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character of the author making fuch reference. Proceeding by this rule, we have, concerning the first epiftle to the Corinthians in particular, within forty years after the epiftle was written, evidence, not only of its being extant at Corinth, but of its being known and read at Rome. Clement, bishop of that city, writing to the church of Corinth, ufes thefe words: Take into "your hands the epiftle of the bleffed Paul "the apostle. What did he at first write "unto you in the beginning of the gospel? "Verily he did by the spirit admonish you "concerning himself and Cephas and Apol"los, because that even then you did form "parties." This was written at a time when probably some must have been living at Corinth, who remembered St. Paul's miniftry there and the receipt of the epistle. The teftimony is ftill more valuable, as it fhows that the epiftles were preferved in the churches to which they were fent, and that they were spread and propagated from them to the reft of the Chriftian community. Agreeably to which natural mode See Lardner, vol. xii. p. 22.

and

and order of their publication, Tertullian, a century afterwards, for proof of the integrity and genuineness of the apoftolic writings, bids "any one, who is willing to exer"cife his curiofity profitably in the bufinefs "of their falvation, to vifit the apoftolical "churches, in which their very authentic “letters are recited, ipfæ authenticæ literæ

eorum recitantur." Then he goes on: "Is “Achaia near you? You have Corinth. If

you are not far from Macedonia, you have “Philippi, you have Theffalonica. If you can go to Afia, you have Ephefus; but if you are near to Italy, you have Rome*." I adduce this paffage to show, that the distinct churches or Chriftian focieties, to which St. Paul's epiftles were fent, fubfifted for some ages afterwards; that his feveral epiftles were all along refpectively read in thofe churches; that Chriftians at large received them from thofe churches, and appealed to those churches for their originality and authencity.

Arguing in like manner from citations and allufions, we have, within the space of a hundred and fifty years from the time * Lardner, vol. ii. p. 598.

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that the first of St. Paul's epiftles was written, proofs of almost all of them being read, in Palestine, Syria, the countries of Afia Minor, in Egypt, in that part of Africa which used the Latin tongue, in Greece, Italy, and Gaul*. I do not mean fimply to affert, that, within the space of a hundred and fifty years, St. Paul's epiftles were read in thofe countries, for I believe that they were read and circulated from the beginning; but that proofs of their being fo read occur within that period. And when it is confidered how few of the primitive Christians wrote, and of what was written how much is loft, we are to account it extraordinary, or rather as a fure proof of the extensiveness of the reputation of thefe writings, and of the general refpect in which they were held, that so many teftimonies, and of fuch antiquity, are still ex,tant. "In the remaining works of Irenæus, Clement of Alexandria, and Ter

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tullian, there are perhaps more and "larger quotations of the fmall volume of "the New Teftament, than of all the works

* See Lardner's Recapitulation, vol. xii. p. 53.

" of

"of Cicero, in the writings of all characters "for feveral ages*." We must add, that the epiftles of Paul come in for their full fhare of this obfervation; and that all the thirteen epiftles, except that to Philemon, which is not quoted by Irenæus or Clement, and which probably escaped notice merely by its brevity, are severally cited, and exprefsly recognized as St. Paul's, by each of these Christian writers. The Ebionites, an early, though inconfiderable Christian fect, rejected St. Paul and his epiftles +; that is, they rejected these epiftles, not because they were not, but because they were St. Paul's; and because, adhering to the obligation of the Jewish law, they chose to difpute his doctrine and authority. Their fuffrage as to the genuineness of the epiftles does not contradict that of, other Chriftians. Marcion, an heretical writer in the former part of the second century, is faid by Tertullian to have rejected three of the epiftles which we now receive, viz. the two Epiftles to Timothy and the epiftle to Titus. It appears to

* Vide Lardner's Recapitulation, vol. xii. p. 53. + Lardner, vol. ii. p. 808.

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me not improbable, that Marcion might make fome fuch diftinction as this, that no apoftolic epiftle was to be admitted which was not read or attefted by the church to which it was fent; for it is remarkable that, together with thefe epiftles to private perfons, he rejected alfo the catholic epiftles. Now the catholic epiftles and the epiftles to private perfons agree in the circumstance of wanting this particular fpecies of atteftation, Marcion, it feems, acknowledged the epiftle to Philemon, and is upbraided for his inconfiftency in doing fo by Tertullian*, who afks "why, when he received a letter written to a single perfon, he should refuse two to Timothy and one to Titus compofed upon the affairs of the church ?” This paffage fo far favours our account of Marcion's objection, as it shows that the objection was fuppofed by Tirtullian to have been founded in fomething, which belonged to the nature of a private letter.

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Nothing of the works of Marcion remains. Probably he was, after all, a rash, arbitrary, licentious critic (if he deserved

* Lardner, vol. xiv. p. 455.

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