course of atoms without any intervention of the Deity, and the latter maintained that the world was not created at all, and that all things had continued as they now are from all eternity. That seeing he is Lord of heaven and earth, he dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things: which was levelled not so much against the philosophers as against the popular religion of Athens; for the philosophers seldom or never sacrificed, unless in compliance with the custom of their country, and even the Epicureans themselves admitted the self-sufficiency of the Deity: but the people believed very absurdly that there were local gods, that the Deity, notwithstanding his immensity, might be confined within temples, and notwithstanding his all-sufficiency was fed with the fat and fumes of sacrifices, as if he could really stand in need of any sustenance, who giveth to all life and breath and all things. -That he hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation: which was not only opposed to the Epicureans, who derived the beginning of the human race from the mere effects of matter and motion, and to the Peripatetics or Aristotelians, who denied mankind to have any beginuing at all, having subsisted in eternal successions; but was moreover opposed to the general pride and conceit of the people of Athens, who boasted themselves to be Aborigines, to be descended from none other stock or race of men, but to be themselves originals and natives of their own country. That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and more, and have our being: which fundamental truth, with the greatest propriety and elegance, he confirms by a quotation from one of their own poets, Aratus, the Cilician, his own countryman, who lived above three hundred years before, and in whose astronomical poem this hemistich is still extant. As certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. An evident proof that he knew how to illustrate divinity with the graces of classical learning, and was no stranger to a taste and politeness worthy of an Attic audience. That forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art and man's device: which was plainly pointed at the gross idolatry of the lower people, who thought the very idols themselves to be gods, and terminated their worship in them. That the times of this ignorance God winked at or overlooked; as he said before to the people of Lystra, In former times God suffered all nations to walk in their own ways; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: which doctrine of the necessity of repentance must have been very mortifying to the pride and vanity of the philosophers, and especially of the Stoics, whose wise man was equal if not superior to God himself. Because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead: till now they had heard him with silence and attention, because though every period of his discourse glanced at some of his hearers, yet it coincided with the notions of others, and he had not before touched and offended them altogether: but when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, (the Epicureans, and the men of wit and pleasure,) and others said, (the Platonists, and the graver sort of his audience,) We will hear thee again of this matter, putting it off to a more convenient season. So Paul departed from among them, leaving them, as they deserved, to themselves. Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed (a diminutive expression to signify, that he made but very few converts); among whom the principal were Dionysius the Areopagite (who is said to have been afterwards constituted the first bishop of Athens), and a woman of rank named Damaris. 4. In St. Paul's discourse to Felix, (Acts xxiv.) he had for his hearer a Roman governor, who was remarkable for his lust and injustice; a man, who was very unlikely to bear, much less to reform by, a pointed reproof from his own prisoner. This then was a case, which required great art as well as great courage; and accordingly we find our apostle mingled the wisdom of the serpent with the innocence of the dove. He had honesty enough, to rebuke the sins; and yet prudence enough, not to offend the sinner. He had the courage to put even his judge in mind of his crimes; yet with so much address, as not to offend his person, an example, the most worthy of our imitation; as it would greatly contribute to make the bitter portion of reproof, if not palatable, at least salutary and successful. How artfully then does Saint Paul insinuate himself into the soul of this great sinner, and shake his conscience at the remembrance of his vices! not by denouncing vengeance against him, for his lust and injustice; but by placing in the strongest point of light the opposite virtues, showing their reasonableness in themselves, and their rewards at the day of judgment. For he reasoned, not of unrighteousness, not of incontinence, -but of righteousness and chastity; --and by holding forth a beautiful picture of these necessary virtues, he left it to Felix to form the contrast, and to infer the blackness of his own vices. A masterly stroke! and it effectually succeeded: for, as the prisoner spake, the judge trembled. 5. The last instance, which we shall notice of this apostle's fine address and politeness, is to be found in his celebrated reply to king Agrippa, who publicly declared to him that he had almost persuaded him to be a Christian. Would to God that not only THOU, but also ALL that hear me this day, were both ALMOST, and ALTOGETHER, such as I am, EXCEPT THESE BONDS. (Acts xxvi. 29.) What a prodigious effect must this striking conclusion, and the sight of the irons held up to enforce it, make upon the minds of the audience! To his singular attainments in learning the Roman governor publicly bore an honourable testimony, imagining that the intenseness of bis application to his studies, and his profound erudition, had disordered his understanding, and occasioned this supposed insanity. The writings of Paul show him to have been eminently acquainted with Greek learning and Hebrew literature. He greatly excelled in the profound and accurate knowledge of the Old Testament, which he perpetually cites and explains with great skill and judgment, and pertinently accommodates to the subject which he is discussing. Born at Tarsus, one of the most illustrious seats of the muses in those days, initiated in that city into the learning and philosophy of the Greeks, conversing, in early life, with their most elegant and celebrated writers, whom we find him quoting,1 and after 1 It is universally acknowledged that Paul had read the Greek poets, and has quoted Aratus, Epimenides, and Menander; though it is scarcely suspected by any one, that he quotes or refers to Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. There is, however, (Dr. A. Clarke observes,) such a similarity between the following quotations and the apostle's words, that we are almost persuaded that they were present to his comprehensive mind and if they were, he extends the thought infinitely higher, by language incomparably more exalted. 1 Tim. vi. 15. Ο μακάριος και μόνος Δυνάστης, ὁ Βασιλεύς των βασιλευόντων, και Κύριος TWV KUPICUOUTWV.-The blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords. The Supreme Being is also styled the King of kings, and the Blessed, by Eschylus in his tragedy of the Supplicants: Αναξ ανακτών, μακαρων Τελειότατον κρατος. Ver. 520. Ed. Porson. "O King of kings, most Blessed of the blessed, most Perfect of the perfect" 1 Tim. vi. 16. Ο μόνος έχων αθανασίαν, φως οικών απρόσιτον. mortality, dwelling in the light which no man can come unto. Who only hath im In the Antigone of Sophocles, there is a sublime address to Jove, of which the following is an extract: Αγήρως χρονῳ Δυνάστας Ver. 608. Edit. Brunck. "But thou, an ever-during potentate, dost inhabit the refulgent splendour of Olympus!" "This passage," says Dr. Clarke, "is grand and noble; but how insignificant does it appear, when contrasted with the superior sublimity of the inspired writer! The deity of Sophocles dwells in the dazzling splendour of heaven; but the God of Paul inhabits light, so dazzling and so resplendent, that it is perfectly unapproachable!" Once more, in 2 Tim. iv. 7. we read, Τον αγώνα τον καλον ηγονισμαι, τον δρόμον τε Tha-I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course. There is a passage in the Alcestis of Euripides, in which the very expressions used here by the apostle are found, and spoken on the occasion of a wife laying down her life for her husband, when both his parents had refused to do it. Ουκ ηθέλησας ουδ' ετολμησας θανειν Alcest. v. 644. "Thou wouldest not, neither darest thou to die for thy son; but hast suffered this strange woman to do it, whom I justly esteem to be alone my father and mother thou would'st have fought a good fight had'st thou died for thy son." The kalov aywv, good fight, was used among the Greeks to express a contest of the most honourable kind; and in this sense the apostle uses it. (Dr. A. Clarke, on 1 Tim. vi. 16 and on 2 Tim. iv. 8.) wards finishing his course of education at the feet of Gamaliel, the learned Jewish rabbi, he came forth into public and active life, with a mind stored with the most ample and various treasures of science and knowledge. He himself tells us, that the distinguished progress he had made was known to all the Jews, and that in this literary career he left all his co-equals and contemporaries far behind him. I profited in the Jewish religion above my fellows. A person possessed of natural abilities so signal, of literary acquisitions so extensive, of an activity and spirit so enterprising, and of an integrity and probity so inviolate, the wisdom of God judged a fit instrument to employ in displaying the banners and spreading the triumphs of Christianity among mankind. A negligent greatness, if we may so express it, appears in his writings. Full of the dignity of his subject, a torrent of sacred eloquence bursts forth, and bears down every thing before it with irresistible rapidity. He stays not to arrange and harmonise his words and periods, but rushes on, as his vast ideas transport him, borne away by the sublimity of his theme. Hence his frequent and prolix digressions, though at the same time his all-comprehensive mind never loses sight of his subject; but he returns from these excursions, resumes and pursues it with an ardour and strength of reasoning that astonishes and convinces. What a treasure of divinity and morality is contained in his epistles! With what force of argument and expression are the doctrinal points discussed in the body of each epistle! With what artless magnificence, better than all the quaint and studied elegance, are the moral precepts heaped together in the conclusion! He disclaims the enticing words of man's wisdom. (1 Cor. ii. 4.) Rhetoric was no part of his business or design; and yet perhaps there are some strains of rhetoric to be found in his writings equal to any in the finest writers whatever. His very enemies, who said that his bodily presence was weak and his speech contemptible, yet could not help owning that his letters were weighty and powerful. (2 Cor. x. 10.) Is there any thing in any of the heathen moralists comparable to that fine description of charity in the thirteenth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians? Speaking with the tongues of men and of angels is nothing in comparison of charity; and the tongues of men and of angels can never exceed this description. All the powers of logic and rhetoric are to be seen and felt in the fifteenth chapter of the same epistle; and what affecting solemnity does it add to that most solemn service of our liturgy, the burial of the dead! Another excellence in Saint Paul's writings is presented to our notice in the admirable art with which he interests the passions, and engages the affections of his hearers. Under the present depravity of human nature, our reason being enfeebled, and our passions consequently grown powerful, it must be of great service to engage theṣe in the cause we would serve; and therefore his constant endeavour was, not only to convince the reason of his hearers, but to alarm and interest their passions. And, as hope and fear are (with the bulk of mankind) the main springs of human action, to these he addressed himself most effectually, not by cold speculation upon abstract fitnesses, but by the awful assurances of a resurrection of the dead to an eternity of happiness or misery. With respect to the latter, who can hear without trembling, that, the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on the ungodly; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power! And the happiness of heaven he describes by words so strong, as to baffle the expression of all language but his own, by a weight of glory infinite and eternal beyond all hyperbole or conception. Thus the apostle secured the passions of those to whom he directed his epistles: and he equally engaged their affections by his endearing manner of address. Has he occasion to introduce any subject, which he is afraid will prejudice and disgust his bigoted countrymen the Jews? He announces it with an humanity and modesty that secures the attention, and with an insinuating form of address to which nothing can be denied. This appears particularly in his epistle to the Romans, where we see with what reluctance and heartfelt grief he mentions the ungrateful truth of the Jews' rejection of the Messiah, and their dereliction by God for their insuperable obstinacy. How studious is he to provoke them to jealousy and emulation by the example of the Gentiles, and how many persuasive and cogent arts and arguments does he employ to win them over to the religion of Jesus! In these delicate touches, in these fine arts of moral suasion, Saint Paul greatly excels. Upon occasion, also, we find him employing the most keen and cutting raillery in satirising the faults and foibles of those to whom he wrote. With what sarcastic pleasantry does he animadvert upon the Corinthians for their injudicious folly, in suffering themselves to be duped by a false judaising teacher! A more delicate and poignant instance of irony, than the following passage, is perhaps no where to be met with:- What is it, says he to the Corinthians, wherein you were inferior to other churches, except that I myself was not burdensome to you (by taking any acknowledgment for my labours)? do forgive me this wrong. (2 Cor. xii. 13.)-To his eloquence, as a public speaker, we have the testimony of the Lycaonians, who (as we have already remarked)2 foolishly imagining the gods to have descended from heaven among them in the persons of Barnabas and Paul, called the former Jupiter, and the latter Mercury, because he was the chief speaker. And though it is said his bodily presence was mean, and his speech contemptible, yet it ought to be remembered, that this was the aspersion of his enemies, the effusion of malignity, to defame and sink him, and ruin his usefulness.3 1 See an instance in his epistle to Philemon, which is particularly illustrated in Sect. XV. §§ III. V. infra. 2 See p. 322. supra. 3 Dr. Harwood's Introd. to the New Test. vol. i. pp. 199--204. See also Mi |