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Macedonia, and about to pursue his journey to Corinth. But observe the manner in which this is made to appear "I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast "of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a "year ago, and your zeal hath provoked very many yet "have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should “be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be "ready, lest haply, if they of Macedonia come with me, "and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should "be ashamed in this same confident boasting; " (ix. 2, 3, 4.) St. Paul's being in Macedonia at the time of writing the epistle, is, in this passage, inferred only from his saying, that he had boasted to the Macedonians of the alacrity of his Achaian converts; and from the fear which he expresses, lest, if any of the Macedonian Christians should come with him into Achaia, they should find his boasting unwarranted by the event. The business of the contribution is the sole cause of mentioning Macedonia at all. Will it be insinuated that this passage was framed merely to state that St. Paul was now in Macedonia; and, by that statement, to produce an apparent agreement with the purpose of visiting Macedonia, notified in the First Epistle? Or will it be thought probable, that, if a sophist had meant to place St. Paul in Macedonia, for the sake of giving countenance to his forgery, he would have done it in so oblique a manner as through the medium of the contribution?

The same thing may be observed of another text in the epistle, in which the name of Macedonia occurs: [ii. 12, 13.] "Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's

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gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord, I "had no rest in-my spirit, because I found not Titus, my "brother; but taking my leave of them, I went from "thence into Macedonia." I mean, that it may be observed of this passage also, that there is a reason for mentioning Macedonia, entirely distinct from the purpose of showing St. Paul to be there. Indeed, if the passage before us show that point at all, it shows it so obscurely, that Grotius, though he did not doubt that Paul was now in Macedonia, refers this text to a different journey. Is

this the hand of a forger, meditating to establish a false conformity?

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The text, however, in which it is most strongly implied that St. Paul wrote the present epistle from Macedonia, is found in the fourth, fifth, and sixth verses of the seventh chapter: "I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation; for when we were comé "into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest; without were fightings, within were fears; nevertheless God, that "comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by "the coming of Titus." Yet even here, I think, no one will contend, that St. Paul's coming to Macedonia, or being in Macedonia, was the principal thing intended to be told; or that the telling of it, indeed, was any part of the intention with which the text was written; or that the mention even of the name of Macedonia was not purely incidental, in the description of those tumultuous sorrows with which the writer's mind had been lately agitated, and from which he was relieved by the coming of Titus. The five first verses of the eighth chapter, which commend the liberality of the Macedonian churches, do not, in my opinion, by themselves prove St. Paul to have been in Macedonia, at the time of writing the epistle.

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2. In the First Epistle, St. Paul denounces a severe censure against an incestuous marriage, which had taken place amongst the Corinthian converts, with the connivance, not to say with the approbation, of the church ; and enjoins the church to purge itself of this scandal, by expelling the offender from its society: "It is reported commonly, that there is fornication among you, and "such fornication as is not so much as named amongst "the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife; "and ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, "that he that hath done this deed might be taken away "from among you; for I, verily, as absent in body, but 66 present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed; in "the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are "gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our "Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such a one unto Satan for

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"the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved "in the day of the Lord; " (v. 1-5.) In the Second Epistle, we find this sentence executed, and the offender to be so affected with the punishment, that St. Paul now intercedes for his restoration: "Sufficient to such a man "is this punishment, which was inflicted of many, so that, "contrariwise, ye ought rather to forgive him and com"fort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed 66 up with over-much sorrow; wherefore I beseech you, that ye would confirm your love towards him." (2 Cor. ii. 6, 7, 8.) Is this whole business feigned for the sake of carrying on a continuation of story through the two epistles? The church also, no less than the offender, was brought by St. Paul's reproof to a deep sense of the impropriety of their conduct. Their penitence, and their respect to his authority, were, as might be expected, exceedingly grateful to St. Paul: "We were comforted, "not by Titus's coming only, but by the consolation "wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us "your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind "towards me, so that I rejoiced the more; for, though I "made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I "did repent; for I perceive that the same epistle hath "made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now "I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye "sorrowed to repentance; for ye were made after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing;" (vii. 7-9.) That this passage is to be referred to the incestuous marriage, is proved by the twelfth verse of the same chapter: "Though I wrote "unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the "wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong; but that our care for you, in the sight of God, might appear "unto you." There were, it is true, various topics of blame noticed in the First Epistle; but there was none, except this of the incestuous marriage, which could be called a transaction between private parties, or of which it could be said that one particular person had "done the wrong," and another particular person "had suffered it." Could all this be without foundation? or could it be put

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into the Second Epistle, merely to furnish an obscurè sequel to what had been said about an incestuous marriage in the First?

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3. In the sixteenth chapter of the First Epistle, a collection for the saints is recommended to be set forwards at Corinth : "Now, concerning the collection for the "saints, as I have given order [lately, A. xviii. 23.] to "the churches of Galatia, so do ye; (xvi. 1.) In the ninth chapter of the Second Epistle, such a collection is spoken of, as in readiness to be received: "As touching "the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to "write to you, for I know the forwardness of your mind, " for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago, and your zeal hath provoked "very many; (ix. 1, 2.) This is such a continuation of the transaction as might be expected; or, possibly it will be said, as might easily be counterfeited: but there is a circumstance of nicety in the agreement between the two epistles, which, I am convinced, the author of a forgery would not have hit upon, or which, if he had hit upon it, he would have set forth with more clearness. The Second Epistle speaks of the Corinthians as having begun this eleemosynary business a year before: "This is expedient "for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also "to be forward a year ago;" (viii. 10.) "I boast of you "to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year "ago;" (ix. 2.) From these texts it is evident, that something had been done in the business a year before. pears, however, from other texts in the epistle, that the contribution was not yet collected or paid; for brethren were sent from St. Paul to Corinth," to make up their "bounty;" (ix. 5.) They (ix. 5.) They are urged to " are urged to "perform the doing of it;" (viii. 11.) " And every man was exhorted "to give as he purposed in his heart;" (ix. 7.) The contribution therefore, as represented in our present epistle, was in readiness, yet not received from the contributors ; was begun, was forward long before, yet not hitherto collected. Now this representation agrees with one, and only with one supposition, namely, that every man had laid by in store, had already provided the fund, from which he

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was afterwards to contribute the very case which the First Epistle authorises us to suppose to have existed; for in that epistle St. Paul had charged the Corinthians, upon the first day of the week, every one of them to lay by in store as God had prospered him."* (1 Cor. xvi. 2.)

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*The following observations will satisfy us concerning the purity of our apostle's conduct in the suspicious business of a pecuniary contribution.

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1. He disclaims the having received any inspired authority for the directions which he is giving: "I speak not by commandment, "but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love." (2 Cor. viii. 8.) Who, that had a sinister purpose to answer by the recommending of subscriptions, would thus distinguish, and thus lower the credit of his own recommendation ?

2. Although he asserts the general right of christian ministers to a maintenance from their ministry, yet he protests against the making use of this right in his own person: "Even so hath the "Lord ordained, that they which preach the gospel should live of "the gospel; but I have used none of these things, neither have I "written these things that it should be so done unto me; for it "were better for me to die, than that any man should make my "glorying, i. e. my professions of disinterestedness, void." (1 Cor. ix. 14, 15.)

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3. He repeatedly proposes that there should be associates with himself in the management of the public bounty; not colleagues of his own appointment, but persons elected for that purpose by the contributors themselves: "And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality "unto Jerusalem; and if it be meet that I go also, they shall go "with me." (1 Cor. xvi. 3, 4.) And in the Second Epistle, what is here proposed, we find actually done, and done for the very purpose of guarding his character against any imputation that might be brought upon it, in the discharge of a pecuniary trust: "And "we have sent with him the brother, whose praise is in the gospel "throughout all the churches; and not that only, but who was also "chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace (gift) "which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord and "declaration of your ready mind; avoiding this, that no "should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us; providing for things honest, not only in the sight of the Lord, "but also in the sight of men;" i. e. "not resting in the con"sciousness of our own integrity, but in such a subject, careful also "to approve our integrity to the public judgment." (2 Cor. viii. 18-21.)

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