in their own context, the truth will be placed in a still clearer light.

In the first chapter, towards the close, we have this animated appeal,- "Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?"

In the third chapter we have a double statement bearing on this main evil. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" And again, "If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God."

In the fourth chapter, in reference to his own intended visit, he gives this warning, "I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power."

In the sixth chapter we have no less than five distinct appeals to them, with reference to their supposed knowledge, and the practical use to which it should be applied. "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? . . . Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? ... What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?"

...

The eighth chapter begins with an appeal that is still more pointed in its application, and where our translation needs improvement, to remove its obscurity, and bring out the true meaning.

"Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know (because we all have knowledge; knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. And if any man thinketh that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. But if